I'd be really curious to hear how testing goes with the Soulfire Grandmaster. I'm currently running a lower spell count in my deck, but if he pulls as much weight as it looks like he has the potential for, I'd love to hear about it.
I'm currently trying to find a middle ground between Soul Sisters to stabilize and make myself difficult to kill and adding Impact Tremors and Lightning Berserker to really ensure I am triggering all the good stuff in this deck.
i ran 2 copies of her as a test a month ago. she is great if she sticks for a turn. with 5 mana on board and a lightning bolt or path to exile in hand, you are in a good spot to control the game. everybody i played against knows soulfire grandmaster's power and the few times she managed to stick around, she created a stranglehold on the game.
however as a caveat, she is difficult to sequence and not part of the important combo in the deck. she is like i said, a great turn 5 - 6 drop.
For the Tron matchup, you need two things to win: 1) a fast clock, and 2) they screw up.
1) A fast clock pretty much means Norin+Champion or Norin+Sister+Pridemate. Genesis Chamber may work but they have Pyroclasm.
2) Ghost Quarter helps. Sometimes they only got one Karn, Liberated and you have two big dudes, or Genesis Chamber. Sometimes you path their only Wurmcoil Engine. But that's about it.
Brave the Elements
Oh god I totally missed Path to Exile and Dismember. I generally don't mind Path to Exile though as it ramps me up to my 4-drops. I dont mind 1-2 in my sideboard if I have slots.
This card is only playable if you play Ajani's Pridemate.
edit: I guess there's also Vapor Snag. Now it is getting better.
I wonder if Sowing Salt as a 1-Of in the board would help here, but it might be too slow. I suppose it could also grab Inkmoth Nexus away from Affinity/Infect, but it's probably too over-costed/narrow.
I've actually run into a few Izzet Staticasters and a Molten Vortex or two on occasion, but Grim Lavamancer can be found in a few decks (Burn, URx Delver, etc), so he's the real (popular) threat.
I saw Abbot of Keral Keep listed in your previous posts, has he really performed that well? I can understand the CA late, but how do you sequence him early, and how many do you run? I was thinking 2, pulling out 1 Lightning Berserker and 1 Sister.
I'm guessing you'd drop the Abbot T2 if you only had 2 Lands in play, and none in hand, and hold him till T3 when you do have a 3rd Land in hand in case you hit a 1-Drop. Is this correct?
I like casting my 4-drops a lot, and it can be difficult in a deck with 20-21 lands. Abbot of Keral Keep always brings me closer to my 4th land. Either puts a land into play, or mill a non-land card away. I'm running 2.
I never play Abbot T2. You almost always have something else to do. Unless the hand you kept is Champion, 2 Abbots, 4-drop, 3 lands
Later, but not necessarily T3, I cast it regardless of whether I have a 3rd land.
In fact, if I have a 3rd land, I would hold Abbot in case I draw a land later and flip a 2-drop, unless I have nothing else to do or I really need my 4-drop next turn.
In extremely fast matchups that I cut Purphoros, God of the Forge, I cut 1-2 Abbot too. vs Burn, Affinity, Infect, Bogles
I'm playing a bit of a different version of Norin, but I can definitely say that Abbot of Keral Keep is great, I recommend it.
I had been using a Mardu-style list for a long while mainly for Dark Confidant, but having Bob get bolted on sight 90% of the time got very annoying. So now I'm testing out Abbot and he's been performing super well. He's better in the short term and worse in the long term (in some ways but not all), but because modern is in general such a fast format, getting access to that extra card NOW is really valuable. Exiling a 4-drop when you don't have the mana up for it hurts, but the amount of times Abbot has accelerated me into the next land drop or gotten an extra 1-drop on the board more than justifies it.
Fair call on Blood Moon, when I can find a couple I'll be running them for sure.
Thanks for all the input on the Abbot of Keral Keep, seems like a good fit and I'll be running two of him for a bit.
I'd be curious to hear your sideboarding strategy versus the big decks, sjcelvis, and how you find the matchups.
Went 2-2 in FNM playing this for the first time (and playing live for the first time in 10 years!). Such a ridiculously fun deck, especially if you get the full package online.
