As I was discussing sideboard options with some friends, I looked at adding a second Spellskite to the 75 somewhere. I just felt like, more often than not, I wanted to be attacking, and playing a zero power non-spirit was not going to be great in enough matchups and situations that it wasn't worth it to me.
I think there are metagame situations where it might be appropriate. But if you aren't sure about the status of the metagame, a Spellskite in the main seems suboptimal to me.
Seems like and allstar. Mostly with Selfles Spirit, Rattle Chains or Phantasmal Image with a spell queller or drogskull captain on the table.
It also seems to me that Spirit of Saint Traft is good with CoCo and Cryptic Command, as Saint Traft is the one spirit that deals the most damage to the oponent.
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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.
Seems like and allstar. Mostly with Selfles Spirit, Rattle Chains or Phantasmal Image with a spell queller or drogskull captain on the table.
It also seems to me that Spirit of Saint Traft is good with CoCo and Cryptic Command, as Saint Traft is the one spirit that deals the most damage to the oponent.
22-23 lands
8-10 spells
Cryptic Command - It's hard to cast because of its cost.
Spirit of the Labyrinth is good against Grindy Control decks, excusable if you put 1 mainboard. But i think it's too narrow, low impact card. He's a dead card against some decks. But you're right, Phantasmal is really bad against Control decks and i would replace it with Spirit of the Labyrinth. If i would pick a Spirit card against Control match, I would say Kira, Great Glass Spinner and Eidolon of Rhetoric. Eidolon of Rhetoric pressuring them to use only 1 skill per turn. Therefore i conclude that they will not cast a low impact card.
What are your bad match-ups in this deck?
I'm playing this deck for a while now, and i'm surprised that i can almost answer now all meta decks that i encountered. Spirits are freaking awesome seriously..
I have been playing Bant Spirits for about 2 months now and aside from a few articles after the deck won the SCG Open it has been hard to find good write ups. My build is similar to Caleb Durwards with the exception that I cut the Phantasmal Images and brought 2 spell skites to the main board to help give me more slots in the side. I have made alot of changes to the side board and I am still not satisfied with it but that is more of a meta call. Below is a look at the match ups so far. Obviously this is a small sample size and I have met others who do better/worse against certain matchups which can be attributed to different sideboards and even play style.
Vs Burn (50/50)
This one is hard but so far I would say its a 50/50. I feel this may be one that is heavily favored by who is on the play. That being said moving to spell skites to the mainboard has won me a few game 1s on the draw. The biggest thing I have notices is that you need to be very aggressive in you early game blocks. This match is always scary especially for queller but its winnable.
Vs Infect (70/30)
I love this matchup. Game one again is odd but the SpellSkite can be a lifesaver and unexpected for the opponent. Blessed Alliance is the beez knees and will win alot of games. Obviously Infect has the potential to just win so we can just put those losses in the God win categories.
Vs Ad Nauseam (75/25)
So far this has been an easy matchup. I always make sure to bring in my artifact hate in game 2 & 3. We have alot of interaction and effective counters while also putting pressure on them.
Vs Mono Blue Taking turns (80/20)
I know this is not a major deck but it is play regularly in my meta. This is a fun match especially since my last deck (Ponza) always got crushed. Similar to Ad Nauseam in that we can count and play creature on there turn. Biggest thing to watch out for is if they play thing in the ice or not. I have made the mistake once and took out my removal to be punished by one in game two.
Vs Bant Knightfall Company (40/60)
They have alot of great creature that just out value us plus the ability to combo off. Not much goes on just both players playing the game. Try and remove their key pieces early and tempo them out.
Vs Boggles (90/10)
Hahaha similar to infect Spell Skite and Blessed alliance just eat them alive. make sure to block aggressively early as they do not run many creatures and if you can remove one early you are good to go. If they get ahead game one there isn't much to do but concede and go directly to game 2.
Vs Grixis Delver (50/50)
This is an odd one in that they have so much removal but if you can get a drogskul to stick and then project it you are good. Very fun match in that there is alot of interaction and decision trees for both player.
Vs Grixis Control (30/70)
I may just not be that great against control but this one is tough. So much removal but if we can gain tempo or and early Geist then things can go our way. I may just need more practice. Also Kalitas is stupid good against us.
