Sorin, Grim Nemesis: Official Thread

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  • Jay MKM
    Jay MKM Posts: 2
    A fun Sorin deck I ran for the more annoying fights in Avacyn's Madness revolved around Murder Investigation, Graf Harvest, Campaign of Vengeance. The idea was that Avacyn has a bunch of annoying mass-clears that kill off your entire board, but comparatively little to get rid of supports, so I was able to just keep a big pile of tokens around every turn. Kinda slow, but nicely resilient.

    Currently in QB I'm going for what feels like a pretty basic life gain deck but which works pretty well and can be pretty fast:

    Creatures:
    Lone Rider
    Serene Steward
    War Oracle
    Bloodbond Vampire
    Defiant Bloodlord

    Spells:
    Ondu Rising
    Grip of Desolation
    Iona's Blessing

    Supports:
    Caves of Koilos
    Campaign of Vengeance

    It feels like War Oracle and Caves of Koilos would be pretty easy to swap out for more exciting options, like Drana or Thalia or what have you. I might also think about getting rid of Iona's Blessing, since a lot of times my defense is more than covered by gaining more life than my opponent deals damage.
  • Shadoze
    Shadoze Posts: 16 Just Dropped In
    No mythics necessary but a few rares are required to make it work. Key is the abilities. If you can use vampiric power asap it will heal you faster and give damage bonuses to your creatures. If you can use vampiric power and also vampiric strength you will have even faster and stronger creatures plus mega healing.

    support
    campaign of vengeance - +1 life to you -1 life to them, necessary for the cards you will be using(use asap)
    forsaken sanctuary - +2 black or white gems
    corrupted grafstone - +2 gems to planeswalker color

    Spell
    transgress the mind-eliminate a card before it can be played
    to the slaughter- eliminate enemy creature card
    anguished unmaking - only way (i have available) to kill enemy supports plus 1 creature
    healing hands - optional but gives more heal bonuses +1 card

    creature
    serene steward - uses all of the healing to boost your first played creature +1/+1
    bloodbond vampire - gains +1/+1 when you get healed
    war oracle - renown 2-more heals

    good healing loops possible with the right combo.

    suggestions welcome but have very limited cards for this deck, especially mythic.
  • jayabalard
    jayabalard Posts: 16 Just Dropped In
    Supports:
    • Infernal Scarring
    • Drownyard Temple
    • Campaign of Vengeance
    • Graf Harvest

    Creature:
    • Kalitas, traitor of Ghet
    • Prized Amalgam
    • Undead Servant

    Spells:
    • Shamble Back
    • Spatial Contortion
    • Smite the Monstrous
  • Yorien666
    Yorien666 Posts: 9
    My current deck, pretty cheap but card combos can become pretty nasty. Be aware that Sorin's skills have been updated and now they are much better, all of them perfectly fit this deck's playstyle.

    Creatures: 5

    Focusing on cheap creatures that combo between themselves. If you have mythic cards like Felidar or Gaelthas, feel free to use them.

    Lone Rider (not on decktester, link to pic). UNCOMMON: 1/1 with lifeling AND first strike for 4, transforms into a 4/4 w. lifelink and first strike when you heal by 3.
    Serene Steward: UNCOMMON: Staple 4/4 for 6. Everytime you get life, 1st creature you have gains +1/+1.
    War Oracle: UNCOMMON: 3/3 for 11, with renown 2, simple and effective. A cheap option if you happen not to have her is Farbog Revenant, 1/3, COMMON, lifelink and unblockable for 10
    Bloodbond Vampire. UNCOMMON: 3/3 for 9, gets +1/+1 every time you gain life. Can grow insanely big when you combo her (I got a 49/49 once)
    Defiant Bloodlord. RARE: 5/6 with Flying for 14, deals 5 damage to the opponent everytime you gain life. sometimes you can deal 30+ damage a turn with his skill alone.

    Spells: 3

    Card draw and board control

    Read the Bones. COMMON: Draw 2 for 4 mana and 2 damage. Cheapest mana draw you can find. There are other choices if you want, like Healing Hands for example.
    Grip of Desolation. UNCOMMON: Cheap creature killer for just 5.
    Unholy Hunger. RARE: Creature killer for 8, gets you some health to combo if enough black gems on board.

    Supports: 2

    A mana gain card and your combo card, the one that makes this deck brutal.

