Is anyone playing an Esper build? I wanted to go more control with counters and hand disruption.
They call it bant spirits for hype. I call it Bant coco. Dear lord, Standards cookie monster is now alive in modern and it's usurping spirits and bringing them into the fold. I'd be impressed with the deck if it didn't rely on Collected Company as a crutch, but unfortunately it's just another guy trying to make a good stuff deck and realizing the obvious of stuffing lots of creatures in a deck with a borked search engine.
I'm not sure, but I know we've had some think-tank esper builds done earlier that might be of help if you are deck building. I'm sticking with Azorius since it gives consistency and more room for mischief.
Man, this is a tough decision, though. I can go with the faster low to the ground version with Aether Vial, or do a more controlling build and use Sword of Fire and Ice with a ton of board wipes. Also, I want to run Sun Titan and Sphinx's Revelation if I go swords. A 6/6 late game bomb that can recur the entire spirit line up is hard to beat in UW with Herald, and having that singleton revelation late game can help when getting hellbent.
Actually, we could also run Emeria, the Sky Ruin as well to recur spirits late game. That would involve using a lot of plains, though.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I am now convinced that Gift of Immortality is an auto include in the deck, unless someone proves me otherwise and how Bant version is just nigh unstoppable. It actually completely locked down ANY aggro deck the minute it lands on Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope. They have absolutely no idea what to do at that point, and it slots in easily to even Drogskul Captain saving him for awhile too. It stops all the big aggro guys, infect, and other annoyingly fast thing and opens up more aggression since you can just sacrifice either spirit to stop sweepers or fog the board.
My deck now as follows
The interaction between the creatures are very strong already. And Gift lets them be reused over and over again. Gift on Kami creates a pseudo Worship effect that comes in a turn earlier, and difficult to get rid of for many decks. Sure it can be stopped, by using two removal spells on a single creature. but that's where I think 2 more removals in the MB may be more useful than counterspells. But I'l be testing this list.
I am now convinced that Gift of Immortality is an auto include in the deck, unless someone proves me otherwise and how Bant version is just nigh unstoppable. It actually completely locked down ANY aggro deck the minute it lands on Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope. They have absolutely no idea what to do at that point, and it slots in easily to even Drogskul Captain saving him for awhile too. It stops all the big aggro guys, infect, and other annoyingly fast thing and opens up more aggression since you can just sacrifice either spirit to stop sweepers or fog the board.
My deck now as follows
The interaction between the creatures are very strong already. And Gift lets them be reused over and over again. Gift on Kami creates a pseudo Worship effect that comes in a turn earlier, and difficult to get rid of for many decks. Sure it can be stopped, by using two removal spells on a single creature. but that's where I think 2 more removals in the MB may be more useful than counterspells. But I'l be testing this list.
I'm very interested to hear how your list tests, but I'm concerned about tapping out for Gift of Immortality. If your creature gets removed while Gift is on the stack you just got two-for-oned and in spirits it will be nearly impossible to come back from that. .. we want to be the player doing 2 for 1.
For the moment I just tested it against Jund and UWR control (not Nahiri).
I felt I could control more UWR. Against Jund, it was a bit harder because if they are first, they are going to remove all our good cards. If we can go first, we can rely on our own Inquisition of Kozilek or Mausoleum Wanderer. The thing is, if against jund we can protect as much as we can our Drogskol Captain, the rest of our card will make us win. We can exile spells, their creatures, erase them with supreme letting our creatures survive thanks to Selfless Spirit.
Also, I felt that most times I needed to counter a non-creature spell, and the only thing I had in hand was a Ojutai's Command. It's a good card, but sometimes I felt like a Cryptic Command would help me better more in that moment. But we have to be objective, Ojutai's Command is way more versatile in our deck, and without that restriction on casting it's colors.
I am now convinced that Gift of Immortality is an auto include in the deck, unless someone proves me otherwise and how Bant version is just nigh unstoppable. It actually completely locked down ANY aggro deck the minute it lands on Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope. They have absolutely no idea what to do at that point, and it slots in easily to even Drogskul Captain saving him for awhile too. It stops all the big aggro guys, infect, and other annoyingly fast thing and opens up more aggression since you can just sacrifice either spirit to stop sweepers or fog the board.
