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  • posted a message on Modern Spirits
    I would 100% confirm what StreexGeist is saying Re: Geist. Not good right now.

    I love Image, its become my favorite card in the deck. Obviously better with vial than in other shells. Feels good to copy an Emrakul, Griselbrand (digging for that pte), or various Eldrazi. Of course the most powerful thing it can do is turn three double Captain.

    Thanks for the advice on Herald. I stared with it and to be honest always liked it, but the random spirit players I've chatted with online derided me for the inclusion so I moved away. Against Death Shadow it was always great. I could see how it would really help vs. Hollow One, Primetime, or those pesky merfolk.

    I played FNM locally (Ottawa - Canada) last week and went 4-0 with my version of Spirit Taxes -> No Curious Obsession and four copies of Phantasmal Image. I faced a red land destruction deck (ramping with artifacts to hit Wildfire) (2-1), Green Tron (2-0), BU Control (2-0), and merfolk (2-1). Three of those matchups are solidly in our favor so I got a bit lucky, but still, I'm 8-0 with Spirits the last two paper events, so that feels solid.

    I love Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in spirit taxes. I think in regular w/u spirits I would lean towards Eidolon or Spirit of the Labyrinth just for the added synergy and protection, plus they work better with that Herald you'll are talking about:)

    I love Kor Firewalker and I've been trying one copy of Burrenton Forge-Tender. I've really liked it. Its a fifth copy of Selfless Spirt in certain matchups, and you can bring it in vs. Add Nauseum/Storm to slow them down, also useful vs. Burn and Goblins. I like a 1/1 split of Firewalker and Forge-Tender.

    @Streex: I'm curious about a couple of your SB choices. Your running Hurkl's Recall over Kataki? It seems like your SB is very light vs. artifacts/tron. No Ceremonious Rejection, Stony Silence, Disdainful Stroke? Do you find Deprive fits the job fine on its own? Looking online it seems that Deprive is currently in favor in Merfolk, so that makes sense. I'm guessing Hindering Light is for Add Nauseum, Burn, and heavy removal decks like Jund? How do you find it?








    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
  • posted a message on Modern Spirits
    Thanks for starting up this primer.

    I've been playing various versions of UWX spirits online for more than year - hundreds of games against every deck. I chose spirits because they were cheap, started out with budget and have slowly grinded my collection up so that I have been able to build several other decks. I've been pretty successful in the friendly leagues with multiple 5-0s. Last league was my best and I finished top 20 on the leaderboard with 10+ 5-0s all with some variant of spirit.

    I have never played Bant Spirits. I can understand the power of the deck, and I should probably give it a try, but in theory what I like about vial variants is the ability to maximize the synergy of the cards. You lose out (it appears) on explosiveness in exchange for more control. My favorite card in all my various builds is Phantasmal Image. I've tried two, but I always go back to four. It's just so versatile and I contend that the best thing the deck can do is turn 3 Captain with a vialed in Image.

    Originally - post BBE unbanning - I had by far my most success with UWB with the splash for Lingering Souls. With the increase in jund and then the shift towards linear aggro decks, I found that the UWB just wasn't getting it done. Thankfully I found a couple of lists that I've really enjoyed.

    First I tried the 5-0 competitive Tallowisp list: Two tallow wisps, curious obsession, etc. However, I find tallowisp clunky and the overall power of the deck was meh. It made me think that the 5-0 was just a bit of lucky draws. I then tried out the Taxes list that has been popping up online and really liked it. Thalia is great against Jund, Hollow One decks, and so on. If you don't know the list here is the one I copied (a 5-0 competitive list):

    4 Vial
    3 PtE
    4 Curious Obsession
    4 Mausoleum Wanderer
    4 Rattlechains
    3 Selfless
    4 Leonin
    3 Thalia
    2 Image
    4 Captain
    4 Queller
    21 Lands:
    4 Adarkar Wastes
    4 Seachrome Coasts
    3 Shock
    2 Moorland Haunt
    4 Ghost Quarter
    Basics

    I liked the deck, but to be honest I've always found Curious Obsession to be either great or terrible. To many games I either had multiples in my opening hand or didn't find it until it was to late. I may need to test it more. The other thing I just didn't like was two Image. When your using Vial you have that extra bit of control and with only two images I was hitting Captian + Image far less often, and as a result winning far less often. Image is also your extra Wanderer, or Spell Queller or whatever you need. So while I originally scuffled with the deck I ended up cutting the Obsessions, adding two images, the fourth pte (I would also be boarding it in), and a mainboard Worship. I've since moved the Worship to the SB and added a Shalai, Voice of Plenty (won me a few games against Burn) just to test - sure, its better in Bant but I'm mostly interested in the Hexproof.

    What I love about Spirit Taxes is that on the play it gives you better game against Jund (Thalia and Leonin are great), Tron (went from one of my worst matchups to one of my better one's), Titan Shift, etc.