    Corrupted Grafstone. RARE: Converts two gems to your color for 7, feel free to use anything else if you prefer. Drownyard Temple is also a great option.
    Campaign of Vengeance (not on decktester, link to pic). UNCOMMON: Absolutely broken for this deck. For 8 mana, everytime one of your creatures attacks you heal for 1 and deal 1 damage to your opponent.

    _ _ _ _ _ _

    How to play.

    Playstyle is really simple... overheal all damage dealt to you, grow your creatures massive and/or bloodlord nuke your opponent down. Five of your cards can be played in a single manawhite.png / manablack.png 3-chain, the rest can be played in two "good mana" chains.

    1-. Get one of your lifelink cards first if possible. The lone rider is perfect against walls because her 1st strike.
    2-. Get one creature that benefits from life gains.
    3-. Get your Campaign down.
    4-. If possible, try to save and pop Sorin's 15 loyalty Vampiric Strenght hero power (everytime one of your creatures attacks, you gain X life), If you also have campaign down and three creatures you'll see some nasty damage (Bloodlord +Rider + Oracle, up to 40 damage from Lord's skill alone) and/or buff escalation (Steward + rider + Bloodbond chick, for example, depending on creatures and placement can net you +6/+6 or even more every turn)
  • AEO2015
    AEO2015 Posts: 2 Just Dropped In
    Here is mine

    Creature:
    Kalitas, traitor of Ghet
    Olivia, Mobilized for War
    Defiant Bloodlord

    Supports:
    Hixus, Prison Warden
    Campaign of Vengeance
    Corrupted Grafstone
    Tamiyo´s Journal

    Spells:
    To the Slaughter
    Ruinous Path
    Make a Stand
  • GregDreher
    GregDreher Posts: 100 Tile Toppler
    I decided on a strategy of creatures that play well with gaining life, and just needing to live long enough to get Sorin's Vampiric Power off. (Getting Vampiric Power to level 3 is perfect for Lone Rider.) Creatures build in power quickly, and if you also get Vampiric Strength going, it's silly.

    Creatures
    Bloodbond Vampire
    Serene Steward
    Lone Rider/It That Rides As One

    Spells
    Healing Hands: life gain and card draw
    Painful Truths: card draw and removal
    To The Slaughter: cheap unconditional removal and occasional damage
    Infinite Obliteration: hand control

    Supports
    Campaign of Vengeance: life gain
    Caves of Koilos: since you're rewarded heavily for matching white and black gems

    Add one other card, just to build mastery.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Looks like most people build him as life-gain (myself included)

    Mine is slightly different

    Creatures:
    Bloodbond Vampire (staple, every Sorin deck seems to have this)
    Gisela, the Broken Blade - flying 8/8 first strike, lifelink. Crazy powerful
    Bruna, the Fadling Light - really only there to meld with Gisela. Making Brisela makes a 9/10 flying, first strike, lifelink, vigilance. It can keep most creatures from getting through, killing them before they can hit me.
    War Oracle - another staple for most decks
    Aetherborn Marauder - while a little pricey at 20 mana, he's a flying lifelink that gets +1/+1 for each creature you control when it enters, so he's at least a 5/5 but usually a 7/7 since most times you won't cast it first.

    Supports:
    Caves of Koilos
    Campaign of Vengeance

    Spells:
    Grip of Desolation - another staple removal spell
    Unlicensed Disintegration - 9 mana removal spell, but deals 3 damage to the opponent if you have out a support, and with two in the deck and Sorin able to create two, you most likely will
    Give no Ground - creature gains +2/+6 and reach until your next turn. Normally something I put on Gisela, it's in as a way to remove multiple creatures from an opponent's board.
  • Skidoo
    Skidoo Posts: 71 Match Maker
    How does the new Fabricate ability affect Sorin's second ability? I don't own SORIN yet, but I've seen Fabricate fill the board with "Supporting Servo" supports.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Skidoo wrote:
    How does the new Fabricate ability affect Sorin's second ability? I don't own SORIN yet, but I've seen Fabricate fill the board with "Supporting Servo" supports.

