[Primer/Deck] Spirit Tribal [Archive]

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Kaono

06-26-2018, 02:14 PM

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52b99140e4b02ffea75851ab/t/56c64ef9d210b895cad62d9c/1455836947337/

"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 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?17168-Deck-Elves-Combo), Goblins (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?19931-Deck-Goblins), Merfolk (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?8158-Deck-Merfolk), Slivers (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?30198-Deck-Primer-Countersliver-(MeatHooks)), 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 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23039-Developmental-WU-Spirit-Stompy&highlight=spirit), Jacemindbreak (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23901-Deck-UWB-Spirits&highlight=spirits), and Cire (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?9044-Deck-Spirit-Truck&highlight=spirit).

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.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=378399&type=card

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.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414494&type=cardhttp://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=414364&type=card

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 (https://www.reddit.com/r/MTGLegacy/comments/4ygxgz/friend_40ed_our_weekly_with_uw_spirits/) piloted by a friend of ChemicalBurns, and a StoneBlade variant also was featured on mtgGoldFish here (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/instant-deck-tech-spirit-blade-legacy). 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...

http://mythicspoiler.com/m19/cards/supremephantom.jpghttp://mythicspoiler.com/m19/cards/remorsefulcleric.jpg

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 (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-legacy-constructed-league-2018-08-04)

VII. References & Additional Reading
Friend 4-0ed Our Weekly with UW Spirits... (https://www.reddit.com/r/MTGLegacy/comments/4ygxgz/friend_40ed_our_weekly_with_uw_spirits/)
Instant Dech Tech: Spirit-Blade (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/instant-deck-tech-spirit-blade-legacy)

Credits
Thanks to Volt (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?30198-Deck-Primer-Countersliver-(MeatHooks)) from whom I borrowed the general outline of this primer.

Fox

06-26-2018, 02:56 PM

Kaono

06-26-2018, 03:24 PM

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.

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.

Fox

06-26-2018, 04:42 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??

Kaono

06-26-2018, 04:59 PM

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.

kinda

06-27-2018, 03:31 AM

Remorseful cleric combos with oath of ghouls.

Mr. Headshot

06-28-2018, 02:48 AM

Definitively a nice deck, looks fun to play! :smile:
With all those flyers, is moat not a great sideboard option? Your opponents arent going to put in enchantment-hate game 2.

Rebelwithapen216

06-29-2018, 02:12 PM

Just registered an account to comment on this thread. This deck looks sweet and I'm definitely going to build it once the new cards come out since I own all the expensive cards already.

I definitely see the merit in the 4x spirit of the labyrinth version, but I think this deck needs some kind of consistency tool. If it just relies on playing an aggro/tempo game by drawing 1 card per turn, then it'll get smothered by most decks. I'm leaning towards trying 4 brainstorm, and adding more sources of colored mana. While mutavault is great, I don't think it's really ideal/necessary in a sea of flyers and when you need to have consistent mana for non creature spells. I've drawn up this list that I've just been goldfishing a bit:

4x Aether Vial
4x Brainstorm
3x Cavern of Souls
4x Drogskol Captain
4x Flooded Strand
4x Force of Will
3x Island
1x Karakas
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Phantasmal Image
2x Plains
4x Rattlechains
2x Remorseful Cleric
4x Spell Queller
4x Supreme Phantom
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Tundra
2x Windswept Heath

I think this list could have serious game against the field. The interaction between Mausoleum Wanderer and the lords is fantastic, and I think Spell Queller is one of the most underrated cards in legacy right now. I feel like 20 lands is still a little low, but brainstorm and vial should help to alleviate some of the mana problems that land-light hands may have. I could also see the argument for moving the forces to the sideboard, but for now I'm going to start them main and I think ultimately that's probably safe and correct.

Really excited to try this out once the new M19 cards are released and continuing the discussion going forward.

Kaono

06-29-2018, 04:53 PM

dnosejones

06-30-2018, 02:52 AM

I've been running this list here for a few weeks, and its been going well. At a bare minimum loving the look of exasperation on my opponents faces when i get a hexproof lock on board.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1170775#paper

Rebelwithapen216

07-02-2018, 10:14 PM

This is probably what I'm going to play once the new cards come out. I've flip-flopped on a few of my previous comments/thoughts on the deck, but we're in a new meta now so who the hell knows what will work and what won't. I mostly only play tested against decks with deathrite shaman so that has informed a lot of this current build.

