Happymaster19 Deckspert

The funny thing about Vial is it looks so perfect for what spirits want to be doing. All of the points you laid out are things that can happen. Vial decks typically want at least 25 creatures. We have 23 but two of those are Snaps so we can call it 21. Also we would be leaning to have Vial on three. The three best Vial decks (Merfolk, D&T, and Slivers) all focus heavily on two drops and while we can add Phantasmal Image and Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, I don't think that is enough of a reason to switch.

I think that specifically dealt with Fuse but you could be right.

I'll see how it works out.

I think by imprinting it, you get to choose between the two.

I think Failure would be solid here. Maybe in place of Silence in the sideboard?

Maybe you could relegate some of the discard to the sideboard to free up slots, I feel you want more Mentors too. Not sure about Veteran Motorist.

Fatal Push? Also Salvage Titan could be something to consider.

I like this but I think you'll get more consistency out of making Copter the 4x over Tidehollow.

I really like how Renewal synergizes with your walkers even outside of combing. If you can't get Altar online, Hangarback just keeps making more tokens and Ballista eventually jusy slowly pings your opponent to death.

This looks sweet!

I don't think there is anything as effective as Stony Silence or Blazing Volley.

I feel like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar's anthem emblem would be insane with Bitterblossom. You could also consider Young Pyromancer.

If being lucky enough to play Stony Silence on turn 2 doesn't do it for you. Slam it turn 1. Blazing Volley might be the cheapest way of dealing with a board full of x/1s.

Simian Spirit Guide

True. If I ever end up needing to diversify, I'll consider the legion.

I know this doesn't validate my decision but this deck has won more to scoops than anything else. I maybe have actually beaten someone down twice? People will scoop more often than pay fourteen mana to attack. Some games you get free wins. Curving Leyline into Needle into Halo into Nevermore just kills Ad Nauseam for instance. If you can strip the functionality of a deck early, you can wait all day for win cons.

The most I could see for the legion is sideboard for control. Even then I like Manabarbs even more for that. Thanks though, Gemini.

Oh awesome! So Dovescape counters some of my opponent's deck and all of mine! I don't think so.

Story Circle is just too hot or miss. We already have so many other ways to protect ourselves. Leyline shuts something of any and all colors targeting us off. Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety force them to pay mana instead of us. It gets super sketchy against go wide decks.

Runed Halo can act like Nevermore sometimes. Sometimes it's even better (looking at you Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Aether Vial). Ergo, you can play less of the more expensive card when you have pseudo redundancy at cheaper slots. As mentioned earlier Idyllic Tutor presses this further. That's how we get by on a 1/1 split of Nevermores between main and side.

Going overboard on Greater Auramancy will get you killed by aggro. Plenty of other pieces can sort of protect our other pieces.

Story Circle simply isn't 4x maindeckable. I'm pressed to even add a single to the main but one for the side is fine. They don't do anything against Affinity or Eldrazi. They actually don't do nearly as much as you'd think. If I see a ton of Merfolk, I'll get back to it.

It almost never makes sense to take out Halo. Halo is one of the quintessential cards of the deck. It should be 4x as it has insane versatility against so much. Redundancy. It can be a free win in niche situations.

Dovescape in interesting but likely better in Enduring Ideal lists that can quickly build upon the lock. There's situations where you don't want to be giving your opponent tokens. Mainly because o oh taxing works on them. One thing that gets around naming mechanics is tokens which are nameless. I may not want to face down an Ulamog, but I don't want to be facing down 10 1/1 flyers either.

I don't want to knock that analysis but I've seen plenty of Emrakuls but never seen Approach in modern. That game would have gone very differently if I was naming things. Not that it would have named Emrakul, but I would have been much closer than Approach (no pun intended). I also would have likely waited a lot more. Against a turbo fog deck, you're not going to be doing much the first few turns either. To be honest, if your going turbo fog, there's only a few things I would name. Part the Waterveil, Emrakul, or Sphinx's Tutelage. Games are very dependent on the knowledge the pilot has. Admittedly, this is more effective against known decks. This is a meta deck.

Why 4x Sphere of Safety and 0x Ghostly Prison?