Hi, I've been loving the spookiness of the deck, and I've had success with it at local tournaments, including PPTQ's. I'll post more soon, but for now I'll say a few things.
Re: Is Noble Hierarch essential? Yes. I had to borrow mine at first. Perhaps that will work for you.
Has anyone else tried Vapor Snag? I like it in many theoretical situations, but I haven't been able to test it much. In general I believe the deck wants more turn-one plays, and I think I'd play Vapor Snag over Steel of the Godhead.
I haven't tried it yet but I will be testing out Vapor Snag. This looks like a temp deck w/ tricks so I feel like Snag would be the way to go (unless you see a siege rhino) and I really don't like the idea of ramping my opponent up w/ Path when I want to be ahead of the game in a tempo build.
I feel like Phantasmal Image is the weakest card in the deck, does anyone else agree? The only card worth cloning is Captain, and I feel we have more then enough ways to protect him between Rattlechains and Selfless Spirit. I'll be dropping him for sure, I just feel like he's dead w/o Captain on the table.
What are everyone's thoughts on Steel of Godhead? I feel like its a big hit or miss? Meaning 2 for one situation or overkill attached to a Geist? I think I would prefer another creature in its spot like Rhox War Monk but I can play around.
I will also be trying Strangleroot Geist in place of Phantasmal Image. Yes, it CMC cost may be difficult T2 but it will give us the tempo play and its a body, especially after a T1 Hierarch is nice. Any thoughts on that?
I see no reason to drop "Path" as without hard removal the deck has no chance against other creature decks and bouncing them for a turn is usually not enough.
The "ramping" is less of an issue since most decks aren't particulary threat dense and if you hit their main "payoff" creature on a critical turn you can really set them back.
Phantasmal Image is good againt Bant Eldrazi (copying many target like Smasher, Reshaper and Thought Knot), a decent blocker too against affinity (Copying Vault Skirge) But mostly i board it out
1.) In what match up do you board-in Kami of False Hope? I can only think of Infect (but we already have Spellskite and Wanderer for it) and a Kiln Fiend/Suicide Zoo deck. Would it be better if you put Engineered Explosives or a life-linker creature (Rhox War Monk) against aggro decks?
2.) I also think that we easily lose to ourselves if we didn't get our 3rd land, What do you think of 22 lands + 1 birds of Paradise instead of 23 lands? More "air" in our deck, but faster and potentially a turn-2 Geist (the dream!)
3.) What do you think of Steel of the Godhead mainboard? Is it worth it? Do you think Kitchen Finks or Rhox War Monk are a better replacement since it adds to the creatures count?
What do you think of Horizon Canopy instead of Razorverge Thicket? The draw a card seems good if you're flooding out and we have a main board life gain (Steel of the God head)
I really think that something's missing in this deck.. So, Here's my questions for today
1.) Do you think we need manlands in this deck? (mutavault,lumbering falls)
2.) How many cavern do you think we need in this deck? Incase i'm gonna bring it to an unknown meta.
3.) What do you think of Vendillion Clique/Midnight Haunting? Incase our opponent didn't cast any spell and we don't want to waste our Spell Queller.
4.) Do you think Authority of the Consuls is the side board good against aggro decks? We need to delay them until mid range and stabilize our health. Rhox War Monk is ok but burn players always kill me before Rhox can even attack.
Hoping for a fast response, I'm gonna try my cool spirits at a big event this weekend.
I have tried Azorius Herald as a three of in the sideboard and been semi-impressed with it. I like that we get all the life up front so that Path from the Burn decks don't wreck us. However, tapping out for it on T3 usually feels terrible.
Blessed Alliance is simply everything we want. For 1 less mana we get the same amount of life we would've gotten from Herald and the card is much, much more versatile. Especially since the deck don't want more lands after we've hit out fourth land drop. Blessed Alliance is the perfect mana sink and also good against Infect. We can't hit it with CC, which is a downside, but we never go below 26-27 creatures after side boarding, so CC usually hits other relevant stuff if we manage to survive for that long.
