Ive never tried it. I did consider it but I run 20 spells and 21-22 creatures, most are 1-2 drops. The question I asked myself was would I cast this turn 3? Would I want this over another card turn 3? Turn 3 I want to swing with my Pridemate, a big pridemate. Ideally turn 1 sister turn 2 Pridemate, turn 3 sister, sister, sister/ascendant. Second choice cast turn 3 spectral procession. ( Im ignoring martyr/ascendant turn 2 combo because we are taking about turn 3) You do not get a lot of benifit off of the 1 reduction in mana cost because the timing is a bit off. Ranger still comes out turn 4 it might get Archangel on turn 4. I run 2 angels as of now so it only advances 2 possible creatures, windbrisk heights advances them better.
Im am now trying monastery mentor for the same idea, token generator. I am not looking to play it on turn 3. Im think late game and flashback lingering souls and after Ive rooted out my 1 drops with my ranger my deck will be spell heavy.
But by all means try it out; see if it feels good.
Match 1 vs Jeski 2-1-0
G1
Quick game beat him down with 2/2 sisters and pridemate. win
G2
He sideboards in boardwipes. He tempos and controls the game killing off and counter spelling my game. Counters Ranger 3 times. He animates a 4/4 flying land and blocks my 3/3 spirits. 2 honor on field he counters a windbrisk hieghts honor. with out the ranger I lose board presence, he counters my Archangel of Thune. He takes me down 6 damage a turn for 4 turns for the finish. Lose
G3
Quicker game, I come out with sister, pridemate, rest in piece, linguring souls, He lightning helix the Cat, then later anger the gods the rest, I cast honor the pure, honor the pure, followed by procession, He double electrolizes. I land a ranger next turn pull out sister and ascendant. I keep the presseure on him for the win chipping him down 2-3 points at a time for the win.
sideboard in 2 Rest in peace, 1 blitterblossoms, out Athroes, baby giddeon, path
overall the match up is not an instant win, but we are heavily favored. We develop faster and have better reach, we can get out of range of their kill spells and can go wide giving them too many targets to kill, they rely heavily on snapcaster and graveyard interactions. Pressuring them early with large creatures while going wide, hands with Honor of the pure are great. The magic number against this deck is toughness 4. They have to kill the pridemate turn 2. They will sideboard in lots of boardwipes, to kill off all the weenies. Try to be ready and look for anthem effects in opening hands.
Match 2 vs Storm 1-2-0
G1
Stormed off at turn 4, I pathed a goblin elecrolizer, lose.
G2
I win in 5 turns. He doesnt get the combo. Hope of ghipar gets killed and I pressure him with my guys forcing him to use mana to deal with them instead of looking for combo pieces.
G3
grindy game. I play sister, then Pridemate. Turn 3 I make a judgement call ( hand: sister, pridemate, honor, drew-Rest in Piece) I figure first game he stormed on turn 4 with extra land from my path. So I felt he would not Go Off on his turn 3. I play sister then pridemate. I swing for 7 6/6 pridemate 1/1 sister. His turn 3 he storms in 6 goblins. T4 I play rest in piece. This was the missplay If I played Rest In Piece turn 3 he could not have created the goblins hoard. The Hoard chump blocked my pridemates for 3 turns. He draws enough cards and bounces my rest in piece, then storms off Im at 49 life he is at 10. He gets to reuse his graveyard and he remands his grapeshot while storm (11) is on stack. He recasts it twice more at storm (20) for the win.
Sideboard in: 2 Pest in Piece, 2 Eidilon of the Rhetoric, 2 Hope of Ghirapur, 1 Bitterblossom Out: 2 archangel, athroes, Ranger, hero of Kytheon, 1 Mikey, 1 Path.
Thoughts, I feel after sideboarding this deck is completely beatable. Its removal light so our guys can run wild, it abuses its own life with fetchlands, it doesnt pack answers to what we can put out. I felt safe at 49 life I did not realise storm had that kind of reach. Shutting down the graveyard or/and keylime are great answers, redundancy of these I think will lead to victory, as they only have a few answers.
Match 3 vs G/W Humans 0-2-0
G1
He goes wide and bigger. I get to 29 life hes at 9, he swings with larger force and lords. He plays Thalia, heritic Cathar, on turn 4, my turn 5 I have an archangel and ghost quarter in hand. It takes 2 turns more to cast and it comes in tapped, had to block with my sister to stay alive. GG.
I should have played the GQ a turn earlier, instead of a plain. The game would have gone longer and I might have stabilized.
G2
I Kept a poor 1 land hand. Ranger, spectral procession, Linguring souls, soul warden, Cat,Plain, Fatal Push. At first look I thought Fatal Push was a swamp. My opponent Turn 2 Paths my soul warden, his misplay. I get back in the game. He developes a board faster with COCO, same as game 1 he goes wide and big, He lands a Thalia, heretic Cathar and Tireless Tracker off a CoCo Turn 3.
He misplays and attacks into my 8/8 Pridemate with his 5/4 tracker, He has 5 mana open and 3 clues. He is baiting me to block with my Pridemate. I feel its a trap, I dont block. It turns out he is bad at math and miscalculated. My Pridemate would have won. (tip- just because someone is overconfident does not mean they are right)
I draw into sisters and spirits. 3 sisters on field. and playing procession, each turn but its not enough to hold him off. My spirits come in tapped and cant chump block Im on defense with no outs. Im willing to concede but its last game so we play out my grisly death.
Thoughts; Ive played this deck in the past and won agaisnt it. It seems ok match up, it depends who delevops faster, we have flyers they cant answer.
