Soulbond - The Buddy System
- Thread starter Encaen
- Start date
Soulbond is a pretty solid mechanic in sealed, and I can see some of it getting use in standard. Deadeye navigator is very interesting, but at 6 mana, I think most people would opt for a Titan.
I think I might share that mana slot. The ability to remove the lands in my deck within 2 turns of having a Primeval Titan hit the table the first time is pretty tempting.
I think I might share that mana slot. The ability to remove the lands in my deck within 2 turns of having a Primeval Titan hit the table the first time is pretty tempting.
I've been looking at Avacyn Restored for a bit now, and I have to say that I feel the set is really, really underwhelming, particularly in Standard. Even more so than Dark Ascension. Other than the Angels (except for the Blue/White Angel, which is garbage and is basically useless particularly compared to Goldbrand and Ayacyn) and a few Rares/Uncommons and the odd common card, nothing in the set stands out as particularly useful or good. As a matter of fact, other than a few cards in Innistrad, I feel like the whole Innistrad block has been underwhelming.
I haven't decided if its because the set is really that unimpressive, or if it just has the unfortunate fate of being compared to absolutely crushingly powerful Scars and (now out of Standard but still fresh) Eldrazi sets yet though.
I haven't decided if its because the set is really that unimpressive, or if it just has the unfortunate fate of being compared to absolutely crushingly powerful Scars and (now out of Standard but still fresh) Eldrazi sets yet though.
You might consider adding a Nightshade Peddler or two to that deck. When Soulbond-paired with the Pathbreaker Wurm, they both gain Trample and Deathtouch, letting you devote only a single point of damage to Pathbreaker's blocker and the rest to Trample. Throwing down Joint Assault lets the Peddler pull the same trick, and drop two more Trample damage.
Also, I built a terrifying Avacyn-blue "Mill" deck. Basically: Rotcrown Ghoul, Infinite Reflection, Dreadwaters, Stern Mentor/Galvanic Alchemist combo, and the nasty Control and drawing power blue offers (also Temporal Mastery if you manage to get one).
...pair it up with Black for a Killing Wave or Bone Splinters, etc., to let you kill your reflected Rotcrowns easily and quickly and toss down Homocidal Seclusion to beef up any creature you drop afterward or Exquisite Blood to bolster your defenses through offense.
... pair it with Red to get extra control and direct damage with creatures like Vexing Devil and Scalding Devil, or handy removal from Bonfire of the Damned and Pillar of Flame.
...pair it with white to drop down Bruna, Light of Alabaster to steal powerful Auras from your opponent and recover them from your graveyard (or to strip bad ones from "more important" creatures you may have out), while beefing up forces with the ever-popular Defang and Silverblade Paladin.
Also, I built a terrifying Avacyn-blue "Mill" deck. Basically: Rotcrown Ghoul, Infinite Reflection, Dreadwaters, Stern Mentor/Galvanic Alchemist combo, and the nasty Control and drawing power blue offers (also Temporal Mastery if you manage to get one).
...pair it up with Black for a Killing Wave or Bone Splinters, etc., to let you kill your reflected Rotcrowns easily and quickly and toss down Homocidal Seclusion to beef up any creature you drop afterward or Exquisite Blood to bolster your defenses through offense.
... pair it with Red to get extra control and direct damage with creatures like Vexing Devil and Scalding Devil, or handy removal from Bonfire of the Damned and Pillar of Flame.
...pair it with white to drop down Bruna, Light of Alabaster to steal powerful Auras from your opponent and recover them from your graveyard (or to strip bad ones from "more important" creatures you may have out), while beefing up forces with the ever-popular Defang and Silverblade Paladin.
FUCK THAT! RUG ramp using Deadeye to blow every single land in the game up with an acidic slime is so much more infuriating for your opponent than smashing them in the face with a large thingvxicepickxv said:
.Apart from the silly things that card enables there are only 2 soulbond guys that are any good in standard which are Wolfir silverheart who slots into a RG aggro shell very nicely and Silverblade paladin who goes in Broros(WR humans)/WW/and WG.
