Deck Spotlight: Soul Sentinels – Cyreni’s Razors Deck Guide

Hello! Today I want to write about the deck I took to Worlds 2024 with Cyrnei’s Razors called Soul Sentinels. The pairing is Countdown to Cataclysm and Emberstone Sentinels. I will be going over each card as well as the general strategy with this deck. Hope you enjoy!

If you have any questions at any point in time, please do not hesitate to contact me on Discord. I can be regularly found on the new Staggerers discord server so please do join that!

THE DECK

Step by Step – most people prefer to play Sally Forth instead, but I find Cyreni enjoys this card more. It’s quite nice in late game where you can run past the opponent and score this secretly in the back of their territory. It also becomes quite easy if you become Underdog!

Unassailable – so this card was unfortunately changed at Worlds to say that we have to be holding AN objective before and after the attack, making it a lot less appealing. Still, it forces opponents to think twice about attacking a fighter on a token. What if they miss? You get a Deadly Riposte AND a glory! Side note – a cool interaction with this card and Phantasmal Ink is that if you get attacked, your opponent misses, you can then push yourself onto another treasure and still score this card provided you were holding a token before being attacked. 

Aggressive Defender – this rewards you for attacking from where you want to be anyways – overall a good pick and quite easy! Just don’t rush and put yourself in a bad position to score this – you WILL score it at some point, do it when it won’t ruin your position. 

Collateral Damage – this is a very easy objective if you are underdog and punishes your opponent for killing you. If your fighters aren’t dying and you aren’t underdog you can discard this card – it’s mainly a catch-up surge!

The Perfect Cut – this is a good surge without access to Cleave and Ensnare and your Thralls have both when they use Deadly Riposte – making this card quite simple!

Overwhelming Force – you have 2 fighters who go to 4 dice when inspired and can get a third one with Keen Eye – so this objective should be easy. Don’t fall for the trap of inspiring Cephanyr in R1 to score this and instantly charging – you might miss, brick this surge, and not be able to take advantage of your inspired fighter. Wait for your opponent to come to you to score this! Alternatively, Renglaith is always a good candidate for inspiration for this surge in R1 – as he gets 2 range, and he can attack from farther. 

Slow Advance – I found I was scoring this card in only about half my games… It’s not a bad one, and it rewards you for being a little aggressive, but do be prepared to toss this card if you can’t score it. It’s not worth it risking your fighters to get this in a lot of matchups. Still, if you can score this and not compromise your position, go for it! It also rewards running past your opponents invading you – so a little bonus for that. TLDR – don’t overcommit to score this card, it’s not worth compromising your position.

Iron Grasp – one of the best cards in the deck – an easy way to score this is through delving all tokens but one in a territory. Alternatively, you can set up only one token in yours or enemy territory for an easy 2 glory!

Supremacy – this is one of the best cards to see early game, when it’s hard to deny. You score it for holding 2 tokens as any combination of fighters will give you 3 bounty, so overall this is a really good card. Against Blazing Assault, always be wary of Lure of Battle as a lot of players will save it to deny this. To counter that, try to have 3 fighters holding tokens. 

Spread Havoc – this is physically impossible not to score so not much more to say. If you get in R1 and only have 1 cataclysm by the end of the round, I recommend you cash it in for 1 glory – holding it might brick your hand. Additionally, if you get this card in your very first hand, consider performing a mulligan, as this card can be scored at any point in time – not just in R1. 

Set Explosives – really similar to Iron Grasp, but you need to hold at least 2 tokens. Overall pretty simple! You can play this card passively by setting up 2 treasures far back in your territory or aggressively by putting one token in no man’s land and the other one closer to the border in enemy territory. 

Wreckers – this one can be difficult against elites. Luckily, it is optional to move cataclysm up, so you can always keep your cataclysm at 1 to make this an easy to glory as long as it doesn’t brick your power cards or Spread Havoc. 

Sidestep – A very good push, use it to setup Hammertide or to get on tokens or to dodge enemy attacks or to get closer to an enemy or to… you get the point. This is one of the only cards in the deck I recommend holding between rounds.

