Here's my latest update! Traverse the Ulvenwald is straight up tutor spell for 1 mana in this deck. It broken. There's no reason not to run 4. Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Pharika, God of Affliction provide delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald and ability enabler for Soulflayer. Traverse the Ulvenwald can also be used to tutor Cavern of Souls against control deck and basic lands against Blood Moon. Moldervine Cloak is there to provide delirium, dredge, and buff for Soulflayer. This deck guarantees consistent turn 2~3 Soulflayer.
I also like your list and would definitely give it a try if I wasn't on somewhat of a budget. Again, Traverse the Ulvenwald is a great addition and I'm wondering if it's going to spike in price considering it's often a 1-mana tutor in many a modern deck.
I also like your list and would definitely give it a try if I wasn't on somewhat of a budget. Again, Traverse the Ulvenwald is a great addition and I'm wondering if it's going to spike in price considering it's often a 1-mana tutor in many a modern deck.
Thanks! For your list I think adding more card type for delirium would be nice like Vault Skirge or more Pharika. Moldervine Cloak would make Vault Skirge a 4/4 lifelink flyer which is a nice side plan.
I'm predicting the price for Traverse the Ulvenwald will keep dropping(around $2?) until more deck starts abusing it like ours. I can easily see it go up above $5 in near future.
I really like your suggestions. As much as I hate to replace Vampire Nighthawk, I'm gonna slot in Vault Skirge and Moldervine Cloak instead. Nighthawk is a solid creature but lifelink and flying is more important than deathtouch. Updated list with sideboard:
I replaced Languish with Ranger's Guile in the sideboard for additional protection against spot removal. Sometimes we'll have a double strike, flying Soulflayer with haste online on turn 3 but hexproof or indestructible might be missing. This might be fine against decks packing light removal but otherwise Ranger's Guile is brought in as an additional shield. Coming back to Vampire Nighthawk, I would still like to fit it in somehow either maindeck or sideboard because it's great against early beaters but space is scarce. Any thoughts on that front?
I think you should keep it as it is and play test them and then decide what to take out. I personally don't think you should force something out for vampire nighthawk if it already fine without it. For additional protection for soulflayer I recommend Troll Ascetic or Thrun, the Last Troll but Ranger's Guile is fine too. Maybe you'd like Vines of Vastwood, soulflayer with double strike will deal 16 damage with it.
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Here's a list I've been working on lately. I've been avoiding using Cairn Wanderer since he doesn't gain hexproof which makes him less reliable than Soulflayer, but I noticed he doesn't need hexproof if he has protection from every color. So I decided to add Akroma, Angel of Fury which is also nice target for Unburial Rites. Having protection from every color is more powerful than having hexproof since it can only be blocked by colorless creature which essentially makes Cairn Wanderer unblockable. Cairn Wanderer and Soulflayer may seem like a negative synergy, but it possible to share graveyard since Soulflayer only cost "2 mana" and comes into play a lot earlier than Cairn Wanderer which means there is time to put cards into graveyard until I have enough mana to cast Cairn Wanderer. You can also choose "demon" for Cavern of Souls and use it to make Soulflayer and Cairn Wanderer uncounterable since they are both demon.
I need help finding the right discard outlet for this deck. Lotleth Troll can't discard Unburial Rites and Zombie Infestation requires 2 card to discard at once which I don't want to sometimes. Right now I'm testing Call the Bloodline, but are there any better option?
I took out Cairn Wanderer because it was too slow. I brought back Gemstone Caverns because this deck mulligans too much and I thought it better if I start the game with draw. I added Lightning Axe and Darkblast because it allows turn 1 Soulflayer with Gemstone Cavern. For example if I play Gemstone Cavern on opponent's turn and cast Lightning Axe and discarding Golgari Grave-Troll or Darkblast as an additional cost, I can cast Soulflayer on my turn 1. Might as well live my dream!
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Golgari Grave-Troll was not that great in this deck because there isn't too many graveyard interaction like normal dredge deck. I still want to figure out a way to make Cairn Wanderer playable.
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I'm planning to use Emrakul, the Promised End in this deck. There are numerous ways to utilize it such as feeding it to Soulflayer for flying and trample, reanimating it with Unburial Rites, Nahiri, or simply hard casting it. It is possible to cast Emrakul for 5 in this deck if creature, land, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, sorcery, instant and tribal is in the graveyard.