My deck now as follows
The interaction between the creatures are very strong already. And Gift lets them be reused over and over again. Gift on Kami creates a pseudo Worship effect that comes in a turn earlier, and difficult to get rid of for many decks. Sure it can be stopped, by using two removal spells on a single creature. but that's where I think 2 more removals in the MB may be more useful than counterspells. But I'l be testing this list.
If you want card draw you can also use Dreamcatcher. I've been pondering including that spirit as a free draw that gives board presence, until we need to use it, but I'm not sure it's worth the spot in the semi-merfolk like listing. In your own listing running Tallowisp as a one or two of might help search up the Gift of Immortality if you need it heavily.
That might also be a good card in the Sun Titan Mid-range / control version. I'm still working on a deck for it using deck builder, but I've been using the Sun Titan Control deck listing I've seen for idea farming, as there are some good features of that deck that may synergize well with spirits.
Here is the Sun titan control listing I was talking about:
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Looks like a solid deck list. I might swap out my karmic guides and add a couple Kira just to make my deck modern legal. For spells I'd recommend a fool spout or two just to put something back on top of their deck. And it has an awaken cost too so you could turn a land into a creature as well. Mine plays kinda funny though. I have an eidolon of rhetoric in my deck and I play a bunch of instants so I can cast a spell on my turn and leave myself some open mana to play a bounce or removal spell on their turn. As long as you're not playing against werewolves it's kinda funny to watch. Especially if they aren't paying attention and they end up tapping themselves out or come close to it on their turn. It also works well with spell queller's flash ability. I also run one each of the white escalate cards. Because even with the eidolon in play it's still only one spell but you potentially get 3 effects from the same card.
I am now convinced that Gift of Immortality is an auto include in the deck, unless someone proves me otherwise and how Bant version is just nigh unstoppable. It actually completely locked down ANY aggro deck the minute it lands on Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope. They have absolutely no idea what to do at that point, and it slots in easily to even Drogskul Captain saving him for awhile too. It stops all the big aggro guys, infect, and other annoyingly fast thing and opens up more aggression since you can just sacrifice either spirit to stop sweepers or fog the board.
My deck now as follows
The interaction between the creatures are very strong already. And Gift lets them be reused over and over again. Gift on Kami creates a pseudo Worship effect that comes in a turn earlier, and difficult to get rid of for many decks. Sure it can be stopped, by using two removal spells on a single creature. but that's where I think 2 more removals in the MB may be more useful than counterspells. But I'l be testing this list.
If you want card draw you can also use Dreamcatcher. I've been pondering including that spirit as a free draw that gives board presence, until we need to use it, but I'm not sure it's worth the spot in the semi-merfolk like listing. In your own listing running Tallowisp as a one or two of might help search up the Gift of Immortality if you need it heavily.
That might also be a good card in the Sun Titan Mid-range / control version. I'm still working on a deck for it using deck builder, but I've been using the Sun Titan Control deck listing I've seen for idea farming, as there are some good features of that deck that may synergize well with spirits.
I've tried Tallowisp before, but I think the problem with it is that it's a horrible top deck that doesn't do anything that the other Spirits would really want when it lands. It's great when it sticks, but it needs to come out by turn 2-3 or it's just horrible.
I am now convinced that Gift of Immortality is an auto include in the deck, unless someone proves me otherwise and how Bant version is just nigh unstoppable. It actually completely locked down ANY aggro deck the minute it lands on Selfless Spirit or Kami of False Hope. They have absolutely no idea what to do at that point, and it slots in easily to even Drogskul Captain saving him for awhile too. It stops all the big aggro guys, infect, and other annoyingly fast thing and opens up more aggression since you can just sacrifice either spirit to stop sweepers or fog the board.
My deck now as follows
The interaction between the creatures are very strong already. And Gift lets them be reused over and over again. Gift on Kami creates a pseudo Worship effect that comes in a turn earlier, and difficult to get rid of for many decks. Sure it can be stopped, by using two removal spells on a single creature. but that's where I think 2 more removals in the MB may be more useful than counterspells. But I'l be testing this list.