Settle In – this on Cephanyr Inspired is massive, it makes him pretty much unhittable! As soon as you get Utter Conviction or Sharp Reflexes out it’s also really good. You can also use it on a 1 Save fighter to make them immune to drive back, which is good for scoring Slow Advance and Step by Step. 

Healing Potion – A heal is always nice. There are cases where it’s important to hold this to use it while Underdog but a lot of the times a 1 heal is always good too!

Hidden Paths – an absolutely bonkers card when it works. My favorite use for it is against aggressive warbands, when they invade you and you teleport behind them. I always recommend taking the board side with the starting hex on the edge if you have this card in your first hand. Additionally, try to set up treasures in such a way that with a Sidestep or Confusion + Hidden Paths, you will be able to grab a token in a power step. 

Hold the Line! – A decent card that secures your position on tokens. My favorite use case is to pop it in an opponent’s last activation but use it whenever is necessary. It also pairs well with Step by Step. 

By the Numbers – some nice card draw. If you have 2 tokens, typically you shouldn’t be greedy and play this card right then, but if you secure 3 tokens it’s even more strong. All in all – don’t play risky with this – 2 cards is already huge!

Growing Concerns – this card is absolutely amazing against aggro warbands. It denies lots of charges, so be sure to use it for that! When your Cataclysm is really high it can steal activations from your opponents. Even a -1 move is really strong. Overall, a strong card.

Total Collapse – this is kind of unreliable but as a lot of people know I am a major ping fan and this one kind of can damage any fighter on the board – so it’s good for that. Still, don’t rely on this card to kill something unless your Cataclysm is at least 3. 

Sunder the Realm – a MEGA PING. If playing against hold warbands, try to set up tokens near no ones land to make better use of this card. On 3 Cataclysm, it’s almost guaranteed to hit, so don’t underestimate it! Just be wary of placing tokens you need in no-ones land as it can damage you too – but you know the ping is coming, so just avoid it if necessary. 

Improvised Attack – either a ping or a distraction. One of the strongest uses for this card is to push a higher away from you with the drive back – either off a token, or out of attack range. It can also be used to kill stuff, so overall a versatile card. Keep in mind – with the stagger from Hammertide, it becomes quite accurate!

Great Speed – yes 4 move is a lot, but 5 move is more. Also, it’s a free upgrade, so it doesn’t brick your hand as much! This has been a very useful card to me and has gotten me into a lot of good positions and out of a lot of bad ones. Try to put this card onto a random fighter who inevitably gets left at the back of the board as the rest of the Razors go to invade.

Sharp Reflexes – this is +1 Save on everyone but Inspired Cephanyr. It makes the Idoneth 2 Shields, which is REALLY hard to hit, so it’s quite good! Just notice it won’t stack with Utter Conviction.

Brute Momentum – a no-driveback is quite good, and even though this upgrade seems quite weird at first, I promise you it’s really useful when you have it! Driving you back is one of the best ways to deny your objective cards, and taking that away from an opponent is crucial!

Agile – a re-roll in defense. It isn’t that potent on 1 Save fighters but on Inspired Cephanyr or a Idoneth with Utter Conviction/Sharp Reflexes it’s really strong. Overall, pretty good. 

Duellist – this is quite useful for getting you onto treasure tokens. One of the best uses for it was to attack an enemy on a treasure token and pushing yourself onto it after driving them back!

Great Fortitude – +1 Health is always good, but especially on 4 wound fighters as it makes your opponents need to use 3 attacks with 2 damage instead of just 2. 

Keen Eye – more accuracy is always good. I’d use this on Cyreni or Alathyrr as it enables them to score Overwhelming Force but if you already scored it use as necessary.

Great Strength – Grievous is amazing – 3 damage and a Hammertide is enough to kill most fighters in the game! Just keep in mind – this does not stack with Deadly Riposte, so be mindful of then you need accuracy and when you need damage. 

Driven By Pain – this is technically anti-drive back… unless your opponent really needs you off of a treasure token. In that case, this helps mitigate the pain of losing the treasure by healing you!

