Conley Woods Mono White Life Gain Deck “Soul Sisters” (US Nationals)
August 21, 2010 | Posted by Dee
Conley Woods, MTG pro, brought us yet another cool rogue deck, this time at US Nationals. Dubbed “Soul Sisters” because of Soul Warden and Soul’s Attendant, his newest decklist is a mono white life gain deck that uses Ajani’s Pridemate and Serra Ascendant as its main kill conditions.
It has other life gain cards like Kabira Crossroads, Kor Firewalker, and Survival Cache. Plus, it has Ranger of Eos to search for the sisters and Serra Ascendant and Brave the Elements to protect the creatures and attack through blockers.
Conley went 3-1 with the deck in the Standard portion of day one of U.S. Nationals.
Here is a video of him talking about the deck.
| Soul Sisters (Mono White Life Gain) | |||||||||||
Creatures (24) Spells (13) Lands (23) | Sideboard (15) |
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Strategy Tips From the Video
This deck is different from many mono white decks, which tend to emphasize control or aggro. Conley’s list can play both roles effectively.
Ajani’s Pridemate is usually very big because most of the decks in Standard play a lot of creatures to trigger the soul sisters. Also, Pridemate can get big quickly. For example, turn one Soul Warden, turn two Pridemate, and then a couple more creatures from you and your opponent could turn the Pridemate into a 6/6 or 7/7 creature by turn three.
The life gain from the sisters also helps you beat creature decks because you gain so much life that it’s hard for your opponent to kill you. Also, Serra Ascendant becomes a 6/6 pretty easily against those decks if you have one or two sisters on the battlefield. For example, against Mythic, Conley went turn one Soul Warden, turn two Soul Warden and Kabira Crossroads, and then turn three he cast 2 Ascendants that were both 6/6 (his opponent had played two creatures).
You have 12 one-drops, which can all trigger Pridemate on turn two.
Kor Firewalker is solid because many decks play red. Blue/White and Mythic are really the only popular decks that don’t play red. Some people run Lone Missionary instead, but Firewalker is better because he doesn’t die to Cunning Sparkmage. Also, he lives through Destructive Force and Pyroclasm and saves sideboard space. You should board him out in a lot of matchups, but in game one he’s solid.
Survival Cache is good because you are usually able to draw two and gain four life for just three mana. Plus, it fits the mana curve well, since you don’t have a lot of three drops, just 4 Cache and 2 Oblivion Ring. Like Firewalker, you board it out a lot, but it is still solid main deck. It’s one of your best spells against UW Control and it triggers Pridemage twice.
Some people play less than four Brave the Elements, but that is a mistake. You should rarely sideboard them out. Conley was able to beat a counterspell and Path to Exile versus UW Control because he had three Brave the Elements that allowed him to attack for the win.
Elspeth is great because she can trigger the sisters repeatedly and provide chump blockers. Also, if you need to go aggro or destroy a planeswalker, she can give a creature flying and +3/+3.
The Tectonic Edges are good against manlands. Plus, they slow down ramp decks.
To sideboard against UW Control, you turn into a different deck. Your plan is to get a Luminarch Ascension active and protect it. You bring in 4 Ascension, 3 Path to Exile, 1 War Priest of Thune, 2 Oblivion Ring, and 1 Sun Titan. The Paths deal with Sun Titan, Baneslayer Angel, and Celestial Colonnade. The Oblivion Rings can deal with creatures too but they also fight other Rings that target your Ascension. War Priest of Thune stops Oblivion Ring and Journey to Nowhere. Sun Titan brings back countered spells or Tectonic Edge. To make space for the sideboard cards, cut 5 sisters, 1 Ranger of Eos, 4 Firewalker, and 1 Brave the Elements.
For your opening hand against UW Control in post-sideboard games, you want an Ascension or a big Pridemate. Elspeth is your other way to victory.
Linvala is there against Mythic and Cunning Sparkmage. Also, Path, Oblivion Ring, and Celestial Purge can deal with Sparkmage. However, don’t bring in Purge unless your opponent has a lot of red cards other than Sparkmage.
When playing the deck, you have to concentrate and pay attention because there are a lot of triggers to keep track of.
Buy the Cards on eBay
Want to save money on the expensive cards in this deck? Then check out the latest auctions on eBay. Click the following links.
- Serra Ascendant
- Ranger of Eos
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant
- Sun Titan
- Linvala, Keeper of Silence
- Path to Exile
- Luminarch Ascension
25 Responses to “Conley Woods Mono White Life Gain Deck “Soul Sisters” (US Nationals)”
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I was just looking for another cheap yet good deck to put together so I have another choice beside my favorite plan of red men to the head. This deck is stock full of synergizing commons and uncommons and nice and light on the expensive count. I think I’ll give this a go this week and see what happens. Its hard to tune a Cwoods list but I’ll let you know what happens!
Yeah, I like the budget aspect of the deck. I’ve already seen a winning list on Magic Online and I watched Conley beat Mythic on ggslive lol, talk about David beating Goliath when it comes to deck costs hehe.
Anyways, keep us posted on how the deck plays out and if you make any card changes, thx!
He didn’t come up with this though, it’s already been played in Japan for a while. At least give credit where it’s due..
Didn’t know about the Japan decklists. Thanks for the info.
