Sisters of Saint Traft Deck Primer(W/U Soul Sisters)
Soul Sisters is usually classified as a white based lifegain aggro deck. As best as I can find* Conley Woods originally conceived and piloted this deck in a standard season to some level of success, if namely by virtue of popularity. It can be a budget deck and is redundant enough to be favored in most fair matchups. This style of deck, Soul Sisters, has, for whatever reason, not seen a major victory on the recent competitive scene, to the best of my knowledge.
*Sources https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/144 http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/td/105
This particular list is closer to a Reid Duke variant that a friend turned me onto after I expressed an interest of getting off of B/W Tokens and trying Soul Sisters. Mr. Duke took a slower approach to Sisters by replacing anthems with Archangel of Thune and playing a higher land count. I built that list and enjoyed it enough, but noticed that the unfair decks were, almost universally, bad matchups. Sisters does rely largely on your opponent helping you win by casting and resolving creatures at a reasonable pace, something many combo decks will neglect to help you with. To combat this I started playing different Sisters lists, from Norins Sisters (W/R), I found it to be more explosive, but less consistent, I also tried B/W Sisters, Inquisition on Kosolek was ok, but not enough to pull my favor in some matchups, I even wrote a few W/G Sisters lists, which always begged the question: Why not play W/G Hate Bears? I eventually stumbled onto the idea of W/U Sisters, playing counter magic, remnants of W/U Control of Standards Past, and Playing creatures that bring friends, like
Geist of Saint Traft
. Ive settled on this list because Im of a not-so-uncommon mindset that states: All I want to do is draw cards, gain life, and shower my opponents in cats.
We will start the actual primer by listing the non-land cards in the deck and why they are here. Thank you for bearing with me for the preface.
Soul Warden - A sister that this list is named after. Its really important to remember that she and her sister trigger when any players creature enters play at any time. Its an easy trigger to miss, dont fall into that trap.
Soul's Attendant - The second sister. These two, as a rule of thumb, help determine some mulligans, as games with them and games without them are very different.
Auriok Champion - Shes like an older step sister, I suppose. The games where she is good, she is amazing. Burn, Twin, Jund, Loam Assault, and Goblins have a very hard time playing their games with even one of her in play. That said, as a card with converted mana cost (CMC) of two, she is sometimes a tricky card to sequence correctly.
Ajani's Pridemate - This is the most obvious threat, most games, when it resolves. Its also the easiest answer. Dependant on how savvy your opponent is it dies to almost everything, including a lowly Shock. If he isnt answered by two turns? It ends most red decks.
Ranger of Eos - This card is, as best as I can tell, the actual lynchpin of any Soul Sister list. This is how you obtain the most consistent card advantage the deck can offer. He trades with most things or eats removal, he beats a lot of discard spells, like
Thoughtseize
. He also allows you to easily play around sweepers, like Wrath of God, as he can often force a sweeper by being in play and gives you two sisters to help set up shop afterward. Please note: This card is much better with Serra Ascendant and
Martyr of Sands
, I make no claims to the contrary, I just chose a different path.
Archangel of Thune - Someone once told me that this deck is simply Trigger my Angel more. and not Soul Sisters. He was not wrong. This card is the only reason I play Soul Sisters, and a reason I think the deck can be well placed in a meta. She demands an answer, and if she is not she will win nine out of ten games on her own. Please be advised that Archangel makes herself and all your creatures into Ajani's Pridemate, via effect, meaning if casting the Archangel would gain you life by entering play she gives that many +1/+1 counters to herself and other creatures you control.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos - This card is not Lightning Bolt-able and adds a large amount of value as it plays. He replaced Serra Ascendant in my seventy-five because, by comparison, immediate pressure, instead of conditional, and I can guarantee three mana as well as I can one.
Geist of Saint Traft
- Like Brimaz, Geist is a high-impact and tricky to answer. With the right game he is actually almost impossible to answer before it is far too late.
Path to Exile - The go-to for removal in white based decks. Pretty obvious why it is here.
Remand - This deck is slower than most Sisters lists, but game one can often be won by putting off whatever you opponent wants, the turn they want it, for a turn so you can resolve your next threat and change your opponents priorities. Drawing a card isnt here or there. The important thing to note is that this slot is meant for positioning. Im not really looking for anything but trying to dictate the pace of play for my game one. Mana Leak is much better games two and three.
Sideboarding
Twin
In: Mana Leak x3
Suppression Field
x2 Detention Sphere x1
Out: Soul's Attendant x1 Soul Warden x1 Remand x2 Archangel of Thune x1
The Mana Leaks are helpful to bring in to hopefully stop any silver bullets, but, more importantly, they can help you win counter wars, should you position yourself well enough.
Suppression Field
is very helpful to shut down the infinite combo that Twin threatens and tax their mana, keeping your opponent honest. Game two Twin often resolves some tough cards to answer, such as Keronos, God of Storms, and having one Detention Sphere to play to is great.
Zoo
In: Supreme Verdict x2 Detention Sphere x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: Remand x4 Brimaz, King of Oreskos x1 Soul's Attendant x1 Soul Warden x1
Often plays games with very few lands or taps out on its own turn, so Mana Leak does some minor work here. You should be the control deck in the match up, so having answers to the board seems important, in the cards Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere. On the play I remove one Detention Sphere for the third Brimaz, King of Oreskos.
B/G Midrange
In: Mana Leak x3
Out: Remand x2 Soul Warden x1
This matchup for Soul Sisters is ideal game one. We just try to keep the same deck games two and three. Mana Leak is supposed to answer any real problem cards, allowing you to keep your natural advantage.
