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Thread: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

  1. #21

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Nice job!

    Your conundrum over rattlechains and the potential alternatives is basically the reason why I'm running the full stoneforge package. It may not be necessary to run all 4 mystics or batterskull, but rattlechains is so weak and all the other alternatives are either situational, have awful anti-synergies with the deck (kira, phantasmal image), or mess up the curve too much.

    I get where you're coming from regarding not wanting too many swords to plowshares in the main, but I've enjoyed making the deck as interactive as possible at the expense of some aggression. Basically, playing the entire stoneforge package allows you to do this more consistently. You can deal with all of your opponent's stuff and can take the game over with 1 suited up creature, even if that creature isn't an evasive spirit. Similarly, wasteland has been great for me. I would love to fit in some caverns and moorland haunt but wasteland has just been so good as the flex land of choice. Then again I'm also not running a black splash, but that's due to not owning seas.

    I do think that miracles is a tough match-up, and I'm not sure what the best approach is in just white/blue. I have considered sideboard jaces/other planeswalkers.

  2. #22

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebelwithapen216 View Post
    Nice job!

    Your conundrum over rattlechains and the potential alternatives is basically the reason why I'm running the full stoneforge package. It may not be necessary to run all 4 mystics or batterskull, but rattlechains is so weak and all the other alternatives are either situational, have awful anti-synergies with the deck (kira, phantasmal image), or mess up the curve too much.
    I've never been as down on Image as other people -- especially if Rattlechains is getting cut, the only anti-synergy left is Cavern (edit: and equipment, duh). Image does so much for the deck I think it'll be the first card I try out again.

    I get where you're coming from regarding not wanting too many swords to plowshares in the main, but I've enjoyed making the deck as interactive as possible at the expense of some aggression. Basically, playing the entire stoneforge package allows you to do this more consistently. You can deal with all of your opponent's stuff and can take the game over with 1 suited up creature, even if that creature isn't an evasive spirit.
    I agree with the SFM sentiment, which IMO allows us to trim on STP. We only need a few and can try to find them with Brainstorm so I'd rather focus on our primary gameplan (beating down in the air) for g1 and sb more STP in later if we need to.

    Similarly, wasteland has been great for me. I would love to fit in some caverns and moorland haunt but wasteland has just been so good as the flex land of choice. Then again I'm also not running a black splash, but that's due to not owning seas.
    What particularly about Wasteland is enticing for you? We don't deny mana any other way so aside from sniping a Dark Depths or Tabernacle I don't see the purpose of it. Cavern has been okay. Haunt is kind of a pet card so it's hard to evaluate how good it really is. I'd ideally like a red splash for REB but am not sure what to replace Souls with since adding REB and losing Souls seems to be a wash. I'd like to sit down and really pore over what the different splash options give us to see if there's something I'm missing.

    I do think that miracles is a tough match-up, and I'm not sure what the best approach is in just white/blue. I have considered sideboard jaces/other planeswalkers.
    There's no way we can outgrind them so I think we have to disrupt them and then tempo them out. Which makes me want to consider the Spirit of the Labyrinth build so they can't cantrip us to death with their infinite sweepers.
    Last edited by Kaono; 08-01-2018 at 01:42 PM.

  3. #23

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaono View Post
    I've never been as down on Image as other people -- especially if Rattlechains is getting cut, the only anti-synergy left is Cavern (edit: and equipment, duh). Image does so much for the deck I think it'll be the first card I try out again. It can even copy TNN.


    I agree with the SFM sentiment, which IMO allows us to trim on STP. We only need a few and can try to find them with Brainstorm so I'd rather focus on our primary gameplan (beating down in the air) for g1 and sb more STP in later if we need to.


    What particularly about Wasteland is enticing for you? We don't deny mana any other way so aside from sniping a Dark Depths or Tabernacle I don't see the purpose of it. Cavern has been okay. Haunt is kind of a pet card so it's hard to evaluate how good it really is. I'd ideally like a red splash for REB but am not sure what to replace Souls with since adding REB and losing Souls seems to be a wash. I'd like to sit down and really pore over what the different splash options give us to see if there's something I'm missing.


    There's no way we can outgrind them so I think we have to disrupt them and then tempo them out. Which makes me want to consider the Spirit of the Labyrinth build so they can't cantrip us to death with their infinite sweepers.

    I think image is fine but situational, and there are spots where it is actually terrible. I haven't been too impressed with it so far, but I'm definitely willing to try it again.

    My logic behind the full SFM package justifying more swords to plowshares is that more SFM means you have more ways to get an equipment on a creature (or a batterskull) and start beating, and once you have 1 very threatening creature beating face it frees you up to manage everything else going on around it (similar to a delver "protect the queen" style approach). My current view of the deck is that it's a stoneforge deck with force and brainstorm, and then a bunch of evasive bodies to put equipment on that are mildly disruptive or hard to deal with. In my experience so far, you don't win many games by just attacking with spirits and avoiding interaction.

