That's a very valid point, and something I've totally neglected.
Creature Sorcery Land is super easy to hit, but cutting Chroma AND Stubborn does lead to some easy problems.
A possible solution is to convert the Denials into main deck Decays, K Commands, Bolt, etc. This lets the instant count stay the same, but still miss out on the bonus 4 from Chroma.
Another is to forgo Spark Trooper for something else. Lifelink is much bigger than haste I think, so we could either keep the Chroma for the Delirium and LL. Everything else it brings is overlapped by dino soup, so something else to look into is Wurmcoil. Brinfs death touch as well (amazing with trample and double strike) along with that extra card type. It's also pretty easy to cast in Blood Moon or grave hate games since there are no crazy color requirements.
Edit:
After some more tweaking and such, I'm currently leaning on a 2/4/4 Samut/Chromanticore/Zetalpa split. I've been largely thinking of the ideal delve 2+ bombs, but realistically that isn't how every game plays out. There are some games where we can only get Caraytid and a bomb and running Spark Trooper or Wurmcoil would just give us a 4/4 Lifelink Hexproof, which isn't bad but isn't good either. I'd rather have all bombs that sometimes overlap than some mediocre cards that combine well with a bomb.
This leaves me with -2 Hazoret -1 Rhonas -2 Samut -4 Stubborn Denial +3 Lingering Souls +2 Lightning Axe +4 Zetalpa, and -1 Breeding Pool -1 Watery Grave +1 Stomping Ground +1 Godless Shrine. Granted I won't be able to test for a little, but this helps preserve some of the Delirium (down 2 sources from Stubborn Denials) along with the mix and match.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I am testing 4 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, 4 Samut, Voice of Dissent, and no Chromanticore. Because we'll lose enchantment I'm planning to use Nameless Inversion in the mainboard for delirium support. Because we have 8 double strike creature, it is easier to abuse Nameless Inversion to deal 14 damage with Soulflayer. If we are not playing Chromanticore it is important to have Collective Brutality because we need to find another method to gain life.
I'm not really a fan of this manabase, with so few lands that actually produce mana you risk accidently milling them and not have any lands to find with Fetches or Traverse when you need a land.
12x fetches is way too much imho and Cavern isn't good here.
I am testing 4 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, 4 Samut, Voice of Dissent, and no Chromanticore. Because we'll lose enchantment I'm planning to use Nameless Inversion in the mainboard for delirium support. Because we have 8 double strike creature, it is easier to abuse Nameless Inversion to deal 14 damage with Soulflayer. If we are not playing Chromanticore it is important to have Collective Brutality because we need to find another method to gain life.
Judging from this, I'm assuming you value Haste more than Lifelink? I've found LL on the Flayer more relevant BUT I have won way more games with a hard cast Samut than I have a Chromanticore.
I do find Nameless interesting as it makes it easier to hit delirium thanks to instants composing much less of the deck than creatures do, and being able to crash for 14 in one turn has to be relevant as well. Sort of our own version of Temur Battle Rage I suppose
I think Faithless Looting is very important. First it allows us to play around activated graveyard hate (Ooze, Relic, Spellbomb, Crypt) as we can discard what we want, retain priority, and immediately cast Soulflayer. While Salvage and friends can do that as well, it only works if we hit off the top of the library.
Faithless Looting also provides a mean of discarding non-creature chaff into the late game, which Lotleth Troll can not. This ties into your later point about too many fetches, as Looting can at least pitch those cards while Troll would force you to hold them or play them as dead cards.
I think she fits great but would immediately eat removal before we could get one activation out of her. Assuming she lives though, she's much more preferable to Traverse as she can discard soup and tutor up the Flayer. Might be worth playing just for that possiblity lone actually.
I'm not really a fan of this manabase, with so few lands that actually produce mana you risk accidently milling them and not have any lands to find with Fetches or Traverse when you need a land.
12x fetches is way too much imho and Cavern isn't good here.
For what it's worth, I run an 11 fetch, 6 shock, 2 basic list and I have never run into problems. I've come close to be fair, but generally with hardcast Caryatid and early fetching, everything is hit as necessary.
I have thought about running Mana Confluence similar to the old Standard list since we are almost always fetch + shock which equals out to 3 activations, it may end up saving more life in the long run. It also lets us still hit colors for off color cards without worry of milling the one splash shock.