Mainboard
2x Cavern of Souls
4x Flooded Strand
3x Island
1x Karakas
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Plains
3x Tundra
4x Wasteland
2x Windswept Heath

4x Aether Vial
1x Umezawa's Jitte

4x Brainstorm
4x Swords to Plowshares

4x Drogskol Captain
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Rattlechains
2x Remorseful Cleric
4x Spell Queller
4x Supreme Phantom
1x Vendilion Clique

Sideboard
2x Disenchant
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Flusterstorm
4x Force of Will
2x Rest in Peace
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Umezawa's Jitte

I previously thought I'd start the forces in the main, but I felt the card disadvantage really crippled us vs fair blue decks. It's not like merfolk where we can just jam a true-name and protect it the whole game and expect to win. If combo really makes the resurgence that people expect it too, then maybe I'll swap the swords for the forces in the board.

I tried out wasteland and (unsurprisingly) loved it. Made me want to increase the land count to 23 like most D&T builds run (despite playing brainstorm), while maintaining 14 white sources and 14 blue sources (not counting caverns). I like moorland haunt, but it messes with the color requirements a bit too much and it hasn't outright won me any games so far (unlike wasteland). I really am a stickler for consistent mana bases, especially with brews that you're just trying to make function at a basic level.

Clique is the honorary spirit in the list due its natural flash and its potential relevance against combo, plus a few other niche benefits. Besides that I've committed pretty hard to the spirit theme. Kira has really impressed me despite its obvious anti-synergy with jitte. It's like a fifth drogskol captain sort of, except it also protects itself which is very nice. I tried a few iterations of the list with no brainstorms and it just felt too underpowered. Even though this is still a fairly low power deck in the grand scheme of legacy, drawing one card per turn with no tutors or filtering is just too weak for legacy consideration. The brainstorms have been great, and there is some really nice synergy with brainstorm and aether vial plus our flash creatures. Also, 2 supreme phantoms in play at once is (was) really great against grixis delver.

I haven't been impressed with phantasmal image when I've tried it. It can't hold a jitte, it can't be protected by rattlechains, and it can't be flashed in because of rattlechains. It's not like we're copying our own true-names like merfolk can, and the lords it copies don't grant evasion so I think it's just not a great fit.

Other brief comments: I've really liked jitte (obviously), I think ethersworn canonist is just better than eidolon of rhetoric because it's cheaper, remorseful cleric has been ok but I think it will obviously shine against more graveyard centric decks, and I haven't been impressed with selfless spirit.

dnosejones

07-14-2018, 11:12 PM

I haven't been impressed with phantasmal image when I've tried it. It can't hold a jitte, it can't be protected by rattlechains, and it can't be flashed in because of rattlechains. It's not like we're copying our own true-names like merfolk can, and the lords it copies don't grant evasion so I think it's just not a great fit.

Other brief comments: I've really liked jitte (obviously), I think ethersworn canonist is just better than eidolon of rhetoric because it's cheaper, remorseful cleric has been ok but I think it will obviously shine against more graveyard centric decks, and I haven't been impressed with selfless spirit.

I like the list, I've contemplated with the 4 brainstorms over the thalia's I've been running. (after DnT-ing people out with Thalia//wasteland its hard to quit)

I totally agree on the phantasmal image (although I did get a funny synergy copying a goose the other day) it has felt very mediocre in hand each time I've drawn it.

and while ethersworn is solid, I DO like eidolon against punishing fire decks (with my meta having a lot of 4c loam).

Looking forward to hearing more results!

Rebelwithapen216

07-16-2018, 11:21 AM

This is the list I'm currently planning on running. I decided I want the main board to be as disruptive as possible. To put the forces back in the main and accommodate a solid creature count, I cut the flex lands like cavern and karakas.

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

4x Aether Vial

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

4x Drogskol Captain
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Rattlechains
2x Remorseful Cleric
4x Spell Queller
4x Supreme Phantom

Sideboard
3x Disenchant
2x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Flusterstorm
1x Pithing Needle
2x Rest in Peace
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Umezawa's Jitte

Qweerios

07-16-2018, 04:01 PM

I've been pondering about Spirits in Legacy looking back at the old UW tempo deck utilizing Weathered Wayfarer and it seems to me like that would be a good skeleton to begin experimenting with. Shoving all sorts of Spirits because of their creature type leads to all sorts of sub-par card choices (What good is Rattlechains?). What does Spirit Tribal have going for it?

-Synergy in the form of lord effects
-Inherently disruptive creatures that shine against Combo and Control decks
-Evasive creatures
-Blue shell to support Force of Will

What do Spirits lack?