I think the interaction is strong when it works but it falls short in 2 places. First is the same place where all auras fall short barring when being on hexproof creatures. They spot remove in response. You get 2 for 1ed. This is helped by mausoleum wanderer but it is something you still need to watch for given that bolting or pathing will still likely do its thing. The second place it falls short is speed. Tap out for it on turn 3 and you're likely to be looking at very possibly getting nailed by removal. Wait longer and it can easily be too late. Also, them using 2 removal spells to kill your creature and keep it dead is not a 2 for 1. It is a 2 for 2. You lose your creature and the gifts, investing 2 cards in it just like they invested 2 removal spells or in the case of Kami/selfless spirit, getting you to kill it yourself to then spot remove it when it comes back before gifts does also works. I believe that for some decks it is a mild annoyance. For example, it behaves well against game 1 affinity, death shadow zoo, bogles, merfolk, infect (though Kami of false hope by itself does this splendidly), and so forth. However, it isn't the brick wall it sounds like you're hyping it up to be. Now if you get them with hexproof it helps a bit more but at that point, you're at turn 4 with not much board presence. Isn't that a bit hopeful in modern? Against burn, it does little and the number of aggro decks that don't have abundant interaction at low cmc aren't that abundant. I believe that gift of immortality has merit when it works but that it often will not. The claim to lock down any aggro deck seems exaggerated. Here's some methods out of it. I include a few midrange cards too.
2 removal spells for a 2 for 2 as mentioned. (special mention to gut shot when does the job nicely)
Scavenging ooze the target in the graveyard.
Kalitas, traitor of ghet
(in affinity's case) spellskite and ghirapur aether grid
Eldrazi displacer
And most prevalently, simply plucking the target from your hand or shooting it from the field early without needing to see the gifts of immortality. For an aggro deck, Kami of false hope is a card that they want to kill almost immediately because it is a pain in the neck. Do note that the decks that I noted to have trouble with it only pertain to kami of false hope, not selfless spirit. They all have too much speed for me to want to invest a 3 mana aura on a 2 mana creature to get one hard to remove blocker. They tend to go wide enough that that isn't enough on turn 3 while being susceptible to immediate removal. Stopping sweepers is important but you only have 24 creatures, 4 of them being lords and the raw p/t to cmc ratio isn't that great. Control decks would like sweepers (though they'd do spot removal too) but aggro decks aren't exactly trying to sweep you except for affinity packing whipflare. They can just win in slugging matches. You're the attrition. They're the speed. So against aggro, I see you having 4 ideal targets for gift, not 8. If that's the case, isn't 4 gifts a bit much?
I'm sort of experimenting with the idea of using Gift of immortality in the Sun Titan build I'm doing, but it's hard to figure out what to axe as I want Nebelgast herald to help Sun Titans get through chump blockers and I still need the sword of fire and ice for control and some card advantage. The only other choice would be to go the Sun Titan Control route of using Emeria, the Sky Ruin. If we are running Cavern of Souls and Moorland haunt than we've already got some non-plains to deal with on trying to get the card active. By running both battle lands and the shocks I could probably get enough plains to activate it, though. Also, really fun interaction with Lingering Souls and Nebelgast Herald. Getting to tap down two cards at once is a lot of fun and I may consider throwing in a singleton Godless Shrine in the build to let me recur it. That or go with Midnight Haunting.
My current think tanking on sun titan spirits looks a bit like the following, but it's really rough at the moment...
Also, the mainboard non-land count may be high for a deck wielding three sun titan at 6 cmc.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I will be trying out strangleroot geist, i like it better than anafenza. It allows aggresive turn one wanderer into turn 2 swing for 4. It also is a resilient ground blocker.
I like his build, though I'm not as much a fan of Phantasmal Image as Kira, Great Glass-Spinner. The problem with the first is that we need a drogskol captain on the field to begin with. Kira does almost the same thing, and the only way an opponent could hit something on our field directly is by two for one.
