"Dead or alive, true leaders can inspire an entire army."
Legacy Spirits
I. Why Spirits?
II. History
III. Building Spirits
IV. Sideboard Options
V. Matchups
VI. Tournament Results
VII. Additional Info/Resources
I. Why Spirits?
Tribal decks have a very long history in Magic. From tabletop to competitive scenes, WotC loves printing tribal support and people love playing it. These decks have found varying success in legacy with tribes floating around various tiers depending on how the meta shakes up. The Source has primers/threads for Elves, Goblins, Merfolk, Slivers, and plenty more. The most important part of why spirits? is to not just play a worse version of an existing tribal deck, but explore the new space and support that WotC is currently developing for Spirit tribal. To me the best part of spirit tribal is the built-in evasion and its disruptive abilities. Slivers and Merfolk always have to be on guard for getting blown out in combat by a removal spell on their lord followed by blocks, whereas Spirits can swing in with impunity due to the general lack of flyers in the format. Spirits also has some of the best maindeck disruptive cards of all tribes in Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller. Wanderer + lords making flying spell pierces or better is nothing to scoff at, and Queller is a solid card all around. As WotC continues to print cards to support Spirits, IMO it's only a matter of when not if the tribe finds a home in the legacy meta.
II. History of Legacy Spirits
From what I can discover most talk of legacy spirits began in 2012 with the printing of Drogskol Captain, a clear lynchpin and jumping off point for the archetype. Crystalline Sliver is basically the entire reason Slivers as a deck exists, and Captain being a flying/lord/pseudo version makes it appealing as a build around target.
In 2012, support for spirit tribal was lacking, with most builds trying to make something happen with Tallowisp and an enchantment sub-theme. You can find the threads here started by from Cairo, Jacemindbreak, and Cire.
The deck suffered from consistency issues though as support for the tribe was basically non-existent forcing people to jam in sub-optimal cards to fill in voids. While cards like Spectral Lynx rank high on nostalgia factor, the power level is not there to put up a good showing in Legacy.
2014 saw one of the first tempting additions to the deck in Spirit of the Labyrinth. Legacy obviously being a cantrip-heavy format allows Spirit to shine and instant-speed shenanigans with vial can cause a few blowouts for unsuspecting opponents. Future brewers would also include things like Geier Reach Sanitarium to lock opponents out in conjunction with spirit when Eldritch Moon was released in 2016.
2016 was the most promising break-out year for the tribe. Spell Queller and Mausoleum Wanderer in particular provided the necessary tools to start crafting the type of aggro/disruptive shell that spirits needed to differentiate itself from the other more aggro-centric tribes. Rattlechains and Selfless Spirit provided the necessary filler for on-tribe cards that did something semi-relevant, even if they weren't always that impressive. With those printings some of the first shells that started to resemble something competitive were attempted:
4 Aether Vial
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
3 Rattlechains
3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol Captain
2 Mother of Runes
3 Selfless Spirit
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Plains
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Tundra
3 Mutavault
1 Karakas
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Marsh Flats
Sideboard:
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Crackdown
2 Flusterstorm
2 Disenchant
A similar list also showed up briefly in Melbourne piloted by a friend of ChemicalBurns, and a StoneBlade variant also was featured on mtgGoldFish here. These decks relied far too heavily reliant on Drogskol Captain (with Phantasmal Image as backup doing its best impression). Very much a "drawing well required to win" type of deck. More real lords were required to allow the fliers to close out games quickly -- which brings us to...
With these latest printings Spirits is on the cusp of being a fringe competitor. Supreme Phantom is obviously the more important of the two, but Remorseful Cleric is also good enough to perhaps warrant a mainboard spot which allows for more flexibility in deck building (e.g. running Brainstorm in favor of Spirit of the Labyrinth). With that said, let's dive into deckbuilding options:
III. Building Spirits
Spirits is core blue and white for obvious reasons, with a black splash possible for the power of something like Lingering Souls. Kamigawa block gave us spirits in every color, but in general they're too weak to explore competitively.
Sample Decklist
Lands: (21)
4 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Island
1 Plains
2 Tundra
2 Karakas
4 Wasteland
Creatures: (23)
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Spell Queller
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Supreme Phantom
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Selfless Spirit
Non-Creature Spells: (16)
4 Aether Vial
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Sideboard: (15)
2 Containment Priest
3 Disenchant
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Pithing Needle
2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Rest in Peace
Manabase
We generally want to have 16-18 lands that produce or fetch color including Cavern. From there we can consider utility lands like Wasteland, Mutavault and Moorland Haunt. Typically, the deck runs 19-21 lands, altogether. If we're playing Spirit of the Labyrinth we'll want more lands. We can cut some lands if we're playing Brainstorm.
