Death & Traftses

Modern Death and Taxes Hatebears Land Destruction Spirits Tribal WU (Azorius)

GreyJay22

1 drop (12)

• 4x Aether Vial
• 4x Mausoleum Wanderer
• 4x Path to Exile

0 drop (23)

• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Celestial Colonnade
• 2x Flagstones of Trokair
• 4x Flooded Strand
• 4x Ghost Quarter
• 4x Hallowed Fountain
• 2x Island
• 1x Nephalia Academy
• 2x Plains
• 1x Sea Gate Wreckage
• 1x Tectonic Edge

3 drop (17)

• 1x Drogskol Captain
• 3x Eldrazi Displacer
• 4x Flickerwisp
• 3x Geist of Saint Traft
• 2x Reflector Mage
• 4x Spell Queller

2 drop (8)

• 4x Leonin Arbiter
• 4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

---

Sideboard

3 drop (4)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 2x Eidolon of Rhetoric
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer

2 drop (10)

• 2x Kataki, War's Wage
• 2x Kor Firewalker
• 2x Meddling Mage
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Spirit of the Labyrinth
• 1x Stony Silence

1 drop (1)

• 1x Pithing Needle

---

Maybeboard

2 drop (4)

• 4x Phantasmal Image

3 drop (4)

• 4x Thalia, Heretic Cathar

1 drop (4)

• 4x Thraben Inspector

---

A Brief History

This deck started as the usual death and taxes* splashing blue for Geist of Saint Traft as a resilient quick threat. It has gone though allot of changes since then (including the b/w Eldrazi taxes variant that has popped up recently) but I like this one the best so far. It is constantly changing though and I welcome suggestions and help as it continues to grow.

Also Traftses is pronounced like how Gollum would say the plural of hobbit ;)

Form and Function

This is similar to many Death and Taxes but is geared more towards tempo and control currently rather than white weenie. I am constantly taking cards in and out adjusting numbers of cards to try and find the right balance and any advice in this would be greatly appreciated :)

Cards on my Mind/Maybe Board

Phantasmal Image This is a card that usually lives in the sideboard but I often wonder if it could or should work in the main.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar is a card I am going to be testing quite a bit when I get my hands on a few.

Thraben Inspector Possibly a draw engine and maybe a better turn one play then judges familiar, decidedly less tempo though.

Aspects I Really Enjoy

I really enjoy the archetype in general but there a are a few parts of this deck specifically that really make me smile:

Geist of Saint Traft is one of my favorite cards in existence and I love how well he fulfills the role of hard to kill threat in this deck.

Sea Gate Wreckage has an opportunity cost of a waste and admittedly does about as much most of the time however when it works, it can win the game. It gets even better with Aether vials.

Moorland Haunt Like Sea Gate Wreckage it has a very low opportunity cost and can help close out a game in some situations. CURRENTLY ROTATED OUT OF DECK

Mausoleum Wanderer ah the card that actually pushed me into spirit tribal, before I was running Judge's Familiar for the one drop creature spot but the problem was it was only good early game, then this little spook comes along and just works better in most every way. Also its important to note that you can blow someone out with vial-ing in any spirit to mess up their combat math or turning the 1 mana they think they have to pay into much more, I have seriously won games on this interaction alone.

Drogskol Captain I have seen some lists that have Kira, the Great Glass-Spinner but I find the Captain, to be a better one of because of the power boost he gives to Mausoleum Wanderer just better. I can vial in a Captain and buff the Wanderer 2 instead of just the usual 1 for a surprise manaleak or combat tricks . Both the captain and Kira protect Spell Queller about the same but the captain protects it from Abrupt Decay where Kira does not which can impact your matuchps against jund or abzan.

Spell Queller Death and taxes running counterspells that can be abused the same way as o-ring? Yes Please

Reflector Mage Is comparable to Fiend Hunter or Mangara of Corondor which you may have seen in other builds. I have found Reflector Mage to work better over all and to be less vulnerable, but remember I have geared this more towards tempo.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	7 years
Exclude colors	BRG
Splash colors	U
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 10 Rares 17 - 5 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.14
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W
Folders	bant reference, Modern ideas, modern, Saved cool decks, Death and Taxes, spiriti, Interesting Modern Decks, Modern Marvels, Cool Deck Ideas, Modern