This is interesting. So it appears that the old U/W Spirits is actually performing quite well.
This list that took 2nd in the Classic is nearly identical to what I was playing right before Gideon was determined to be the go to card.
So maybe it'll be possible that we can return to the older ideas and work from there.
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How can we truly be free, if we are held in the bondage of clothing?
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
I'm surprised he got that far with 23 lands. I believe 24 is the lowest that we should be willing to go with so many of our impactful cards costing 3 and our top end at 5.
The primary reason to use Metallic Mimic in UW spirits is to take them out of range of Walking ballista. Depending on your LGS you may have a meta with a lot of Ballista or a lack of it, but the last tour basically had that card all over the place because so many people were running GB delirium token midrange/aggro decks. My own advice is if anyone is going to the pro-tour or had a past meta with GB delirium counter decks running rampant, build your deck around fighting the decks that are going to fight the GB Delirium counters decks and Saheeli decks. If your meta happens to be one step behind the pro-tour and is made up of people who rely on the interwebz, then you probably want to be the deck that kills GB Delirium Counters and Saheeli. That and possibly really aggressive WR artifact equipment rush aggro decks because without copter that build is far more powerful than the vehicles build that was originally around in Kaladesh.
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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!
"Unfortunately, all of my test animals have died or escaped, so i shall be the final subject. I feel no fear. This is a momentous night."
--Laboratory notes, final entry
My testing partner has been doing very well with Esper Aggro that's essentially Mardu, but with Blue instead of Red for Spell Queller and Metallic Rebuke.
I've gotten back into Magic after about 20 years off thanks to my son who started playing. I wanted to get him a nice, fun deck that he could play with for Christmas and ended up with a semi-traditional UW Flash. Then Mage and Copter. I've toyed around with other decks since then, but recent came back to UW Flash...in part.
I've played around with several different versions trying to make it faster or more resilient. I started with replacing Mages with Fairgrounds Wardens and Copters with Hearts of Kiran. It didn't work though. The Wardens are just too susceptible to getting killed and having tempo swing back the other way and Kiran has too high of a crew to justify. Out went Kiran, in came Aethersphere. It works better in the deck, but I just felt it didn't do enough. Eventually, I added 4x Glimmer of Genius which helped once I got to the midgame, but I still felt as if I needed to get to the midgame against a fast Mardu deck.
I haven't tested this yet, but I'm pretty excited to. Many of the cards pull double duty and are quite symbiotic. My biggest problem is that it is still very weak on Turn 1 and 2. With 4x 1 CMC spells, and 4x 2 CMC spells, nothing really happens until turn 3. If a Mardu opponent is on the play and hits a solid Exemplar-Kiran curve, it could be trouble, but not the end of the world. The deck is a traditional UW Flash deck, with a black splash for 4x Wasteland Strangler and 1x Ulamog's Nullifier. The Warden and Queller both exile a card which could come back if the creature dies. There are also 4x Stasis Snare for instant exile which helps with Aethersphere/Kiran/Gideon. With 12 exile spells, we have 5 spells which move the opponents from exile to the graveyard which, more often than not, means very little. With the strangler, we get a 3/2 creature for 2B which is OK, but it also removes an opponent's card from exile to the graveyard AND gives a target creature -3/-3. The card pulls triple duty in this deck. It removes the threat of having the Warden or Queller die and have tempo shift back by way of returning their creature/spell; kills another of their creatures with -3/-3; and, gives us a solid 3/2 creature. That's value. Ulamog's Nullifier does much the same. It's a 2/3 Flash flying counterspell for 2UB. It however removes 2 cards from exile. Given the higher cost in terms of exiling cards and possibly having multiple sitting my hand, useless, I elected to go with just 1. In total, I can remove 6 cards from exile which will pay tempo dividends with the Warden and Queller.
Planeswalkers - 4
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Instant/Sorcery - 8
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Stasis Snare
Land - 24
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
3x Shambling Vent
4x Island
4x Plains
1x Swamp
(18 W producers, 12 U producers, and 8 B producers).
In order to speed up the curve, I've thought about added Fathom Feeder (UB - 1/1 Deathtouch which causes opponent to exile top card of library); Gifted Aetherborn (which requires BB and a change in land on my part); Scrapheap Scrounger (who is incredible, but doesn't really fit within the deck and can't block); and, Fogwalker (1U - taps creature ETB who can't untap until controller's next turn). It's a tempo card at best. I can't justify removing other cards for it.