Cavern of Souls: key for any tribal deck, and obviously great here too -- works especially well with stuff like Spell Queller giving us uncounterable disruption. Sometimes more basics can be run in lieu of Cavern. Play 0-4.
Moorland Haunt: one of the cards that turns your opponent into a reader if they weren't around for Innistrad-era standard -- great way to grind games out and since it doesn't target it circumvents problem cards like Deathrite Shaman. Generally a 0-1 of.
Mutavault: Manlands are still great, but it doesn't fly so can be awkward. We want 0-4 of these.
Wasteland: We're a vial deck, so the inclusion of wasteland is always tempting. However, we're also slower and more disruptive than other vial decks, so I question if making our mana worse by running it is ideal. Especially since we often want to always hold up mana for Spell Queller.
Karakas: On-color and always a great card to have maindeck to shore-up Reanimator, Show & Tell, Marit Lage, etc matchups.
Basic lands: As a solid UW deck we can afford to play a few basics. Usually 2-3 islands and 1 plains.
Automatic 4-Ofs:
Aether Vial: Vial loves tribal, there's not much more to say
Drogskol Captain: Our best lord. Hexproof + pump + he's a decent air beater on his own
Supreme Phantom: Our new lord. Not as beefy, but the 2cmc pump he provides is a turning point for this deck's viability
Mausoleum Wanderer: Our best opener. Wanderer into Phantom is 3dmg flying turn 2. Wanderer is so much better than something like Cursecatcher vs combo. Pumping it statically with a lord gives combo headaches. Our instant-speed options to pump it further gives combo migraines.
Spell Queller: Our best disruptive card. Pairs well with Drogskol Captain's hexproof. Makes combo players' duresses look silly.
Force of Will: We're blue and can play it, I don't see a reason not to.
Brainstorm vs Spirit of the Labyrinth
You'll likely want 4 of either depending on how you want to construct your deck. Brainstorm helps our consistency, Spirit hurts our opponents'. Your own playstyle will probably dictate which you choose. SotL not having flying currently makes me want to avoid it for the time being, but perhaps it's still a good choice now that we have more lords.
Other Possible Maindeck Cards
Stoneforge Mystic: Not a spirit, but plays well with vial and our tribe REALLY like equipment. At this moment I think the deck needs it. If better spirits are printed I'd be inclined to move away from SFM. Play 0-4.
Rattlechains: Unsure of this guy after extensive testing. At best this guy is blowout city. Protecting a spirit, flashing others in, being a 2/1 flier -- all modes are relevant. At worst it's a 2/1 ambush viper that's on-tribe. There might be better stuff to play here. Play 0-4.
Phantasmal Image: Play 0-2. Not a spirit, but Imaging a Drogskol Captain is still one of the best plays the deck can make. Imaging opponent's creatures obviously also remains a strong option.
Remorseful Cleric: Play 0-2. It's such a relevant effect on a relevant body I always want to try to find a spot for it. Depending on meta this guy could be amazing.
Selfless Spirit: Play 0-1. Not as much of a fan due to recent printings, but can be important to keep curve intact and protect our lords.
Daze: Play 0-4. We don't rely on tempo as much and have a lot of other disruption, but Daze plays well with our Mausoleum Wanderers and Wastelands.
Swords to Plowshares: Play 0-4. Best removal spell in the format. But I think because we can fly over most things it's not necessary to play the full 4 maindeck.
Mother of Runes: Play 0-2. It works well as another 1 drop for the deck that "combos" with a sole Drogskol Captain.
Umezawa's Jitte: Play 1-2. We have lots of fliers and Jitte is still a broken card. Obvious inclusion if on SFM.
Sword of Fire and Ice: Play 0-1. Best sword and we can get a lot of connections with it. Include it if playing SFM.
Batterskull: Play 0-1: I'd play it in a burn meta if on SFM plan, but otherwise it runs counter to our flyer plan.
Lingering Souls: Play 0-2. One of the best grind cards in the format but I'm uncertain if it belongs in the deck. It makes our mana weaker, doesn't synergize with Cavern or Rattlechains, and skews the CMC higher.
Geist of Saint Traft: Play 0? GoST used to be strong and probably was maindeckable it in the previous miracles meta, but nowadays he's just too slow and clunky to be a good mainboard option especially since he gets blanked on the ground so easily. If you're dead set on playing Geist I'd recommend it in the sideboard.
