Is there a set time the new day's thread gets posted? I finished up my post for 6/5 just now, about at midnight my time--not that I was worried because so far every day I'd posted people had been adding to the thread until ~2-3am my time. It seems the thread for 6/6 was posted while I was making my post for 6/5 though, which is a pity.
Sad Days Are Upon Us2UUUU
Sorcery (M)
Split Second
Target opponent cannot tap permanents until your next combat phase.
Punishment (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it. Any player may chose to cast it from exile for free. If they do, they must choose an opponent to name a number less than their current life total. They lose that much life.)
Riftsweeper/void attendant gives you the option to stripmine your opponent with flickerwisp. That combo might be too cute for maindeck but as a way to finagle a win against tron or other slow big mana decks it might be worth side boarding.
I know this thread is for Bant Soulherder but as an aside, something I plan on playing soon is esper soulherder and I have high hopes for that too. Instead of relying on green for ramp and repeated value esper leans into aether vial and unearth to keep the board populated while maindecking fewer minions, which allows you to get value out of bouncing snapcaster. In theory, anyway.
I agree that the most viable form of the deck is GWb, but I've been having a hell of a time figuring out what to put in it.
One thing about your list that I wonder about is the lack of 1 drops. With 8-10 taplands, which is what I've been running in my lists, 1 mana on turn 2 happens a lot, and like you said the deck frequently gets stomped by decks with a strong aggro early-game.
A card I've tried out and seemed not terrible is Riftsweeper. It fits well into a plan to abuse Tidehollow sculler and flickerwisp. My issue has been that the manabase rarely plays nice enough to play those minions when they matter.
I think mainboard Finks is going to be a staple. Wasteland Strangler too in any deck with black.
No. Drift will be running cycle lands, which are tap lands. Chalice is usually for decks with fast mana, and never for ones with maindeck ~6-10 tap lands...
I'm really not sure what Drift will need sideboard. I guess I'll learn in playtesting.
Gaining life might not be great in the eyes of experienced players, but that doesn't mean there isn't a mana cost for gaining life when considering card balance. Exiling all lands from a players graveyard is a very powerful effect with multiple ways to abuse it, regardless of life gain. You could target yourself with it in a dredge/self-mill strat and reshuffle your gy into your deck as a way to give yourself a much better long-game. In legacy it could counter loam decks (and maybe in modern if loam decks become a thing after MH1). Add in the lifegain and all on its own it might make sultai mill into a deck. Imagine, t1 hedron crab, t2 fetch land into glimpse the unthinkable, t3 fetch land into Revitalizing Loam, your Expected Value facing an opponent with 20 lands is ~7 lands for 21 points of lifegain. Add in arboreal grazers and 1 or 2 oblivion sowers, your normal complement of dimir mill/control spells, maybe some simic ramp, and voila.
...actually that sounds really cool. Giving mill decks a way to survive long enough to win might actually make them viable, and I've always wanted to play a mill deck that didn't suck.
Azothic LichBBB
Creature - Zombie (R)
When Azothic Lich enters the battlefield, exile target permanent you control with X time counters on it. If it doesn't have suspend, it gains suspend. You lose X life.
When Azothic Lich leaves the battlefield, if the exiled card has time counters on it, return Azothic Lich to the battlefield at the beginning of your next upkeep. It has haste.
When the exiled card is cast sacrifice Azothic Lich as it resolves. 5/5
There are some obvious picks-- the altars: Ashnod's altar, Phyrexian altar, Altar of dementia; viscera seer; and carrion feeder. Culling dais is somewhat nifty, though you can't sack arbitrary numbers of creatures to it in a turn. Torgaar, Famine Incarnate comes to mind for being one of the few- possibly the only- creature that lets you sack any number of creatures upon casting it.
I think that list would absolutely love Aether Vial. Imagine this: turn 4, you resolve Teferi, Aether Vial is up at 3 counters, and you have Silence and Flickerwisp in hand. You get to cast Silence on their turn, if something threatens your Teferi you tap vial bring out wisp and tuck Teferi. Turn 5, cast soulherder, tap vial to bring out witness in reaction to surgical extraction, saving your Silence and boom, locked. Is it a dream scenario? Sure. But with eladamri's call and the London mulligan it could be somewhat consistent tbh.
