I'm sick of Burn. Therefore, I'm trying something a bit different. I don't know if I'm going to build this deck or not. It needs some testing. It needs real world data. It needs suggestions badly.
I don't know how well it will work, either. It's really up in the air. It's kind of controlling, and then it provides bodies with beats. I don't know what it'll look like.
This is just me drunkenly brewing after seeing a bunch of reviews and having the Professor put this bee in my bonnet.
Basically, the idea is that it's more of a Death and Taxes style brew, though I'm drawing heavily from Merfolk for the mana base. Given the heavy tribal nature of this deck, Cavern of Souls was an auto-include. And given that I'm trying to grind out as many Spirits as possible, the mana-cheating that Aether Vial provides is critical. With Rattlechains on the battlefield, it means that pretty much anything other than a land in hand comes down at instant speed.
Interestingly, Modern Nexus has a Spirits build that isn't too different from mine. Even the most preliminary playtests have me concur that the deck is a D&T-style deck, not a Merfolk-style, heavy tribal synergy with a bunch of lords-style deck. ETA: Those guys finally settled here, and I'm winding up copying them. The've done more testing than me.
The lack of Flying on Mutavault, as Modern Nexus said, is killer. And there is a dearth of two-drops here worth playing in any colors. Seriously, here's the complete list on Gatherer. The pickings are slim.
In fact, the only two drop creature in any color that is conceivably worth splashing for--and splashing for it is out of the question--is Eidolon of the Great Revel, a favorite of Burn players everywhere (but not something we can jam so easily). I'm going to see if Cavern of Souls, ditching the Hallowed Fountains for a 2/1 split between Steam Vents and Sacred Foundry, and replacing a Seachrome Coast for a Spirebluff Canal (new from Kaladesh) helps with that splash. I figure 8 sources of R should be enough, right?
Problems and comments:
- Aggro decks will eat you for dinner. Yes, you can grind 'em out if they opened with a bad hand. This is a problem this brew shares with D&T.
- You really don't want to be swinging with Spell Queller without Selfless Spirit on the battlefield or a counter ready to deal with the card it's exiling.
- Let's see if Eidolon actually works here. I don't know. I know from burn experience that the Eidolon of the Great Revel lock is for real.
