Commander Collection: Phantom's Revenge

Commander / EDH RUW (Jeskai, America)

Jurrane

Creature (31)

• 1x Azorius Herald
• 1x Bygone Bishop
• 1x Celestial Crusader
• 1x Celestial Kirin
• 1x Dominus of Fealty
• 1x Dreamshackle Geist
• 1x Drogskol Captain
• 1x Drogskol Reinforcements
• 1x Drogskol Shieldmate
• 1x Drumbellower
• 1x Empyrean Eagle
• 1x Guardian of Faith
• 1x Hollowhenge Spirit
• 1x Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr  ^Flip
• 1x Keiga, the Tide Star
• 1x Mausoleum Wanderer
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Moonshaker Cavalry
• 1x Nebelgast Herald
• 1x Nikko-Onna
• 1x Patrician Geist
• 1x Rattlechains
• 1x Remorseful Cleric
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Shacklegeist
• 1x Sire of the Storm
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 1x Spectral Sailor
• 1x Spell Queller
• 1x Supreme Phantom
• 1x Windborn Muse

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Distorting Wake
• 1x Meteor Blast
• 1x Open Into Wonder
• 1x Red Sun's Twilight

Land (34)

• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Cavern of Souls P
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Inspiring Vantage
• 6x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Moorland Haunt
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mutavault
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 4x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Skycloud Expanse
• 1x Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1x Spirebluff Canal
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Artifact (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Seance Board
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Creativity

Commander (1)

Instant (20)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Aurelia's Fury
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Disorder in the Court
• 1x Excise the Imperfect
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation P
• 1x Glimpse the Sun God
• 1x Gridlock
• 1x Heliod's Intervention
• 1x Icy Blast
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x March of Swirling Mist
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Prismatic Boon
• 1x Reality Spasm
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection P

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study

---

{W}{U}{R} Introduction: The Spirit Squad {W}{U}{R}

Show

It’s my opinion that Hinata, Dawn-Crowned is one of the best Commanders that’s been printed in quite a while. In this deck, I’m using her to lead a Jeskai Spirits tribal deck (since she’s a Spirit herself) that also gains insane levels of value from her static ability that reduces the casting cost of spells by {1} for each target.

“Phantom’s Revenge” is the second iteration of a Spirits build that I’ve tried. I originally built it in Azorius colours wih Geist of Saint Traft as commander, but it seemed a bit one-dimensional because it only relied on combat to win. Moving into Jeskai colours enables us to use Hinata, Dawn-Crowned as our commander. Hinata allows us to attack from several different angles, giving us amazing versatility through the degenerate things she can do with X-spells. In my view, this results in a Spirits tribal build that’s far more fun to play than my previous UW version.

Power Level

Show

I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

I would classify this as one of my Tier 3 decks. It's fairly well tuned but isn't yet fully optimised. Spirits aren't the strongest tribe and we're highly reliant on drawing into - and then resolving - our X-spells with Hinata in play to do our more degenerate things. So far, I've lost far more games than I've won with this deck but it's fun to play and does OK at most casual tables. However you'll quickly be outclassed against more aggressive or competitive opponents.

Budget

Show

The average price for this deck on Card Kingdom is just over $450. It started life as a budget build but over time I've added some more expensive cards like Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and Fierce Guardianship. Other than those, the rest of the deck is relatively cheap so if you're on the lookout for a budget version, it's absolutely viable to build Hinata Spirits with minimal investment. Very few Spirits are expensive and Hinata herself is under a dollar. Although we're a three colour mana base, most of the lands are fairly cheap, especially if you can make do without shocks or fetches. The main thing I'd advise for a budget version is not to use lands that ETB as they'll result a bit of a tempo loss, which this deck doesn't want.

The X-Factor

Show

Where Hinata really shines is her ability to X-spells that allow for multiple targets into game-changing (and potentially game-ending) threats. We seek to maximise this by running a bunch of different X-spells that become turbo powered thanks to Hinata’s ability. Here’s how many of our instants and sorceries become turbo-charged if Hinata, Dawn-Crowned’s on the board:

- Aurelia's Fury: Deals one damage for {W}{R} to every enemy creature and taps them. Pump more mana into the spell and it becomes a one-sided board wipe.
- Curse of the Swine: Exiles all opposing creatures for {U}{U}.
- Disorder in the Court: Temporarily exiles as many creatures as we want (useful for offence or defence) and creates a Clue token for each creature exiled, all for the cost of {W}{U}
- Distorting Wake: Acts as a pseudo-Cyclonic Rift by returning as many non-land permanents as we want to their owners’ hands for {U}{U}{U}.
- Glimpse the Sun God: Taps all opposing creatures for {W}.
- Gridlock // Icy Blast: Taps all our opponents’ permanents for {U}. If we're doing it with Icy Blast when Hinata's in play, no-one's stuff will untap in their next uptap phase either.
- Heliod's Intervention: Destroys all opposing artifacts and enchantments for the cost of {W}{W}
- March of Swirling Mist: Phases out all our creatures a la Teferi's Protection for {U}, or phases out all our opponents’ creatures, allowing us to attack unimpeded.
- Meteor Blast: Does 4 damage to as many targets as we like for {R}{R}{R}.
- Open Into Wonder: All our creatures become unblockable for {U}{U} and draw us cards when dealing combat damage.
- Prismatic Boon: Gives all our creatures protection from a single colour for {W}{U}
- Reality Spasm: Taps everything for {U}{U} or acts as mass ramp for us (float all our mana, untap all our permanents for {U}{U}, effectively doubling our available mana).
- Red Sun's Twilight: Destroys all opposing artifacts for the cost of {R}{R}. Plus it makes temporary copies of them if X is five or more.

Play Style

Show

We're an aggressive tempo deck so we want to land threats early and build a critical mass of attacking creatures, while keeping mana open to disrupt our opponents at instant speed. Tempo is one of my favourite play styles, and there's been a lot of useful articles explaining how tempo strategies work and how best to employ them. Here are some examples:

- https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/tempo-and-card-advantage/ - from the classic pages of The Dojo, an introductory overview of tempo and card advantage.
- https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/tempo-2014-09-22 - another excellent introductory article. This is written by Reid Duke and is on the WotC website.
- https://boltthebirdmtg.com/how-to-build-a-competitive-mtg-deck-part-two-tempo/ - another useful piece about tempo, particularly from a deckbuilding perspective.
- http://mtgcube.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-formalisation-of-tempo.html - a more advanced article for when you're done with the basics.

For the purposes of this deck, tempo means the following things:

Being an aggro control deck: From experience, the hardest part of playing this deck is getting the right balance between aggro and control. I often think of tempo as being a fusion of aggression and control, with the ability to shift seamlessly between the two (or play the two styles in parallel) when the time is right. This is usually marked in a shift between the early game and the late game: early on it's about dealing with enemy threats that have the potential to disrupt us in later turns and presenting threats when it's safe to do so; in the late game, it's more about attacking and presenting inevitability with disruption and dangerous creatures that our opponents can't answer. But there's a lot of subtlety between the two and it takes a lot of practice to get it right.

Generating threats with evasion: Effective tempo play often means presenting evasive threats which are hard to answer. Over 80% of our creatures have flying which means they're generally going to connect when they attack. We have plenty of other ways of making them unblockable including (but not limited to) Open Into Wonder, Aurelia's Fury, Glimpse the Sun God, Gridlock, Icy Blast, March of Swirling Mist and Reality Spasm.

Playing at instant speed: Between our instants and our creatures with flash, we can play about a third of our cards at instant speed. This allows us to react to opposing players and play the optimal offensive or defensive measures at the right time. Unlike other aggressive creature decks, don't feel the need to play threats during our turn (unless you have to) as flashing them in can be far more problematic for opponents. If anything, I'd like to increase the number of creatures with flash in this list (currently we have Celestial Crusader, Drogskol Shieldmate, Guardian of Faith, Hollowhenge Spirit, Nebelgast Herald, Rattlechains, Spectral Sailor and Spell Queller).

Making efficient use of resources: One of the truisms of a tempo play style is we'll be more successful than our opponents if we use our resources in a more efficient way than them. Playing at instant speed is one and maximising the value we get from Hinata, Dawn-Crowned is another. All those X-spells become incredibly cheap and efficient if Hinata's cost reduction ability is live, and allow us to do game-breaking things for a very low cost. While countespells are effectively a form of card disadvantage in Commander (assuming a 4-player game, countering an opposing spell leaves our other two opponents a card up), we run enough carddraw sources that this is rarely an issue.

Having effective interaction: Our suite of interactive cards is probably the strongest part of the deck, even more so when Hinata, Dawn-Crowned is on the battlefield. We have numerous instant-speed tools to remove opposing threats, protect our creatures, counter spells, disrupt attackers and force our own damage through. Many of these are outlined in "The X-Factor" section above and are reliant on having Hinata in play, so protecting her is the most important objective of the deck. As a side note, it's usually worth waiting to cast her until we have ways of adequately dealing with removal from our enemies.

Raiding the Spirits Cabinet

Show

Here is a list of all the creatures with the Spirit card type that we're running. I've also included the small number of non-Spirit creatures in this list that synergise with the play style of this deck.