If Reflector Mage was a Spirit I would play it in a heartbeat but as it stands right now, not being able to play it instant via Rattlechains, not boosting Wanderer and not being able to get buffed by El Capitan isn't good enough imho.
GPT Chiba today at my place, First time using spirits
5 Rounds
Round 1: UB Faeries (1-0)
Game 1: My teammate. He's on the play, landed a turn 2 bitterblossom, Super grindy matchup to the point he's down to 1 and i'm at 2. Bitterblossom is really a nuisance since it blocks are flying spirits. He killed me with 2 unblockable CreepingTarPit
Game 2: I landed a turn 2 Geist of Saint Traft. Easy win
Game 3: I have 2 selfless, 2 rattlechains, 1 Geist and 1 Kira in play, he topdecked languish (-4,-4 sad for selfless) but i responsed using Collected Company putting 2 mausoleum wandederer in play, i sac'ed both and countered the Languished.
Round 2: Bant Eldrazi (2-0)
Game 1: He's on the play, landed a 2nd turn Thought Knot Seer, 3rd turn Drowner of Hope. The game ended easily.
Game 2: I was able to Quelled his Thought Knot Seer, Played CoCo the next turn, putting Selfless Spirit and Drogskol Captain. His hand was flooded by land.
Game 3: Grindy matchup. He's at 8 life and i'm on 11. I have 3 mausoleum wanderer in play and a Drogskol Captain, He has 1 Smasher, 1 Displacer and 1 Thought Knot Seer. My team attacked, he blinked (using displacer) my captain, etb effect my 3 wanderers gets pumped, he flinched lol.
Round 3: G/W Hexproof (2-0-1)
Game 1: Lose the die roll again, He landed a bogle. He equipped it with Ethereal Armor, Rancor, Spider Umbra and Daybreak. My spirits can't attack cause of reach. Loss
Game 2: I kept a hand with blessed alliance, He sac'ed his Bogle. I played a geist on the following turn. He's dead before he can even find his creature
Game 3: Almost 10 min before time, I kept a hand with Blessed Alliance and Qasali Pridemage but only 1 land, luckily my top cards are land. I blessed alliance again on his Bogle, But he already have a reserved creature on his hand. The game becomes grindy, his bogle has few armor (i broke his coronet using qasali). He's at 2 life but he topdecked a Daybreak, I was sure that i'm going to lose but i topdecked a worship. He's at 182 life and i'm on 1 and ask if he has something to destroy my worship, he said none. We laugh and decided to draw
Round 4: G/W Hatebears (3-0-1)
Game 1: Loss the die roll (again lol), but he mulled to 5. He played thalia on the 2nd turn (but not a threat since we're creature based too) he was easily beat downed by my flying spirits
Game 2: He kept his 7. First turn Vial done. I play noble and done. On this game, he used like 3 pte but i always answered by flashing drogskol and rattlechains. He found a Flickerwisp (Blocker) but all my creatures are hexproof. He's down to 3 and he mainphased CoCo while i'm tappedout, he found an arbiter and noble. and he scooped
Round 5: Jeskai Delver (4-0-1)
Game 1: Won the dice roll!!! Played a turn 2 Geist of Saint traft, turn 3 Steel. Easily Win
Game 2: I removed my 2 Phantasmal, and put Skite and 1 RIP (I don't want to put board since i think i'm already good matchup but phantasmal is so bad since he has spot removals). He Spell Snared my 2 drops (RattleChains, Selfless), helixes my face, path my wanderers, but i have 2 CoCo in hand. I CoCo'ed at his end phase and found 2 drogskol Captains. I passed. He attacked his delver (knowing our drogskol is 3/3) i played my Coco'ed again. Found 1 drogskol and 1 selfless, he's delver got killed and swings for lethal
Top 1 seed at top 8
Quarterfinals: RG Ponza (Land D)
Game 1: I was on the play. he 2nd turn blood moon good thing i have hierarch and i was able to cast rattle chains, CoCo and Selfless. He has a boardwipe (miracle forgot the name sry) but i flashed in selfless.
Game 2: My hand is slow, flooded by lands. he was able to cast turn 4 inferno titan and he pinged my creatures, and he attacked his inferno titan with 12 damage.