Here is the list I'm working on
This is the Traverse the Ulvenwald version I'm using on MO currently. If you don't own Lili or Nahiri I highly recommend this version. I've been longing to find a perfect pump spell for this deck, I believe Nameless Inversion was the missing card. It counts as instant and tribal which helps delirium. It also fills the spot as a removal spell which this deck lacked. It basically Spatial Contortion, which is good enough to see play in tron. If I had it I would play Cavern of Souls for extra benefit from Traverse.
I'm not very confidant if it possible to merge Gisela, the Broken Blade and Bruna, the Fading Light in modern since Gisela is very fragile with only 3 toughness, but I think it would add a spice to the deck. Even if Gisela dies, I can still utilize it with Soulflayer, and Unburial Rites. Still testing this deck.
Since we are on the Traverse plan, perhaps Ghor-Clan Rampager is worth looking at again? Pump for the 'Flayer that you can tutor for may help sneak in those last few points of damage.
Also, how about Grim Flayer?It's a bit more vulnerable than Soulflayer but a 4/4 Trampler for 2 that helps enable 'Flayer/stack your draws. It's also big enough to survive being pumped by Inversion.
I like where your going! I've been experimenting with Grim Flayer as well, and it been really helpful! I feel like it a better alternative to Lotleth Troll. Beside grim flayer, I've also been testing Collective Brutality. In this deck it function as creature removal/hand disruption/providing food for Soulflayer with only one card which is amazing. It provide similar function as Lightning Axe except it can get rid of counter/removal spell from opponent's hand and lets you discard up to 2 card. Unlike lightning axe, this card is never a dead draw since if there is nothing to do, you can drain life from opponent, which I've won few games that way.
edit: about pump spells, I would definitely consider ghor clan if I can find space for it!
I agree that Grim Flayer is likely superior to Lotleth Troll in this particular deck since it allows us to manipulate our draws. The only consideration I would really take into account with it is the fact that you probably don't want it in the Eldritch Evolution builds since Delirium looks more difficult to achieve there as opposed to the Traverse the Ulvenwald builds that were already built with Delirium in mind. I do really like the idea of us having another threat besides Soulflayer that we can put pressure on quickly with.
As far as Collective Brutality is concerned, I do love that card a lot, although it has one glaring weakness compared to Lightning Axe: there's a ton of creatures that CB is dead against that Axe isn't. Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, a bunch of Eldrazi and countless other creatures all laugh off CB, leaving you with potentially zero answers to those game 1 if your opponent is able to stall out your Soulflayer plan. The versatility of CB definitely can't be ignored though, so it seems to me like a meta call more than anything.
Speaking of Eldrazi, I never could come up with a base I liked for it, but exiling a Reality Smasher your opponent just answered to a Soulflayer seems appealing to me. Probably isn't better than other plans the deck can go with, but hard to resist the allure of cool things when we can use Traverse to help fetch Temples.
This is the list I'm currently testing. Here's my thought on some of the cards. Now that we have Grim Flayer available, I feel more confidence in playing 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald. I want to add some dredge card like Stinkweed Imp or Darkblast to make delirium more consistent but I don't think there's enough space unless we're just playing with one or two of them.
CB does have some flaws like it a sorcery spell so it can't get rid of Inkmoth Nexus. I just lost to infect because of it. I might swap some out for more Nameless Inversion or Lightning Axe.
If you want to play Eldrazi, you might want to consider Cairn Wanderer. I had hard time using cairn wanderer because it costed 5 mana, but with Eldrazi Temple you can play it faster. Beside temple, you can also use traverse to fetch for Cavern of Souls.
edit: updated version can be found on this thread's front page.
Here's a list I randomly came up with during work today. It has been refined after several test playing. Original idea was using troll card like Burning Inquiry, and Goblin Lore to fill up graveyard quickly and at the same time, returning Soulflayer from graveyard to hand using Call to the Netherworld. This list is surprisingly consistent with playing turn 2~3 Soulflayer. Some weakness includes lack of wincon beside Soulflayer and this deck auto fold to Leyline of the Void.
First off - how easy is delirium to turn on? I'd be concerned that traverse doesn't act as a 1-mana soulflayer often enough in this deck.
