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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Dreamcatcher
Creature — Spirit
Whenever you play a Spirit or Arcane spell, you may sacrifice Dreamcatcher. If you do, draw a card.
Halbrechtt on
Blue Ectoplasm [Modern W/U Spirits]
3 years ago
+1 for spirits!
Alright. So my main concern with this deck is that you have nothing to do on turn 1 and very little to do on turn 2. Conversely, you have over half of your spells vying for turn 3. So my main recommendation would be to convert some of your CMC 3 and higher spells into 1 and 2 drops. I know you purposefully stuffed the 3 CMC slot for Drift of Phantasms' transmute ability.... but honestly, you don't need a LOT of cards at 3 CMC for the transmute to matter. You just need the most important cards (notably, Drogskol Captain). Quality vs quantity. :)
So some nominations!
Another possibility is Celestial Colonnade. It doesn't make a spirit, but a 4/4 flyer is still formidable, and it'll get pumped by Empyrean Eagle. The land also produces both colors of mana, which is nice.
Whichever you choose, I'd only add 2x.
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Mausoleum Wanderer is on-board countermagic. As you play your anthem effects like Supreme Phantom, the Wanderer will naturally get bigger and make it harder for the opponent to pay the cost. But also, when combined with flash spirits, its power can grow out of nowhere, making the calculations not in your opponent's favor.
Now, the downside to an on-board counter is that the opponent knows about it.... but is that actually a complete downside? Unless you're playing against experienced players, an opponent will often durdle and hold back out of fear of your counter. Which is, in effect, allowing you to "cast" the counter for free every single turn that they DON'T play the thing they're worried about you countering. Now, a good player will "bait out" the counter so that they don't have to worry about it anymore.... but that still sometimes means they're playing suboptimally. In addition, the Wanderer will also attract their removal spells, meaning your anthem effects and other important spirits are safer. And you're fine trading a 1 mana spirit for their removal spell! -
Not as awesome, but Spectral Sailor has the important Flash mechanic, which is especially good when it only costs 1 mana. This can be anything from a surprise blocker to a buff for the Wanderer's countermagic to a surprise tap-down with Nebelgast Herald (which is extra good against decks with hasty creatures). Finally, it gives you a mana sink if the game goes long and you need to draw some cards.
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Speaking of drawing cards.... the weakest of the bunch is Dreamcatcher, but since you'll be casting spirit spells all game long, there'll be plenty of chances to trade in this early game blocker for a new card whenever it seems best.
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I would replace Geist of the Archives with Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch. Yes, it has 1 less toughness, but it's 1 mana cheaper than the former, with a potentially more potent ability (gives a small amount of bounce!), and that toughness will easily rise with all the anthem effects you have.
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Not a new recommendation, but I would run the full playset of Supreme Phantom. The anthem effects will be the key to sealing your victory. I would replace your 2x Mindshrieker with the Phantom, since you don't have enough top-deck manipulation to make Mindshrieker reliable.
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Spell Queller is an amazing sideboard card. It can replace one of your counterspells, and notably it "counters" uncounterable spells. Yes, the opponent has a chance to get the spell back, but combine Queller with Drogskol Captain, and good luck with that!
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Geist of Saint Traft doesn't have the acclaim he used to, but I still like him, and combined with p/t boosts, he likely won't die in battle. And he always brings a 4/4 buddy with him! (Which also gets buffed by Empyrean Eagle). The hexproof also makes him hard to remove.
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Probably another sideboard card, but Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is a very strong tax against removal-heavy decks.
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Callow Jushi  Flip: Probably not as good as the other counterspell options, but kinda fun! Note that you don't have to flip him with just 2 ki counters on him, so you can save up the ki counters until the more crucial turns of the game. You can also have one flipped with a couple ki counters while you build up another one, because the legend rule doesn't apply until it's flipped.
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Anthem effects: Like with Supreme Phantom, I see no reason not to run the full playsets of Drogskol Captain and Empyrean Eagle. The hexproof provided by Drogskol Captain is particularly important, and he would be my first two things to transmute for.
I also already mentioned Mindshrieker, and for a similar reason, I don't feel Callous Deceiver is good in this deck. Without anthem effects, the best it can be is a 2/3 flyer for 3 mana.... not that great. Its abilities don't help with anything else in the deck.
Another 3 drop I'd cut is Uninvited Geist  Flip. Its skulk ability doesn't synergize well with anthem effects, as pretty soon most creatures can block it. If it started as a 1/1, skulk might be better.... but then it's 3 mana for a 1/1 that takes 2 turns to transform into an unblockable 3/3. Eh. It also doesn't have flying for the Eagle to buff.