Game 3: I was on the play kept a 2 land play (fastlands) with 2 queller, 1 Coco, 1Drogskol and 1 Selfless. Didn't draw any lands and he played bloodmoon. I can't cast my spells and loss.
5th place, really happy about the decks performance
Remarks:
The decks was almost the same as Calebd, just fixing some few sideboard because of the meta at my place.
The decks was really sweet! Has some awesome plays, the deck was rogue so my opponent didn't know how to play against it. Unfortunately, i didn't played with an aggro deck (i think my bad matchup). I loved the deck, missing something but we're almost there!!!
I was thinking about changing it to Knightfall, good thing i held back. yolo
*What do you think of Auriok Champion? Good against Dredge, Burns, Zoo, Jund etc. Might be better than finks or Rhox. Any thoughts? WW for me is somehard to cast thou (i think)
*He's playing 2 Kataki and 2 Stony. What are your thoughts on this? do you think 2 stony and 2 engineered explosives can't stop affinity?
*Other thoughts about the 2 decks?
What do you think are the pros of Kataki's War Wage against Stony Silence? Im having a hard time thinking if i should split (2 stony,1 kataki) or 3 stony in my sb. I'm not a fan of Kataki, since he's not really that good against Tron or Ad Naus which Stony is superb. He should also be in your hand or early game to maximize his ability. Well yeah he's a spirit but i think the flash or hexproof isn't really relevant. Thoughts?
Another Question, Why do people not playing Kira? It's good against control matchup (abzan,junk,nahira,uw,delver), some people says it's a worse Drogskol. I do have 1 at the sideboard but tempting to remove it since i need to put 1 more stony. Thoughts? (my meta also has control decks)
Btw, Thank you for suggesting Kami of the False Hope. It's really good, much better than Finks or Rhox imo. The flash fog is really good against fast deck and he's a spirit
Played Birds and Noble in this deck, and here's why Mama Noble is really good.
* Geist of Saint Traft with exalted trigger is a beast, Can't be blocked by flashed Snapcaster or 2/2 creatures)
* We are an aggro-control deck and we really need every bit of damage since we have slower clock against some decks.
* Mausoleum Wanderer has exalted trigger until end of turn therefore you can sac wanderer with a +1 +1 on it
* Always a lightning bolt target
Well bird has pros too,
* A decent flying blocker
* A dork of any color, you can try splashing lingering souls in your deck
* Pumps with Favorable Winds
Had good results competitively, still fixing my sideboard. (Trying 3 Auriok Champion in the future)
Boarded in all Path to Exile since my place is full of creature based decks.
Removed 1 Steel of the Godhead for the 4th Path to Exile slot. For me, it's also a win more card and I rarely assembled the Geist+Sword combo.
Can someone make a sideboard guide against tier decks, Tried making one but still haven't fought all tier decks
i was thinking about the Rhox War monk/steel of the godhead thing. In the most played version of this deck, "lifegain" cards usually get 4 slots, 2 in the main deck and 2 in the sideboard. These 4 slots seldom see the inclusion of more spirits (Kira, Nebelghast Herald) or Favorable Winds
Anyway, the most often played split is 2 Steel of the Godhead MB and 2 Blessed Alliance SB
NOTE: blessed alliance is an extremely versatile card and I love it! I was even thinking about moving it in the mainboard in a 2+2 split with Path to exile, because of so many decks not playing relevant creatures these days!
Even though i personally like Steel of the Godhead, i feel like it's not what this deck wants.
This card is mainly there for Geist of Saint Traft, as a way to give him unblockability, and lifelink. In my opinion, indeed, the Geist+Steel synergy very rarely occurs, and the card has its maximum effect on Geist, Queller and Drogskol (which are blue and white creatures). These issues lead me to look for a more versatile and/or cheap alternative (or radically move to something else)
I was wondering about some alternatives to these:
Azorius Herald, which I don't like because of the fact that i's a nonbo with coco and it's mana inefficient
alternatives to Steel of the Godhead, like Lifelink
i was thinking also about Armadillo cloak (and its modern functional reprint which name I can't remember). It gives +2/+2 and lifelink to ANY creature, and trample can be a good substitute to pure evasion.
