cause $624 is budget...

I live in Europe. Right now, you can buy this for around 450€. Compared to the 800€ for a normal Bant Spirits list, this is budget.

I can see your point that 450€ isn't cheap, but it's still close to 50% cheaper than the usual lists.

It is just skipping on expensive cards that give you miniscule advantages.

hmm I'd almost want to see how much in budget the deck would be just at w/u and if you'd really lose all that much power losing company. it would probably be about the same % loss as cutting hierarch, the rally was quite the card.

I think losing CoCo is quite noticeable. Sure, you can play more actual Spirits if you don't play CoCo, but getting two creatures at instant speed is really powerful. Same goes for the acceleration you get by playing manadorks.

cant really say its 50% budget, just because a few cards are dirt cheap. they still have card synergy to what you are trying to do. they are mechanically functional, and work completely fine for the deck. I'd say its budget IF there is a card that costs 3-4 mana and there is a 1 mana card that does the same thing, but is significantly more expensive. i dont really see that here, where you can sub some cheap cards for significantly faster cards that bring the win con. this is jsut a $600 deck. budget doesnt belong

I really like the deck and your description of it, although I have one concern. I feel as though you need to be playing 4 Aether Vial. This is because it is what makes the deck teir 1. I know its a dead draw late but it makes its starts much faster and more resilient to sweepers.

Thanks for your comment.

But three is probably the correct number. Four is too much, as it is such a bad late game draw. And with three, we have 11 things to play on turn one, which is enough. I've even seen people not playing Aether Vial at all in Bant Spirits. Playing Vial and CoCo in the same deck isn't easy.

what do you think about running 1-2 Cavern of Souls instead of Check-/Fastlands?

You can do that for sure. But at the moment I don't want to buy them (no Paper Magic possible where I live).

But if you have them or want to buy them, Cavern is good in the deck.