Vs Jund (25/70)
This is the one that I have been making the most sideboard changes for and while I haven't played against Abzan I imagine its is similar in its difficulty. So far for me I have won game 1 against them every time but then proceed to lose the next 2 games. Hand disruption hurts and lilly just breaks out heart. Worse is a turn 2 burn our Noble on our end step then turn 3 Lilly our Geist. I have added 2 negates and 2 Kitchen Finks plus 1 Kira to the side to see if that will help in the future. Make sure to Kill the BOB as they seem to be magical and only show lands in my experience. I am not sure as to the worth of bringing in rest in Peace to help against Goyf but I am in such a bad state against this dang deck that it may be worth a try. Please let me know what you are doing to help this matchup as this is one that others have said they had no problem with.
Vs Affinity (50/50)
Affinity does its thing and can do it well but we do have flyers which help slow them down a bit game one and gives us a chance if they don't have the god draw. After then Sideboard help usually wins it. I have only really played this one twice with spirits so its still up in the air as to how things are.
Decks I have yet to play against
Dredge- have sideboard hate but again I think this is a likely game 1 loss
Tron- I have been told this is a very bad matchup for us.
Bant Eldrazi- This may be where taking out the Imagies bites us but its been losing market share in the meta so I will just take that chance.
Titan Shift- On paper I think this looks favorable with our amount of counters and aggression.
Let me know how you are handling the various matchups. My sideboard is below but ever changing.
2x Blessed Alliance
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Negate
1x Path to Exile
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Rest in Peace
3x Stony Silence
Vs Skred (10/90)
They win. That's all. All the removal/board wipes. Plus Blood Moon makes this a very bad matchup. Its really hard to get tempo on them so this is possibly the worst matchup for Spirits.
What anoys me about spirits is that it plays very similar to faeries, but the two do not mix. Faeries does not have enough good cards to build a full deck, and spirits only has just enough good tragets to fill a deck.
Have anybody tryed combining them?
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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.
In the stores here has grown the deck valakut, what have you been using against? Runed Halo maybe?
I have tested against elves, jeskai aggro and naya zoo, the deck has proved very efficient against these aggros.
Played well against tooth and nails too.
I have yet to play against Valakut decks yet. Fairon how has that matchup been going. I would guess that focusing on keeping scapeshift out of play is the thing to do as well as countering any ramp spells but I can see that being tough. I would bring in my extra removal to help with Titan but I can see path being a sad choice since it helps ramp them. Maybe just bring in the Blessed Alliance, Kira and I play negates but perhaps going the unified will if Titan is really big in your meta. I feel like the aggro creature decks match up well for us with the exception of Fish as they seem to have much better lords.
I have yet to play against Valakut decks yet. Fairon how has that matchup been going. I would guess that focusing on keeping scapeshift out of play is the thing to do as well as countering any ramp spells but I can see that being tough. I would bring in my extra removal to help with Titan but I can see path being a sad choice since it helps ramp them. Maybe just bring in the Blessed Alliance, Kira and I play negates but perhaps going the unified will if Titan is really big in your meta. I feel like the aggro creature decks match up well for us with the exception of Fish as they seem to have much better lords.
I have not yet tested the deck against Merfolk, I will test against on Saturday, I believe it will not be big problems.
The Green spirits other than Strangleroot Geist are terrible and unplayable.
There are much better alternatives to Ghost-lit Redeemer as you mentioned so it is not worth a card slot even in the SB.
The same goes for the "destroy-enchantment" spirits which are way too narrow and inferior to other green creatures like Qasali Pridemage/Reclamation Sage as SB cards.
I think there are metagame situations where it might be appropriate. But if you aren't sure about the status of the metagame, a Spellskite in the main seems suboptimal to me.
Why not something like Bygone Bishop instead ?
1: How manay creatures/spells/lands do you run in a coco build?
2: What do people think about Cryptic Command?
3: What are peoples experiences with Ojutai's Command?
Seems like and allstar. Mostly with Selfles Spirit, Rattle Chains or Phantasmal Image with a spell queller or drogskull captain on the table.
It also seems to me that Spirit of Saint Traft is good with CoCo and Cryptic Command, as Saint Traft is the one spirit that deals the most damage to the oponent.
22-23 lands
8-10 spells
Cryptic Command - It's hard to cast because of its cost.
Ojutai's Command - Viable
Not so fast but when the game extends a lot, Bygone Bishop does not work with company, do you think it's good to use it anyway?
Snapcaster is good with path, but terrible with coco. That means you have 6 mana, most games do not go that long.
This deck barely runs any instants/sorceries meaning that snapcaster will be mostly useless.
