I brought in Detention Sphere vs Dredge and exiled all 4 Amalgams on turn 3 at SCG Columbus. It would have probably won me that game if he hadn't had Nature's Claim already in hand. I still have that, 3 pieces of GY Hate, and Worship, but I'm liking 2 Spell Pierce out of the board as well to counter Faithless Looting and Cathartic Reunion to keep them from getting the explosive starts. That brings me up to 7 1 mana ways to at least slow them down to give us a chance against their most explosive starts even while on the draw. It's also much easier to hold up and plays better with Thalia than Negate did.
Valakut decks are already great matchups. Detention Sphere takes care of planeswalkers, Worship, Ensnaring Bridge and many other troublesome permanents that we otherwise couldn't beat.
I'm trying to get closer to the spirits and taxes archetype but without leonin arbiter. wingmare and muse are additional taxes and are great image targets. I'm hoping muse can be good vs go wide stuff that we can fly over, like dredge maybe.
Went 4-0
R1 2-0 vs bant spirits, G1 my vial put more spirits on the battlefield than he did. Thalia + wingmare + wanderer made sure he never could cast collected company. G2 he got punished by a 6 card one lander hand.
R2 2-0 vs storm, G1 queller on past in flames got there, G3 he put a crapload of goblins with empty the warrens but the swingback was lethal.
R3 2-0 vs elves, both games windborn muse prevented me from losing. I even got to phantasmal image it twice G1!
R4 2-1 vs naya burn, won both games on the play thanks to a fast clock. My opponent locked himself of G1 because he was eidolon of the great revel flooded. G3 a timely wanderer kept him off of searing blaze. Never drew a sideboard card during the matches but still won, which is nice.
I really like your creature selection for this build. I like the tax aspect you're exploring. The Wingmares have been tempting for me, but a 2/1 for three seems *so* fragile, especially when it can't be protected by the rest of the spirit synergies.
I don't understand the extra greedy land base though, in my meta (where Bloodmoon and Magus of the Moon are common) it seems too greedy with all the two coloured lands. Given the tribal focus, it seems like Mutavault would be an upgrade too?
Yes the wingmares are fragile, but at least it taxes removal used to kill it. If the opponent uses a 2 mana spell to kill it, you're on parity. Obviously the taxers are vulnerable to lightning bolt but we have wanderer, queller, selfless to protect the non-spirits.
For the mana base, i always use this article as a reference. It states that in order to have consistent turn one colored mana (for mausoleum wanderer) you need 14 colored sources. I run 16 blue sources, counting the cavern of souls. To have consistent turn 2 colored mana (for thalia, guardian of thraben and phantasmal image), you need 13 sources. I run 14 of each (excluding the caverns). I don't know the math for having 2 different colors of mana on turn 3 for gold cards, but i have 14 lands that tap for 2 colors, 16 that tap for blue and 16 that tap for white, for a total of 18 that tap for colored mana. I have a total of 22 lands which is what is required for hitting the third land drop consistently.
With this in mind, and considering i play 4x aether vial to ease the mana, i would say my mana base is actually very conservative.
I've played a lot against blood moon and honestly, unless they cheat it turn 2 with simian spirit guide, i've been fine. I run 2x of each basic plus 6x fetchland that can get any one of each basic type, for a total of 8 virtual basic of each type. If the opponent casts blood moon on turn 3, you will have seen 9 cards (on the play or on the draw, it is the same) and have a 75.11% chance of seeing any one copy of a card you have x8 in your deck. If you add the vials (12 cards) you have 88.66% chance of seeing any one of those. Your opponent, if he or she plays 4x blood moon, has a 52.77% chance of seeing blood moon by turn 3. This means you wll be hard screwed 13.13% of games on turn 3, counting virtual basics, and 6% of games for basics and vials. I do not know the math for having both basic plains and basic islands, and this does not take into consideration later blood moons or additional artifact hate your opponent may bring for your vial, but you can see, as a guideline, it isn't so bad. I don't think you can get much more percentage points by adding maybe 2 more basics/fetchlands versus the utility of more special lands.
Lastly mutavault isn't worth it i would think. Tectonic edge fills an important role in my particular strategy, which is to complement our taxes. It can compensate for path to exiles and can screw the opponent, which will be forced to play his/her lands because of the taxes, and killing a land is then very powerful. In counterghost i would stick to ghost quarter, it is a better card for slowing down tron/killing utility lands. The thing is you don't get a ton of synergy with mutavault. It doesn't fly so it feels weird to have, and also the only tribal benefit is with drogskol captain, all the other synergies happen when a spirit enters the battlefield or when you cast them, so yeah i guess have a 3/3 hexproof guy isn't the worst but the benefit of mana base disruption overweights that imo.