As to higher CMCs, I'm personally not sold on Dungeon Geists. Maybe you have good luck with it, but I'd rather have 4x Nebelgast Herald and cheap flash spirits than the 4 drop.
I'm loathe to suggest cutting Celestial Messenger because I know you like your Yanling package.... but honestly, the Yanling package will work without this over-costed spirit. It's 4 mana for a 4/3 flyer, IF Yanling is out.... and that's it. The only thing it's got going for it is that gorgeous art. Too bad it doesn't have mechanics to match.
Curse of Echoes's inclusion confuses me. If you like to play multiplayer games, this card can actually be BAD (you might not want your other two opponents getting copies!). But even 1v1, it gives too much control to the opponent. First, they have to have a deck with enough instants/sorceries to matter, so at best this would be a sideboard card. But even then, they can play around it too easily by not casting any devastating spells until they've found a way to deal with it.
Also not sold on Sturmgeist. At best it's an 8/8 flyer, but that's if you can keep a full grip of cards. But aside from Mu Yanling, Sea Gate Restoration  Flip, and Sturmgeist itself (4 cards total), you have no ways of refilling your hand. More likely it'll be a 3/3 or 4/4 flyer that sometimes draws you a card. Not that great for 5 mana. Doesn't feel like the right deck for it.
Keiga, the Tide Star: While stealing a creature is fun, Control Magic-effects usually cost less (4-5 mana), and with Keiga, you don't even get the effect until Keiga dies! If you want this effect in the deck, there's other more efficient ways to achieve it.
Finally, at the top of the CMC charts is Sea Gate Restoration  Flip. And hey, if it's a pet card, keep it. But hear me out on my concern. As stated above, this deck isn't designed to draw cards, so by the time you have 7 mana (turn 8-9), how many cards do you think you'll have left in hand? I'd bet 2-3, assuming you've been playing out cards on curve. So you'll draw 3-4. Is that worth the 7 mana? That's up to you, but since the going rate on a base draw effect is 4 mana to draw 3, you should be drawing more like 5-6. (This is also comparable to Mind Spring, which would draw you 5 for 7 mana.)
P.S. I am gonna go ahead and state this for the record: Your hunch that the 3-turn idea won't pan out so well is sadly going to be correct. It involves skipping a turn and getting a planeswalker to a (scary) ultimate — the former dangerous, the latter near impossible. It would be easier to spend 1 less mana and cast a 5 CMC extra turn spell or two. That said, the idea of taking THREE turns in a row IS truly fun, so by all means, play around with it until you tire of the strategy!
Cut
-2 Mindshrieker
-2 Geist of the Archives
-2 Uninvited Geist
-1 Callous Deceiver
-3 Celestial Messenger
-3 Dungeon Geists
-1 Curse of Echoes
-1 Sturmgeist
-1 Keiga, the Tide Star
-1 Sea Gate Restoration
Add
+1 Prairie Stream
+2 Moorland Haunt
+4 Mausoleum Wanderer
+4 Spectral Sailor
+2 Supreme Phantom
+2 Drogskol Captain
+2 Empyrean Eagle
Sideboard
+2 Spell Queller
+2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
(Sideboard cuts up to you)
I'd personally replace some of the mainboard counters with Spell Queller and Kira, since they're also spirits. But there's obviously pros to running unconditional counters like Dissolve.
I know that was quite a lot, but the more I dug into the available spirits, the more things I came up with! LoL. I hope at least something in all that helped.
BreadlyToastington on
Spirit tribal edh
6 years ago
Dreamcatcher seems like a great include for soulshift "comboing"
Shadowdarkraity on
Spirits From The Bright Sun to The Dark Ocean
6 years ago
Now that I look at it. I do seem to have a "pillow fort". In the form of Ghostly Prison and Dovin Baan. I assume I should lean to a more aggro side. So unless someone says other wise I will take them out. I think I will replace Cancel and Ghostly Prison with Spell Pierce. At least 2 of them but would more be preferred? Going aggro I would think that two would be fine.
Moorland Haunt is like the best thing ever. I'm so happy you told me about that card. Its like everything I need out of a land.
I really like the Phantasmal Image but how many would I put in. I would think around 2 because it shouldn't be the stable of the deck but you still want to have a good chance to get it by turn three or four. I calculated that if I have around 2 of them, getting them by turn 4 would be around 31%. But like I said, that shouldn't be a huge issue because it shouldn't be the "key"(for lack of a better term) of the deck.