    If a board is full of servos and/or energy you can't place more supports. Haven't tested it with Sorin, but I have had Dovin Baan energize the entire board many times.
  • Reaganstorme
    Reaganstorme Posts: 334 Mover and Shaker
    @Skidoo: Sorin's abilities changed in the 1.7 update (end Sep 2016) as follows:
    Sorin, Grim Nemesis

    Sorin’s first and second abilities have been completely redesigned. His loadout has also been improved.

    His first ability, Vampiric Drain, has been redesigned. It now reads:

    - Rank 1: “Gain 1 Life and 1 Mana per creature you control.”
    - Rank 2: “Gain 2 Life and 1 Mana per creature you control.”
    - Rank 3: “Gain 3 Life and 2 Mana per creature you control.”
    - Rank 4: “Gain 4 Life and 2 Mana per creature you control.”
    Vampiric Drain now costs 6 (down from 9).

    His second ability has been renamed and redesigned. It is now called Vampiric Power, and reads:

    - Rank 1: Summon a Support with “When each of your creatures attacks, you gain 1 Life.”
    - Rank 2: Summon a Support with “When each of your creatures attacks, you gain 2 Life.”
    - Rank 3: Summon a Support with “When each of your creatures attacks, you gain 3 Life.”
    - Rank 4: Summon a Support with “When each of your creatures attacks, you gain 4 Life.”
    This ability costs 15 Loyalty.

    Sorin’s loadout also changed. He can now use 8 Creatures, 3 Spells and 3 Supports at level 1, and 10 Creatures, 5 Spells and 5 Supports at level 60.
  • LoVe1AnGe
    LoVe1AnGe Posts: 37
    Typical passive/ aggressive deck

    Creatures :
    Lone Rider
    Decimator of Province
    Gisela, the broken blade

    Spell :
    To Slaughter
    Grip of Desolation
    Behold the Beyond

    Support :
    Oath of Liliana
    Campaign of Vengeance
    Always Watching
    Corrupted Griff stone

    With that u can kill creatures before that deals any damage to u thx 1st strike berserker and trample.
    Moreover Sorin's 3rd ability proc 2 times with trample when u'r creature is blocked : once when damage to opponent creature dealt and a second when direct hp left damage dealt to opponent hp.
  • Tilwin90
    Tilwin90 Posts: 662 Critical Contributor
    Recently got my Sorin and I have to say it is ridiculously powerful with the right cards. The huge mana gain allows you to add some ridiculous cards.
    Here is my list and the cards I would like to replace what I have with but don't own yet between brackets.

    Creatures (3)
    Gisela, the Broken Blade
    Defiant Broodlord
    Stone Haven Outfitter (Olivia, Mobilized for War)

    Spells (5)
    Deploy the Gatewatch
    Infinite Obliteration
    Give No Ground (To the Slaughter)
    Haunted Cloak
    Declaration in Stone (Anguished Unmaking)

    Supports (2)
    Caves of Koilos
    Always Watching/Campaign of Vengeance (not sure which yet)

    To explain my choices:
    Deploy the Gatewatch is a monster. It puts expensive creatures on the board very fast and is very difficult to deal with. The creatures have huge synergy as they are but sorin's abilities further support them.

    The support spells help hold a ground and provide quick swings. The cloak on a 16/16 Gisela is very good and it happened quite often for me.
    Give no Ground moves Gisela as first creature which often kills all opposing creatures, offers occasional blockers and is a good pseudo combat trick via temporary pump. It's weird that vigilance no longer has this effect.

    Infinite Obliteration proved very powerful to slow down opponents especially if followed by a still powering up deploy the gatewatch.
    Declaration in stone is okay though slow and can't deal with supports. That's why I really wish I could get an anguished unmaking...

    Caves of Koilos seems strictly better than Corrupted Graftstone being cheaper with the same effect. I might be wrong here though so please correct me if so.

    Not sure if I prefer always watching or campaign of vengeance. The latter feels like a win more card while the former is sometimes redundant...

    All in all this is the build. My biggest struggle right now is if I end up with support cards only and no board especially since all sorin abilities rely on a board.
    Any suggestions to mitigate this are more than welcome.
  • Falizar
    Falizar Posts: 70 Match Maker
    Here is mine:

    Creatures:
    Serene Steward
    Lone Rider
    Aviary Mechanic
    Lantern Scout
    Ambitious Aetherborn
    Visionary Augmenter

    Spells:
    Grip of Desolation
    Eliminate the Competition

    Supports:
    Oath of Gideon
    Tamiyo's Journal

    Not the fastest but fun to play.
  • Phantomdrake07
    Phantomdrake07 Posts: 2
    I personally couldn't care less about his abilities I care about building A black and white ally deck.
    Black white decks are powerful color combination.
  • rathedon
    rathedon Posts: 17 Just Dropped In
    Phantomdrake07 wrote:
    I personally couldn't care less about his abilities I care about building A black and white ally deck.
    Black white decks are powerful color combination.