    Historically I've found that UW vial spirits is great vs. Control/combo decks, but struggled vs. Jund, Tron, and various big mana decks. I tried to combat this with certain counterspells in the SB, but Leonin and Thalia do the job much much better.

    I know a lot of high level players - those who actually will play spirits - play Bant, but I sometimes wonder if that's just because they've seen certain players have success and they assume its the best version. Without having played Bant I'm not in a position to say it is worse than Vial versions, but it certainly feels like an argument can be made.

    The one area I think I really struggle in is building and deploying my SB. I would appreciate any advice for my WU spirit taxes SB - currently running:

    Worship - bring in on play vs. Burn, and then decks that are faster than us: Goblins (popular online), Humans, affinity, Merfolk, Hollow One, various GW value/combo decks
    Settle the Wreckage - bring vs. aggro
    Supreme Verdict - Great thing about Selfless Spirit is you can play pure sweepers which is great vs. BG elves, merfolk, humans, etc
    Thalia - bring in vs. burn, hollow one, storm, add nauseum, etc
    Eidolon of Rhetoric - combo/control - also good vs. BBE
    Kataki - spirit and good vs. Affinity/artifacts
    Selfless Spirit - control
    2 Rip - storm, dredge, griselhoard, etc
    2 Celestial Purge - Lilliana/Hollow One/Blood Moon
    2 Ceremonious Rejection - artifacts
    2 Kor Firewalker - goblins + burn

    Okay, let me talk about our difficult matchups. As I noted, UW vial spirits is traditionally good vs. control, combo, burn, most midrange decks, and DS, but struggles vs. Tron, aggro, Titan shift and lantern. The unbanning of BBE made Jund very difficult, but non-BBE midrange decks are still fine. The main reason to play taxes is that it turns Tron and Jund and big mana decks into a solid matchup, while keeping your traditional good matchups. But I think it also becomes slightly worse against creature aggro - which sucks because that's a major player right now.

    I don't like the SB. As I noted, I find four mana for a sweeper to be difficult - to this end I can see why Obsession would be good because it lets you hunt for the lands and sweepers you need. I've cut Kor Firewalker at various times because your matchup vs. Burn is already 50-50 but by having the Firewalkers its basically an auto win and its also a blowout vs. Goblins which otherwise is probably to fast. I just love the card.

    Eidolon seems like an auto include, but frankly you just don't need it to beat combo, so I'm thinking of cutting it.

    So what do I need to shore up? Aggro and a way to deal with Bridge, while keeping my matchup vs. Burn solid. Options vs. Aggro:

    Ghostly Prison - three mana is much easier to hit but the card doesn't do anything vs. most versions of Elves.
    Supreme Verdict - Elves/Merfolk is the main reason to run
    Settle the Wreckage - great card, but I also find that lots of decks fade the card right when four mana is up - another reason I don't run the normal two.
    Worship - It's done more for me than either Settle the Wreckage or Supreme Verdict tbh.

    What other options exist? How many should I run? What about Bridge / Lantern, do I put in something that can deal with the Bridge after it resolves like Disenchant?

    Any thoughts on the SB and what I should be looking at?

    Just a note on a few other fringe cards W/U spirit cards I've tested:

    Geist - honestly have never been impressed with the card - I think its only really good in Bant and probably a good reason to play Bant. Steel of Godhead + Geist is insanely powerful and basically auto win, but unless your all in I think I'd rather take a different approach.
    Nebelgeist Herald - I've played him, and he's cute, but I don't think its powerful enough at the three slot to justify
    Spirit of the Labyrynth - one of my favorite spirits. Was stoked when Jace showed up because he became good, with Jace falling out of favor he's no longer really that viable other than maybe a one or two in the board - if your not running Thalia or Eidolon.
    Tallowisp - fun card but I'm not a believer that its the best version
    Stony Silence - nonbo in combination with Vial, but if your not running Leonin I don't think you can get away with not playing it. I've talked to Taxes players who will board out Vials vs. Tron/Affinity/Lantern and bring in Stony Silence. It's a consideration for me.

    Anyways, lots of words for my first post. I love the deck, and play it a lot. I'd welcome feedback and comments, or if you have a question I feel like I've played enough UW spirits to have some type of opinion:)









    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
  • posted a message on Eternal Command
    Never mind, Damping Sphere is a bit of a nombo with the deck.

    Without having Collective Brutality - obviously an important card - would you run Feed the Clan's in the SB or something more versatile like some combination of extra Spell Pierce / Dispel / Negate?
    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
  • posted a message on Eternal Command
    One more question - do you guys think Damping Sphere is a better option than Spreading Seas?
    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
  • posted a message on Eternal Command
    I have to agree with 2imu on Golgari Charm - such a strong catch all card. I like the list, and I had been wondering about Bauble vs. Spellbomb, as well as Search. Without extra ways to dump artifacts into the GY getting delirium can be a challenge. I think I'll give the list a go, with a slightly different SB configuration. I don't have EE online.

