I saw Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker a while ago and soon forgot about it. I knew at the time that there was a good way to use it, but I couldn't think of anything at the time. I then saw Kami of False Hope when I was working on a Razia's Purification/Barren Glory deck. Wait, what? On my opponent's turn, I can sac my Kami to prevent my opponent from dealing combat damage, and then get it back at the end of the turn? That's crazy!
The deck started out in Esper colors, heavily reliant on Sphinx Sovereign for the wins. I would play Sphinx's Herald and pop it three turns in a row to play my three Sovereigns. Time progressed, the list fell apart. I forgot about it. Then I saw Teysa, Orzhov Scion for the first time in many months and my idea came back to me.
This is a Shirei/Teysa combo deck. Squadron Hawk gets enough creatures for my Teysa to start killing stuff and I eventually overrun with tokens. Exiling a creature per turn seems a good way to drag out the game. Killing with 1/1's seems just fine to me. I kept the Kami package but cut blue entirely. Add some Transmute and bing! the deck builds itself.
1 Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
4 Kami of False Hope
4 Mourning Thrull
1 Pentavus
4 Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
4 Viscera Seer
2 Brainspoil
4 Dark Ritual
2 Dimir Machinations
4 Orzhov Signet
2 Evolving Wilds
7 Plains
9 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
Fun combo when it goes off.
Until next time, play on.