• Azorius Herald: Nice unblockable attacker. The incidental lifegain is occasionally relevant. Including {U} in the casting cost will rarely be an issue.
• Bygone Bishop: We run plenty of low mana value creatures so if he sticks, he's going to be generating quite a few Clue tokens. One of our repeatable sources of card draw.
• Celestial Crusader: Is effectively uncounterable due to split second timing and we love creatures that can be played at flash speed. His buff powers up all white creatures so be careful when you play it.
• Celestial Kirin: Another card that has to be played very carefully but is an excellent selective boardwipe option. Note that any Spirits that trigger its ability won't be destroyed themselves as they'll be on the stack when it resolves.
• Dominus of Fealty: A very good way of using our opponents' best creatures against them. If it sticks it causes havoc with opposing board states.
• Dreamshackle Geist: Useful tempo creature that can help remove opposing blockers or slow down creature attacks against us.
• Drogskol Captain: Our best lord effect. Giving our Spirits a buff and making them hexproof is very strong. Staple.
• Drogskol Reinforcements: Two very relevant abilities. Melee powers up our Spirits, giving them more of a punch, and its damage prevention ability is a useful option against red decks.
• Drogskol Shieldmate: Not the strongest Spirit but can be relevant in combat situations. Chosen mainly due to its flash ability.
• Drumbellower: Gives all our creatures pseudo-vigilence (is actually better than vigilence as it untaps them outside of combat too, if opposing tap or stun effects are targetting them).
• Empyrean Eagle: Another lord effect. Not much to say other than it scales well with the others.
• Guardian of Faith: An excellent way of protecting our team from removal. Other than Teferi's Protection and March of Swirling Mist, it's one of the best answers we have to Farewell.
• Hollowhenge Spirit: Another Spirit that's included mainly because of its flash ability. Its ETB tends to be a defensive measure.
• Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr  : Potentially one of our biggest threats if we have a bunch of other Spirits in play. If she dies, we can replay her from the graveyard for her Disturb cost to buff another creature.
• Keiga, the Tide Star: Expensive to cast but with a potentially explosive ability. Opponents tend to give us a wide berth when it's in play.
• Mausoleum Wanderer: Cheeky little one drop that will occasionally catch an opponent with their pants down. Best for stopping big game-ending spells when a player forgets they can't pay the additional {X}
• Mirror Entity: Bomb card and a game-ender. Pump it up when we can swing big and go wide to end the game, or if we need some meaty blockers. Has the changeling ability so is technically a Spirit too.
• Moonshaker Cavalry: The white Craterhoof Behemoth. Another finisher card if we have a bunch of other Spirits on the board.
• Nebalgast Herald: Nice little tempo card. Combine with Rattlechains to tap down enemy creatures at instant speed.
• Nikko-Onna: Repeatable enchantment removal that we can bounce plenty of times by casting our other Spirits. Shame it doesn't fly but you can't have everything.
• Patrician Geist: We're not really a graveyard deck so its cost reducer effect isn't usually relevant. We run it because it's another 3MV flying lord.
• Rattlechains: Probably our best tempo creature. Giving our other Spirits flash is huge. Expect him to draw removal.
• Remorseful Cleric: Here to mess with graveyard decks. Not too much else to say other than it's another flying threat.
• Selfless Spirit: You can never have too many ways to protect creatures in a deck like this. Annoying for opponents to have to deal with.
• Shacklegeist: Not the most exciting creature we run but it's a flying bear that supports our tempo plan but helping to tap creatures. Might get replaced if something better comes along.
• Sire of the Storm: Costly to cast but an excellent source of card draw. We always want to see it alongside staples like Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study.
• Skyclave Apparition: An excellent versatile removal option. We have a few options to flicker it which means we can get repeated uses. Downside is usually pretty negligible.
• Spectral Sailor: Nice little card drawing one-drop. Plus it's another creature with flash.
• Spell Queller: One of my favourites from back when I used to (unsuccessfully) play Spirits in SOI-EMN Standard. We run plenty of better counterspells but it's still capable of thwarting opponents.
• Windborn Muse: Excellent defensive card as it's basically a Ghostly Prison with wings. If it stops opponents attacking, it's doing its job.

Summary & Next Steps

Show

This is probably one of the weaker decks in my collection but I've got a soft spot for the Spirits creature type so I'll continue to play it at lower-powered casual tables. Spirits are a pretty evergreen creature type so new cards tend to show up in most new sets, so I'll continue to add to this list and develop it over time. I'll maybe add Flare of Denial as another free counterspell to help boost its countermagic package.

---

All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Talrand, Sky Summoner {U}
Blue Streak: Mono-Blue Spellslinger

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Goodstuff

{B} Syr Konrad, the Grim {B}
Black Hole: Mono-Black Sacrifice/Aristocrats

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Stax

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IV {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Hallar, the Firefletcher {R}{G}
Trailblazer: Gruul Kicker

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Heron's Grace {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Prime Speaker Zegana {U}{G}
Wicked Twister: Simic +1/+1 Counters

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Kess, Dissident Mage {U}{B}{R}
Mindbender: Grixis Discard

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Spirits Tribal

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

Date added	2 years
Last updated	13 hours
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.64
Tokens	Boar 2/2 G, Clue, Copy Clone, Human 1/1 W, Illusion */* U, Incubator, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Spirit 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 W