So Dreamcatcher seemed really good at first (mostly for its mana cost) but I think that Mausoleum Wanderer , Rattlechains and Nebelgast Herald would be way better (specifically Mausoleum Wanderer) or would Rattlechains be better? Or all three?
Now Invocation of Saint Traft seems really good. At this point though idk where he would fit. I could see it also helping with creatures (if I add it) Eidolon of Countless Battles. I really like Invocation of Saint Traft but if it isn't reasonable then I won't add it.
Now my favorite card in this deck is Anointed Procession. But is it even reasonable to have all 4 of them in? Having Spectral Procession pop out 24 spirits is nice..really nice (that math is correct right? 32=62=12*2=24?) but having 4 isn't exactly budget and I usually (i don't think ever) dont have had all 4 out at once.
Now the last thing I want is some suggested sideboard budget cards that you think I might need just so I have something to work off of when I buy the deck.
Btw I just want to say thank you so much. When I first was getting into magic it seemed kinda intimidating. But building (at least semi competitive decks) is so much fun and I get to learn so much from doing it. I really enjoy the game and I want to thank you for helping me along the way, you have made my magic experience better and SUPER fun. I even got two of my friends into it so now I have more irl propel to play with and not just at fnm.
landofMordor on
6 years ago
Happymaster19, I think I'm leaning towards that as well. Ideally Commit could hit spells or permanents, with the potential upside of graveyard tuck/refilling the hand, but it hasn't performed for me yet in playtesting. Unsubstantiate would probably be similar.
So far, Tragic Slip was a combo with Dreamcatcher (easy to flash in a Spirit and then Slip) for hard removal that hits everything from DS to Tasigur. And also...stuff dies a lot in Magic. But I also have copies of Ultimate Price etc which I'll test. Into the Roil/Ojutai's Command do decent impressions of CCommand, so I'm content with that for now.
Again, I appreciate the feedback! I'll make some edits asap.
Oof_Magic on
6 years ago
Ill do my best not to suggest anything over the most expensive card already here (Rest in Peace). My initial impression is that if youre going Esper, its just criminal to leave out Lingering Souls. I would also try finding solid removal like Doom Blade or Go for the Throat. Not sure I like Dreamcatcher. Opt isnt that expensive.
landofMordor on
6 years ago
Friend, I so dearly wish I could give this more than one upvote. I've come back to this primer again and again as I waffle whether to build my own Spirits list. It's an invaluable resource. Thanks!
If you have some spare time, would you mind to check out my list @ Esper Spirits (again)? Keep in mind that my budget is about $500 less than yours and I rarely visit tournaments, so no Cryptics for me... but I'd love your input on my non-creature spells, the inclusion of Dreamcatcher as a pseudo-Opt, and how you'd improve the deck. Thanks in advance! I'm happy to reciprocate if I can help you out on anything.
BrewerSamwise on
6 years ago
Hey Gattison. I definitely agree with making sure all nonbasics tap for green, and I don't blame you for not being able to visualize the graveyard tricks, this one is a MUCH rougher draft than Join the Herd.
Essentially you want to play Promised Kannushi early, and either use them for chump blocking or sacrifice them with Altar's Reap.
Grisly Salvage helps you get some spirits into the graveyard for Promised Kannushi, a primary target of Soulshift being Dreamcatcher to indefinitely bring back and sac to draw into what you need.
Since this deck is kind of slow, Thief of Hope is there, not only as an essential three drop, but as something that allows us to drain our opponent every time we bring something back.
Tortured Existence is key because we can exchange Golgari Brownscale for any spirit we need while dredging it back for life in order to fill the graveyard with more spirits to resurrect. It can be a little tricky, but if played right, it's really fun and you never run out of what you need.
I've taken out Rancor because it wasn't doing enough for the deck and I added Abundant Growth for mana fixing and card draw. Burr Grafter is important and sometimes better than Rancor (though admittedly not as cheap)because it's a spirit that can get something back when it dies, and it's reusable buffing for the spirits that can't be blocked, which eventually win the game.
landofMordor on
uw spirits
6 years ago
Love it. Azorius Charm is one of my favorite multi-modal spells, because it's great tempo/stabilizing/card advantage. Try Lingering Souls over Spectral Procession if the latter becomes hard to cast with the WWW. I would also mainboard a couple more creatures over Invocation of Saint Traft, like Selfless Spirit. And finally, perhaps try Serum Visions, Dreamcatcher, or Anticipate or some other cantrip as a way to see if you can accelerate your draws into your win conditions.