Soul's Attendant

Creature — Human Cleric

Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, you may gain 1 life.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

kamarupa on Population Bomb

2 weeks ago

Nice work! I guess you really deserve some props, as I've seen plenty of people on here that aren't new list decks as certain formats but still include cards that aren't legal in that format. So that's why I asked.

In terms of advice, I probably have more than you want. For starters, I'm not sure a Populate/Tokens deck is going to be what I would consider "fast-paced." It may or may not keep up with a Goblin deck - it would really depend on the caliber of each deck and to a lesser degree, the player piloting that deck. When it comes to speed, I think of low MV infinite combos, burn, Elves, +1/+1 counter Humans... So if you're really looking for speed, then there may be better place to look.

That said, if it's not so much speed, but a tokens, and tokens that can maybe compete with a fast paced Goblin deck, I think that is probably possible. As it stands, it looks like you've got a fairly budget brew going, though I notice a few pricier spells in the sideboard. So I'll be mentioning both cheap and pricier spells and let you decide where you want to draw the line.

For starters, land is one of the best investments you can make. All decks need it and the better lands you have to choose from, the more solid your decks' foundations will be. In my opinion, there is no point in spending big bucks on spells when your land base can't consistently cast them. www.managathering.com is an awesome resource to find lands. It didn't exist when I first started brewing, but I go there all the time now, namely because I just can't remember all the card names like I used to, lol. Ideally, you want lands that don't enter tapped, especially if you're going for speed. If you can afford them, Temple Garden & Windswept Heath are the perennial favorites. But Razorverge Thicket, Overgrown Farmland, and Branchloft Pathway  ^Flip are all decent. I recommend 22 lands for a "fast deck" - IE a deck with an Average MV of 2 or less (2.05 is close enough). Much greater than 2 average and I'd recommend 23-24 lands. Which stinks, I know, because the more land you include, the less spells you get and more likely you are to get mana screwed. But I've found that if you ever want to reliably cast spells that are 3 or more, you're going to need those extra few lands. Even with mana ramp, 16 is not enough land.

Typically, Artifact/Enchantment removal spells go in the sideboard. And typically, people run 4x creature removal in the mainboard: Any of the following would be good: Winds of Abandon, Sheltered by Ghosts, Path to Exile should be in the mainboard.

Druid's Deliverance is fun, but even in decks where I include Fog, I rarely include more than 1 copy. At double the MV, Druid's Deliverance is either going to tie up your mana (slowing you down), and/or delay instead of remove, and/or get cast just for the populate, which you already have spells for. So I'd suggest cutting it 1 copy.

Fight as One is... a decent spell. Heroic Intervention would be better. Since all but 1 of your creatures is white, Brave the Elements would be more versatile and cheaper and Tamiyo's Safekeeping is just cheaper. In my experience, 1 is the MV that is best for protection spells because it doesn't need as much mana to be available - that is - they're just more versatile. And I usually only include 1-2 of such spells.

I'd just cut Selesnya Charm. It just doesn't do anything that well and it's single use doesn't make it valuable enough to include.

Call of the Conclave is similar to Selesnya Charm - tokens aren't much about how big so much as how many. Repeatable token generators are going to be bigger threats than single-use spells.

The thing with Populate is that it doesn't really give you much oomph unless you've got bigger tokens. So you're not wrong looking for tokens that are on the bigger size. But since tokens are easy to get rid of and impossible to bring back, most people ignore the Populate mechanic altogether in favor of making lots of tokens as quickly as possible and at instant speed if they can.

Thraben Doomsayer is pretty good, though I do hate the 3MV casting cost. But you can make tokens at instant speed, which is great, and you can do it every turn.

Lingering Souls is one of the best token spells because you get so many for not that much mana, though you don't have the black mana here to make it worthwhile.

Tocasia's Welcome is great card draw for tokens, namely if you can create a token on your turn and your opponent's turn.

Creatures that care about ETB triggers are really good with tokens, too. You really can't go wrong with Soul Warden and/or Soul's Attendant - with 6+ Soul Sisters, I'd imagine a Goblin deck would find it very difficult to hit you for more life than they cause you to gain. And if you can gain enough life, Speaker of the Heavens gives you tokens that are worth Populating.

Growing Ranks is pretty good, but at 4MV,it's on the slow side.

Overrun is a good spell here, and I think you've got the right number.

Wake the Reflections is ok, I guess, but again, only copying 1 token just isn't as good as it might seem. At least it only costs you 1 to cast. The question is whether its actually powerful enough to be worth including, verses using that space for more token spells.

Something like Ephemerate or Cloudshift would probably be good with Hare Apparent

I like Finneas, Ace Archer, but I don't like it enough to overlook its Legendary status to run 4 copies.

Broad-stroke advice: 4x creature removal, 2x protection spell, 1x fog spell, 22x lands, 2-3x card advantage spell, 12x token generators, 8x ETB trigger spells. That leaves you with about 10 spells to lean into a mechanic like populate or more removal, etc, etc.

Please don't think what I write is definitive or that I'm insisting. Ignore whatever you want. I'm just throwing out my thoughts, hoping something might be useful for you.