I'm playing this deck for a while now, and i'm surprised that i can almost answer now all meta decks that i encountered. Spirits are freaking awesome seriously..
Vs Burn (50/50)
This one is hard but so far I would say its a 50/50. I feel this may be one that is heavily favored by who is on the play. That being said moving to spell skites to the mainboard has won me a few game 1s on the draw. The biggest thing I have notices is that you need to be very aggressive in you early game blocks. This match is always scary especially for queller but its winnable.
Vs Infect (70/30)
I love this matchup. Game one again is odd but the SpellSkite can be a lifesaver and unexpected for the opponent. Blessed Alliance is the beez knees and will win alot of games. Obviously Infect has the potential to just win so we can just put those losses in the God win categories.
Vs Ad Nauseam (75/25)
So far this has been an easy matchup. I always make sure to bring in my artifact hate in game 2 & 3. We have alot of interaction and effective counters while also putting pressure on them.
Vs Mono Blue Taking turns (80/20)
I know this is not a major deck but it is play regularly in my meta. This is a fun match especially since my last deck (Ponza) always got crushed. Similar to Ad Nauseam in that we can count and play creature on there turn. Biggest thing to watch out for is if they play thing in the ice or not. I have made the mistake once and took out my removal to be punished by one in game two.
Vs Bant Knightfall Company (40/60)
They have alot of great creature that just out value us plus the ability to combo off. Not much goes on just both players playing the game. Try and remove their key pieces early and tempo them out.
Vs Boggles (90/10)
Hahaha similar to infect Spell Skite and Blessed alliance just eat them alive. make sure to block aggressively early as they do not run many creatures and if you can remove one early you are good to go. If they get ahead game one there isn't much to do but concede and go directly to game 2.
Vs Grixis Delver (50/50)
This is an odd one in that they have so much removal but if you can get a drogskul to stick and then project it you are good. Very fun match in that there is alot of interaction and decision trees for both player.
Vs Grixis Control (30/70)
I may just not be that great against control but this one is tough. So much removal but if we can gain tempo or and early Geist then things can go our way. I may just need more practice. Also Kalitas is stupid good against us.
Vs Jund (25/70)
This is the one that I have been making the most sideboard changes for and while I haven't played against Abzan I imagine its is similar in its difficulty. So far for me I have won game 1 against them every time but then proceed to lose the next 2 games. Hand disruption hurts and lilly just breaks out heart. Worse is a turn 2 burn our Noble on our end step then turn 3 Lilly our Geist. I have added 2 negates and 2 Kitchen Finks plus 1 Kira to the side to see if that will help in the future. Make sure to Kill the BOB as they seem to be magical and only show lands in my experience. I am not sure as to the worth of bringing in rest in Peace to help against Goyf but I am in such a bad state against this dang deck that it may be worth a try. Please let me know what you are doing to help this matchup as this is one that others have said they had no problem with.
Vs Affinity (50/50)
Affinity does its thing and can do it well but we do have flyers which help slow them down a bit game one and gives us a chance if they don't have the god draw. After then Sideboard help usually wins it. I have only really played this one twice with spirits so its still up in the air as to how things are.
Decks I have yet to play against
Dredge- have sideboard hate but again I think this is a likely game 1 loss
Tron- I have been told this is a very bad matchup for us.
Bant Eldrazi- This may be where taking out the Imagies bites us but its been losing market share in the meta so I will just take that chance.
Titan Shift- On paper I think this looks favorable with our amount of counters and aggression.
Let me know how you are handling the various matchups. My sideboard is below but ever changing.
2x Blessed Alliance
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Negate
1x Path to Exile
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Rest in Peace
3x Stony Silence
Vs Skred (10/90)
They win. That's all. All the removal/board wipes. Plus Blood Moon makes this a very bad matchup. Its really hard to get tempo on them so this is possibly the worst matchup for Spirits.
Have anybody tryed combining them?
I have tested against elves, jeskai aggro and naya zoo, the deck has proved very efficient against these aggros.
Played well against tooth and nails too.
I have not yet tested the deck against Merfolk, I will test against on Saturday, I believe it will not be big problems.
There are much better alternatives to Ghost-lit Redeemer as you mentioned so it is not worth a card slot even in the SB.
The same goes for the "destroy-enchantment" spirits which are way too narrow and inferior to other green creatures like Qasali Pridemage/Reclamation Sage as SB cards.