Spirit deck improvements?

Magog

Right now I'm running a completely blue deck with Kiora, consisting of:

Creatures:
* Rattlechains
* Startled Awake (got both this and Rattlechains from a single purchase when the angels/spirits/vampires(?) themed packs were available!).
* Nebelgast Herald

Spells:
* Crush of Tentacles
* Imprisoned in the Moon
* Anchor to the Aether

Supports:
* Prism Array
* Oath of Jace
* Retreat to Coralhelm
* Sphinx's Tutelage

It's ok, but I want to improve it and I'm not making use of any green cards. Part of me also wants to try out Dovin and a U/W deck, but I don't have much that works with his abilities so far, while Kiora's are more generic.

Here're my blue rares/mythics that aren't currently in play:

* Bring to Light
* Docent of Perfection
* Dreadwaters
* Forgotten Creation
* Geralf's Masterpiece
* Prized Amalgam
* Ugin's Insight
* Wharf Infiltrator
* Willbreaker

Green rares/mythics:

* Bring to Light (I tried this, but it could be a liability when Crush of Tentacles was pulled)
* Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
* Emrakul's Evangel
* Heron's Grace Champion
* Managorger Hydra
* Silverfur Partisan (I used to run a deck with this and a ton of spells, but things went wrong too frequently for my liking)
* Spirit of the Hunt
* Sylvan Advocate
* Ulvenwald Observer
* World Breaker
* Zendikar's Roil

White rares/mythics:

* Always Watching
* Angelic Captain
* Archangel Avacyn
* Bruna, the Fading Light
* Felidar Soverign
* Heron's Grace Champion
* Knight of the White Orchid
* Munda's Vanguard
* Selfless Spirit
* Sentinel of the Eternal Watch
* Sanctifier of Souls
* Thalia, Heretic Cathar

Colourless rares/mythics:

* Brain in a Jar
* Captain's Claws
* Decimator of the Provinces
* Desolation Twin
* Distended Mindbender
* Eldrazi Devastator
* Eternal Scourge
* Hanweir Battlements
* Orbs of Warding
* Prairie Stream
* Pyromancer's Goggles
* Sunken Hollow
* Sword of the Animist

Any thoughts on what I can swap in or out?

span_argoman

I would replace Sphinx's Tutelage, Oath of Jace and Retreat to Coralhelm with Nissa's Pilgrimage, Fertile Thicket and Reclaiming Vines / Creeping Mold.

More ramp and gem conversion to trigger Prism Array. And a way to deal with supports if you're finding them a problem. If you've no issues with supports I'd say leave Sphinx's Tutelage for mana denial or Oath of Jace for draw. Retreat to Coralhelm is pretty redundant with Prism Array around.

Magog

Thanks for the suggestions! Am testing them now, looks pretty nice. You make a very good point about the mana ramp vs more draw.

May drop Reclaiming Vines out though, for me it seems that either there're very few supports that matter, or I get utterly swamped with them (Investigate and Fabricate, I'm looking at you...).

Thanks again!

span_argoman

Glad to be able to help! You're missing quite a few of the Green rares and mythics that can help push your deck to the next level. Stuff like Seasons Past, Nissa's Renewal, Part the Waterveil, Animist's Awakening or other mass conversion / ramp cards.

Although if I may suggest, drop Rattlechains and slot in Desolation Twin. Kiora can afford the 6 mana for Startled Awake quite easily and her second ability is much more useful when it fetches a Desolation Twin than a Rattlechains.

Magog

Yeah, Green is probably the weakest colour I have, even getting Animist's Awakening would be really helpful.

Will put in Desolation Twin, although if I do should I remove Nebelgast Herald to increase the odds of pulling the Twins?

span_argoman

Magog wrote:

Yeah, Green is probably the weakest colour I have, even getting Animist's Awakening would be really helpful.

Will put in Desolation Twin, although if I do should I remove Nebelgast Herald to increase the odds of pulling the Twins?

Yeah,that's a good idea, forgot about you still having that card in the deck. You could probably slot in Mantle of Webs to take less damage in matches as the Twins do rather well as defenders.

(Protip: Always cast Mantle of Webs on the token Twin as the AI prioritises removal on creatures over tokens when the stats are similar.)

Magog

Cheers for confirming that and the tip!

Since you mention it though, is there a full list of how the AI prioritises creature removal? The rule of thumb I've come up with is rarity then stats, but I haven't gotten any more granularity than that.

AresOmega

I would like to know this as well. I can cast a Gisela, Decimator and Haunted cloak on Gisela, resulting in a 12/12 flying first strike berserker with lifelink, haste and vigilance (Gisela) and a 12/12 berserker with haste (Decimator) and the AI will kill the Decimator first, every time. Gisela is obviously the bigger threat, so you would think she would be first priority to remove.

span_argoman

Unfortunately I don't think there's a list. There seems to be some ratio for power before the AI decides to kill a token over a non-token creature. Rarity as you guys pointed out seems to matter also. I've seen the AI remove my Startled Awake over other bigger but lower rarity creatures.

Abilities do not seem to matter for determining which one gets removed. My guess (and this is purely guesswork) is that for creatures of the same rarity and power, the tiebreaker is their mana cost.