If one ephemerate is in the gy and the other in hand, it forms its own combo with witness/teferi/silence, incidentally-- ephemerate witness drawing silence from gy, then on the rebound drawing the other copy of ephemerate. That adds a card to the combo and renders it more vulnerable to gy hate though.
Scion of the Ephemeral1UG
Creature - Eldrazi Scion Processor (R)
Devoid (this card has no color)
Flash
When Scion of the Ephemeral enters the battlefield, you may put all creature cards target opponent controls from exile that entered exile this turn into that player's graveyard. If you do, create a 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion creature for each creature card placed into the graveyard this way. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add C." 1/1
Regarding your card submission today-- I really like it! But the wording of the 'Good Run' half confuses me-- I think it means to say "for each permanent that entered the battlefield this turn, create a token that is a copy of it"- am I right? Because as written it seems to say to "create *1* token, which is a copy of every permanent that entered the battlefield this turn," which wouldn't be possible.
Looking over the list, I would cut: Serra, 1 Eternal Witness, 1 Giver of Runes, for 3 Ephemerates. Serra comes online a bit late for burn/aggro, and I think ephemerate is a better card if the game goes past turn 4. My experience with Eternal Witness is that it can played on 3 to draw you 1 non-impactful early-game minion 50% of the time and does nothing unless you keep it in hand most of the rest of the time-- and again, if the game goes long I think ephemerate has an equal or better chance of producing value. Giver of runes will be great when it survives turn 1-2 and protects Soulherder on 3, but otherwise I bet it will feel like a dud draw. I would maybe even run Thraben Inspectors instead, but the possibility of Giver taking the path/bolt/push so that soulherder may live probably makes it good, since soulherder really is what makes the deck tick.
On that note, soulherder being essential to the game plan is another good reason to run ephemerate over the above cards-- it introduces a degree of redundancy, giving you 2 flickers for 1 card-- if soulherder gets 2 flickers off before dying it will always have at least 2-for-1-ed the opponent.
As for how to fit in fiend hunter, it does the same job as reflector mage so that would be the replacement. For more than 1 copy, I guess deputy of detention could go-- it will only be substantially different if you're facing something like Mardu Pyromancer and need to zap a board of tokens, and in that case it could be sideboarded in.
I'm really curious about how watcher for tomorrow will perform. I think it's a sleeper in the set.
Once Modern Horizons is out on mtgo I might give this a whirl. It's been ages since I signed onto mtgo-- arena has all my attention-- but Modern Horizons is too darn exciting lol.
While the trick with soulherder/flickerwisp is neat, if you want to do something like that consider the ephemerate/fiend hunter combo- you play fiend hunter targeting an opponent's creature, then cast ephemerate targeting fiend hunter in response, fiend hunter's secondary ability ('when this card leaves the battlefield return exiled card to the battlefield') goes on the stack ahead of its etb ability, permanently exiling the target creature when both resolve. Then when fiend hunter returns to the battlefield you can target your own creature for Maximum Value, tucking it so that next turn you cast the rebounded ephemerate on fiend hunter again, releasing your creature so that its etb triggers again and this time targeting an opponent's creature when fiend enters the battlefield for the third time. You could also do that combo with restoration angel if you have a million mana, or you could have fiend hunter on the field already and bounce it with soulherder and then start the combo with resto or ephemerate on your end step. That seems more reliable than needing both flickerwisp and soulherder to survive consecutive turns. Plus this is a good example of why blade splicer is good for the deck-- let's say you do get to bounce flickerwisp multiple times, and then your opponent finally gets rid of soulherder. By the end step of that turn, you will have nothing more to show for all of the times flickerwisp was bounced, as opposed to soulherder leaving behind an army of golems if splicer had been the creature it was bouncing. If the decks you're facing are too fast/burn-y for 3 splicers, since you're running Eladamri anyway just 1 splicer will give you a decent chance of steamrolling your opponent if creature aggro is required.
As for acidic slime, it is outclassed by knight of autumn for artifact/enchantment removal, and it hits the board way too late to have a meaningful effect through land destruction in most matchups. A single copy of knight of autumn maindeck and a field of ruin or two sideboarded does acidic slime's job a lot better imo.
I didn't include wraith because of three reasons: my list has no black (yes I know in 95% of cases wraith is just an instant with 'pay 2 life to cycle this card' written on it, but the edge-case where you play it as a creature *does* exist), my list has no maindeck lifegain, and the deck prefers to have all of its cycle cards be lands so that the creature slots stay open. That being said, replacing the Recluse for Wraith, and even going down 2 Knight of the Reliquary for a full playset of Wraith, does feel perfectly viable. I haven't play tested the list much so you may be right and it may be better.
