One thing I can't agree with is Geist in Esper. Geist is all what Esper is not planning to do: This version keeps the control of the early turns, makes land drops, ticks vial up, then races back the opponent. Of course you re still taking the aggro role against controls and big mana, but Geist isn't necessary when we have lingering souls to sustain the beat down.
Geist is not necessary when you properly use your resources, finding the right balance between committing to the board and saving some gas in case of the board being sweeped.
This is the first thing I'd change in a list with black.
I can't really agree with this based on my experiences, including last night. Maybe things will work differently now that I have vials to run, but I could not get a foothold against my control opponent; I even resolved 2 copies of lingering souls, both for their initial costs and their flashback costs, which are supposed to be one of the deck's best tools to grind out control. I still lost horribly (after they tutored for golgari charm, then flashed it back with snapcaster mage. Everything I played out got countered or removed immediately. Geist of Saint Traft doesn't have that issue: your opponent can't kill it once it hits the board, and it gives you that push that you need. I'll admit it's probably not great in most other matchups (though I've heard it's also good against Tron and I wish I'd thought to bring it in there), but it's one of your best weapons against control decks.
I can see the frustration but that's not a scenario that justifies Geist. You have been unlucky, golgari charm is an occasional sideboard card, that deck also ( guess it's the new sultai control) is as much as occasional.
I think GoST is good with green because you have the spot to play it t2 on the play, which is nuts.
I can see the frustration but that's not a scenario that justifies Geist. You have been unlucky, golgari charm is an occasional sideboard card, that deck also ( guess it's the new sultai control) is as much as occasional.
I think GoST is good with green because you have the spot to play it t2 on the play, which is nuts.
I second this. Being able to cheat it out early with dorks is why I have two copies of it in my Bant build. In comparison, I only had a single copy in the side of my UW version because it wasn't nearly as good without being able to attack on turn 3.
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
One of the big edges against control that I have found in UW is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, which I have noticed the Esper lists to eschew in favor of their powerful noncreature spells. When cast on-curve, she demands attention, and curving Mausoleum Wanderer (or, better yet, vial into wanderer) into her sets a lot of decks back on their heels. Lingering Souls is an amazing card, but it tries to take the fight to the opponent during the mid-late game when control thrives.
So, if you think that Geist isn't suited for the Esper build, what would you suggest replacing it with in the board? Again, I'd prefer something to help against control, since that seems to be the worst matchup for the deck, but I'm open to suggestions.
I think knowing how to play against control is way more important than any single card I might suggest. There is no card that wins on the spot against control the way Unmoored Ego wins against Ad Nauseam. I've had troubles myself in the past, and I still have when I'm facing skilled control players. I guess this is not the answer you want to hear, but to beat control you need to play the matchup and learn when it's time to accelerate the race, when it's time to expose a lord, and when not.
Speaking of single cards, Souls are incredible, they keep the pressure going; favorable winds is another card I love because it's not removed easily and doubles your race. I love Jace TMS too, they either have a D Sphere or they'll get overwhelmed by the amount of resources you re drawing every turn. But let me strss the relevance of L Souls: they spread the presence on the board so spot removals aren't that useful, and they are recursive: once they have killed the first two, here the second wave comes. This is the feature that control decks fail to deal with.
So these are my choices, but behind that there's the strategy: I'd never expose Jace into a counterspell, first I put myself in a position to force them to cryptic in my beginning of combat, then I play the Sculptor.
When it comes to deploying Favorable Winds I begin by attacking if I have a Wanderer that I mean to sacrifice to defend the enchantment on the stack. Other times I play a bait spell to force the counterspell or to test my opponent's hand, then I play Winds. Matches against this archetype are like playing chess, a weaker piece can bring more harm than a stronger one when you know what to do with it.
It would be too reductive from me to tell you: "play this card to adjust your matches against control", sure, Thalia and Geist are awesome, the question is: what are they doing for Esper in any other matchup? Are they doing anything we wouldn't be able to do otherwise? Do we need different cards in those side spots? My playstyle allows me to have a good winrate against them (currently 5 wins and 1 loss against UW control), so I don't feel the urge to have GoSt in my side.