So, these are my conclusions about this aspect. I'm really curious about what is your opinion on the matter!
I couldn't agree with you more on the Rhox/ Steel front. Granted I don't have much play experience, but I still quickly noticed how much I would have preferred something more impactful in those slots. As much as I love Blessed Alliance I wouldn't place it in over Path simply due to it trigger only on attack, and opponent gets to choose if there are multiple. Overall that 'Attack Trigger' of Blessed Alliance can make or break a game. Still has defiantly appeared to be a win more senior.
The deck has awesome synergy, but I feel its slower then all other hyper agro decks out there, an doesn't have enough disruption to fight off combo and this is two areas where there should be a focus. I was thinking about dropping a few things to make 4 spot removal MD and add some Counter Magic MD as well. I don't know if its the right move, but That flex Steel/ Rhox spot looks like it would be better w/ some disruption to keep me ahead.
How are you guys feeling about Phantasmal Image? I don't like it... the Captain/ Clone combo is cute, but its not necessary. Between 4 Soulless and 4 Rattle Chains we can easily protect him as it is, so are we really just looking for the extra lord boost? Its another slot I think we can do better with.
Has anyone played w/ Nebelgast Herald? Is he useless? It looks like it might fit well to slow down other aggro builds. He basically looks like a week Merrow Reejerey.
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Re: Is Noble Hierarch essential? Yes. I had to borrow mine at first. Perhaps that will work for you.
Has anyone else tried Vapor Snag? I like it in many theoretical situations, but I haven't been able to test it much. In general I believe the deck wants more turn-one plays, and I think I'd play Vapor Snag over Steel of the Godhead.
I feel like Phantasmal Image is the weakest card in the deck, does anyone else agree? The only card worth cloning is Captain, and I feel we have more then enough ways to protect him between Rattlechains and Selfless Spirit. I'll be dropping him for sure, I just feel like he's dead w/o Captain on the table.
What are everyone's thoughts on Steel of Godhead? I feel like its a big hit or miss? Meaning 2 for one situation or overkill attached to a Geist? I think I would prefer another creature in its spot like Rhox War Monk but I can play around.
I will also be trying Strangleroot Geist in place of Phantasmal Image. Yes, it CMC cost may be difficult T2 but it will give us the tempo play and its a body, especially after a T1 Hierarch is nice. Any thoughts on that?
The "ramping" is less of an issue since most decks aren't particulary threat dense and if you hit their main "payoff" creature on a critical turn you can really set them back.
Strangleroot Geist might be worth trying, another (non-spirit) creature which can be not bad is Reflector Mage.
Just a few question about your tweaks.
1.) In what match up do you board-in Kami of False Hope? I can only think of Infect (but we already have Spellskite and Wanderer for it) and a Kiln Fiend/Suicide Zoo deck. Would it be better if you put Engineered Explosives or a life-linker creature (Rhox War Monk) against aggro decks?
2.) I also think that we easily lose to ourselves if we didn't get our 3rd land, What do you think of 22 lands + 1 birds of Paradise instead of 23 lands? More "air" in our deck, but faster and potentially a turn-2 Geist (the dream!)
3.) What do you think of Steel of the Godhead mainboard? Is it worth it? Do you think Kitchen Finks or Rhox War Monk are a better replacement since it adds to the creatures count?
The lifegain and unblockable can be good in a race and against burn/aggro however it isn't good off CoCo.
Reflector Mage can be pretty good with CoCo as well.
I really think that something's missing in this deck.. So, Here's my questions for today
1.) Do you think we need manlands in this deck? (mutavault,lumbering falls)
2.) How many cavern do you think we need in this deck? Incase i'm gonna bring it to an unknown meta.
3.) What do you think of Vendillion Clique/Midnight Haunting? Incase our opponent didn't cast any spell and we don't want to waste our Spell Queller.
