The difference between the two formats is that in Historic, the tools are there to keep the board clear early, or close to it, so that Sorin can gain you card advantage every turn without being threatened or having your life total be at risk. The overall cost of your spells will be a lot cheaper, too, so the life loss is less of a big deal. That's important for another reason: in Standard, you're usually just casting the biggest thing in your hand every turn all game, but in Historic, with your cheaper and more clinical utility spells, you want to be able to cast more of them per turn.
Sorin does great work as a threat as well. There will be a lot of matchups where your life total isn't at risk, and card advantage is at a premium. When this is the case, the opponent will have to eat the card advantage loss and use a removal spell of some sort on Sorin. They can't just let it sit around and out card-draw you, because the -7 will kill the opponent most of the time, and it doesn't take that long to get there.
There have been pretty few times when I've used the -2 ability, since drawing a card and pumping Sorin's loyalty is so good, but if your life total is at a premium then it's not that bad. 2/3 Flying lifelink matches up pretty poorly with Dragon's Rage Channeler but is nice against a lot of the rest of the aggressive red stuff in the format.
There are a few reasons why I like Sorin more than Chandra Torch of Defiance at the moment, but one of them is that when you +1 a Sorin, you get to keep the card in your hand. Chandra can draw you cards, but Sorin will draw you cards. You don't have to untap with Sorin to get your value, you get it immediately if you cast it on turn four. Also, the card Sorin draws you might not be useful now but could be later. When Chandra reveals a Bloodchief's Thirst and the opponent's board is empty, it's gone, but with Sorin, you keep that in the holster for later. Also, double black is easier to cast than double red, but that's kind of a small issue.
This is the deck that I used to make Mythic this month. In it, I'm playing three copies of Sorin, which is a lot for a planeswalker. Something I've said about planeswalker builds in the past is that it's better to have two different planeswalkers in your hand than a specific one. Sorin is a little bit different, because if you have one in play, you won't get stuck with a legend rule issue, since Sorin will often just find you a different card to cast. But, if you're finding that three is too many, then something like Chandra or Davriel or Vraska can work here too. Alternatively, you can just play the fourth Bonecrusher Giant, which is the best planeswalker.
Sorin fits nicely alongside the already existing engine of the deck, which basically is just casting removal spells. However, I can't say that I'm really 100% happy with the list as it is. Bloodthirsty Adversary, Chevill, and Sorin all work well with removal spells, but the exact number and configuration is a tough nut to crack. Plus, with Thoughtseize and Scavenging Ooze existing in the deck as "cards I will not be playing less than 4 of" space for all the things we want to be doing is tight.
I also wish that I could give a better sideboard guide, but the board was really a work in progress as I was climbing. I'm happy with two new cards that I've added, Cleansing Wildfire and Crush the Weak. Crush has been a fantastic workaround for the Esper Sentinel decks, allowing you to pay for Sentinel and Thalia taxes and wipe the board early, while also exiling small creatures against graveyard engine decks. Cleansing Wildfire isn't exactly the super-duper-knockout-blow card against Niv Mizzet I was hoping for, but it is really good, and if you can draw a Bloodthirsty in the same game, then it actually is a super-duper-knockout-blow. It's got a few applications outside of that matchup specifically, but it's also the kind of card that might get boarded in too often if you're not careful.
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That's about it for me. Be sure to comment if you've got any questions or are looking for some tips, or you can find me on twitter @griffinzoth. I also have a Patreon if you're interested, but it's not that serious, I just kind of set it up because subbing on Twitch sucks. Thanks for reading.
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