Sideboard ghost prison and wrath of god.
Overall, Ill rework my sideboard extensively to better hate on these match up, now that I got some strong meta data to look at.
Im thinking spell hate as there werre 3 storm decks present and usually there are 2 burn decks.
thoughts - windbrisk heights is a great card, going wide with spirits is really good, deck needs to be more interactive with opponent, Athroes saw some play and was good
match 1
r/u/w 2-0-0
played against an experienced player so the win felt great.
Game 1 He Mulled 1 I kept full hand
windbrisk heights hit an archangel and second windbrisk hit a land. My opponent spent resorces and time keeping me from activating the windbrisk heights. I believe this helped create tempo for my deck and kept him off balance. I picked at him to death with 1/1's Angel did flip but he pathed my sister while it was on the stack. The splash of Black confused him. Opening hand was: swamp, ghost quarter, windbrisk Heights, Linguring souls, soul warden, Pridemate, Procession.
Game 2
He mulled 1 I kept hand of spirits
I ran over him with 1/1 spirit tokens 12 on board, more in hand and some in graveyard. Game went 6-7 turns.
Match 2
Jund Junk 1-2-0
Game 1
Inquisition me and discarded me 2 times, but I still pulled ahead.
Mulled 1 scry plains, Opening hand: Pridemate,Procession, godlessshrine, Athreos, Attendent, archangel
He took Athreos, I discard Liguring Souls he plays a Lilianna and I discard Archangel. Went back and forth but pulled ahead with spirits for win.
Game 2
Inquisition me, forgot what he took, had Honor,Athreos, Ghost Quarter, Concealed courtyard, soul Warden, Linguring souls
He keeps me down and I have mana troubles, he fulminator mage my concealed courtyard. leaving me with 2 mana for the game and nothing to cast for defense. He Olivia's to victory. Killing my guys and swinging.
Game 3
A bit grinder game.
Goes back and forth with trades. He keeps the sisters off the table, I path the oozes and tymgoph off. I misplay with a windbrisk heights hiding a spectral Procession, I cast a second Pridemate over Linguring souls. If I cast liguring souls I could set myself up to flip the heights next combat.
Instead he malstrom pulses my 2 Cats (4/4 -2/2). If I spirited the cats would have lived. I asked and he would have pulsed the flyers , which also would allow me to flashback and play the second cat the following turn.
Not sure if this misplay cost me the game but it did not help.
In the games he saw Athroes he made it a priority to keep him off the board.
Match 3
u/r 2-0-0
not a strong deck budget build by teenager. Tried a prowess theros themed deck, had weak build. (timmy style, suggested Thing in Ice and more spell slinger style to improve his deck)
ran over him both games.
game 1 win
He got me down to 6 life he was at 16. He conceded the game I had board presence and he was top decking.
game 2 no sideboarding unsure what to expect.
loss to trample with aspect of hydra
game 3 loss
grindier game I keep sister on field we both go wide I chump block but restock my spirits. Athroes lands early (turn 4) but I dont feel its relevant (my opponent says it is later) I take damage 12 points at a time keeps my Ascendant small. His bow of nylea kills off my spirits and gives him enough life to muster the win. I might have misplayed by not attacking into him more with a 5/5 cat, I did not realize at the time deathtouch was only for attacking critters. I think he had a better sideways race. Athroes in the late game allows me to hold up his attacker as I can trade and not lose them which keeps him off attacks for a turn.
But i still have troubles at FNM because there are too many people playing mono black, there is one guy that play literally mono removal, and then drops at turn 7-8 griselbrand and so on, first turns he smack my sisters with go for the throat, and if i cast spectral procession then he plays languish the next turn, he has won every single game since.
The second one plays Mono black devotion, he do de same trick, victim of nighr pridemate or ascendant and whatever i play, one day he doom blade and murder 6 tokens!!!, then play Asphodel twice and start beating with gurmag angler.
And the third one play aristocrats, he has not too much removal but Game 2 he bring 4 Tragic Slips, Languish, and Fatal Push, that plus 2 or 3 blood artist i can keep up with my lifegain.
Aside of this 3 matches i have been very succesfull with this deck, but in top i always face one of them and until now, this matches are unwinnable for me, i tried with Secure the wastes, Lingering Souls, Heliod, anything, some guy said that auriok champion will do trick, so i proxy 4 of them (i can't afford 80 bucks only for testing), but the result was no different, if i play turn 1 ascendant, turn 2 martyr , 3 turn auriok, they kill two of them with whatever removal, and then they play geth veredict or Gatekeeper of Malakir next turn.
I really enjoy this deck but this 3 people are insta lose, so i want to hear advices so i can overcome this situation.
What does your sideboard look like? How is the rest of the meta in your group?
If you can proxy then maybe thalia, guardian of thraben selfless spirit hope of ghirapur might help
It sounds like you might want to sideboard out some Paths and try to go for a quicker win, look for a win condition in your opening hand and try to race these decks. The have strong removal but at a cost our spells are cheap so we can flood a board forcing them to deal with multiple threats. Try to go wide and big at the same time. Attack into open boards as much as you can. Our lifegain is our defense. We can trade spirits for there good stuff.
I struggle against jund, and abzan decks for the same reason. They are not unbeatable but are grindy. Assume your first beater will die and look for the second win condition in your opening hand.
hope this helps.
Vigilance cause your guy not to tap during an attack. You may exert while attacking. Your guy exerts and sufffers no ill effects from exerting because he did not tap for the attack. Which then allows your guy to do all the normal stuff he would do like he could untapped. BUT he has this thing over his head from the exert saying "if you tap you can not untap next untap phase" this evil halo goes away at the end of your next untap phase.