Lost to Atarka Burn and Affinity, beat Grixis Twin and U/W Tron. Made a ton of misplays and missed a lot of triggers. My sideboard was all over the place as well since I had 0 clue about the local meta. Better luck next time.
I bought some fetches already and will revamp the manabase and the sideboard for next time.
edit: Some specific sideboarding advice would be really cool
Very nice! Burn and Affinity can be difficult matchups if you are on Impact Tremors as you are cutting down on sisters. This deck can hardly beat Tron!
I would like a 3rd Stony Silence. How has Molten Rain been for you?
The 4-drop slot is tight though. 2 Ranger of Eos and 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge are the default minimum. If we play more 4-drops, we may have to add a 21st land. Tentative list:
I just took this to my first store tournament this Thursday, went 2/1 and dropped (too hungry to care about a shot at 3rd place). I was very impressed with the deck though.
Round 1: vs. Junk
I was really shocked to win this match-up. Game 1 my mechanic and lifegain caused my opponent to become so salty he scooped "for his sanity" due to the obnoxious board state, even before I drew a win con. I had Norin and some sisters and had just resolved Genesis Chamber. Is being obnoxious a hidden strength of this deck? Game 2 loss, Path'd a Goyf only to watch opponent resolve two Siege Rhinos, Liliana of the Veil, and Sorin, Solemn Visitor in that order. I still had a pretty sweet board state with a Soul's Attendant, 2 very fat Ajani's Pridemates (larger than his Rhinos), Genesis Chamber, and Norin the Wary. I feel like I could have waited him out, sacrificing Myr tokens to feed Lili until I my pridemates were lethal, then swung in. This would have been complicated by Sorin though, so I'm not sure. At any rate I got impatient and swung in like an idiot, killed his planeswalkers, then he immediately dealt me lethal. Game 3 I outran him hard - I had the play so I played Champion of the Parish; he resolved an Inquisition of Kozilek pulling Norin, then I top decked a Lightning Berserker. I played that turn 2 with a second Champion and earned a quick scoop from my opponent. Deadly.
Round 2: vs. Some Weird Legacy Graveyard Combo with Reveillark and stuff
Not much to say here. Lost game 1 hard to a complicated infinite graveyard recursion combo. I outran it fast beats games 2 & 3. He resolved Torpor Orb in the last game, but he forgot about my lone Myr token which among other cards already gave me exactly lethal on the board.
Round 3: vs. Boros Burn
This was my loss, 0/2. It was very disappointing. I am known to have some terrible luck at cards, but this was ridiculous. The deck entirely crapped the bed! This match-up ought to be nearly an auto-win, especially with 3 Leyline of Sanctity and 2 Brave the Elements in the board. I mulliganed aggresively but still could not come up with more than 1 sister effect per game. No sideboard cards presented themselves. I pulled 1 land hands multiple times. Game 2 was particularly embarrassing, when I went to 5 and kept a Norin, Cavern, Attendant, Bolt, and Plains. Scry'd away a Sacred Foundry and top decked a second Bolt, which was kind of like a slap in the face. Top decked Norin. Top decked 2 Pridemates after having lost my Attendant to a T1 Bolt, and that was basically game. I did eventually see a mountain so I could bolt Eidolon of the Great Revel but that was my only real play all game. I was basically killed by a lone Monastery Swiftspear while Norin flapped in the breeze. Very painful.
My observations from these games: It's a great deck, no doubt. A little inconsistent at times to be sure, especially when it comes to getting that all important win-con to stick. There's a lot of removal out there! The Lightning Berserkers really helped to keep this deck fast and explosive, which is that it needs to be. I may be biased however because my meta is light on control... nearly all of the winning decks were speedy red something or infect. Because of this I found myself boarding out my 4 drops nearly every game - Brave the Elements was desperately needed and some number of Leyline was too useful vs. Junk and Burn to pass up. I was also spooked into boarding in Wear/Tear frequently for fear of the almighty Torpor Orb! I'll say that card seems to be more of a threat in non-tier match-ups. The jankier the deck, the more likely you'll see Orb in the board. Better decks have intrinsic ways to beat Splinter Twin so they don't really need it.