4.) Do you think Authority of the Consuls is the side board good against aggro decks? We need to delay them until mid range and stabilize our health. Rhox War Monk is ok but burn players always kill me before Rhox can even attack.
Hoping for a fast response, I'm gonna try my cool spirits at a big event this weekend.
can you post your deck list?
Multiplayer Decks- Memnarch - Animar, Soul of Elements - Zur, the Enchanter - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice - Food Chain Tazri - Teysa Karlov
Modern BUMill and Bant Spirits.
Thank you Xenphire for the signature!
5 Rounds
Round 1: UB Faeries (1-0)
Game 1: My teammate. He's on the play, landed a turn 2 bitterblossom, Super grindy matchup to the point he's down to 1 and i'm at 2. Bitterblossom is really a nuisance since it blocks are flying spirits. He killed me with 2 unblockable CreepingTarPit
Game 2: I landed a turn 2 Geist of Saint Traft. Easy win
Game 3: I have 2 selfless, 2 rattlechains, 1 Geist and 1 Kira in play, he topdecked languish (-4,-4 sad for selfless) but i responsed using Collected Company putting 2 mausoleum wandederer in play, i sac'ed both and countered the Languished.
Round 2: Bant Eldrazi (2-0)
Game 1: He's on the play, landed a 2nd turn Thought Knot Seer, 3rd turn Drowner of Hope. The game ended easily.
Game 2: I was able to Quelled his Thought Knot Seer, Played CoCo the next turn, putting Selfless Spirit and Drogskol Captain. His hand was flooded by land.
Game 3: Grindy matchup. He's at 8 life and i'm on 11. I have 3 mausoleum wanderer in play and a Drogskol Captain, He has 1 Smasher, 1 Displacer and 1 Thought Knot Seer. My team attacked, he blinked (using displacer) my captain, etb effect my 3 wanderers gets pumped, he flinched lol.
Round 3: G/W Hexproof (2-0-1)
Game 1: Lose the die roll again, He landed a bogle. He equipped it with Ethereal Armor, Rancor, Spider Umbra and Daybreak. My spirits can't attack cause of reach. Loss
Game 2: I kept a hand with blessed alliance, He sac'ed his Bogle. I played a geist on the following turn. He's dead before he can even find his creature
Game 3: Almost 10 min before time, I kept a hand with Blessed Alliance and Qasali Pridemage but only 1 land, luckily my top cards are land. I blessed alliance again on his Bogle, But he already have a reserved creature on his hand. The game becomes grindy, his bogle has few armor (i broke his coronet using qasali). He's at 2 life but he topdecked a Daybreak, I was sure that i'm going to lose but i topdecked a worship. He's at 182 life and i'm on 1 and ask if he has something to destroy my worship, he said none. We laugh and decided to draw
Round 4: G/W Hatebears (3-0-1)
Game 1: Loss the die roll (again lol), but he mulled to 5. He played thalia on the 2nd turn (but not a threat since we're creature based too) he was easily beat downed by my flying spirits
Game 2: He kept his 7. First turn Vial done. I play noble and done. On this game, he used like 3 pte but i always answered by flashing drogskol and rattlechains. He found a Flickerwisp (Blocker) but all my creatures are hexproof. He's down to 3 and he mainphased CoCo while i'm tappedout, he found an arbiter and noble. and he scooped
Round 5: Jeskai Delver (4-0-1)
Game 1: Won the dice roll!!! Played a turn 2 Geist of Saint traft, turn 3 Steel. Easily Win
Game 2: I removed my 2 Phantasmal, and put Skite and 1 RIP (I don't want to put board since i think i'm already good matchup but phantasmal is so bad since he has spot removals). He Spell Snared my 2 drops (RattleChains, Selfless), helixes my face, path my wanderers, but i have 2 CoCo in hand. I CoCo'ed at his end phase and found 2 drogskol Captains. I passed. He attacked his delver (knowing our drogskol is 3/3) i played my Coco'ed again. Found 1 drogskol and 1 selfless, he's delver got killed and swings for lethal
Top 1 seed at top 8
Quarterfinals: RG Ponza (Land D)
Game 1: I was on the play. he 2nd turn blood moon good thing i have hierarch and i was able to cast rattle chains, CoCo and Selfless. He has a boardwipe (miracle forgot the name sry) but i flashed in selfless.
