The board was a stalemate: a Scuttling Death and a handful of 2/2 Kamis plus a Thief of Hope stood defense against my Order of the Sacred Bell and Kitsune Blademaster. The skies were also deadlocked, my Orbweaver Kumo providing protection against my opponent’s Gibbering Kami. The life totals showed a different story, as each spell cast by my opponent caused my life to creep down by one, his to climb by the equivalent amount. I continued to wish for a draw that would quickly bring me out of this situation, but only found ground fodder – a couple of Zubera and a Devoted Retainer. Thief of Hope continued to live up to its name, slowing stealing away my hope for a win. When the score tipped to greater than 20 for my opponent and I less than 10, I decided to pack it in and give it another go. I didn’t show my opponent my hand, but I scooped holding a Glacial Ray and a Forest.
Yes, I could have killed the Thief of Hope with the Glacial Ray and tried to recover. If I did this, there were a few scenarios that could have happened. My opponent could instantly sacrifice his Scuttling Death to return the Thief of Hope back to his hand using Scuttling Death’s Soulshift ability. He could even wait until I start attacking, then chump block with his Gibbering Kami, using its Soulshift ability to bring the Thief of Hope back to life. Also, unbeknownst to the reader, my opponent could play the Iname, Life Aspect he summoned to his hand from a Time of Need cast several turns ago. With only Glacial Ray and Yamabushi’s Flame as my remaining removal and my other two Arcane spells spent, I truly had little option other than to draw Yamabushi’s Flame in the next few turns. I didn’t feel much like waiting.
Darn that Soulshift.
Soulshift is that insidious ability that tries to masquerade as flavor text on several spirit cards, separated by a line from the creature’s main abilities and surrounded by italics defining the operation of the Soulshift mechanic. This sneaky little mechanic, though it tries its best to hide from the unwary player, is extremely potent in limited. Without wasting a precious slot, you have a free (albeit inefficient) Soulless Revival. This effect is multiplied as you put more Soulshifting creatures on the table. Imagine casting Hideous Laughter to wipe out a horde of 2/2 creatures, yours included, and have half your army return to your hand. This is card advantage in its simplest form.
My favorite use of the Soulshift ability is in defending against larger attackers. I have no qualms double- or triple-blocking against a large creature with several smaller spirits if one or a few have Soulshift, and I can kill the offensive creature. My opponent loses her largest asset, but I recover with at least one creature. So what if all I have on the board is a pathetic 1/2 Zubera if there is nothing on my opponent’s side? It may take me a while to win, but one creature to zero creatures is still an advantage.
There is a little bit of subtlety to making use of Soulshift when building a deck. It does no good to merely have a creature with Soulshift in a deck if it can’t fetch another card from the graveyard. It also does little good to sway towards a color with one or two Soulshift creatures merely for the Soulshift ability if there are no other creatures that will increase the chances of taking advantage of Soulshift.
When building a Limited deck, I try to keep these things in mind when trying to maximize Soulshift:
- How many Soulshift creatures do I have?
- What and how many creatures can I get back with Soulshift?