As of current playlist, delirium is fairly easy to turn on by turn 3. My main objective with Traverse the Ulvenwald is to cast it on turn 3, since there's not enough mana to cast traverse and soulflayer on turn 2 simultaneously. This will give us access to Grisly Salvage, Collective Brutality(I really like casting this card on turn 2 to remove counter or removal spell from opponent's hand) and Lotleth Troll. Final conclusion I came up with Lotleth Troll vs. Grim Flayer is that troll is much stronger compared to grim flayer then I expected. I thought Grim Flayer would help turn on delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald by turn 3 but it was not easy. Having discard engine was far more useful.
Second - and this is more of an observation. Would the deck be any better if we can run a more toolbox plan? Perhaps making us a bit more controlly? I like the idea of gifts ungiven plus unburial rites, as it makes your fatties much more useful. With Sylvan Caryatid, you could easily get a T4 Akroma etc. Also, with Grim Flayer + all the draw/discard, lingering souls seems really good value.
I didn't like Gifts Ungiven before but several new expansions(OGW~Karadish?) came out since then, it might be the right time to reconsider it. We'd have to think of a whole new decklist in order to utilize gift, including the mana base. I think it'll be worth the time though.
For me, it seems like there's too many fatties that make your opening hand weaker. The deck can get through its library fairly quickly, and you don't NEED to hit delve 4 for Soulflayer. Having something like Stinkweed Imp + Sylvan Caryatid + 2 lands to eat is in essence a 2-mana Sigarda. That's good enough. I like the flexibility you have with the various bombs, but just trim the numbers (that'd be my suggestion anyway).
Thing with playing soulflayer is that it actually really good to start your opening hand with 1~2 fatties as long as there's a method of discarding them. Ideal opening hand would be something like 2 land, 1~2 fatties, 1~3 draw/discard spells. This may not be the correct number but as of now in my delirium list I play 8 fatties(2 akroma, 2 drogskol, 2 sphinx, 2 pharika), and there hasn't been too many case where my opening hand gets clogged with them. I prefer having an actual fatty in my opening hand then Stinkweed Imp in this case because with only 8 fatties there's low chance of hitting even one from dredging. But I don't want to add any more fatty because that would start causing problem like you mentioned. Imp is also dependent on discard spell like the rest of the fatties. I basically treat Imp like a fatty and I might be wrong but as of now I can't find space for the imp.
As you can see Soulflayer deck has it own problems and dilemmas, but playing Soulflayer has been the most fun I've been getting from playing magic these days and I hope you can enjoy it too.
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Stinkweed Imp
3x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2x Pharika, God of Affliction
2x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Spells x13
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Grisly Salvage
1x Moldervine Cloak
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
1x Spellskite
4x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Golgari Charm
1x Maelstrom Pulse
Here's my latest update! Traverse the Ulvenwald is straight up tutor spell for 1 mana in this deck. It broken. There's no reason not to run 4. Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Pharika, God of Affliction provide delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald and ability enabler for Soulflayer. Traverse the Ulvenwald can also be used to tutor Cavern of Souls against control deck and basic lands against Blood Moon. Moldervine Cloak is there to provide delirium, dredge, and buff for Soulflayer. This deck guarantees consistent turn 2~3 Soulflayer.
I also like your list and would definitely give it a try if I wasn't on somewhat of a budget. Again, Traverse the Ulvenwald is a great addition and I'm wondering if it's going to spike in price considering it's often a 1-mana tutor in many a modern deck.
Thanks! For your list I think adding more card type for delirium would be nice like Vault Skirge or more Pharika. Moldervine Cloak would make Vault Skirge a 4/4 lifelink flyer which is a nice side plan.
I'm predicting the price for Traverse the Ulvenwald will keep dropping(around $2?) until more deck starts abusing it like ours. I can easily see it go up above $5 in near future.
4x Crypt Champion
4x Lotleth Troll
2x Pharika, God of Affliction
4x Satyr Wayfinder
4x Soulflayer
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Uktabi Drake
3x Vault Skirge
7x Forest
7x Swamp
4x Overgrown Tomb
Sorcery (8)
4x Gather the Pack
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
Instant (4)
4x Grisly Salvage
Enchantment (1)
1x Moldervine Cloak
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Thoughtseize
2x Duress
2x Golgari Charm
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Dismember
1x Raven's Crime
2x Ranger's Guile
1x Surgical Extraction
I replaced Languish with Ranger's Guile in the sideboard for additional protection against spot removal. Sometimes we'll have a double strike, flying Soulflayer with haste online on turn 3 but hexproof or indestructible might be missing. This might be fine against decks packing light removal but otherwise Ranger's Guile is brought in as an additional shield. Coming back to Vampire Nighthawk, I would still like to fit it in somehow either maindeck or sideboard because it's great against early beaters but space is scarce. Any thoughts on that front?
