The Stupid Soul Series
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on June 26, 2014, 11:40 a.m. by katarhero
Soul of Ravnica is unplayable in any format save EDH, and even in EDH it is only playable in a five color deck. Is it just me, or is it a crappier version of the classic Arcanis the Omnipotent ? Soul of Shandlar is a really expensive ping that is also nearly standard unplayable. Soul of New Phyrexia is the diamond in this very rough series with it's ability to make everything indestructible. Soul of Zendikar is like paying to play a Garruk, Primal Hunter every turn and plus one him. Soul of Innistrad is very solid in that it has great return from graveyard ability. Soul of Therosis a little high on cost for its ability, but can still be used efffectively.All in all, there isn't enough good to outweigh the level of bad in the Soul series. What do you think?
Dalektable says... #3
I think that some of them are EDH playable, and New Phyrexia and Theros are solid. From a limited standpoint, all are fairly balanced cards which is what wizards looks at when deciding upon the rarities.
June 26, 2014 11:45 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #4
I think that not every card needs to cater to the competitive scene and that you have a very skewed vision of how to play cards competitively, given what you've said here.
June 26, 2014 11:46 a.m.
i think they'll all see EDH play. i know wizards wanted to do something different, but i would much prefer the titans
June 26, 2014 11:52 a.m.
I agree with ThatBlueMage. Not every card needs to be playable in Standard for it to find a home. I personally really like the Soul cycle, even the bastard child Soul of Innistrad. Sure they aren't the Titans, but the Titans were a mistake and the Souls have found a middle ground where they can be good but not TOO good.
June 26, 2014 11:56 a.m.
And i can agree about it being a more reasonable titan series, but there isn't as much there. My anger isn't so much at the series as a whole but at Soul of Ravnica, Zendikar, and ?Shandlar. Seven drop to draw? Too much for me. if Soul of Ravnica's abilities were five or even six drop, i have no problem with it. If Zendikar's were four, i'm okay. Shadlar i just hate in general. It's not that i want them to be competitive, as i don't even play standard. I just can't see the plus in Shandlar or Ravnica, and can barely see it in Zendikar.
June 26, 2014 12:16 p.m.
chrishuffman95 says... #8
Shandalar could actually be really strong in the right build. I think Wizards is pushing monocolor play, and with these and Nykthos, mono-X Devotion (X being the color of choice) will be fairly strong.
June 26, 2014 12:20 p.m.
crystalizeq says... #9
I really dislike Soul of Innistrad and Soul of Ravnica. I mean seriously, 5 mana to return 3 creatures to your hand? It will barely see play even in EDH. And as for Soul of Ravnica, basically what OP said, it's only good in monocolor
Soul of Theros, Shandalar, and Zendikar are fairly balanced and, ultimately, they are not that bad. Soul of New Phyrexia, on the other hand, is very good and will most likely see play
June 26, 2014 12:28 p.m.
katarhero - WotC spends a TON of time making sure that cards fit into what they want to go on in Limited and the metagame. And since the Soul cycle is Mythic then their stats have more to do with constructed play than Limited. That said the abilities are costed the way they are for a reason. For Soul of Ravnica's top end, it's 7 mana draw 5, which is pretty good for instant speed Opportunity +1. Soul of Shandalar is also costed appropriately since 3 to the face and 3 to a dude for 5 is relatively fair. And I don't think that Soul of Zendikar is bad, but it's abilities are fairly costed for being able to get a repeatable 3/3 each turn. Obviously each of these cards COULD be constructed playable, but the people who want these cards will play them. It just might be you aren't the audience for them.
June 26, 2014 12:38 p.m.
crystalizeq i disagree on Soul of Innistrad. Against Nekusar, the Mindrazer draw/discard/mil decks it can bring back a vital piece of your strategy. I would play it were i not already using Rise of the Dark Realms
June 26, 2014 12:46 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #12
Let's also remember that you can activate these abilities for as many times as you can afford. That means that with infinite mana (which, admittedly, is the easiest infinite thing to achieve), you can convert that to infinite damage, infinite draw, infinite buffs, etc. And as JWiley pointed out, you obviously aren't the audience for this cycle, so why continue to complain about it? I don't bitch about every non-blue card ever printed.
June 26, 2014 12:48 p.m.
Arcanis the Omnipotent can't fly, Arcanis the Omnipotent can't attack for 6 damage. Arcanis the Omnipotent is hardly playable in four/five-colored decks. Arcanis the Omnipotent does nothing in your graveyard.
Garruk, Primal Hunter can't make two, three or more Beast tokens in one turn. Garruk, Primal Hunter can't block Stormbreath Dragon . Garruk Primal Hunter generates nothing from the graveyard.
I call clueless players as I see them.
June 26, 2014 1:10 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #14
Calling it how I see it:
1) Soul of New Phyrexia2) Soul of Shandalar...3) Soul of Theros........4) Soul of Innistrad....5) Soul of Ravnica6) Soul of Zendikar
June 26, 2014 1:12 p.m.
Soul of Innistrad is easily the worst, because it's keyword is even more underwhelming than it's ability.
Soul of Ravnica is insane, just go and draw 5 cards a turn in domain decks. Five color goodstuff couldn't be happier.
June 26, 2014 1:15 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #16
Yeah I figure Innistrad would be okay in EDH.
Ravnica to me meh. I personally haven't seen domain outside of Invasion block and for EDH there are better beaters that provide card draw.
Only the top 2 should see Standard play if any.
June 26, 2014 1:21 p.m.
Um. Soul of Ravnica is also a 6/6 Flying for 6 mana.
Or did you overlook that, too?
June 26, 2014 1:21 p.m.
Soul of Ravnica + Transguild Courier !
And zandl has a point, looking purely at the bodies they're pretty decent except for Innistrad (6/6 deathtouch is meh). Just because they're not Titans doesn't mean they're that bad, Titans are just overpowered. I'd say that this cycle is better than many other big creature cycles, like the Primordials in GTC or the Maze creatures in DGM.
June 26, 2014 2:28 p.m.
CastleSiege says... #19
Soul of Innistrad isn't really anything special once you realize that Champion of Stray Souls is better.
June 26, 2014 9:23 p.m.
Champion of Stray Souls needs fodder to sacrifice for its ability, is weaker in combat and doesn't have deathtouch. That's not better when you consider they're the same cost.
August 14, 2014 10:37 p.m.
Dude for a while I absolutely dominated with a standard legal Chromanticore + Soul of Ravnica it was expensive but ridiculous because if you can bestow Chromanticore you're going to have 7 of any color anyway so it's not that big a stretch. Sure it wasn't tier one but it still worked surprisingly well and was competitive enough to have fun. I was also running Worst Fears and Fated Return and In Garruk's Wake along with other totally absurdly costed but epicly powered cards
I eventually swapped Soul of Ravnica out of my deck for a Bringer of the Blue Dawn because in casual you don't really need to be standard legal, it's just happens because standard cards are easiest to get ahold of.
Violinist says... #2
New Phyrexia forever. This cycle is compleat.
June 26, 2014 11:43 a.m.