One last thing worth mentioning is that people have different play-styles. I'm one who tends to play the cunning and control game; it's possible that your way to intend this tribe is different, or it is different from mine at the moment, and that Geist better fits your plan. Take the time to make your experiments and learn by experience. For me, nothing works best than giving a shot to other people's ideas once in a while, getting then back to mine and then comparing the results and the feelings about all the options I've tested.
One thing I have been thinking about for a while now is Pestilent Spirit. This seems really good as either an attacker, since it forces a 2 for 1 with the nasty combination of menace and deathtouch (which makes it as good or better than flying for getting damage through), or a solid blocker that can take things like Bogles or huge ground threats out (particularly if you flash it in or drop it with Aether Vial). It also doesn't really tax your mana much, since it only has 1 black symbol in its cost. What do people think about running a copy of this in the sideboard?
The other thing I'm looking for is peoples' thoughts on mulligan decisions for the deck. I've been doing some testing, and I've tried to follow general mulligan advice (though that doesn't help much when I seem to consistently draw no lands or 5 lands and no creatures), but I'd like to know what other people think about specific mulligan considerations for spirits in particular.
The other thing I'm looking for is peoples' thoughts on mulligan decisions for the deck. I've been doing some testing, and I've tried to follow general mulligan advice (though that doesn't help much when I seem to consistently draw no lands or 5 lands and no creatures), but I'd like to know what other people think about specific mulligan considerations for spirits in particular.
Here's what I've learned so far:
Maybe you know this already, but I think you need to keep in mind how much you prioritize disruption in a given matchup. Sometimes you draw a fist full of flying beaters (with perfect lands and/or a vial) without wanderer or queller or removal. These hands are great when you know that you'll have to race an opponent, but don't be afraid to throw good-looking hands back in search of disruption that you know you need. Likewise, hands light on creatures and heavy on disruption can be better than they look. I once beat amulet titan by keeping a hand with 2 Selfless Spirits, 2 Field of Ruins, an Aether Vial, and two other lands because it would slow my opponent down enough for me to draw real threats or disruption, even though a hand like that would be auto-mulligan trash in a different matchup.
I would also not recommend keeping a 1 land and vial hand when on the draw against an unknown deck. That's a good way to get blown out by Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughseize. It also follows that you not keep such hands when on the draw against decks known to carry said discard spells.
Alright, I have another card I've been thinking about, since you've mentioned favorable winds Streex. What do you think about Gideon, Ally of Zendikar? It comes down a few turns later, which might be an issue, but it can continuously generate threats or come down and create a glorious anthem style of effect for the entire team. It seems pretty good, especially since I'm not going to be running Jace, the Mind Sculptor (because I don't have a copy and he's still around $100), but it is a bit slow.
I did test both the gideons Trials and Ally in the past months while I still was on UW Spirits. trials is just not good enough for this deck, Ally of Zendikar is ok, it's a good card against midrange although assassin's trophy now is an issue and it really got worse when you compare it to the days when pulse was their only answer. It's not very well spended against aggro even when you are on the draw and you're likely to hit your 4th land. Against control it's mediocre, he is a threat but path to exile is a clean way to deal with it. Those tokens aren't bad, there's a weird situation where you are trying both to have the emblem and have the gideon on the field, so you want to tick up as you play it to emblem on the next turn, and there you expose it to pte and D shpere as you pass the turn. So you have to either produce a token, but what if they D sphere it ? 4 mana for a token and a card off your opponent's hand? Or you're going straight for the emblem, and this is why I prefer F Winds because it's coming down earlier and it's just as hard to remove, actually it's harder to remove because you can't path or attack it with creatures.
Sorry if this sounds a bit like a brainstorming, but these are the considerations I have made after testing it a while. A friend of mine has played it too in a different deck with the same purpose of grinding against midrange and controls, but we both came to this conclusion.