    The difficult thing about Remand is that its good on the play, and it buys time against certain decks, but its borderline bad on the draw. I like it, drawing cards is fun, but finding the correct configuration is key. Grindy decks are so skill intensive and have so many decisions I think each card needs to be considered extra carefully. I can imagine that one or two changes could make a big difference in a deck like this. Which is part of what makes it fun I guess:)

    I've thrown together a bant list as well - anyone think Dromoka's command is a useful include? Seems like it would be great against other big creatures as long as you have Goyf out, and helps deal with blood moon and rip.

    _________________
    @2imu - as a taxes player who likes vials have you ever given Spirit Taxes a run? I run it to pretty good success online - basic deck idea is using Arbiter + Thalia alongside the normal W/U spirit pack of Mausoleum Wanderer, Rattlechains, Selfless Spirit, Phantasmal Image, Captain, and Spell Queller. Going Captain + image on Turn three (using vial) is pretty nuts, and few things are a fun as firing an Arbiter into the field in response to a tron player cracking a map.
    _________________


    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
  • posted a message on Eternal Command
    Yeah its been an ugly start online, but somehow I still am enjoying the deck:) All the games are tight, I'm just coming out down 2-1 pretty often. Feels like things need to go just right for me to win.

    I don't have the Brutality online because its like 30+ tix, but I have it in paper. I was playing a Sultai version months ago and in my brew I had Tireless Tracker for extra card draw - was fun but not the best synergy with a 20-21 land deck. I also really like the one mana counter if you have a creature that's four or greater. Stick an early goyf and your laughing.

    It's a fun deck, but there are so many decisions that I think it's probably very skill intensive. The more decisions you have the more opportunities to make mistakes. I think the Clique is critical - having some type of flyer support for the odd spell queller or oppositing kitesail. I also think Grim Flayer could be good as you say - although I don't find that I get to delirium that often because of how few creatures we run.

    Funny thing about Bontu, I was playing big mana and was just trading removal for creatures. I went damnation, bontu, then snap bontu, but could never find a creature to back up my wraths and the bontu ended up screwing me because I couldn't untap. Still, with Vial I think its a decent option. I wonder if the four mana -/3/3 wrath that lets us cast a card for free from our hand would be good? lets us play around our own Gofys and maybe cast something on top of it?

    I think Golgari Charm is just so versatile. It can ruin elves, and lingering souls without cyptic is rough. I think its a good card.

    Based on my previous play, and my recent run, I do think that the temer version is probably better in the online meta, just because of your ability to finish off decks with bolt that punish themselves with fast starts.

    Still interested to see how it goes over time.

    Thanks for the comment, I'll check back in occasionally with an update - and will lurk to see if anyone else is playing the deck online to any success.
    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
  • posted a message on Eternal Command
    Hey, I'm relatively new to the deck - I don't have scalding tarns so I'm trying the Sultai version for now. Has anyone played it much online? What does your sideboard look like? The meta online is blazing fast right now. I played a couple leagues with my other deck (spirit taxes) and played 3 burns, 3 hollow one, elves, add nauseum, etc.

    Here's my list (based off of a couple of the lists on this site - thanks:)

    4 vial
    4 fatal push
    3 serum visions
    2 opt
    1 spell pierce
    1 Traverse
    1 Nihil Spellbomb

    2 Decay
    1 Familar Ruse
    1 Ooze
    4 Goyf
    4 Snap
    3 Remand

    3 Witness
    1 Maelstrom Pulse

    3 Cryptic
    1 Hostage Taker

    21 lands - one man land

    My current SB looks like this:

    1 Damnation
    1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
    1 Spell Pierce
    1 Negate
    3 Spreading Seas
    3 Ceremonious Rejection
    1 Nihil Spellbomb
    1 Decay
    1 Ashiok
    1 Golgari Charm
    1 ooze

    I need a clique or two, and I'm just testing out Hostage Taker for fun - I agree that Flayer is probably the better option - still, Hostage Taker won me a game last night vs. Amulet Titan (I stole a Titan, and managed to tap down with Cryptic the following turn to get my Titan and Goyf through for the win). The mainboard spell pierce is mostly just based on what I've read here. I was using Spell Snare but found it lacking online. I don't think the sultai version is overly worried about opposing two drop creatures. I'd rather have a way to protect my creatures or ambush a combo deck or super fast deck like Hollow One.

    Anyways, thoughts on SB, and what our best configuration would be for more competitive scenes (such as online or at a GP) would be appreciated. What's our worst matchups?

    Cheers


    Posted in: Aggro & Tempo
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