-Velocity from high CMC cards
-Creature size (Slow clock)
-An overall strong aggro plan

When I look at this I immediately see the need for Vial in this deck. Vial gives this deck the velocity it craves to be Legacy playable. The most glaring weakness in the deck against aggro decks is solved by equipping a Jitte or landing a Batterskull in a timely fashion. Like DnT, Spirits need equipments to go over the top of fatties. Unlike DnT, Spirits don't need SoFaI to get past TNN and give it some grind potential. In order to abuse the blue shell to its fullest, Brainstorm and FoW are essential. Daze also jumps to the forefront when you consider Vial, Wastelands, and Mausoleum Wanderer.

Here is what I have in mind:

4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Drogskol Captain
3 Spell Queller

4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Daze

4 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
4 Tundra
2 Island
1 Plains

8 Lord effects and 4 SFM to buff puny fliers.
8 Lord effects greatly improve Mausoleum's ability.
4 Mausoleum, 4 FoW, 3 Daze, 3 Quellers against Combo and control decks G1
Brainstorm and SFM for card advantage and getting rid of excessive Vials/Lands

What do you guys think? Does it have potential?

Rebelwithapen216

07-16-2018, 04:38 PM

Qweerios

07-16-2018, 06:03 PM

I like your take on it. Rattlechains is pretty weak at times, but it does pull its weight when it comes to staying on theme. Giving your other spirits flash can be big, as is protecting them from removal spells. Even a 2/1 flash flyer that can pitch to force in a pinch isn't a terrible floor. Still, I see where stoneforge could be very powerful for the deck. The card's obviously good, I just don't want to turn the deck into a worse death and taxes (which it...kind of already is).

Not a fan of daze here, but it's worth trying out. I've played merfolk a bit, and daze + aether vial don't always pair that well together. You won't always have vial, and your curve is pretty high without it. Also, the deck needs to be heavy on creatures to support vial's inclusion, and force, swords and brainstorm are already automatic includes. At some point you need to pad the creature count a little better.

I don't think playing Rattlechains over SFM in order to increase the blue count from 26 to 30 is that relevant. Compared to DnT, Spirits have a way better combo matchup across the board. Of course if you pit Spirits and DnT against each other you will quickly see that DnT has the better aggro plan. You still get to have the air superiority and the matchup will pretty much resemble a DnT mirror (Who gets Jitte online first).

Concerning the creature count and the use of Vial, this list is not intended as a Merfolk deck where your plan is so linear that you forego Wastelands and Brainstorm for more creatures. The idea here is to have a T1 play that will facilitate the development of what is essentially a midrange deck. You can also count Brainstorm as additional creatures as well for the purpose of Vial. I agree with you that the more creatures the better in a Vial deck, I just don't see any candidates at a reasonable cost that would be better than a few Daze.

Rebelwithapen216

07-16-2018, 06:43 PM

I wasn't suggesting that rattlechains is a major consideration because it accommodates force of will. I was just pointing out that its floor isn't very low, and that's just one of several reasons why.

Anyway, with aether vial you need to have a curve of creatures to build up to with the vial. It's hard to do that consistently with only 19 creatures. You will often have 3 drops in your hand, but have no 1 or 2 drops to vial in in the interim, or you'll be lacking 3 drops after you've already preemptively ticked your vial up from 2 to 3. Honestly, 22 or 23 creatures is also probably not enough or just barely enough, but as you pointed out, a lot of the options are trash so we just have to make due. I think 4 is one stoneforge too many for 2 targets. I'd cut the 3 dazes for the 4th spell queller and 2 remorseful cleric, and I'd cut the 4th stoneforge for probably either a kira or a vendilion clique (depends on what you want to plan for). Kira is awful with the equipment but as a 1-of her downside won't come up too often (she's pretty great against removal heavy decks). Daze is obviously a great card, but I think there are too many conflicting requirements in the deck to play it profitably with reasonable consistency.

Overall I do really like your stoneforge suggestion over rattlechains. I think I'd run batterskull and jitte in the main, and probably a sword of fire and ice in the side (baleful strix is great against this deck).

Nightrider

07-25-2018, 05:41 AM

Hi from Italy!

Did anyone try a bant version of spirits in legacy?

How could be?

Thanks!

