Zendikar Decks Part VI: Soldiers

Welcome, people, to the penultimate article in the Zendikar Decks series. The series is almost over, and I'm quite glad for it. 4 matches can take as many hours in MWS due to the amount of people who don't play a full match.

Anyway, let's get to the deck: Soldiers.

Lands (23)

23 Plains

Creatures (20)

4 Elite Vanguard
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kor Aeronaut
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Veteran Armorsmith

Spells (17)

3 Ajani Goldmane
2 Brave the Elements
4 Conqueror's Pledge
2 Harm's Way
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Path to Exile

Sideboard:

2 Brave the Elements
4 Celestial Purge
3 Devout Lightcaster
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Harm's Way
2 Path to Exile

I couldn't decide between the three awesome one-mana tricks, Brave the Elements, Harm's Way, and Path to Exile. However, having all 3 makes it impossible for my opponents to play around them all.

I hopped on to MWS. ThatDamnAussie from Twitter graciously took the first battle.

Round 1 vs. Bushwhacker Aggro

He plays Goblin Guide, which I trump with Kor Skyfisher. He plays a Geopede and a Teetering Peaks next turn. I keep playing Soldiers, but his fetchlands are going well with his Geopede and Lynx. I drop to 5, then get my fifth land and play Conqueror's Pledge. I play a SECOND Pledge and start trying to kill his dudes: not an easy proposition. Eventually he gets Ranger of Eos for 2 Goblin Guides and swarms me to death after I lose most of my Soldiers.

Game 2 I play Kazandu Blademaster, and he, Steppe Lynx. I play a second one, and he Paths the 3/3. He smashes me down at an alarming rate. I cast a Pledge at 6 life, but this time I have a trump. With 4 tokens still in play, I drop double Honor of the Pure! I crush him in short order.

Game 3 he gets out 3 Steppe Lynxes but misses his second land drop. He plays Goblin Guide and swings. When I block with my 2/3, he Paths his own Guide to landfall his Lynxes. Pretty clever. I manage to stabilise however, then play Conqueror's Pledge, then Ajani Goldmane! I win.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Bant

I get turn 2 Blademaster, he gets turn 2 War Monk. I Path it, he gets Dauntless Escort. He then plays Rafiq and Baneslayer. I concede pretty quickly.

Game 2 I have 3 3/5's in play by Turn 4, and I crush him to death.

Game 3 I get some early beats, he gets Elspeth and War Monk. He uses the combo to bring me to 7 while his life skyrockets. I get an Ajani and beat Elspeth to death. I then get a Conqueror's Pledge, he plays Day of Judgement. So what do I play? Another Pledge. With Ajani. What could possibly beat that? ANOTHER DAY OF JUDGEMENT! Talk about nut draws for both sides!

I get an Elspeth and start climbing loyalty with my two 'walkers. He plays a Baneslayer, and I topdeck another Pledge. He kills Ajani with Baneslayer. I play Honor of the Pure and attack for 24! I then play an Aeronaut to block with next turn, and then succeed in the impossible: winning a race against a Baneslayer Angel.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Grixis Megrim

I get a Vanguard, he Doom Blades it. He then plays Megrim, and Duresses my hand: of lands and Conqueror's Pledge. GAH! I play an Armorsmith with Honor of the Pure, and he Blades it, too. I play Aeronaut, he Twincasts a Blightning. Luckily I only have 2 cards to discard. I go to 7. I then teach him the finer points of the problem of discard by playing every card I draw: the first being a Pledge. Remembering I still have Honor of the Pure out. I win in 2 turns.

Game 2 he plays a Howling Mine, and I play an Armorsmith. I Devout Lightcaster his Megrim, he Terminates my Armorsmith. I use Skyfisher to bounce the Lightcaster. He concedes after his next draw. I presume he got mana flooded.

I think he conceded too quickly, but still...

3-0.

Round 4 vs. Cruel Control

Unfortunately I lost the notes, but here's what I remember:

Game 1 he gets Wall of Denial and Kathari Remnant. His powerful cascades win while I fail to break through his guys.

Game 2 he doesn't get much, and I knock him to 8 before he plays his first spell. I'm able to defeat him with massive Soldiers.

Game 3 goes pretty long, and he Cruels me after I Pledge. I'm hoping I can win with my double Honor of the Pure, but he plays a second Cruel, and manages to Pulse the Honors of the Pure. It takes a long time, but he eventually wins with 18 cards left in his library (and 36 in mine. He drew a LOT of cards).

3-1

Salivanth's Rating: 4.5/5
Match Rating: 6/8

Total Score: 10.5

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with most of the Soldier deck. If I could do it over again, I'd cut the Harm's Ways and go up to 3 Paths and 3 BtE's, and also try to find a replacement for Kor Aeronaut, which didn't quite cut it. It was the weakest card in the deck and I was consistently siding him out. Perhaps Veteran Swordsmith would do better there.

Thanks for reading!