Just started following this thread, so pardon my n00bishness for the following query:
Is Apostle's Blessing worthy to be in the 75? It protects and pumps...
i'm still holding one spell pierce, i think a 1 cmc counter can be valuable ... or not?
Have you considered Dispel or Spell Snare? I've used both in Spirits and Grixis Control, they're each great in their own way. Spell Pierce is good, but it's power drops off quickly. While we're discussing counterspells, I'm not sure Cryptic Command is a good choice in this deck. But, please, playtest away - you might find it fits with your style. I'll be doing the same this weekend with my newly acquired Spirit Bonds.
Simian Spirit Guide, nice card, hadn't considered it! My initial thoughts align with D90Dennis14 though. AV already works as intended, and....yet another 3cmc card to fit into our bursting 3-drop list....same as our discussion of Dimir Cutpurse. SSG's a walker too. I will think hard about it though, nice find!
Thanks for your thoughts D90Denis14. I have had a couple games with no AV in hand, feeling a touched starved...I'll take your advice and raise to 20.
With regards to Aether Vial, I usually get 1 in hand straight up or after 1 mulligan - and I find it a real dead card when you top deck it. If you convince me the odds of pulling an AV into start hand with 4x are significant, I'd consider upping the count. I'd also consider it if you can convince me it's not a dud top deck.
Re removal. I don't like Path to Exile. If I felt I really needed removal, I'd splash black, add some fetches and play Fatal Push. If I did this, I'd likely swap Favorable Winds for Zealous Persecution and swing hard to clear out the opponent's board. That said, usually with Spell Queller and Remand and chump block tokens I'm ok. I will think on this. I'd also welcome you to elaborate and extend the discussion on this topic. I'm quite open to listening to a fellow Spirit player, with likely more well rounded experience.
Essence Flux. Don't consider it janky, it's given me many game swings/wins, I just love the card. The shenanigans I've pulled off with it to the chagrin of my opponents....I don't honestly think I could remove it in this deck list. For 1 mana, it's such a powerful tool.
I will also ponder your deck, consider how I can use your list to strengthen mine. Thanks again for contributing.
I don't live in a large city, my meta is small and heavily aggro/creature based. There's few control elements used by opponents. Therefore my deck is skewed in that direction. It usually performs well. A small meta can really twist a deck into a specialised/niche piece of kit, and I'm happy in that my deck's quite balanced compared to some, considering how small my meta is.
My current plan is to chop the Midnight Hauntings for the Spirit Bonds. It may require some rejigging to work, I'm thinking I'll need to lose some 3-drops to insert more 1 & 2-drop creatures, to open mana up to leverage Spirit Bonds. As for what 3-drops to cut, I don't know, they're all (in my mind) pretty indispensable.
Ok, Buckeye_Weasel is bringing me on the remand side. is it worth playing a set of 4 in order to have it on early turns? or would you run less copies of them?
It's of note to me that my thoughts didn't aid you.
As far as quantity, as I've said earlier I think the card is amazing. If you have room for a 4 counter spell suite, don't leave home without 4x Remand MB. I cut my 4x Serum Visions for them.
@Buckeye_Weasel:
Hello to you too! I haven't the time to post my deck just now, but I promise to within the week. I'm not a fan of Bant, but I will go Esper, but I currently am just UW. I play with 3-4 Aether Vial, and always 4 Essence Flux. Flux is an incredible card IMO, it's won me many games. That said, it's flicker mechanic fits perfectly with Spirit Bonds, so I probably wouldn't break Tribal and add Aethergeode Miner. I'm currently running 14 1-drops, 15 2-drops, 12 3-drops. I guess play-testing is the order of the day.
Has anyone anything to say about Spiritual Visit? I know it's not flying, but if you could splice it onto something nice & get recurring tokens from it....
@StreexGeist:
I've lurked at this site for a while, I'm not as experienced as some, but I'll try to give my thoughts on some things I know.