Infect
In:
Suppression Field
x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: Auriok Champion x2 Soul Warden x1 Soul's Attendant x1 Archangel of Thune x1
This is not a good matchup for Sisters.
Suppression Field
is critical to have early here. Most infect decks operate on very little mana, and rely on Spellskite activations to protect their threats. This card slows them down enough for you to hopefully win. For the same reason Remand and Mana Leak stay for games two and three.
Amulet Bloom
In:
Suppression Field
x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: Auriok Champion x2 Soul's Attendant x1 Soul Warden x2
This deck, Scapeshift, and Tron are very hard to play against and beat with Soul Sisters. We want to play against creature decks, not land decks. That said, its not unwinnable for Sisters.
Suppression Field
helps to fight the Slayers Strongholds of the deck, and fun cards. Mana Leak comes in to hopefully stop a Hivemind from resolving.
Affinity
In:
Suppression Field
x2 Stony Silence x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: Soul Warden x1 Remand x4 Auriok Champion x2
Suppression Field
is doing what it always does: Destroying your opponents efficiency by taxing their mana, and, of course, an unanswered Stony Silence usually puts a check in your match.
Scapeshift
In: Leyline of Sanctity x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: Souls Attendants x1 Soul Warden x1 Path to Exile x3
Having Leyline of Sanctity in your opening hand and having it go unanswered is your best bet here. Mana Leak hopefully helps you protect that line of play.
G/W Hexproof
In: Detention Sphere x2 Supreme Verdict x2
Out: Path to Exile x4
Detention Sphere hopefully removes Rancor or Daybreak Coronet. Supreme Verdict hopefully comes around to clear up their board and allow you to set up your better late game threats.
Burn
In: Leyline of Sanctity x2 Detention Sphere x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: path x1 Soul Warden x1 Soul's Attendant x1 Remand x2 Celestial Colonnade x1 Ajani's Pridemate x1
This is actually very easy to lose. Leyline of Sanctity helps, but cannot be relied on. Detention Sphere comes in to answer Leyline of Punishment, and Mana Leak give you some play around some of your opponents more potent spells, like Searing Blaze.
Delver
In: Supreme Verdict x2 Mana Leak x3
Out: Remand x3 Soul Warden x1 Soul's Attendant x1
Uncounterable removal is king here. The longer the game goes the better your deck looks, and the better your chances of winning. It order to beat your lifegain many Delver decks will overcommit to the board. It also has a hard time answering some of your cards should they resolve.
Tron
In: Detention Sphere x2
Suppression Field
x2 Stony Silence x2
Out: Soul Warden x2 Soul's Attendant x2 Archangel of Thune x2
A very tough matchup. This deck cannot absolutely answer a resolved Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and that can come out as soon as turn four. Detention Sphere is, most often, only a temporary answer. You want to slow down the Tron deck so Stony Silence and
Suppression Field
will stop or slow down their Expedition Map and other artifacts and planeswalkers.
Most games on the play I like having three Remands and two Mana Leaks. Remand is something that feels much better when you are ahead.
With the popularity of U/B/R rising, namely for delve cards, I dont remove my Remands, as they gain so much value after your opponent has thinned their graveyard. Also, its important to remember that if you Remand a card that is flashed back it is exiled, not put in their hand.
Be careful blocking red or black creatures with Auriok Champion, if you feel that your opponent has a Skullcrack at the ready, as this will allow those creatures to kill your Champion.
I like fetching for basic lands first, until I have Plains and Island. Mainboard nonbasic hate is getting more and more popular.
When casting Archangel of Thune or Ajani's Pridemate this is a level of sequencing you can use to get the most value. This assumes you have at least two sisters in play and more than one in your hand. If this is not the case play as you normally would. If this is the case you play the Archangel or Pridemate first, then play the sisters. If you play the two (minimum) sisters first then the Angel or Pridemate will only get four +1/+1 counters. If you play Angel or Pridemate before casting sisters three and four the Angel and Pridemate have 2 +1/+1 counters, from the two sisters already in play, then they get two more +1/+1 counters upon the resolution of sister number three. So we have 4 +1/+1 counters on the Angel or Pridemate. When you resolve sister number four the Angel or Pridemate get three more +1/+1 counters. This means that the Angel is a 10/11 by the end of this turn, instead of a 7/8 , the Pridemate is a 9/9 instead of a 6/6. The more triggers you can get, usually the better.
It is also important to note that you have a great game against most infinite creature combos. If you have one sister in play then Twin must answer it before making x Deceiver Exarch, as you gain enough life to make no difference in life totals if they all attack. You need two sisters for Pestermite. With any sisters in play you gain a good deal of life if your opponent tries to combo with Kitchen Finx, etc. Murderous Redcap is different however! As it can systematically remove your sisters from play before killing you. Also! If you have a sister and an Archangel in play you cant lose to infinite Pestermites (short of removing the Archangel or sister from play) as the Archangel will be large enough to gain you one life for each point of life you have gained while the Archangel has been in play, plus three, when it blocks. So, its like having two sisters in play. You should have lethal the next time you attack, by the way.
Man lands, like Celestial Colonnade or Mutavault, do not trigger sisters upon activation or being played, as they are non-creatures when they enter the battlefield, and are already in play when they become a creature. Same goes for morphs that flip up, however you do trigger when the morph is cast, you just dont trigger when a morph is turned face up.
-AR