I think Cavern is fine as a Traverse target to force through a Flayer. Remand is absolutely brutal and if you're expecting it, Cavern seems like a nice hedge.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
Judging from this, I'm assuming you value Haste more than Lifelink? I've found LL on the Flayer more relevant BUT I have won way more games with a hard cast Samut than I have a Chromanticore.
I do find Nameless interesting as it makes it easier to hit delirium thanks to instants composing much less of the deck than creatures do, and being able to crash for 14 in one turn has to be relevant as well. Sort of our own version of Temur Battle Rage I suppose
I preferred Samut over Chromanticore because I thought lifelink can be substituted with Collective Brutality and enchantment can be replaced with Nameless Inversion which is tribal and instant. In reality, I don't think lifelink can be simply replaced with Collective Brutality. I still prefer haste over lifelink so Samut will stay no matter. Removing Samut will make Nameless Inversion bit weaker due to less double strike enabler. Hopefully I'll find a way to include more lifelink while facilitating delirium.
I'm not really a fan of this manabase, with so few lands that actually produce mana you risk accidently milling them and not have any lands to find with Fetches or Traverse when you need a land.
12x fetches is way too much imho and Cavern isn't good here.
I've always been in favor of using Nameless Inversion whenever applicable, and in this deck its' uses are clear! It's an easy delirium enabler, and early game removal spell. Late game, it turns itself into a pump spell to finish off your opponents without them anticipating it. Zetalpa looks like it could be the card this deck needed to flourish, since it's Keyword Central to boost up a SoulFlayer!
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- Mono Black Pox BBB Modern:
I decided to return Chromanticore because lifelink and enchantment was necessary for this deck. Initially my ideal Soulflayer deck was to have at least 4 haste enabler so I reduced the number of Samut to 3 and Hazoret to 1. I increased the number of bird and land to reduce chance of getting land screwed. I would like to find space for Nameless Inversion eventually.
The ideal combination of ability Soulflayer can gain is
Zetalpa + Chromanticore + Samut(or Hazoret) + Sylvan
but any combination of ability enabler + Sylvan is almost always good, except for Samut since it lacks evasion. This is another reason I reduced the number of Samut to 3.
The deck list I posted few days ago with Zetalpa focused on having better chance of good opening hand, but the consistency of having strong Soulflayer decreased. Now that I increased the number of ability enablers, there is increased chance of bad opening hand but better chance of playing stronger Soulflayer. For now I prefer the latter but I would like to balance them out eventually.
@yuseimax I am ignorant of Chromantiflayer decks. I occasionally peeked into this thread, but have now built the above list. Looking it over, preparing to play, I now need to ask, when and how do you use sideboard Magus of the Moon? And do you have any updates?
Magus of the Moon is sideboard against tron. I usually side out Collective Brutality and 4 Chromanticore for Magus of the Moon and 4 Thoughtseize. When playing Magus of the Moon it is very important to have basic lands in play and/or having birds/sylvan. Although Magus of the Moon might harm us it is better then playing without it against tron, I would avoid using it against any deck beside tron. I chose Magus of the Moon over Crumble to Dust because magus is easier to find with Traverse the Ulvenwald and Grisly Salvage. It can be replaced with Fulminator Mage, but it not as effective compared to magus in deterring tron.
I don't have any updates currently, but I am still curious if Enter the Unknown is worth playing in Soulflayer.
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Here is update for jund splash blue deck.
I decided to run 4 Striped Riverwinder because this deck lacks turn 1 play and cycling is relevent in finding Soulflayer. Having 8 hexproof enabler guarantees hexproof 90~100%* of the time.
I ended up removing 2 Samut, Voice of Dissent because Zetalpa, Primal Dawn already has double strike. I think having 4 haste enabler is enough, it should guarantees Soulflayer gaining haste atleast 50-63%* of the time.
Since this deck's mana curve is way higher then my usual Soulflayer deck I decided to run 4 Cathartic Reunion. It helps this deck throw away unplayable cards like Zetapla and Chromanticore and lets us draw 3 card. Digging for 3 card with 2 mana is undeniably good. Unlike Grisly Salvage it lets us keep noncreature/nonland utility spells like Traverse the Ulvenwald and Faithless Looting. I removed Lotleth Troll for Reunion. Troll is a better discard outlet and possible wincon but I think having more draw spell is more relevant.