If we go more control he may be right that we need the token generators. They have synergy with both Nebelgast Herald and wanderer. Mutavault is an interesting choice, but we really aren't merfolk and don't need the man land. I'd rather be playing Celestial Colonnade and getting a big beefy flying elemental late game compared to a 3/3 hexproof non-evasive spirit.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Nebelgast Herald + Lingering Souls isn't as good as you think it is. Because LS is a sorcery and most of our creatures are evasive tapping down their creatures on our turn doesn't really mean anything.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Nebelgast Herald + Lingering Souls isn't as good as you think it is. Because LS is a sorcery and most of our creatures are evasive tapping down their creatures on our turn doesn't really mean anything.
Midnight Haunting is what I've been testing with and it works rather well as a way to stop some incoming damage while gaining board presence.
I don't know, it just feels like Craigs list gives in to the temptation to just make it spirit merfolk. Merfolk will always win against an imitator like this that doesn't take advantage of what the pieces in the deck can do. With Selfless Spirit I'd run more board wipes main board unless I'm going up against control just from my experience in standard. That and I'm not sure that going for Phantasmal Image as a four of makes sense.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Nebelgast Herald + Lingering Souls isn't as good as you think it is. Because LS is a sorcery and most of our creatures are evasive tapping down their creatures on our turn doesn't really mean anything.
Midnight Haunting is what I've been testing with and it works rather well as a way to stop some incoming damage while gaining board presence.
Midnight Haunting is very good in that respect. It might actually be better in a deck thats heavy in Heralds.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
Nebelgast Herald + Lingering Souls isn't as good as you think it is. Because LS is a sorcery and most of our creatures are evasive tapping down their creatures on our turn doesn't really mean anything.
Midnight Haunting is what I've been testing with and it works rather well as a way to stop some incoming damage while gaining board presence.
Midnight Haunting is very good in that respect. It might actually be better in a deck thats heavy in Heralds.
Again, I'm trying to work with a more controlish / midrange build than the Craig Wescoe one. The trouble is that the spirits really don't lend themselves well to recurring with Sun Titan even though Sun Titan can hit every single major spirit.
I'm also pouring over the old spirits from kamigawa as well as artifacts that synergize with them. Things like Baku Altar, Promise of Bunrei etc. Also, as a PSA for people running kira, just remember it counters your own rattlechains hexproof ability as well.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-calebd-modern-bant-spirits/
It's the Bant Spirits league.
Is anyone playing an Esper build? I wanted to go more control with counters and hand disruption.
They call it bant spirits for hype. I call it Bant coco. Dear lord, Standards cookie monster is now alive in modern and it's usurping spirits and bringing them into the fold. I'd be impressed with the deck if it didn't rely on Collected Company as a crutch, but unfortunately it's just another guy trying to make a good stuff deck and realizing the obvious of stuffing lots of creatures in a deck with a borked search engine.
I'm not sure, but I know we've had some think-tank esper builds done earlier that might be of help if you are deck building. I'm sticking with Azorius since it gives consistency and more room for mischief.
Man, this is a tough decision, though. I can go with the faster low to the ground version with Aether Vial, or do a more controlling build and use Sword of Fire and Ice with a ton of board wipes. Also, I want to run Sun Titan and Sphinx's Revelation if I go swords. A 6/6 late game bomb that can recur the entire spirit line up is hard to beat in UW with Herald, and having that singleton revelation late game can help when getting hellbent.
Actually, we could also run Emeria, the Sky Ruin as well to recur spirits late game. That would involve using a lot of plains, though.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
My deck now as follows
2 Island
2 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Cavern of Souls
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Seachrome Coast
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Kami of False Hope
4 Rattlechains
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
4 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
3 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Leak
2 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Rest in Peace
2 Dismember
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Celestial Purge
2 Pithing Needle
2 Negate
1 Dispel
The interaction between the creatures are very strong already. And Gift lets them be reused over and over again. Gift on Kami creates a pseudo Worship effect that comes in a turn earlier, and difficult to get rid of for many decks. Sure it can be stopped, by using two removal spells on a single creature. but that's where I think 2 more removals in the MB may be more useful than counterspells. But I'l be testing this list.