Game 2: My hand is slow, flooded by lands. he was able to cast turn 4 inferno titan and he pinged my creatures, and he attacked his inferno titan with 12 damage.
Game 3: I was on the play kept a 2 land play (fastlands) with 2 queller, 1 Coco, 1Drogskol and 1 Selfless. Didn't draw any lands and he played bloodmoon. I can't cast my spells and loss.
5th place, really happy about the decks performance
Remarks:
The decks was almost the same as Calebd, just fixing some few sideboard because of the meta at my place.
The decks was really sweet! Has some awesome plays, the deck was rogue so my opponent didn't know how to play against it. Unfortunately, i didn't played with an aggro deck (i think my bad matchup). I loved the deck, missing something but we're almost there!!!
I was thinking about changing it to Knightfall, good thing i held back. yolo
*What do you think of Auriok Champion? Good against Dredge, Burns, Zoo, Jund etc. Might be better than finks or Rhox. Any thoughts? WW for me is somehard to cast thou (i think)
*He's playing 2 Kataki and 2 Stony. What are your thoughts on this? do you think 2 stony and 2 engineered explosives can't stop affinity?
*Other thoughts about the 2 decks?
Not the best idea imho and I don't like the Tallowisp package.
And another "Tallowisp" deck, this time without CoCo, here - http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/modern-bant-tallowisp-shoal/
Another Question, Why do people not playing Kira? It's good against control matchup (abzan,junk,nahira,uw,delver), some people says it's a worse Drogskol. I do have 1 at the sideboard but tempting to remove it since i need to put 1 more stony. Thoughts? (my meta also has control decks)
Btw, Thank you for suggesting Kami of the False Hope. It's really good, much better than Finks or Rhox imo. The flash fog is really good against fast deck and he's a spirit
Have you had good results with the birds?
* Geist of Saint Traft with exalted trigger is a beast, Can't be blocked by flashed Snapcaster or 2/2 creatures)
* We are an aggro-control deck and we really need every bit of damage since we have slower clock against some decks.
* Mausoleum Wanderer has exalted trigger until end of turn therefore you can sac wanderer with a +1 +1 on it
* Always a lightning bolt target
Well bird has pros too,
* A decent flying blocker
* A dork of any color, you can try splashing lingering souls in your deck
* Pumps with Favorable Winds
Had good results competitively, still fixing my sideboard. (Trying 3 Auriok Champion in the future)
Boarded in all Path to Exile since my place is full of creature based decks.
Removed 1 Steel of the Godhead for the 4th Path to Exile slot. For me, it's also a win more card and I rarely assembled the Geist+Sword combo.
Can someone make a sideboard guide against tier decks, Tried making one but still haven't fought all tier decks
I couldn't agree with you more on the Rhox/ Steel front. Granted I don't have much play experience, but I still quickly noticed how much I would have preferred something more impactful in those slots. As much as I love Blessed Alliance I wouldn't place it in over Path simply due to it trigger only on attack, and opponent gets to choose if there are multiple. Overall that 'Attack Trigger' of Blessed Alliance can make or break a game. Still has defiantly appeared to be a win more senior.
The deck has awesome synergy, but I feel its slower then all other hyper agro decks out there, an doesn't have enough disruption to fight off combo and this is two areas where there should be a focus. I was thinking about dropping a few things to make 4 spot removal MD and add some Counter Magic MD as well. I don't know if its the right move, but That flex Steel/ Rhox spot looks like it would be better w/ some disruption to keep me ahead.
How are you guys feeling about Phantasmal Image? I don't like it... the Captain/ Clone combo is cute, but its not necessary. Between 4 Soulless and 4 Rattle Chains we can easily protect him as it is, so are we really just looking for the extra lord boost? Its another slot I think we can do better with.
Has anyone played w/ Nebelgast Herald? Is he useless? It looks like it might fit well to slow down other aggro builds. He basically looks like a week Merrow Reejerey.