For land base I decided to run 3 Mana Confluence and it was probably the biggest improvement I made for this deck. Having more then 1 in play was bit painful but it probably the best land I can use for 4 color deck, it might even be worth playing in regular jund deck. Having Mana Confluence helps cast Chromanticore and Keranos, God of Storms in the late game against a grindy match up. I would run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of Cavern of Souls if there were less control decks in the meta.
*These data come from me goldfishing 240 times in cockatrice. I do own the cards in paper but cockatrice comes in handy when goldfishing because shuffling decks and keeping track of life (from fetching and shocking) can become a pain to keep repeating with paper.
edit 2/2/18: -1 Hazoret the Fervent +1 Samut, Voice of Dissent
Here is a deck list with no Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, Striped Riverwinder, and Cathartic Reunion. These card are great at finding and empowering Soulflayer but forbids flexible game plan and become useless whenever opponent plays graveyard hate. This deck focuses on alternative game plan such as Flamewake Phoenix and Lotleth Troll. Flamewake Phoenix is a reliable and persistent attacker with good synergy with self discard and mill. It can also give Soulflayer haste and flying. Similar to previous deck, with access to 5 color it is possible to cast Chromanticore and Keranos, God of Storms in a grindy match up.
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Hm, Savage Summoning sure is cute though. The uncounterability is just part of it. Flash and a +1/+1 counter can be big too. Surprise! 5/5 Double Strike blocker! Eat that, Gurmag Angler!
I was expecting some enchantment spells in the sideboard but I guess Commune with the Gods was just for digging for creatures. Perphaps it was used to misguide opponent in game 1?
I've never tried Bloodghast in Soulflayer deck, it time for me to give it a try!
Hi all, new to the forum. Saw this deck playing on Twitch and was frankly quite impressed by it. Roughly made a sketch of the deck based on Andreás' list, but with some of the changes he mentioned like fanatic firebrand in the main. 19 lands feel like its too little in the deck, so I made this list with 20.
I don't really understand his inclusion of a few cards such as Falkenrath Aristocrat and the full set of Drogskol reaver in the main. Feel like 3 drogskols should be the right number but have not tested this yet. Speaking of which, I think Phyrexian Obliterator can be a good choice in the 4cmc slot given our access to black, or even Tasigur, the Golden Fang as additional threat on the board
Savage summoning was too cute for me, I think postboard we can use some more removals to grind it out against some of the faster matchups. The izzet charm is one consideration but going more blue in this deck feels like its not the right direction.
Also, I noticed this deck is terrible dealing with enchantments, so an additional ray of revelation goes into the side. If you meet graveyard hate postboard, I guess you can only grind it out with your opponent.
It's because of the combination of keywords those creatures have. You aren't always able to Delve away the perfect combination, so Double Strike Lifelink ensures you come ahead on most races. Zetalpa gives you a clock that also plays defense.
If you're on Traverse though, I think Chromanticore is a necessity.
Fauna Shaman has to live to be a discard outlet. Troll can come down and immediately pitch *multiple* cards and become a beater at the same time.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
True,
The main keywords here are lifelink/double strike + flying + haste. These are the keywords that setup for our soulflayer big turn. Samut can be a consideration but lacking evasion is quite huge. The other gods/rainbow manticore does too little for this deck. Having indestructable/hexproof is mostly a plus vs some decks. You are also rarely going beyond 3 lands to get your deck going.
Btw, I was just playing against mono blue jace control. Absolutely disgusting. He played 4 time wrap, 4 part the waterveil, and 4 temporal mastery.
Spreading seas to mana lock opponent, dictate of kruphix and howling mine to draw out his deck. Elixir of immortality to keep his graveyard recurring.
EDIT:
I take back what I said about Hazoret. His stats might be worth looking at.
After Jamming some mumber of limited games with this deck, here's my analysis on it:
This deck is not some sort of 4c good stuff/midrange deck. This is an EXPLOSIVE aggro combo deck that aims to deal 8-16 dmg during turns 2 and 3. This deck preys on midrange and control decks. We are essentially racing with the field.
Therefore, turn 1 cards like Birds of Paradise or Spark Elemental (which incidentally, doesnt stick to the board) are pretty much not what you want to play.
Fauna Shaman is too slow for this deck to play. Your turn 2-3 needs to be spent developing you board or put you close to winning. This is a similar issue to Traverse, as attempting to trigger delirium will dilute the focus of your deck, although the mana fixing can be nice.