4x Soulflayer
2x Cairn Wanderer
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Akroma, Angel of Fury
4x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Spells x16
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Grisly Salvage
3x Unburial Rites
1x Darkblast
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Windswept Heath
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
1x Spellskite
4x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Golgari Charm
1x Maelstrom Pulse
Here's a list I've been working on lately. I've been avoiding using Cairn Wanderer since he doesn't gain hexproof which makes him less reliable than Soulflayer, but I noticed he doesn't need hexproof if he has protection from every color. So I decided to add Akroma, Angel of Fury which is also nice target for Unburial Rites. Having protection from every color is more powerful than having hexproof since it can only be blocked by colorless creature which essentially makes Cairn Wanderer unblockable. Cairn Wanderer and Soulflayer may seem like a negative synergy, but it possible to share graveyard since Soulflayer only cost "2 mana" and comes into play a lot earlier than Cairn Wanderer which means there is time to put cards into graveyard until I have enough mana to cast Cairn Wanderer. You can also choose "demon" for Cavern of Souls and use it to make Soulflayer and Cairn Wanderer uncounterable since they are both demon.
I need help finding the right discard outlet for this deck. Lotleth Troll can't discard Unburial Rites and Zombie Infestation requires 2 card to discard at once which I don't want to sometimes. Right now I'm testing Call the Bloodline, but are there any better option?
4x Soulflayer
4x Golgari Grave-Troll
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Spells x20
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Lightning Axe
3x Grisly Salvage
3x Darkblast
2x Unburial Rites
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Gemstone Caverns
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
1x Spellskite
4x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Golgari Charm
1x Maelstrom Pulse
I took out Cairn Wanderer because it was too slow. I brought back Gemstone Caverns because this deck mulligans too much and I thought it better if I start the game with draw. I added Lightning Axe and Darkblast because it allows turn 1 Soulflayer with Gemstone Cavern. For example if I play Gemstone Cavern on opponent's turn and cast Lightning Axe and discarding Golgari Grave-Troll or Darkblast as an additional cost, I can cast Soulflayer on my turn 1. Might as well live my dream!
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
3x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2x Pharika, God of Affliction
Spells x15
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
3x Grisly Salvage
3x Unburial Rites
1x Darkblast
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Mana Confluence
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
1x Spellskite
4x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Golgari Charm
1x Maelstrom Pulse
Golgari Grave-Troll was not that great in this deck because there isn't too many graveyard interaction like normal dredge deck. I still want to figure out a way to make Cairn Wanderer playable.
4x Goldnight Castigator
4x Prophetic Flamespeaker
4x Soulflayer
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
1x Spellskite
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
Spells x15
4x Assault Formation
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
4x Faithless Looting
3x Vessel of Nascency
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Copperline Gorge
2x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Graven Cairns
2x Darkblast
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Firespout
3x Deflecting Palm
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
3x Thoughtseize
Here's an idea I came up with while I was making my Castigator/Doran deck. I'll do more testing and see if this deck is any good.
4x Soulflayer
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
Spells x17
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Faithless Looting
3x Unburial Rites
2x Darkblast
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mana Confluence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Temple Garden
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
3x Pithing Needle
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
Here's an update from previous list. I've decided to add Liliana of the Veil, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and Drogskol Reaver and etc.
4x Soulflayer
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
Spells x17
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Faithless Looting
3x Unburial Rites
2x Darkblast
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mana Confluence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Temple Garden
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
3x Pithing Needle
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
Hulk combo 2-0
GR land destrustion 2-1
GR tron 1-2
Here is the list I'm working on
4x Soulflayer
1x Emrakul, the Promised End
2x Drogskol Reaver
2x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Chromanticore
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
Spells x19
3x Nahiri, the Harbinger
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Faithless Looting
4x Nameless Inversion
3x Unburial Rites
1x Darkblast
4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Marsh Flats
1x Wooded Foothills
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
3x Pithing Needle
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
I can't wait for the full spoiler of Eldritch Moon!
