The 33 Best Soul Sister Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 11, 2026

Soul Warden & Soul's Attendant | Illustrations by Randy Gallegos & Steve Prescott

Lifegain is an ever popular strategy in Magic. Gaining life has been a part of white’s identity since the game’s inception, as have small, cheap creatures. Cheap creatures that gain life themselves or synergize with lifegain are printed as white cards pretty regularly.

After some decks arose with Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant and lifegain payoffs to go with them, these creatures that reward more creatures with lifegain have become colloquially known as “soul sisters.”

What Are Soul Sisters in MTG?

Dazzling Angel | Illustration by Daneen Wilkerson

Soul Sisters are cards with abilities that gain life when creatures enter, like Soul Warden. Cards with these effects have lovingly been given the nickname “soul sisters,” since many of these cards find themselves in the same deck and have art depicting female clerics. These soul sister decks use duplicates of this effect alongside lifegain payoffs like Ajani's Pridemate that quickly become terrifying, all while your life total continues to climb.

It’s a beloved archetype from a Standard long past, which made the rounds in Modern in the years following its rotation. Numerous cards with similar effects have been printed over the years, since they’re always a good addition to lifegain strategies in Standard and Limited, and Commander lifegain enjoyers always appreciate more playable options. 

#33. Drogskol Cavalry

There’s really no reason this card needs to be 7 mana. Drogskol Cavalry’s lifegain doesn’t really do much, and 4 mana in addition to the cost of the creature is way too much for 1/1 flying tokens.

#32. Aunt May

Aunt May is one of the coolest citizens Magic will ever print and I like the stat of 0/2 instead of 1/1. I like the spider subtype, but white is not its best color. Would the card have been too powerful to give +1/+1 counters to humans?

#31. Social Climber

I’m listing Social Climber as an example of where a soul sister card can fall off in viability. The mediocre body doesn’t make a 3-mana soul sister with no other text playable. Note that this card got an Arena rebalance that made it a 4/2, which helps it ever-so-slightly.

#30. Dazzling Angel

I don’t think Dazzling Angel is a great white creature in most decks, even those looking for lots of soul sister effects. I think this card is probably best suited for an angel typal deck, where you can fully take advantage of its flying body with angel lords in addition to other lifegain enablers and payoffs. 

#29. Verdant Sun’s Avatar

The fantastic art, its evocative name and “dinosaur avatar” creature types, and its steep mana value of 7 would make you think Verdant Sun's Avatar is supposed to be a good card. Unfortunately, it’s just a pretty low impact green creature to spend 7 mana on in the age of Vaultborn Tyrant and Atraxa, Grand Unifier.

#28. Impassioned Orator

Impassioned Orator is a 2-drop soul sister that doesn’t really do anything to set itself apart. Compared to the many 1-mana versions, all you get here for an additional mana investment is a single point of power and toughness.

#27. Lifecreed Duo

There’s nothing wrong with Lifecreed Duo, but there’s nothing to particularly write home about with a 2-mana soul sister. Being evasive is pretty unique for a soul sister, but it only has 1 power, so that’s not a huge deal.

#26. Leyline of Vitality

It’s cool for Leyline of Vitality to exist, but it doesn’t do enough to be worth the wild inconsistency this green enchantment adds to any deck it’d be present in. Remember that you’ll likely see this leyline all too often outside of your opening hand, where it’s a 4-mana version of Ajani's Welcome.

#25. Wolverine Riders

Wolverine Riders is expensive for what you get immediately, for sure. Keep it around for a turn or two in an elf typal deck and it’ll gain tons of life since elf decks are always putting creatures on the field and generating tokens.

#24. Ajani’s Welcome

Ajani's Welcome is less vulnerable to removal than your average Soul's Attendant, but it also won’t trigger your other soul sisters. Keep in mind you’ll still want tons of creatures in your deck to play this effectively.

#23. Hinterland Sanctifier

Hinterland Sanctifier doesn’t do much to set itself apart from other 1-mana soul sister variants, but that’s really all it needs to be. Whether building in Foundations Standard or Commander, this rabbit cleric is worth considering for all sorts of lifegain strategies. 