20 lands sometimes seem a little too much, but its crucial you get at least 2 black source + 1 red source in your opening hand. Lingering Souls If you ever came up to games past turn 3, the spirits from this card become VERY important to help you grind through. Lotleth Trollfulfills a similar grind function whereby you grow him through discard and stack the damage. He's also resilient to removal. Trample is just a bonus. Fanatical Firebrand This card has way more utility than Spark Elemental does. If you draw him turn 1, you can keep attacking with him. 1 dmg adds up over many turns. Plus you can sac him to deal with pesky blocker from Aggro decks and he can trigger revolt anytime.
Now onto the important keywords that you usually want your Soulflayer to have. They are usually in some kind of combination below:
1. Evasion (flying) + burst damage (double strike) + haste + sticky to the board (Indestructable/hexproof) These keywords are the priority, and best to have them come together. Evasion is especially huge because the ground can get gummed up by creatures with base atk/toughness that trumps soulflayer, so its necessary to fly over them.
2. Lifelink is 2nd most important keyword as you have to race faster aggro decks.
3. Trample have to work with deathtouch to be effective. Vigilance can be handy when you need some sort of blocker, but not absolutely necessary. Other keywords like reach and first strike are basically moot once you have the 1st group of keywords.
Searching for these keywords on gatherer will yield some interesting results, in terms of creatures that can somehow be cast if necessary in a matchup, but usually you are either grisly salvaging or looting them away for other cards.
The sideboardLightning Bolt doesn't do much as you don't really need the burn for extra damage. Fatal Push is essential against manlands and ground creatures like goyf, voice, or 4cmc less creatures if revolt triggers.
I moved Savage Summoning back to the sideboard as it could be useful in counter matchups. You really want your soulflayer to resolve and not get bounced or countered. No use for Abrupt Decay yet. Not sure what kind of matchup you want to bring this in.
Another really interesting castable creature to consider is Cairn Wanderer if you want a 5th or 6th Soulflayer.
Creature Sorcery Land is super easy to hit, but cutting Chroma AND Stubborn does lead to some easy problems.
A possible solution is to convert the Denials into main deck Decays, K Commands, Bolt, etc. This lets the instant count stay the same, but still miss out on the bonus 4 from Chroma.
Another is to forgo Spark Trooper for something else. Lifelink is much bigger than haste I think, so we could either keep the Chroma for the Delirium and LL. Everything else it brings is overlapped by dino soup, so something else to look into is Wurmcoil. Brinfs death touch as well (amazing with trample and double strike) along with that extra card type. It's also pretty easy to cast in Blood Moon or grave hate games since there are no crazy color requirements.
Edit:
After some more tweaking and such, I'm currently leaning on a 2/4/4 Samut/Chromanticore/Zetalpa split. I've been largely thinking of the ideal delve 2+ bombs, but realistically that isn't how every game plays out. There are some games where we can only get Caraytid and a bomb and running Spark Trooper or Wurmcoil would just give us a 4/4 Lifelink Hexproof, which isn't bad but isn't good either. I'd rather have all bombs that sometimes overlap than some mediocre cards that combine well with a bomb.
This leaves me with -2 Hazoret -1 Rhonas -2 Samut -4 Stubborn Denial +3 Lingering Souls +2 Lightning Axe +4 Zetalpa, and -1 Breeding Pool -1 Watery Grave +1 Stomping Ground +1 Godless Shrine. Granted I won't be able to test for a little, but this helps preserve some of the Delirium (down 2 sources from Stubborn Denials) along with the mix and match.
4x Soulflayer
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4x Samut, Voice of Dissent
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Birds of Paradise
1x Chromanticore
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Faithless Looting
3x Nameless Inversion
3x Collective Brutality
Land x19
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
1x Forest
I managed to find 1 space for Chromanticore but it might get replaced by 3rd Bird. I will start test playing soon.
I can see this replacing Faithless Looting, another decent option can be Gather the Pack.
Also, not even a copy of Fauna Shaman ?
I'm not really a fan of this manabase, with so few lands that actually produce mana you risk accidently milling them and not have any lands to find with Fetches or Traverse when you need a land.
12x fetches is way too much imho and Cavern isn't good here.
Judging from this, I'm assuming you value Haste more than Lifelink? I've found LL on the Flayer more relevant BUT I have won way more games with a hard cast Samut than I have a Chromanticore.
