pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Some notes for you from my experience with a lot of these spells you have listed that are also used in Merfolk..
Chalice is 0, 3, or 4-of, no exceptions. You either need to be a Chalice deck post sb or not do it at all. 3 has always been the perfect number, imo. Chalice is most commonly put out with 1 charge counter, turning off your PTE, Spell Pierce, any Serum if you choose to add that.
You have 3x Hurkyl's Recall, but are running a White-heavy list. Why not Kataki and/or Stony Silence and/or Disenchant? I love Recall, when I'm in Mono-U.. When running White you have many better options.
Kira isn't something I want to see 3 of in this list or Merfolk, honestly.
Topplegiest is.. okay. How are you activating Delirium consistently by t3?
I would definitely suggest the following: -3 Topplegeist, -1 Kira, +4 Phantasmal Image. If you aren't comfortable with that many Image, go for 2 Image and 2 Selfless Soul (which you need to include in the 75).
Also, Rest In Peace is a great card, much better than just Grafdigger's Cage in the matchups you want to use Cage. x2. Maybe 2 RiP and 1 Cage would help you more vs Living End, Dredge, Grixis Delver, etc?
Also, why use Oboro and Mutavault?
Merfolk gets to make great use of Mutavault since they are Mono-U, and it gets buffed as both a Merfolk AND Elemental, and it gets Islandwalk for Evasion. Spirits don't grant evasion, just Hexproof. Is there a better land you could run in that slot?
Pro Tip: Essence Flux. Just run some, you'll thank me later!
Wow - I'm stoked to find this discussion. I've been pretty interested in UW Spirits since SoI and am also convinced there's something here.
It's personally reassuring to see my thinking largely aligns with the community here. My take is to emphasize the instant speed play, so Aether Vial's in the deck for when Rattlechains isn't online (and for pure tempo value of course). Also, I'm pretty keen on and the Spirit of the Labyrinth/Geier Reach Sanitarium lock. My thinking is that it shouldn't be too hard to protect a SotL, and shutting an opponent out of their draw step shouldn't be underestimated. Ojutai's Command makes a tonne of sense given the number of value 2 drops, including the SotL for the lock.
The sideboard below is still very much a work in progress. I figure the sideboard will largely be meta dependent but it's a decent start.
With two new goodies coming in Eldritch Moon in the form of Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller, I had the brew up a Spirits list and see how it goes. The fact that Mausoleum Wanderer is a strictly better Cursecatcher in almost all situations and the tempo plays Rattlechains and Spell Queller allow gave me the idea of going down the same path of Merfolk. The biggest issue with the deck for me is the lack of its very own Silvergill Adept. It needs some form of CA to keep the creature train going. Another issue is that Mutavault often sits back, doing nothing because of its lack of evasion.
With two new goodies coming in Eldritch Moon in the form of Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller, I had the brew up a Spirits list and see how it goes. The fact that Mausoleum Wanderer is a strictly better Cursecatcher in almost all situations and the tempo plays Rattlechains and Spell Queller allow gave me the idea of going down the same path of Merfolk. The biggest issue with the deck for me is the lack of its very own Silvergill Adept. It needs some form of CA to keep the creature train going. Another issue is that Mutavault often sits back, doing nothing because of its lack of evasion.
Geist of St. Traft, while a powerful card, isn't what this deck wants. He gets blocked by ground creatures, doesn't often survive combat, and doesn't really turn the game around if you are behind, he also fits into the already crowded 3-drop slot so I think he's a pass.
Lingering souls is (I feel) awesome. I've dropped down to 3 due to lack of room but I feel access 4 spirits off 1 card is well worth a black splash. A drogskol captain after a lingering souls is frequently game. The black splash also allows us to play Vault of the Archangel. As our creatures are generally too small to trade in combat, the ability to give them lifelink and deathtouch at the drop of a hat is very nice to have.
Phantasmal Image I am unsure of, in decks w/ Vial I feel he is an autoinclude. But if you are not playing vial either because you don't own one or don't want the bad topdeck later in the game then he becomes much worse. If you can only play him at sorcery speed the only card you often want to clone is captain, which you wont always have, this makes image occasionally a poor draw although you can always just copy your opponent's beater in a pinch. It does get better w/ Ojutai's command as you can bring an image back from the yard at instant speed.