    You kind of described a big part of what I like about wasteland (kills troublesome lands), but also it's just a good card. I honestly don't know how to explain it much better than that. It works well with vial, adds another access of interaction, and can steal games against decks with greedy manabases. I don't think it necessarily needs to be bolstered by other forms of land destruction to be good.

    Since I'm limited to white/blue, I can't think of too many ways to adjust the deck that don't just involve adding pieces from death and taxes or adding more counterspells. Sideboard spirit of the labyrinth is interesting, but I've never found sideboarding in creatures against control decks to be that effective.

  4. #24

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebelwithapen216 View Post
    I think image is fine but situational, and there are spots where it is actually terrible. I haven't been too impressed with it so far, but I'm definitely willing to try it again.
    Yes, it's particularly terrible on an empty board, but I think as a two-of those situations can be mitigated. The deck's best boardstate is double drogskol so having more opportunities to do that is worth exploring IMO.

    My logic behind the full SFM package justifying more swords to plowshares is that more SFM means you have more ways to get an equipment on a creature (or a batterskull) and start beating, and once you have 1 very threatening creature beating face it frees you up to manage everything else going on around it (similar to a delver "protect the queen" style approach). My current view of the deck is that it's a stoneforge deck with force and brainstorm, and then a bunch of evasive bodies to put equipment on that are mildly disruptive or hard to deal with. In my experience so far, you don't win many games by just attacking with spirits and avoiding interaction.
    I slightly disagree. I think if we want to play protect the queen we're better off just playing a more traditional stoneblade list with TNN. The games I won yesterday were definitely due to the flying army I constructed that ended the game before the opponent could get set up. I see SFM as a necessary evil / backup plan of how do we stay competitive in the mid/end game after our original push was answered.

    For that reason maybe I'm building the deck wrong and should focus more on pushing that early air advantage with inclusions like Daze/Wasteland and maybe even Port. I might try that angle next week if online testing goes well.

    You kind of described a big part of what I like about wasteland (kills troublesome lands), but also it's just a good card. I honestly don't know how to explain it much better than that. It works well with vial, adds another access of interaction, and can steal games against decks with greedy manabases. I don't think it necessarily needs to be bolstered by other forms of land destruction to be good.
    Oh yeah, Wasteland is definitely good, I just don't think it's good enough in every deck. I didn't necessarily mean other land D, but other taxing elements that stuff like D&T / Lands has to make Wasteland better such as Port, Thalia, etc.

    Since I'm limited to white/blue, I can't think of too many ways to adjust the deck that don't just involve adding pieces from death and taxes or adding more counterspells. Sideboard spirit of the labyrinth is interesting, but I've never found sideboarding in creatures against control decks to be that effective.
    I was actually thinking mainboard Spirit. Sideboard would probably keep black splash then for Chains of Mephistopheles to stick to the theme of denying card draw. Then SoFaI might have to go for something like SoWaP, which might be ok if we're trying to strain opp's mana as mentioned above. Maybe we can go merfolk route and think about playing Chalice too? Idk. There are a lot of options available to us.

  5. #25

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaono View Post
    Yes, it's particularly terrible on an empty board, but I think as a two-of those situations can be mitigated. The deck's best boardstate is double drogskol so having more opportunities to do that is worth exploring IMO.



    I slightly disagree. I think if we want to play protect the queen we're better off just playing a more traditional stoneblade list with TNN. The games I won yesterday were definitely due to the flying army I constructed that ended the game before the opponent could get set up. I see SFM as a necessary evil / backup plan of how do we stay competitive in the mid/end game after our original push was answered.

    For that reason maybe I'm building the deck wrong and should focus more on pushing that early air advantage with inclusions like Daze/Wasteland and maybe even Port. I might try that angle next week if online testing goes well.



    Oh yeah, Wasteland is definitely good, I just don't think it's good enough in every deck. I didn't necessarily mean other land D, but other taxing elements that stuff like D&T / Lands has to make Wasteland better such as Port, Thalia, etc.



    I was actually thinking mainboard Spirit. Sideboard would probably keep black splash then for Chains of Mephistopheles to stick to the theme of denying card draw. Then SoFaI might have to go for something like SoWaP, which might be ok if we're trying to strain opp's mana as mentioned above. Maybe we can go merfolk route and think about playing Chalice too? Idk. There are a lot of options available to us.

    Yeah, I definitely do see the upsides to phantasmal image. I may try something like -2 SFM -1 BSkull, +2 image +1 vendilion clique. I'm skeptical of image, but there really aren't any other 2-drops that I'm too keen on for this version of the deck.

    I definitely see your point about SFM being a necessary evil and a backup plan, but honestly it has won me more games than the individual spirits have so far. I guess we can just chalk this up to different experiences.