4x Soulflayer
2x Drogskol Reaver
2x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2x Pharika, God of Affliction
1x Chromanticore
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
Spells x18
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Faithless Looting
4x Nameless Inversion
2x Lightning Axe
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Marsh Flats
4x Gemstone Mine
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
3x Pithing Needle
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
This is the Traverse the Ulvenwald version I'm using on MO currently. If you don't own Lili or Nahiri I highly recommend this version. I've been longing to find a perfect pump spell for this deck, I believe Nameless Inversion was the missing card. It counts as instant and tribal which helps delirium. It also fills the spot as a removal spell which this deck lacked. It basically Spatial Contortion, which is good enough to see play in tron. If I had it I would play Cavern of Souls for extra benefit from Traverse.
4x Soulflayer
4x Stinkweed Imp
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Birds of Paradise
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Drogskol Reaver
1x Chromanticore
1x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Baneslayer Angel
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Geist of Saint Traft
Spells x15
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Faithless Looting
4x Lightning Axe
3x Unburial Rites
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mana Confluence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Watery Grave
1x Temple Garden
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Plains
4x Thoughtseize
3x Pithing Needle
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
Here's a big update! I think Eldritch Evolution was the missing card for this deck, and this time I mean it. In this deck it transforms Stinkweed Imp into Stormbreath Dragon, Baneslayer Angel, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Chromanticore, Geist of Saint Traft, Sylvan Caryatid, or Birds of Paradise. This card also solves the problem of having Soulflayer with no ability by turning it into Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Drogskol Reaver, Sphinx of the Steel Wind or anyything else written above. It's synergy with Unburial Rites, Stinkweed Imp, and Soulflayer is amazing. What also big is that Eldritch Evolution does not get affected by graveyard hate. I'm still working on the mana base.
Stinkweed Imp + Eldritch Evolution: Cairn Wanderer, Thragtusk, Spellskite, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Thrun, the Last Troll, Archangel Avacyn, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Phyrexian Obliterator, Keranos, God of Storms, Gisela, the Broken Blade, Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Soulflayer + Eldritch Evolution: Terastodon, Wurmcoil Engine, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Aurelia, the Warleader, Akroma, Angel of Fury, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Stormtide Leviathan, Griselbrand, Bruna, the Fading Light
4x Soulflayer
4x Stinkweed Imp
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Bruna, the Fading Light
1x Drogskol Reaver
1x Chromanticore
1x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Gisela, the Broken Blade
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
Spells x15
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Faithless Looting
4x Lightning Axe
2x Unburial Rites
1x Darkblast
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mana Confluence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Temple Garden
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
1x Darkblast
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Fulminator Mage
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
I'm not very confidant if it possible to merge Gisela, the Broken Blade and Bruna, the Fading Light in modern since Gisela is very fragile with only 3 toughness, but I think it would add a spice to the deck. Even if Gisela dies, I can still utilize it with Soulflayer, and Unburial Rites. Still testing this deck.
4x Soulflayer
4x Stinkweed Imp
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Birds of Paradise
1x Akroma, Angel of Fury
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Drogskol Reaver
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
1x Wall of Denial
1x Cairn Wanderer
4x Eldritch Evolution
4x Faithless Looting
2x Unburial Rites
2x Lightning Axe
Land x21
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
4x Mana Confluence
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Temple Garden
1x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
1x Darkblast
2x Engineered Explosives
3x Fulminator Mage
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Slaughter Games
1x Crumble to Dust
Currently testing this list. If you sacrifice Wall of Denial with Eldritch Evolution, it guarantees Cairn Wanderer with Shroud and Flying.
Also, how about Grim Flayer?It's a bit more vulnerable than Soulflayer but a 4/4 Trampler for 2 that helps enable 'Flayer/stack your draws. It's also big enough to survive being pumped by Inversion.
edit: about pump spells, I would definitely consider ghor clan if I can find space for it!
As far as Collective Brutality is concerned, I do love that card a lot, although it has one glaring weakness compared to Lightning Axe: there's a ton of creatures that CB is dead against that Axe isn't. Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, a bunch of Eldrazi and countless other creatures all laugh off CB, leaving you with potentially zero answers to those game 1 if your opponent is able to stall out your Soulflayer plan. The versatility of CB definitely can't be ignored though, so it seems to me like a meta call more than anything.