A soulherder deck! I'm really excited for the card too, though I haven't exactly figured out which way to go with it. I think it's interesting you went for bant instead of esper, but didn't include the loam/drift cycling package. True, the astral drift package is somewhat redundant if the plan is to flicker things with wisp/resto/soulherder, but it more reliably pumps your herder and the cycle lands/life from the loam you'd play alongside it would provide more reliable card advantage than wall of omens/blossoms. But I digress.
This list feels really greedy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Settle the wreckage seems like an obvious choice, both by giving you an asymmetrical board wipe that allows you to keep early-game gains from your dorks and by pumping your herder if it's out already. You could make room by dropping a copy of Restoration Angel and cutting 1-2 Eladamri's calls. slightly reducing the list's greed.
Deputy of detention is a strange choice- flickering it can provide extra value in some edge-cases but it usually results in no extra value and sometimes actively hurts you. Reflector mage fits in the same slot and more reliably provides value when flickered. Flickerwisp is also a questionable choice; it does provide more flickering opportunities but it has a tough mana cost, doesn't get picked up by Reveillark, and doesn't have flash. If the extra flickering opportunities are needed, replacing it with ephemerate would be an improvement, otherwise blade splicer feels like an amazing choice for this deck-- I'd look to put it in even if ephemerate takes the wisp's spot. Having the wall/thragtusk/watcher be your only context-independent etb value generators feels bad. I'd consider replacing Finks with Splicer; maindecking both finks and thragtusk feels like overkill life-gain-wise, plus Finks doesn't get hit by Reveillark. Finks can always be sideboarded in for burn matches.
Another possible replacement/addition is arboreal grazer. It serves the dual purpose of being mana ramp and being flickerable-- alongside cheap flicker like ephemerate and a land-heavy draw it could double or triple ramp you, giving you 4-5 mana by turn 3 while not being vulnerable to removal (you keep the mana ramp if grazer gets bolted) and being a better blocker. Of course grazer doesn't always provide value if you don't have the lands on-hand, becoming usually useless past turn 2-3, and it doesn't help you with mana-screw, so there's an equal argument to be made that heirarch is better-- just including 2 by cutting a witness and a heirarch could hedge against this and gives you 5 options to ramp, which is an improvement-- witness feels like a win-more card in this list.
Sad Days Are Upon Us 2UUUU
Sorcery (M)
Split Second
Target opponent cannot tap permanents until your next combat phase.
Punishment (When this card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it. Any player may chose to cast it from exile for free. If they do, they must choose an opponent to name a number less than their current life total. They lose that much life.)
I know this thread is for Bant Soulherder but as an aside, something I plan on playing soon is esper soulherder and I have high hopes for that too. Instead of relying on green for ramp and repeated value esper leans into aether vial and unearth to keep the board populated while maindecking fewer minions, which allows you to get value out of bouncing snapcaster. In theory, anyway.
I agree that the most viable form of the deck is GWb, but I've been having a hell of a time figuring out what to put in it.
One thing about your list that I wonder about is the lack of 1 drops. With 8-10 taplands, which is what I've been running in my lists, 1 mana on turn 2 happens a lot, and like you said the deck frequently gets stomped by decks with a strong aggro early-game.
A card I've tried out and seemed not terrible is Riftsweeper. It fits well into a plan to abuse Tidehollow sculler and flickerwisp. My issue has been that the manabase rarely plays nice enough to play those minions when they matter.
I think mainboard Finks is going to be a staple. Wasteland Strangler too in any deck with black.
I'm really not sure what Drift will need sideboard. I guess I'll learn in playtesting.
...actually that sounds really cool. Giving mill decks a way to survive long enough to win might actually make them viable, and I've always wanted to play a mill deck that didn't suck.
Azothic Lich BBB
Creature - Zombie (R)
When Azothic Lich enters the battlefield, exile target permanent you control with X time counters on it. If it doesn't have suspend, it gains suspend. You lose X life.
When Azothic Lich leaves the battlefield, if the exiled card has time counters on it, return Azothic Lich to the battlefield at the beginning of your next upkeep. It has haste.
When the exiled card is cast sacrifice Azothic Lich as it resolves.
