Something to keep in mind is that, unless your meta is a lot of Zoo and Burn, the current meta is very unfriendly to our deck, which might skew results. Perfect time for testing more bizarre builds. The only thing about posting weird builds is that some people, particularly mods, get really antsy about things being off topic. I don't particularly care and really think the deck needs innovation to work in today's meta.
I think it's best to start with the CORE BUILD of the deck... probably the budget version... and learn how to play Soul Sisters before revamping it. Learn to play the most basic build, and then grow the idea from there. A lot of us started by using the Primer and then changing things the longer we played. I think "rogue" ideas work after a lot of testing with the core. My own build has become successful for me only because I stuck with the core and tested one card at a time. I do well at locals and have been 9th-16th place enough times at big tournaments to be happy with the deck the way I have it. Just because I haven't won a huge tournament doesn't mean the deck isn't good. The people who lose to it might be salty at first, but I will tell you the deck is highly respected in my local meta. I mentioned before that a lot of people are picking up the deck now.
I think the evolution of white decks might be the white-weenie deck that is popping up... a deck that I really want to try (without Horizon Canopy lol). I feel like I can toss Auriok Champion into that deck without too much of a problem, lol.
Here are a couple of games that I played today casually on Cockatrice:
Match #1: vs RG Zoo Result: 2-0 G1: Pretty easy matchup. Just play smart Magic. Won the game. - Sideboarding:
IN: +1 Wrath of God, +1 Ghostly Prison.
OUT: -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Path to Exile. G2: He missed his land drop. He had one land for 5-6 straight turns. Too little, too late. Won the game. He wanted a rematch, so we played another match.
Match #2: vs RG Zoo Result: 2-1 G1: This time... he drew too much lands. Won the game. - Sideboarding:
IN: +1 Wrath of God, +1 Ghostly Prison.
OUT: -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Path to Exile. G2: He had one turn left before losing to a bunch of flyers. Luckily for him, he had Pyroclasm and a bunch of animals. Lost the game. - Additionnal sideboarding:
IN: +1 Mark of Asylum.
OUT: -1 Ranger of Eos. G3: Beatdown with sisters, Ajani, Honor of the Pure and a bunch of tokens. Won the game.
Note: All those five games that I played with the guy, I didn't see my SB lol.
Match #3: vs Mono Green Elves Result: 1-0 G1: VERY hard matchup obviously. Luckily for me, he mulliganed to 5. Watch out, Coco Elves now plays with Westvale Abbey. I don't know why, but the guy had a lot of Elves plus Ezuri, Archdruid and Heritage... instead of pumping them up, he decided to sac five Elves to flip the land. I had a bunch of creature in play with an 24/24 Ajani. Gained enough life to take 3 hits from Abbey. For the win, I went StW for 3 at his end phase. Then played 2 Honor of the Pure on my turn and swung in for enough damage to kill him. Unfortunately, he had to leave, so we only played one game.
Note:
Now that I have time to play Magic, I will try to go to FNMs at least once a week. I will also post my results, whether it's a win or a lost. I also play at least three games a day on Cockatrice (like today). So I might even continue posting casual games on a daily basis! ONLY if you guys want too though, I don't want to keep spamming stuff if you guys find it useless or putting up some work on reports for nothing!
You need two Suture Priest or two sisters to "stall" the game: Kitchen Finks gains them two life.
I'm currently looking at several Abzan Coco builds right now. I'm "studying" and analyzing the deck. I'll probably write a matchup analysis against the deck if I do find something useful to at least stand a chance against Abzan Coco.
The deck can be frustrating sometimes. I agree that this deck probably won't ever be considered as a tiered deck. In fact, compared to the other colors, white is probably the weakest... Good thing is, when we do win a tournament, we "earned" it by fighting and playing a non-tiered deck. It's easy to win when you have a 1000$ worth deck. But with a non-tiered deck, it's hard and takes a lot of skills. Not hating on the other decks though, I love a lot of $1000 decks, unfortunately, I don't have the budget. Although, I'm currently thinking about slowly building a tiered... Elves comes in mind...
I never played it to win events... I played because I enjoy the play style. Maybe I wasn't clear, but I'm swapping decks because I'm so bad at magic; not because I'm losing. Were I losing but making good plays and being competitive, I would continue to play it. I'm losing due to NUMEROUS misplays. I don't get to play all that often, and my time for play-testing is laughable. Lack of practice is probably the reason for all the misplays, and it has become frustrating.