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
I'm very interested to hear how your list tests, but I'm concerned about tapping out for Gift of Immortality. If your creature gets removed while Gift is on the stack you just got two-for-oned and in spirits it will be nearly impossible to come back from that. .. we want to be the player doing 2 for 1.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/678555-uw-spirits?comment=383
For the moment I just tested it against Jund and UWR control (not Nahiri).
I felt I could control more UWR. Against Jund, it was a bit harder because if they are first, they are going to remove all our good cards. If we can go first, we can rely on our own Inquisition of Kozilek or Mausoleum Wanderer. The thing is, if against jund we can protect as much as we can our Drogskol Captain, the rest of our card will make us win. We can exile spells, their creatures, erase them with supreme letting our creatures survive thanks to Selfless Spirit.
Also, I felt that most times I needed to counter a non-creature spell, and the only thing I had in hand was a Ojutai's Command. It's a good card, but sometimes I felt like a Cryptic Command would help me better more in that moment. But we have to be objective, Ojutai's Command is way more versatile in our deck, and without that restriction on casting it's colors.
If you want card draw you can also use Dreamcatcher. I've been pondering including that spirit as a free draw that gives board presence, until we need to use it, but I'm not sure it's worth the spot in the semi-merfolk like listing. In your own listing running Tallowisp as a one or two of might help search up the Gift of Immortality if you need it heavily.
That might also be a good card in the Sun Titan Mid-range / control version. I'm still working on a deck for it using deck builder, but I've been using the Sun Titan Control deck listing I've seen for idea farming, as there are some good features of that deck that may synergize well with spirits.
Here is the Sun titan control listing I was talking about:
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
7 Plains
CREATURES
3 Court Hussar
3 Lone Missionary
2 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Sun Titan
4 Wall of Omens
1 Dispel
1 Gifts Ungiven
2 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Ojutai's Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
OTHER SPELLS
2 Detention Sphere
2 Mortarpod
2 Æther Spellbomb
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Dispel
1 Lone Missionary
2 Meddling Mage
1 Negate
2 Spreading Seas
1 Stonecloaker
2 Stony Silence
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Wrath of God
My interest is the come into play interaction with Nebelgast Herald and Tallowisp, along with Nikko-Onna.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
4x Drogskol Captain
2x Kami of False Hope
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
1x Phantasmal Image
4x Rattlechains
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
2x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
3x Vapor Snag
4x Flooded Strand
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
2x Marsh Flats
1x Moorland Haunt
2x Plains
3x Seachrome Coast
2x Supreme Verdict
2x Detention Sphere
2x Kami of False Hope
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2x Mana Leak
3x Reflector Mage
2x Spell Pierce
2x Stony Silence
1x Vapor Snag
This is what I'm looking at running fairly soon. Any suggestions?
I've tried Tallowisp before, but I think the problem with it is that it's a horrible top deck that doesn't do anything that the other Spirits would really want when it lands. It's great when it sticks, but it needs to come out by turn 2-3 or it's just horrible.
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
I think the interaction is strong when it works but it falls short in 2 places. First is the same place where all auras fall short barring when being on hexproof creatures. They spot remove in response. You get 2 for 1ed. This is helped by mausoleum wanderer but it is something you still need to watch for given that bolting or pathing will still likely do its thing. The second place it falls short is speed. Tap out for it on turn 3 and you're likely to be looking at very possibly getting nailed by removal. Wait longer and it can easily be too late. Also, them using 2 removal spells to kill your creature and keep it dead is not a 2 for 1. It is a 2 for 2. You lose your creature and the gifts, investing 2 cards in it just like they invested 2 removal spells or in the case of Kami/selfless spirit, getting you to kill it yourself to then spot remove it when it comes back before gifts does also works. I believe that for some decks it is a mild annoyance. For example, it behaves well against game 1 affinity, death shadow zoo, bogles, merfolk, infect (though Kami of false hope by itself does this splendidly), and so forth. However, it isn't the brick wall it sounds like you're hyping it up to be. Now if you get them with hexproof it helps a bit more but at that point, you're at turn 4 with not much board presence. Isn't that a bit hopeful in modern? Against burn, it does little and the number of aggro decks that don't have abundant interaction at low cmc aren't that abundant. I believe that gift of immortality has merit when it works but that it often will not. The claim to lock down any aggro deck seems exaggerated. Here's some methods out of it. I include a few midrange cards too.