IV. Sideboard Options:
We're a UW deck so we have access to some of the best SB cards in the format. As long as you're covering the standard combo/grind/gy options you should be fine. Some choices:
Containment Priest, Umezawa's Jitte, Warping Wail, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Flusterstorm, Submerge, Rest in Peace, Surgical Extraction, Grafdigger's Cage, Geist of Saint Traft, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Disenchant, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Meddling Mage, Ethersworn Canonist, Path to Exile, Vendilion Clique, Pithing Needle.
How to Sideboard
COMING SOON
V. Matchups
COMING SOON
VI. Tournament History & Proven Lists
Two 5-0 MTGO lists can be found here
VII. References & Additional Reading
Friend 4-0ed Our Weekly with UW Spirits...
Instant Dech Tech: Spirit-Blade
Credits
Thanks to Volt from whom I borrowed the general outline of this primer.
Last edited by Kaono; 08-05-2018 at 01:03 AM.
Spirits runs into the two-pronged problem of running sub-par creatures that need equipment but not running SFM, and not quite being fit for Aether Vial. With the current card pool, I'm not sure how this tribe performs better than UWx Blade or Merfolk...resort to the lords approach and you're turning into bad Slivers? The only unique aspect seems to revolve around investigate with a card like Bygone Bishop, which is opposed to the Vial plan.
The soulshift stuff in overcosted, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is more expensive than Crystalline Sliver/Hibernation Sliver, Pack Guardian is just shy of borderline playable, Ruin Ghost has potential, and the top end seems to be 4 mana 4/4 which isn't good enough for legacy. Doesn't look to be any special tutoring. Rattlechains is cool (again opposed to Vial plan), but nothing looks that impactful; I mean I guess you could repeatedly flash in Kami of the Crescent Moon and self-bounce with Karakas? Tradewind Rider looks like the strongest interation possible.
As mentioned in the "why spirits?" section, the #1 goal behind building a new deck that is trying to be competitive is to not be a "worse" version of an existing deck.Originally Posted by Fox
Spirits has a chance to differentiate itself from Slivers/Merfolk because its "filler" creatures are good enough on their own without the lords. When you swing all in with Spirits a removal spell on a lord + blocks doesn't wipe your board like it can in fish/slivers. Even without lords, beating down in the air is a very viable option. The creatures do not need equipment to present a respectable clock. Spirits like Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller are very good disruptive elements and alongside traditional countermagic give the deck a favorable MU vs combo.
UWx blade is a very different deck and not something to reasonably compare a tribal deck to.
I disagree that the deck is at odds with Vial. Most of the deck is 2-3 CMC, and vial complements, not contradicts, the Rattlechain option. Vialing in a Rattlechain and casting a lord or similar EOT is huge, as is representing the threat to do so.
The other cards you listed I agree have no place in competitive legacy. Doing too many cute things leads to awkward draws that die quickly to legacy's hyper efficiency. Kira is the closest card worth consideration but at 3cmc is quite expensive. Good potential sideboard card, though, and I should have included it.
Last edited by Kaono; 06-26-2018 at 05:33 PM.
I think it's more the issue that half of the lords come in at 3cmc, so as a Vial deck you're objectively worse than either Merfolk or Slivers. I get that they have flying and special abilities, but those abilities are more narrow than Slivers [in the case of flying, already covered by Slivers] - which might be fine if they were also tutorable. Not as broadly powerful as Slivers makes sense though since there's this whole flash-ish thing naturally happening - this is where I begin questioning the Vial.
When I look at the deck and I see Vial, it seems like Rattlechains really isn't offering anything comparable to Snapcaster [and the StP that goes with it....and then SFM for the Jitte...and then we're on UWx Blade that wanted to be edgy and run Spell Queller]. You look at Vial and toolbox and suddenly you're supposed to be on DnT tutoring up the spirit of progenitus. I don't know if there's a deck here, but it feels like this is supposed to find its niche by being the non-Vial tribal flash [sort of] deck, that has a specific reason to forego Snapcaster. I don't think the current cards are strong enough to be a non-Vial deck, but I can at least say that Brainstorm and 6 fetch + Daze with potentially 10 non-Dazeable lands seems rather incorrect. Maybe there is progress to be made by increasing shuffle effects and minimizing Vial slots by using Enlightened Tutor? Maybe this is supposed to be legacy's Moat deck??
Feel free to share any list idea you're thinking of. The deck has a few different directions it can go in. I don't think it's the best deck in the format or objectively better than other tribes. It's just different. This is simply a place I created to discuss the archetype. I think WotC will continue to support it with new printings and am interested in what the future will bring. Cheers.
Remorseful cleric combos with oath of ghouls.
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