Considering you have Kira, Geist, and Drogskol captain, why not consider a tallowisp package for some card advantage? You can fetch some auras to put on your hexproof'd dudes. I feel like that is a better thing to do with your mana than cast door of destinies, which will come down far too late to be of any value in an aggro deck like this. Obzedat has a pretty heavy black requirement and a high mana cost, consider replacing it with Favorable Winds which pumps all your spirits. I would say the same for battleground geist and drogskol reaver. Midnight Haunting is a great combat trick and token producer. If you still have a lot of non-token spirits, Spirit Bond can be extremely useful to protect your guys without hexproof (The Captains) and to make more dudes. I'd also probably add some number of Mana leaks to have some harder counterspells to interact with your opponent more.
Edit: Realized that spirit bond can't target a spirit creature.
Edit2: Some number of Celestial Crusader can act as a more powerful Battleground Geist as it has split second and is not counterable. Eidolon of Rhetoric can be good sideboard-tech to stop storm combo and ad nauseam. Kami of ancient law is a Disenchant on legs, and is also decent sideboard tech, and Kataki, war's wage is amazing vs and deck running a lot of artifacts (affinity). Restless Apparition is a resilient beater that also can act as a late-game mana sink if you have no cards in hand.
Edit3: Sorry, I keep thinking of more things when I close out the edit window. Cavern of Souls is invaluable in a deck like this, and will help you ruin a control deck's day. Aether Vial is also used in creature heavy decks as it lets you empty your hand onto the board really fast, and you could drop a drogskol captain onto the field as a combat trick in response to a removal spell targeting another one of your creatures to counter the removal spell.
I feel light lightning bolt warrants a place in this deck. You're essentially a really big burn deck, and bolt will help with creatures as well as go to the face. I know you need a lot of black for soul spike to work, but bolt is just too good to pass up. I think it's better than gitaxian probe.
Rain of gore in the sideboard will also help you against life gain (but not cards with lifelink). It being black probably makes it better than Skullcrack, Flames of the Blood Hand, or the new Atarka's Command which would require a green splash. You already have it with grove though I guess.
If you don't get a zombie infestation or a looting, you're not in a good place. From this situation, I usually just cast loam and either get enough cards in my hand to discard what I need to or start casting/dredging loam to try and hit what I need.
I also played this deck last fnm and it went very poorly. The deck has a good matchup vs most of the non linear decks but against all of the linear comboish decks it is very weak. Sadly modern is filled with those decks as I got to play vs burn storm and amulet. The deck is not fast enough and also doesn't have enough disruption.
Also without a looting or a zombie infestation you really are not doing a whole lot. If you expect a meta filled with creature decks then this is a good choice, otherwise I would try something different.
Anyone else have different experience with the combo matchup let me know.
Kind of depends on the combo matchup. Vs storm you have to be faster, and disrupt their board by killing goblin electromancer and pyromancer ascension. It's very hard for them to go off without an engine. Smallpox helps keep them off lands. Against any combo that doesn't use the graveyard, like Twin, raven's crime is the all-star, as getting them hellbent as fast as possible should be your goal. Ad-nauseam can be laughably easy to beat. Ancient grudge destroys so much of their artifact mana, and they run maybe one or two basic lands. Ghost quarter very quickly turns into strip mine vs a deck like that.
This deck has so many options and lines of play, and can be tuned to deal with just about any type of deck. But the lines of play it presents are very complex. In the first couple of turns you have to understand exactly what it is your opponent is trying to accomplish, and through the use of kill spells, abrupt decay, smallpox, raven's crime and your sideboard tech, disrupt that plan as hard as possible. Then, it's a simple matter of beating them down with Bloodghast, Lingering Souls, and zombie tokens.
Storm is most certainly not unbeatable. All you have to do is resolve an Angel's Grace, Safe Passage, or Riot Control in response to grapeshot. Angel's grace also beats ad nauseam combo, as well as amulet bloom's hive mind win and has the added split second on it for uncounterability. If they try and win with empty the warrens you should be able to beat that lol. The real issue is abrupt decay and the loss of all your mine effects. I recommend Font of Mythos. Font is also a good way to power through heavy discard like Liliana.
Excellent information herkamurjones. I took that exact list into a daily queue on MTGO and a few 8-mans. I lost in the daily to games I should have won. Abzan seems like a favorable matchup, because their dorks and lingering souls get eaten by darkblast / flame jab. The rest of their creatures get taken out by smallpox / spot removal. Most abzan lists are running very few basics right now, so a ghost quarter lock turns ghost quarter into strip mine very fast.
A couple of things I learned about playing this deck.
1: Having an opponent discard Obstinate Baloth, Loxodon Smiter, or Wilt-Leaf Liege to smallpox is awesome because they have to sac it if they have an empty board.
2: Hands without some kind of discard outlet or a dredge card are extremely slow if you don't draw one.
EDIT: I feel like this deck needs some kind of sweeper if your opponent gets ahead. The games I lost with decent hands were because I couldn't cast smallpox and my opponent got ahead.
@herkamurjones - Do you know where I can find that stream by Rapheal Levy on Loam Pox? Thanks
Also, I'll be running this list tonight too and I'll try to post results and what I've learned tonight or tomorrow.
As an ad nauseam player who has used it in all of the situations you've posted, this is what happened in each one.
Ad nauseam: Hit me in the face with a spirit guide.
Scapeshift: Bolt/Electrolyze/Crack a fetch for a mountain at my upkeep.
Storm: I'm at one life, they can either flashback the grapeshot their next turn or kill me with electromancer.
Jeskai Ascendancy: Bolt me at my upkeep.
