Quote from Teia Rabishu »There's a lot about the pro scene that really trickles some bad values down through the playerbase when you get right down to it. Problem is I can only antagonize so many people in one article, you know?
True that.
There's only so many times I can handle people questioning why I mainboard Duress instead of Thoughtseize or inquisition of Kozilek, when those cards are outrageously priced and someone would have to have either gotten lucky with their drafts or have a lot of disposable income devoted to magic just to have them. But yeah, it goes back to the whole deal of Wizards needing to print something like Vingolf Engage Knights each rotation that contains all the dominant main deck cards found in top pro-tour decks that are rotating out. Just slap two of each in there and sell them at msrp 35 usd to all major retailers.
That question is largely dependant on the kind of spirits build someone is doing. There's basically two builds of spirits with the first being a more aggressive mid-range tempo deck and the later being more mid-range / control. The build that uses Elder Deep-Fiend is the aggressive build. I personally play a more control oriented build now that makes use of Archangel Avacyn and Stasis Snare as the primary forms of removal, since both myself and seemingly Todd Stevens at SCG came to the same conclusion that Stasis Snare is bonkers good (It stops Emrakul, the promised End at instant speed).
I've play tested with it in old standard and found it not to my liking, but others might have more experience than I do with it. Personally, I sort of want to test Metallurgic Summonings to see how much abuse I can get out of it late game. One problem the deck has is that it doesn't have a lot of creatures to work with and late game things get rough against other mid-range decks. Landing that turn 5 and casting 4 cmc spells can be a pretty potent combo. Unfortunately, Stasis Snare is a non-bo with it.
However, for card draw options I like Glimmer of Genius more than Smuggler's Copter in the spirits deck. I feel like BR makes the best use of copter since it can recur the threats discarded by copter or make use of the discard effect via madness synergy. I also like the idea of having sideboard Confiscation Coup as the ultimate in removal action for "Going big" strategies, since we can steal things like Verdurous Gearhulk or a Skysovereign, Consul Flagship quite easily with 6 energy. Even if we don't hit 6 we can still use it to steal a key piece such as Aetherworks Marvel.
Always watching is completely dependant on the build. Aggro spirits was a thing in the old meta, but they aren't as strong as other aggro deck options now that we've literally entered the world of aggro with the power ups available. Heck, spirits wasn't really competitive in the meta thanks to Bant company, which thankfully has rotated so other decks now have a chance to breath. My suggestion is definitely play more towards mid-control and take advantage of all the new tech we get from white and blue.
I've got two chandra budgeted out to play with so I'll let you know how it goes. My feeling is that she works best when you can get value out of her 2nd or first ability on the play, then next turn bring out a bomb using the extra mana.
1 Combustible Gearhulk
4 Eternal Scourge
4 Insolent Neonate
2 Ravenous Bloodseeker
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
Burn Suite
4 Fiery Temper
4 Incendiary Flow
2 Alms of the Vein
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Smuggler's Copter
Lands
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
2 Inventors' Fair
6 Swamp
8 Mountain
2 Transgress the Mind
2 Lost Legacy
Manabase is a WIP. Chandra ramp into combustible gearhulk is pretty sweet for late game CA or burn.
Unsubstantiate, Nebelgast Herald, Negate, Spell Queller, Blessed Alliance (They wont be attacking with a lot of creatures so they'd probably have to sac the copter), and that's just a few of the answers we usually already have in our deck. It's a powerful card, but against UW tempo / control it's an easy way for the opponent to get two for one'd. The only one that I'm really worried about is Fleetwheel Cruiser because it doesn't require a pilot and does a great Ball Lightning impression.
Remember, vehicles are not creatures even if they look like it. They are equipment cards that require a creature to tap in order to use. The part that I'm envisioning may bring some rough waters is the kinds of decks using copter. the Copter Madness deck and a number of other red decks are basically a pile of 3 damage to the face cards and aggressive creatures.
Copter is easy to deal with. We operate at instant speed and it becomes a creature when activated. Heck, the opponent has to tap down a creature to crew it too. It basically plays right into our own strategy.
Also, there's three cards that fit the 4 cmc slot (mentioned in the primer up top I believe): Collective Defiance, Flame Lash, and Chandra, Torch of Defiance. The first seems like a better choice in a fast version since it lets you do two things at once: Clear a creature and burn to the face. The middle card is a budget answer to the first if someone can't afford the playset and wants to go cheap (as cheap as someone can get with the price of copters going up) and for a budget answer it still does a lot of what we want. It lets you do 4 strait to a planeswalker, which can shut down 3 mana walkers and possibly shut down 4 mana walkers, can take down most creatures including Kolitas, Traitor of Ghet, and can do 4 to the face at instant speed. The last choice of Chandra, Torch of Defiance works better in a mid-range build that aims to use Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, Noxious Gearhulk, or Combustible Gearhulk. She can still do a pseudo Flame Lash against creatures, but is less effective against enemy walkers and her primary benefit is the extra 2 red mana that can be used to combo her with a smaller card for value on the play, or boosting into 6-7 cmc creatures the following turn. So in essence she acts like a slow collective card.
I agree that in the fast version we don't need Eternal Scourge and should use Pia Nalaar. Also mono-red the Scourge Wolf is deceptively strong. However, I think going with Chandra means we want to push more mid-range.
The primary reason I'd include Lost Legacy is to kill emrakul, the promised End or other end game bombs before they ever get a chance to play them. I agree, both Scourge and Legacy are sideboard more than mainboard until we see how the meta shakes up. Also, I haven't seen it mentioned, but black has Olivia's Dragoon as a discard outlet as well. Furyblade Vampire trades better with the field, though. What I don't like about the later is that we only get to do the discarding on our combat phase instead of whenever we want.
By the way, has anyone figured out how Scourge works with Bomat Courier? It sounds like we'd be able to play the Eternal Scourge as it is exiled, but because it's face down I'm not really sure. I know it works wonders with Chandra, Torch of Defiance.
Another idea I've been toying with is bringing in Eternal Scourge in the BR variant. It helps fuel Scrapheap Scrounger and even if exiled can be cast again to help pilot or just beat face, but I feel that bringing it in probably goes away from the original theme. Albeit, I love the idea of having recurring threats that render most removal useless. Eternal Scourge may also have synergy with Bomat Courier and makes having Lost Legacy as a sideboard card more attractive, since it can be used to draw into a better hand by naming eternal scourge on yourself to draw cards or get a valuable 3/3 to cast later. It's still tough to say no to Pia Nalaar, though.
I think people really wanted it to be JTMS and that alone also drove the preorder price high. People are already selling her 2nd hand from pre-release for like 33-37 usd. People are basically going to use her as a meal ticket for other cards in the set at this rate so I'm already rating her the next Nissa, voice of zendikar. I'm not going to be surprised if her price gets crushed into the 30 usd range on release day.