[Deck] Ghostbusters

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http://magiccards.info/scans/en/5dn/86.jpghttp://magiccards.info/scans/en/eve/6.jpg
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/fvr/1.jpghttp://magiccards.info/scans/en/lw/64.jpg

This is a port from my quasi-successful deck in legacy, Ghostbusters.

I use the best enter-the-battlefield effect creatures available in the format's card pool to gain significant board presence and card advantage while minimizing the opponent's. Through the legacy testing I have done, this deck is resilient to control and removal (eternal witness multi-recursion, ghostway, Sword of L+S creature recursion, Aether Vial), aggro strategies (wall of blossoms, STP recursion). My sideboard in this list can give me a very clear fighting chance against just about any combo deck. It never runs out of cards, and it can lay on a very quick beating.

GWU List:


Creatures 28
4 Wall of Omens
3 Eternal Witness
2 Rhox War Monk
2 Flickerwisp
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage

Spells 12

4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
4 Familiar's Ruse

Lands 20
2 Temple Grove
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Breeding Pool
2 Plains
1 Forest
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Mutavault
1 Mystic Gate


Sideboard:
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Meddling Mage
4 Dispel
4 Engineered Explosives
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Mangara of Corondor

Card Explanations

Wall of Omens
Push aggro's clock far back until the point where they can't keep up. Absolute superstars in any matchup with creature threats. Also helps cycle through deck so 20 lands is never a problem, especially with hierarch.

Eternal Witness
Best green creature printed. Is the best creature in this deck, and will turn any game around. Counters and removal become very efficient in the face of E-wit, especially when you start getting a blink engine online. Honestly, this is why this deck works. You turn one PtE into 3, or take back your Qasali Pridemage.

Flickerwisp
I would include it as a 4-of if the CMC curve wasn't so fragile with vial, but 3-of works just fine. Besides blink shenanigans, can exile problem permanents of opponents in clutch situations when a swing is needed. Vs affinity I have brought 9 power creatures down to 1 or 0 by resetting counters. Also hilarious to make vials worthless again. This is a card I really never hate seeing, because worst case scenario you use its CITP on something irrelevant, and get a great flier to carry equips. It also creates a good deal of CA with vial in response to removal.

Spellstutter Sprite
Can be vialed in as the format's only viable (no pun intended) free counter. It will almost always be able to counter the best cards in Modern, and with Ruse and Witness it's great for shenanigans.

Noble Hierarch
Doesn't need much ex/planation. One drop G/W/U mana producer that pumps your attacker. This slot is flexible between hierarch or Mother of Runes, but I find Noble Hierarch much more useful. Exalted is also beautiful in this deck.

Vendilion Clique
IMO the best blue creature in the format. It take care of just about anything, and is especially nice for disrupting combo. +2 faeries for spellstutter.

Qasali Pridemage
Bound to be one of the most useful creatures playable in modern. If you are on this site, you know this. So what does it do in our case? Well, artifacts an enchantments can give this deck some problems it can't otherwise death with, Vedalken Shackles, for example, gives mangara real problems. This is a perfect solution on a great exalted body, recurrable by witness. Exalted is also great in this deck, often just a singleton equipped flier attacking.

Familiar's Ruse
a 2 CMC hard counter, which is great in modern, with a penalty we turn into a bonus. Can have a game ending lock when combined with eternal witness.

Mangara of Corondor
This is the deck that Mangara belongs in. I rarely have to use mangara without tricks, and even when I do, I RFG a permanent that changes the game. Vindicate is a good card, but this is much much better when used in this deck. Matchups otherwise unfavorable and unwinnable can be turned around with this. What I like to do is to wait until the cast a spell so I can activate mangara and cast Ruse to return her to hand, or wait until EOT to activate it, and then if they cast a spell in response I can ruse that and return to hand still. Is a superstar against 12 post, taking out keystone Cloudposts that slow them down by a few turns.

Path to Exile
The most efficient removal in modern. It's like the death star laser when you keep recurring with E Wit. The tempo it brings them is largely irrelevant.

Rhox War Monk
Shuts down aggro in every way. One of the most efficiently costed creatures that can block everything zoo has except a big goyf

Aether Vial
Truly makes this deck shine. While great in any creature heavy deck, aether vial brings that and so much more to ghostbusters. Has innumerable uses, to name a few, uncounterable, flash speed, instant enough for mangara tricks or saving a permanent.

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My sideboard is still sort of being hashed out, but it is build to combat aggro and combo which will inevitably dominate. It can currently handle really everything, especially combo, with teeg as meddling mage 5.
I am testing with 3 Spinal Extraction right now, and it's serving me well vs problem decks
I'd love any feedback or ideas!