YE: I play 2x Yahenni's Expertise in my Grixis Control deck. That said, I've seen no one else with it. It does feel clunky to use, but cheating out an instant Kolaghan's Command or Ancestral Vision (instant 3 cards!) can be awesome in a pinch. Board sweepers like YE or Ætherize arent gonna be a problem after game 1, you have enough counter spells including your Mausoleum Wanderers, and they're expected.
Counter Spells: I find it interesting you like Vapor Snag over Fatal Push, yet not like Remand... my $0.02 is that Remand is incredible. It's a huge tempo loss for your opponent to tap out on something big, you bounce it, draw a card, then draw yet another card in your draw step. Also worth remembering is the fact that yes, you have to deal with the threat again, but a turn later - and in that time you've advanced your board state over your opponent, and likely worked further through your deck than your opponent. You've probably more mana, 2 more cards/answers (or more) in hand, etc. I've never had Remand leave me stuffed for their next turn play. Mana Leak and even Mausoleum Wanderer diminish in power with every turn too. I don't particularly want to mention Grixis Control again as we're not talking about it, but I used Remands in it successfully until I could afford the Cryptic Commands.
Dimir Cutpurse: I've thought long and hard about this card. In the end, I decided it was yet another 3 drop I was trying to somehow wedge into this deck (and we're bursting at the seams with 3 drops already!). And it also needs extra investment to get running effectively.
Hope I've helped in some way, your other points I'm not knowledgeable on, so I won't comment.
I should clarify... maybe not Oblivion Ring in this case, but say a permanent with an activated ability already in play when you combo out, say opponent has to sac a creature, etc.
Thinking of something like Trickbind. Bit hard to have an extra 2 mana spare when you combo out though!
Is Apostle's Blessing worthy to be in the 75? It protects and pumps...
Going to test the following this weekend:
4x Drogskol Captain
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Nebelgast Herald
3x Phantasmal Image
4x Rattlechains
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
Instant (4)
4x Remand
4x Glacial Fortress
8x Island
3x Moorland Haunt
2x Plains
3x Seachrome Coast
Enchantment (5)
2x Favorable Winds
3x Spirit Bonds
Artifact (4)
4x Aether Vial
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
2x Keening Apparition
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
I really don't like the gaping absence of Essence Flux - but playtesting is playtesting!
Have you considered Dispel or Spell Snare? I've used both in Spirits and Grixis Control, they're each great in their own way. Spell Pierce is good, but it's power drops off quickly. While we're discussing counterspells, I'm not sure Cryptic Command is a good choice in this deck. But, please, playtest away - you might find it fits with your style. I'll be doing the same this weekend with my newly acquired Spirit Bonds.
Simian Spirit Guide, nice card, hadn't considered it! My initial thoughts align with D90Dennis14 though. AV already works as intended, and....yet another 3cmc card to fit into our bursting 3-drop list....same as our discussion of Dimir Cutpurse. SSG's a walker too. I will think hard about it though, nice find!
With regards to Aether Vial, I usually get 1 in hand straight up or after 1 mulligan - and I find it a real dead card when you top deck it. If you convince me the odds of pulling an AV into start hand with 4x are significant, I'd consider upping the count. I'd also consider it if you can convince me it's not a dud top deck.
Re removal. I don't like Path to Exile. If I felt I really needed removal, I'd splash black, add some fetches and play Fatal Push. If I did this, I'd likely swap Favorable Winds for Zealous Persecution and swing hard to clear out the opponent's board. That said, usually with Spell Queller and Remand and chump block tokens I'm ok. I will think on this. I'd also welcome you to elaborate and extend the discussion on this topic. I'm quite open to listening to a fellow Spirit player, with likely more well rounded experience.
Essence Flux. Don't consider it janky, it's given me many game swings/wins, I just love the card. The shenanigans I've pulled off with it to the chagrin of my opponents....I don't honestly think I could remove it in this deck list. For 1 mana, it's such a powerful tool.
I will also ponder your deck, consider how I can use your list to strengthen mine. Thanks again for contributing.