    We don't tax, but wasteland is good with mausoleum wanderer. I could be misevaluating the card in the context of our deck, but I've been happy to have it so far.

    I tried a version with chalices and spirit of the labyrinth briefly and I wasn't too impressed. Drawing one card a turn felt very under-powered compared to when I added brainstorm, spirit is very fragile and lacks evasion, and chalice is both slow and very hit-or-miss. I think there is a lot of credibility to this version, but I think my play style preferences prevent me from committing to it.

  6. #26

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Went 3-0 at a weekly with the same list I played last week. 6-3 in games.

    4x Flooded Strand
    3x Island
    2x Misty Rainforest
    2x Plains
    3x Tundra
    4x Wasteland
    2x Windswept Heath

    4x Aether Vial
    1x Batterskull
    1x Sword of Fire and Ice
    1x Umezawa's Jitte

    4x Brainstorm
    4x Force of Will
    4x Swords to Plowshares

    4x Drogskol Captain
    4x Mausoleum Wanderer
    1x Remorseful Cleric
    4x Spell Queller
    4x Stoneforge Mystic
    4x Supreme Phantom

    Sideboard
    2x Contianment Priest
    3x Disenchant
    2x Ethersworn Canonist
    2x Flusterstorm
    1x Path to Exile
    1x Pithing Needle
    2x Rest in Peace
    2x Surgical Extraction

    Round 1 U/B Reanimator (2-1)

    Game 1 I knew beforehand he was either on storm or reanimator, so I mulliganed an opening 7 on the play that was keepable but had no interaction. My 6 had turn 1 mausoleum wanderer and a swords to plowshares, so I kept even though I knew it wasn't great. I didn't draw anything meaningful, and he eventually got an iona naming white into play.

    OUT -4 stoneforge, -1 jitte, -1 SoFaI, -1 BSkull, -2 drogskol captain, -1 swords to plowshares. IN +2 priest, +2 canonist, +2 fluster, +2 RIP, +2 surgical.

    Game 2 and 3 I don't remember all the details too well, but it turns out when you board in 10 cards against a linear combo deck and already have lots of interaction mainboard, you get there. He boarded in show and tells, which priest was great against. Forces and flusters and surgicals were cast, and a RIP resolved at one point. Canonist was ok, and it ensured I would win the counterspell battle if he made the first move, but it wasn't amazing. I think it's better than what I boarded out though.

    Round 2 Eldrazi Aggro (2-1)

    Game 1 He mulliganed, and led on cavern naming eldrazi. Basically, batterskull and multiple swords to plowshares got me there. He landed a reality smasher and a jitte at one point but had to leave it on defense, and I flew over with a wanderer equipped with jitte of my own.

    OUT (on the draw) -4 aether vial, -1 mausoleum wanderer. IN +3 disenchant, +1 pithing needle, +1 path to exile. I reasoned that I want force on the draw more than vial since chalice on the play could be rough, and would shut off turn 1 vial anyway.

    Game 2 He played a turn one 2/2 endless one, and I let him hit in with it a bunch while I wastelanded and held up brainstorm. I eventually forced a reality smasher, and the game got very close once he started drawing more and more lands. I punted the game away when he resolved a reality smasher and triggered a mimic, and I swordsed the mimic after the trigger resolved. That extra 3 life he gained wound up costing me the game, as I had several spell quellers in hand and could have flashed in a second one for lethal had he been at 3 less life. I was really mad about that error, mostly because we had less than 10 minutes left for game 3 and a draw would disappoint me.

    OUT (one the play) -4 force, -1 wanderer. IN same as above

    Game 3 I have a solid hand with mana, a disenchant, brainstorm and swords. He again has a turn one 2/2 endless one which I let live, and then on my turn 2 I draw vial. I use that opportunity to play vial and keep up swords and brainstorm. He attacks, plays a second land and nothing else. On my turn, I double wasteland him and pass. This clearly sets him back a lot, but he eventually finds more lands. He plays and equips a jitte which i disenchant, and vial allows me to swords things while deploying threats, including SFM for batterskull. I win on turn 3 of turns with a bunch of lords after batterskull held down the ground.

    Round 3 Bant Food Chain, rematch from last week (2-1). We split but play it out.

    Game 1 I try to spell queller a manipulate fate, he forces in response, I force back, and then he has second force. Manipulate fate resolves, and he eventually gets infinite mana with food chain and combo kills with ballista.

    OUT -1 remorseful cleric, -1 drogskol captain, -1 swords to plowshares, -1 SFM, -1 BSkull. In +3 disenchant, +2 canonist.