So between your exerting and you next untap phase you can tap you guy to crew a vehicle or for mana or your sneaky opponent can try and tap him for you. In which case the "you cannot untap next untap phase" becomes relevant.
BlindDefender1,
I play 1 archangel, but I play 21 mana, I rarely see Archangel in the games I've played. When I do see her I dont have the mana to cast her.
I have found 5 lands in a few games but when i do I'm usually winning, or my opponent is doing bad things to me and the game is going long. My current line of thinking is to try and cheat archangel in with Heights and I'm running 22 Lands now.
I ran another deck with Archangel very similar to soulsisters, when angel lands with a field it is devastating, when angel lands with out a field it is still very good.
Soul Sisters can play a very great game with out the Angel.
The horse is strong, but not as good as Thune.
Other people will be grabbing up that horse as well (currently @ $5.99). I expect the price to Spike up, lots of synergy with tokens and life gain.
Personally I like dusk//dawn but I could not think of when to bring it in from the sideboard. I cut it for more meta related hate.
Interesting that you'd like to bring in Push, because I've never felt the need for more than 4 removal slots main. Splitting them between Push and Path could be fine with fetches, but I think I'd rather always have the one that is a lock to get rid of the creature that's bugging me.
I'm excited to see what you get from Athreos.
I just hate giving my opponent a land. Push seems more hurtful. Pathing might give them that land drop they needed. I cant take paths out becuse I need them to fix my own deck but I might add 2 Pushs. My current thought is to path myself and push my opponent.
Its tough to wait on a card choice to see if it'll work right. A few of my games have lost with my opponent on 5 life then they come back to win. Im hoping Athreos will keep the pressure up.
any thoughts on crested sunmare great synergy with deck, but I dont think I would switch out a an Archangel for one. Its not legendary so you could have two in play, that would be ridiculous. 2 5/5 indestructible possible each players turn.
Part of the reason Affinity and Burn made top 8 in Vegas was due to so many players playing DS and other players gunning for DS. This allowed strong Affinity and Burn players to get in. I heard that Affinity was one of the top played decks in that tourney after DS. I believe DS is simply over rated.
The format seems diverse. Every tourney sees a variant of winning decks and a diversity of fielded decks. A strong player familiar with the deck they are playing will always do well against flavor of the month deck. I think the tourney results reflect this.
I also think that banning Emrakul, the Promised End and Reflector Mage both were not necessary in Standard. Aetherworks Marvel is the card that should have been banned rather than Emrakul. But my feelings certainly can be wrong. Rob Santana, GP Portland winner with Jund Delirium, is a friend of mine. He believes that Emrakul is still too good, cast early off types in the graveyard and he knows the format better than myself. I just personally feel like Wizards overdoes it sometimes and by not giving certain cards a chance (preemptively banning them before they have done something wrong) just gives people an excuse to complain. Sorry, but it does and they have a point.
Emrakul was a good banning. It was coming off in some decks turn 4 with possibility of sooner. Copter was just a great value card that they did not print an answer for in the current set, which let it run wild and free (in every deck). Also remember standard attendance and revenue was being lost due to these perceived "oppressive" cards. WOTC still smarting from Eldrazi winter.
WU spirit deck was testing well at the time, WOTC felt it may be oppressive. They claimed a 60% win rate. No one knew what wizards was talking about with that statement at the time. But now seeing the cards that was slated to be released in the following sets the ban of Reflector mage makes sense. Imagine standard with saheeli rai , felidar guardian and reflector mage, yes wotc missed the copy cat comb but they might have seen the refector mage interactions.
Marvel should have been banned sooner. There are still too many cards in standard to cheat these large eldrazis in. But they are suppose to be rotated out already.
Loss to Jund 2-0
tie to 4c Nahiri soulfire deck
win to mono Red budget Burn
win to GW Humans
Match 1 Jund 0-2
Game 1 Keep cat, sister, Ascendant, Archangel, honor the pure, plain, sister
He discards my hand while I wait for another land and he pushes my guys I path his ooze and Goyph, but its not enough.
Game 2 Much better game for me but still a loss. I grind him down to 6 life but he stablizes and board stalls. Spirits chipped away at him until he slowly kills them off. huntmaster of the fells totally wrecked my board. His Oozes keeps him alive. I miscalculate and loss my sisters.
His top decks are better than mine I draw 3 lands. I also misplayed Ghost Quarter by not killing his only red mana for a turn allowing him to create a board state. My life total got to 44.
Match 2 ? RBGW 1-1-1
Game 1 keep Archangel,2 plain, Serra ascendant, spectral procession, Path, pridemate He thoughtsiezes me down and plays a Lilianna killing off my threats I get him down to 4 life he plays {card] soulfire grand master [/card] and bounces {card] lightning helix [/card] repeat until ultimate nahiri into spaghetti monster.GG.
game 2 keep 2 sisters, 2 plain, honor the pure, Ascendant, Ranger I miss sister triggers but still win, he shock and fetch lands himself down and still puts up fight with lots of planeswalkers to kill off.
game 3 goes to turns had him down to 6 life before he recovers with soulfire into helix combo
His deck is still in developement stage he went 0-1-3 most of his games went to turns.
Match 3 R Burn 2-0
Game 1 win, raced life totals missed triggers on sisters. Close game but not really in danger.
Game 2, keep hand 4 plain, sister, 2 honor he Mulligans 1, I slow play and only put out honors letting him bolt me and not my team. Sister comes out turn 4 as 3/3 I pathed his swiftspear turn 3. He got me down to 8 life turn 5 before I started gaining back life.
