MTG Salvation

I liked to watch this deck evolve. It looks fun and decently strong. Was sad to see it fall from the front page. Seems to happen from time to time... Like the monument deck that shifted from a WG card advantage whore with a nearly indestructible late game to a UW thing that looks cute. *Sigh*

Quote from megatog201 »

I liked to watch this deck evolve. It looks fun and decently strong. Was sad to see it fall from the front page. Seems to happen from time to time... Like the monument deck that shifted from a WG card advantage whore with a nearly indestructible late game to a UW thing that looks cute. *Sigh*

To be honest, I think the tallowisp version has things going for it that are better than the vial or coco versions. The multiple lines of play to deal with each appropriate situation is one of them. I find the vial and the coco version to get completely blown out if things don't align for them perfectly. While this version can weasel itself out of situations and manage to eek out wins. Like against Death Shadow decks. This deck can lock out a shadow deck by fetching answers and prevents huge comebacks just because an opponent resolves a big creature. And after watching the video with MagicAids, I'm in agreement that Drogskul captain can be cut to 2 or so. This version doesn't really need it as much as the other two, it's often in my hand unless I want to Rattlechains it out. I rather go for the big geist than the multiple dudes.

Oh completely agree with you. I was partial to the shoals version. At least the Shining Shoals. That's actually a pet card of mine though. You can do such disgusting plays with it and tallow. I like to splash green for unflinching courage. But that's just one of our best tabletop decks.

Quote from megatog201 »

Oh completely agree with you. I was partial to the shoals version. At least the Shining Shoals. That's actually a pet card of mine though. You can do such disgusting plays with it and tallow. I like to splash green for unflinching courage. But that's just one of our best tabletop decks.

I think both shoals are better for the sideboard at this point. They both can blow other decks out of the water with one well timed shoal. But for the mainboard, having Wanderer and Queller is more than enough to disrupt plans. I'm going to play the deck tomorrow at FNM, and see how well I do again.

The biggest change is Angelic Destiny -> Unstable Mutation and cutting Captain to 2 and increasing the Queller and Geist count to 4 each. I think this gives me the most effective tempo and pressure to win games.

Oddly enough, this deck can match up against Eldrazi Tron but still has a tough time with regular tron. That's the one matchup I still need to figure out. Commandeer might be worth it in the side

They have that flash Aura that gives the creature Shadow and prevents all damage it deals. Has flash also. Seems like it could be a good one of.

I like that, but it seems to counteract what the deck is trying to do. I think Sigarda woul d work better in the Bant Spirits deck which aims to go wide, while this deck goes all in with the Geist.

Geist and Sigarda functionally canact as the same thing. Something protected that canbe auraed and can beat down. Sigarda seemsfine for at least the sb.

Brought this U/W list to FNM last tuesday and friday at my local shop.
I stand firm that we should stay 2 colors.
Tuesday 3-1 (Win: Jeskai Tempo, Grixis Shadow, Jank Brew, Lose: Gx Tron)
Friday 4-0 (Win: Jeskai Tempo, U/W Control, Grixis Shadow, Jund)



I have since cut a Curiosity, and moved spirit link and Shining shoal to the board for 3x Selfless Spirit and 1 Aqueous Form will report back again after taking the revisions on tuesday.

Also considering cutting a land for another spirit. not sure yet though. deck floods a lot

nice! Glad you got success with it. I find 22 to be really good for me. And I'm only running green for Rancor. Having a mana leak on a stick is really good. And it doesn't really 2 for 1 that often.

Looks like a really fun deck. Might dismantle my CoCo version to try it. I think rancor might be a reason just to splash 1 green in there. How does this look? Thinking Bell strike over curse of chains to stop a few friends decks that can tap out an still get my before curse retaps it. I'm also guessing that curse of chains helps with the shouls. I've never used them and they look good vs some decks but unless tallowisp is on the field going 2 cards for 1 might be tough

I play artifact decks a lot so prob swap between Kataki, War's Wage and Selfless Spirit on the one spot

Quote from ZorrosRage »