Doombeard1984 on my soldiers deck

2 months ago

Hello,

So having a look, I think there are a couple cuts that could be made without much pain.

1. Endless Atlas - {2}{T}: conditional draw 1 is really not very good. You have better draw on board, and if you are spending mana on this, then you are more than likely digging for an answer.
2. Heliod's Intervention - You have better removal on board, and you have lifegain as well.
3. Soul Warden/Soul's Attendant - Contentious choice I know, but hear me out. I know you gain more life than most due to the token generation, but aside from that it does not do much, is not a soldier, and there is no wincon related to this. At the very least, I think you could drop one of them.

Just my opinion. Good luck in making the cuts, know it can be hard to make the decisive choice. Good luck with the deck +1

Craeter on Ode to the Oregon Trail

6 months ago

Cool theme, what a classic and great to see in MtG. Also love how you've assigned roles to your cards, very cool. Cleric Class is a better version of Sunbond, the set came out ~6 years after so it's power creeped. I see you have Soul Warden and Essence Warden, there is also Soul's Attendant if you've got the room for it for extra redundancy. What purpose does Famished Paladin have? Seems like it's just a 3/3 for 2 mana, doesn't seem very useful but maybe I'm missing something. Blood Artist could also be good here, it's basically a better version of Nadier's Nightblade. These are just a few optimization tweaks I think would help, overall the deck looks great.

TheRoaringRegisaur on Ajani's Pride

8 months ago

Also, since it's a modern deck, I'd add some Soul Sisters (Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant). I also like Lunarch Veteran  ^Flip, but he's not as good. With all these Clerics/Angles, consider Righteous Valkyrie. Daxos, Blessed by the Sun is another worthy consideration. ... Instead of Revoke Existence, I really like Banishing Slash, even if you don't get the token from it. From the same set, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is a great land with good utility. Also, if you wanna drop Scoured Barrens/Blossoming Sands entirely, I'd look at Kabira Crossroads. And although it's not actually out yet, you'll want Essence Channeler from Bloomburrow.

Crow_Umbra on Zinnia fun

8 months ago

I started brewing Zinnia recently. I brewed Satya, Aetherflux Genius as just Value ETBs, & Energy is just a secondary support to keep around certain value creatures. Long-winded way of saying that the Zinnia deck I started brewing is basically just the Satya deck without the Energy support & a few other cards swapped out.

I think Zinnia wants lower curve creatures with value ETBs, so paying the Offspring cost feels fairly reliable. You could def do stuff like:

• Soul's Attendant

• Skyclave Apparition

• Loran of the Third Path

• Spirited Companion

• Sower of Temptation

• Vengeful Ancestor

You can def get tech-y with your ETBs & tailor them to your meta. You can also add in a sprinkle of ETB blink effects to keep reusing your ETBs, like Felidar Guardian

austintayshus on Rhys Stompy or Aggro?

11 months ago

Looks fun! You're probably better off going with a more stomp-y strategy, as aggro has a tougher time in commander than 1v1 formats.

Maja, Bretagard Protector can be a reliable token maker and anthem.

Battle for Bretagard can also help you make a bunch of tokens.

Soul's Attendant if you want an extra Soul Warden

Basri Ket is also worth considering!

Caran_Lyg on Angel lifegain feast festival

1 year ago

I like your deck but cards that reduce your creatures cost are too slow. I see you got Serra Ascendant on your maybeboard, in my opionion that card is a better choice than Starnheim Aspirant even though it might take up to 3 turns before you get it big. I use to have Speaker of the Heavens on my deck. A lot of the times it’s going to be a brick in your hand unless you get 7 life quickly before the opponent immediately starts killing you. You’re better off with more life generators like Soul's Attendant which also gains you life if Righteous Valkyrie is in your board first and then gives you life every time a creature on both sides enter the battlefield. Another one too is Diamond Mare since you’re also mono-white.

legendofa on burn deck help to refurbish

1 year ago

9-lives Okay, that's a good starting point.

First thing I want to mention is that if you describe a deck as competitive, there's a very strong connotation that it is capable of succeeding in a tournament setting. Think of it as shorthand for tournament-competitive. That's why people have been questioning that point, and if you've only used it against a few people, that's not going to fit the community definition. Competitive-casual isn't binary; it's a wide spectrum, but the "competitive" end of that spectrum is well-defined. Just to get everyone on the same page.

For actual deck suggestions, Wear / Tear is a reasonable sideboard option in addition to, or in place of, Rip Apart. Lifegain is a pretty hard counter to burn if you let it get established. I see Skullcrack and Roiling Vortex, so the next response to lifegain is to address the sources. Are your opponents gaining life from creatures, enchantments, or spells? Are they gaining big chunks of life, or steady streams? Remove the Ajani's Welcomes and Soul's Attendants or whatever and stop the life gain at the source.

Since you're committing to 60+ cards, you need to get to your key cards ASAP. Card draw becomes highly important. Would you consider turning this into a more combo-centric deck instead of leaning on burn as much?