Ojutai's command seems like a solid card in our deck, I can't see playing more than 2 (and am considering moving down to one) but it's consistently good enough that I like having its versatility.
Supreme verdict is awesome, it clears the field if you're behind and combines w/ selfless spirit for a 1 sided boardwipe. I could see dropping an Ojutai's command for a second verdict since it is so good against many of our bad matchups (fast creature decks)
Elspth, Champion of the Sun? When I first made this deck after the spoiling of rattlechains in SOI I had a 1/ of Elspeth Sun's Champion as a finisher, any time I cast it I won the game. Currently I am happy w/ my deck but I could see having an elspeth at least in the SB as it is very good against some of our bad matchups.
Anyway those are my thoughts, and feedback or questions about card choices are always appreciated. Happy brewing!
I really like this list, it seams very refined and well thought out. The inclusion of Lingering Souls to shore up bad Matchups like Abzan or Jund. Along with more hard removal in Declaration in Stone to deal with opposing Souls. I do question your choice of manabase though. What is the benefit of eight Basic lands over potentially 4 Cavern of Souls?
That and three colorless lands in a twenty-two land Manabase seams very mana intensive. I know that in playtesting I never wanted to draw land that produced only colorless in the early game. That said I can see the absurd power level of Vault of the Archeangel has.
Could you also post your sideboard too. I'd like a chance to see that and compare notes. Also a question, what do you think of Ephara, God of Polis in the Maindeck? I like your suggestion of 1 - 2 Ojutai's Command MD and would like to test with one Supreme and one Ephara.
Thanks! I am liking it so far.
On Cavern: Short answer, I don't have any but the longer answer is I don't think I'd play them anyway. There are 18 non-spirit spells in my deck so for those 18 Cavern is essentially just 4 more colorless lands. Since not a lot of the decks in my meta pack a lot of counterspells (there is a scapeshift and a couple Jeskai Nahiri's but other then that not much) I've decided I'd rather have 2 moorland haunts, Vault, and a GQ as my colorless lands since they are more relevant to the matchups I tend to face, and I think raising the number of colorless lands I have pressures my mana base, especially if I want to play verdict. I still think Cavern is an amazing card for this deck and in a larger meta i'd probably slot a few in.
On Ephara: I feel like she'll never become active, so she's a 4 mana indestructible enchantment that (with all our flash guys) says you draw a card each turn. This is certainly a powerful effect, but the deck list is already so tight I'm not sure there's room for it. It doesn't bring you back if you're behind and doesn't have an immediate impact on the board, and I think the times when it will be awesome (when you are playing lots of creatures) are times you'd already be ahead. Objectively I feel something else would be better, but all that said, I haven't tested w/ her and if she's working out well for you I say keep at it.
I've never played Ephara in Spirits, mainly because I never drew her as a one of out of the board. However U/W Titan Control has always been a pet deck of mine and I played Ephara along with a pair of Mastery of the Unseen in that. In Titan Control she was nothing short of amazing, I would play a creature, my opponent would remove it but because of her ETB trigger it would already have replaced itself and the cycle would repeat until they were out of removal.
That was a completely different archetype though, focused on recurring creatures and ETB or LTB triggers. She may not be as good in spirits, as you do not want to tap out so readily.
I agree with you about the Caverns I would probably play something along the lines of Glacial Fortress of Ghost Quarter too. I wass one of the lucky few playing in original Innistrad when I picked up a few. I almost sold them when they hit $50.00 CA $80.00 CA is ridiculous.
Blessed Alliance is cool Tech in the SB, are you expecting Boggles in your meta?
I really like the idea of a Spirit of the Labyrinth lock. It sounds like it gives the deck a little more reach late game. The reason the Sanitarium works is because it makes you discard, whereas the other land just draws. This means your opponent will get a card. Although you'll be drawing twice as much, it's better that they don't draw anything.
Also, I just realized, Beckon Apparition is secret tech against Jeskai Nahiri, you can Exile Emrakul from the graveyard in response to the trigger.