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Reserved for G/W list if needed

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Shameless bump, please discuss with me :( I think this is a cool and effective idea in modern that I homebrewed

I am considering running Birthing Pod, what do you guys think of this? It seems like the perfect shell for such a card, considering the CMC stratification, witness recursion and CITP abuse

Other considerations are Blade Splicer, though the 3 CMC slotsd are very competitive, Inquisitor Exarch also seems possible

-1 SoFF, +1 Qasali Pridemage to balance out mana curve

[TossUsToLions]

I like the idea, but it seems to be a bit light on the bombs. The biggest creatures have 3 toughness, and there are only a few of them with evasion. Since you are playing Vial, why not add in some Serra Avengers? Tarmogoyfs? KotR? I understand that you want to use the "Ghost" effects to the fullest, but I don't think that all of your creatures need come into play effects. Otherwise, cool deck and I hope to test it a bit.

[Mr. Froggy]

I like the deck, I've always wanted to use Ghostway, but I agree with TossUsToLions that you might need more bombs. I think you're guys are a bit on the small side.

[Jabari]

After playing the legacy version I can say porting it will be tougher. The reason being Punishing Fire plain and simple. Grove-Fire won't be in every deck, but this deck basically scoops to it. E-Wit and Wisp are just constantly killed preventing the greatest value from being achieved. If the port were to be successful I would say MD Jotun Grunts, no Stonecloakers, and play Kotr. I've been testing the list through cockatrice and it hasn't been doing too good, lack of Karakas really hurts Mangara combo, and is making me even consider Momentary Blink. Suffice it to say the deck needs a lot of work.

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MD jotun grunt is bad... especially with eternal witness. But I agree with punishing fire and have removed stonecloakers, swords (which suck without stoneforge) a ghostway and Beast Within. Added 3 avengers3 birthing pods, only time will reveal how useful it is. I would like a viable 4CMC to use with Pod so I can make use of the heavy 3CMC creatures. Any suggestions for this?

I am deciding against tarmogoyf for because I feel like I don't make that much use of its card value due to e-wit tricks and mass exile effects. Plus it's almost 400 dollar for a playset for a placeholding card. KotR is good, but needs fetches to be effective, and GW fetches aren't legal, and single color fetches are suboptimal (deck thinning is irrelevant) in addition to the fact that it's 3CMC which I need to balance.

EDIT: Birthing pod is sorcery speed... probably not going to cut it. Will playtest

[Maveric78f]

Why don't you play Momentary Blink? It's less massive than Ghostway, but it's definitely easier to play. It requires a U splash but I think you can afford it.

Once you play U, you must play some ponder, Vendilion Clique and Coiling Oracle.

Also, I think you should try to cut all those cards:
3 Serra Avenger (A 3/3 isn't going to be impressive if you don't equip it, and with ghostway, you definitely do not want to play equipements)
2 Kor Skyfisher (seriously too weak)
2 Qasali Pridemage (definitely not in the theme, Harmonic Sliver or Wickerbough Elder are much better)

I'm not fond of Birthing Pod neither, maybe as a 1 or 2 of but not more.

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I could retool this into a a blue deck with Familiar's Ruse and Clique, Spellstutter and perhaps Glen Elendra Archmage, but it would take alot of sacrifices, since GW has the best stuff for the deck.

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I think the Blue list is the direction I will be taking this deck... but not ghostway, the deck's namesake :(

I had great success against 12post, by the time they did anything I could familiar's ruse lock with witness, and PtE any threats like engine or even eldrazi. Against zoo I can stabilize very quickly and lay down exalted threats like finks and kotr, and sprite almost always counters anythign they do. I am liking it a lot. I had a problem with sligh because they could take out hierarchs quite efficiently and bypass my big blockers with burn spells. May have leyline of sanctity in sideboard if that and storm combos are common.

But I absolutely reccommend trying the blue version, I think it's going to be viable in modern

[Maveric78f]

What's your answer to Emrakul, the Aeons Torn ? With only Mangara*2 in your deck, it looks light.

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What's your answer to Emrakul, the Aeons Torn ? With only Mangara*2 in your deck, it looks light.

Beating them before he resolves :P

Destroying their ramp-up isn't hard at all, especially since it's all counterable, usually with sprite (expedition map for example) or PtE/ruse on a primeval titan. I usually won't even have to save mangara for emrakul, but if I think I do I can just use her with blink/bounce effects to take out posts.

[Maveric78f]

Let's say Primeval Titan has been played off Cloudpost*2+Forest*2, then the CitB trigger will bring 2 more posts and PtE another forest. The next turn the Emrakul player has 4*4+3*1 = 19 manas. And winning before Emarkul resolves is not an easy thing.

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I haven't yet playtested vs many emrakul ramp decks...

Anyways, I added 2 mutavaults to the manabase, because manlands are useful in a format with no wasteland, and especially because I can have +1 faerie count with it.

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Updated manabase, filter lands help with consistency a lot... I rarely have mana problems even with 3c and a lot of double symbols.

So far it looks like the MU is somewhat favorable vs zoo... good news, I hope to get more testing in today

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To page 1!

