Selesnya Soul Sisters with Bess

Posted on May 3, 2022

Hello Happy Streets of New Capenna Fans! I hope that your day is going incredibly well! Today I have something fun to proffer, a Commander deck build around that 1/1 lover Bess, Soul Nourisher.

This is my first deck built around a leader spoiled from the Commander set that is released with Streets of New Capenna, and my fourth deck from that overall double release.

So...let's look at Bess!

Here is the three drop 1/1 Selesnya colored Human Citizen. When she attacks, you pump up your 1/1 dorks by +X/+X equal to her +1/+1 counters. Since she bumps up just one for all the 1/1s you make, she isn't as synergetic with mass 1/1 token makers, but since she'll pump up a horde of Squirrels, Saprolings and Spirits she still has synergy with that.

Here is how I am expecting to build this deck out

#1. Soul Sisters - Since most of the Soul Warden dorks are 1/1s we'll run them all here to gain a ton of life while giving Bess a bump in size and something to build up into a threat with the swinging.

#2. Life Gain Caring - We'll have some mechanics that care about life gain here as well.

#3. Hate Bears - There are a few Hate Bears that are 1/1 like Esper Sentinel that I'll toss in.

#4. 1/1 Good Stuff - There are some good 1/1s that are heavily played in Commander that I'll toss in like Mother of Runes.

#5. Tokens Matter - We'll have a few ways to make some mass 1/1s to pump up and win with later.

#6. Ramp from Dorks - We'll lean into mana dorks like Llanowar Elves to give us more mana and pump up Bess.

#7. Voltron Bess - We'll want to add some ways to kill quickly with Bess, get in some hits, and protect her from removal.

Ready? Let's get started!

Hate Bears

After reviewing the options, I don't have that many Hate Bears that are 1/1 save for Esper Sentinel and this Cat. You can exile from a graveyard just like the heavily played two-drop Scavenging Ooze. If it was a permanent toss a +1/+1 counter on this, and you can equip it for just two mana on Bess, which I would do as soon as you have the mana to save it from mass removal. It'll trigger Bess on arrival but won't be pumped by her when you swing with Bess so there's no reason to keep it loose and free. Please note that I don't have much recursion here not even Eternal Witness, so you do want to use this on your own stuff to pump it and Bess as well as your opposing graveyards.

Life Gain and Synergies

Most of my Soul Sisters are obvious like Soul Warden and Essence Warden, but I also tossed in Ajani's Welcome. When a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you'll gain a life! If you have a Sister in your hand lead with this to gain life from it on the second turn. This can be quite serious in a deck that goes wide like this one! I am running a pair of Soul Sisters that have 2 power since they are key forms of life gain here.

Check out this life gain helper. Lathiel is one of a handful of creatures here that are not 1/1 for Bess triggers. This is a four mana 2/2 with lifelink for lifegain triggers. At the end of each end step (yours and your foe's) you place +1/+1 counters on your stuff equal to the life you gained. If you control Bess, load her up! She can become a serious Commander damage threat. If you do not, you can spread this out or just go up with Lathiel the Unicorn.

Good Stuff

The toughness-matters version of the heavily played Imperial Recruiter is pretty nice here as the massive group of 1/1s to fetch for make a nice addition to the 1/1 caring game. You get two triggers for Bess, this and what you Tutored for to your hand to add synergy like a missing Soul Warden to gain life for some mass token making about to happen or cards we'll look at later. Good stuff!

Draw

Toski is a perfect 1/1 here since it cannot be countered and has indestructible. It acts as a Coastal Piracy on legs so as your things smash away for damage to a player's face, you will draw cards. The Well is another rare four drop, and in this case, will let you turn life gained into X cards drawn if that X mana is spent where X is equal to (or less than) the life gained. For example, suppose you control a Soul Warden when you cast a token maker. That's multiple one life gain triggers from every creature entering. You can spend up to 1 mana each time and draw one card for each mana spent. Hope that example helps.

Sometimes we come across things that are massively synergetic here. The Dawn is an enchantment that turns life gain into one card drawn for two generic mana each time. And then you can spend four mana any time you want to make a 1/1 Soldier with lifelink, which triggers Bess, and can be pumped by Bess into a bigger threat, and then you gain that life for the Dawn and the Well to draw future cards from. Nice stuff!

Ramp

Most of my ramp is obvious like Avacyn's Pilgrim and Quirion Elves, but not this. This 1/1 will search your library for a any land (not just a basic) and put it into your hand as long as one foe control more lands, and since my ramp isn't land based but creature based like the aforementioned stuff, you'll usually find someone that is playing ramp like Farseek and Cultivate and Explosive Vegetation for a bunch more lands, and then this takes up a land drop to actually use, so you'll stay behind someone at the multiplayer table for a long time with this deck. I have used this in the past to add in cycling lands to draw cards and keep the land tutoring going, but in this case, my lands are way too busy supporting my other themes. I have 19 non-basics in here you can search for. Good stuff!

Answers

I am running a few obvious answers like Beast Within and Generous Gift that can target anything, as well as this pair of four-mana instants. The first will Edict an attacking dork at anyone. Then you make a bunch of 1/1 Soldiers equal to its toughness. I really like this if you attacked with Bess and then someone targeted Bess for removal or a combat trick to kill out of nowhere and you have a fat 10/10 or 14/14 Bess. Sacrifice her and make an epic amount of 1/1s! The second instant should be labeled GW2 and you'll want to spend that mana. This is a Naturalize effect and if you spent at least one Green mana on it, you'll make two 1/1s of the Saproling persuasion that will give you a Bess trigger.

