Consider Mistveil Plains vs Windbrisk Heights. I don't remember the last time I ran out of Hawks.
Also Brave the Elements is a bit clunky. It's usually a slow 1 for 1 against removal. You have flyers to attack through.
Try 1 Burrenton Forge Tender in the SB to get with Ranger.
If artifacts is a theme I don't see why you would not include them. It doesn't have to be the complete cycle, maybe add other monocolored non-basics for the other colors.
Elspeth Tirel & Nykthos: Nykthos is only good to cast Elspeth. It has almost no other utility with such a low curve. It will only mess up your T3 Procession more often. Elspeth Tirel isn't what you want to draw without a Nykthos, often a dead card alone. If you play 2-3 Nykthos and 2 Elspeth, you won't often draw them together. If you play 4 of each, the legendary clause will slow you down a lot. Compare these 2 cards to Ascendant+Martyr. Elspeth Tirel & Nykthos are worst separately and in combination, it's a weak synergy if you ask me. I'd only consider playing Nykthos if I really don't need Ghost Quarters/Tec Edge in my meta.
Black and White: The biggest loser to splashing Black is Ascendant (lots of small life loss). Any reason for not cutting it and keeping Pridemate instead?.
Also for Bitterblossom: I guess it's good against control, but against combo and aggro it's not even half as good as Procession. The tokens aren't pumped by Honors, and it takes a while to produce 3 tokens, meaning it's a very slow clock and it doesn't gain you much life from blocking and Sisters. Not sure I would play that maindeck, you'd have to review the matchups you expect and what is cut. It's definitely a good SB card against control though.
It also has a cloudstone curio and purphoros in the sideboard for access to an infinite damage engine when I'm playing against Melira Pod or other decks with access to infinite life gain
If you have Kessig Wolf-Run, Staff of Domination does the same thing for 1 card less. Infinite mana and cards with Nykthos/Overgrowth and an untapper. Actually, you don't even need Wolf-Run, you can just Primal all opposing lands (shuffle it back and draw it again off Staff).
I would still always want 1 Kessig Wolf Run and 1 Stomping Ground as long as you run Primeval Titan, it's a good combination if you don't find other cards to go off.
Against control: Sword of Fire and Ice? The mana costs isn't that much of an issue in that matchup. We know how tons of 1/1 flyers go along with this card, but it also protects from their spells and draw cards. Very fast clock at 4 extra damage per turn as long as you have a creature.
How do you feel about it after playing? Would you say Auriok Champion and Kataki are overkill in their matchups which look quite favorable? I'm thinking of using 4 Rest in Peace with the resurgence of graveyard (Iona for instance)
Maybe this is more suited to the no Deathrite Shaman meta:
Kataki is replaced with more Stony Silence because the main problem card is Cranial Plating (especially with Infect Nexus)
Immortal Servitude because that's the first thing that came to mind when battling control.
We really need to look into more good cards to beat blue main and sideboard.
Now that you mention it, Signal Pest might be better then Mikaeus, the Lunarch in many situations.
+It attacks in the air (damage/turn = number of Honors)
+It's active on the second turn like Mikaeus
+It costs only 1 mana, while Mikaeus is at least 2
-Mikaeus can survive Bolt if you play it for 5+
-Mikaeus protects your creatures with thoughness
-Mikaeus can grind until it dies and doesn't need to attack.
One situation that often arise is either turn 2-3 Hawk or turn 3 Procession into T4 Ranger, a situation where you have 2-3 flyers to attack with to end the game as soon as possible. While Mikaeus does as much damage without Honors (and often more on multiple turns), you'll fetch 2 things with Ranger and will want to play a 1 mana creature along with him T5. If you also want to keep a mana up for Path because of Splinter Twin for example, minimizing the amount of mana you spend by not casting a big Mikaeus might be worthwhile.
Mikaeus is really fringe. Signal Pest might be much better by being more castable when you draw it early though.
About Proc: I agree with idm, it's not that proc is bad in any way (besides being occasionally a dead card early game and against random grave hate), it's just that it's the worst card out of our options. I sideboarded Immortal Servitude for a while for a similar effect, but in matchups where they matter, you usually have better stuff to side in or want to keep all your treats, it didn't saw much play unless I expected Pyroclasm (mainly Tron, which baits a lot of our hate cards)
About Martyr/Ascendant: I agree that the combo isn't that reliable and worth it, especially with 3 Martyr/4 Ascendant. Thing is that, by itself, martyr win games by giving you more time vs aggro.