    Game 2 and 3 Lots of counterspells, spell quellering, and disenchants. He had energy fields both games which I answered, and both games were pretty much closed out by sword of fire and ice. Game 3 I did mull to 6 and kept a 1 lander with vial scryed to the top, but he engineered explosives for 1 on my vial which set me back. However, I was able to force a manipulate fate and swords a hierarch which bought me enough time to brainstorm out of it. He said after that he is considering running spell queller in his deck. That card is really great.

    Deck felt great yet again. 20 lands was again not a problem thanks to vial and brainstorm, and stoneforge mystic continued to just be a great closer and stabilizer. Batterskull was great against eldrazi, but it did eventually get brick walled by reality smasher so I'm still not sure if I want to keep it around. Strongly considering trying to fit in 2 phantasmal image, but stoneforge has just been consistently great, especially at instant speed with vial. One concern I have with image is that I think I would just always board it out, but I have been consistently boarding out batterskull so maybe it's worth a shot.

  7. #27

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Congrats on the 3-0! To help shore up Reanimator have you considered adding Karakas back in? I think the UW manabase can definitely handle playing 1-2 copies.

    In my quest to defeat miracles (lots of them here locally) I'm going to try out 2x Winter Orb 1x Gideon AoZ in the SB. I'll also ditch the black splash and play 1x Selfless Spirit, 1x Remorseful Cleric instead of Lingering Souls which further trims the manacurve.

    Winter Orb and Gideon are obviously at odds with each other but I figure just getting 1 out is good enough. Having a must-answer threat that can't be REB'd is important -- my Jace SB plan last week failed miserably for that reason.
    Last edited by Kaono; 08-01-2018 at 01:43 PM.

  8. #28

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Just wanted to throw my list in the mix. Pretty happy about it for now, but haven't been tested thoroughly enough yet though. But hot damn, casting some of these duppy guys through Cavern feels straight up dirty at times

    4x Cavern of Souls
    4x Flooded Strand
    1x Island
    2x Karakas
    1x Marsh Flats
    3x Misty Rainforest
    1x Moorland Haunt
    1x Plains
    3x Tundra

    4x Aether Vial
    1x Umezawa's Jitte

    4x Drogskol Captain
    4x Mausoleum Wanderer
    4x Rattlechains
    2x Remorseful Cleric
    4x Spell Queller
    1x Spirit of the Labyrinth
    4x Supreme Phantom

    4x Brainstorm
    4x Force of Will
    4x Swords to Plowshares

    2x Disenchant
    1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
    2x Flusterstorm
    2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    1x Grafdigger's Cage
    1x Silent Gravestone
    2x Surgical Extraction
    3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    1x Umezawa's Jitte

  9. #29

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Kaono View Post
    Congrats on the 3-0! To help shore up Reanimator have you considered adding Karakas back in? I think the UW manabase can definitely handle playing 1-2 copies.

    In my quest to defeat miracles (lots of them here locally) I'm going to try out 2x Winter Orb 1x Gideon AoZ in the SB. I'll also ditch the black splash and play 1x Selfless Spirit, 1x Remorseful Cleric instead of Lingering Souls which further trims the manacurve.

    Winter Orb and Gideon are obviously at odds with each other but I figure just getting 1 out is good enough. Having a must-answer threat that can't be REB'd is important -- my Jace SB plan last week failed miserably for that reason.
    Thanks! I have considered karakas, but I don't want to play a 21st land. I could cut a 2nd plains for it but overall I think it's not worth the downside of making the manabase slightly more vulnerable. I'm also pretty set on 3 Tundra.

    I may put a gideon in my sideboard for the control matchups too. I'm also going to add a clique to the board probably so that can help a little bit, plus it's not bad against terminus. How has cavern been for you in these match ups, and also in general?

  10. #30

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Rook1e View Post
    Just wanted to throw my list in the mix. Pretty happy about it for now, but haven't been tested thoroughly enough yet though. But hot damn, casting some of these duppy guys through Cavern feels straight up dirty at times

    4x Cavern of Souls
    4x Flooded Strand
    1x Island
    2x Karakas
    1x Marsh Flats
    3x Misty Rainforest
    1x Moorland Haunt
    1x Plains
    3x Tundra

    4x Aether Vial
    1x Umezawa's Jitte

    4x Drogskol Captain
    4x Mausoleum Wanderer
    4x Rattlechains
    2x Remorseful Cleric
    4x Spell Queller
    1x Spirit of the Labyrinth
    4x Supreme Phantom

    4x Brainstorm
    4x Force of Will
    4x Swords to Plowshares

    2x Disenchant
    1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
    2x Flusterstorm
    2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
    1x Grafdigger's Cage
    1x Silent Gravestone
    2x Surgical Extraction
    3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    1x Umezawa's Jitte
    I can see rattlehcains being better if you run cavern of souls. How has that been working for you?

    Why silent gravestone in the sideboard? Seem pretty narrow.