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Modern: G Stompy G UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR UWB Spirits UWB UWB Brain Control UWB WUB Esper Reveillark WUB EDH: WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
With your suggestion of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, I think you're missing the 'combo' aspect of Spirit of the Labyrinth and Geier Reach Sanitarium. When they're both on the battlefield, you can activate the Sanitarium on your opponent's upkeep so they loot and have to discard, but miss their draw step. Barring them having instant speed card draw to use on your turn, this locks them out from ever accruing more cards - and is a game winning lock if you can get them empty handed! (I'm also playing around with a Esper combo build which emphasizes more discard).
Nice catch on the Beckon Apparition / Emrakul interaction! BA seemed decent (especially in a build with Ephara) but not quite strong enough to make the cut - with the anti-Emrakul tech it seems like it makes a much stronger case.
Has anyone considered including the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo in their UW build? There are some neat interactions to consider :
I'm not sold on Hindering Light - with Rattlechains and Drogskol Captain, our spirits should be relatively safe from targetted spells. So that makes it useful only for spells that target us, in which case I'd way rather have Leyline of Sanctity.
Mirror Mockery seems way too cute - since the token copy doesn't have haste the card is pretty weak and doesn't see much play. That said, it'd be fun to stick on one a Selfless Spirit to sac the token to give your team indestructible each combat.
I had considered Bygone Bishop for a time, but there are 2 big issues with him for me.
1. He triggers off cast, which is counterproductive with the AEther Vial plan.
2. CMC 3 means I would have emptied my hand of a decent chunk of its spirits before I get to him.
As for cutting Geist, while 3 copies may not be the right amount, I'd never cut him completely. Geist and the 6 power he represents ends games for me. As for Favorable Winds, I'll have to test that out. It looks like it'd be amazing.
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The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
I'm definitely going to try out the grindy SotL + GRS combo. Maybe try out a more control- like shell and have that as my finisher. Main board Supreme Verdicts, and run more counters and removal instead of Snags. In that shell, GoST seems pretty good to close out games.
Let's go through all the variants/different ways you can take spirits:
Tallowisp/Auras (Probably Least Expensive, good at grinding games)
Vial/Flash (Most Expensive, relies on using Mana efficiently and surprising opponent's)
Souls/Tempo (Most flexible, less expensive, can use anthems, very customizable)
Geist/Lock (Control Variant, relies on locking opponent out of drawing to win games, slow but efficient)
Modern: G Stompy G UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR UWB Spirits UWB UWB Brain Control UWB WUB Esper Reveillark WUB EDH: WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
I've never played Ephara in Spirits, mainly because I never drew her as a one of out of the board. However U/W Titan Control has always been a pet deck of mine and I played Ephara along with a pair of Mastery of the Unseen in that. In Titan Control she was nothing short of amazing, I would play a creature, my opponent would remove it but because of her ETB trigger it would already have replaced itself and the cycle would repeat until they were out of removal.
That was a completely different archetype though, focused on recurring creatures and ETB or LTB triggers. She may not be as good in spirits, as you do not want to tap out so readily.
I agree with you about the Caverns I would probably play something along the lines of Glacial Fortress of Ghost Quarter too. I wass one of the lucky few playing in original Innistrad when I picked up a few. I almost sold them when they hit $50.00 CA $80.00 CA is ridiculous.
Blessed Alliance is cool Tech in the SB, are you expecting Boggles in your meta?
I can see that, yeah Ephara definitely seems interesting w/ lots of flicker etb cards but idk if spirits is a good fit. I only played casual back during original Inn and sadly traded a Cavern (why is this boring land a rare??) for a pair of Wildblood Pack, at the time I felt like I really got the good end of that deal There are boggles, infect, zoo, and nacatl burn in my meta and I've found blessed alliance to be a nice catchall against them. In the early game it can take out an attacking boggle or blighted agent and the extra source of life can really matter late game against zoo and affinity. Idk if it's a permanent piece but testing has been promising so far
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
With your suggestion of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, I think you're missing the 'combo' aspect of Spirit of the Labyrinth and Geier Reach Sanitarium. When they're both on the battlefield, you can activate the Sanitarium on your opponent's upkeep so they loot and have to discard, but miss their draw step. Barring them having instant speed card draw to use on your turn, this locks them out from ever accruing more cards - and is a game winning lock if you can get them empty handed! (I'm also playing around with a Esper combo build which emphasizes more discard).
I understand the combo, I just thought 3 of the same legendary lands is redundant as only one can be in play.