I did not miss Boros Charm... it seems really great for the deck but I took it out for the 'zerkers and I'm not going to look back. This deck either hits its combo or doesn't... 4 damage isn't that useful. The other modes are cool for sure, but Path is just so damn common that indestructible simply doesn't get the job done. Also because of Path, Return to the Ranks was not as useful as I'd hoped.
Finally, in all my games with this deck, Purphoros, God of the Forge has yet to see play and I'm considering dropping to a 1 of for the 10th sister, a 3rd Lightning Berserker, or an Outpost Siege. Thoughts?
As for some of the cards I've seen posted here recently - is Abbot of Keral Keep really that strong? Turn 3, provided I don't miss a land drop, I've got about a 1 in 3 chance to hit a playable card. I suppose turn 4 he gets much better if you play him before your land drop, but wouldn't you rather have 2 Lightning Berserkers instead for consistency's sake?
Regarding Gideon, Ally of Zendikar I have mixed feelings. A 4 drop, so tentatively replacing Purphoros in the curve. Gideon doesn't trigger ETB effects when he becomes a 5/5 and his indestructible does not prevent the loss of loyalty counters (!). So if you don't miss a land drop he could be a heavy turn 5 swing (7 damage counting the knight on turn 4!). That's pretty explosive. The knight token fuels lifegain and pridemate of course, but won't do much to salvage a failing board state. I'm really curious to see how this card works out for anyone trying it.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant is certainly tempting, but doesn't trigger Champion either... the Pridemate and Lifegain fuel could definitely prevent stall outs but it's undoubtedly worse than Purphoros in a failing board state with only Norin left on the field. That said, if your meta allows you to play Boros Charm, +3/+3 Flying, Doublestrike could definitely be clutch! I think I'd prefer Gideon without Boros Charm.
I remain skeptical of Ghost Quarter. Early game land drops are so essential, surely any less consistency there is a very bad thing?
Great write up, Talbain! Appreciate the detailed tournament match write ups as well.
I will say that I'm not on board with Return to the Ranks, personally. It could just be my meta, but resolving a nice 2-3 creature RttR just doesn't feel worth the effort and risk. The dream of bringing back 2-3 creatures to the field with Purph and Genesis on deck has never happened to me once in playing this deck for over a year. That situation is of course the ultimate, but an average use of it just isn't as powerful as what other people are doing with their graveyards. Delve, Living End, Storm, Snapcaster providing spells 5-8, even just the 1-2 spells in some decks like Become Immense in Infect are much stronger than what RttR will usually do for us. I prefer to just step back from all graveyard play and keep 3 Rest in Peace in the board. Norin doesn't often lose the ground game, so I like to keep opponents as grounded as possible.
I've actually just bumped myself back up to 2 Purphoros, God of the Forge after having been at 1 for quite a while because of similar concerns to yours, Talbain. In the end, I find having 2 is a great backup plan for when combat gets dicey or for when you lose the ability to play a "fair" game. Purph single handedly won against the annoying Lantern Control for me, and is a huge boon in control matchups in general. He's also a win con that doesn't get Inquisitioned, and once he's on the field is near impossible to remove permanently. Bonus points for being able to Cavern him out when you really need him to resolve.
On a separate note, I've been testing quite a bit with Serene Steward vs Ajani's Pridemate. While obviously people will immediately think it fits in best in Soul Sisters, she's much, much better in our version. Because Norin (or Lightning Beserker) comes back every turn, it gives you a lot of flexibility in when you choose to spend that extra W where in traditional Soul Sisters it would probably just screw up your curve. Depending on the opponent's deck, when SS comes into play, you can place the counters in a way to make better use of them than placing them on herself as Ajani's Pridemate would. You can get into some interesting board states such as having a 5/4 Thalia, for example. If you have a feeling that a Bolt or Terminate is coming, you can buff up Auriok Champion rather than Ajani coming in and getting slaughtered.