Deck is a fun, themed one and more importantly cheap for those who can't get hold of the more powerful cards.Encaen said:
To change it up a bit while still maintaining a slight soulbond theme, let's stick G/W and add some power
Creature (27)
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Loyal Cathar
2x Mirran Crusader
4x Silverblade Paladin
2x Champion of Lambholt
2x Hero of Bladehold
2x Wolfir Silverheart
2x Sigarda, Host of Herons
Land (24)
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Cavern of Souls
2x Gavony Township
6x Forest
5x Plains
Instant (6)
4x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Entreat the Angels
Artifact
2x Sword of War and Peace
Sideboard (15)
2x Naturalize
4x Fiend Hunter
3x Nearheath Pilgrim
2x Grand Abolisher
2x Eaten by Spider
2x Corrosive Gale
This changes it by taking instead of making the soulbond the main focus of the deck it supports it make it work much better. The cathars, Gathers, Heroes and entreats all also build up the champion of lambholdt much faster than anything in the deck previously as they each give at least 2 activations per card and the way Hero works with it is that when you attack with both Champion and Bladehold you get an additional 3 power needed to be able to block before they get the chance to declare.
Of course though this is a much, much, much more expensive build than your one so I can definitely see why you didn't go this route earlier.
I got rocked during the pre-release by a [mtg_card=Revenge of the Hunted] on a [mtg_card=Nightshade Peddler], so that's definitely something I'll have to considered for this deck. I also like the interaction of Peddler with [mtg_card=Silverblade Paladin] for Doublestrike Deathtouch.2xDouble said:
For your Mill deck, if you don't mind reaching into Dark Ascension, [mtg_card=Geralf's Mindcrusher] with [mtg_card=Deadeye Navigator] is pretty hilarious. He works well with [mtg_card=Infinite Reflection] as well, causing every creature you cast to mill them for five, plus undying and a bigger body for blocking. It sounds like you've got it pretty much nailed down for AVR, though.
I like having both Champions here, definitely. Since I was looking to keep it in Block, I hadn't even considered the interaction between [mtg_card=Hero of Bladehold] and [mtg_card=Champion of Lambholt]. That's a little crazy and now I really want to build something that takes advantage of that. If only they were Humans for [mtg_card=Champion of the Parish]!TheGuy(wantstobe) said:
I have been toying with an overhaul of RW Humans in block featuring [mtg_card=Dual Casting]. It is terrible against removal for obvious reasons, but when it works, it can be pretty sweet. Copying [mtg_card=Gather the Townsfolk] with a Champion in play is amazing. Also, copying a morbid [mtg_card=Brimstone Volley] or [mtg_card=Thunderous Wrath] with Miracle is pretty easy to make happen, and usually ends the game immediately.
By the way, if anybody's interested, you can do mouse-over card images now with [ mtg_card=Card Name] (minus the space at the beginning, of course.)
I definitely really enjoy the Soulbond mechanic, and I really like this build. If I get some of the key cards out of the fatpack I have ordered, I may well give it a shot and see how I like it, with some tweaks of course.
How incredibly convenient... I just pulled [mtg_card=Geralf's Mindcrusher] yesterday. He got my Blue-soaked schemes whirling as soon as I saw his abilities, but he's so darn expensive... Oh well, nice bomb if I draw it. Incidentally, I'm looking for a way to use [mtg_card=Arcane Melee]. It's a great boon sometimes, but usually ends up helping my opponents more than myself... do the old "tap to turn it off" rules still apply? Could I theoretically switch off Arcane Melee at the end of my turn and turn it back on during untap? any other suggestions?Encaen said:
RW is also pretty sweet, as is Dual Casting. I was able to use them to great effect in a Draft tournament recently with the incredibly handy [mtg_card=Thatcher Revolt] and some ridiculous (...ly lucky) boosting combos using [mtg_card=Cathars' Crusade] and [mtg_card=Goldnight Commander]. Imagine: turn 6, suddenly 6 13/13 Haste attackers for four mana. bwahahaha!! (I did actually manage to pull that off once... and only once.) I've also found [mtg_card=Herald of War] could be quite handy in a Human deck if you can pull her out (or graveyard-summon her with [mtg_card=Defy Death], if you have the space/resources for that). She's expensive, but you might be able to make use of [mtg_card=Voice of the Provinces] as well for some "free" Humans (especially if you're holding back some [mtg_card=Cloudshift]s). Those should give your [mtg_card=Champion of the Parish] dudes a big, fat boost.
Thanks for the tip, by the way, and the chance to practice it. lol
I feel like the deck you listed runs a lot of bad cards. Mainly just because they have spellbound and you're doing a spellbound theme.
A spellbound theme makes as much sense as a first strike themed deck.
Dawntreader elk is a bad card because it requires mana to sac it, meaning it can't be saced second turn. Which is when rampant growth effects (which are allready worse than Birds in this deck) need to happen. Now you lost turn 2 playing it, and 1/3 of t3 sacing it.