I have an 8whack deck that would be simpler to play, so I may sleeve that up for a little while.
I know I need 4xSquadron Hawk (which will replace the Suture Priests to make Martyr better but I can't seem to find any locally at the moment so I'll have to order them at some point.
Let me say this again: I'm not giving up on SS; just myself lol. I love to play the deck, but since I play a Collected Company variant, things work a little... Differently. I don't have some of the cards I need like Archangel of Thune or Flagstones of Trokair, so that doesn't help. I'm also completely against buying online unless I find a sweet deal, I just wish my LGS' would play Modern more consistently. A few years ago when I played standard, I did really well for being "the new guy", but I also played RDW in the Alara/Zen standard.
I agree about the Auriok Champion but they are a bit expensive at the moment (and I won't be able to find them locally) so I'll have to order them at some point.
Until I get those Champions though, wouldn't you say that Hawks with Mistveil Plains is better than Suture Priest? Or would it be be better to just splash black for Lingering Souls until then?
When I played it, Squadron Hawk+Mistveil Plains was very powerful and often won the game against control or some midrange matches. In that deck, I had a high Ranger of Eos count so that I could fetch Martyr of Sands+Serra Ascendant while I had a hand full of Squadron Hawks. In that deck I used Flagstones of Trokair to reliably get Mistveil. Don't know how Lingering Souls plays but either are probably better than Suture Priest until you get Champions.
Having played with 2 Thoughtseizes for a while, it's really awkward if you can't play it turn one, which is hard with just one Cave and one Shock. I just cut them since most of the one-card combo is out of my meta or is answered by other cards that are more consistent. This allowed me to get a more consistent mana base with just 4 Isolated Chapels.
Suture Priest is not a strong card at all. It was only fringe playable during the Twin days, when they didn't beat us by going off often anyway. In the conversation we're having Lingering Souls > Squadron Hawk > Most things > Suture Priest. Other than that, Meldanen, I like your list but would probably go for more rangers before I maxed out on Martyrs, if budget allows.
Mistveil Plains is cool with Squadron Hawks. We use it a lot in Martyr/Proc. I don't think it works as well in Sisters, as we often just win from turning flyers sideways, which means they aren't dying (and then going to the graveyard.) It works in Martyr/Proc because we're rarely using it while trying to topdeck an answer, which is the situation Sisters gets itself into in some of those matches.
Match #1: vs Scapeshift Result: 0-2 G1: Had an aggressive hand with Lingering Souls and Honor of the Pure. Able to drop him down to 4 life. But it wasn't enough. I could've beaten him, if I flashbacked LS. But I was worried that he had an Anger in his hand... - Sideboarding:
IN: +1 Spellskite, +1 Mark of Asylum
OUT: I forgot... oups. G2: Drew a Spellskite. Played the Spellskite. I had exactly 24 life unfortunately, so he hit me exactly for 24 with Spellskite's ability. Very tough matchup.
Match #2: vs Abzan Coco Result: 0-1 G1: Nothing much to say. He got the combo quickly and beat me. Sadly, like a lot of players with $1000+ deck, he quit the game. Probably, because he was playing against Soul Sisters lol...
Match #3: vs Grixis Control Result: 2-0 G1: My favorite Control matchup. I love this matchup, it's a lot of fun. On the draw, mull to 6 and kept Plains, GQ, Fetch, LS, Sister, Auriok and Serra. He taps out on turn two, so I play Auriok. She's a beast. Won the game easily but slowly with token + Auriok beatdown. Yes, I attacked with Auriok. Had two Path in my hand for Snapcaster - Sideboarding:
IN: +2 Rest in Peace, +1 Mark of Asylum.
OUT: -2 Martyr of Sands, -1 Serra Ascendant. G2: He had a great first turn with a turn 1 Ancestral Vision. No turn 1 for me, kept a very good hand with no one drop. He turn 2, Jace. Unfortunately for him, I hit him with a RIP. He conceded the game the moment I reached 30 life (after fetching 2 Serras with Ranger) even though he was only at 12 life. I don't think it was a smart move from him to concede that early... could've drawn like a Bolt to bring me under 30.
Notes:
- I really LOVE Rangers in this format. I play two copies. Yeah, it sucks when it gets countered, but if it hits against control... it's sweet !