#22. South Pole Voyager

Avatar: The Last Airbender did a lot to rally allies to a go-wide cause and South Pole Voyager is one of the best ways to do so. A mere second ally in a turn means you draw a card, and if you need a hint on some of the best ways to produce trigger the draw, look no further than Oath of Gideon, Retreat to Emeria, and Appa, Steadfast Guardian.

#21. Virulent Emissary

The addition of deathtouch to the lifegain trigger instantly makes Virulent Emissary a highly relevant card early and late.

#20. Auriok Champion

Auriok Champion is a narrow card, but if you’re running into tons of black removal and red removal, this is a solid white creature with protection from those colors. If you aren’t looking specifically for that soul sister effect, I’d prefer Sanctifier en-Vec.

#19. Bishop of Wings

Bishop of Wings is only really worth playing in angel typal decks. This is a fantastic card in those decks though. You’ll gain tons of life and probably get some incidental tokens too. Being a 1/4 also positions this to block quite well.

#18. Dawn-Blessed Pennant

This artifact is as close to free as you can get and a neat payoff to play a typal deck. Dawn-Blessed Pennant does great with kithkin don’t get me wrong, but the impact is greater in subtypes and colors that are sparse on lifegain and gravedigger effects want this the most like blue and red, and faeries, goblins, and merfolk.

#17. Case of the Uneaten Feast

Case of the Uneaten Feast is a soul sister effect on a case enchantment. That’s strong on its own, since enchantments find themselves less vulnerable to removal than creatures. Not only that, but it comes with a lifegain payoff that lets you stay in the game after your creatures have been removed. That’s a solid deal for a lifegain card, and it makes Case of the Uneaten Feast better than a lot of the 1-mana creature versions of this effect.

#16. Daxos, Blessed by the Sun

Triggering on entering and when dying is enough to make Daxos, Blessed by the Sun a solid version of a soul sister. Being an enchantment creature opens Daxos up to different synergies, too. Plus, that toughness defining ability means that if your devotion to white is high, this’ll be able to block all day long.

#15. Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves

If you’re looking for the perfect Selesnya commander () for your wolf typal deck, Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves is an elf scout I’d love to introduce you to. In a deck like that, it turns your wolf creatures into removal. Otherwise, I’d look elsewhere for lifegain and token generation.

#14. Righteous Valkyrie

Righteous Valkyrie is another card that shines in angel typal decks. It also supports clerics, which makes it synergistic with most of these soul sister cards. This could make the cut in all sorts of lifegain decks, but it shines brightest supporting high toughness angels.

#13. Authority of the Consuls

I’m a big fan of Authority of the Consuls, especially in 60-card Constructed formats. It was reprinted into Standard in Foundations, so this’ll be slowing down aggro decks for years to come. As far as being a soul sister, this is unique in that it only triggers on opposing creatures, so it’s a bit less reliable. It’ll still gain you a good amount of life in most games.

#12. Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice

For a Selesnya lifegain commander, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is a great creature. It blocks well, has a token generating ability, and acts easily as the centerpiece to a creature-based lifegain deck. Unfortunately, the steep cost keeps it from being a relevant Selesnya card for many other decklists. I’d rather play a cheaper soul sister.

#11. Prosperous Innkeeper

There are plenty of 2-mana soul sister effects, so they need to meet a certain standard of power to be playable. Prosperous Innkeeper sets itself apart by refunding some mana in the form of a Treasure token. You can immediately cast a 1-drop and get a lifegain trigger, or you can hold the Treasure and use it as ramp on a later turn.

#10. Suture Priest

Suture Priest is an aggressive twist on a soul sister. I wish that the body weren’t so useless in combat, but it’ll still set your opponents back some life over the course of the game. If you’re in the market for a 2-mana soul sister, Suture Priest is a solid one.

#9. Distinguished Conjurer

Even if the blink effect is expensive, Distinguished Conjurer makes for a reliable 2-drop. The blink ability can be used at instant speed, so you can use it to save a creature from removal. The soul sister effect makes sure that this isn’t sitting uselessly on the battlefield until you need the tap ability, too.

#8. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim

Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim is everything that a 2-mana soul sister needs to be. Both the lifegain and the opponent’s life loss is in your control, and deathtouch helps keep the opponent’s aggression at bay.