5/5
I think that list would absolutely love Aether Vial. Imagine this: turn 4, you resolve Teferi, Aether Vial is up at 3 counters, and you have Silence and Flickerwisp in hand. You get to cast Silence on their turn, if something threatens your Teferi you tap vial bring out wisp and tuck Teferi. Turn 5, cast soulherder, tap vial to bring out witness in reaction to surgical extraction, saving your Silence and boom, locked. Is it a dream scenario? Sure. But with eladamri's call and the London mulligan it could be somewhat consistent tbh.
If one ephemerate is in the gy and the other in hand, it forms its own combo with witness/teferi/silence, incidentally-- ephemerate witness drawing silence from gy, then on the rebound drawing the other copy of ephemerate. That adds a card to the combo and renders it more vulnerable to gy hate though.
Scion of the Ephemeral 1UG
Creature - Eldrazi Scion Processor (R)
Devoid (this card has no color)
Flash
When Scion of the Ephemeral enters the battlefield, you may put all creature cards target opponent controls from exile that entered exile this turn into that player's graveyard. If you do, create a 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion creature for each creature card placed into the graveyard this way. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add C."
1/1
Regarding your card submission today-- I really like it! But the wording of the 'Good Run' half confuses me-- I think it means to say "for each permanent that entered the battlefield this turn, create a token that is a copy of it"- am I right? Because as written it seems to say to "create *1* token, which is a copy of every permanent that entered the battlefield this turn," which wouldn't be possible.
On that note, soulherder being essential to the game plan is another good reason to run ephemerate over the above cards-- it introduces a degree of redundancy, giving you 2 flickers for 1 card-- if soulherder gets 2 flickers off before dying it will always have at least 2-for-1-ed the opponent.
As for how to fit in fiend hunter, it does the same job as reflector mage so that would be the replacement. For more than 1 copy, I guess deputy of detention could go-- it will only be substantially different if you're facing something like Mardu Pyromancer and need to zap a board of tokens, and in that case it could be sideboarded in.
I'm really curious about how watcher for tomorrow will perform. I think it's a sleeper in the set.
Once Modern Horizons is out on mtgo I might give this a whirl. It's been ages since I signed onto mtgo-- arena has all my attention-- but Modern Horizons is too darn exciting lol.
As for acidic slime, it is outclassed by knight of autumn for artifact/enchantment removal, and it hits the board way too late to have a meaningful effect through land destruction in most matchups. A single copy of knight of autumn maindeck and a field of ruin or two sideboarded does acidic slime's job a lot better imo.
This list feels really greedy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Settle the wreckage seems like an obvious choice, both by giving you an asymmetrical board wipe that allows you to keep early-game gains from your dorks and by pumping your herder if it's out already. You could make room by dropping a copy of Restoration Angel and cutting 1-2 Eladamri's calls. slightly reducing the list's greed.
Deputy of detention is a strange choice- flickering it can provide extra value in some edge-cases but it usually results in no extra value and sometimes actively hurts you. Reflector mage fits in the same slot and more reliably provides value when flickered. Flickerwisp is also a questionable choice; it does provide more flickering opportunities but it has a tough mana cost, doesn't get picked up by Reveillark, and doesn't have flash. If the extra flickering opportunities are needed, replacing it with ephemerate would be an improvement, otherwise blade splicer feels like an amazing choice for this deck-- I'd look to put it in even if ephemerate takes the wisp's spot. Having the wall/thragtusk/watcher be your only context-independent etb value generators feels bad. I'd consider replacing Finks with Splicer; maindecking both finks and thragtusk feels like overkill life-gain-wise, plus Finks doesn't get hit by Reveillark. Finks can always be sideboarded in for burn matches.
Another possible replacement/addition is arboreal grazer. It serves the dual purpose of being mana ramp and being flickerable-- alongside cheap flicker like ephemerate and a land-heavy draw it could double or triple ramp you, giving you 4-5 mana by turn 3 while not being vulnerable to removal (you keep the mana ramp if grazer gets bolted) and being a better blocker. Of course grazer doesn't always provide value if you don't have the lands on-hand, becoming usually useless past turn 2-3, and it doesn't help you with mana-screw, so there's an equal argument to be made that heirarch is better-- just including 2 by cutting a witness and a heirarch could hedge against this and gives you 5 options to ramp, which is an improvement-- witness feels like a win-more card in this list.