That all said, I've gone back to Pridemate. Ajani's Homeboy just has that explosive power that makes everyone try to kill him on sight. He's also just generally better in the early game because he doesn't demand any extra investment. Steward being Human plays a lot more smoothly with Champion of the Parish and Cavern of Souls as well as really shining in a grindy match, but overall I think she's a bit less useful in the way we're trying to get our beatdown on. It could just be a matter of style, though - Steward will get the job done by weaponizing our Sisters and Myrs rather than doing the dirty work herself, but Ajani will just pounce in and cleave the opposition in twain. (Eventually, after getting chumped a few times.)
I think that [[spirit bonds]] is objectively way better than [[serene steward]].
I'm not sure you can say that it's objectively better, though of course it has its benefits. The biggest con is that it isn't a creature. At bare minimum, Steward will proc your Champion, Genesis Chamber, and Sisters, and be a guaranteed resolution with Cavern of Souls. Of course if you do land Spirit Bonds and have the mana, it's great and will probably change the board more than Steward would.
The Sisters should be doing our life gain, and splashing B for this card unless you're already in Mardu colors doesn't seem worth it. Going into black for Dark Confidant is totally worth it, though.
Tron:
I found the match up actually not that bad with Ghost Quarters. A threat that survives Pyroclasm is key. That means Champion+Norin or Sister+Pridemate. Just hope that they do not have Oblivion Stone. Purphoros, God of the Forge has indestructible. You can hold an instant to blink Norin in response to O-Stone activation if you have that combo going.
Postboard they really need to answer Stony Silence.
Nice, man! Two tough matchups for us defeated pretty convincingly by the sounds of it.
I still find Tron to be a total menace and think that any game I win against it came down to bad luck/bad plays on the opponent's part. Karn, Ugin are auto-win for them, and Pyroclasm is close but sometimes recoverable. You make it sound easy, great work! I'll definitely be trying some Ghost Quarters, though not sure I can squeeze in 3 of them.
Infect is one that's a bit scary but manageable. Basically don't ever let them get their attackers through at all costs. Ghost Quarter and Electrickery are great here, good call.
Any luck with Gideon?
About Abbot, I think you can definitely go higher than 2, but you have to start weighing the cost/benefit of his effect. The more you play, the more likely you are to exile something you want to hold on to unless you wait a longer time to build up your mana base. If you're comfortable with either going to a longer game or milling a couple cards, I think you can do the whole play set.
Nah didn't really "defeat" those matchups, just a little insights on what we can do.
Karn is less of a threat if you have 6 power across multiple bodies. If he goes +4, ignore him and attack face.
Ugin -X cannot kill Myr tokens, and if he -4 he can be bolted. Wurmcoil Engine can be Pathed. Everything from Tron has its own limitation, play around as much as you can.
I think Gideon is good in this matchup.
On 2 Abbots, those are the flex spots. The flex spots in the list in my last post are the 2 Abbots and 1 Lightning Berserker. The other cards serves the core function of the deck so you don't have much space for support cards.
i ran 2 copies of her as a test a month ago. she is great if she sticks for a turn. with 5 mana on board and a lightning bolt or path to exile in hand, you are in a good spot to control the game. everybody i played against knows soulfire grandmaster's power and the few times she managed to stick around, she created a stranglehold on the game.
however as a caveat, she is difficult to sequence and not part of the important combo in the deck. she is like i said, a great turn 5 - 6 drop.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Yea you can be doing other things. Like Abbot of Keral Keep.
I wonder if Sowing Salt as a 1-Of in the board would help here, but it might be too slow. I suppose it could also grab Inkmoth Nexus away from Affinity/Infect, but it's probably too over-costed/narrow.
Nice call on Vapor Snag, missed that one, and I would agree Brave the Elements becomes far more useful/necessary with Ajani's Pridemates.
I've actually run into a few Izzet Staticasters and a Molten Vortex or two on occasion, but Grim Lavamancer can be found in a few decks (Burn, URx Delver, etc), so he's the real (popular) threat.
I saw Abbot of Keral Keep listed in your previous posts, has he really performed that well? I can understand the CA late, but how do you sequence him early, and how many do you run? I was thinking 2, pulling out 1 Lightning Berserker and 1 Sister.
