MTG Salvation

Emma Handy had the same thoughts, she is brewing.

Hogaak and Looting banned. Is it time for a return of Spirits?

I like this, interesting to consider if the format goes back to Dredge, Humans, Tron, Izzet Phoenix and Wrenn Six Jund, which seems likely. Not sure if UW Control gets better or worse or breaks even.

https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/untitled-decklist-by-judgecraft-806493

Jund might make Mariner better, I'm kind of so-so on it but taxing removal, hand destruction and edict seems vey relevant especially with Giver.

@StreexIT
Bump that.

It's a crazy Modern GY format where 2 mana GY hate just means Game Over (for the person playing GY hate!)

So far, this is a format where you have to beat UW Control, GY decks (Bridgevine, Phoenix, and Dredge), Humans (for now, might also get run out of the format), possibly Neoform, and whatever the latest Whir Prison Combo deck, and then every other possible thing.

Playable in UW, almost everything flies, but it doesn't stop The New Stoopid. Fair card for a fair format, but that isn't Modern. Tmpo/Aggro Control can't deal with the obscene linearity without disruption. Maybe Force of Negation is playable, not sure it solves the issue either.

UW can find room quite easily. I think you cut back on -2 Rattlchains, -1 Selfless Spirit, -1 TGoT. Between another 1 drop and more resilience, it seems like a strong addition.

This was the proposed decklist.



IMO, you would really want:
-2 Copter
-1 PTE
+3 Selfless Spirit

It would be nice to think JT isn't pimping, but who knows.

I posted this because I think it is a novel interaction that has possible applications. Previously I would not have considered Kirin, but it is oddly effective against very land-dependent decks and provides the possibility of multiple one-sided board-wipes in combination with Selfless Spirit. In fact, I think his build is not good because you want 3 of them.

It could just be bad, for the reasons you point out, but I am going to test it (with proxies for now!)

I don't like the idea in the Mono-W Eldrazi and Staxes deck because he took out Reality Smasher to do it, which is kind of crazy.

If you have access to SCG Premium, check out the Jerry Thompson article on Celestial Kirin + Ugin's Conjurant, allowing us to Armageddon in Modern.

Any insights into the Phoenix match-up based on your experience? Was this a significant reason for the build you chose?

Also, yes, Hurkyl seems pretty great, actually.

I would also expect 3 Damping Sphere and 2 Disdainful Stroke in SpookyGoose's deck to make it solid against Tron, as much as we can be, and the card I think I fear the most in Whir Prison is Bridge and/or Whir into Bridge or EE, and Stony only stops EE. Sideboard, they can bring in Torpor Orb, which also ignored Stony.

Disdainful Stroke is probably okay against Whir, but mostly because removal is bad, but a deck with 4 Thalia + 4 Deputy should do pretty well against Whir.

@SpookyGoose
Results from GP Bilbao also interesting, and I don't know the lists of those Spirit decks, but I'm betting they ran 2-3 Stony and if they did, it didn't seem to matter much...

"Spirits went:
5-0 versus Mill (100%)
3-10 versus Hardened Scales (23.1%)
2-9 versus Affinity (18.2%)"

@SpookyGoose
That all makes sense, and I found the build quite refreshingly tuned to the moment.

I like Alan Swan's deck for Cleveland.

It makes good use of Thalia and Deputy, recognizes that Kira is important for protecting them. I'm not wholly sure on 3 Captain\1 Copter, but it is understandable, as it makes all the weaker creatures better and does filter. It loses the boom of CoCo and the draw engine of Obsession, but it has huge threat density, excellent removal, and the most important non-Spirits.

I am amazed he got away with ZERO Stony Silence, but maybe that was a reasonable call in this meta, especially just going with 3 Damping Sphere for Tron, Combo, but also Phoenix.