Introducing moonlit strider! I really wish there were more decent soulshift creatures but looking for value stuff in u/w this is a card i want to try out. It basically rebuys any spirit in the deck plus protection. It is also bolt/decay proof and can potentially do a lot of tricks. I'll try it out next week and report on how it went.
Maybe windborn muse is just better, it has been pretty good. Vryn wingmare not being a spirit has been a big bummer.
Moonlit Strider is an interesting inclusion. My first reaction to it was that it was very underwhelming for 4 mana. However, Soulshift 3 is very strong, especially if you have a Aether Vial set on 3.
Having a Strider on board with a Spell Queller or Drogskol captain in the yard puts your opponent in a tough spot. If they cast a removal spell, you can sac Strider to counter the spell, and bring back something to your hand that you could use to thwart a second removal spell.
I still think it compares negatively to the flexibility of Ojutai's Command, which does something similar and also costs 4 mana.
I could see Moonlit Strider being very good in the Jund and Abzan matchups, so depending on your metagame it might be worth a SB slot.
I think if Moonlit Strider were 3 mana, or even it if had 2 power and flying, it would be a great mainboard inclusion. As it stands, I think its not quite good enough.
I am trying to brew UW spirits. I like that Caleb Durward had a victory with bant coco spirits some time ago.
The one streangh we have over coco is that not having it means we can play more spells. I am personally very exited about Tallowisp, and I think it can do great work. I also want to utelise Aether Vial.
Casting creatures at instant speed seems important, but I hope 3 rattlechains and 4 aether vial is enough.
Caleb explains that his 2 drops are mostly fillers to suport his 3 cost creatures, those are the once that winn him the game. Tallowisp fills the suport role (I hope.) What do you think about the diiference between your 2 drops and your 3 drops.
I doubt I will survive the long game in such a diverse field as modern. Instead I plan on winning on tempo. I think Mausoleum Wanderer, Remand and Spell Queller will help slow down my oponent. Aether vial also thrives under remand effects. Geist of Saint Traft with hexproof is good vs decks that try to deal with creatures by target removal, but mostly he is just a 3 mana, for 4 damage on the angel as he dies to blockers. I also doubt moorland haunt does enough if the games last as short as I expect, so perhaps it should be Mutavault or Cavern of Souls.
I like the mana base, I hope 4 cantrip remands, 21 lands and 4 aether vial is enough to cast my spells. I also dodge bloodmoon like a champion.
The tutor package: Steel of the godhead is good in tempo matches. Caleb uses it as a monsterus finish with Geist of Saint Traft. 4 hexproof damage, 4 life link, unblockable and hexproof mind you, and 4 damage from the angel token. Build-your-own-boogles should winn most races.
Temporal Isolation has so far been amazing. To include everything in the deck I only run 2 path to exile. I do not know how good it will be if enough spellskites and Apostle's Blessing show up.
I do not know if Curiosity is good, or if this is the right deck for it. Going curiosety turn 2 on a moseleum wanderer sounds like a trap. And am I really gone serach out criosety lategame? Invocation of Saint Traft is also on a test basis. Being able to tutor up a game finish sounds good, but I would be more happy if I could garantee that the creature I targetet would survive.
Aetervial + Tallowisp is a nobo, but I am risking it. There more then enough spirits.
I did try an earlier atemt with Disrupting Shoal but it proved a huge disapointment.
Constructive comments are welcome. Hopefully I will get to test it on sunday.
If you do not run any of those spells, is it not much better to splash green for CoCo? In particular in the Moorland haunt builds it is a huge tempo swing vs creature decks (tapping down attackers) and vs spell based combo decks spell queller + mauselium wanderer (on the table) will put a stop to their plan.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
I am trying to brew UW spirits. I like that Caleb Durward had a victory with bant coco spirits some time ago.
Casting creatures at instant speed seems important, but I hope 3 rattlechains and 4 aether vial is enough.
Caleb explains that his 2 drops are mostly fillers to suport his 3 cost creatures, those are the once that winn him the game. Tallowisp fills the suport role (I hope.) What do you think about the diiference between your 2 drops and your 3 drops.