Thoughts on the deck as a whole? Improvements to be made? Sideboard will be forthcoming but will likely include Thalia/Fumigate/Fragmentize/Fatal Push
@ketoglutarate nice to see some people trying to live the dream,I've been playing with a list like yours only with 2 ongoing investigation instead of bishop, it provides more clues since i struggled to keep the flow of spirits once bishop hits the field, also is cheaper letting me keep counter magic or removal open, speaking of removal I've been trying to make a black splash for fatal push since I feel removal is key in the current meta but with no luck, has anyone tried it, i can't find de right manabase to consistently cast it
Inspector seems out of place but has played like an all star. Along with the Bygone Bishops, he has swung many games in my favour that would have otherwise settled into top decking contests. 24 lands seems a bit much given the curve, but I'm Hesitant to go lower.
You want counterspells besides Spell Queller. 4 Blessed Alliance is too many, so you can sneak a couple in there. Cast Out from the new set would like a couple slots as well.
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Current Awesome Deck: UWAll-In GiftsWU Consistent, Resiliant, and way overpowered, making multiple 4/4s per turn.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWUFree Stuff MidrangeUWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
I wanted to go with the all Sorcery/Instant removal package to maximize the Niblis... it's sweet when it works, but the Niblis is such a removal magnet that the sample size is small. I'm not sure the deck puts enough pressure on to get away with the full playset of Declaration in Stone. I have been pretty happy with the Commit as an all purpose problem remover.
I like Censor quite a bit in general but I've noticed an odd interaction with the Mausoleum Wanderer. When the wanderer is out and your opponent plays around it they incidentally play around Censor. You can still get them on creatures and planeswalkers and you can still cycle the thing so it's not the worst, just kind of funny.
It's possible the deck wants another Irrigated Farmland to go up to 24 lands. The cycle lands are pretty handy since you really want to get to four mana but you don't care so much about getting any more after that.
Herald vs. Bishop is tough. I do like the all-flash theme, but I also like drawing cards.
Cast Out is superior to Commit in most ways. Commit can hit stuff on the stack, Cast Out can cycle, and of course a Committed card comes back. What I meant re: the Niblis was triggering his tap down ability. Putting opposing creatures on ice removes blockers and swings races. I'm not sure if it's actually worth tilting the deck in that direction instead of just running the stronger cards and Avacyn instead of the Niblis, but doggone it I just like the Niblis.
I'll chip in if you put together a fund to commission a "Reprint Pithing Needle" road sign for WOTC Headquarters. It's a great, skill-testing card that reins in broken cards without being at all broken itself.
ETA: Hard to say about the Wanderer. A lot of the time when it works you don't know about it because it's just preventing your opponent from casting stuff. You get the occasional blowout where people forget about it (i.e. force spiking a maxed pull from tomorrow) but that's not the main value. I have been trying a list that is +2 Hieroglyphic Illumination -1 wanderer -1 glimmer and it feels pretty good. The illumination doesn't get stuck in your hand like glimmer can.
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 actually think the meta is slowing down we are seeing way more Aetherworks and control decks the mardu decks are tuned to be a bit slower to deal with super aggro decks and mono black is super aggro but lots of exile effects may favor the flash deck
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Modern UBRWGHumansUBRWG UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron Legacy WDeath & TaxesW Pauper RGoblinsR EDH UGMerfolk ComboGU Standard UWApproachWU
This is interesting. So it appears that the old U/W Spirits is actually performing quite well.
This list that took 2nd in the Classic is nearly identical to what I was playing right before Gideon was determined to be the go to card.
So maybe it'll be possible that we can return to the older ideas and work from there.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
Nope ito not a spirit until it enter the battlefield.
Chains only gives other "spirits" flash
But he will get the counter
Mimic does give other mimmics counters if they are the same type
Sure I get it for you later.
About mimic, he asked if it had flash from Rattlechains... Counter yes flash nope.
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!
Creatures
2 Archangel Avacyn
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Spell Queller As Always My "Allstar"
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Toolcraft Exemplar] "Allstar"
Planeswalker
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spells
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Heart of Kiran
4 Metallic Rebuke "Allstar"
4 Stasis Snare
Lands
4 Concealed Courtyard
6 Island
7 Plains
4 Port Town
3 Prairie Stream
1x Blessed Alliance
3x Glimmer of Genius
4x Harnessed Lightning
1x Immolating Glare
2x Negate
3x Shock
3x Inspiring Vantage
5x Island
3x Plains
4x Port Town
2x Spirebluff Canal
3x Wandering Fumarole
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Rattlechains
3x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
1x Fumigate
This is my current take on jeskai flash. The red is there to help against opposing creature decks. I play almost 100% on my opp turn when possible.