I did test both the gideons Trials and Ally in the past months while I still was on UW Spirits. trials is just not good enough for this deck, Ally of Zendikar is ok, it's a good card against midrange although assassin's trophy now is an issue and it really got worse when you compare it to the days when pulse was their only answer. It's not very well spended against aggro even when you are on the draw and you're likely to hit your 4th land. Against control it's mediocre, he is a threat but path to exile is a clean way to deal with it. Those tokens aren't bad, there's a weird situation where you are trying both to have the emblem and have the gideon on the field, so you want to tick up as you play it to emblem on the next turn, and there you expose it to pte and D shpere as you pass the turn. So you have to either produce a token, but what if they D sphere it ? 4 mana for a token and a card off your opponent's hand? Or you're going straight for the emblem, and this is why I prefer F Winds because it's coming down earlier and it's just as hard to remove, actually it's harder to remove because you can't path or attack it with creatures.
Sorry if this sounds a bit like a brainstorming, but these are the considerations I have made after testing it a while. A friend of mine has played it too in a different deck with the same purpose of grinding against midrange and controls, but we both came to this conclusion.
I'm not planning on maining Gideon, but I'm thinking that I'll put a copy into the sideboard (replacing one of my Geists). It seems really good as a top end threat against control or maybe even a decent midrange tool. Obviously it's bad against aggro decks, but that's why it's in the sideboard. I have another tournament opportunity tonight, so I'll see if it works and report back later.
The other two walkers I was considering were Sorin, Solemn Visitor which seems pretty good, though he can't really be overly powerful on his own, and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad which can plus to make extra creatures, or minus right away like Gideon to create half of the anthem effect (and probably the more important half if you're wanting to push through damage).
I really enjoy the deck as it is atm, would not change a single card. Going back to rattlechains and moving GoSt to the side have been very important steps and really increased my overall win percentages.
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Modern // Legacy // Pauper WUBRG
"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire."
I prefer 2 Dromoka's Command to the 2 PtE in the sideboard, but otherwise that is my exact list. DC is there for Burn, UWR Control and the new BUG combo deck. I just like it's utility a little better.
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Standard
Tempo Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
I ran this deck last night and came in 2nd. We did only play 3 rounds though. I beat Tron 2-0, lost to a weird Titan deck (not the normal build) 1-2, and then beat regular Izzet Phoenix 2-0.
In my meta, I run into a lot of Izzet Phoenix, Humans, Jeskai Control and Dredge. Do you guys have any side board recommendations against these decks? Also, when side boarding against these decks, what cards do you take out, to bring the side board cards in. That is my biggest struggle, trying to figure out what to take out. I am a terrible side-boarder in Modern and I would appreciate any help.
A couple comments on the deck.
I have been running U/W Spirits for the last few months and I like it, but Esper has felt a lot more powerful. Being able to run both Fatal Push and Path to Exile is huge. Also, Lingering Souls has won some games for me that I would have lost otherwise. It has great synergy with Mausoleum Wanderer and Collective Brutality. The ability to discard Lingering Souls to Collective Brutality and not feel like you are losing anything or being able to cast both for 4 mana is awesome. Also, Lingering Souls can feel like drawing a lord when you have Mausoleum Wanderers on the field since it gets such a big boost from the two spirits.
Alright, time for an update after my performance last night! As usual, I fiddled with my deck list a bit beforehand, picking up the one copy of Deputy of Detention that my LGS had in stock, and using it to replace Echoing Truth in my sideboard. I also swapped one copy of Geist of Saint Traft in my sideboard out for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. With those adjustments made, I sat down and began play.
R 1
I lost the die roll, and thus was on the draw, a running theme for the night. Fortunately, the cards treated me much better than the dice. I ended up against a U/W base deck that played like U/W control, though I found out later that they were also running a fairies package that I never saw (with Bitterblossom and Spellstutter Sprite. I had a blistering opener G1, dropping vial on 1, then curving out into wanderer, followed by Selfless Spirit from the vial and Rattlechains flashed out with my actual mana. I quickly rushed my opponent down by flashing in a Captain, and dropped Spell Queller to stop an attempted settle the wreckage.