Rebelwithapen216

07-25-2018, 12:15 PM

Finally got the chance to play this at a weekly. I went 2-1 in matches, 5-3 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 Death and Taxes splashing black for Orzhov Pontiff (1-2)
Game 1 I kept a very loose, land heavy hand on the play. I was very close to stabilizing with a batterskull that I was going to equip with jitte the following turn, but he drew swords to plowshares during his end step off monarch from a mainboard palace jailer (if he let me untap I could have force of willed it, but not equipped jitte). In total he drew 3 swords to plowshares during the game, and I just couldn't get a threat to stick.

OUT 4 force, 1 remorseful cleric. IN 3 disenchant, 1 path, 1 needle.

Game 2 I kept a great hand and smothered him with equipment.
Game 3 I also kept a loose hand with a lot of lands, and he just got his equipment on line very quickly and beat me. Definitely should have mulliganed this game.

Round 2 Abzan Nyx Fit w/ academy rectors (2-0)
Game 1 He kept a hand that relied on a lot of naturally drawn duals for mana, and I drew 3 wastelands over the course of the game. He eventually deeded my board, but I had a backup spell queller to recapture a veteran explorer that was exiled, and used remorseful cleric to get rid of 2 therapies in his yard. Suffocating his mana, a force of will, spell queller, and small beats got there.

OUT 4 aether vial, 4 mausoleum wander, 1 batterskull, 1 stoneforge. IN 2 RIP, 2 surgical, 1 containment priest, 3 disenchant, 1 needle, 1 path. Probably overboarded, but all these cards seemed more relevant than what I boarded out.

Game 2 I had turn 1 needle which named pernicious deed (he had one in hand), turn 2 RIP, force of will for a choke, and then lots of flying beats. He never drew an abrupt decay or any artifact/enchantment removal, but I had spell queller just in case which ultimately exiled a lingering souls. The game actually took a while to end, but I felt very safe with pernicious deed shut off, RIP in play, and spell queller up.

Round 3 Bant Food Chain (2-1)
Game 1 I led with vial on the play off a wasteland instead of island to maybe mask what I was one, and he forced pitching misthollow griffin so I knew what was up. I responded with force pitching force mostly because I didn't have white mana for the stoneforge in my hand. I was killing hierarchs while wastelanding to keep him to 3 mana sources in play (1 basic of each color). However, huge turning point when he resolved an energy field. Basically it was just back and forth staring at each other for a few turns while I built my board with wanderers and lords and vial on 3 for queller, and eventually he went for end of turn enlightened tutor to get food chain which killed the energy field. He had a hand with lots of countermagic and would have to discard eventually anyway, plus he never found RIP and couldn't crack any fetches. I spell quellered food chain off vial and we went to game 2.

OUT 1 remorseful cleric, 1 batterskull, 1 stoneforge, 1 drgoskol captain, 1 swords to plowshares. IN 3 disenchant, 2 ethersworn canonist.

Game 2 was pretty similar to game 1, except he found the RIP to pair with energy field. I disenchanted the RIP and then wastelanded to kill the energy field eventually, but at the last possible turn he end-of-turn enlightened tutored for engineered explosives, which killed all my quellers, getting him back a food chain and a swords to plowshares, and then he was able to win with all of his misthollows and block/exile my equipped stoneforge with eternal scourge.

Game 3 was again very similar to the previous ones, except this time I forced a manipulate fate and had back-up answers to his enchantments. He again had RIP/field, but I had disenchant. I got there with beats and kept him off casting too many things with wasteland. He showed me after that he boarded out all of this forces.

Overall the deck felt great. I still feel a little soft to miracles and like I have too few sideboard cards for some fair blue decks, so I may cut the containment priests for a third flusterstorm and a clique in the sideboard. Batterskull felt very clunky and unnecessary, but whenever I've played death and taxes before and cut bskull I've regretted it so I'll keep it in for now. D&T decks are tough match ups for this deck, but I still find them very winnable. Wouldn't change anything in the mainboard currently.

Kaono

07-31-2018, 12:28 AM

Took this list to weekly and went 2-1. Experimented with a few things:

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

4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Spell Queller
3 Rattlechains
2 Stoneforge Mystic

2 Lingering Souls

4 Brainstorm
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will

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

Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Rest in Peace
2 Disenchant
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Thoughtseize

R1: Grixis Control
G1 I went plains vial pass, he pondered a few times, then I went underground sea and threw him for a loop. I started vialing in Wanderers and lords and got his life low enough that the bitterblossom he cast did him in
G2 I mulled to 5, but had vial and some gas. He again had bitterblossom and his tokens chumped my SFM with SoFaI on it. He then tried to race by endstep bolt/snap/bolting me with a flipped delver out, but I cast disenchant before his upkeep to deny him a token and started cleaning up the board with the SoFaI before killing him.