I do find Nameless interesting as it makes it easier to hit delirium thanks to instants composing much less of the deck than creatures do, and being able to crash for 14 in one turn has to be relevant as well. Sort of our own version of Temur Battle Rage I suppose
I think Faithless Looting is very important. First it allows us to play around activated graveyard hate (Ooze, Relic, Spellbomb, Crypt) as we can discard what we want, retain priority, and immediately cast Soulflayer. While Salvage and friends can do that as well, it only works if we hit off the top of the library.
Faithless Looting also provides a mean of discarding non-creature chaff into the late game, which Lotleth Troll can not. This ties into your later point about too many fetches, as Looting can at least pitch those cards while Troll would force you to hold them or play them as dead cards.
I think she fits great but would immediately eat removal before we could get one activation out of her. Assuming she lives though, she's much more preferable to Traverse as she can discard soup and tutor up the Flayer. Might be worth playing just for that possiblity lone actually.
For what it's worth, I run an 11 fetch, 6 shock, 2 basic list and I have never run into problems. I've come close to be fair, but generally with hardcast Caryatid and early fetching, everything is hit as necessary.
I have thought about running Mana Confluence similar to the old Standard list since we are almost always fetch + shock which equals out to 3 activations, it may end up saving more life in the long run. It also lets us still hit colors for off color cards without worry of milling the one splash shock.
I think Cavern is fine as a Traverse target to force through a Flayer. Remand is absolutely brutal and if you're expecting it, Cavern seems like a nice hedge.
I actually think Cavern of Souls is unnecessary now that I play 3 Collective Brutality and Liliana of the Veil(sometimes) in mainboard. I might add 1 more Blood Crypt instead.
- Mono Black Pox BBB Modern:
4x Soulflayer
4x Chromanticore
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
3x Samut, Voice of Dissent
3x Birds of Paradise
1x Hazoret the Fervent
other spell x13
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
1x Collective Brutality
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Swamp
1x Forest
4x Thoughtseize
2x Nihil Spellbomb
4x Ancient Grudge
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Golgari Charm
1x Collective Brutality
1x Magus of the Moon
I decided to return Chromanticore because lifelink and enchantment was necessary for this deck. Initially my ideal Soulflayer deck was to have at least 4 haste enabler so I reduced the number of Samut to 3 and Hazoret to 1. I increased the number of bird and land to reduce chance of getting land screwed. I would like to find space for Nameless Inversion eventually.
The ideal combination of ability Soulflayer can gain is
Zetalpa + Chromanticore + Samut(or Hazoret) + Sylvan
but any combination of ability enabler + Sylvan is almost always good, except for Samut since it lacks evasion. This is another reason I reduced the number of Samut to 3.
The deck list I posted few days ago with Zetalpa focused on having better chance of good opening hand, but the consistency of having strong Soulflayer decreased. Now that I increased the number of ability enablers, there is increased chance of bad opening hand but better chance of playing stronger Soulflayer. For now I prefer the latter but I would like to balance them out eventually.
Bonus: Dinosaur tribal Soulflayer
4x Soulflayer
4x Gishath, Sun's Avatar
4x Carnage Tyrant
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4x Griselbrand
4x Cairn Wanderer
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Cathartic Reunion
4x Goryo's Vengeance
4x Faithless Looting
Land x20
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
1x Forest
I don't have any updates currently, but I am still curious if Enter the Unknown is worth playing in Soulflayer.
4x Soulflayer
4x Chromanticore
3x Samut, Voice of Dissent
1x Hazoret the Fervent
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Striped Riverwinder
1x Keranos, God of Storms
Other spell x16
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Grisly Salvage
4x Cathartic Reunion
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Mana Confluence
1x Cavern of Souls
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Watery Grave
1x Swamp
1x Forest
2x Thoughtseize
4x Ancient Grudge
3x Stubborn Denial
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Collective Brutality
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Golgari Charm
Here is update for jund splash blue deck.
I decided to run 4 Striped Riverwinder because this deck lacks turn 1 play and cycling is relevent in finding Soulflayer. Having 8 hexproof enabler guarantees hexproof 90~100%* of the time.
I ended up removing 2 Samut, Voice of Dissent because Zetalpa, Primal Dawn already has double strike. I think having 4 haste enabler is enough, it should guarantees Soulflayer gaining haste atleast 50-63%* of the time.