Match 4 GW Humans 2-0
game 1 on the draw keep 3 honor,ranger,Linger souls, Hero, plain, draw martyr , Play the hero it gets pathed play cat it gets pathed draw more spirits. I Honor and spirit the board. quick game with 6 4/4 spirits and lots of gas in hand.
game 2 Sb out 2 martyrs, in Hero, Oblivion stone
Game was a bit grindy I keep hand of cat, sister, ascendant, 3 land, path I play a slow developing game with my cat racing his Champion of Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant he plays another Lieutenant I play another sister and 2 more cats he casts raise the alarm to chump block I path his large guys and take the small damage. Easy match up with him feeding my life and pumping my cats.
over all thoughts, mikey the Lunarch still a good card, saw some play died way too soon.
Hero of Akros saw a lot of play this FNM might be a better blocker than an attacker. Decent but hes on the chopping block
Archangel saw hand time but not able to hold onto in order to cast. Wished for this card in jund and 4c match up
Martyr is also on chopping block does not feel relevent in most match ups.
Athros god, never saw play still waiting to test it.
In some of the matchups I wanted more removal did not see it with sideboard. Path felt bad with the Jund and 4c Nahira decks Push might be more favorable.
Is it going to be worth it to leave 3 mana open, essentially skipping a turn. Alyi has been fair when i played her in other decks. Deathtouch with a decent body. The other abilities are just icing. If anything Alyi is a good distraction to keep your opponent off of the stuff you need. They will kill a big Pridemate, but you get to sac it for life instead.
I was still very happy that I chose the deck. My big future consideration is finding room for Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, as she would have made that Lantern match a cinch and has relevance against other decks (especially white decks, as she can protect a better from a Path.) Let me know if you'd like to know anything about my sideboard choices!
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim seems like a great addition. How do you figure she protects a better from a path? In some cases would a free land be better, over more life?
I assume you put in the Anguish of unmaking over Oblivion ring , banishing light because its and instant.
Ok I spent the weekend trying to figure out how to beat Taking Turns.
Hope of Ghirapur and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben early and often. Slow Turns down to keep him off T3 plays which seems like when he sets himself up to go off on T4.
Sb out - 2 Ghost Prison, - Mana Tithe, - Aven Mindcensor
In + 2 Hope of Ghirapur, + Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, + Kytheon, Hero of Akros
Played this at FNM
Tested out mana tithe, Athreos, God of Passage,Mikaeus, The Lunarch ,and Kytheon, Hero of Akros.
over all, Tithe was unimpressive never got cast was a dead card in hand, Athreos saw very little play, need more time to judge, I did keep a hand I would normally ditch just to see if it was good. If I was not playing against Taking Turns that game I think the results would be different. Mikey was a MVP, saw play in a few matches. Mikey pumped himself and others. Important combat trick with Mikey use his ability on your opponents turn, I messed this up a few rounds, He can block and then tap either to buff himself or others. Early game he can act as a blocker that grows himself until he gains friends or until he's boss and can swing without fear. Late game you can sink mana into to become a threat on his own. In all games my opponents had to deal with him. The Hero of Akros, was fair, not much to speak of. Saw play a few times and was good, flipped a couple of times. Unsure if he improved anything. I do want to see him flipped on a Taking Turns deck, this might be the way to go against them.
Match 1
Death's Shadow 2-0
G1
He killed himself very well got out 3 Shadows, but I chump blocked and won. Hand, Marty, ascendent, Lingering Souls, Honor the pure,3 land (swamp)
If he had a trample or a double strike I would have been done. Beat me down to 5 life I let damage in so I could attack on my turn.
G2
He killed himself very well got out tamgoyph, but I chump blocked and won. SB + Ghost Prison, + Oblivion Ring, - Honor, - Mikey, - Athroes
Mullgan 1 hand plain, ghost quartr, courtyard, Ling souls, Hero, Honor the pure. drew path, flipped gideon early and went to town on him.
Match 2
RU pyro assist/Delver of Secrets 2-0
Long game 1
went 30 minutes +
Mulligan 2 kept ranger, specter, 3 lands. drew Mikey, misplayed Mikey by tapping hm during my turn and not using him as a blocker. Figured this out after about 2 turns. Used Ranger to fetch marty and Ascendant, active Ascendant turn 5 electrolized, drew Ranger to fetch mikey and sister. My lifegain equaled the damage I took. I drew more sisters and ran away with the game. young Pyromancer fed my life gain.
Game 2 went to turns he gave it to me and dropped from tourney
SB in +2 Eiddon of Rhetoric,- 2(I forgot). I played Mikey with a spirits and sisters. Resolved an Eiddon turn 3. Slowed him down enough for me to develop a good board. His life at 7 mine at 24.
Match 3
Taking Turns 0-2
G1
Kept poor hand with Athreos, Honor, ascendant, Lingering Souls,ghost quarter,courtyard, plains. Wanted to try out Athreos. I should have recognized my opponent and figured him on Taking Turns. Turn 4 he went off, and again on "my" turn 5 his turn 14-15?
G2
+ 2 eiddon,+ mana Tithe out - Athreos, - honor, - Lingering souls
He Mulligan 1, I kept sister, Cat,Liguring Souls,2 courtyard, plains, ghost quarter. got him down to 5 life at Turn 4, he went off took 2 turns,I got a turn 5 all mana tapped and tapped creatures exhasted, swung with 2 spirits got him down 3 life, he finishes. I think If I can flip gideon maybe the planeswalker could get in? Other option is to go with marty ascendant turn 2.