I wiped the floor with two different elves combo decks, Spellstutter sprite handles just about any of their cards, and I can snipe any combo enablers with PtE. A very easy matchup, so far. This deck is looking more and more promising.

[Mr. Safety]

I opted for Makeshift Mannequin with Eternal Witness, going the bug route...it has worked well for me due to the evoke mechanic. I'm also testing out Cream of the Crop for some library manipulation...we shall see what comes of it.

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Makeshift mannequin is certainly a good card, but I am trying to keep the mana curve very tight for consistency, and currently it is. Tell me how it goes, I always liked MM

As for Cream of the Crop, it looks like cool things could be done, but is it worth the virtual card disadvantage and dilution of creaturebase for enchantment?

also, how do you fare as BUG without all the white cards?

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bump

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I am beginning to run spinal extraction in SB to deal with p-fire (which frankly dominates this deck). Seems janky but it works

This new innistrad card interests me

Snapcaster Mage IU

Creature - Human Wizard
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.

It's basically a more limited witness with flash. looks cool, but I don't think it's necessary, because the curve is pretty balanced currently

[Mr. Safety]

Makeshift mannequin is certainly a good card, but I am trying to keep the mana curve very tight for consistency, and currently it is. Tell me how it goes, I always liked MM

As for Cream of the Crop, it looks like cool things could be done, but is it worth the virtual card disadvantage and dilution of creaturebase for enchantment?

also, how do you fare as BUG without all the white cards?

Doing fair for right now...but my deck has become a much more hard-control type of deck (if there really is one for modern, lol.) I was splashing 1x Makeshift Mannequin to abuse with Gifts Ungiven (Witness, Mannequin, Bomb #1, Bomb #2) I found that it doesn't do enough, and I also found out that Profane Command was much more powerful in the late game when I'd be using it ANYWAYS.

I was trying really hard to do a reanimator package with Gifts/mannequin (Bogardan Hellkite, Iona, Angel of Despair, testing cards like Reya Dawnbringer and Steel Hellkite) but it was just too damn slow...and the Mannequin counter was almost always a liability. I opted for more redundancy in the control department and left out the evokers altogether (Mully, Shrieky)

I started using Raven's Crime/Life from the Loam with Gifts, too...pretty good, even without cycle lands. Oh yeah, I started using Tombstalker again, which was a good move.

EDIT: Phantasmal Image is a freakin' ALL STAR in this setup, too. His cost is aggressive and can double up on anything you need him to. I love putting him in my pile of 4 with Gifts, especially with Kitchen Finks and Eternal Witness.

My BUG list is updated in the BUG Gifts thread.

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I am kinda glad about the banning of GSZ, even though it would be perfect in this deck. The recent bannings help out this deck in other ways, too. Combo was often a problem, especially cloudpost.

I'm going to try out phantasmal image.


i've tested against Dragonstorm (with new bannings) many times and won without a problem all 4 matches. Spellstuter sprite is fantastic vs all acceleration and cantrips, so what combo will remain in the format shouldnt be trouble, especially lotus bloom

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Took out mangara... to often a dead draw. -1 plains -2 mangara +2 Spell Piece +1 mutavault

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Updated sideboard, can handle just about anything in the current meta.

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Anyone have any insights on finks vs war monk? Finks are certainly easier to cast and can be used with recur trick, and chump block well. But war monk beats with exalted nicely and is tougher... I'll test it a bit

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Another bump because this beats every t1 deck


Bumping, particularly with no real content added, is against the site rules. Please, don't do it again. Also, I'd like you to substantiate the claim that "this beats every t1 deck." I am sure some people find that hard to believe, so please explain yourself.
-4eak

[Jabari]

So in light of the Punishing Fire banning I plan on brewing up a ghostbusters list. Of course the original problems still exist from the legacy list of having too heavy of a 3 drop slot but I think in the slower Modern metagame it will be okay. Here is my first try at an adaptation.


3 Flickerwisp
4 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Serra Avenger
1 Mangara of Corondor

20

4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
2 Ghostway
2 Venser the Sojourner
2 Bant Charm
2 Sundial of the Infinite

16

4 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
1 Sejirri Steppe
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Gavony Township
4 Forest
4 Plains
2 Island
2 Arid Mesa

24


So the way I see it between 4 Vial and 4 Noble there shouldn't be any problem hitting the three curve. The biggest problem is not hitting turn 1 vial obviously, if there was a way to proliferate cheaply i'd consider it. It might be worth it to try out some Tezzeret's Gambit they also have some incremental value with Venser. I like Venser because he works for extra Flickerwisp, E-wit, and Finks triggers.

The Sundial might just be too cute I wanna try it out and see if it's any good with wisp and mangara triggers though. I wish I could just play Winter Orb in modern so bad.

I'll be testing this list once I can get the cards. Thoughts? Suggestions?