The same can't be said for Ascendant. It's quite low impact when you have less then 30 life. In a variant where you gain less life and are less likely to activate it, it'd be the first card I'd cut (leaving 1-2 for Ranger tutoring). It's a 1 mana who wins game though when it works.
Related to this, since I upped my Honor of the Pure count to 4 and noticed the deck getting much better, I almost always want to draw more and a 5-6th Anthem could be worth it. I'm debating between: Path of Bravery vs Spear of Heliod
Path of Bravery can be really good at activating Ascendant, and getting more Pridemate triggers, as well as good racing. It might be that little bit of additional life gain my deck is longing for. Doesn't boost if you are in trouble though. Feels a bit win-more even though being between 20-30 is quite common.
Spear of Heliod also looks pretty awesome at killing Goyfs and other big beaters (take that Emrakul!)
Proclamation of Rebirth is not the best card in this deck, not for preference reasons, but because of how the meta is.
Compared to Spectral Procession: One of the best opening is Sister->Pridemate->Procession. Proc isn't an opening card though, you need a few turns before you can activate it. What puts creatures in your graveyard early on? Burn(Bolt, Helix, Electrolyze), Counterspells(Only Spell Snareand Mana Leak, Cryptic later), Blocking and Discard. Lets go over these one by one:
Burn: only for red decks
Counters: Control (combo plays remand)
Blocking: Something you should almost never have to do unless you plan on activating Ascendant or Chalice.
Discard: Weak against us.
Basically, unless you are playing against UR control, Proc is always a late game card. It should stay in the sideboard unless your meta always gets wiped by something not named Anger of the Gods. Against combo it's bad and against aggro we already do great with procession. As someone said earlier, triple Lantern Kami is pretty much always what you need midgame, not more life.
Edit: Also, Immortal Servitude is better for late-game purposes, unless your opponent run tons of wipes.
Good cards against Scapeshift: Anything that gains you life (keep all sisters), all creatures to activate sisters, Martyr (maybe 4th one in SB), Hawks/Ranger for Martyr, Aven Mindcensor (though he dies to everything), Burrenton Forge-Tender. Actually, if Burrenton Forge-Tender does what I think it does, it dodges all removal and can completely negate the damage of a single Valakut, making it quite easy to survive. Nope, Valakut isn't red. It's still good to protect your creatures from Firespout and removal I guess.
Thing is, Scapeshift isn't made to answer all the threats we have, it should be easy most of the time.
Leyline of Sanctity:
Leyline does almost nothing vs Scapeshift. They can bounce it before comboing off with Cryptic Command/Repeal/Cyclonic Rift at 8/9 mana. Your best plan is to get to 40 life ASAP with Sisters and Martyr. Most lists only run 2 Valakut so they have a hard time going over 40 damage. A 3rd Valakut is useless to them unless the meta is dominated by Sisters.
Murderous Redcap: If they can combo with this, they can do it with Finks for infinite life, which we can't beat.
Karn: Pretty nice hoser but they run Nature's Claim post board. Same for Mindslaver. Karn can exile it if they are in great position post wipe.
Discard: Thoughtseize/Inquisition/Liliana/Clique: Pretty inefective against SS. We play our stuff fast and have a great topdeck mode.
Burn: Only dangerous if they run Leyline of Punishment or Rain of Gore. Sideboarding for enchantment removal should be effective enough.
Grapeshot: They draw their entire library for a bounce and you can't do anything about it.
In short: Soul Sister doesn't really need Leylines. It's only really good against Burn (already easy) and good RG Tron (better to side something else like Stony Silence/Mindcensor/Suppression Field since they have answers). Post board, most people will board out Thoughtseize because we are beatdown.
Considering the fact that Leyline takes 3-4 sideboard slots and is hard to cast fast, I think these slots are better used for something else. I leave Leylines to decks who fear discarding their few threats and dying to burn.
Auriok Champion is just an other sister who's resilient to most removal. I like having a ton of sisters for creature matchups and blocking Kird Ape+ dodging bolt&anger of the gods is a nice bonus for W. Both kinds of sisters have pro and cons and better/worse matchups so playing some of both allows you to be flexible.
Mikaeus is a 1-of who's worth it because he pairs with Ranger when you need to grind. It's not only about Bolting for Spirits, pretty often you'll need to block to survive a big Goyf/Nacalt. Ranger also gets Burrenton if you need to survive a second Pyroclasm for RG Tron or something like that. Might cut Rule of Law and Suppression Field but I want to give them some more test drive.