R2: D&T
G1 he SFMd up an early jitte but was choked on mana so never cast it -- I cast my own jitte and eventually got some counters on it before he revokered it. I topdecked like 3 lords in a row and easily won in the air.
G2 he revokered my vial and I was stuck on 2 lands -- he tried to connect with jitte so I flashed in rattlechains for the trade which unlocked my vial. I quellered his next two plays which bought me enough time to establish a board with Jitte and win from there

R3: Miracles
G1 My board was destroyed by 4 STP and a Counterbalance blind flip on my FB lingering souls of council's judgement that then exiled my SoFaI made scoop em up
G2 REB, STP, Verdict, Terminus, this deck just can't keep up -- I scooped when the Jace landed

Thoughts:

I think SFM is the right path to take since our natural evasion makes our creatures very potent at holding equipment. I'm not sure 4 is correct, nor am I sure Batterskull is either. Rattlechains is largely useless so I think it's an easy cut, but I'm not sure for what. I don't think the deck needs STP, but having some maindeck to hedge is fine. It feels bad to draw non-creature gas because the deck can sputter out. Not sure what to do to help that.

Lingering Souls and Moorland Haunt have been the best thing I can think of to grind games out after our initial velocity is rebutted. Souls is tough though as another 3 drop in a deck already filled with them. I do like how it complements the vial plan.

Snapcaster based spot removal decks are tough. Kira is enticing, but plays poorly with equipment. Curious to hear what people suggest.

Rebelwithapen216

07-31-2018, 11:32 AM

Kaono

07-31-2018, 12:29 PM

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.

Rebelwithapen216

07-31-2018, 02:04 PM

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.

Kaono

07-31-2018, 02:21 PM

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.

Rebelwithapen216

07-31-2018, 03:24 PM

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.

Rebelwithapen216

08-01-2018, 10:28 AM

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.

Kaono

08-01-2018, 12:38 PM

Rook1e

08-01-2018, 01:25 PM

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 :laugh:

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

Rebelwithapen216

08-01-2018, 02:33 PM

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?

Rebelwithapen216

08-01-2018, 02:48 PM

Kaono

08-01-2018, 02:49 PM

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.

Scott

08-04-2018, 10:57 PM

There are two Spirit decks in today's published 5-0 MTGO lists (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-legacy-constructed-league-2018-08-04)

Ecoscuro's:

// Creatures
4 Drogskol Captain
2 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
2 Rattlechains
4 Spell Queller
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Supreme Phantom

// Instants
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares

// Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

// Lands
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Karakas
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
4 Wasteland

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 2 Disenchant
SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Flusterstorm
SB: 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Meddling Mage
SB: 1 Path to Exile
SB: 1 Remorseful Cleric
SB: 1 Rest in Peace
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Umezawa's Jitte

Azzstriders's:

// Creatures
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Rattlechains
4 Spell Queller
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Supreme Phantom

// Instants
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares

// Artifacts
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow

// Lands
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Karakas
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Plains
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
3 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Bow of Nylea
SB: 1 Celestial Purge
SB: 1 Compost
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Council's Judgment
SB: 1 Disenchant
SB: 2 Display of Dominance
SB: 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
SB: 1 Life from the Loam
SB: 2 Moat
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique

Rebelwithapen216

08-06-2018, 12:58 PM

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.

dnosejones

08-20-2018, 12:42 AM

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.

Kaono

10-29-2018, 04:44 PM

Spirits made a showing at 21st place in the most recent legacy challenge

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/legacy-challenge-2018-10-29

4 Drogskol Captain
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
2 Remorseful Cleric
3 Spell Queller
3 Spirit of the Labyrinth
3 Supreme Phantom
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Instant (6)
1 Divert
2 Spell Snare
3 Swords to Plowshares

Artifact (4)
4 Aether Vial

Land (21)
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Karakas
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Scalding Tarn
3 Tundra
3 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath

Sideboard (15)
1 Absolute Law
1 Armageddon
2 Disenchant
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Flusterstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Meddling Mage
2 Rest in Peace

Rebelwithapen216

10-30-2018, 02:47 PM

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.

utopia_mycon

11-07-2018, 04:27 PM

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.

Kaono

02-01-2019, 05:14 PM

This is fun:

https://www.channelfireball.com/videos/u-w-spirits-legacy-channel-mengucci/