Deathstroke... you da man against Grixis. Nice work with the Rangers.
Lingering Souls is far superior than Squadron Hawk. With multiple Soul Sisters in play, which happens often, it's incredible. You have 8 amazing plays on turn three that are hard to play against. Spectral and Lingering Souls bring serious pain and help get you to 30 life without relying on the Martyr. It's card advantage, helps recover your board state, and puts TWO 1/1 fliers on turn three into play, instead of One. I don't think the hawks are a good turn 2 play, and they are no better on turn 3. I think they are probably good in the late game.
I lost to a very good player with a Grixis deck. The guy always makes top 8 at a major event, and I have never beaten him. He went pretty far in day 2 of a GP with Jeskai Control in a field dominated by Eldrazi. The odds were very much against him, according to what people thought of his deck. That should be a lesson...
So he played Rise/Fall, Kalitas, Pia and Whatever Nalaar, Remand, Spell Snare, Bolt, Helix, Snap, Duress. He basically ripped Path to Exile out of my hand one game and dropped Kalitas. I never seem to have Auriok Champ in play when I play against Kalitas. We played another game without sideboards and I kept a bad hand to save time and was dominated. I played against a similar Grixis Control deck a few weeks ago and was able to make it close. Lost to Kalitas that time, too. Auriok Champ and Path were not enough. We went to turns and rushed through and it was a mistake on my part. I think this deck is very good and we have a very good chance against it. Deathstroke was able to attack with his Auriok against Snappy... I am jealous.
I did, however, do well against Scapeshift in a competitive round. I won it 2-0, without any playing any hate cards in game 2. Martyr was an MVP game one and the second time I applied a lot of pressure.
I forgot to mention that he did had a Kalitas and managed to bolt my Warden for a zombie token when I was tapped out. I Pathed it immediately. Funny thing is, whenever I play against Kalitas, either I have Paths for them or he's irrelevant because I have tokens... Not sure how truly good he is yet.
The Grixis control player I play with is just... I do really well against him, but as soon as he hits his curve and drops Kalitas, I'm so screwed. Even if I try to Path him, he's 100% ready to drop a counterspell on it, and the game may as well be over there.
I haven't played it, but we're pretty well favored against regular Death and Taxes. Them being able to blink tokens is rough, but I think Suppresion Field needs to be in the sideboard anyway, it just destroys them.
I think the evolution of white decks might be the white-weenie deck that is popping up... a deck that I really want to try (without Horizon Canopy lol). I feel like I can toss Auriok Champion into that deck without too much of a problem, lol.
Mono-White Humans Deck Tech with Dan Musser SCGINDY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxYGwDTAGJg
Eerie Interlude could also be good. It does look fun to play. But I just like Tokens too much to play humans.
Match #1: vs RG Zoo
Result: 2-0
G1: Pretty easy matchup. Just play smart Magic. Won the game.
- Sideboarding:
IN: +1 Wrath of God, +1 Ghostly Prison.
OUT: -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Path to Exile.
G2: He missed his land drop. He had one land for 5-6 straight turns. Too little, too late. Won the game. He wanted a rematch, so we played another match.
Match #2: vs RG Zoo
Result: 2-1
G1: This time... he drew too much lands. Won the game.
- Sideboarding:
IN: +1 Wrath of God, +1 Ghostly Prison.
OUT: -1 Ranger of Eos, -1 Path to Exile.
G2: He had one turn left before losing to a bunch of flyers. Luckily for him, he had Pyroclasm and a bunch of animals. Lost the game.
- Additionnal sideboarding:
IN: +1 Mark of Asylum.
OUT: -1 Ranger of Eos.
G3: Beatdown with sisters, Ajani, Honor of the Pure and a bunch of tokens. Won the game.
Note: All those five games that I played with the guy, I didn't see my SB lol.
Match #3: vs Mono Green Elves
Result: 1-0
G1: VERY hard matchup obviously. Luckily for me, he mulliganed to 5. Watch out, Coco Elves now plays with Westvale Abbey. I don't know why, but the guy had a lot of Elves plus Ezuri, Archdruid and Heritage... instead of pumping them up, he decided to sac five Elves to flip the land. I had a bunch of creature in play with an 24/24 Ajani. Gained enough life to take 3 hits from Abbey. For the win, I went StW for 3 at his end phase. Then played 2 Honor of the Pure on my turn and swung in for enough damage to kill him. Unfortunately, he had to leave, so we only played one game.