Match 4
R Burn 1-2
G1
I missplayed and lost. Failed to swing in for lethal on my turn. I did not do the math had an 9/9 cat, and 2 sisters at 2/2. him at 13 life no blockers, I only swung with cat. I realized my mistake after.
G2
+ 2 ghost prison, + selfless spirit, + mana tithe, out - Athreos, - honor the pure, - Mikey, - Lingering souls.
Mulled 1, kept hand of Marty,2 mana, spector,honor the pure, Path to exile. scry Honor the pure. I slow played and marty on turn 2 got 12 life,
played honor the pure turn 3 and 4.
Grindy game his life at 3 mine at 6.
G3
fast game he kills everything and wins
overall
take away is marty is great and need more of in deck, tithe sucks, my sideboarding choices were bad. not effective. other than eiddon against burn/pyrodelver
I feel I'm improving and marty/ ascendant is great way to go. Archangel seems slow. Mikey is great card in most match ups. Still unsure of baby gideon.
Ive never tried it. I did consider it but I run 20 spells and 21-22 creatures, most are 1-2 drops. The question I asked myself was would I cast this turn 3? Would I want this over another card turn 3? Turn 3 I want to swing with my Pridemate, a big pridemate. Ideally turn 1 sister turn 2 Pridemate, turn 3 sister, sister, sister/ascendant. Second choice cast turn 3 spectral procession. ( Im ignoring martyr/ascendant turn 2 combo because we are taking about turn 3) You do not get a lot of benifit off of the 1 reduction in mana cost because the timing is a bit off. Ranger still comes out turn 4 it might get Archangel on turn 4. I run 2 angels as of now so it only advances 2 possible creatures, windbrisk heights advances them better.
Im am now trying monastery mentor for the same idea, token generator. I am not looking to play it on turn 3. Im think late game and flashback lingering souls and after Ive rooted out my 1 drops with my ranger my deck will be spell heavy.
But by all means try it out; see if it feels good.
3 matches
1-2-0
win vs jeski
loss to storm
loss to w/g humans
Match 1 vs Jeski 2-1-0
G1
Quick game beat him down with 2/2 sisters and pridemate. win
G2
He sideboards in boardwipes. He tempos and controls the game killing off and counter spelling my game. Counters Ranger 3 times. He animates a 4/4 flying land and blocks my 3/3 spirits. 2 honor on field he counters a windbrisk hieghts honor. with out the ranger I lose board presence, he counters my Archangel of Thune. He takes me down 6 damage a turn for 4 turns for the finish. Lose
G3
Quicker game, I come out with sister, pridemate, rest in piece, linguring souls, He lightning helix the Cat, then later anger the gods the rest, I cast honor the pure, honor the pure, followed by procession, He double electrolizes. I land a ranger next turn pull out sister and ascendant. I keep the presseure on him for the win chipping him down 2-3 points at a time for the win.
sideboard in 2 Rest in peace, 1 blitterblossoms, out Athroes, baby giddeon, path
overall the match up is not an instant win, but we are heavily favored. We develop faster and have better reach, we can get out of range of their kill spells and can go wide giving them too many targets to kill, they rely heavily on snapcaster and graveyard interactions. Pressuring them early with large creatures while going wide, hands with Honor of the pure are great. The magic number against this deck is toughness 4. They have to kill the pridemate turn 2. They will sideboard in lots of boardwipes, to kill off all the weenies. Try to be ready and look for anthem effects in opening hands.
Match 2 vs Storm 1-2-0
G1
Stormed off at turn 4, I pathed a goblin elecrolizer, lose.
G2
I win in 5 turns. He doesnt get the combo. Hope of ghipar gets killed and I pressure him with my guys forcing him to use mana to deal with them instead of looking for combo pieces.
G3
grindy game. I play sister, then Pridemate. Turn 3 I make a judgement call ( hand: sister, pridemate, honor, drew-Rest in Piece) I figure first game he stormed on turn 4 with extra land from my path. So I felt he would not Go Off on his turn 3. I play sister then pridemate. I swing for 7 6/6 pridemate 1/1 sister. His turn 3 he storms in 6 goblins. T4 I play rest in piece. This was the missplay If I played Rest In Piece turn 3 he could not have created the goblins hoard. The Hoard chump blocked my pridemates for 3 turns. He draws enough cards and bounces my rest in piece, then storms off Im at 49 life he is at 10. He gets to reuse his graveyard and he remands his grapeshot while storm (11) is on stack. He recasts it twice more at storm (20) for the win.
Sideboard in: 2 Pest in Piece, 2 Eidilon of the Rhetoric, 2 Hope of Ghirapur, 1 Bitterblossom Out: 2 archangel, athroes, Ranger, hero of Kytheon, 1 Mikey, 1 Path.
Thoughts, I feel after sideboarding this deck is completely beatable. Its removal light so our guys can run wild, it abuses its own life with fetchlands, it doesnt pack answers to what we can put out. I felt safe at 49 life I did not realise storm had that kind of reach. Shutting down the graveyard or/and keylime are great answers, redundancy of these I think will lead to victory, as they only have a few answers.
Match 3 vs G/W Humans 0-2-0
G1
He goes wide and bigger. I get to 29 life hes at 9, he swings with larger force and lords. He plays Thalia, heritic Cathar, on turn 4, my turn 5 I have an archangel and ghost quarter in hand. It takes 2 turns more to cast and it comes in tapped, had to block with my sister to stay alive. GG.
I should have played the GQ a turn earlier, instead of a plain. The game would have gone longer and I might have stabilized.