    Your blue mana count is pretty low. I'm sure it's probably serviceable, but I'd personally prefer 1 or 2 more just because of brainstorm.

  11. #31

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Quote Originally Posted by Rebelwithapen216 View Post
    Thanks! I have considered karakas, but I don't want to play a 21st land. I could cut a 2nd plains for it but overall I think it's not worth the downside of making the manabase slightly more vulnerable. I'm also pretty set on 3 Tundra.
    I think you can cut a plains for a karakas, anything above 4 basics is already extremely stable.

    I may put a gideon in my sideboard for the control matchups too. I'm also going to add a clique to the board probably so that can help a little bit, plus it's not bad against terminus. How has cavern been for you in these match ups, and also in general?
    Yeah I have clique in my sb and it does a lot of work. Cavern has been decent -- forced some threats through a counterbalance when I was missing vial. If I replaced it it would just be another basic land/tundra but haven't had any mana issues so far.

  12. #32
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  13. #33

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Nice, those are some interesting lists. I would love to see what their match ups were, because some of the card choices (especially in the sideboard of the bant list) are very odd.

    For my blue/white list with, I think I'm going to try a couple of phyrexian revokers over the 4th stoneforge mystic and the batterskull. I really only like batterskull against delver decks and eldrazi, and even against those I often don't go for the batterskull first. The card is just clunky as hell, so I'm hoping the revokers add some small but needed interaction against other blade decks and combo.

  14. #34

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Been a while since I played the deck (DnT feels like a rough MU and its all around my store), BUT I did take it to a 3-0* finish the other day.

    Here's my list:

    29 creatures:

    4 rattlechains
    4 spell queller
    4 mauseleum wanderer
    4 drogskull captain
    1 selfless spirit
    2 spirit of the labyrinth
    1 kira, great glass spinner
    1 geist of st traft
    1 Remoresul cleric
    3 thalia, GoT
    4 supreme phantom


    8 Non-creatures:

    4 swords to plowshares
    4 Aether vial

    23 lands:

    1 polluted delta
    4 wasteland
    2 karakas
    2 plains
    2 cavern of souls
    2 tundra
    3 island
    4 flooded strand
    2 misty rainforest
    1 windswept heath

    Sideboard:

    1 cataclysm
    1 eidolon of rhetoric
    1 pithing needle
    4 force of will
    1 Flusterstorm
    1 path to exile
    1 council's judgement
    2 Containment priest
    1 Rest in piece
    1 umezawas jitte
    1 surgical extraction

    Card choices:
    So... I know several people here are high on SFM in the deck, but with the new lord I felt like I needed to stick with more of a tempo nature to the deck. The clock with 3+ spirits can be way faster than I've found with my DnT builds that rely on SFM to get the beats on. But I'm open to being wrong about that.
    Anyways, I'll try and describe my gameplay here.

    Round 1: RW Taxes
    Game 1, I usually see my opp play WW taxes but pre-game i saw a flash of red cards in the SB so I was able to guess the build. I can't recall the details of the game besides Kira making life very annoying for him. Flying beats with a couple of lords get there in very short order. A surprising non-game against an opponent I haven't had much luck against previously.

    Game 2, I see an opener with vial and Jitte in there and snap that one off. We trade swords for each of our one-drops but I'm the one who gets the jitte down.. I vial in a supreme phantom at his endstep against a relatively empty board, he lets me untap and tick the vial to three (mistake) so after I equip it up and declare attacks he goes for the swords on it and i'm able to fade it with a drogskol captain and connect to get the counters. Even a PnK can't stop it from there. (1-0)

    After the match opp asks to see my deck, and after fingering through the 60 renames it blowout.dec


    Round 2: Lands

    Oh boy I love this MU! getting to steal their punishing fires and LFTL's with spell queller is so much gas.
    Game 1, opp starts setting up for the long game with LFTL but without an exploration. But I'm able to get light beats in over time and a thalia to slow things down. Draw a timely spell queller to nab a punishing fire targeting a drogskol captain and opponent can't get it back in order to kill out my board. the increased toughness of supreme phantom as well as being lords 5-8 looked GREAT here.

    Game 2, don't really draw any hate but have two quellers in the opener, gas. He has turn one manabond but refuses to dump his hand. I have turn one mausoleum wanderer. T2 without making a 2nd land drop he goes from a crop rotation, which I probably should've countered since tabernacle can be very rough for this deck, but instead he gets a fetch. I'm confused but it seemed he just wanted to get his LFTL engine going. My t2 I don't recall doing anything valuable, beside playing a wasteland. His T3 he goes for the hand dump revealing a dark depths combo at the ready. I hit land 3 and pass the turn. He goes for the endstep dark depths copy in the face of my wasteland. I go to the tank. So he has a LFTL in the yard and an exploration in play. so I decide to let it go since my lifetotal was at 22 from some groves. The idea here is to take the hit, quell the loam, swords the token, and protect myself from a topdecked PF with my second queller while a flashed in rattlechains can help with board development. The spirits get there over 3-4 turns. (2-0)


    Round 3: Infect
    We start with an intentional draw, but play it out anyways.