Since this deck's mana curve is way higher then my usual Soulflayer deck I decided to run 4 Cathartic Reunion. It helps this deck throw away unplayable cards like Zetapla and Chromanticore and lets us draw 3 card. Digging for 3 card with 2 mana is undeniably good. Unlike Grisly Salvage it lets us keep noncreature/nonland utility spells like Traverse the Ulvenwald and Faithless Looting. I removed Lotleth Troll for Reunion. Troll is a better discard outlet and possible wincon but I think having more draw spell is more relevant.
For land base I decided to run 3 Mana Confluence and it was probably the biggest improvement I made for this deck. Having more then 1 in play was bit painful but it probably the best land I can use for 4 color deck, it might even be worth playing in regular jund deck. Having Mana Confluence helps cast Chromanticore and Keranos, God of Storms in the late game against a grindy match up. I would run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of Cavern of Souls if there were less control decks in the meta.
*These data come from me goldfishing 240 times in cockatrice. I do own the cards in paper but cockatrice comes in handy when goldfishing because shuffling decks and keeping track of life (from fetching and shocking) can become a pain to keep repeating with paper.
edit 2/2/18: -1 Hazoret the Fervent +1 Samut, Voice of Dissent
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Chromanticore
4x Samut, Voice of Dissent
4x Flamewake Phoenix
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Hazoret the Fervent
1x Keranos, God of Storms
Other spell x14
4x Faithless Looting
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
4x Grisly Salvage
2x Collective Brutality
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Mana Confluence
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Watery Grave
1x Swamp
1x Forest
2x Thoughtseize
4x Ancient Grudge
3x Stubborn Denial
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Collective Brutality
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Golgari Charm
Here is a deck list with no Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, Striped Riverwinder, and Cathartic Reunion. These card are great at finding and empowering Soulflayer but forbids flexible game plan and become useless whenever opponent plays graveyard hate. This deck focuses on alternative game plan such as Flamewake Phoenix and Lotleth Troll. Flamewake Phoenix is a reliable and persistent attacker with good synergy with self discard and mill. It can also give Soulflayer haste and flying. Similar to previous deck, with access to 5 color it is possible to cast Chromanticore and Keranos, God of Storms in a grindy match up.
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Bloodghast
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4x Drogskol Reaver
3x Spark Elemental
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Faithless Looting
4x Grisly Salvage
3x Lingering Souls
2x Commune with the Gods
Land x19
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blooming Marsh
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Godless Shrine
1x Swamp
1x Forest
Does anyone know his sideboard?
4x Soulflayer
4x Lotleth Troll
4x Bloodghast
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4x Drogskol Reaver
3x Spark Elemental
1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
Other spell x13
4x Faithless Looting
4x Grisly Salvage
3x Lingering Souls
2x Commune with the Gods
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothills
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blooming Marsh
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Ground
1x Godless Shrine
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Lingering Souls
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Ancient Grudge
3x Collective Brutality
2x Lightning Axe
3x Savage Summoning
1x Wear // Tear
I was expecting some enchantment spells in the sideboard but I guess Commune with the Gods was just for digging for creatures. Perphaps it was used to misguide opponent in game 1?
I've never tried Bloodghast in Soulflayer deck, it time for me to give it a try!
Lands
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
Creatures
4 Bloodghast
4 Drogskol Reaver
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Soulflayer
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4 Faithless Looting
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Lingering Souls
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Collective Brutality
3 Fatal Push
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Wear // Tear
Maybeboard
2 Commune with the Gods
2 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Izzet Charm
2 Lightning Axe
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vault Skirge
I don't really understand his inclusion of a few cards such as Falkenrath Aristocrat and the full set of Drogskol reaver in the main. Feel like 3 drogskols should be the right number but have not tested this yet. Speaking of which, I think Phyrexian Obliterator can be a good choice in the 4cmc slot given our access to black, or even Tasigur, the Golden Fang as additional threat on the board
Savage summoning was too cute for me, I think postboard we can use some more removals to grind it out against some of the faster matchups. The izzet charm is one consideration but going more blue in this deck feels like its not the right direction.
Also, I noticed this deck is terrible dealing with enchantments, so an additional ray of revelation goes into the side. If you meet graveyard hate postboard, I guess you can only grind it out with your opponent.
Samut, Voice of Dissent, Chromanticore and Rhonas the Indomitable/Hazoret the Fervent ?
