Soulfire: A better of kind of Ensoul deck.
Since M15 rolled into Standard, I've been interested in Ensoul Artifact and finding a good home for it. I've tried out a few different approaches (blue weenies, heavy artifacts, mono blue and blue splashing red) and had a lot of fun with the different setups, but none of them felt overly competitive; A quick 5/5 often isn't enough to win the game when Standard is full of midrange decks and life gain, Ensoul decks are vulnerable to control - particularly Thoughtseize and exile effects - and also tend to run cards that are only good with the correct counterpart/s, which makes them inconsistent and prone to bad draws.
I ended up stripping the deck back to the cards I really wanted to run - Ensoul Artifact, Shrapnel Blast, Darksteel Citadel and Ornithopter - and starting again. The goal being to create a deck that could utilise the raw power of those cards, without relying on them too heavily and folding to control. The result is a burn/control deck that can sometimes have an explosive opening and rush the opponent down, and can otherwise play a control game where the goal is to answer threats while gradually pulling ahead in card count and quality.
Card Breakdown
The Burn
Magma Jet
- Can pick off a few creatures, and helps ensure we are drawing into good stuff. Always welcome in the opening hand and usually fired off on turn 2 regardless of the board state.
Lightning Strike - Cheap, instant, kills a fair few things, helps get life totals closer to 0. A fair enough deal for a 4-of.
Shrapnel Blast - 5 damage at instant speed for 2? I'll take it. Sure, it costs an artifact, but this card simply ends games. Also kills pretty well any planeswalker or creature when needed.
Stoke the Flames - With barely any creatures in the deck and a light mana base this card feels a little out of place, but I think it is necessary. There are a bunch of problem creatures with 4 toughness (
Courser of Kruphix
,
Stormbreath Dragon
, Butcher of the Horde, Brimaz, King of Oreskos...) and Shrapnel Blast can only cover so much. Still, the mana cost is a little obtrusive and I could see myself moving at least 1 copy to the board if I want to make room for something else.
Arc Lightning
- I have tried a couple of things to fill out the last slots of the deck. Arc Lightning isn't amazing, but I think it might be the best filler to be running game 1 at the moment. It performs a similar role to Anger of the Gods against aggro without being a near-dead draw against midrange/control decks.
The Draw
Treasure Cruise - I think this is the main card making the deck viable. It allows the deck to keep on going where it would usually run out of steam, and it means I can make some less-than-optimal trades where necessary because I will draw more answers/threats. Some have suggested Dig Through Time as a better option, but I think consistently hitting double blue with this mana base could be an issue, and being able to get the cost down to 1 mana is relevant at times. 4 of these might be too many because drawing it in multiples can be bad, but I want to see at least one absolutely every game.
Tormenting Voice - This card probably draws the most skepticism of any in the list, but I really like it. It makes more hands keepable because I can throw some trash to keep drawing and it helps power Treasure Cruise. I am pretty happy to see it early or late, and if you draw 2 you can just discard one to pay for the other.
Steam Augury - Really happy with this one. Digs 5 cards down and generally gets you something useful in the hand and 3 cards in the graveyard for the next Cruise. 2 of these might be better, but I don't really want to see 2 in my hand.
The Rest
Ensoul Artifact - I have tried this card in a lot of builds and am pretty disillusioned with it when played as a primary threat / win condition. I am liking it in this shell though. Here it basically has 2 roles - either getting slammed down turn 2 or 3 for some fast pressure, or being held and played only when an opportunity to get a free swing presents itself, essentially playing it as another burn spell. There are just too many good answers for this card for it to be thrown down carelessly, but used well it can provide a significant swing.
Ornithopter - Probably the weakest card in the deck, but a necessary evil. You need a good concentration of artifacts to make Ensoul Artifact and Shrapnel Blast worthwhile, and I think the ol' thopter is the best fit to get us to 8. It can sit on the board and wait for an opportunity to get enchanted and sneak over for 5, and can come down for free to power a surprise blast. The possibility to be attacking for 5 on turn 2 can get some free wins too.
Disdainful Stroke - Pretty well every card in Standard that causes significant trouble for this deck is CMC 4+ (Whip of Erebos,
Siege Rhino
, Sorin, Solemn Visitor etc.). I would like to run more of these to help the Abzan, Mardu and other midrange matchups, but it is a weak card to draw against Jeskai and the couple of aggro decks getting around, so I've kept it to 2 in the main for now.
Sideboard
The sideboard is pretty straightforward - a load of counters to try hold back Abzan's threats and some control to hose out the tempo/aggro/heroic decks.
Mindswipe
is the most recent addition to the line-up as I felt like I still needed more tools to win the battle of attrition against Abzan. You never want to see a Whip of Erebos resolve, you need to cut them off from as much card draw as possible, all the while dealing with their creatures. It is winnable, but there is a lot to cover.
Temur is a matchup I need to figure out more. A lot of the problem cards sneak under Disdainful Stroke and the creatures are too big for a lot of my burn spells. I can beat it, but it tends to be very close and I need a pretty good draw to burn them out before they kill me.