G2
I Kept a poor 1 land hand. Ranger, spectral procession, Linguring souls, soul warden, Cat,Plain, Fatal Push. At first look I thought Fatal Push was a swamp. My opponent Turn 2 Paths my soul warden, his misplay. I get back in the game. He developes a board faster with COCO, same as game 1 he goes wide and big, He lands a Thalia, heretic Cathar and Tireless Tracker off a CoCo Turn 3.
He misplays and attacks into my 8/8 Pridemate with his 5/4 tracker, He has 5 mana open and 3 clues. He is baiting me to block with my Pridemate. I feel its a trap, I dont block. It turns out he is bad at math and miscalculated. My Pridemate would have won. (tip- just because someone is overconfident does not mean they are right)
I draw into sisters and spirits. 3 sisters on field. and playing procession, each turn but its not enough to hold him off. My spirits come in tapped and cant chump block Im on defense with no outs. Im willing to concede but its last game so we play out my grisly death.
sideboard in- fatal push, selfless spirit, bitterblossoms out- ?,?,Hero of Akroes
Thoughts; Ive played this deck in the past and won agaisnt it. It seems ok match up, it depends who delevops faster, we have flyers they cant answer.
Sideboard ghost prison and wrath of god.
Overall, Ill rework my sideboard extensively to better hate on these match up, now that I got some strong meta data to look at.
Im thinking spell hate as there werre 3 storm decks present and usually there are 2 burn decks.
2-2-0
win vs r/u/w spellslinger
loss vs Jund Junk
win vs u/r
loss vs mono G
thoughts - windbrisk heights is a great card, going wide with spirits is really good, deck needs to be more interactive with opponent, Athroes saw some play and was good
4 Soul Attendant
4 Soul Warden
3 Serra Ascendant
3 Ranger of Eos
2 Archangel of thune
1 Mikaeus, The Lunarch
4 Ajanis Pridemate
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1 Athreos, God of Passage
3 Spectral Procession
4 Lingering Souls
4 Honor The Pure
4 Path to exile
lands 22
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Swamp
10 Plains
2 Windbrisk Heights
1 Godless shrine
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stoney Silence
2 Eiddon of Rhetoric
1 Sundering Growth
1 Selfless spirit
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 fatal push
1 Thalia, Guardian of thraben
2 hope of ghirapur
match 1
r/u/w 2-0-0
played against an experienced player so the win felt great.
Game 1 He Mulled 1 I kept full hand
windbrisk heights hit an archangel and second windbrisk hit a land. My opponent spent resorces and time keeping me from activating the windbrisk heights. I believe this helped create tempo for my deck and kept him off balance. I picked at him to death with 1/1's Angel did flip but he pathed my sister while it was on the stack. The splash of Black confused him. Opening hand was: swamp, ghost quarter, windbrisk Heights, Linguring souls, soul warden, Pridemate, Procession.
Game 2
He mulled 1 I kept hand of spirits
I ran over him with 1/1 spirit tokens 12 on board, more in hand and some in graveyard. Game went 6-7 turns.
Match 2
Jund Junk 1-2-0
Game 1
Inquisition me and discarded me 2 times, but I still pulled ahead.
Mulled 1 scry plains, Opening hand: Pridemate,Procession, godlessshrine, Athreos, Attendent, archangel
He took Athreos, I discard Liguring Souls he plays a Lilianna and I discard Archangel. Went back and forth but pulled ahead with spirits for win.
Game 2
Inquisition me, forgot what he took, had Honor,Athreos, Ghost Quarter, Concealed courtyard, soul Warden, Linguring souls
He keeps me down and I have mana troubles, he fulminator mage my concealed courtyard. leaving me with 2 mana for the game and nothing to cast for defense. He Olivia's to victory. Killing my guys and swinging.
Game 3
A bit grinder game.
Goes back and forth with trades. He keeps the sisters off the table, I path the oozes and tymgoph off. I misplay with a windbrisk heights hiding a spectral Procession, I cast a second Pridemate over Linguring souls. If I cast liguring souls I could set myself up to flip the heights next combat.
Instead he malstrom pulses my 2 Cats (4/4 -2/2). If I spirited the cats would have lived. I asked and he would have pulsed the flyers , which also would allow me to flashback and play the second cat the following turn.
Not sure if this misplay cost me the game but it did not help.
In the games he saw Athroes he made it a priority to keep him off the board.
Match 3
u/r 2-0-0
not a strong deck budget build by teenager. Tried a prowess theros themed deck, had weak build. (timmy style, suggested Thing in Ice and more spell slinger style to improve his deck)
ran over him both games.
Match 4
mono Green -stompy- 1-2-0
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/49630-treasure-cruisin-with-monogreen-stompy
great deck, loved playing against it. Played high value low cost creatures avatar of resolute, rancor, aspect of hydra , leatherback baloth, bow of nylea , experimental one
game 1 win
He got me down to 6 life he was at 16. He conceded the game I had board presence and he was top decking.
game 2 no sideboarding unsure what to expect.
loss to trample with aspect of hydra
game 3 loss
grindier game I keep sister on field we both go wide I chump block but restock my spirits. Athroes lands early (turn 4) but I dont feel its relevant (my opponent says it is later) I take damage 12 points at a time keeps my Ascendant small. His bow of nylea kills off my spirits and gives him enough life to muster the win. I might have misplayed by not attacking into him more with a 5/5 cat, I did not realize at the time deathtouch was only for attacking critters. I think he had a better sideways race. Athroes in the late game allows me to hold up his attacker as I can trade and not lose them which keeps him off attacks for a turn.