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mirror entity buffs the team in the late game
spirit en-dal grants evasion, especially with GOST
lingering souls should be somewhere in the deck. Does this buff mausoleum wanderer twice?
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Some notes for you from my experience with a lot of these spells you have listed that are also used in Merfolk..
Chalice is 0, 3, or 4-of, no exceptions. You either need to be a Chalice deck post sb or not do it at all. 3 has always been the perfect number, imo. Chalice is most commonly put out with 1 charge counter, turning off your PTE, Spell Pierce, any Serum if you choose to add that.
You have 3x Hurkyl's Recall, but are running a White-heavy list. Why not Kataki and/or Stony Silence and/or Disenchant? I love Recall, when I'm in Mono-U.. When running White you have many better options.
Kira isn't something I want to see 3 of in this list or Merfolk, honestly.
Topplegiest is.. okay. How are you activating Delirium consistently by t3?
I would definitely suggest the following: -3 Topplegeist, -1 Kira, +4 Phantasmal Image. If you aren't comfortable with that many Image, go for 2 Image and 2 Selfless Soul (which you need to include in the 75).
Also, Rest In Peace is a great card, much better than just Grafdigger's Cage in the matchups you want to use Cage. x2. Maybe 2 RiP and 1 Cage would help you more vs Living End, Dredge, Grixis Delver, etc?
Also, why use Oboro and Mutavault?
Merfolk gets to make great use of Mutavault since they are Mono-U, and it gets buffed as both a Merfolk AND Elemental, and it gets Islandwalk for Evasion. Spirits don't grant evasion, just Hexproof. Is there a better land you could run in that slot?
Pro Tip: Essence Flux. Just run some, you'll thank me later!
Here is a link to the UW Spirits Primer. Should probably move this discussion there, rather than make a new thread.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/678555-uw-spirits?page=10
-Sygg, River Cutthroat
I play all Cavern of Souls decks
It's personally reassuring to see my thinking largely aligns with the community here. My take is to emphasize the instant speed play, so Aether Vial's in the deck for when Rattlechains isn't online (and for pure tempo value of course). Also, I'm pretty keen on and the Spirit of the Labyrinth/Geier Reach Sanitarium lock. My thinking is that it shouldn't be too hard to protect a SotL, and shutting an opponent out of their draw step shouldn't be underestimated. Ojutai's Command makes a tonne of sense given the number of value 2 drops, including the SotL for the lock.
The sideboard below is still very much a work in progress. I figure the sideboard will largely be meta dependent but it's a decent start.
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
1x Mirror Entity
2x Phantasmal Image
4x Rattlechains
3x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
3x Spirit of the Labyrinth
Artifact
4x AEther Vial
Land
2x Cavern of Souls
4x Flooded Strand
3x Geier Reach Sanitarium
2x Hallowed Fountain
6x Island
1x Moorland Haunt
6x Plains
2x Negate
2x Ojutai's Command
3x Path to Exile
3x Detention Sphere
3x Eidolon of Rhetoric
3x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Rest in Peace
2x Spellskite
Merged with existing UW Spirits thread.
1. I think that Bygone Bishop can be the Silvergill Adept of the deck (can replace Geist).
2. 3x Kira and 3x Anafenza is too much as legendaries, I would cut one of each for 2x Phantasmal Image.
3. Topplegeist is rather weak without delirium, I would go with Selfless Spirit instead.
4. I would also replace Anafenza with Favorable Winds as an anthem.
5. I'm not sure that Mutavault is good here, I would certainly cut at least 2x of them for more Cavern of Souls or Seachrome Coast.
Ghost Quarter is also a good option and Eiganjo Castle seems better here than Oboro.
Thanks! I am liking it so far.
On Cavern: Short answer, I don't have any but the longer answer is I don't think I'd play them anyway. There are 18 non-spirit spells in my deck so for those 18 Cavern is essentially just 4 more colorless lands. Since not a lot of the decks in my meta pack a lot of counterspells (there is a scapeshift and a couple Jeskai Nahiri's but other then that not much) I've decided I'd rather have 2 moorland haunts, Vault, and a GQ as my colorless lands since they are more relevant to the matchups I tend to face, and I think raising the number of colorless lands I have pressures my mana base, especially if I want to play verdict. I still think Cavern is an amazing card for this deck and in a larger meta i'd probably slot a few in.