    Game 1, I have 2 swords to plowshares for the early game, and spell quellers for the next couple threats and 1-2 wastelands for the inkmoths. Bit of a non-game.

    Game 2, I board in the forces because... combo deck right? It didn't look that great in practice and got run over in game two after playing into a couple dazes. I recall that this wasn't that close with double invigorate coming in quick.

    Game 3, I play land go. He plays heirarch. So I have a choice on turn two, either play thalia in the hopes that theres a cantrip dependent hand over there OR flash in rattlechains and hold up a FoW as well. I go with the thalia play.... wrong. He dumps an inkmoth, blighted agent, and glistener elf into play while force rots in hand. He only has one pump spell and I don't have the swords so we just beat each other; And it looks like I can win the race thanks to the lords and a rattlechains. Some poor blocks on his end allows me to get there first. (3-0)

    All in all i liked this build a lot more than the maindeck FoW AND vial deck I had been playing, that card disadvantage is rough, and we have counterspells in creature form. I really like the rattlechains here. Flashing in drogskol captain in response to a removal spell is so much gas, as we've seen playing it in off vial.

    let me know what y'all think, thanks.

  15. #35

  16. #36

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Pretty interesting but messy list. I don't see the logic in moving forces to the side but running spell pierce and divert in the main, and then also running fewer than 4 thalia. Thalia seems like the biggest reason to not play a version with brainstorm, so not playing the full 4 is odd. The sideboard also needs some more consistency, and the deck needs at least 1 more land in the absence of cantrips. I think I'd start with something like this:

    1x Arid Mesa
    4x Cavern of Souls
    4x Flooded Strand
    3x Island
    2x Misty Rainforest
    2x Plains
    3x Tundra
    4x Wasteland

    4x Drogskol Captain
    2x Geist of Saint Traft
    4x Mausoleum Wanderer
    4x Rattlechains
    4x Spell Queller
    3x Spirit of the Labyrinth
    4x Supreme Phantom
    4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

    4x Aether Vial
    4x Swords to Plowshares

    Sideboard
    2x Council's Judgment
    2x Disenchant
    2x Flusterstorm
    4x Force of Will
    3x Surgical Extraction
    2x Umezawa's Jitte

    I've been pretty low on stoneforge mystic lately in a variety of decks, but I think it still might be correct to play some number in this one. Rattlechains is a pretty bad card, so cutting those for a small stonefroge package might add some power and sideboard space.

  17. #37

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal

    Hi all. I went 4-1 last night at my local with UWg spirits. My build's a little weird--and I definitely have some tweaks to make--but bear with me a little.

    Here's the list:

    // 60 Maindeck
    // 5 Artifact
    4 Aether Vial
    1 Umezawa's Jitte

    // 21 Creature
    2 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    4 Spell Queller
    3 Drogskol Captain
    4 Supreme Phantom
    4 Mausoleum Wanderer
    2 Rattlechains
    1 Remorseful Cleric
    1 Geist of Saint Traft

    // 3 Enchantment
    3 Standstill

    // 11 Instant
    4 Brainstorm
    3 Swords to Plowshares
    4 Force of Will

    // 20 Land
    1 Karakas
    4 Flooded Strand
    2 Misty Rainforest
    2 Windswept Heath
    1 Tropical Island
    1 Savannah
    2 Tundra
    2 Island
    1 Plains
    4 Mutavault


    // 15 Sideboard
    // 4 Creature
    SB: 2 Knight of Autumn
    SB: 1 Nebelgast Herald
    SB: 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

    // 1 Enchantment
    SB: 1 Rest in Peace

    // 9 Instant
    SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
    SB: 1 Disenchant
    SB: 2 Spell Pierce
    SB: 1 Counterspell
    SB: 1 Display of Dominance
    SB: 2 Hydroblast

    // 1 Planeswalker
    SB: 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

    The basic idea here was that I wanted to draw as many cards as possible by abusing the synergy between Standstill and Aether Vial. I've been playing standstill merfolk for a while now, and I've really been enjoying the extra oomph standstill gives that deck in grindy MUs, and I found that spirits can abuse that synergy even better than merfolk can. Vial and spell queller allows one to uncounterably counter most spells used to break a standstill; while mutavault, mausoleum wanderer, and various lords allow for a quick kill after standstill is played, forcing the opponent to let you draw three cards--letting you hit gas or answers to their gameplan.

    Mausoleum wanderer, FoW, and spell queller alongside a quick clock make short work of many combo decks, and it's pretty easy to mise someone with the 1x remorseful cleric.