Check out this pair of sweepers. Every deck ever printed for Commander should have some sweeping removal. Since all of my massive creatures and support stuff have 1 or 2 power I decided to lean on mass removal that kills things of a 3 or 4 power life these cards. Elspeth sweeps the board of 4 or bigger power stuff. Also note that when you don't need her for removal, you can +1 and make three 1/1s tokens to boost Bess and add to your attacking. The Dusk half of Dusk // Dawn hits anything with a 3 power or more so that's a bit better and will keep alive things like Mentor of the Meek and Welcoming Vampire that have two power. We'll be destroying our own graveyard a lot, so I am not running Dawn for recursion, but's it possible that after some mass graveyard removal you'll have some stuff to bring back, so don't forget it.

Answers are of two minds. The first are one that's answer problems, like your foe's Consecrated Sphinx and Mind's Eye. The second are ones that answer your foe's answers. We have things in here like Heroic Intervention and Teferi's Protection since we are going wide to answer their answers. I also have Robe of Stars, which is intended to be dropped on Bess as soon as possible. You spend three mana total equipping and dropping this and that's nice, but you only get a +0/+3 boost to the butt and you can spend two mana to phase out Bess until your next turn, so you can do this in response to removal both targeted and mass and then keep your beater around for a turn, nice!

Win-Cons

This deck has two win-cons in it already, a beefed-up Bess for Commander Damage and going wide with a bunch of 1/1 dorks pumped by a beefy Bess for a bunch of normal damage. So, I added in three win-cons.

Check out this pair of rares. The former one can gain you a life for each time you cast a spell, so it plays nicely here with your life gain synergy like Well of Lost Dreams to draw cards. And then you can spend 50 life to shoot a foe for 50 and remove them from the game. Nicely done my friends! Don't overplay into this or other effects, save extra cards in your hand for after a mass removal spell. The latter card will win the game on your upkeep if you have 50 or more life, quite easy here, right? Right! I am also running Felidar Sovereign to win like the Test.

Token Making and Voltron Stuff

Most of my mass token making are those you might expect like Decree of Justice and Increasing Devotion. But this was just printed so let's look see under the hood. At instant speed you can pay to make X 1/1 Citizen dorks and your stuff gets indestructible for the turn, which is a nice variant on your answers to mass removal, and this is a strong combat trick where you can cast this after an attack your way, make a bunch of 1/1s, block, and keep them alive, or you can just use this in response to a big sweeper like a foe's Wrath of God when you only have two for the X to save your team and get in a Commander bump. Good card!

Most of my Voltron stuff is obvious. I have two equipment to provide indestructible (Darksteel Plate and Hammer of Nazahn) two that give shroud/hexproof (Greaves and Boots) two that give unblockable (Trailblazer's Boots and Whispersilk Cloak as well as Rogue's Passage) two that give lifelink for life gain triggers (Basilisk Collar, Behemoth Sledge) but then I have this...awesome! It's so synergetic here! This aura is meant to be cast on Bess. When you gain life, you put that many +1/+1 counters on Bess, which can really amp her into a game winner. Also remember when you swing, she pumps up 1/1s equal to the +1/+1 counter count on her so that will be huge with Light!

Lands

I added in some ways to make 1/1 dorks with my lands. These three are great examples. Castle will tap for four mana to make a single 1/1 Human dork for triggering Bess and then getting pumped. The Outpost will sacrifice a Plains on arrival to the battlefield but will tap for just two mana to make a 1/1 Soldier. The Memorial will sacrifice for four to make two 1/1 Soldiers, which is useful once your mana is set. I only have 34 lands (and one modal land) since most of my stuff are cheap 1/1s.

Don't forget about Dryad Arbor, which feels like a must run with Bess as it's a 1/1 land that taps for mana and triggers Bess and will get pumped by her as well! Great card and it just takes up a land slot.

This deck needs more ways to gain life outside of Soul Sisters and the Reservoir and lifelink. Enter some lands like this trio. Since we have card draw attached to life gain, these are key ways. The Crossroads and Sands arrive to the party tapped and then tap for some mana of the colors we care about and we gain 2 or 1 life. Either way they are ways to get cards from the Well of Lost Dreams and friends or to get to 50 life for game winning. The Sapseep land is a Forest that taps for mana and if you control two or more Green cards, you can tap and gain a life, which is great reliable life flow over time. Good stuff!

Check out this pair of graveyard hosers. The Grounds is a colorless land that arrives ready to be used and can sacrifice itself to exile all graveyards which is a great emergency escape valve on the massive graveyard abuse in this format. I also tossed in the Relic which you can tap to force a foe to exile a card from their graveyard and sacrifice/exile for a mana to exile all graveyards and replace itself, which is pretty nice card flow and graveyard control. Love this pair's power a lot here!

And now let's turn to two more cards that debuted in the same set as Bess!

Check out this enchantment. When you swing, you can place a shield counter on an attacking dork, and then when it deals combat damage to a foe you can swap the shield counter for a card drawn, which is nice card flow. Shield counters will get pulled when the dork in question takes damage or would be destroyed. I like dropping this precombat the turn after you dropped Bess and are about to swing to toss a counter on her and then do not swap it for a card. Just keep this on her to be proactive and keep her safe. Then on future turns when you swing with Bess, I'd swap extra shield tokens on her for cards drawn, but when one is pulled off from something like a Damnation, then you can toss on another and then don't pull it until another go around the switchback happens.

Finally, check out the massively synergetic Scepter of Celebration. This three equip coster will give Bess +2/+0, trample, and when she deals combat damage to a foe you'll make that many 1/1 Citizen dorks to pump up Bess and then get pumped up by her on her next swing. That can get out of control very quickly!

Let's turn now to my Bess Brew!