If you can proxy then maybe thalia, guardian of thraben selfless spirit hope of ghirapur might help
It sounds like you might want to sideboard out some Paths and try to go for a quicker win, look for a win condition in your opening hand and try to race these decks. The have strong removal but at a cost our spells are cheap so we can flood a board forcing them to deal with multiple threats. Try to go wide and big at the same time. Attack into open boards as much as you can. Our lifegain is our defense. We can trade spirits for there good stuff.
I struggle against jund, and abzan decks for the same reason. They are not unbeatable but are grindy. Assume your first beater will die and look for the second win condition in your opening hand.
hope this helps.
So between your exerting and you next untap phase you can tap you guy to crew a vehicle or for mana or your sneaky opponent can try and tap him for you. In which case the "you cannot untap next untap phase" becomes relevant.
I play 1 archangel, but I play 21 mana, I rarely see Archangel in the games I've played. When I do see her I dont have the mana to cast her.
I have found 5 lands in a few games but when i do I'm usually winning, or my opponent is doing bad things to me and the game is going long. My current line of thinking is to try and cheat archangel in with Heights and I'm running 22 Lands now.
I ran another deck with Archangel very similar to soulsisters, when angel lands with a field it is devastating, when angel lands with out a field it is still very good.
Soul Sisters can play a very great game with out the Angel.
The horse is strong, but not as good as Thune.
Other people will be grabbing up that horse as well (currently @ $5.99). I expect the price to Spike up, lots of synergy with tokens and life gain.
Personally I like dusk//dawn but I could not think of when to bring it in from the sideboard. I cut it for more meta related hate.
Its tough to wait on a card choice to see if it'll work right. A few of my games have lost with my opponent on 5 life then they come back to win. Im hoping Athreos will keep the pressure up.
The format seems diverse. Every tourney sees a variant of winning decks and a diversity of fielded decks. A strong player familiar with the deck they are playing will always do well against flavor of the month deck. I think the tourney results reflect this.
Emrakul was a good banning. It was coming off in some decks turn 4 with possibility of sooner. Copter was just a great value card that they did not print an answer for in the current set, which let it run wild and free (in every deck). Also remember standard attendance and revenue was being lost due to these perceived "oppressive" cards. WOTC still smarting from Eldrazi winter.
WU spirit deck was testing well at the time, WOTC felt it may be oppressive. They claimed a 60% win rate. No one knew what wizards was talking about with that statement at the time. But now seeing the cards that was slated to be released in the following sets the ban of Reflector mage makes sense. Imagine standard with saheeli rai , felidar guardian and reflector mage, yes wotc missed the copy cat comb but they might have seen the refector mage interactions.
Marvel should have been banned sooner. There are still too many cards in standard to cheat these large eldrazis in. But they are suppose to be rotated out already.
2-1-1
4th place out of 10
Loss to Jund 2-0
tie to 4c Nahiri soulfire deck
win to mono Red budget Burn
win to GW Humans
Match 1 Jund 0-2
Game 1 Keep cat, sister, Ascendant, Archangel, honor the pure, plain, sister
He discards my hand while I wait for another land and he pushes my guys I path his ooze and Goyph, but its not enough.
Game 2 Much better game for me but still a loss. I grind him down to 6 life but he stablizes and board stalls. Spirits chipped away at him until he slowly kills them off. huntmaster of the fells totally wrecked my board. His Oozes keeps him alive. I miscalculate and loss my sisters.
His top decks are better than mine I draw 3 lands. I also misplayed Ghost Quarter by not killing his only red mana for a turn allowing him to create a board state. My life total got to 44.
Match 2 ? RBGW 1-1-1
Game 1 keep Archangel,2 plain, Serra ascendant, spectral procession, Path, pridemate He thoughtsiezes me down and plays a Lilianna killing off my threats I get him down to 4 life he plays {card] soulfire grand master [/card] and bounces {card] lightning helix [/card] repeat until ultimate nahiri into spaghetti monster.GG.
game 2 keep 2 sisters, 2 plain, honor the pure, Ascendant, Ranger I miss sister triggers but still win, he shock and fetch lands himself down and still puts up fight with lots of planeswalkers to kill off.
game 3 goes to turns had him down to 6 life before he recovers with soulfire into helix combo
His deck is still in developement stage he went 0-1-3 most of his games went to turns.
Match 3 R Burn 2-0
Game 1 win, raced life totals missed triggers on sisters. Close game but not really in danger.
Game 2, keep hand 4 plain, sister, 2 honor he Mulligans 1, I slow play and only put out honors letting him bolt me and not my team. Sister comes out turn 4 as 3/3 I pathed his swiftspear turn 3. He got me down to 8 life turn 5 before I started gaining back life.
Match 4 GW Humans 2-0
game 1 on the draw keep 3 honor,ranger,Linger souls, Hero, plain, draw martyr , Play the hero it gets pathed play cat it gets pathed draw more spirits. I Honor and spirit the board. quick game with 6 4/4 spirits and lots of gas in hand.
game 2 Sb out 2 martyrs, in Hero, Oblivion stone
Game was a bit grindy I keep hand of cat, sister, ascendant, 3 land, path I play a slow developing game with my cat racing his Champion of Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant he plays another Lieutenant I play another sister and 2 more cats he casts raise the alarm to chump block I path his large guys and take the small damage. Easy match up with him feeding my life and pumping my cats.
over all thoughts, mikey the Lunarch still a good card, saw some play died way too soon.
Hero of Akros saw a lot of play this FNM might be a better blocker than an attacker. Decent but hes on the chopping block
Archangel saw hand time but not able to hold onto in order to cast. Wished for this card in jund and 4c match up
Martyr is also on chopping block does not feel relevent in most match ups.
