Going Inifinte with Rivals: part 2

Welcome back to part two in our series of articles, looking at infinite combo’s that have been made possible thanks to Rivals of Ixalan. Last time we had a look at improving a pre-existing combo in the Pauper format, but today we have something new for you to try out in Modern. What’s more, the combo fits quite nicely into an already established deck, and it’s all thanks to a little uncommon called Famished Paladin. So, if you fancy gaining a ton of life and then taking out your opponent in one fell swoop, then have we have we got the deck for you.

The Soul Bomb

At first glance Famished Paladin seems to be an innocuous draft uncommon. As a 3/3 for only two mana it is certainly above the curve in terms of stats. Unfortunately, it does have a little bit of a drawback, as it doesn’t untap in your upkeep. It does however untap every time you gain life. The obvious comparison most players point out is it likeness to Nettle Sentinel, which has been a main stay of Modern Elves for many years now. In that strategy, the Sentinel is used in combination with Heritage Druid to provide early mana acceleration, which in turn allows you to flood the battlefield with a ton of pointy eared warriors. So, we have to ask ourselves the question. Can we find away to abuse the Paladins triggered ability? In Standard, sadly not. In Modern, well that is a whole other story.

Say hello to Resplendent Mentor, the second piece in our combo. Hailing from Shadowmoor this uncommon doesn’t look like much at first, since it’s only 2/2 for a whooping five mana. However, it has a lovely little static ability that allows all of our white creatures to tap to gain one life. If you haven’t seen the combo yet, I’ll give you a minute…

That’s right. If we can get these two on to the board at the same time we can go infinite and gain as much life as one could want. Most players that aren’t trying to mill us out will scoop imminently if we can get this combo online. But infinite life isn’t a guaranteed win, and besides where’s the fun in winning that way? We don’t just want to beat them, we want to destroy them. For that, we have to add one final piece to this combo.

In steps Aetherflux Reservoir. This four mana Artefact from Kaladesh is how we are going to win our games. All we have to do is get the first two pieces of the combo onto the board to gain let’s say, a million life. Then, once we have we can get a Aetherflux Reservoir to resolve we are free to dome our opponent into dust. Simple, effective, and a ton of fun. The only question is what else should we put in the deck. The great thing here is that we don’t have to brake new ground. There is already a deck that would love this engine as an alternative win condition.

Soul Sisters is a deck that is all about gaining as much life as possible, and by adding this combo to it we get to improve on many of it’s strengths. We have another way to turn on our Serra Ascendants, we can make our Ajani’s Pridemates as big as we want, and if we can’t get a Famished Paladin or a Resplendent Mentor to stick to the board, we still can gain enough life to make our Aetherflux Reservoir a lethal threat. We will have to cut back on a few pieces of the established deck, but I feel the rewards for doing so are worth it.

Creatures (28)
4 Soul Warden
3 Soul’s Attendant
3 Martyr of Sand
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Ajani’s Pridemate
4 Famished Paladin
3 Ranger of Eos
3 Resplendent Mentor
Spells (8)
4 Path to Exile
4 Spectral Procession
Artifacts (3)
3 Aetherflux Reservoir
Lands (21)
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Ghost Quarter
13 Plains
Sideboard (15)
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
3 Auriok Champion
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Condemn
2 Disenchant

And there you have what I like to call, The Soul Bomb. The deck is a work in progress, and I will probably be doing some tweaking over the coming weeks. I might even give it a go in a Modern competitive league at some point in the near future, so keep your eye peeled for that. But what do you think? Do you want to try the deck out for yourself? Maybe you’re a Soul Sisters player and we have inspired you to try something different? If that is the case let us know about it in the comments below, and don’t forget to like a subscribe to keep up to date on all the goings on here at Master of Magics. Over the next few weeks we will be looking at some more Rivals of Ixalan inspired decks in a variety of different formats. So until next time remember, Good Luck and Have Fun.

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