I'm guessing you'd drop the Abbot T2 if you only had 2 Lands in play, and none in hand, and hold him till T3 when you do have a 3rd Land in hand in case you hit a 1-Drop. Is this correct?
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
Noted. Seems much better, I'll have to snag one or two.
Abbot of Keral Keep always brings me closer to my 4th land. Either puts a land into play, or mill a non-land card away. I'm running 2.
I never play Abbot T2. You almost always have something else to do. Unless the hand you kept is Champion, 2 Abbots, 4-drop, 3 lands
Later, but not necessarily T3, I cast it regardless of whether I have a 3rd land.
In fact, if I have a 3rd land, I would hold Abbot in case I draw a land later and flip a 2-drop, unless I have nothing else to do or I really need my 4-drop next turn.
In extremely fast matchups that I cut Purphoros, God of the Forge, I cut 1-2 Abbot too. vs Burn, Affinity, Infect, Bogles
Crumble to Dust
Blood Moon costs one less. People play Sowing Salt in Jund because they cant play Blood Moon themselves.
I had been using a Mardu-style list for a long while mainly for Dark Confidant, but having Bob get bolted on sight 90% of the time got very annoying. So now I'm testing out Abbot and he's been performing super well. He's better in the short term and worse in the long term (in some ways but not all), but because modern is in general such a fast format, getting access to that extra card NOW is really valuable. Exiling a 4-drop when you don't have the mana up for it hurts, but the amount of times Abbot has accelerated me into the next land drop or gotten an extra 1-drop on the board more than justifies it.
Thanks for all the input on the Abbot of Keral Keep, seems like a good fit and I'll be running two of him for a bit.
I'd be curious to hear your sideboarding strategy versus the big decks, sjcelvis, and how you find the matchups.
- BGx(Abzan, Jund), URx(Grixis, Jeskai, Twin variants)
Really, they are the reason we are playing this deck.
Good sideboard options: Outpost Siege, Blood Moon, Leyline of Sanctity, Celestial Purge etc.
Usually board out some sisters, Legion Loyalist (except Abzan), some number of Lightning Bolts.
Linear aggros are usually a race:
- Burn, Zoo, Affinity, Infect, Bogles
Good sideboard options: Spellskite, extra Bolt/Path/Lightning Helix, Wear // Tear, Patrician's Scorn, Stony Silence. Basically more removals. I think Blood Moon can be good vs Infect.
I board out the 2 Purphoros, God of the Forges that are too slow. Boros Charm does almost nothing. I was boarding out Genesis Chamber vs Affinity, but not sure.
Mulligan aggressively, you don't have time to punt.
Combos are also usually a race:
Whatever you have, know their sideboard plan. They have answers against popular hate cards so really think ahead.
e.g. Ad Nauseam has Patrician's Scorn, Open the Vaults has Echoing Truth.
"Go wide" creature decks:
- Abzan Company, Elves, Merfolk, Soul sisters, (Allies, Slivers)
Removals, removals. Similar to linear aggro. Brave the Elements.
Lands decks:
- Tron, Amulet, Scapeshift
Hate their lands and protection from their sweepers. Tip: Against Scapeshift, get to 36 life.
Excellent stuff, thanks for the reply!
Very nice! Burn and Affinity can be difficult matchups if you are on Impact Tremors as you are cutting down on sisters. This deck can hardly beat Tron!
I would like a 3rd Stony Silence. How has Molten Rain been for you?
I guess we just didn't test these cards. I'm thinking about Gideon, Ally of Zendikar too.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant jumping a big Champion of the Parish is very powerful, but the tempo loss is huge if the creature gets killed/tapped, and 1/1 soldier tokens are less useful.
I'll test this weekend.