G2 was a bit trickier, as I didn't have vial, but I still had a pretty beautiful curve. I played Wanderer on 1 followed by Rattlechains, Selfless Spirit, and Drogskol Captain. My opponent resolved Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and used a combination of Path to Exile and Snapcaster Mage to clear most of my board. I ended up flooding a fair bit, but creeping tar pit showed its value again, pushing a bit of damage, then working to bluff my opponent into essentially tapping out to activate Field of Ruin. In response, I used the pit for mana and flashed out Drogskol captain with a Rattlechains in play and my opponent at 3, allowing me to swing for the win.
WIN, 1-0
R 2
I had gotten to see the tail end of my next opponent's last match, so I knew he was on Izzet Phoenix. This was definitely one of the matchups I'd been looking forward to testing, and my deck didn't disappoint. I was on the draw again and G1 saw my opponent being a bit slow, but still having Thing in the Ice on 2. This was where being in Esper really paid off, as I was able to essentially let my opponent run spells out of their hand to tick up TitI before using fatal push. I then responded by pushing damage of my own now that my opponent's hand was pretty depleted. The ripped an Arclight Phoenix off the top, which they had to hard cast into my Spell Queller, and that was enough to give me the win
G2 was similar to G1, except that my opponent got an Arclight Phoenix going out of the yard. I killed another TitI with fatal push, and my opponent used Surgical Extraction on it to help set up reviving the Phoenix. I had kept a 1 lander with Aether vial, and now my opponent got to look at my hand and see why: I had triple Supreme Phantom, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and a Drogskol Captain just waiting to be dropped in. After exiling my remaining pushes, ended creating a nasty wall, with all 3 phantoms, allowing them to eat his phoenixes, and one of which (after I added the captain) I was happy to trade for a 9/4 Crackling Drake. With Eidolon on the board (and it sitting at 4/7), my opponent had no realistic way to come back, and I ended up smashing him in the face a few turns for the win.
WIN, 2-0
R 3
This time I didn't know what I was playing against and, since I was on the draw again, kept a hand with 5 lands (including 3 fetches), Mausoleum Wanderer, and Fatal Push. My opponent dropped Thoughtseize on 1, and I was amused as he struggled to choose which of my 1 drops to take. He eventually got rid of the wanderer, but since I was able to rip most of the lands out from my deck, my draws turned into straight gas. I discovered that my opponent was on Mardu Pyromancer, and we had a really grindy game. He played several pyromancers, forcing me to kill them, and used a Liliana of the Veil to force me to sacrifice a creature. I top decked Lingering Souls and ended up casting both halves of it, and after adding a Phantom to the board, I was able to start taking over, since my opponent couldn't outrace me. This was also the first game that I actually got to play with Bygone Bishop, and I must say I was pretty happy with it. Sure, it died blocking a Pyromancer once my opponent dropped a Kolaghan's Command, but rather than getting a clean 2/1, my opponent had to settle for card parity due to the clue token the Bishop had generated. I really like Bishop as a 1 of for those matches where finding extra cards is important.
G2 was a disaster for my opponent. I dropped a T1 aether vial, which let me play a Phantom the next turn, and after it was removed, I used Vial to drop Mausoleum wanderer onto the board. My opponent tried to bolt it and Rattlechains came down to stop that. Since he had cast a lingering souls, my opponent used his main phase to deploy one of his sideboard cards, Zealous Persecution. Unfortunately, instead of being a blowout for him, I activated Vial and dropped in another Phantom, making his play substantially worse. I then played a Selfless Spirit the next turn, with Vial being activated to drop Drogskol captain. With his fatal push targeting my selfless spirit still on the stack, my opponent tried to kill the captain, but after I sacrificed the Wanderer to counter it, my opponent scooped, as he couldn't deal with my board state.
WIN, 3-0
For the last round, I was happy to go ahead and agree to a tie with my opponent, and we just played the match for testing purposes. I was on the play for once, and had a 1 land hand with 2 vials. I knew my opponent was playing Blue Moon, and kept the hand; I ended up steamrolling pretty handily as he didn't have a way to deal with my plays.