I doubt I will survive the long game in such a diverse field as modern. Instead I plan on winning on tempo. I think Mausoleum Wanderer, Remand and Spell Queller will help slow down my oponent. Aether vial also thrives under remand effects. Geist of Saint Traft with hexproof is good vs decks that try to deal with creatures by target removal, but mostly he is just a 3 mana, for 4 damage on the angel as he dies to blockers. I also doubt moorland haunt does enough if the games last as short as I expect, so perhaps it should be Mutavault or Cavern of Souls.
I like the mana base, I hope 4 cantrip remands, 21 lands and 4 aether vial is enough to cast my spells. I also dodge bloodmoon like a champion.
The tutor package: Steel of the godhead is good in tempo matches. Caleb uses it as a monsterus finish with Geist of Saint Traft. 4 hexproof damage, 4 life link, unblockable and hexproof mind you, and 4 damage from the angel token. Build-your-own-boogles should winn most races.
Temporal Isolation has so far been amazing. To include everything in the deck I only run 2 path to exile. I do not know how good it will be if enough spellskites and Apostle's Blessing show up.
I do not know if Curiosity is good, or if this is the right deck for it. Going curiosety turn 2 on a moseleum wanderer sounds like a trap. And am I really gone serach out criosety lategame? Invocation of Saint Traft is also on a test basis. Being able to tutor up a game finish sounds good, but I would be more happy if I could garantee that the creature I targetet would survive.
Aetervial + Tallowisp is a nobo, but I am risking it. There more then enough spirits.
I did try an earlier atemt with Disrupting Shoal but it proved a huge disapointment.
Constructive comments are welcome. Hopefully I will get to test it on sunday.
Believe it or not, taking out Shoal is actually a bad idea. It feels like 1/2 the time your'e doing absolutely nothing I agree, and it doesn't hit anything right? But it's basically "Tutor for Angelic Destiny at 2 at instant speed".
I do not think angelic destiny is that good. Least of all if I need to invest 6 mama to play it. And even if I have mana and opertunaty to play it, and the creature survives, the returns to your hand seem like it should not matter that much. By that time most modern matches should be over one way or another?
Also you need a legal target for it to cast shoal. I finf it unlikly that you get to cast it for 2. Only ancestral vision and mishras buble cost that much.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
I don't want to discourage you from messing around with tallowisp but i've tried it in a u/w shell and have been quite disappointed.
The main positive thing about this version was removal tutor. My removal piece of choice was weight of conscience. Since all our stuff flies the can't attack clause is often enough. If you DO need to get rid of creatures with abilities, such as dark confidant, grim lavamancer or lord of atlantis, it is a lot better than temporal isolation. I even ran a singleton (and fetchable) mistveil plains to recycle dead auras and get more value from late tallowisp triggers. I also liked eel umbra from the sideboard vs midrange/control deck. With flash spirits you can flash save something, which is nice.
The main negative thing was underwhelming pump auras. The fact is the best "boon" type aura are in green (unflinching courage and rancor) is a huge downside. Steel of the godhead is great when you get the right draw but it will be very often embarrassing when you have no other choice but to put it on a rattlechains... Also geist is a lot better with noble hierarch, often playing it on curve turn 3 is not gonna get the job done.
The other negative thing is tempo loss from casting auras. Tallowisp is very clunky and demands you sacrifice tempo to cast your precious auras. Without it you just play your creatures but in order to get value from it you have to cast and spend mana on these auras. Playing tallowisp felt like i was playing a bad 1/3 on turn 2 to clog my hand with stuff i never have the chance to cast before the game ends anyways.
So this is my experience with tallowisp. I hope it works out for you, maybe you have a slower grindier meta and it turns out good.
Also you need a legal target for it to cast shoal. I finf it unlikly that you get to cast it for 2. Only ancestral vision and mishras buble cost that much.
After testing today I am quite content with trying decks that do not involve poor mr. tallowisp. The only thing I have left to do is experiment with green creature enchantments, but he does seem to clog up my deck slots. I guess instead I am gonne try some remands / ojutais command. More bang for the buck.
after that I supose it is over to test bant spirits. I need to track down a 4th noble hiarch thoug.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
Have anybody tryed Kami of the Crescent Moon? If we get it out with aether vial or a rattlechains we get to draw the card before our opponent. It would seem good as long as our cards are more cost efficient then our opponent. Like Spellqueller, Manaleak and Remand, the opponent is left with exspensive cards in hand.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
Have anybody tryed Kami of the Crescent Moon? If we get it out with aether vial or a rattlechains we get to draw the card before our opponent. It would seem good as long as our cards are more cost efficient then our opponent. Like Spellqueller, Manaleak and Remand, the opponent is left with exspensive cards in hand.