Also why not go with Fauna Shaman over some copies of Lotleth Troll as a tutor + discard outlet ?
Birds of Paradise seems more useful than 1-drops like Fanatical Firebrand (or Spark Elemental) for ramp/fixing and also flying keword.
If you're on Traverse though, I think Chromanticore is a necessity.
Fauna Shaman has to live to be a discard outlet. Troll can come down and immediately pitch *multiple* cards and become a beater at the same time.
The main keywords here are lifelink/double strike + flying + haste. These are the keywords that setup for our soulflayer big turn. Samut can be a consideration but lacking evasion is quite huge. The other gods/rainbow manticore does too little for this deck. Having indestructable/hexproof is mostly a plus vs some decks. You are also rarely going beyond 3 lands to get your deck going.
Btw, I was just playing against mono blue jace control. Absolutely disgusting. He played 4 time wrap, 4 part the waterveil, and 4 temporal mastery.
Spreading seas to mana lock opponent, dictate of kruphix and howling mine to draw out his deck. Elixir of immortality to keep his graveyard recurring.
EDIT:
I take back what I said about Hazoret. His stats might be worth looking at.
This deck is not some sort of 4c good stuff/midrange deck. This is an EXPLOSIVE aggro combo deck that aims to deal 8-16 dmg during turns 2 and 3. This deck preys on midrange and control decks. We are essentially racing with the field.
Therefore, turn 1 cards like Birds of Paradise or Spark Elemental (which incidentally, doesnt stick to the board) are pretty much not what you want to play.
Fauna Shaman is too slow for this deck to play. Your turn 2-3 needs to be spent developing you board or put you close to winning. This is a similar issue to Traverse, as attempting to trigger delirium will dilute the focus of your deck, although the mana fixing can be nice.
20 lands sometimes seem a little too much, but its crucial you get at least 2 black source + 1 red source in your opening hand.
Lingering Souls If you ever came up to games past turn 3, the spirits from this card become VERY important to help you grind through.
Lotleth Trollfulfills a similar grind function whereby you grow him through discard and stack the damage. He's also resilient to removal. Trample is just a bonus.
Fanatical Firebrand This card has way more utility than Spark Elemental does. If you draw him turn 1, you can keep attacking with him. 1 dmg adds up over many turns. Plus you can sac him to deal with pesky blocker from Aggro decks and he can trigger revolt anytime.
Now onto the important keywords that you usually want your Soulflayer to have. They are usually in some kind of combination below:
1. Evasion (flying) + burst damage (double strike) + haste + sticky to the board (Indestructable/hexproof) These keywords are the priority, and best to have them come together. Evasion is especially huge because the ground can get gummed up by creatures with base atk/toughness that trumps soulflayer, so its necessary to fly over them.
2. Lifelink is 2nd most important keyword as you have to race faster aggro decks.
3. Trample have to work with deathtouch to be effective. Vigilance can be handy when you need some sort of blocker, but not absolutely necessary. Other keywords like reach and first strike are basically moot once you have the 1st group of keywords.
Searching for these keywords on gatherer will yield some interesting results, in terms of creatures that can somehow be cast if necessary in a matchup, but usually you are either grisly salvaging or looting them away for other cards.
The sideboardLightning Bolt doesn't do much as you don't really need the burn for extra damage. Fatal Push is essential against manlands and ground creatures like goyf, voice, or 4cmc less creatures if revolt triggers.
I moved Savage Summoning back to the sideboard as it could be useful in counter matchups. You really want your soulflayer to resolve and not get bounced or countered. No use for Abrupt Decay yet. Not sure what kind of matchup you want to bring this in.
Another really interesting castable creature to consider is Cairn Wanderer if you want a 5th or 6th Soulflayer.
Lands
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
Creatures
4 Bloodghast
4 Drogskol Reaver
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Soulflayer
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
4 Faithless Looting
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Lingering Souls
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
3 Collective Brutality
3 Fatal Push
3 Savage Summoning (could be useful in counter matchups)
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Wear // Tear
Maybeboard
1 Hazoret, the Feverent (maybe cut a land or Lingering souls for this slot)
2 Commune with the Gods (perhaps too slow in the deck, although I can see a use for it if you want to dig deeper into the deck
1 Cairn Wanderer (your 5th to 6th Soulflayer, Doesn't require you to exile your graveyard, which could be a plus in longer games)
2 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vault Skirge