    Edric, Spymaster of Trest is probably what most of you are curious about. Honestly, I'm not completely certain he's necessary, but vialing him in before damage to draw 1-3 cards is really nice. Edric obviously plays really well with fliers, and spirits excel at making an opponent's spot removal very awkward. I expect Edric to die instantly in most circumstances; but if he draws two cards or so, he's worthwhile; and if he doesn't die, he often completely runs away with the game.

    My favorite part about being in bant is the sideboard knight of autumn; she's a great swiss army knife in a wide variety of MUs, and she got sided in in almost every match last night. The 1x Display of Dominance is fun; it does a bunch of things like counter fatal push, and destroy Lilianas, Jaces, and counterbalances. It came in against pox, but I never saw it last night, so as of now it's still untested.

    Things I'm notably not doing:

    No Spirit of the Labyrinth. We can play Brainstorm; we should. That's kind of it. Also, SotL plays really poorly with Standstill and Edric.

    No Stoneforge Mystic. Edric + Standstill stole these slots. Stoneforge mystic leads to a lot of awkward draws, where you pick up a sword for turn, or draw a useless squire when you need something else. When the package works, it's sweet, but when it doesn't it's very awkward. Edric is at least a 2/2 all the time, and on an empty board he's a 2/2 that draws a card every turn.

    No wasteland. My meta is overrun with Lands, but I was looking to test the aforementioned Edric + Standstill package, so I opted for the more aggressive Mutavault instead. Since Mutavault actually taps for mana all the time (while Wasteland probably shouldn't be), I can also stay on 20 lands instead of 21 or 22, which helps up my gas count.

    Things I did but am not super fond of:

    My meta doesn't have enough creature decks in it for 3x Swords to be good. I can probably cut one.

    There's too many three drops in this list. I should probably cut a spell queller for another 2 drop, or maybe a miser daze.

    The sideboard needs a LOT of tweaking; 1x counterspell should be a Unified Will because it's easier on the mana.

    I don't think I have enough blue sources. I may want to cut a mutavault for another blue fetch.

    ------------------

    Quick run-down of my matches:

    R1: Zac on R Prison (8 rabble)

    Zac is our local R Prison legend; he's had a lot of success with the deck, and recently top 8'd a standard GP--congrats to him. He was playing the 8 rabble version, with bridges in the sideboard.

    G1 I cast a vial, and then I got blood mooned. I didn't cast a single spell for the rest of the game, but it was OK because I had two spell quellers that ate Chandras and a decent curve of spirits to vial in and kill him. 1-0 (total games)

    G2 I get buried in lock pieces and die. Not much to say here. 1-1

    G3 I force an obvious bait rabble -> a chalice on 1 that strands some StPs in my hand. -> die. I was pretty well-prepared for blood moon, but flooded out on lands and didn't have the adequate body count to deal with a legion warboss. When he had just that warboss out, I had an Edric--I attacked into him to force the block, since it was the only way I could get the rabble off the table before it started mentoring its 1/1s and generating an insurmountable amount of board power. He had another rabble in hand after he made the block and I died pretty fast afterward. 1-2


    I can't imagine R prison is a very good MU for this build; however, spirits can be pretty easily built to leverage multiple basics + possibly B2B, and that build is likely stronger here.

    0-1 in matches.

    R2: Budget Pox


    This *was* a budget list, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. I made some comments about pox before we begin because someone was talking about it--then it turned out my opponent was on it and I felt like an asshole.

    G1: He makes a t2 LotV after checking to see if the coast is clear with a thoughtseize; thus begins a eight or nine turn long topdeck war where I throw resources at the lili hoping to eventually stick enough dudes in a row to kill it. Eventually I do, topdeck my Geist, and from there he dies pretty quickly without seeing another edict. 2-2

    G2: I wait until t3 to cast my supreme phantom so I can hold up a mutavault activation to itself to save the lord. I don't value mutavault very highly here since I have basic island / plains out, and I know it'll eat a wasteland sooner or later, so I figure I might as well have it get a real card out of my opponent's hand instead of a fake one. I play a drogskol captain after he casts the edict I was playing around (feels good) and later on spell queller a hymn to tourach. A standstill played once I have 3 dudes in play pretty much locks him out. 3-2


    Despite that being a budget list, I can't imagine spirits is too bad there. Vial is pretty good against them, and if I can set up a turn where I play 2-3 dudes at once I'm in pretty good shape. Couple that with FoW being great vs. the dark rit deck and I think it's fine. That said, it's pox, so it doesn't really matter since nobody actually plays it (heh). The guy said he was planning to get the legends enchantments with his holiday bonus, so power to him.

    1-1 in matches.

    R3: UR Delver


    Bolts 'n brainstorms; this was a MU I was curious about.