The 4-drop slot is tight though. 2 Ranger of Eos and 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge are the default minimum. If we play more 4-drops, we may have to add a 21st land. Tentative list:
4 Norin the Wary
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
1 Legion Loyalist
4 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Auriok Champion
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
2 Ranger of Eos
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Genesis Chamber
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Lands - 21
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Arid Mesa
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Mountain
3 Plains
3 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Stony Silence
3 Wear // Tear
2 Outpost Siege
2 Spellskite
2 Celestial Purge
2 Electrickery
1 Boros Charm
4x Ajani's Pridemate
2x Auriok Champion
4x Champion of the Parish
1x Legion Loyalist
4x Norin the Wary
2x Purphoros, God of the Forge
2x Ranger of Eos
3x Soul Warden
4x Soul's Attendant
2x Lightning Berserker
2x Return to the Ranks
Artifact (4)
4x Genesis Chamber
Land (20)
1x Bloodstained Mire
3x Cavern of Souls
3x Clifftop Retreat
1x Mountain
6x Plains
4x Sacred Foundry
2x Windswept Heath
Instant (6)
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Path to Exile
2x Brave the Elements
3x Electrickery
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
3x Wear / Tear
I just took this to my first store tournament this Thursday, went 2/1 and dropped (too hungry to care about a shot at 3rd place). I was very impressed with the deck though.
I was really shocked to win this match-up. Game 1 my mechanic and lifegain caused my opponent to become so salty he scooped "for his sanity" due to the obnoxious board state, even before I drew a win con. I had Norin and some sisters and had just resolved Genesis Chamber. Is being obnoxious a hidden strength of this deck? Game 2 loss, Path'd a Goyf only to watch opponent resolve two Siege Rhinos, Liliana of the Veil, and Sorin, Solemn Visitor in that order. I still had a pretty sweet board state with a Soul's Attendant, 2 very fat Ajani's Pridemates (larger than his Rhinos), Genesis Chamber, and Norin the Wary. I feel like I could have waited him out, sacrificing Myr tokens to feed Lili until I my pridemates were lethal, then swung in. This would have been complicated by Sorin though, so I'm not sure. At any rate I got impatient and swung in like an idiot, killed his planeswalkers, then he immediately dealt me lethal. Game 3 I outran him hard - I had the play so I played Champion of the Parish; he resolved an Inquisition of Kozilek pulling Norin, then I top decked a Lightning Berserker. I played that turn 2 with a second Champion and earned a quick scoop from my opponent. Deadly.
Round 2: vs. Some Weird Legacy Graveyard Combo with Reveillark and stuff
Not much to say here. Lost game 1 hard to a complicated infinite graveyard recursion combo. I outran it fast beats games 2 & 3. He resolved Torpor Orb in the last game, but he forgot about my lone Myr token which among other cards already gave me exactly lethal on the board.
Round 3: vs. Boros Burn
This was my loss, 0/2. It was very disappointing. I am known to have some terrible luck at cards, but this was ridiculous. The deck entirely crapped the bed! This match-up ought to be nearly an auto-win, especially with 3 Leyline of Sanctity and 2 Brave the Elements in the board. I mulliganed aggresively but still could not come up with more than 1 sister effect per game. No sideboard cards presented themselves. I pulled 1 land hands multiple times. Game 2 was particularly embarrassing, when I went to 5 and kept a Norin, Cavern, Attendant, Bolt, and Plains. Scry'd away a Sacred Foundry and top decked a second Bolt, which was kind of like a slap in the face. Top decked Norin. Top decked 2 Pridemates after having lost my Attendant to a T1 Bolt, and that was basically game. I did eventually see a mountain so I could bolt Eidolon of the Great Revel but that was my only real play all game. I was basically killed by a lone Monastery Swiftspear while Norin flapped in the breeze. Very painful.
My observations from these games: It's a great deck, no doubt. A little inconsistent at times to be sure, especially when it comes to getting that all important win-con to stick. There's a lot of removal out there! The Lightning Berserkers really helped to keep this deck fast and explosive, which is that it needs to be. I may be biased however because my meta is light on control... nearly all of the winning decks were speedy red something or infect. Because of this I found myself boarding out my 4 drops nearly every game - Brave the Elements was desperately needed and some number of Leyline was too useful vs. Junk and Burn to pass up. I was also spooked into boarding in Wear/Tear frequently for fear of the almighty Torpor Orb! I'll say that card seems to be more of a threat in non-tier match-ups. The jankier the deck, the more likely you'll see Orb in the board. Better decks have intrinsic ways to beat Splinter Twin so they don't really need it.