Pathbreaker Wurm is bad. For 6cc you should be winning the game not dropping a vanilla 6/4.
Righteous blow is ok, but not good.
Your sideboad has lands in it + 0 celestial purge. Why even include the SB?
Sunpetal Grove and razorverge thicket should be added assuming you want the readers to have the best land base possible.
A spellbound theme makes as much sense as a first strike themed deck.
Dawntreader elk is a bad card because it requires mana to sac it, meaning it can't be saced second turn. Which is when rampant growth effects (which are allready worse than Birds in this deck) need to happen. Now you lost turn 2 playing it, and 1/3 of t3 sacing it.
Pathbreaker Wurm is bad. For 6cc you should be winning the game not dropping a vanilla 6/4.
Righteous blow is ok, but not good.
Your sideboad has lands in it + 0 celestial purge. Why even include the SB?
Sunpetal Grove and razorverge thicket should be added assuming you want the readers to have the best land base possible.
Kinda off topic:
I really love Tamiyo's ultimate, but ultimately (heh), it just ends up being far too slow to be of any use. I'd much rather drop an Enduring Renewal and combo off that. As much fun as casting infinite Dark Rituals would be and finishing with a Tendrils of Agony, it just isn't worth it. I'm an Eternal player though, so take my opinions on card worth with a grain of salt
I really love Tamiyo's ultimate, but ultimately (heh), it just ends up being far too slow to be of any use. I'd much rather drop an Enduring Renewal and combo off that. As much fun as casting infinite Dark Rituals would be and finishing with a Tendrils of Agony, it just isn't worth it. I'm an Eternal player though, so take my opinions on card worth with a grain of salt
Dead-eye Navigator would be an awesome in a world without Torpor Orbs.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the set, a good amount of great cards and a fun new mechanic in soulbond.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the set, a good amount of great cards and a fun new mechanic in soulbond.
I've been considering U/R for much the same reason. I was going to use the stalker as the host for the enchants so it can protect them while I do my thing.Encaen said:
In terms of G/W I have a G/W human tribal that I'm currently updating for the next standard rotation. I want so bad to break the tribal theme and put cards like [mtg_card=Wolfir Avenger] in. You could consider squeezing a few in yourself. My ultimate goal is a deathtouch regenerate, but he works with so many of the soulbounds. Lifelink Regenerate. Doublestrike Regenerate, Trample Regenerate. The Regenerate offers a lot of options when you're not afraid of losing your dude.
I'd run mayors as well. You run enough humans for him to be a decent human lord, and when he flips, you have synergy with the [mtg_card=Champion of Lambholt].
[mtg_card=Mayor of Avabruck] is just an all around beastly card. I love seeing a Turn 2 mayor.
Block constructed. It's a thing.godofallu said:
Edit:
And just in case you don't know what that thing is... Block constructed decks are decks made using only cards from a specific block.
Thanks for the feedback! Here I was going for Block Constructed, however, which is why the mana looks a little shaky. Between [mtg_card=Avacyn's Pilgrim] and [mtg_card=Dawntreader Elk], though, I feel like it is reliable enough to play with. Unfortunately, in Block we don't have access to [mtg_card=Birds of Paradise], which is one of my favorite cards ever, so I would never give up an opportunity to play with them.godofallu said:
I was considering [mtg_card=Borderland Ranger] in place of [mtg_card=Dawntreader Elk], but the problem there is that he doesn't actually ramp you, just smooths out your land drops. I suppose we could include [mtg_card=Vessel of Endless Rest] instead, as that can come down turn two after a Pilgrim.
Also, the Plains in the Sideboard is there for [mtg_card=Fiend Hunter]. Waiting to play [mtg_card=Silverblade Paladin] is usually fine, but we don't tend to have that luxury when we need to be casting [mtg_card=Fiend Hunter]!
I think [mtg_card=Arcane Melee] can best be utilized in a [mtg_card=Burning Vengeance] or other Flashback centered deck, since it makes your graveyard much more affordable to play from.2xDouble said:
Unfortunately, I think they've re-worded the cards that need to be untapped, like [mtg_card=Howling Mine], in Oracle, so unless I'm mistaken, you won't be able to turn off your [mtg_card=Arcane Melee] at end of turn. You can however team up with [mtg_card=Lunar Mystic] to draw off of your instants with the mana you saved!
I'm thinking about going B/U/G and using Jace to mill, and a combination of Somberwald Sage and Havengul Lich to just grab my opponent's big creatures.