I don't like Leyline too much because Scapeshift doesn't do enough damage, same for Burn and Discard isn't really a problem. Against Storm, they just board in Echoing Truth and bonce it before killing you.
I also feel Rest in Peace will only become more important with Deathrite gone.
Removed from the sideboard: 1 Suppression Field, 1 Brave the Elements, 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 1 Immortal Servitude
Supression Field felt like the best card in the sideboard but with Deathrite shaman gone it's a lot less useful.
I really like Mikaeus in grindy creatures matchups like Zoo where they'll often have you low on life and can kill your flyers. Spear of Heliod might be better but you can't get it with Ranger.
Considering to add: Sundering Growth, 1x Auriok Champion, Thalia
The "unique block structure" is that we visit 2 planes in the same block.
Khans in set 1-2, Zendikar in set 3
Nissa, Worldwaker
Also Brave the Elements is a bit clunky. It's usually a slow 1 for 1 against removal. You have flyers to attack through.
Try 1 Burrenton Forge Tender in the SB to get with Ranger.
Black and White: The biggest loser to splashing Black is Ascendant (lots of small life loss). Any reason for not cutting it and keeping Pridemate instead?.
Also for Bitterblossom: I guess it's good against control, but against combo and aggro it's not even half as good as Procession. The tokens aren't pumped by Honors, and it takes a while to produce 3 tokens, meaning it's a very slow clock and it doesn't gain you much life from blocking and Sisters. Not sure I would play that maindeck, you'd have to review the matchups you expect and what is cut. It's definitely a good SB card against control though.
If you have Kessig Wolf-Run, Staff of Domination does the same thing for 1 card less. Infinite mana and cards with Nykthos/Overgrowth and an untapper. Actually, you don't even need Wolf-Run, you can just Primal all opposing lands (shuffle it back and draw it again off Staff).
I would still always want 1 Kessig Wolf Run and 1 Stomping Ground as long as you run Primeval Titan, it's a good combination if you don't find other cards to go off.
Haste is a pretty big deal in this deck. For haste:
Madrush Cyclops(off a chord of calling, 1 cheaper then Umbrask)
Thousand-Year Elixir
Sarkhan Vol
Xenagos, God of Revels
Lightning Greaves
If you plan on attacking with everything often Sarkan Vol is nice.
If you run Chords or Tooth & Nails, creatures are nice.
Artifacts are easy to cast.
So this was your sideboard?
How do you feel about it after playing? Would you say Auriok Champion and Kataki are overkill in their matchups which look quite favorable? I'm thinking of using 4 Rest in Peace with the resurgence of graveyard (Iona for instance)
Maybe this is more suited to the no Deathrite Shaman meta:
Kataki is replaced with more Stony Silence because the main problem card is Cranial Plating (especially with Infect Nexus)
Immortal Servitude because that's the first thing that came to mind when battling control.
We really need to look into more good cards to beat blue main and sideboard.
+It attacks in the air (damage/turn = number of Honors)
+It's active on the second turn like Mikaeus
+It costs only 1 mana, while Mikaeus is at least 2
-Mikaeus can survive Bolt if you play it for 5+
-Mikaeus protects your creatures with thoughness
-Mikaeus can grind until it dies and doesn't need to attack.
One situation that often arise is either turn 2-3 Hawk or turn 3 Procession into T4 Ranger, a situation where you have 2-3 flyers to attack with to end the game as soon as possible. While Mikaeus does as much damage without Honors (and often more on multiple turns), you'll fetch 2 things with Ranger and will want to play a 1 mana creature along with him T5. If you also want to keep a mana up for Path because of Splinter Twin for example, minimizing the amount of mana you spend by not casting a big Mikaeus might be worthwhile.
Mikaeus is really fringe. Signal Pest might be much better by being more castable when you draw it early though.
About Martyr/Ascendant: I agree that the combo isn't that reliable and worth it, especially with 3 Martyr/4 Ascendant. Thing is that, by itself, martyr win games by giving you more time vs aggro.
The same can't be said for Ascendant. It's quite low impact when you have less then 30 life. In a variant where you gain less life and are less likely to activate it, it'd be the first card I'd cut (leaving 1-2 for Ranger tutoring). It's a 1 mana who wins game though when it works.
Related to this, since I upped my Honor of the Pure count to 4 and noticed the deck getting much better, I almost always want to draw more and a 5-6th Anthem could be worth it. I'm debating between:
Path of Bravery vs Spear of Heliod
Path of Bravery can be really good at activating Ascendant, and getting more Pridemate triggers, as well as good racing. It might be that little bit of additional life gain my deck is longing for. Doesn't boost if you are in trouble though. Feels a bit win-more even though being between 20-30 is quite common.