Games 2-3 weren't so great though, as I couldn't really overcome my opponent's sideboard plan. G2 had me keep relative parity and even put my opponent at 1, but a combination of Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Batterskull out of the sideboard was too much. In game 3, I had to mulligan, and even though I kept a decent hand (land, vial, and creatures), I could not find a second land drop. I ended up seeing most of my creatures removed and I got beaten down by Legion Warboss.
FInal Record: 3-0-1 (or 3-1 going by the results of the testing match). I was extremely pleased with how my deck performed, and I'm realizing just how important the vials are to the list. I think my biggest issue isn't so much the deck itself, or even my play, but just my ability to anticipate sideboard plans and to determine when I need to mulligan, and when a hand is worth keeping. These are skills that I continue to struggle with, but hopefully with more testing and experience I'll be able to improve those skills.
Ye that's the list I've posted on fryday I think. I've hit another 5-0 on saturday too,and almost did it a third time today losing the final game 2-1 to that dam tron.
I am currently testing Sorin, Lord of Innistrad in replacement of Nebelgast Herald, which is a little underpowered in my version running no Moorland Haunt and he 3x souls which come at sorcery speed.
I like Sorin defening himself while ticking up, something Gideon Ally doesn't do, he defends by staying at 4. I also very much appreciate the emblem (the bonus we only care about is that affecting the power of our creatures, as Osumatthew said) and the possibility to go for it while surviving, I believe it can take over the game against control and midrange if uncontested.
Ye that's the list I've posted on fryday I think. I've hit another 5-0 on saturday too,and almost did it a third time today losing the final game 2-1 to that dam tron.
I am currently testing Sorin, Lord of Innistrad in replacement of Nebelgast Herald, which is a little underpowered in my version running no Moorland Haunt and he 3x souls which come at sorcery speed.
I like Sorin defening himself while ticking up, something Gideon Ally doesn't do, he defends by staying at 4. I also very much appreciate the emblem (the bonus we only care about is that affecting the power of our creatures, as Osumatthew said) and the possibility to go for it while surviving, I believe it can take over the game against control and midrange if uncontested.
You'll have to let me know how things go with Sorin. I don't fully agree that the power boost is all that's important, because I find that having an additional point of toughness is appreciated too. Having an extra point of toughness means that your board won't die to something like Golgari Charm or Zealous Persecution, and it also keeps your Phantoms and quellers out of range of Lightning Bolt. Plus, Gideon's 2/2s seem much more impactful than Sorin's 1/1s, especially given that Sorin's ult is less than impressive too.
So after trying really hard to make a spicy Ponza brew work as the deck I wanted to bring to my first GP, the lack of consistency has driven me nuts.
That being said, I want to go back to Spirits, but I'm unsure whether to keep my Bant build or go UW for GP LA next week. What do people think would be a better choice for my first big GP? D:
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
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I can't really agree with this based on my experiences, including last night. Maybe things will work differently now that I have vials to run, but I could not get a foothold against my control opponent; I even resolved 2 copies of lingering souls, both for their initial costs and their flashback costs, which are supposed to be one of the deck's best tools to grind out control. I still lost horribly (after they tutored for golgari charm, then flashed it back with snapcaster mage. Everything I played out got countered or removed immediately. Geist of Saint Traft doesn't have that issue: your opponent can't kill it once it hits the board, and it gives you that push that you need. I'll admit it's probably not great in most other matchups (though I've heard it's also good against Tron and I wish I'd thought to bring it in there), but it's one of your best weapons against control decks.
I think GoST is good with green because you have the spot to play it t2 on the play, which is nuts.
I second this. Being able to cheat it out early with dorks is why I have two copies of it in my Bant build. In comparison, I only had a single copy in the side of my UW version because it wasn't nearly as good without being able to attack on turn 3.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Speaking of single cards, Souls are incredible, they keep the pressure going; favorable winds is another card I love because it's not removed easily and doubles your race. I love Jace TMS too, they either have a D Sphere or they'll get overwhelmed by the amount of resources you re drawing every turn. But let me strss the relevance of L Souls: they spread the presence on the board so spot removals aren't that useful, and they are recursive: once they have killed the first two, here the second wave comes. This is the feature that control decks fail to deal with.