Except most modern decks play the most efficient cards... You don't play this for the same reason you don't play howling mine, giving the opponent extra draws is a recipe for disaster in this format!
If you really want to do a Tallowisp build, I suggest the following. I've tested it, it works very well and generally preys on burn. I haven't tested enough on Eldrazi and Azban so I can't tell you how that works out. I might play it this Friday again.
It's actually pretty strong overall, since you have 8 mini Force of Wills. You can probably change Inovcation of Saint Traft or Angelic Destiny to a 2 drop blue aura, to cover the 1-3 CMC for Disrupting Shoal. You have more than enough 1 drops between Dreamcatcher and Mausoleum Wanderer to protect Tallowisp turn 2. And furthermore, if you have a Geist or Drogskul or any other spirit, just shoal anyways to pick up the aura and let Tallowisp die. Generally if you have Geist in hand, go with Steel of the Godhead, if you have any other spirit, go with Invocation to make some mini Geist of Saint Traft. I personally love Kira, but the 3 drop slot is so packed, it makes things really awkward at times, same with Spell Queller. You can try Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope and Gift of Immortality, but I never could find room for the combo.
Also why pain lands? Because I found out you really really need your lands to come in untapped on 4 turns straight. You can probably play Glacial Fortress but Seachrome Coast angered me more than I am willing to admit.
Modern: UW Spirits
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept heath
2 Polluted delta
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Seachrome coast
2 Cavern of souls
2 Moorland haunt
2 Tectonic edge
Creatures 30
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Rattlechains
2 Thalia, guardian of thraben
2 Phantasmal image
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol captain
2 Nebelgast herald
2 Vryn wingmare
2 Windborn muse
4 Aether vial
Instants 4
4 Path to exile
1 Tectonic edge
2 Spell pierce
2 Detention sphere
2 Stony silence
2 Rest in peace
2 Eidolon of rhetoric
2 Spellskite
2 Burrenton forge-tender
I'm trying to get closer to the spirits and taxes archetype but without leonin arbiter. wingmare and muse are additional taxes and are great image targets. I'm hoping muse can be good vs go wide stuff that we can fly over, like dredge maybe.
Went 4-0
R1 2-0 vs bant spirits, G1 my vial put more spirits on the battlefield than he did. Thalia + wingmare + wanderer made sure he never could cast collected company. G2 he got punished by a 6 card one lander hand.
R2 2-0 vs storm, G1 queller on past in flames got there, G3 he put a crapload of goblins with empty the warrens but the swingback was lethal.
R3 2-0 vs elves, both games windborn muse prevented me from losing. I even got to phantasmal image it twice G1!
R4 2-1 vs naya burn, won both games on the play thanks to a fast clock. My opponent locked himself of G1 because he was eidolon of the great revel flooded. G3 a timely wanderer kept him off of searing blaze. Never drew a sideboard card during the matches but still won, which is nice.
I don't understand the extra greedy land base though, in my meta (where Bloodmoon and Magus of the Moon are common) it seems too greedy with all the two coloured lands. Given the tribal focus, it seems like Mutavault would be an upgrade too?
For the mana base, i always use this article as a reference. It states that in order to have consistent turn one colored mana (for mausoleum wanderer) you need 14 colored sources. I run 16 blue sources, counting the cavern of souls. To have consistent turn 2 colored mana (for thalia, guardian of thraben and phantasmal image), you need 13 sources. I run 14 of each (excluding the caverns). I don't know the math for having 2 different colors of mana on turn 3 for gold cards, but i have 14 lands that tap for 2 colors, 16 that tap for blue and 16 that tap for white, for a total of 18 that tap for colored mana. I have a total of 22 lands which is what is required for hitting the third land drop consistently.
With this in mind, and considering i play 4x aether vial to ease the mana, i would say my mana base is actually very conservative.
I've played a lot against blood moon and honestly, unless they cheat it turn 2 with simian spirit guide, i've been fine. I run 2x of each basic plus 6x fetchland that can get any one of each basic type, for a total of 8 virtual basic of each type. If the opponent casts blood moon on turn 3, you will have seen 9 cards (on the play or on the draw, it is the same) and have a 75.11% chance of seeing any one copy of a card you have x8 in your deck. If you add the vials (12 cards) you have 88.66% chance of seeing any one of those. Your opponent, if he or she plays 4x blood moon, has a 52.77% chance of seeing blood moon by turn 3. This means you wll be hard screwed 13.13% of games on turn 3, counting virtual basics, and 6% of games for basics and vials. I do not know the math for having both basic plains and basic islands, and this does not take into consideration later blood moons or additional artifact hate your opponent may bring for your vial, but you can see, as a guideline, it isn't so bad. I don't think you can get much more percentage points by adding maybe 2 more basics/fetchlands versus the utility of more special lands.