Note:
Now that I have time to play Magic, I will try to go to FNMs at least once a week. I will also post my results, whether it's a win or a lost. I also play at least three games a day on Cockatrice (like today). So I might even continue posting casual games on a daily basis! ONLY if you guys want too though, I don't want to keep spamming stuff if you guys find it useless or putting up some work on reports for nothing!
I'm currently looking at several Abzan Coco builds right now. I'm "studying" and analyzing the deck. I'll probably write a matchup analysis against the deck if I do find something useful to at least stand a chance against Abzan Coco.
The deck can be frustrating sometimes. I agree that this deck probably won't ever be considered as a tiered deck. In fact, compared to the other colors, white is probably the weakest... Good thing is, when we do win a tournament, we "earned" it by fighting and playing a non-tiered deck. It's easy to win when you have a 1000$ worth deck. But with a non-tiered deck, it's hard and takes a lot of skills. Not hating on the other decks though, I love a lot of $1000 decks, unfortunately, I don't have the budget. Although, I'm currently thinking about slowly building a tiered... Elves comes in mind...
I have an 8whack deck that would be simpler to play, so I may sleeve that up for a little while.
I am currently running this list:
4x Serra Ascendant
4x Soul Warden
4x Soul's Attentand
1x Archangel of Thune
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Martyr of Sands
3x Suture Priest
2x Ranger of Eos
3x Windbrisk Heights
3x Ghost Quarter
15x Plains
Sorcery(4)
4x Spectral Procession
Instant(5)
1x Secure the Wastes
4x Path to Exile
Enchantment(4)
4x Honor of the Pure
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Wrath of God
1x Ethersworn Canonist
3x Sundering Growth
2x Suppression Field
1x Return to the Ranks
2x Rest in Peace
2x Celestial Purge
1x Kitchen Finks
I know I need 4xSquadron Hawk (which will replace the Suture Priests to make Martyr better but I can't seem to find any locally at the moment so I'll have to order them at some point.
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
In addition to that, I was thinking of maybe going Black/White, in order to add Lingering Souls, a Thoughtseize or two and maybe Sorin, Solemn Visitor
The list I am currently thinking looks like this:
4x Serra Ascendant
4x Soul Warden
4x Soul's Attentand
1x Archangel of Thune
4x Ajani's Pridemate
2x Ranger of Eos
2x Martyr of Sands
Lands(21)
1x Windbrisk Heights
3x Ghost Quarter
4x Isolated Chapel
1x Caves of Koilos
1x Godless Shrine
11x Plains
4x Spectral Procession
4x Lingering Souls
Instant(5)
1x Secure the Wastes
4x Path to Exile
Enchantment(4)
4x Honor of the Pure
Planeswalker(1)
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Wrath of God
1x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Sundering Growth
2x Suppression Field
1x Return to the Ranks
2x Rest in Peace
2x Celestial Purge
2x Thoughtseize
Does it look like it's worth it? Or is the mono white list simply better?
Thanks
Until I get those Champions though, wouldn't you say that Hawks with Mistveil Plains is better than Suture Priest? Or would it be be better to just splash black for Lingering Souls until then?
Suture Priest is not a strong card at all. It was only fringe playable during the Twin days, when they didn't beat us by going off often anyway. In the conversation we're having Lingering Souls > Squadron Hawk > Most things > Suture Priest. Other than that, Meldanen, I like your list but would probably go for more rangers before I maxed out on Martyrs, if budget allows.
Mistveil Plains is cool with Squadron Hawks. We use it a lot in Martyr/Proc. I don't think it works as well in Sisters, as we often just win from turning flyers sideways, which means they aren't dying (and then going to the graveyard.) It works in Martyr/Proc because we're rarely using it while trying to topdeck an answer, which is the situation Sisters gets itself into in some of those matches.
I also play BW and like Bobo said: Lingering Souls > Hawks.
Match #1: vs Scapeshift
Result: 0-2
G1: Had an aggressive hand with Lingering Souls and Honor of the Pure. Able to drop him down to 4 life. But it wasn't enough. I could've beaten him, if I flashbacked LS. But I was worried that he had an Anger in his hand...
- Sideboarding:
IN: +1 Spellskite, +1 Mark of Asylum
OUT: I forgot... oups.