So these are my choices, but behind that there's the strategy: I'd never expose Jace into a counterspell, first I put myself in a position to force them to cryptic in my beginning of combat, then I play the Sculptor.
When it comes to deploying Favorable Winds I begin by attacking if I have a Wanderer that I mean to sacrifice to defend the enchantment on the stack. Other times I play a bait spell to force the counterspell or to test my opponent's hand, then I play Winds. Matches against this archetype are like playing chess, a weaker piece can bring more harm than a stronger one when you know what to do with it.
It would be too reductive from me to tell you: "play this card to adjust your matches against control", sure, Thalia and Geist are awesome, the question is: what are they doing for Esper in any other matchup? Are they doing anything we wouldn't be able to do otherwise? Do we need different cards in those side spots? My playstyle allows me to have a good winrate against them (currently 5 wins and 1 loss against UW control), so I don't feel the urge to have GoSt in my side.
One last thing worth mentioning is that people have different play-styles. I'm one who tends to play the cunning and control game; it's possible that your way to intend this tribe is different, or it is different from mine at the moment, and that Geist better fits your plan. Take the time to make your experiments and learn by experience. For me, nothing works best than giving a shot to other people's ideas once in a while, getting then back to mine and then comparing the results and the feelings about all the options I've tested.
The other thing I'm looking for is peoples' thoughts on mulligan decisions for the deck. I've been doing some testing, and I've tried to follow general mulligan advice (though that doesn't help much when I seem to consistently draw no lands or 5 lands and no creatures), but I'd like to know what other people think about specific mulligan considerations for spirits in particular.
Here's what I've learned so far:
Maybe you know this already, but I think you need to keep in mind how much you prioritize disruption in a given matchup. Sometimes you draw a fist full of flying beaters (with perfect lands and/or a vial) without wanderer or queller or removal. These hands are great when you know that you'll have to race an opponent, but don't be afraid to throw good-looking hands back in search of disruption that you know you need. Likewise, hands light on creatures and heavy on disruption can be better than they look. I once beat amulet titan by keeping a hand with 2 Selfless Spirits, 2 Field of Ruins, an Aether Vial, and two other lands because it would slow my opponent down enough for me to draw real threats or disruption, even though a hand like that would be auto-mulligan trash in a different matchup.
I would also not recommend keeping a 1 land and vial hand when on the draw against an unknown deck. That's a good way to get blown out by Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughseize. It also follows that you not keep such hands when on the draw against decks known to carry said discard spells.
Sorry if this sounds a bit like a brainstorming, but these are the considerations I have made after testing it a while. A friend of mine has played it too in a different deck with the same purpose of grinding against midrange and controls, but we both came to this conclusion.
I'm not planning on maining Gideon, but I'm thinking that I'll put a copy into the sideboard (replacing one of my Geists). It seems really good as a top end threat against control or maybe even a decent midrange tool. Obviously it's bad against aggro decks, but that's why it's in the sideboard. I have another tournament opportunity tonight, so I'll see if it works and report back later.
The other two walkers I was considering were Sorin, Solemn Visitor which seems pretty good, though he can't really be overly powerful on his own, and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad which can plus to make extra creatures, or minus right away like Gideon to create half of the anthem effect (and probably the more important half if you're wanting to push through damage).
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Supreme Phantom
3 Selfless Spirit
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Rattlechains
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Spell Queller
2 Deputy of Detention
Non Creature: 9
4 Collected Company
2 Path to Exile
3 Aether Vial
3 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Flooded Strand
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
2 Botanical Sanctum
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Damping Sphere
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Settle the Wreckage
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Path to Exile
I really enjoy the deck as it is atm, would not change a single card. Going back to rattlechains and moving GoSt to the side have been very important steps and really increased my overall win percentages.
Modern // Legacy // Pauper
WUBRG
"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire."