Utter Conviction – arguably my favorite upgrade in the deck. In Rounds 2 and 3 it makes you practically immortal so that’s quite nice. I reccomend putting it on a fighter on Shields (so an Idoneth) – that makes them very hard to hit. Also, going on guard with this upgrade while in a cover hex makes you immortal – in case you really need to stand on a feature token!

Desperate Rage – if you really need 3 damage you can use this weapon. Most of the time it isn’t necessary, but it’s nice to have. Also, it works well with Great Strength – this allows you to threaten a one-shot on most fighters in the game. 

General Guide

As you might have noticed, the key idea in the deck is to stand on treasure tokens while attacking your opponents. This is not very difficult with your 2 range on most fighters. 

An ideal opening hand would typically contain Supremacy, Set Explosives, and Iron Claim, as these 3 are the hardest to score late game and early game they will set you up for success with an early glory burst! During setup, you have to pay attention to your opponent’s warband and deck as well your opening hand. Against aggro warbands, the best tokens setup is 2 tokens far back in your territory, and one within 1 hex of an edge in their territory, as far away from your territory as possible. This makes it easy to run past the enemy and keep scoring stuff with that one token. If you have Step by Step and Slow Advance in your opening hand, try to get a token as close as possible to your territory but in enemy territory to make these easy. 

In Round 1, your inspire depends on your opening hand and your opponent. Typically, you want to inspire Alathyrr or Cephanyr first – however there are cases when you need Renglath first (mainly if you draw Overwhelming Force and The Perfect Cut in one hand, as well as have nothing to hold). In Round 1 do try to set up as much Hammertides as possible whilst also claiming treasure tokens. If an objective like Slow Advance or Step by Step forces you to overcommit, don’t – unless you have an escape plan like Settle In or Hidden Paths. I typically wouldn’t use Soul Harvest in R1 as 1 power card doesn’t make or break games in Round 1 usually.
TLDR – get on treasure tokens, inspire Alathyrr/Squid, Hammertide.

In Round 2, you have to get a bit more aggressive assuming you already scored some stuff. By now, an aggro warband is most likely in your territory already so you should have started outmaneuvering them with your superior speed. Inspire the guys who are closest to the combat to not waste their inspired stats – sure, ‘Alathyrr is the best inspired’, but she is at the back of your territory – chances are she won’t get much done. What I like to do in Round 2 against aggro warbands is to try and ‘switch territories’ – you enter their territory as they enter yours. Against hold warbands, if you already hold 2 objectives (to make Iron Claim/Supremacy/Set Explosives easier), you can start invading as well as applying pressure with Hammertides. Invasion will make their holding life much harder!
TLDR: vs aggro, try to invade their territory and hold there (if you need to hold – otherwise fight back/run away), vs hold start invading.

In Round 3, there typically isn’t much fighters left on the board. If you are up against aggro and they still haven’t scored their big glory bombs like Unrelenting Massacre or (in some world) Annihilation, I suggest you just spend Round 3 tactically retreating and denying charges. Sure, you can get 3 more bounty by killing the Gorehulk – but if you miss, they will score 5 glory, and if you run – they don’t. Round 3 against hold warbands will typically be the ‘cleanup’ round, where you just keep attacking and driving them off tokens for the entire round – by this point in the game, you should have already scored your holding stuff, but if not, make sure to keep 2 fighters on tokens. This round is also where I used Soul Harvest most often as it is highly unlikely an opponent will let you draw 3 power cards – so you can uninspire someone!
TLDR: vs aggro – run, vs hold – fight and ‘cleanup’.

Overall, this deck is more of a flex deck than a hold deck. Against aggro warbands, you play passively and try to score your hold stuff before they arrive – and if they do, you can put up a fight with your decent stats! Against hold warbands, you want 2 fighters (ideally Cyreni and Renglaith/Cephanyr depending on the situation) holding tokens in the back of your territory while the other 2 fighters go and disrupt your opponent’s holding. And of course, don’t forget Hammertides!

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed reading this deck guide. If you have any feedback, please let me know on the Staggerers Discord Server where I am often online and will be able to respond soon. Once again, I hope this article helped you, and I hope to see you agains soon! 🙂