I’ve added 3 kor skyfisher due to a lack of elspeths and a 4th oblivion ring (good against walkers) The skyfishers are reusable with the sisters and have alot of synergy with the lands, O-ring(walkers) and Ranger of eos, plus it can bounce itself. I also changed the manabase a little by adding 3 steppes. one tectonic edge had to go to the board though.
Nice synergies
Will try this one this Friday. Playtest results are good. LOL.
Good luck! Let us know how you did.
I don’t have/ didn’t bother to get Elspeth’s for various reasons. Anyway, I’m running Gideon’s instead. Also I took out the O-rings and 2 Serra Ascendant’s for 3 Sun Titans and 3 Admonition Angel’s. No constructed play yet. How do those changes sound?
I think the changes weaken the deck a lot. The O-rings and Ascendant are really key cards. And adding a bunch of six-drops hurts the mana curve since you only have 23 lands and no mana ramp. The original list only had one six-drop and it was in the sideboard.
On the other hand, Gideon is probably a solid replacement for Elspeth but then you should go up to 24 lands since Gideon costs one mana more.
I will go with the Gideon’s then. I understand the mana curve a little bit better now. But I really think either the Sun Titan or Admonition angel could strengthen the deck and add an element not seen before. That being recurrence or a kind of recurring o-ring ability, which is hit or miss but still with minimal card draw ability it could be strong enough. Perhaps going without a walker and putting in a sun titan arrangement, kind of like swapping out win conditions. I think the element of surprise here has a lot of value and potential. Let me know what you think.
The problem with Sun Titan and Admonition Angel is they are very expensive. You really need around 25-26 lands if you want to play three six-drops in the main deck.
Playing six six-drops is a lot. You basically need a bunch of mana ramp spells and 25+ lands to make it work.
Actually, if I recall correctly, from what I read, Conley Woods was even saying that the Sun Titan in the sideboard should’ve been something else. I think another War Priest of Thune.
But go ahead and test it out. Sometimes experience is the best way to learn
I guess I am just used to playing green, which ramps. I have been working on a blue/green deck for the standard rotation. I have dropped the titan and angel altogether. But I am playing it with -2 ascendant and +2 Path’s. I could only find 2 ascendants. White is the color I started playing magic with and I fell in love with this deck. I can report my findings after I play at constructed. Thanks for your help!
No problem, Will.
Totally understand. It can be hard to switch strategies when you change colors. Good luck with the deck and thanks for your comments. The Paths are a solid replacement for Ascendant.
Went 2 and 2. I made mistakes, but it is a very fun deck! Got into the top 8. Barely lost my third game. Bombed the fourth game against Eldrazi.
Cool stuff. Thanks for the update!
I am confused as to why the creaters of the game would think we would need to have 8 legel copies of soul warden availible in a standard deck. Thats the only thing fueling this deck. w/o this, it would rank much lower. Does anyone remember Essence warden?
Used a slight variation of this deck at a couple tournaments. First tournament I made a lot of changes to the deck and went 2-2, placing 18th, namely because I wasn’t running enough O-rings and Kor-Firewalkers.
2nd time around I played 4 of them and actually used Ajani Goldmane instead of Elspeth, along with a Sun Titan. The Titan helps this game’s mid, since this game relies on a very strong opening, but it also sucks up the removal faster than anything else. I went 3-1 and placed 5th that time around.
Pridemate seems like the star player here, but my experience is that it’s really all about Ranger of Eos and Serra Ascendant. Honestly if you can get 2 of each on the table you’ve got a huge advantage.
Trying to see how this deck will be viable post Mirrodin; but I don’t think it’s going to work out. Too bad, it was a blast to play…
Thanks for the mini report. Yeah, deck is fun to play
I agree with you though that it won’t be that good post Mirrodin. Losing one of the Soul Sisters and Ranger is too big of a hit.
In the new extended, what do people think about this deck being viable. Possibly with some changes, even making it G/W with the essence warden?
12 copies of Soul Warden is pretty sick, but sadly I’m pretty sure Essence Warden is not legal for Extended anymore. Time Spiral block rotated out with the entrance of Scars of Mirrodin.
I’m playing a variation of this deck in current T2. Unfortunatelly, I hadn’t the chance yet to play a championship, but I’ll try to do it soon and report results here.
My list: http://migre.me/28lkE
I realize it’s kinda expensive with four 6-cost and three 5-cost creatures, but it seems necessary to the mid-late game. Besides, 24 lands and the draw from Survival Cache help me a lot to put a Baneslayer at turn 5 actually.
I’m still working on lands and sideboard, and I’d love tips for the deck at all.
Tried running the “Soul Sisters” deck with lack-luster success. Made a few edits though to make a truly amazing white, life gain deck.
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Ajani’s Pridemate
4 Serra Ascendant
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Sun Titan
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Wall of Reverence
3 Divinity of Pride
2 Soul Warden
2 Soul’s Attendant
4 Survival Cache
2 Wrath of God
2 Brave the Elements
16 Plains
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Kabira Crossroads
2 Celestial Purge
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Land Tax
2 Rest for the Weary
3 Path to Exile
2 Luminarch Ascension
2 Martyr of Sands
2 Angelsong
2 Sunspring Expedition
Using the plains-walker to make everything on the field indestructible and then bringing the wrath of god out is one of my favorite combos. Have had tremendous luck with this deck and for $140 its more than a bargain.
I play a soul sister build and its really good its similar to conley woods just running two knight camptain of eos two elspeths instead of three main boarding 4 o rings
I play a similar life gaining deck always cracks me up.