Speaking of Eldrazi, I never could come up with a base I liked for it, but exiling a Reality Smasher your opponent just answered to a Soulflayer seems appealing to me. Probably isn't better than other plans the deck can go with, but hard to resist the allure of cool things when we can use Traverse to help fetch Temples.
4x Soulflayer
4x Grim Flayer
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Drogskol Reaver
2x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
2x Pharika, God of Affliction
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Faithless Looting
3x Grisly Salvage
3x Collective Brutality
1x Nameless Inversion
2x Lightning Axe
2x Unburial Rites
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
2x Wooded Foothills
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Temple Garden
2x Swamp
1x Forest
This is the list I'm currently testing. Here's my thought on some of the cards. Now that we have Grim Flayer available, I feel more confidence in playing 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald. I want to add some dredge card like Stinkweed Imp or Darkblast to make delirium more consistent but I don't think there's enough space unless we're just playing with one or two of them.
CB does have some flaws like it a sorcery spell so it can't get rid of Inkmoth Nexus. I just lost to infect because of it. I might swap some out for more Nameless Inversion or Lightning Axe.
If you want to play Eldrazi, you might want to consider Cairn Wanderer. I had hard time using cairn wanderer because it costed 5 mana, but with Eldrazi Temple you can play it faster. Beside temple, you can also use traverse to fetch for Cavern of Souls.
edit: updated version can be found on this thread's front page.
4x Soulflayer
4x Hellspark Elemental
4x Drogskol Reaver
4x Sigarda, Host of Herons
4x Stinkweed Imp
4x Golgari Grave-Troll
Spells x17
4x Faithless Looting
4x Burning Inquiry
4x Goblin Lore
4x Call to the Netherworld
1x Darkblast
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Marsh Flats
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Blood Crypt
1x Sulfurous Springs
2x Swamp
4x Thoughtseize
4x Collective Brutality
3x Pithing Needle
2x Darkblast
2x Lightning Axe
Here's a list I randomly came up with during work today. It has been refined after several test playing. Original idea was using troll card like Burning Inquiry, and Goblin Lore to fill up graveyard quickly and at the same time, returning Soulflayer from graveyard to hand using Call to the Netherworld. This list is surprisingly consistent with playing turn 2~3 Soulflayer. Some weakness includes lack of wincon beside Soulflayer and this deck auto fold to Leyline of the Void.
As of current playlist, delirium is fairly easy to turn on by turn 3. My main objective with Traverse the Ulvenwald is to cast it on turn 3, since there's not enough mana to cast traverse and soulflayer on turn 2 simultaneously. This will give us access to Grisly Salvage, Collective Brutality(I really like casting this card on turn 2 to remove counter or removal spell from opponent's hand) and Lotleth Troll. Final conclusion I came up with Lotleth Troll vs. Grim Flayer is that troll is much stronger compared to grim flayer then I expected. I thought Grim Flayer would help turn on delirium for Traverse the Ulvenwald by turn 3 but it was not easy. Having discard engine was far more useful.
I didn't like Gifts Ungiven before but several new expansions(OGW~Karadish?) came out since then, it might be the right time to reconsider it. We'd have to think of a whole new decklist in order to utilize gift, including the mana base. I think it'll be worth the time though.
I like Lingering Souls!
Thing with playing soulflayer is that it actually really good to start your opening hand with 1~2 fatties as long as there's a method of discarding them. Ideal opening hand would be something like 2 land, 1~2 fatties, 1~3 draw/discard spells. This may not be the correct number but as of now in my delirium list I play 8 fatties(2 akroma, 2 drogskol, 2 sphinx, 2 pharika), and there hasn't been too many case where my opening hand gets clogged with them. I prefer having an actual fatty in my opening hand then Stinkweed Imp in this case because with only 8 fatties there's low chance of hitting even one from dredging. But I don't want to add any more fatty because that would start causing problem like you mentioned. Imp is also dependent on discard spell like the rest of the fatties. I basically treat Imp like a fatty and I might be wrong but as of now I can't find space for the imp.
As you can see Soulflayer deck has it own problems and dilemmas, but playing Soulflayer has been the most fun I've been getting from playing magic these days and I hope you can enjoy it too.