G2: Drew a Spellskite. Played the Spellskite. I had exactly 24 life unfortunately, so he hit me exactly for 24 with Spellskite's ability. Very tough matchup.
Match #2: vs Abzan Coco
Result: 0-1
G1: Nothing much to say. He got the combo quickly and beat me. Sadly, like a lot of players with $1000+ deck, he quit the game. Probably, because he was playing against Soul Sisters lol...
Match #3: vs Grixis Control
Result: 2-0
G1: My favorite Control matchup. I love this matchup, it's a lot of fun. On the draw, mull to 6 and kept Plains, GQ, Fetch, LS, Sister, Auriok and Serra. He taps out on turn two, so I play Auriok. She's a beast. Won the game easily but slowly with token + Auriok beatdown. Yes, I attacked with Auriok. Had two Path in my hand for Snapcaster
- Sideboarding:
IN: +2 Rest in Peace, +1 Mark of Asylum.
OUT: -2 Martyr of Sands, -1 Serra Ascendant.
G2: He had a great first turn with a turn 1 Ancestral Vision. No turn 1 for me, kept a very good hand with no one drop. He turn 2, Jace. Unfortunately for him, I hit him with a RIP. He conceded the game the moment I reached 30 life (after fetching 2 Serras with Ranger) even though he was only at 12 life. I don't think it was a smart move from him to concede that early... could've drawn like a Bolt to bring me under 30.
Notes:
- I really LOVE Rangers in this format. I play two copies. Yeah, it sucks when it gets countered, but if it hits against control... it's sweet !
Lingering Souls is far superior than Squadron Hawk. With multiple Soul Sisters in play, which happens often, it's incredible. You have 8 amazing plays on turn three that are hard to play against. Spectral and Lingering Souls bring serious pain and help get you to 30 life without relying on the Martyr. It's card advantage, helps recover your board state, and puts TWO 1/1 fliers on turn three into play, instead of One. I don't think the hawks are a good turn 2 play, and they are no better on turn 3. I think they are probably good in the late game.
I lost to a very good player with a Grixis deck. The guy always makes top 8 at a major event, and I have never beaten him. He went pretty far in day 2 of a GP with Jeskai Control in a field dominated by Eldrazi. The odds were very much against him, according to what people thought of his deck. That should be a lesson...
So he played Rise/Fall, Kalitas, Pia and Whatever Nalaar, Remand, Spell Snare, Bolt, Helix, Snap, Duress. He basically ripped Path to Exile out of my hand one game and dropped Kalitas. I never seem to have Auriok Champ in play when I play against Kalitas. We played another game without sideboards and I kept a bad hand to save time and was dominated. I played against a similar Grixis Control deck a few weeks ago and was able to make it close. Lost to Kalitas that time, too. Auriok Champ and Path were not enough. We went to turns and rushed through and it was a mistake on my part. I think this deck is very good and we have a very good chance against it. Deathstroke was able to attack with his Auriok against Snappy... I am jealous.
I did, however, do well against Scapeshift in a competitive round. I won it 2-0, without any playing any hate cards in game 2. Martyr was an MVP game one and the second time I applied a lot of pressure.
Auriok against Snap... oh boy it was sweet.
WB Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim | WBR Queen Marchesa | WUBR Breya, Etherium Shaper
Modern:
/ Death and Taxes | W/ Soul Sisters | Spirits | U Faeries | Tempered Steel Affinity
In other news, should Eldrazi & Taxes be something we should worry about?
2 Auriok Champion
1 Martyr of Sands
3 Ranger of Eos
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
1 Spectral Procession
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Godless Shrine
2 Mistveil Plains
6 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Windbrisk Heights
2 Celestial Flare
1 Mark of Asylum
1 Martyr of Sands
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Return to the Ranks
2 Spellskite
3 Stony Silence
2 Sundering Growth
1 Suppression Field
1 Wrath of God
4 Archangel of Thune
2 Auriok Champion
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Shining Shoal
4 Spectral Procession
4 Horizon Canopy
16 Plains
4 Windbrisk Heights
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Celestial Purge
1 Kataki, War's Wage
4 Rest in Peace
2 Shining Shoal
2 Stony Silence
3 Sundering Growth
Thraben Inspector also showed up in a top 8 in Martyr/Proc. Are we sleeping on this card?