    G1 he sticks an early delver and beats me down for a while. I have to make a supreme phantom just to chump, trying to keep my life total out of bolt range. I draw a swords to plowshares for turn, swords his delver, play a standstill w/ a mutavault out and wait. My draw for my next turn is Edric, Spymaster of Trest--vialing that in once the mutavault hits the red zone prompts him to crack the standstill out of fear of me drawing a billion cards. I draw a billion cards anyway (I force his removal spell for my edic) and over the course of the next two turns I draw something like eight cards. He gets buried in raw CA and dies. 4-2

    G2: No t1 delver and no t2 play suggests a hand full of countermagic or removal. I wait until t2 to play my vial so it doesn't get dazed (and it resolves) and honestly I don't remember all that much about this game except for the fact that he revealed he was playing Stifles in his list when he stifled the angel creation trigger from my Geist. He cracked a standstill with a peezy, and after a ponder left up a U. On my turn I played land, mausoleum wanderer, phantom, phantom, crack in for 8 w/ geist. He stifled the angel trigger again, chumped my dudes (including a mutavault, as I was flooding pretty hard that game, but standstill bailed me out). He's just got a wanderer, and I'm at 13. He attacks--I sense something weird afoot and don't block. Turns out, that's what he wanted me to do--a PoP he plays afterward represents 12 damage (thanks, double mutavault + all four duals in my deck being out). I vial in a spell queller, he stifles the exile trigger, so I counter it with my 4/4 mausoleum wanderer instead. 5-2

    2-1 in matches. I don't think my opponent drew all that well, and I think the spirits all being "readers" for most legacy folks gave me a bit of an edge here. That said, mausoleum wanderer seems tough for mana-tight decks to play around.

    R4: Burn

    Another matchup I was curious about, since this is so common. I assumed I was favored slighty, since I think UW spirits in modern is slightly favored against Modern burn; but that's all I really had to go on.

    G1 I draw my Jitte, play it, but can't get in for damage since I have to sac my mausoleum wanderer to counter a spell. He has double fireblast and I'm at 6. I die. 5-3

    G2 I play lords and counter his things and he dies pretty quick after making a fifth land drop. 6-3.

    G3 is actually pretty interesting. I keep a pretty suspect hand of 4 lands, 2 mausoleum wanderers and a vial--two of my lands are mutavaults, the other two are fetches. I figure I'm ok as long as he doesn't open with exactly goblin guide. He opens with swiftspear, which is kind of scary. I play some mausoleum wanderers. We reach a point where I have to chump a goblin guide with a mutavault (ouch). He passes to me; I'm at 8 and I draw Knight of Autumn for turn. Playing Standstill vs. burn feels like a really bad plan, but I still had one left in my deck, so I play it out. I just had to hope that he wasn't going to rip straight burn spells while I was going to get some good stuff. I slam the standstill and pass. He attacks with his swiftspear--the one from t1--and I vial in the knight. I have the option to just make the knight big instead of gaining life to guarantee the swiftspear dies; but if he tries to get a prowess trigger I draw 3 cards. I kind of don't want him to do that, since having that swiftspear off the board was important at the time. Most of the things in my deck are 2 power alone, which makes swiftspear + 1 spell a big blowout if I try to block. He doesn't crack the standstill and takes the trade. We draw go for a turn; I vial in an empty spell queller to increase my clock. For next turn I draw Geist, letting me smack him down to 4. He's got 4 cards in hand when he decides to pull the trigger on standstill. I don't draw a force. He bolts me, bolts me, and casts an eidolon and passes. I untap and kill him. Probably just got lucky there, but I also drew something on the order of seven lands, which didn't feel super great. 7-3.

    3-1 in matches. Burn feels like an OK matchup. Searing effects are scary but I can combat them with my sideboard options pretty well.

    R5: Manaless Dredge

    Not gonna be a whole lot to say here.

    G1: I draw my remorseful cleric and he dies.

    G2: I don't draw any hate and I die.

    G3: I keep a hand with a reasonable clock and 1 surgical, with my plan being to upkeep surgical whatever dredger he discards as a time-walk, and hope that's good enough to race. He discards a stinkweed imp, doesn't cycle a street wraith on my end step, which I take as a sign I'm clear to surgical it on his upkeep. It turned out he had another one in hand, and that's just brutal vs. them. I win pretty quick afterward.

    Bottom line is: I feel like bant has legs. I really like Standstill in this kind of deck as opposed to a more traditional draw-go landstill list; the card feels more powerful when you pressure them into making you draw 3 sooner rather than later. That said, I probably haven't been playing legacy long enough to make that judgment. I'm planning to look into Esper spiritstill too, just to see if that can do anything since I have a usea and a scrubland. Jeskai's probably good but I don't have any red duals so RIP.

    I'm probably going to rent the deck with manatraders or buy into it on MTGO to do some more testing.

  18. #38

    Re: [Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal


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