Looks like a really fun deck. Might dismantle my CoCo version to try it. I think rancor might be a reason just to splash 1 green in there. How does this look? Thinking Bell strike over curse of chains to stop a few friends decks that can tap out an still get my before curse retaps it. I'm also guessing that curse of chains helps with the shouls. I've never used them and they look good vs some decks but unless tallowisp is on the field going 2 cards for 1 might be tough

I play artifact decks a lot so prob swap between Kataki, War's Wage and Selfless Spirit on the one spot

Underused Cards's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures:24 4 Mausoleum Wanderer 1 Kataki, War's Wage 4 Rattlechains 4 Tallowisp 3 Drogskol Captain 3 Geist of Saint Traft 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 4 Spell Queller Spells:14 2 Oppressive Rays 1 Rancor 4 Reach Through Mists 2 Singing Bell Strike 1 Spectral Flight 1 Weight of Conscience 2 Steel of the Godhead 1 Angelic Destiny	Lands:22 1 Breeding Pool 1 Eiganjo Castle 4 Flooded Strand 2 Glacial Fortress 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Island 1 Mistveil Plains 2 Moorland Haunt 2 Plains 2 Seachrome Coast 1 Temple Garden 2 Windswept Heath	Sideboard:15 2 Kami of False Hope 1 Kataki, War's Wage 3 Selfless Spirit 1 Curiosity 4 Path to Exile 1 Spirit Link 1 Unstable Mutation 1 Canopy Cover 1 Gift of Immortality

I think you're playing way too many enchantments. These things can easily be dead cards, and Path to Exile should always be mainboard. It's just to versatile. I know people love Curiosity and the idea of drawing a card, but it's not good enough.

That said, try it out and let the rest of us know. I haven't been playing the deck and I'll revisit it when my Eldrazi Ninja deck gets blown out or I get bored with it.

Quote from Underused Cards »

Quote from ZorrosRage »

Looks like a really fun deck. Might dismantle my CoCo version to try it. I think rancor might be a reason just to splash 1 green in there. How does this look? Thinking Bell strike over curse of chains to stop a few friends decks that can tap out an still get my before curse retaps it. I'm also guessing that curse of chains helps with the shouls. I've never used them and they look good vs some decks but unless tallowisp is on the field going 2 cards for 1 might be tough

I play artifact decks a lot so prob swap between Kataki, War's Wage and Selfless Spirit on the one spot

ZorrosRage's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures:24 4 Mausoleum Wanderer 1 Kataki, War's Wage 4 Rattlechains 4 Tallowisp 3 Drogskol Captain 3 Geist of Saint Traft 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 4 Spell Queller Spells:14 2 Oppressive Rays 1 Rancor 4 Reach Through Mists 2 Singing Bell Strike 1 Spectral Flight 1 Weight of Conscience 2 Steel of the Godhead 1 Angelic Destiny	Lands:22 1 Breeding Pool 1 Eiganjo Castle 4 Flooded Strand 2 Glacial Fortress 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Island 1 Mistveil Plains 2 Moorland Haunt 2 Plains 2 Seachrome Coast 1 Temple Garden 2 Windswept Heath	Sideboard:15 2 Kami of False Hope 1 Kataki, War's Wage 3 Selfless Spirit 1 Curiosity 4 Path to Exile 1 Spirit Link 1 Unstable Mutation 1 Canopy Cover 1 Gift of Immortality

I think you're playing way too many enchantments. These things can easily be dead cards, and Path to Exile should always be mainboard. It's just to versatile. I know people love Curiosity and the idea of drawing a card, but it's not good enough.

That said, try it out and let the rest of us know. I haven't been playing the deck and I'll revisit it when my Eldrazi Ninja deck gets blown out or I get bored with it.

You're probably right about the path mainly wanted more enchant then side in the paths but they are almost always better main board

What do you think about Clout of Dominus as a 1 of to protect a wisp, or Spirit Mantle for creature protection for your attackers

Quote from ZorrosRage »

What do you think about Clout of Dominus as a 1 of to protect a wisp, or Spirit Mantle for creature protection for your attackers

I honestly wouldn't recommend Clout, but Spirit Mantle is great in the deck if you hav ea lot of creature based decks in your meta. The deck actually revolves around Geist of Saint Traft and not really Tallowisp. And you have many ways to protect your Tallowisp with Rattlechains, Shoals, Queller and Wanderer. It's really not needed. And any removal for the Tallowisp can be responded to with Reach Through Mist so you get the aura you need.