I did not miss Boros Charm... it seems really great for the deck but I took it out for the 'zerkers and I'm not going to look back. This deck either hits its combo or doesn't... 4 damage isn't that useful. The other modes are cool for sure, but Path is just so damn common that indestructible simply doesn't get the job done. Also because of Path, Return to the Ranks was not as useful as I'd hoped.
Finally, in all my games with this deck, Purphoros, God of the Forge has yet to see play and I'm considering dropping to a 1 of for the 10th sister, a 3rd Lightning Berserker, or an Outpost Siege. Thoughts?
As for some of the cards I've seen posted here recently - is Abbot of Keral Keep really that strong? Turn 3, provided I don't miss a land drop, I've got about a 1 in 3 chance to hit a playable card. I suppose turn 4 he gets much better if you play him before your land drop, but wouldn't you rather have 2 Lightning Berserkers instead for consistency's sake?
Regarding Gideon, Ally of Zendikar I have mixed feelings. A 4 drop, so tentatively replacing Purphoros in the curve. Gideon doesn't trigger ETB effects when he becomes a 5/5 and his indestructible does not prevent the loss of loyalty counters (!). So if you don't miss a land drop he could be a heavy turn 5 swing (7 damage counting the knight on turn 4!). That's pretty explosive. The knight token fuels lifegain and pridemate of course, but won't do much to salvage a failing board state. I'm really curious to see how this card works out for anyone trying it.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant is certainly tempting, but doesn't trigger Champion either... the Pridemate and Lifegain fuel could definitely prevent stall outs but it's undoubtedly worse than Purphoros in a failing board state with only Norin left on the field. That said, if your meta allows you to play Boros Charm, +3/+3 Flying, Doublestrike could definitely be clutch! I think I'd prefer Gideon without Boros Charm.
I remain skeptical of Ghost Quarter. Early game land drops are so essential, surely any less consistency there is a very bad thing?
I will say that I'm not on board with Return to the Ranks, personally. It could just be my meta, but resolving a nice 2-3 creature RttR just doesn't feel worth the effort and risk. The dream of bringing back 2-3 creatures to the field with Purph and Genesis on deck has never happened to me once in playing this deck for over a year. That situation is of course the ultimate, but an average use of it just isn't as powerful as what other people are doing with their graveyards. Delve, Living End, Storm, Snapcaster providing spells 5-8, even just the 1-2 spells in some decks like Become Immense in Infect are much stronger than what RttR will usually do for us. I prefer to just step back from all graveyard play and keep 3 Rest in Peace in the board. Norin doesn't often lose the ground game, so I like to keep opponents as grounded as possible.
I've actually just bumped myself back up to 2 Purphoros, God of the Forge after having been at 1 for quite a while because of similar concerns to yours, Talbain. In the end, I find having 2 is a great backup plan for when combat gets dicey or for when you lose the ability to play a "fair" game. Purph single handedly won against the annoying Lantern Control for me, and is a huge boon in control matchups in general. He's also a win con that doesn't get Inquisitioned, and once he's on the field is near impossible to remove permanently. Bonus points for being able to Cavern him out when you really need him to resolve.
On a separate note, I've been testing quite a bit with Serene Steward vs Ajani's Pridemate. While obviously people will immediately think it fits in best in Soul Sisters, she's much, much better in our version. Because Norin (or Lightning Beserker) comes back every turn, it gives you a lot of flexibility in when you choose to spend that extra W where in traditional Soul Sisters it would probably just screw up your curve. Depending on the opponent's deck, when SS comes into play, you can place the counters in a way to make better use of them than placing them on herself as Ajani's Pridemate would. You can get into some interesting board states such as having a 5/4 Thalia, for example. If you have a feeling that a Bolt or Terminate is coming, you can buff up Auriok Champion rather than Ajani coming in and getting slaughtered.
