Introduction
Soulflayer is a good card to build a deck around.
There are two different combos to achieve with Soulflayer in this deck:
I. Soulflayer + Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
and any hexproof creature
II. Samut, Voice of Dissent + Soulflayer
and any hexproof creature
Both of these combos give you a creature that is hard to get rid off, but the Combo II. is superior in most cases, since it gives you a hard to disrupt clock (8 trample, flying damage per turn) and is immune to most board wipes.
To get the time you need this deck offers a semi protection in the form of Worship. In some matchups, a hexproof creature + Worship can be good enough to win on its own, in other matchups Worship will not accomplish anything at all.
Card and Strategy decisions
My take on a Soulflayer deck is to blank all the creature removal in game 1, making cards like Path to Exile, Fatal Push, Terminate rot in your opponent's hand. Create a soft lock with hexproof + Worship and let your flying Soulflayer or Zetalpa, Primal Dawn deliver an inevitable win.
After the first game you can either
- protect and strengthen your combo with Slaughter Games and Leyline of Sanctity to attack your opponent's removal
- let go of Worship and your graveyard strategy to put in disruptive elements like Abrupt Decay and Blood Moon
Other fine cards
You can let go of Utopia Sprawl and Blood Moon to include more creatures or tutor effects. I found Utopia Sprawl to be a good choice to ramp easily and fix our 4 colour mana base. A Turn two Blood Moon can be lights out for some, especially combo focused decks in modern. However, your Sylvan Caryatid and Utopia Sprawl help with your own mana fixing afterwards.
Cards to consider:
Lightning Axe - good for tempo based matchups
Thoughtseize/ Inquisition of Kozilek - against combo and control, however, it is a nonbo with Worship
Prophetic Flamespeaker - easy to cast and just a bit worse than Samut, Voice of Dissent
Matchup discussion
Jund (midrange)
relevant cards: Thoughtseize, Liliana of the Veil, Maelstrom Pulse, Collective Brutality
boarding plan: in: Slaughter Games + Leyline of Sanctity
Abzan (midrange)
relevant cards: Thoughtseize, Liliana of the Veil, Maelstrom Pulse, Siege Rhino, Collective Brutality
boarding plan: in: Slaughter Games + Leyline of Sanctity
Ad Nauseam (combo)
relevant cards: Laboratory Maniac, Ad Nauseam, Pentad Prism, Echoing Truth
boarding plan: in: Slaughter Games + Leyline of Sanctity Blood Moon + Abrupt Decay
Merfolk (midrange)
relevant cards: Spreading Seas, Spell Pierce
boarding plan: in: Ancient Grudge comment: this is a easy matchup where Worship shines, outside of counterspells they cannot interact with turn 2 Sylvan Caryatid into turn 3 Worship
Grixis Control (control)
relevant cards: Cryptic Command, Ancestral Vision
boarding plan: in: Blood Moon out: Worship
GR Valakut Breach or Scapeshift (combo)
relevant cards: Reclamation Sage, Nature's Claim, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
boarding plan: in: Blood Moon, Slaughter Games, 1-2 Leyline of Sanctity
UW Control (combo)
relevant cards: Supreme Verdict, Rest in Peace, Settle the Wreckage, Blessed Alliance, Cryptic Command
boarding plan: in: Lingering Souls, Vampire Nighthawk out: Worship
Eldrazi Tron (midrange)
relevant cards: Thought-Knot Seer, All Is Dust, Karn Liberated, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
boarding plan: in: Slaughter Games, Vampire Nighthawk, Blood Moon out: 1-2 Troll Ascetic, Sigarda, Host of Herons, 1 Samut, Voice of Dissent, Godless Shrinecomment: All Is Dust is their only good way out of the Worship lock and board stall, make sure you Slaughter Games this one first
Tipps and Tricks
Graveyard hate does not always help against you. On 4 mana you can Grisly Salvage or Commune with Gods and follow it up with Soulflayer without passing priority inbetween. This basically means you can play around Relic of Progenitus, Scavenging Ooze and Nihil Spellbomb in some cases.
However, Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void are problematic. You can either ignore them and hard cast your threats or remove them with Maelstrom Pulse or Oblivion Ring.
Conclusion
This deck is fun and fairly competitive.
If you have any tipps for the mainboard and sideboard let me know in the comments below.
Have fun playing and testing this deck!
Inspired by Saffron Olive:https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/against-the-odds-chromantiflayer-worship-modern