Athros god, never saw play still waiting to test it.
In some of the matchups I wanted more removal did not see it with sideboard. Path felt bad with the Jund and 4c Nahira decks Push might be more favorable.
Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim seems like a great addition. How do you figure she protects a better from a path? In some cases would a free land be better, over more life?
I assume you put in the Anguish of unmaking over Oblivion ring , banishing light because its and instant.
Hope of Ghirapur and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben early and often. Slow Turns down to keep him off T3 plays which seems like when he sets himself up to go off on T4.
Sb out - 2 Ghost Prison, - Mana Tithe, - Aven Mindcensor
In + 2 Hope of Ghirapur, + Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, + Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Soul Attendant
4 Soul Warden
3 Serra Ascendant
3 Ranger of Eos
2 Martyr or Sands
1 Archangel of thune
1 Mikaeus, The Lunarch
4 Ajanis Pridemate
1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
1 Athreos, God of Passage
3 Spectral Procession
4 Lingering Souls
4 Honor The Pure
4 Path to exile
lands 21
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Swamp
12 Plains
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stoney Silence
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Eiddon of Rhetoric
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Sundering Growth
1 Selfless spirit
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 mana tithe
Played this at FNM
Tested out mana tithe, Athreos, God of Passage,Mikaeus, The Lunarch ,and Kytheon, Hero of Akros.
over all, Tithe was unimpressive never got cast was a dead card in hand, Athreos saw very little play, need more time to judge, I did keep a hand I would normally ditch just to see if it was good. If I was not playing against Taking Turns that game I think the results would be different. Mikey was a MVP, saw play in a few matches. Mikey pumped himself and others. Important combat trick with Mikey use his ability on your opponents turn, I messed this up a few rounds, He can block and then tap either to buff himself or others. Early game he can act as a blocker that grows himself until he gains friends or until he's boss and can swing without fear. Late game you can sink mana into to become a threat on his own. In all games my opponents had to deal with him. The Hero of Akros, was fair, not much to speak of. Saw play a few times and was good, flipped a couple of times. Unsure if he improved anything. I do want to see him flipped on a Taking Turns deck, this might be the way to go against them.
2-2
Matches
Deaths Shadow, RU pyro/Delver secrets, Taking Turns, R Burn
Match 1
Death's Shadow 2-0
G1
He killed himself very well got out 3 Shadows, but I chump blocked and won. Hand, Marty, ascendent, Lingering Souls, Honor the pure,3 land (swamp)
If he had a trample or a double strike I would have been done. Beat me down to 5 life I let damage in so I could attack on my turn.
G2
He killed himself very well got out tamgoyph, but I chump blocked and won. SB + Ghost Prison, + Oblivion Ring, - Honor, - Mikey, - Athroes
Mullgan 1 hand plain, ghost quartr, courtyard, Ling souls, Hero, Honor the pure. drew path, flipped gideon early and went to town on him.
Match 2
RU pyro assist/Delver of Secrets 2-0
Long game 1
went 30 minutes +
Mulligan 2 kept ranger, specter, 3 lands. drew Mikey, misplayed Mikey by tapping hm during my turn and not using him as a blocker. Figured this out after about 2 turns. Used Ranger to fetch marty and Ascendant, active Ascendant turn 5 electrolized, drew Ranger to fetch mikey and sister. My lifegain equaled the damage I took. I drew more sisters and ran away with the game. young Pyromancer fed my life gain.
Game 2 went to turns he gave it to me and dropped from tourney
SB in +2 Eiddon of Rhetoric,- 2(I forgot). I played Mikey with a spirits and sisters. Resolved an Eiddon turn 3. Slowed him down enough for me to develop a good board. His life at 7 mine at 24.
Match 3
Taking Turns 0-2
G1
Kept poor hand with Athreos, Honor, ascendant, Lingering Souls,ghost quarter,courtyard, plains. Wanted to try out Athreos. I should have recognized my opponent and figured him on Taking Turns. Turn 4 he went off, and again on "my" turn 5 his turn 14-15?
G2
+ 2 eiddon,+ mana Tithe out - Athreos, - honor, - Lingering souls
He Mulligan 1, I kept sister, Cat,Liguring Souls,2 courtyard, plains, ghost quarter. got him down to 5 life at Turn 4, he went off took 2 turns,I got a turn 5 all mana tapped and tapped creatures exhasted, swung with 2 spirits got him down 3 life, he finishes. I think If I can flip gideon maybe the planeswalker could get in? Other option is to go with marty ascendant turn 2.
Match 4
R Burn 1-2
G1
I missplayed and lost. Failed to swing in for lethal on my turn. I did not do the math had an 9/9 cat, and 2 sisters at 2/2. him at 13 life no blockers, I only swung with cat. I realized my mistake after.
G2
+ 2 ghost prison, + selfless spirit, + mana tithe, out - Athreos, - honor the pure, - Mikey, - Lingering souls.
Mulled 1, kept hand of Marty,2 mana, spector,honor the pure, Path to exile. scry Honor the pure. I slow played and marty on turn 2 got 12 life,
played honor the pure turn 3 and 4.
Grindy game his life at 3 mine at 6.
G3
fast game he kills everything and wins
overall
take away is marty is great and need more of in deck, tithe sucks, my sideboarding choices were bad. not effective. other than eiddon against burn/pyrodelver
I feel I'm improving and marty/ ascendant is great way to go. Archangel seems slow. Mikey is great card in most match ups. Still unsure of baby gideon.