Been playing this deck for a few months. No shoals in the deck since the cards lose so much if tallowisp isn't in play.

Also found Twisp fetching steel of the godhead really needed Geist for an optimal target so trying smugglers copter for a way to push in some damage with twisp if you can't find a geist. The looting also helps find your pieces. Being able to crew with mausoleum wanderer, while still keeping the wanderer up to sac for protection is nice.

Also trying out vials in the deck. Vial on 3 means a sneaky geist at opponents end of turn can wear a steel out of nowhere to start swinging. Also allows flashing in wanderer and selfless spirit when you need the protection without having to need rattlechains in play.

I didn't like the vial version just because it felt awkward to me at times since a lot of things run on instant speed. And I always felt if you use vial it's better to have 4 drogskul captains and go wide instead.

Certainly true about instant speed already being there for some of the cards. The biggest benefit, I find, is the explosive turn 3s and 4s you can get off of 3 mana and a vial on 2. Being able to put mausoleum wanderer in on turn 2 with vial essentially means you're caught up after turn 2. The copters have been playing a role in discarding duplicate vial topdecks.
It's also come in handy to flash in mausoleum wanderer or selfless spirit for protection on a number of occasions when I didn't have a rattlechains out.

Still testing but I think it's a viable build.

Go for it. Le me know how it works out. I still think if you're going vials, go with a full playset of Drogskol Captain

I know some people were trying Curiosity before. What do you think of the new version?

Curious Obsession
U
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature

Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card."

At the beginning of your end step, if you didn't attack with a creature this turn, sacrifice Curious Obsession.

Well I played this yesterday and I'm still surprised it still does well. And this is with opponents knowing what I'm playing now. I beat Jund and As Fortold End, and lost to 8 rack and Breach. But the games I lost were 2-1 and came down to just good top decking. I had the board presence and everything going, and my opponent lucked out.

8 Rack I lost game 1 to an Ensnaring Bridge (I hate these hose cards) because I have no answer. Game 2, I ran him over before he was able to do anything, and in game 3 he again drew his 3rd Ensnaring Bridge, I quellered it, then he abrupt Decay my Queller. I couldn't find my disenchant before his racks slowly ate me away.

As for Breach, I lose to Blood Moon this time since I couldn't find my basics, beat him game 2 playing around BM, and game 3 he just breached me after I quelled his Anger of the Gods. I think I can beat these decks, but I know my sideboard needs to change to address this lack of hose cards killing. I'll probably put in Detention Sphere or Disenchant.

Quote from ZorrosRage »

I know some people were trying Curiosity before. What do you think of the new version? Curious Obsession
Curious Obsession.

I don't like it because it has the same problem with Curiosity. It doesn't do anything to help kill your opponent. Why bother fetching these cards if they don't actually help you quickly kill the opponent or hinder them somehow (This is why I like Oppressive Rays, it stops random dorks and ability creatures; it help me win through a devoted druid combo once. I always feel the auras should help you answer some matchup somehow. Curiosity and Curious Obsession doesn't do that. But try it out and let me know. if you feel the card draw is that much stronger than +3/+3 damage then I'm all ears.

I didn't like curiosity because it felt it needed to at least do something else. Thought the +1 might make it worth it. The extra draw just sounded nice,

I'm currently playing



Now testing Mark of Eviction so far I've used it to annoy people that use Delve, keep a creature with summoning sickness, extra draw for Tallowisp by bouncing spirits, and spellqueller returns if I don't care if card triggers anymore. It's slow but annoying and fun. Might make main deck if I can find room.

So I've been playing this deck some more (I need to keep practicing and hope to get on camera! at a SCG!), and made some changes to the deck. I took out Oppressive Rays and mainboarded Spirit Link. Since the deck is a bit on the slow side, and having some extra lifegain will probably be very handy. I took out 2 disrupting shoals, and put in 2 Spell pierce and 1 Trickbind. I'll see how that goes. The sideboard changed by adding in 1 more Kami of False Hope, and 3 Ceremonious Rejections. The eldrazi decks are still too tough a majority of time.