--Laboratory notes, final entry
Modern: UW Spirits
I've played around with several different versions trying to make it faster or more resilient. I started with replacing Mages with Fairgrounds Wardens and Copters with Hearts of Kiran. It didn't work though. The Wardens are just too susceptible to getting killed and having tempo swing back the other way and Kiran has too high of a crew to justify. Out went Kiran, in came Aethersphere. It works better in the deck, but I just felt it didn't do enough. Eventually, I added 4x Glimmer of Genius which helped once I got to the midgame, but I still felt as if I needed to get to the midgame against a fast Mardu deck.
I haven't tested this yet, but I'm pretty excited to. Many of the cards pull double duty and are quite symbiotic. My biggest problem is that it is still very weak on Turn 1 and 2. With 4x 1 CMC spells, and 4x 2 CMC spells, nothing really happens until turn 3. If a Mardu opponent is on the play and hits a solid Exemplar-Kiran curve, it could be trouble, but not the end of the world. The deck is a traditional UW Flash deck, with a black splash for 4x Wasteland Strangler and 1x Ulamog's Nullifier. The Warden and Queller both exile a card which could come back if the creature dies. There are also 4x Stasis Snare for instant exile which helps with Aethersphere/Kiran/Gideon. With 12 exile spells, we have 5 spells which move the opponents from exile to the graveyard which, more often than not, means very little. With the strangler, we get a 3/2 creature for 2B which is OK, but it also removes an opponent's card from exile to the graveyard AND gives a target creature -3/-3. The card pulls triple duty in this deck. It removes the threat of having the Warden or Queller die and have tempo shift back by way of returning their creature/spell; kills another of their creatures with -3/-3; and, gives us a solid 3/2 creature. That's value. Ulamog's Nullifier does much the same. It's a 2/3 Flash flying counterspell for 2UB. It however removes 2 cards from exile. Given the higher cost in terms of exiling cards and possibly having multiple sitting my hand, useless, I elected to go with just 1. In total, I can remove 6 cards from exile which will pay tempo dividends with the Warden and Queller.
Here's the deck.
Creatures - 24
3x Archangel Avacyn
4x Fairgrounds Warden
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Wasteland Strangler
1x Ulamog's Nullifier
Planeswalkers - 4
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Instant/Sorcery - 8
4x Glimmer of Genius
4x Stasis Snare
Land - 24
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
3x Shambling Vent
4x Island
4x Plains
1x Swamp
(18 W producers, 12 U producers, and 8 B producers).
In order to speed up the curve, I've thought about added Fathom Feeder (UB - 1/1 Deathtouch which causes opponent to exile top card of library); Gifted Aetherborn (which requires BB and a change in land on my part); Scrapheap Scrounger (who is incredible, but doesn't really fit within the deck and can't block); and, Fogwalker (1U - taps creature ETB who can't untap until controller's next turn). It's a tempo card at best. I can't justify removing other cards for it.
Thoughts on the deck as a whole? Improvements to be made? Sideboard will be forthcoming but will likely include Thalia/Fumigate/Fragmentize/Fatal Push
For reference here is my current test list:
4x Rattlechains
4x Selfless Spirit
3x Metallic Mimic
3x Nebelgast Herald
4x Spellqueler
2x Negate
2x Horribly Awry
2x Void Shatter
4x Fatal Push
2x Stasis Snare
2x Always Watching
2x Ongoing Investigation
4x Plains
4x Concealed Courtyard
2x Choked Stuary
2x Port Town
3x Prairie Stream
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Shambling Vent
1x Metallic Mimic
2x Dispel
1x Negate
2x Ceremonious rejection
2x Fumigate
1x Authority of the Consuls
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Blessed Alliance
1x Quarantine Field
2x Transgress the Mind
Modern: UW Spirits
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Bygone Bishop
4 Spell Queller
2 Archangel Avacyn
4 Blessed Alliance
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Stasis Snare
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
9 Island
7 Plains
Inspector seems out of place but has played like an all star. Along with the Bygone Bishops, he has swung many games in my favour that would have otherwise settled into top decking contests. 24 lands seems a bit much given the curve, but I'm Hesitant to go lower.