Lastly mutavault isn't worth it i would think. Tectonic edge fills an important role in my particular strategy, which is to complement our taxes. It can compensate for path to exiles and can screw the opponent, which will be forced to play his/her lands because of the taxes, and killing a land is then very powerful. In counterghost i would stick to ghost quarter, it is a better card for slowing down tron/killing utility lands. The thing is you don't get a ton of synergy with mutavault. It doesn't fly so it feels weird to have, and also the only tribal benefit is with drogskol captain, all the other synergies happen when a spirit enters the battlefield or when you cast them, so yeah i guess have a 3/3 hexproof guy isn't the worst but the benefit of mana base disruption overweights that imo.
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept heath
2 Polluted delta
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Seachrome coast
2 Cavern of souls
2 Moorland haunt
2 Tectonic edge
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Rattlechains
2 Thalia, guardian of thraben
2 Phantasmal image
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol captain
4 Nebelgast herald
2 Moonlit strider
artifact: 4
4 Aether vial
4 Path to exile
2 Ghost quarter
2 Spell pierce
2 Detention sphere
2 Stony silence
2 Rest in peace
1 Eidolon of rhetoric
2 Spellskite
2 Burrenton forge-tender
Introducing moonlit strider! I really wish there were more decent soulshift creatures but looking for value stuff in u/w this is a card i want to try out. It basically rebuys any spirit in the deck plus protection. It is also bolt/decay proof and can potentially do a lot of tricks. I'll try it out next week and report on how it went.
Maybe windborn muse is just better, it has been pretty good. Vryn wingmare not being a spirit has been a big bummer.
Thoughts?
Why not just run (the much better) Kira, Great Glass-Spinner ?
I would play Midnight Haunting in this slot or some more interaction (counters/removal) or even maindeck Azorius Herald.
Another option is Favorable Winds.
Having a Strider on board with a Spell Queller or Drogskol captain in the yard puts your opponent in a tough spot. If they cast a removal spell, you can sac Strider to counter the spell, and bring back something to your hand that you could use to thwart a second removal spell.
I still think it compares negatively to the flexibility of Ojutai's Command, which does something similar and also costs 4 mana.
I could see Moonlit Strider being very good in the Jund and Abzan matchups, so depending on your metagame it might be worth a SB slot.
I think if Moonlit Strider were 3 mana, or even it if had 2 power and flying, it would be a great mainboard inclusion. As it stands, I think its not quite good enough.
The one streangh we have over coco is that not having it means we can play more spells. I am personally very exited about Tallowisp, and I think it can do great work. I also want to utelise Aether Vial.
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Tallowisp
2 Selfless Spirit
3 Rattlechains
4 Spell Queller
4 Drogskol Captain
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Aether Vial
1 Curiosity
2 Path to Exile
2 Temporal Isolation
4 Remand
1 Steel of the Godhead
1 Invocation of Saint Traft
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Moorland Haunt
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
Casting creatures at instant speed seems important, but I hope 3 rattlechains and 4 aether vial is enough.
Caleb explains that his 2 drops are mostly fillers to suport his 3 cost creatures, those are the once that winn him the game. Tallowisp fills the suport role (I hope.) What do you think about the diiference between your 2 drops and your 3 drops.
I doubt I will survive the long game in such a diverse field as modern. Instead I plan on winning on tempo. I think Mausoleum Wanderer, Remand and Spell Queller will help slow down my oponent. Aether vial also thrives under remand effects. Geist of Saint Traft with hexproof is good vs decks that try to deal with creatures by target removal, but mostly he is just a 3 mana, for 4 damage on the angel as he dies to blockers. I also doubt moorland haunt does enough if the games last as short as I expect, so perhaps it should be Mutavault or Cavern of Souls.
I like the mana base, I hope 4 cantrip remands, 21 lands and 4 aether vial is enough to cast my spells. I also dodge bloodmoon like a champion.
The tutor package: Steel of the godhead is good in tempo matches. Caleb uses it as a monsterus finish with Geist of Saint Traft. 4 hexproof damage, 4 life link, unblockable and hexproof mind you, and 4 damage from the angel token. Build-your-own-boogles should winn most races.