Havent posted in this thread since november but figured id drop my findings after a good 300+ reps over the past few months.

Heres what my build has evolved into for now. Pretty standard stuff, im mostly just poking at percentage points now.



Id say 80% of games are won by GoST. This build is mostly tailored to slamming him with an unblockable enabler as soon as possible, and protecting him with Selfless Spirit, or clearing blockers with Path if need be. I im still on the fence about how main mainboard Tallowisps im running, and every 10 games it ends up going up to 4 or down to 3, lol.

Ghostly Prison has been the main sideboard allstar so far.

Im also considering testing a build where I pull all my tron sideboard pieces and shift them to other matchups and just sort of concede that Tron is a steep climb for this deck. Unsure yet.

Some other random thoughts;
- Rattlechains is the best card in the deck in all honesty
- After much testing, i think the enchantment count should be at or below 5.
- Serum Visions is the best turn 1 play you can have
- Path should be boarded out in go wide matchups for Ghostly Prison and more lifegain, as counter intuitive as that might sound.
- Disrupting Shoal steals games.
- Moorland Haunt can occasionally win games by itself

Quote from ThaGentleman »

Havent posted in this thread since november but figured id drop my findings after a good 300+ reps over the past few months.

Heres what my build has evolved into for now. Pretty standard stuff, im mostly just poking at percentage points now.

Underused Cards's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
// 60 Maindeck // 25 Creature 3 Tallowisp 4 Geist of Saint Traft 4 Mausoleum Wanderer 4 Rattlechains 4 Spell Queller 3 Drogskol Captain 3 Selfless Spirit // 3 Enchantment 2 Steel of the Godhead 1 Aqueous Form // 7 Instant 4 Disrupting Shoal 3 Path to Exile // 21 Land 4 Hallowed Fountain 3 Plains 5 Island 1 Eiganjo Castle 4 Flooded Strand 1 Moorland Haunt 3 Cavern of Souls	// 4 Sorcery 4 Serum Visions	// 15 Sideboard // 2 Artifact 2 Pithing Needle // 1 Creature 1 Tallowisp // 6 Enchantment 2 Rest in Peace 2 Stony Silence 2 Ghostly Prison // 6 Instant 3 Ceremonious Rejection 2 Disenchant 1 Path to Exile

Id say 80% of games are won by GoST. This build is mostly tailored to slamming him with an unblockable enabler as soon as possible, and protecting him with Selfless Spirit, or clearing blockers with Path if need be. I im still on the fence about how main mainboard Tallowisps im running, and every 10 games it ends up going up to 4 or down to 3, lol.

Ghostly Prison has been the main sideboard allstar so far.

Im also considering testing a build where I pull all my tron sideboard pieces and shift them to other matchups and just sort of concede that Tron is a steep climb for this deck. Unsure yet.

Some other random thoughts;
- Rattlechains is the best card in the deck in all honesty
- After much testing, i think the enchantment count should be at or below 5.
- Serum Visions is the best turn 1 play you can have
- Path should be boarded out in go wide matchups for Ghostly Prison and more lifegain, as counter intuitive as that might sound.
- Disrupting Shoal steals games.
- Moorland Haunt can occasionally win games by itself

I haven't played much against go-wide decks. I'm surprised you're playing only 3 enchantments. At this point it would seem better to just cut the tallowisp package altogether.

I found tron to be not too bad if you pack in Unified Will and Ceremonious Rejection and just cut a majority of the tallowisp package. That said I agree with you that a single Disrupting shoal against Ancient Stirrings or Expedition map wins against tron.

How is this deck when you don’t draw into a Geist? Do you auto lose?

Quote from Kizzel »

How is this deck when you don’t draw into a Geist? Do you auto lose?

No, you go wide and and pace yourself to counter removal with Rattlechains and Spell Queller. But that said, the biggest weakness with Spirits is that it's very reactive. If your opponent doesn't play things that interact with your creatures, you essentially drew bunch of dead cards. And of course that's the meta right now with more linear strategies.

As for autolose stuff, you lose when you draw into Auras but nothing to put them on, or they 2 for 1 you.

The biggest problem with this deck is the lack of actual good auras. Until they print an anthem type aura, this deck should just be played casually at the kitchen table.