What are your opinions of Martyr life?
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 15, 2015, 1:30 p.m. by supermill
Is the deck competitive enough? Which version is the best? Any thoughts are welcome
I've never liked the deck at all. It literally runs 12-16 creatures that do nothing and around 8 that can win the game. As a midrange player this is a heavenly matchup because there's very little my removal has to hit to disrupt their plan. Similarly, as JakeHarlow highlighted the deck doesn't run enough disruption to stop other, better, combo decks such as Splinter Twin.
It seems great against aggro but pretty timid against any deck that can either a) easily remove their scant win conditions or b) completely ignore their gameplan.
Honestly I think it's one of the most brittle (ie. relies on certain key cards) decks around. Up there with infect and bogles in terms of how precious certain cards are to the entire strategy.
December 15, 2015 5:01 p.m.
slovakattack says... #4
The issue with Martyr-life is that while it can get explosive draws (A T2 'activated' Serra Ascendant), if that initial burst of power is overcome, there is little it can do to stabilize the field. Decks like Jund and Junk tear it to pieces.
December 15, 2015 5:04 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #5
In my experience, midrange matchups aren't too bad. It helps to board in protection against disruption (Drown in Sorrow is the only fast sweeper you can't effectively answer). If you get your Honor of the Pure up quickly, it can be hard for midrange decks to get back on the offensive against you.
In terms of the "proven" competitive Modern scene, it's definitely one of the less powerful decks. But it IS playable. And I'll reiterate the points that if Burn, Affinity, Zoo, or aggro in general are popular in your local meta, Soul Sisters can be a solid pick. Remember your bad matchups -- Stave Off can be one of your best techs against them, but you still don't have too many outs, unfortunately. It's one of the funner "meta" decks to play, though it really hasn't been posting many Top 8 finishes lately.
December 15, 2015 8:13 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #6
There's Martyr Proc, and Soul Sisters. Martyr Proc sits around gaining life and doing nothing forever, until they win with a Serra Ascendant on turn 40 or something. Soul Sisters is a much more proactive game plan which can win as early as turn 3 (but generally T4 is a lot more likely).
It's a good aggro deck when the field is full of aggro, but it's pretty awful against non-interactive decks, such as Tron, and Amulet Bloom. Midrange matchups aren't generally too bad, but when you play sisters, you're conceding the combo matchups (save Twin, that one is usually pretty easy).
Contrary to what Chief has said, this deck doesn't rely on particular creatures to win the game, and it's perfectly reasonable to win with 2/2s once you drop an Honor of the Pure. It does, however, suffer against non-interactive decks quite badly.
December 15, 2015 9:26 p.m. Edited.
Honor of the pure is still a specific card it relies on to win the game, though. So I suppose you've upped the wincons from 8 to 12, but given that not all you 2/2s have flying it's hardly a huge deal.
December 16, 2015 1:33 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #8
It's better than you think, Chief, I promise. Spectral Procession is a 4-of, too. Not to mention Squadron Hawks. Serra Ascendant almost always flies, and Ranger of Eos tutors up evasive stuff when you play him. Ajani's Pridemate quickly becomes a Goyf-like beater (or better). The deck generates a fairly strong degree of card advantage so it's pretty consistent in finding the necessary cards.
It isn't the strongest deck, but it is tiered and has more viable win conditions (and ways of fielding them) than you think. It takes a good player with the proper sideboard answers to play a against the heavy removal packages found in Modern, but it can win. I think you're being a bit tough on it. Try playing the deck a couple of times -- you may be pleasantly surprised.
JakeHarlow says... #2
You mean Soul Sisters, the mono-white aggro/life gain deck? I love it, it's so fun and awesome. In fact, it might be my favorite Modern list.
It's solidly Tier 2. It appears occasionally in Top 8 lists every now and again, as it has a fast clock and races traditional aggro better than almost any other deck. It's amazingly strong against Burn (a great reason to play it if Burn is big in your meta), despite the fact that they're packing Atarka's Command and sometimes Skullcrack. It has reasonably solid board presence and has sideboard tech that can protect its creatures from cards like Pyroclasm and Anger of the Gods (Brave the Elements). Blood Moon is also relatively bad against Soul Sisters.
Since it is white, you have very solid sideboard options against Affinity and can often race it well with life gain even if you don't draw your sideboard in Game 2. Kataki, War's Wage is really good but legendary, and there's also Stony Silence.
Your awful matchups are against Delver (lots of efficient removal and 2-for-1's via Electrolyze), Twin, and Infect. Against Delver, evasive (against Red) cards like Kor Firewalker are really, really good. Infect wrecks Soul Sisters most of the time, in my experience. Your options against Splinter Twin, whose combo also doesn't care about your life total, are also fairly scant. It has the Delver-like removal package. You could board in Stave Off to play on their Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite in response to Twin going on the stack -- other than your playset of Path to Exile, that's it.
As for Infect, you have to win with removal, as you cannot race its win condition. You have your Paths, and often Soul Sisters players will bring in Oblivion Ring and other things. You need to save as much removal as possible in this matchup to hit Blighted Agent -- otherwise block everything else if you can until you can clock them out with Serra Ascendant or something else. Also, if you have a significantly big Ajani's Pridemate, you can make a couple good blocks before it succumbs to -1/-1 counters. Remember that Stave Off is good here, like in Twin, because it protects your own win cons but also disrupts Infect's combo cards like Groundswell and Mutagenic Growth.
So overall, it has some poor matchups in Twin, Delver, and Infect (and these are popular decks), but these aren't by any means unbeatable, especially with proper sideboarding and careful play. It has very reasonable matchups against Affinity, Zoo, and even midrange decks like Jund and Abzan. With the proper boarding, some of these matchups can go from even to favored, depending on your choices and skill of play. It crushes Burn, a very popular deck. For a mono-colored aggro deck, it's rather well-rounded and has access to a very good sideboard despite its narrow strategy. It also produces solid card advantage, and that is unusual for its strategy and color. It can even ramp and filter itself out!
Here is my list for an example. My list is a fairly normal one, with most of the differences being sideboard choices. Feel free to check it out or ask me other questions about the deck.
Oh, and if you couldn't tell yet, I'm a Soul Sisters player.
December 15, 2015 3:26 p.m.