    LOL. I feel you, but his abilities are cool. Im a b/w player so I feel you. Those color combo's are beastly.
  • Magog
    Magog Posts: 106 Tile Toppler
    Here's mine:

    Creatures:
    Olivia (of course...)
    Felidar Sovereign
    Defiant Bloodlord
    Lone Rider
    Serene Steward

    Spells:
    Behold the Beyond
    To the Slaughter
    Fragmentize (probably going to be swapped out for something else)
    Enshrouding Mist (this is surprisingly useful)

    Supports:
    Campaign of Vengeance

    Olivia is a game winner by herself, but after that Sorin's second ability is the real powerhouse here, it triggers Defiant Bloodlord's ability several times per round, gets Lone Rider to transform and gets Serene Steward to buff your first creature multiple times. Campaign of Vengeance does mostly the same but doesn't trigger Lone Rider.

    The deck's even pretty good without Olivia, the Bloodlord and Behold the Beyond. For a long time I used Bloodbond Vampire and Enlightened Ascetic as my other creatures, plus a couple of other cards I can't remember now. Felidar Sovereign, Bloodbond Vampire and Serene Steward makes a nasty, if fragile, combination when you've got Sorin's second and Campaign out.
  • Tilwin90
    Tilwin90 Posts: 662 Critical Contributor
    I'm back after having experienced more with Sorin and got a few new useful cards on him.
    By now he is my absolute favorite planeswalker and I won many events only thanks to him (Nahiri is close but I haven't tweaked her enough yet).
    Sorin_Deck.jpg

    Before I go into analysis again, I want to emphasize three aspects about Sorin that made me tweak the deck this way:
    - Some expensive cards are acceptable because of his huge mana bonuses. If you get a white/black streak you can play whatever you want. It's insane! But this also makes him a bit dependent on black/white gems.
    - White and black cards can dominate the board and hand at the same time. The combination is vulnerable to hand attack, so I expect occasionally to lose to control decks.
    - The abilities are CRUCIAL. I actually started tweaking the deck by taking the abilities into consideration. Most difficult games I win with Sorin are thanks to his abilities!

    Creatures: They are chosen based on the last ability. +4/+0 on lifegain encourages two keywords: Lifelink and First Strike.
    Lifelink triggers the support an extra time, while First Strike ensures your creatures will survive combat. It's useless to have an 104/6 without First Strike, because it will die to a 10/8 Berserker.
    Any creature that has these two capabilities is an excellent candidate for Sorin. I ultimately picked Gisela (total powerhouse) and Lone Rider.

    Creature Support:
    - Deploy the Gatewatch is a must have to grab your creatures. It's a bit awkward if you have 3 creatures in your deck out of which one of them is a transform creature. Hence why I ended up with only 2 creatures. Also, it tends to release your creatures in multiples, making them more difficult to remove, or recovering from an empty board quickly with some card advantage. I strongly recommend this card in any white Sorin deck!
    - Always Watching gives your creatures vigilance. Not only does this give you excellent defensive capabilities (good luck hitting into an 80/24 First Striker) but it also triggers Sorin's ultimate an extra time!
    - Haunted Cloak is hugely relevant. Let's look at all its keywords:
    -- Vigilance to reorder creatures. Sometimes I prefer Gisela to be the first creature, because my Lone Rider would get trashed by my opponent. With Vigilance I can reorder my creatures. (last released messed this up but hopefully it will be fixed)
    -- Haste is great if it follows summoning a creature or casting a Deploy the Gatewatch. Many times my Gisela ends up being a haste creature striking immediately after it comes out.
    -- Trample is good against some specific decks. Although It That Rides as One already features Trample, sometimes you want to give it to either Gisela or Lone Rider. It does wonders against recurring creatures strategies (gideon enchantments or zombies). As a bonus it can again trigger the ultimate TWICE (once for hitting the creature, once for hitting the opponent).