#7. Gala Greeters 

It’s not quite a regular soul sister, but Gala Greeters is a great card for a lot of the same reasons as soul sisters. You can only get the lifegain once each turn, but it makes up for that by gaining 3 life when it happens, meaning that this often generates more life than soul sisters in the early turns of the game. Before or after that, you can generate mana, which helps you cast more creatures later. 

#6. Lunarch Veteran

The important part of Lunarch Veteran is being a 1-mana soul sister. Its disturb ability allows you to cast it as Luminous Phantom from the graveyard. It’s a nice option to be able to use after it gets removed or chump-blocks in combat.

#5. Ayara, First of Locthwain

Ayara, First of Locthwain is a soul sister exclusively for black creatures. Fittingly, its version of that effect is more of a life drain. Ayara’s mana cost of 3 is made up for in its role as a card-drawing sacrifice outlet.

#4. Essence Warden

It’s Soul Warden in green. That’s definitely a solid card, and it shares its strengths with the white versions of the same effect. Being green means that it probably fits in less decks than its counterparts, but being an elf comes with its own synergies, too.

#3. Soul Warden + Soul’s Attendant

These two are the original, capital-S Soul Sisters. Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant are functionally identical, and they have the benefit of triggering when any player’s creatures enter the battlefield. That’s actually a pretty big difference, and it adds up to an absurd degree in Commander. 

#2. Haliya, Guided by Light

White plays with artifacts as well as any color and those artifact tokens consistently flood the board. I mean, the best equipment, landers, clues, food, and treasure all count with Haliya, Guided by Light Then you factor in the card draw and you get an amazing soul sister. I get it for balance, but the only thing keeping this from the top spot is the mana cost at 3 which misses out on key turns in white’s mana curve.

#1. Guide of Souls

When Modern Horizons 3 released, one of the strongest Modern decks quickly became Boros () Energy featuring Guide of Souls. Not only do you get the regular soul sister effect, but you receive energy on top of it. That energy eventually allows you to buff up an attacking creature with two +1/+1 counters and a flying keyword counter. This can very quickly turn a creature into an aggressive powerhouse, especially when they use cards like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah which trigger Guide multiple times on their own. You get all of this on top of a regular 1-mana soul sister, so it’s tough to keep up with the aggression and lifegain combined. 

Best Soul Sister Payoffs

There are a bunch of ways to make lifegain pay off in Magic. One of the most common ways for these cards to be used is to pair them with creatures like Ajani's Pridemate. That’s the most classic example you’d expect to see in Draft or Sealed, but in the modern day of Magic there are much stronger versions of the effect. Amalia Benavides Aguirre is a strong Orzhov () version of this idea, and its game-ending combo with Wildgrowth Walker was strong and resilient enough to get it banned in Pioneer.

There’s also Essence Channeler and Voice of the Blessed which are both evasive and resilient to removal in their own ways. Exemplar of Light is an angel twist that also draws a card immediately if you cast it with a soul sister on the battlefield. Archangel of Thune buffs your whole team to the extreme if it survives long enough to see a few Soul Warden triggers. Heliod, Sun-Crowned is difficult to remove and serves as an enabler and payoff for lifegain decks. Treebeard, Gracious Host is a distinctly The Lord of the Rings lifegain commander, but soul sisters are still a great way to enable its abilities consistently.

Here are more cards that want many instances of life gain:

• MJ, Rising Star
• Spider-Man, Peter Parker
• Fiendish Panda
• Cleric Class
• Aettir and Priwen
• Excalibur II
• Aerith Gainsborough
• Minwu, White Mage
• The Destined White Mage

The early action from soul sisters can turn your life total up in a hurry and you capitalize on this with cards that care about your improved life total like: Speaker of the Heavens, Elenda, Saint of Dusk, Leyline of Hope, Angel of Vitality, and Righteous Valkyrie.

There are also tons of life loss effects like Starscape Cleric, Dina, Soul Steeper, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Enduring Tenacity. Those cards combo with Exquisite Blood and Bloodthirsty Conqueror, so there are tons of ways to end the game quickly with lifegain.

There are some solid card advantage engines that can take advantage of the soul sister abilities. Well of Lost Dreams seems a bit expensive when you consider that you’ll have to spend mana to draw cards. It’s still worth it because of the sheer number of cards it lets you draw. Dawn of Hope is cheaper, but it draws fewer cards overall. 