2 removal spells for a 2 for 2 as mentioned. (special mention to gut shot when does the job nicely)
Scavenging ooze the target in the graveyard.
Kalitas, traitor of ghet
(in affinity's case) spellskite and ghirapur aether grid
Eldrazi displacer
And most prevalently, simply plucking the target from your hand or shooting it from the field early without needing to see the gifts of immortality. For an aggro deck, Kami of false hope is a card that they want to kill almost immediately because it is a pain in the neck. Do note that the decks that I noted to have trouble with it only pertain to kami of false hope, not selfless spirit. They all have too much speed for me to want to invest a 3 mana aura on a 2 mana creature to get one hard to remove blocker. They tend to go wide enough that that isn't enough on turn 3 while being susceptible to immediate removal. Stopping sweepers is important but you only have 24 creatures, 4 of them being lords and the raw p/t to cmc ratio isn't that great. Control decks would like sweepers (though they'd do spot removal too) but aggro decks aren't exactly trying to sweep you except for affinity packing whipflare. They can just win in slugging matches. You're the attrition. They're the speed. So against aggro, I see you having 4 ideal targets for gift, not 8. If that's the case, isn't 4 gifts a bit much?
My current think tanking on sun titan spirits looks a bit like the following, but it's really rough at the moment...
3 Sun Titan
4 Nebelgast Herald
4 Selfless Spirit
3 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Pierce
4 Spell Queller
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Gift of Immortality
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Some Maybe cards...
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Dreamcatcher
1 Lingering Souls
1 Godless Shrine
1 Remand
1 DrogSkol captain
Also, the mainboard non-land count may be high for a deck wielding three sun titan at 6 cmc.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
2 Plains
1 Forest
1 Island
2 cavern of souls
2 razorverge thicket
2 moorland haunt
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Rattlechains
4 strangleroot geist
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Spell Queller
2 nebelgast herald
Instants 8
4 path to exile
4 collected company
1 geist of saint traft
1 kira, great glass-spinner
1 kataki, war's wage
2 spirit of the labyrinth
2 eidolon of rhetoric
2 azorius herald
2 qasali pridemage
2 engineered explosives
1 rest in peace
1 stony silence
I will be trying out strangleroot geist, i like it better than anafenza. It allows aggresive turn one wanderer into turn 2 swing for 4. It also is a resilient ground blocker.
Thoughts?
I would maindeck 1x Kira but otherwise looks solid.
Btw, here is another build, this time with A.Vial and Lingering Souls.
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13440
If we go more control he may be right that we need the token generators. They have synergy with both Nebelgast Herald and wanderer. Mutavault is an interesting choice, but we really aren't merfolk and don't need the man land. I'd rather be playing Celestial Colonnade and getting a big beefy flying elemental late game compared to a 3/3 hexproof non-evasive spirit.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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
Midnight Haunting is what I've been testing with and it works rather well as a way to stop some incoming damage while gaining board presence.
I don't know, it just feels like Craigs list gives in to the temptation to just make it spirit merfolk. Merfolk will always win against an imitator like this that doesn't take advantage of what the pieces in the deck can do. With Selfless Spirit I'd run more board wipes main board unless I'm going up against control just from my experience in standard. That and I'm not sure that going for Phantasmal Image as a four of makes sense.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Midnight Haunting is very good in that respect. It might actually be better in a deck thats heavy in Heralds.
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
Again, I'm trying to work with a more controlish / midrange build than the Craig Wescoe one. The trouble is that the spirits really don't lend themselves well to recurring with Sun Titan even though Sun Titan can hit every single major spirit.
I'm also pouring over the old spirits from kamigawa as well as artifacts that synergize with them. Things like Baku Altar, Promise of Bunrei etc. Also, as a PSA for people running kira, just remember it counters your own rattlechains hexproof ability as well.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!