- Can I swap out that 23rd card for a spirit that will assist with Soulshift? Does that spirit also have a worthwhile ability to allow its inclusion in the deck? (hint: don’t play with Wandering Ones)
After my little run-in with Soulshift, I decided to spend some time trying to build limited decks that make better use of this mechanic. I found one pool that provides great example of weighing Soulshift against other cards. Eschewing the standard drum roll of suspense, here’s the gory detail of the cardpool:
Black
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera
1 Cursed Ronin
1 Devouring Greed
1 Distress
1 Gibbering Kami
1 He Who Hungers
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
2 Kami of the Waning Moon
1 Rag Dealer
1 Rend Flesh
1 Soulless Revival
1 Waking Nightmare
Blue
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Callous Deceiver
2 Dampen Thought
1 Eye of Nowhere
1 Floating-Dream Zubera
1 Lifted by Clouds
1 Peer Through Depths
1 River Kaijin
1 Soratami Cloudskater
3 Soratami Mirror-Guard
Green
2 Commune with Nature
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
1 Feral Deceiver
1 Kashi-Tribe Warriors
2 Matsu-Tribe Decoy
1 Moss Kami
1 Orochi Eggwatcher
1 Orochi Sustainer
1 Rootrunner
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Venerable Kumo
Red
1 Akki Avalanchers
1 Akki Rockspeaker
1 Battle-Mad Ronin
1 Desperate Ritual
2 Glacial Ray
1 Hearth Kami
1 Honden of Infinite Rage
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Lava Spike
1 Soul of Magma
2 Unearthly Blizzard
1 Yamabushi’s Flame
1 Yamabushi’s Storm
White
1 Call to Glory
1 Cleanfall
1 Devoted Retainer
1 Ethereal Haze
1 Harsh Deceiver
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Kami of Old Stone
2 Kami of the Painted Road
1 Mothrider Samurai
1 Otherworldly Journey
1 Pious Kitsune
1 Quiet Purity
1 Reciprocate
1 Silent-Chant Zubera
Land
1 Cloudcrest Lake
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
1 Tranquil Garden
1 Waterveil Cavern
Artifact
1 Reito Lantern
Take a minute or two to think about the cardpool. What colors stand out as the primary choices? What cards would be given definite consideration? What ones might be on the lower end? What possible interactions are there with certain cards? In my opinion, this wasn’t an easy cardpool to build. My deck went through several incarnations before I set upon the idea of maximizing the advantage of Soulshift.
Got your build in mind? Here’s mine:
Black
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera
1 Devouring Greed
1 Gibbering Kami
1 He Who Hungers
1 Honden of Night’s Reach
1 Kami of the Waning Moon
1 Rend Flesh
Green
2 Commune with Nature
1 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
1 Feral Deceiver
1 Kashi-Tribe Warriors
1 Matsu-Tribe Decoy
1 Moss Kami
1 Orochi Sustainer
1 Rootrunner
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Venerable Kumo
White
1 Harsh Deceiver
1 Kami of Old Stone
2 Kami of the Painted Road
1 Mothrider Samurai
Land:
1 Tranquil Garden
6 Forest
6 Swamp
4 Plains
Eliminating Red from the mix was a tough choice, with two Glacial Rays for removal and Kiki-Jiki calling to my inner Johnny to have some fun. Blue with its three three-power fliers caught my eye as well, but all three can be easily mowed down with the common Mothrider Samurai. It is at this point that I called on the spirits of Soulshift, and they guided me to Black. Not only does Black support two Soulshifting creatures, but it also sports the precious commodity of removal. This also brings into focus the nice combination of Soulshift with He Who Hungers – sacrifice a spirit to make your opponent discard a card and get a replacement creature. This becomes a pretty smart trade if the spirit in question was sacrificed after providing a lethal block to an opponent’s creature. [He Who Hungers is stoopidly good with Zubera. – Knut, stating the semi-obvious because he’s been wrecked by it before]
Why the White instead of splashing Red removal goodies? The first major reason is that with Black and Green alone, the creature count would only be around fifteen. If you consider the numerous powerful creatures in Kamigawa (none of which made it into this pool), fifteen is a fairly marginal number of creatures. Second, the White creatures, aside from the samurai, help to make the Soulshifters more effective by adding three additional spirits that can fetched from the graveyard. Devouring Greed also becomes more potent with the addition of four more spirits. Now, with a total of fourteen spirits and two Arcane spells, the Kami of the Painted Road have several chances to obtain enough protection to break through a typical two-color defense.
Another late addition, which won’t always make the cut but supports Soulshifting rather well in this build, is Kami of the Waning Moon. Without Kami of the Waning Moon, there are only three spirits that can be retrieved from the graveyard by Gibbering Kami and Rootrunner. Kami of the Waning Moon adds another sacrificial body to make sure the Soulshift doesn’t go to waste. Although a rather puny flying 1/1 for three mana, its ability to give creatures evasion allows its inclusion in the deck.