On Ephara: I feel like she'll never become active, so she's a 4 mana indestructible enchantment that (with all our flash guys) says you draw a card each turn. This is certainly a powerful effect, but the deck list is already so tight I'm not sure there's room for it. It doesn't bring you back if you're behind and doesn't have an immediate impact on the board, and I think the times when it will be awesome (when you are playing lots of creatures) are times you'd already be ahead. Objectively I feel something else would be better, but all that said, I haven't tested w/ her and if she's working out well for you I say keep at it.
Last my current SB:
3 Stony Silence
3 Spellskite
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Negate
3 Spreading Seas
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
That was a completely different archetype though, focused on recurring creatures and ETB or LTB triggers. She may not be as good in spirits, as you do not want to tap out so readily.
I agree with you about the Caverns I would probably play something along the lines of Glacial Fortress of Ghost Quarter too. I wass one of the lucky few playing in original Innistrad when I picked up a few. I almost sold them when they hit $50.00 CA $80.00 CA is ridiculous.
Blessed Alliance is cool Tech in the SB, are you expecting Boggles in your meta?
Also, I just realized, Beckon Apparition is secret tech against Jeskai Nahiri, you can Exile Emrakul from the graveyard in response to the trigger.
G Stompy G
UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR
UWB Spirits UWB
UWB Brain Control UWBWUB Esper Reveillark WUB
EDH:
WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG
W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW
WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
With your suggestion of Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, I think you're missing the 'combo' aspect of Spirit of the Labyrinth and Geier Reach Sanitarium. When they're both on the battlefield, you can activate the Sanitarium on your opponent's upkeep so they loot and have to discard, but miss their draw step. Barring them having instant speed card draw to use on your turn, this locks them out from ever accruing more cards - and is a game winning lock if you can get them empty handed! (I'm also playing around with a Esper combo build which emphasizes more discard).
Has anyone considered including the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo in their UW build? There are some neat interactions to consider :
* Mausoleum Wanderer + Sword (wanderer becomes a Spell Pierce instead of Force Spike
* Geier Reach Sanitarium for discarding the sword if your build includes the Sanitarium...
Could something like Mirror Mockery be of any use in the deck ?
Mirror Mockery seems way too cute - since the token copy doesn't have haste the card is pretty weak and doesn't see much play. That said, it'd be fun to stick on one a Selfless Spirit to sac the token to give your team indestructible each combat.
I had considered Bygone Bishop for a time, but there are 2 big issues with him for me.
1. He triggers off cast, which is counterproductive with the AEther Vial plan.
2. CMC 3 means I would have emptied my hand of a decent chunk of its spirits before I get to him.
As for cutting Geist, while 3 copies may not be the right amount, I'd never cut him completely. Geist and the 6 power he represents ends games for me. As for Favorable Winds, I'll have to test that out. It looks like it'd be amazing.
Let's go through all the variants/different ways you can take spirits:
Tallowisp/Auras (Probably Least Expensive, good at grinding games)
Vial/Flash (Most Expensive, relies on using Mana efficiently and surprising opponent's)
Souls/Tempo (Most flexible, less expensive, can use anthems, very customizable)
Geist/Lock (Control Variant, relies on locking opponent out of drawing to win games, slow but efficient)
G Stompy G
UR Izzet Prowess/Delver UR
UWB Spirits UWB
UWB Brain Control UWBWUB Esper Reveillark WUB
EDH:
WUBRG Horde of Notions WUBRG
W Nine-and-a-Half TailsW
WGUR Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis WGUR
you can also exile Kitchen Finks in response to it's persist trigger, stopping Abzan Company's most efficient creature and combo piece
I can see that, yeah Ephara definitely seems interesting w/ lots of flicker etb cards but idk if spirits is a good fit. I only played casual back during original Inn and sadly traded a Cavern (why is this boring land a rare??) for a pair of Wildblood Pack, at the time I felt like I really got the good end of that deal There are boggles, infect, zoo, and nacatl burn in my meta and I've found blessed alliance to be a nice catchall against them. In the early game it can take out an attacking boggle or blighted agent and the extra source of life can really matter late game against zoo and affinity. Idk if it's a permanent piece but testing has been promising so far
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
I understand the combo, I just thought 3 of the same legendary lands is redundant as only one can be in play.