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The Core
This week, we're taking a few notes from pre-MH2 Modern and bringing GW Heliod Company to the Historic party. This deck is built around the combo of Heliod, the Sun Crowned and Scurry Oak. These cards, combined with a Soul Warden effect, gains infinite life, creates infinite of 1/1 squirrel tokens, and an infinitely large Scurry Oak.
The Combo
The interaction relies on Scurry Oak's ability to creates a token whenever a +1/+1 counter is placed on it. Heliod puts counters on creatures whenever you gain life, and Soul Warden gains life whenever a creature enters the battlefield. After putting a counter on Scurry Oak, a Squirrel enters the battlefield and starts the loop over again.
Historic has a ton of redundant "soul sister" effects to ensure access to that third of the combo. Between Warden, Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom, and Ajani's Welcome, nearly 20% of the deck is a redundant combo piece.
The Periphery
Rounding out the numbers are Ajani's Pridemate variants, Trelasarra, Moon Dancer, and Voice of the Blessed, all of which naturally synergize with the life gain the deck has access to and function as a passable fair game plan. Other notable players are the one-card advantage engine of Collected Company and mainboard removal in Skyclave Apparition. Filling out the flex slots are Ranger Captain of Eos and Selfless Savior.
The Strengths
This deck is well-positioned against aggressive decks looking to race. Life gain slows down opponents and runs them out of resources while advancing our primary game-plan. It's also strong against decks focused around damage-based removal, as each Pridemate threatens to grow out of range and present game-ending threats.
The Weaknesses
GW creature decks don't have much in the way of interaction or protection. This deck can struggle against combo decks that don't care about life total, and against control decks that don't care about the creature size. There's also the risk of just not drawing the right half of the deck or whiffing on Company. Nothing hurts more than casting the best card in the deck and whiffing! GW Company also is incidentally stopped cold by Rampaging Ferocidon, which sees play in the mono-red deck of the format and prevents life gain.
The Verdict
Company is a robust deck and deserves its slot at the top of the metagame. The deck is flexible in being able to play a fair game, but its combo dimension still gives it the ability to win out of nowhere in games that are otherwise lost. If you're not sleeving up the sisters, at least be prepared to sit across from them, either on ladder and in any Historic tournament you may find yourself in.