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
4 Supreme Phantom
Land: 21
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
2 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
Sorcery: 5
2 Collective Brutality
3 Lingering Souls
Enchantment: 1
1 Curious Obsession
Artifact: 4
4 Aether Vial
In my meta, I run into a lot of Izzet Phoenix, Humans, Jeskai Control and Dredge. Do you guys have any side board recommendations against these decks? Also, when side boarding against these decks, what cards do you take out, to bring the side board cards in. That is my biggest struggle, trying to figure out what to take out. I am a terrible side-boarder in Modern and I would appreciate any help.
A couple comments on the deck.
I have been running U/W Spirits for the last few months and I like it, but Esper has felt a lot more powerful. Being able to run both Fatal Push and Path to Exile is huge. Also, Lingering Souls has won some games for me that I would have lost otherwise. It has great synergy with Mausoleum Wanderer and Collective Brutality. The ability to discard Lingering Souls to Collective Brutality and not feel like you are losing anything or being able to cast both for 4 mana is awesome. Also, Lingering Souls can feel like drawing a lord when you have Mausoleum Wanderers on the field since it gets such a big boost from the two spirits.
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Rattlechains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Supreme Phantom
4 Drogskol Captain
4 Spell Queller
Spells
3 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
2 Collective Brutality
3 Lingering Souls
Artifacts
4 Aether Vial
Enchantments
1 Curious Obsession
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
2 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
2 Countersquall
1 Favorable Winds
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Unified Will
2 Deputy of Detention
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Nebelgast Herald
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Modern: Humans, Spirits
R 1
I lost the die roll, and thus was on the draw, a running theme for the night. Fortunately, the cards treated me much better than the dice. I ended up against a U/W base deck that played like U/W control, though I found out later that they were also running a fairies package that I never saw (with Bitterblossom and Spellstutter Sprite. I had a blistering opener G1, dropping vial on 1, then curving out into wanderer, followed by Selfless Spirit from the vial and Rattlechains flashed out with my actual mana. I quickly rushed my opponent down by flashing in a Captain, and dropped Spell Queller to stop an attempted settle the wreckage.
G2 was a bit trickier, as I didn't have vial, but I still had a pretty beautiful curve. I played Wanderer on 1 followed by Rattlechains, Selfless Spirit, and Drogskol Captain. My opponent resolved Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and used a combination of Path to Exile and Snapcaster Mage to clear most of my board. I ended up flooding a fair bit, but creeping tar pit showed its value again, pushing a bit of damage, then working to bluff my opponent into essentially tapping out to activate Field of Ruin. In response, I used the pit for mana and flashed out Drogskol captain with a Rattlechains in play and my opponent at 3, allowing me to swing for the win.
WIN, 1-0
R 2
I had gotten to see the tail end of my next opponent's last match, so I knew he was on Izzet Phoenix. This was definitely one of the matchups I'd been looking forward to testing, and my deck didn't disappoint. I was on the draw again and G1 saw my opponent being a bit slow, but still having Thing in the Ice on 2. This was where being in Esper really paid off, as I was able to essentially let my opponent run spells out of their hand to tick up TitI before using fatal push. I then responded by pushing damage of my own now that my opponent's hand was pretty depleted. The ripped an Arclight Phoenix off the top, which they had to hard cast into my Spell Queller, and that was enough to give me the win
G2 was similar to G1, except that my opponent got an Arclight Phoenix going out of the yard. I killed another TitI with fatal push, and my opponent used Surgical Extraction on it to help set up reviving the Phoenix. I had kept a 1 lander with Aether vial, and now my opponent got to look at my hand and see why: I had triple Supreme Phantom, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and a Drogskol Captain just waiting to be dropped in. After exiling my remaining pushes, ended creating a nasty wall, with all 3 phantoms, allowing them to eat his phoenixes, and one of which (after I added the captain) I was happy to trade for a 9/4 Crackling Drake. With Eidolon on the board (and it sitting at 4/7), my opponent had no realistic way to come back, and I ended up smashing him in the face a few turns for the win.