Sphinx of the Revelation plays incredibly well with Guide of Souls, but it’s still a potent lifegain payoff when paired with generic non-energy soul sister effects. 

Felidar Sovereign is a powerful alternate win condition that can steal games in Commander, where all you have to do is stay over 40 life until you have 6 mana.

How Competitive Are Soul Sisters Decks?

The answer to this question depends heavily on format. In Commander, a Soul Sisters deck isn’t going to be “competitive” in the sense that it’ll take down cEDH tournaments. The archetype certainly can be tuned to high-power tables, though – play a high density of lifegain cards and creature tutors, and play your game aiming for a combo finish. Heliod, Sun-Crowned gives Walking Ballista lifelink and then supplies it a new +1/+1 counter every time it pings, so you can immediately end the game by pinging your opponents to death.

There’s also the Sanguine Bond combos, where each piece of the combo can have cards with redundant effects in the deck for consistency. These combo finisher cards can seamlessly work alongside your soul sisters to generate value until you have the pieces you need.

In 60-card Constructed formats, a truly dedicated Soul Sisters deck has never been particularly competitive. That said, there have been some competitive decks in the past that lean heavily on lifegain, including some soul sister effects.

Pioneer’s now-banned Amalia Benavides Aguirre combo deck used Lunarch Veteran and Prosperous Innkeeper alongside the combo pieces of Amalia and Wildgrowth Walker to generate life while they assembled the combo.

There’s also Boros Energy in Modern, which uses Guide of Souls and 2-for-1 creatures like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Ocelot Pride to generate life and energy. Early versions of the deck experimented with Soul Warden, but players quickly realized that lifegain wasn’t why Guide was working so well for them. If you can believe it, it was the energy.

Has Soul Sisters Ever Had a Notable Tournament Finish?

Soul Sisters hasn’t had any notable tournament finishes itself. There are a few relevant lifegain strategies that have been present in tournament Magic’s history, though. The now-banned Amalia Benavides Aguirre Pioneer combo deck used some soul sister effects to keep themselves stable and on the board while they found Amalia and Wildgrowth Walker. They were able to gain big chunks of life with a possibility of instantly winning the game every time they cast Collected Company. This deck placed in the top 8 of Pro Tour: Murders at Karlov Manor, the only Pioneer Pro Tour between Amalia’s printing and subsequent banning.

There’s also the aforementioned Modern Boros Energy deck which uses four copies of exactly one soul sister card, Guide of Souls. I’d hardly go as far as to say it’s a Soul Sister deck, but it does have a sort of lifegain subtheme because of Ocelot Pride. Still, this deck was strong enough to warrant a banning of Amped Raptor, but the deck likely doesn’t mind the ban too much.

What’s the Best Way to Counter Soul Sisters Decks?

The best way to counter a Soul Sisters deck is with anti-lifegain cards like Rampaging Ferocidon and Screaming Nemesis. These cards are specifically tailored to stop lifegain, with Screaming Nemesis feeling particularly brutal.

A Soul Sisters deck by definition has tons of creatures; you’re also able to prey on decks like that by including board wipes in your deck. If you’re specifically in need of a way to deal with a flood of small creatures, try Temporary Lockdown, Anger of the Gods, or Malicious Eclipse.

Decklist: Soul Sisters in Modern

Giver of Runes | Illustration by Seb McKinnon

This is an example of what a Soul Sisters deck might look like in the current day of Modern. No guarantees of tournament viability, but this is how I’d handle going all-in on the strategy today.

Wrap Up

Essence Warden | Illustration by Terese Nielsen

Soul Sisters are a classic type of card. They’ve been a staple of lifegain strategies for a long time, so I hope this list has given you an idea of what they’re capable of in today’s Magic. Wizards of the Coast is printing new soul sisters and new payoffs for them all the time, so these cards will be relevant for years to come, too. They’re also just a plain fun type of card to brew with, if you’re a fan of white weenie strategies and aggressive decks.

What’s your favorite soul sister card? Have you had the pleasure of casting a turn 1 Guide of Souls? If you had to choose a commander to play as many soul sisters as possible, which legendary creature would you sleeve up? Let us know in the comments or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Thank you for reading, and until next time, stay safe!