4x Glacial Fortress
8x Island
1x Plains
3x Moorland Haunt
3x Seachrome Coast
Artifacts (3):
3x Aether Vial
Creatures: (24)
4x Drogskol Captain
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
4x Nebelgast Herald
2x Phantasmal Image
3x Rattlechains
3x Selfless Spirit
4x Spell Queller
4x Essence Flux
4x Remand
3x Midnight Haunting
Enchantments (3)
3x Favorable Winds
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Hokori, Dust Drinker
2x Keening Apparition
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
I don't live in a large city, my meta is small and heavily aggro/creature based. There's few control elements used by opponents. Therefore my deck is skewed in that direction. It usually performs well. A small meta can really twist a deck into a specialised/niche piece of kit, and I'm happy in that my deck's quite balanced compared to some, considering how small my meta is.
My current plan is to chop the Midnight Hauntings for the Spirit Bonds. It may require some rejigging to work, I'm thinking I'll need to lose some 3-drops to insert more 1 & 2-drop creatures, to open mana up to leverage Spirit Bonds. As for what 3-drops to cut, I don't know, they're all (in my mind) pretty indispensable.
It's of note to me that my thoughts didn't aid you.
As far as quantity, as I've said earlier I think the card is amazing. If you have room for a 4 counter spell suite, don't leave home without 4x Remand MB. I cut my 4x Serum Visions for them.
Hello to you too! I haven't the time to post my deck just now, but I promise to within the week. I'm not a fan of Bant, but I will go Esper, but I currently am just UW. I play with 3-4 Aether Vial, and always 4 Essence Flux. Flux is an incredible card IMO, it's won me many games. That said, it's flicker mechanic fits perfectly with Spirit Bonds, so I probably wouldn't break Tribal and add Aethergeode Miner. I'm currently running 14 1-drops, 15 2-drops, 12 3-drops. I guess play-testing is the order of the day.
Has anyone anything to say about Spiritual Visit? I know it's not flying, but if you could splice it onto something nice & get recurring tokens from it....
@StreexGeist:
I've lurked at this site for a while, I'm not as experienced as some, but I'll try to give my thoughts on some things I know.
Fastlands: I prefer Glacial Fortress over Seachrome Coast or Prairie Stream myself. I think it's just a case of wanting more duals than just the 4x Glacials....I've even run Mystic Gate a few times....
YE: I play 2x Yahenni's Expertise in my Grixis Control deck. That said, I've seen no one else with it. It does feel clunky to use, but cheating out an instant Kolaghan's Command or Ancestral Vision (instant 3 cards!) can be awesome in a pinch. Board sweepers like YE or Ætherize arent gonna be a problem after game 1, you have enough counter spells including your Mausoleum Wanderers, and they're expected.
Counter Spells: I find it interesting you like Vapor Snag over Fatal Push, yet not like Remand... my $0.02 is that Remand is incredible. It's a huge tempo loss for your opponent to tap out on something big, you bounce it, draw a card, then draw yet another card in your draw step. Also worth remembering is the fact that yes, you have to deal with the threat again, but a turn later - and in that time you've advanced your board state over your opponent, and likely worked further through your deck than your opponent. You've probably more mana, 2 more cards/answers (or more) in hand, etc. I've never had Remand leave me stuffed for their next turn play. Mana Leak and even Mausoleum Wanderer diminish in power with every turn too. I don't particularly want to mention Grixis Control again as we're not talking about it, but I used Remands in it successfully until I could afford the Cryptic Commands.
Dimir Cutpurse: I've thought long and hard about this card. In the end, I decided it was yet another 3 drop I was trying to somehow wedge into this deck (and we're bursting at the seams with 3 drops already!). And it also needs extra investment to get running effectively.
Hope I've helped in some way, your other points I'm not knowledgeable on, so I won't comment.
What do you guys think of Spirit Bonds? Ignore the 2nd piece of rules text.
I also like Spiritual Visit, but having trouble finding a good arcane to splice to, that fits the theme.
Thinking of something like Trickbind. Bit hard to have an extra 2 mana spare when you combo out though!
The consensus appears it's not great.
What do some more experienced Grixis players think?