GB Electric Dreams BG Deal 20 in one shot, or discard their hand?
GWU Free Stuff Midrange UWG Slowly bury the opponent with more threats and answers than they can handle.
My greatest hits:
GURFate Reforged Temur Ascendancy COMBORUG
GUDragons of Tarkir Whisperwood Forever UG
Spell Queller
Mausoleum Wanderer
Rattlechains
Selfless Spirit
Nebelgast Herald
Cast Out
Negate and/or Essence Scatter
Censor?
Blessed Alliance and/or Stasis Snare. These will be solid if the gods see a lot of play
Essence Flux
Dusk
1 Prairie Stream
2 Irrigated Farmland
8 Island
8 Plains
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
2 Bygone Bishop
2 Niblis of Frost
4 Censor
2 Disallow
2 Commit // Memory
1 Glimmer of Genius
I wanted to go with the all Sorcery/Instant removal package to maximize the Niblis... it's sweet when it works, but the Niblis is such a removal magnet that the sample size is small. I'm not sure the deck puts enough pressure on to get away with the full playset of Declaration in Stone. I have been pretty happy with the Commit as an all purpose problem remover.
I like Censor quite a bit in general but I've noticed an odd interaction with the Mausoleum Wanderer. When the wanderer is out and your opponent plays around it they incidentally play around Censor. You can still get them on creatures and planeswalkers and you can still cycle the thing so it's not the worst, just kind of funny.
It's possible the deck wants another Irrigated Farmland to go up to 24 lands. The cycle lands are pretty handy since you really want to get to four mana but you don't care so much about getting any more after that.
Herald vs. Bishop is tough. I do like the all-flash theme, but I also like drawing cards.
Cast Out is superior to Commit in most ways. Commit can hit stuff on the stack, Cast Out can cycle, and of course a Committed card comes back. What I meant re: the Niblis was triggering his tap down ability. Putting opposing creatures on ice removes blockers and swings races. I'm not sure if it's actually worth tilting the deck in that direction instead of just running the stronger cards and Avacyn instead of the Niblis, but doggone it I just like the Niblis.
I'll chip in if you put together a fund to commission a "Reprint Pithing Needle" road sign for WOTC Headquarters. It's a great, skill-testing card that reins in broken cards without being at all broken itself.
ETA: Hard to say about the Wanderer. A lot of the time when it works you don't know about it because it's just preventing your opponent from casting stuff. You get the occasional blowout where people forget about it (i.e. force spiking a maxed pull from tomorrow) but that's not the main value. I have been trying a list that is +2 Hieroglyphic Illumination -1 wanderer -1 glimmer and it feels pretty good. The illumination doesn't get stuck in your hand like glimmer can.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/642556#online
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/642558#online
what do you guys think of this list
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
2 Aerial Responder
4 Spell Queller
4 Archangel Avacyn
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spells (6)
4 Censor
2 Void Shatter
1 declaration in stone
2 Stasis Snare
3 Cast Out
Lands (24)
2 Irrigated Farmland
6 Island
8 Plains
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
1 Dispel
2 Fragmentize
2 Negate
1 Pull from Tomorrow
2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
2 Fumigate
1 Dovin Baan
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 declaration in stone
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
UBRWGHumansUBRWG
UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron
Legacy
WDeath & TaxesW
Pauper
RGoblinsR
EDH
UGMerfolk ComboGU
Standard
UWApproachWU
I think going into a meta full of hyper aggressive decks warrants a different set of removal. Cast Out is worth sideboard slots, but you definitely want Immolating Glare or Blessed Alliance, and maybe one more Declaration in Stone. Disallow is probably better than Void Shatter unless you are worried about Scrapheap Scrounger.
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 actually think the meta is slowing down we are seeing way more Aetherworks and control decks the mardu decks are tuned to be a bit slower to deal with super aggro decks and mono black is super aggro but lots of exile effects may favor the flash deck
UBRWGHumansUBRWG
UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron
Legacy
WDeath & TaxesW
Pauper
RGoblinsR
EDH
UGMerfolk ComboGU
Standard
UWApproachWU
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Archangel Avacyn
4 Censor
2 Void Shatter
2 Stasis Snare
2 Cast Out
4 Island
7 Plains
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
1 Westvale Abbey
The crazy one I've been thinking of trying out is Glyph Keeper as a resilient flying clock.