That's not to say this happens every time. But if I have angel's grace I want to be casting it where I can win. If I have phyrexian unlife too then it's viable, because it fogs an attack and I'm still sitting at 10 life after going to 1. Every time I've casted angel's grace from a losing position, I still usually lose. The only exception being angel's gracing through like three pact triggers from amulet bloom. that feels so good to do.
On top of that, if you're running the circle of protection effects in the sideboard, it is a completely dead card against decks without that color. I think if any circle of protection effects was to see play, it would probably be Story Circle for its versatility.
Edit: @FoodChainGoblins. Thought I hit quote but I hit reply >.<
Except Splinter Twin isn't nearly as oppressive as pod was getting. Yeah, it's a consistent combo deck, but Pestermite dies to literally ANY instant speed removal. Deceiver Exarch is a little more resilient, but can still be dealt with. Keep in mind I hate twin, I hate playing against it, and I dislike everything about the deck. But some people enjoy playing it and it is competitive.
Pod was too much value too fast, a repeatable tutor effect, and doesn't get hosed by removal. It had resilient creatures, hand hate, ramp, and didn't have to rely on an infinite combo to win. Not to mention, any hate creature in three or even four colors could be slotted into it as a singleton!
Well, to be fair, land plus 4x Chancellor or Spirit guide in your opening hand does give you the mana to pay for hibernation's end cumulative upkeep the first time. You just have to top deck land for the rest of the game to keep paying for it.
If you still have a lot of non-token spirits, Spirit Bond can be extremely useful to protect your guys without hexproof (The Captains) and to make more dudes. I'd also probably add some number of Mana leaks to have some harder counterspells to interact with your opponent more.Edit: Realized that spirit bond can't target a spirit creature.
Edit2: Some number of Celestial Crusader can act as a more powerful Battleground Geist as it has split second and is not counterable. Eidolon of Rhetoric can be good sideboard-tech to stop storm combo and ad nauseam. Kami of ancient law is a Disenchant on legs, and is also decent sideboard tech, and Kataki, war's wage is amazing vs and deck running a lot of artifacts (affinity). Restless Apparition is a resilient beater that also can act as a late-game mana sink if you have no cards in hand.
Edit3: Sorry, I keep thinking of more things when I close out the edit window. Cavern of Souls is invaluable in a deck like this, and will help you ruin a control deck's day. Aether Vial is also used in creature heavy decks as it lets you empty your hand onto the board really fast, and you could drop a drogskol captain onto the field as a combat trick in response to a removal spell targeting another one of your creatures to counter the removal spell.
Rain of gore in the sideboard will also help you against life gain (but not cards with lifelink). It being black probably makes it better than Skullcrack, Flames of the Blood Hand, or the new Atarka's Command which would require a green splash. You already have it with grove though I guess.
Kind of depends on the combo matchup. Vs storm you have to be faster, and disrupt their board by killing goblin electromancer and pyromancer ascension. It's very hard for them to go off without an engine. Smallpox helps keep them off lands. Against any combo that doesn't use the graveyard, like Twin, raven's crime is the all-star, as getting them hellbent as fast as possible should be your goal. Ad-nauseam can be laughably easy to beat. Ancient grudge destroys so much of their artifact mana, and they run maybe one or two basic lands. Ghost quarter very quickly turns into strip mine vs a deck like that.
This deck has so many options and lines of play, and can be tuned to deal with just about any type of deck. But the lines of play it presents are very complex. In the first couple of turns you have to understand exactly what it is your opponent is trying to accomplish, and through the use of kill spells, abrupt decay, smallpox, raven's crime and your sideboard tech, disrupt that plan as hard as possible. Then, it's a simple matter of beating them down with Bloodghast, Lingering Souls, and zombie tokens.
A couple of things I learned about playing this deck.
1: Having an opponent discard Obstinate Baloth, Loxodon Smiter, or Wilt-Leaf Liege to smallpox is awesome because they have to sac it if they have an empty board.
2: Hands without some kind of discard outlet or a dredge card are extremely slow if you don't draw one.
EDIT: I feel like this deck needs some kind of sweeper if your opponent gets ahead. The games I lost with decent hands were because I couldn't cast smallpox and my opponent got ahead.
http://www.twitch.tv/raphaellevy/v/3793298
Google is your friend
Ad nauseam: Hit me in the face with a spirit guide.
Scapeshift: Bolt/Electrolyze/Crack a fetch for a mountain at my upkeep.
Storm: I'm at one life, they can either flashback the grapeshot their next turn or kill me with electromancer.
Jeskai Ascendancy: Bolt me at my upkeep.
That's not to say this happens every time. But if I have angel's grace I want to be casting it where I can win. If I have phyrexian unlife too then it's viable, because it fogs an attack and I'm still sitting at 10 life after going to 1. Every time I've casted angel's grace from a losing position, I still usually lose. The only exception being angel's gracing through like three pact triggers from amulet bloom. that feels so good to do.
That said, I've had 8rack and burn scoop to it repeatedly turn 0.
Except Splinter Twin isn't nearly as oppressive as pod was getting. Yeah, it's a consistent combo deck, but Pestermite dies to literally ANY instant speed removal. Deceiver Exarch is a little more resilient, but can still be dealt with. Keep in mind I hate twin, I hate playing against it, and I dislike everything about the deck. But some people enjoy playing it and it is competitive.
Pod was too much value too fast, a repeatable tutor effect, and doesn't get hosed by removal. It had resilient creatures, hand hate, ramp, and didn't have to rely on an infinite combo to win. Not to mention, any hate creature in three or even four colors could be slotted into it as a singleton!