In honor of these shifty souls, I would like to shift the discussion from Limited to Constructed play. I am going to dare to tread the shark-infested waters of Constructed play and make a case for Soulshift in Constructed. Graveyard recursion has long belonged to the realm of the combo player. The control player has also had a brief foray into graveyard recursion with Eternal Dragon. These folks have enough tools at their disposal that such graveyard recursion is merely another toy to put in their toolbox. The player that would really crave the use of Soulshift is the weenie player.
It’s easy enough for a weenie deck to come out very aggressive early on, squeezing as much mana as can be wrung from each land every turn to cast spells and creatures to maximize the damage to an opponent. However, once that first Wrath of God resolves, it is an uphill battle for the weenie player. Most of the resources have been exhausted, and there aren’t enough creatures to swarm past the more potent and expensive creatures and spells being cast from the opposing side. A weenie player has to constantly judge how many resources to commit to the table without overextending. It becomes a challenging tactical game for the skilled player, but can be a chore for the weenie player who just wants to attack with his critters.
Enter the weenie player’s salvation: Soulshift. What cards like Second Sunrise, Caller of the Claw, and Planar Guide failed to do for the weenie player, Soulshift succeeded in doing. The crux with the previously mentioned cards is that they required you to have mana in reserve to use their abilities. This is the antithesis to everything a good weenie player stands for. Holding back mana for an escape clause against mass destruction prevents the weenie deck from casting creatures and keeping up the aggression needed for it to win games.
This is where Soulshift shines. It costs nothing – not a card, not mana, nothing (okay, aside from an appropriate creature in the graveyard) to allow yourself to replenish your creature supply after some board-clearing devastation. Imagine being able to throw everything on the table, attack with impunity, and do it over and over again, thanks to Soulshift.
Well, there is one snare of reality in this beautiful soulshifting dream. There needs to be good weenie spirits and good weenie spirits with the Soulshift ability.
Fortunately, Wizards has decided to oblige the weenie populace with a bunch of cheap Black critters and reasonably costed Soulshifting buddies. For an example of the possibilities of Soulshifting in the constructed environment, I put this deck together for demonstration:
4 Cruel Deceiver
4 Wicked Akuba
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Thief of Hope
4 Gibbering Kami
2 Scuttling Death
2 Kami of Lunacy
2 He Who Hungers
4 Devouring Greed
4 Consume Spirit
2 Honden of Night’s Reach
24 Swamp
Before the barrage of questions starts, I will supply you with a succinct no. There is no testing or experimentation behind this deck, though I will offer some of the highlights. Thief of Hope and Wicked Akuba are the base around which the deck is built – the Akuba for its good weenie ability, the Thief for its Soulshifting and additional lifestealing at a well-costed three mana. The Cruel Deceiver and Ashen-Skin Zubera round out the early curve. Gibbering Kami, Scuttling Death, and Kami of Lunacy, though a bit pricey for a typical weenie deck, beef up the number of Soulshifters. He Who Hungers and Honden of Night’s Reach round out the threat of discard. Devouring Greed is a staple for any spirit-heavy deck. Consume Spirit provides the late-game consumption of extraneous mana.
Although this deck doesn’t follow the typical highly-efficient mana curve of the weenie deck, the strategy emulates the goal of all weenie decks – be aggressive. Since several of the creatures are deadly to block or can easily resurrect other creatures from the graveyard, a kamikaze style of play will help keep the pressure on your opponent while minimizing your own losses.
Though I plan to play with this deck at the next rendezvous with my Magic-playing friends, don’t anticipate a report of tournament worthiness. I don’t want to do all your homework. Instead, dare to try a paradigm shift – try out Soulshift.
P.S. Bonus trivia question – there is a card in Champions of Kamigawa that sports one of my surnames. Can you guess which one it is?
P.P.S. Double-bonus if you can pronounce it correctly.
P.P.P.S. Negative bonus if you blurt out the answer after I already revealed the secret to you.