Spear of Heliod also looks pretty awesome at killing Goyfs and other big beaters (take that Emrakul!)
Compared to Spectral Procession: One of the best opening is Sister->Pridemate->Procession. Proc isn't an opening card though, you need a few turns before you can activate it. What puts creatures in your graveyard early on? Burn(Bolt, Helix, Electrolyze), Counterspells(Only Spell Snareand Mana Leak, Cryptic later), Blocking and Discard. Lets go over these one by one:
Burn: only for red decks
Counters: Control (combo plays remand)
Blocking: Something you should almost never have to do unless you plan on activating Ascendant or Chalice.
Discard: Weak against us.
Basically, unless you are playing against UR control, Proc is always a late game card. It should stay in the sideboard unless your meta always gets wiped by something not named Anger of the Gods. Against combo it's bad and against aggro we already do great with procession. As someone said earlier, triple Lantern Kami is pretty much always what you need midgame, not more life.
Edit: Also, Immortal Servitude is better for late-game purposes, unless your opponent run tons of wipes.
Actually, if Burrenton Forge-Tender does what I think it does, it dodges all removal and can completely negate the damage of a single Valakut, making it quite easy to survive.Nope, Valakut isn't red. It's still good to protect your creatures from Firespout and removal I guess.Thing is, Scapeshift isn't made to answer all the threats we have, it should be easy most of the time.
Leyline does almost nothing vs Scapeshift. They can bounce it before comboing off with Cryptic Command/Repeal/Cyclonic Rift at 8/9 mana. Your best plan is to get to 40 life ASAP with Sisters and Martyr. Most lists only run 2 Valakut so they have a hard time going over 40 damage. A 3rd Valakut is useless to them unless the meta is dominated by Sisters.
Murderous Redcap: If they can combo with this, they can do it with Finks for infinite life, which we can't beat.
Karn: Pretty nice hoser but they run Nature's Claim post board. Same for Mindslaver. Karn can exile it if they are in great position post wipe.
Discard: Thoughtseize/Inquisition/Liliana/Clique: Pretty inefective against SS. We play our stuff fast and have a great topdeck mode.
Burn: Only dangerous if they run Leyline of Punishment or Rain of Gore. Sideboarding for enchantment removal should be effective enough.
Gitaxian Probe: They can target themselves.
Grapeshot: They draw their entire library for a bounce and you can't do anything about it.
In short: Soul Sister doesn't really need Leylines. It's only really good against Burn (already easy) and good RG Tron (better to side something else like Stony Silence/Mindcensor/Suppression Field since they have answers). Post board, most people will board out Thoughtseize because we are beatdown.
Considering the fact that Leyline takes 3-4 sideboard slots and is hard to cast fast, I think these slots are better used for something else. I leave Leylines to decks who fear discarding their few threats and dying to burn.
Mikaeus is a 1-of who's worth it because he pairs with Ranger when you need to grind. It's not only about Bolting for Spirits, pretty often you'll need to block to survive a big Goyf/Nacalt. Ranger also gets Burrenton if you need to survive a second Pyroclasm for RG Tron or something like that. Might cut Rule of Law and Suppression Field but I want to give them some more test drive.
I don't like Leyline too much because Scapeshift doesn't do enough damage, same for Burn and Discard isn't really a problem. Against Storm, they just board in Echoing Truth and bonce it before killing you.
I also feel Rest in Peace will only become more important with Deathrite gone.
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Windbrisk Heights
11 Plains
4 Serra Ascendant
3 Martyr of Sands
4 Squadron Hawk
1 Auriok Champion
4 Soul Warden
3 Soul's Attendant
4 Ajani's Pridemate
2 Aven Mindcensor
3 Ranger of Eos
4 Spectral Procession
4 Honor of the Pure
3 Path to Exile
1 Suppression Field
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Rule of Law
1 Path to Exile
1 Aven Mindcensor
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Rest in Peace
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Stony Silence
Removed from the sideboard: 1 Suppression Field, 1 Brave the Elements, 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 1 Immortal Servitude
Supression Field felt like the best card in the sideboard but with Deathrite shaman gone it's a lot less useful.
I really like Mikaeus in grindy creatures matchups like Zoo where they'll often have you low on life and can kill your flyers. Spear of Heliod might be better but you can't get it with Ranger.
Considering to add: Sundering Growth, 1x Auriok Champion, Thalia