    Control
    I love any deck that features some control elements. If you have a linear strategies you will most often end up losing against faster combo decks or other control decks. And Sorin is not necessarily the fastest planeswalker - the ultimate combo needs time to build in and create a board presence.
    Three cards fall into this category:
    Grip of Desolation - cheapest black removal, hands down better than any other card in this category. The devoid is SOMETIMES relevant, but most often negligible (careful with it though, it once stopped me from dealing with a Suppresion Bonds).
    Oath of Liliana - great removal that can also turn into a timebomb. The zombies are occasionally relevant and helped me win some games. Although they don't benefit from Always Watching you can end up turning them into defenders with Haunted Cloak if the situation demands it. Plus they tend to eat opponent removal (yum yum).
    Infinite Obliteration - absolute powerhouse! If you have it and don't add it to your deck, you are losing a great addition! My dream hands always start with this into my hand. Very cheap to cast, I end up leaving my opponent empty handed turn 1. It's great that your Kiora deck features only mythics and rares, but if you don't have any in your hand, good luck dealing with what I'm doing here!

    Accelerator
    There was a time I didn't have a mana accelerator in the deck. Sometimes they are annoying, but most of the times they help speed things up or save you out of a horrible board state. So I find Caves of Koilos as extremely important for stability.

    Gain more
    I saved Campaign of Vengeance as last. I am still okay and not so okay with it. It's a win-more card... but when it works, it drives your ultimate insane. Without ultimate... it has little to no value (1 damage and 1 lifegain is negligible really).
    If I had Anguished Unmaking I would switch back and forth between it and Campaign of Vengeance. It's the only card I am not 100% convinced I want to keep in the deck.

    *done rambling*
    Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions regarding my build.
  • hawkyh1
    hawkyh1 Posts: 780 Critical Contributor
    sorin is about getting creatures on the battlefield quickly
    to make the most from his abilities. serene steward helps
    make them stronger. @tilwin90 always watching looks
    under utilised maybe try swapping it out for something
    like knightly valour?

    HH
  • Tilwin90
    Tilwin90 Posts: 662 Critical Contributor
    And I have succeeded in upgrading my Sorin even more. At present he is my most consistent planeswalker, having yet to lose a match with him. Sadly I am not taking as much advantage of his abilities anymore as I would, but in PVP he is amazing. (for PVE I prefer Dovin, but that's another story)

    Without further ado here is the deck.
    [b]Creatures[/b] (3)
    Knight of the White Orchid
    Gisela, the Broken Blade
    Drana, Liberator of Malakir

    [b]Spells[/b] (5)
    Ruinous Path
    To the Slaughter
    Eliminate the Competition
    Infinite Obliteration
    Deploy the Gatewatch

    [b]Supports[/b] (2)
    Oath of Liliana
    Shambling Vent

    Powerful creatures supported by Deploy the Gatewatch is a no-brainer. In this latest removal-centric build I found little use for Lone Rider. I don't mind dragging the game. I've included Drana since she pumps my team like crazy - though she's a new addition, so still subject to discussion. Still oscillating between Knight and Avacyn (Avacyn has the disavantage of not being a first striker, but can block fliers)
    Removal is again undisputable here with the 5 mana cost removal spells. Oath of Liliana is my fourth removal simply because Sorin can't do more than 5 spells. And of course Eliminate the Competition which combined with Deploy very often means a board wipe for my opponent.
    Infinite Obliteration is one of the best black spells - I play it in all my black decks and I am yet to be disappointed by it, especially when it's in my starter hand.
    Shambling Vent is there to ensure I can accelerate my mana

    Ideas and suggestions are more than welcome as always.
    Keep in mind I have no Olivia or Pig.
  • Smash666
    Smash666 Posts: 37 Just Dropped In
    Hi everybody! I've come up with a awesome Sorin deck that kicks Butt! 
    Super Sorin Deck!
    Creatures...
    Lone Rider 
    Bloodbound Vampire 
    Serene Steward 
    Supports...
    Hixus Prison Warden 
    Suppression Bonds 
    Oath of Liliana 
    Campaign of Vengeance 
    Spells...
    Fragmentize 
    To the Slaughter 
    Grip of Desolation 
    This is tried and true so give it a go.
    Happy gaming  :)

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