That all said, I've gone back to Pridemate. Ajani's Homeboy just has that explosive power that makes everyone try to kill him on sight. He's also just generally better in the early game because he doesn't demand any extra investment. Steward being Human plays a lot more smoothly with Champion of the Parish and Cavern of Souls as well as really shining in a grindy match, but overall I think she's a bit less useful in the way we're trying to get our beatdown on. It could just be a matter of style, though - Steward will get the job done by weaponizing our Sisters and Myrs rather than doing the dirty work herself, but Ajani will just pounce in and cleave the opposition in twain. (Eventually, after getting chumped a few times.)
The more Flagstones of Trokair you play, the better. Again, I do not play Clifftop Retreat.
Boros Charm/Brave the Elements
I shaved down to only one Charm in the sideboard. They are for Engineered Explosives and Oblivion Stone which are more a blowout than a Path. Still testing Brave the Elements.
Torpor Orb
A quick search suggests only Affinity and Tron play this card. We bring in Wear // Tear against them anyway.
Living End
Try not to play Ethersworn Canonist. They have Ingot Chewers.
Serene Steward
Mana should be tight?
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
The Sisters should be doing our life gain, and splashing B for this card unless you're already in Mardu colors doesn't seem worth it. Going into black for Dark Confidant is totally worth it, though.
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Champion of the Parish
1 Legion Loyalist
1 Lightning Berserker
3 Ajani's Pridemate
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
1 Auriok Champion
2 Ranger of Eos
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Genesis Chamber
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
4 Arid Mesa
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Mountain
2 Plains
3 Stony Silence
3 Wear // Tear
2 Spellskite
2 Electrickery
2 Brave the Elements
2 Celestial Purge
1 Outpost Siege
Tron:
I found the match up actually not that bad with Ghost Quarters. A threat that survives Pyroclasm is key. That means Champion+Norin or Sister+Pridemate. Just hope that they do not have Oblivion Stone.
Purphoros, God of the Forge has indestructible. You can hold an instant to blink Norin in response to O-Stone activation if you have that combo going.
Postboard they really need to answer Stony Silence.
Infect:
Point removals at Blighted Agent. Glistener Elf never goes through and Inkmoth Nexus is kept under control by Ghost Quarter again.
G2/3 Electrickery and Spellskite.
I find a strength of our deck is that G2/3 you have the high impact sideboard cards as well as the ability to be very aggressive.
a) We don't really have that much space left, as all versions take up quite a few slots with necessary cards.
b) You really don't want to play him before turn 3/4 and don't want Abbot to hit another Abbot.
I still find Tron to be a total menace and think that any game I win against it came down to bad luck/bad plays on the opponent's part. Karn, Ugin are auto-win for them, and Pyroclasm is close but sometimes recoverable. You make it sound easy, great work! I'll definitely be trying some Ghost Quarters, though not sure I can squeeze in 3 of them.
Infect is one that's a bit scary but manageable. Basically don't ever let them get their attackers through at all costs. Ghost Quarter and Electrickery are great here, good call.
Any luck with Gideon?
About Abbot, I think you can definitely go higher than 2, but you have to start weighing the cost/benefit of his effect. The more you play, the more likely you are to exile something you want to hold on to unless you wait a longer time to build up your mana base. If you're comfortable with either going to a longer game or milling a couple cards, I think you can do the whole play set.
Karn is less of a threat if you have 6 power across multiple bodies. If he goes +4, ignore him and attack face.
Ugin -X cannot kill Myr tokens, and if he -4 he can be bolted. Wurmcoil Engine can be Pathed. Everything from Tron has its own limitation, play around as much as you can.
I think Gideon is good in this matchup.
On 2 Abbots, those are the flex spots. The flex spots in the list in my last post are the 2 Abbots and 1 Lightning Berserker. The other cards serves the core function of the deck so you don't have much space for support cards.
My 2nd Mountain absolutely sucked, especially with Ghost Quarter. Swapping it out for the 3rd Plains instead.
Also going back to Blood Moon in the sideboard, anticipating lots of Scapeshift after the printing of Bring to Light.
Impact Tremors are not worth it without Lightning Berserker imo.