WIN, 2-0
R 3
This time I didn't know what I was playing against and, since I was on the draw again, kept a hand with 5 lands (including 3 fetches), Mausoleum Wanderer, and Fatal Push. My opponent dropped Thoughtseize on 1, and I was amused as he struggled to choose which of my 1 drops to take. He eventually got rid of the wanderer, but since I was able to rip most of the lands out from my deck, my draws turned into straight gas. I discovered that my opponent was on Mardu Pyromancer, and we had a really grindy game. He played several pyromancers, forcing me to kill them, and used a Liliana of the Veil to force me to sacrifice a creature. I top decked Lingering Souls and ended up casting both halves of it, and after adding a Phantom to the board, I was able to start taking over, since my opponent couldn't outrace me. This was also the first game that I actually got to play with Bygone Bishop, and I must say I was pretty happy with it. Sure, it died blocking a Pyromancer once my opponent dropped a Kolaghan's Command, but rather than getting a clean 2/1, my opponent had to settle for card parity due to the clue token the Bishop had generated. I really like Bishop as a 1 of for those matches where finding extra cards is important.
G2 was a disaster for my opponent. I dropped a T1 aether vial, which let me play a Phantom the next turn, and after it was removed, I used Vial to drop Mausoleum wanderer onto the board. My opponent tried to bolt it and Rattlechains came down to stop that. Since he had cast a lingering souls, my opponent used his main phase to deploy one of his sideboard cards, Zealous Persecution. Unfortunately, instead of being a blowout for him, I activated Vial and dropped in another Phantom, making his play substantially worse. I then played a Selfless Spirit the next turn, with Vial being activated to drop Drogskol captain. With his fatal push targeting my selfless spirit still on the stack, my opponent tried to kill the captain, but after I sacrificed the Wanderer to counter it, my opponent scooped, as he couldn't deal with my board state.
WIN, 3-0
For the last round, I was happy to go ahead and agree to a tie with my opponent, and we just played the match for testing purposes. I was on the play for once, and had a 1 land hand with 2 vials. I knew my opponent was playing Blue Moon, and kept the hand; I ended up steamrolling pretty handily as he didn't have a way to deal with my plays.
Games 2-3 weren't so great though, as I couldn't really overcome my opponent's sideboard plan. G2 had me keep relative parity and even put my opponent at 1, but a combination of Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Batterskull out of the sideboard was too much. In game 3, I had to mulligan, and even though I kept a decent hand (land, vial, and creatures), I could not find a second land drop. I ended up seeing most of my creatures removed and I got beaten down by Legion Warboss.
FInal Record: 3-0-1 (or 3-1 going by the results of the testing match). I was extremely pleased with how my deck performed, and I'm realizing just how important the vials are to the list. I think my biggest issue isn't so much the deck itself, or even my play, but just my ability to anticipate sideboard plans and to determine when I need to mulligan, and when a hand is worth keeping. These are skills that I continue to struggle with, but hopefully with more testing and experience I'll be able to improve those skills.
Ye that's the list I've posted on fryday I think. I've hit another 5-0 on saturday too,and almost did it a third time today losing the final game 2-1 to that dam tron.
I am currently testing Sorin, Lord of Innistrad in replacement of Nebelgast Herald, which is a little underpowered in my version running no Moorland Haunt and he 3x souls which come at sorcery speed.
I like Sorin defening himself while ticking up, something Gideon Ally doesn't do, he defends by staying at 4. I also very much appreciate the emblem (the bonus we only care about is that affecting the power of our creatures, as Osumatthew said) and the possibility to go for it while surviving, I believe it can take over the game against control and midrange if uncontested.
You'll have to let me know how things go with Sorin. I don't fully agree that the power boost is all that's important, because I find that having an additional point of toughness is appreciated too. Having an extra point of toughness means that your board won't die to something like Golgari Charm or Zealous Persecution, and it also keeps your Phantoms and quellers out of range of Lightning Bolt. Plus, Gideon's 2/2s seem much more impactful than Sorin's 1/1s, especially given that Sorin's ult is less than impressive too.
That being said, I want to go back to Spirits, but I'm unsure whether to keep my Bant build or go UW for GP LA next week. What do people think would be a better choice for my first big GP? D:
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."