You’ve seen what the Saheeli combo deck can do, and while it hasn’t put up extraordinary numbers, it remains a critical part of the metagame. The best iteration of the deck might be one that finds creative new ways to exploit Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian.
Servant of the Conduit is just a nice way to fix mana, but if you can find a way to use that extra energy, it can still be useful after your mana is set. Rogue Refiner is the defining card in any Saheeli deck that adds green. Drawing cards and adding energy is exactly what this deck wants to do, and Refiner puts that package on a permanent that can be blinked by Guardian or copied by Saheeli. 3 power makes Refiner a legitimate threat to your opponent’s planeswalkers and life total.
It’s not common for creatures to win the game, especially in versions not choosing to go the Whirler Virtuoso route. A nice selection of creatures to blink or copy is great, but you’ll want a way to do even more. Enter Eldritch Evolution.
This is a great way to turn a Servant of the Conduit into a Felidar Guardian. It’s also a way to go up the chain to turn Felidar Guardian into an even bigger effect.
In this list, only a pair of creatures cost more than Felidar Guardian. The first, Cloudblazer is a great target for both Saheeli or Guardian to both buffer your life total and hand size. Target Cloudblazer with Saheeli to create a Sphinx’s Revelation for 4 that gets to attack for some damage.
Greenwarden of Murasa can create incredible sequences. By sacrificing a Guardian to get your Greenwarden, you can return the Guardian right back to your hand. At this point, you can blink the Greenwarden to continue getting more value as you work to close out the game and assemble the combo. This will also make sure you have more combo pieces than they have answers, as the Greenwarden can keep you rich in cards.
People have been slowly increasing the number of Oaths in their 4-color Saheeli decks, as Oath of Chandra has proven to be an important piece alongside Oath of Nissa. Oath of Nissa finds both halves of the combo while Oath of Chandra will keep the battlefield under control. It will take down a creature early in the game and then take down planeswalkers as you play your own.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance pairs with Saheeli to make sure you can play a long game that can control the board. Saheeli doesn’t do an amazing job of protecting herself, but Chandra can take down a relatively large creature while providing card advantage or ramp into something like Greenwarden.
Attune with Aether and Harnessed Lightning are auto-includes in these type of decks. You have use for both the energy and mana fixing.
With all of this extra energy, a couple copies of Aetherworks Marvel just makes sense. It can help find the combo or ways to keep digging. You’re not playing Eldrazi, but there are some big hits in Cloudblazer and Greenwarden that provide value while still being easy to cast.
Hidden gems like Eldritch Evolution can give you a real advantage in an established metagame, so keep your eye out for small additions that can have a big effect.
Saheeli Evolution
SHEEPS42, 5-0 in an MTGO Competitive League