Temporal Isolation has so far been amazing. To include everything in the deck I only run 2 path to exile. I do not know how good it will be if enough spellskites and Apostle's Blessing show up.
I do not know if Curiosity is good, or if this is the right deck for it. Going curiosety turn 2 on a moseleum wanderer sounds like a trap. And am I really gone serach out criosety lategame? Invocation of Saint Traft is also on a test basis. Being able to tutor up a game finish sounds good, but I would be more happy if I could garantee that the creature I targetet would survive.
Aetervial + Tallowisp is a nobo, but I am risking it. There more then enough spirits.
I did try an earlier atemt with Disrupting Shoal but it proved a huge disapointment.
Constructive comments are welcome. Hopefully I will get to test it on sunday.
- aeter vial
- tallowisp
- remand
- mana leak
- cryptic command
If you do not run any of those spells, is it not much better to splash green for CoCo? In particular in the Moorland haunt builds it is a huge tempo swing vs creature decks (tapping down attackers) and vs spell based combo decks spell queller + mauselium wanderer (on the table) will put a stop to their plan.
Believe it or not, taking out Shoal is actually a bad idea. It feels like 1/2 the time your'e doing absolutely nothing I agree, and it doesn't hit anything right? But it's basically "Tutor for Angelic Destiny at 2 at instant speed".
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
Also you need a legal target for it to cast shoal. I finf it unlikly that you get to cast it for 2. Only ancestral vision and mishras buble cost that much.
The main positive thing about this version was removal tutor. My removal piece of choice was weight of conscience. Since all our stuff flies the can't attack clause is often enough. If you DO need to get rid of creatures with abilities, such as dark confidant, grim lavamancer or lord of atlantis, it is a lot better than temporal isolation. I even ran a singleton (and fetchable) mistveil plains to recycle dead auras and get more value from late tallowisp triggers. I also liked eel umbra from the sideboard vs midrange/control deck. With flash spirits you can flash save something, which is nice.
The main negative thing was underwhelming pump auras. The fact is the best "boon" type aura are in green (unflinching courage and rancor) is a huge downside. Steel of the godhead is great when you get the right draw but it will be very often embarrassing when you have no other choice but to put it on a rattlechains... Also geist is a lot better with noble hierarch, often playing it on curve turn 3 is not gonna get the job done.
The other negative thing is tempo loss from casting auras. Tallowisp is very clunky and demands you sacrifice tempo to cast your precious auras. Without it you just play your creatures but in order to get value from it you have to cast and spend mana on these auras. Playing tallowisp felt like i was playing a bad 1/3 on turn 2 to clog my hand with stuff i never have the chance to cast before the game ends anyways.
So this is my experience with tallowisp. I hope it works out for you, maybe you have a slower grindier meta and it turns out good.
I'm thinking of Shining Shoal
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
after that I supose it is over to test bant spirits. I need to track down a 4th noble hiarch thoug.
Except most modern decks play the most efficient cards... You don't play this for the same reason you don't play howling mine, giving the opponent extra draws is a recipe for disaster in this format!
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Flooded Strand
2 Arid Mesa
1 Mistveil Plains
3 Plains
2 Island
4 Dreamcatcher
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
4 Drogskol Captain
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Disrupting Shoal
4 Shining Shoal
4 Path to Exile
1 Steel of the Godhead
1 Weight of Conscience
1 Curiosity
1 Invocation of Saint Traft
It's actually pretty strong overall, since you have 8 mini Force of Wills. You can probably change Inovcation of Saint Traft or Angelic Destiny to a 2 drop blue aura, to cover the 1-3 CMC for Disrupting Shoal. You have more than enough 1 drops between Dreamcatcher and Mausoleum Wanderer to protect Tallowisp turn 2. And furthermore, if you have a Geist or Drogskul or any other spirit, just shoal anyways to pick up the aura and let Tallowisp die. Generally if you have Geist in hand, go with Steel of the Godhead, if you have any other spirit, go with Invocation to make some mini Geist of Saint Traft. I personally love Kira, but the 3 drop slot is so packed, it makes things really awkward at times, same with Spell Queller. You can try Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope and Gift of Immortality, but I never could find room for the combo.
Also why pain lands? Because I found out you really really need your lands to come in untapped on 4 turns straight. You can probably play Glacial Fortress but Seachrome Coast angered me more than I am willing to admit.
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
Yes, Mark Tedin did both pieces of art