Topic: [Standard] - Life Goes On - [FNM]

So I have an "in-progress" version of this deck, which ended up placing me 2nd at M13 Game Day. There were only 7 of us though, and I believe it was 2 of those 7's first time playing at an event, AND only 2 of us went 2-0, so my sample size is pretty small.  I was quite happy that I was able to pull off a Turn 4 Spectral Flight on a Turn 3 Geist of Saint Traft. That combo is pretty much unbeatable and does 8 damage from turn 4 on and stops Delver in its tracks.

I call it, "Life goes on". It's mostly a UW deck, but has an Unburial Rites and a couple Dismembers.
http://deckbox.org/sets/221022

It was pretty consistent with Lingering Souls doing its thing and Mana Leak stalling for me long enough to ramp up.

I upgraded it a bit with the purchase of an M13 Event Deck which seems to have made it stronger, but I'm thinking the following would be ideal (more Geist of Saint Traft + Spectral Flight combos:
http://deckbox.org/sets/221143

Thoughts/Suggustions/Interrogations? smile

Shahrazad - Yo Dawg! We know how much you like playing MTG, so we put a game of MTG in your game of MTG!

Re: [Standard] - Life Goes On - [FNM]

I think the only glaringly strange thing for me is the Drogskol Captain, you've only got GoST as far as spirits and he's already hexproof, I'd rather just use something like Honor of the Pure or Angel of Jubilation or something.

I've also never seen Avacyn played outside of a ramp deck or a quicksilver amulet deck (or maybe Pod??) anyway I wouldn't include it.

More GoST is always better, there's a reason that card is worth 20$, lets be honest.

I would never use index before ponder unless you have miracles, so I'd always use 4 ponders before I even considered an index.

also you should not be using sunpetals just to try to get Gavony township online, that card isn't worth anything near that much commitment.

Finally consistency works out better for me, I almost never include just one of a card only include 2 if I'm using it cause it's the closest thing i can find to 6 of a different card tongue, others on here would say that variety helps you to handle any situation, I disagree but it's worth testing out

http://deckbox.org/users/imsully2

Re: [Standard] - Life Goes On - [FNM]

First a question: Why did you link to the old version of the deck?  I spent the first 5 minutes looking over the old version thinking up feedback before I realized that I should be looking at the other one.

Second, while I'm the one imsully is noting about the need for versatility wink, I have to agree with him that you need consistency.  If you cannot put at least 2x of a card, it's likely not worth it or had better not be an integral part of your plan.  For example, if you're running a vampire deck and throw in a copy of Exquisite Blood as a 1x just for grins, that's fine, but if it's potentially important to your strategy, it NEEDS to be at least 2x if not more.  This will both increase the consistency but also will make the deck easier to learn to play, as you don't have to sit and figure everything out from scratch all the time.

I'm also going to go one step further than imsully to say that I really think the deck is lacking in direction and would likely get wiped out pretty quickly at an FNM (I don't mean to be harsh).  Of course there is likely to be variation in the meta at each LGS, but I'm just not seeing the power play here.  If you want to do a crazy blue/white spirit deck, run it, but at current there are a lot of pieces that aren't fitting in.

Here are a few questions/comments/suggestions:

1) Jace's Phantasm - I understand the pull toward including a possible one-drop 5/5 flyer, but I'm not seeing any mill elements here.  So were you just planning on waiting until they have 10 cards via spells or casualties from combat/removal?  If that's the case, you might as well be waiting to hard-cast Avacyn.

2) Serra Avenger - again, a nice, tempting card, but those spots could be better utilized with either spirit creatures (there are quite a few of them), spells to pull Lingering Souls out of the graveyard (Archaeomancer or better in your case Runic Repetition), or some sort of removal, i.e., Oblivion Ring.

3) Blade Splicer - same story here.  You're making tokens, so that's good, but those tokens aren't playing into the strength of the deck.  Why not go with 2x more Drogskol Captain to ensure the spirits are that much stronger?

4) Mirran Crusader - I would sideboard him.  He doesn't fit the scheme, doesn't have flying, and his protections only work in some instances.  You could easily use those spots to either include additional Phyrexian Metamorphs or something else to that end.

5) You're splashing black just for one Unburial Rites?  If it's an Avacyn casting strategy, why not just run Defy Death?  It might cost one more, but it's in a primary color AND would give her two +1/+1s.

6) Why not just run 3x Ponder?

7) Take or leave this one - personally I like Divine Reckoning over Day of Judgment.  Same cost, but you can maintain a creature advantage if you have the biggest one, AND it has flashback, giving you double the board clears for the same number of slots in the deck.

8) Why Spectral Flight when most of your creatures are already flying?  You could take advantage of Favorable Winds and pump all those spirits even more.  If you're looking for a pump enchantment, Spirit Mantle is still standard legal and gives your guy both +1/+1 and protection from creatures (not a bad deal there).  Others that would better serve you are there.

9) The sideboard needs some work here, but I'll leave that up to you to figure out as you're more familiar with the decks your opponents are more likely to be running.

Then you can simplify your land base in a way that it will be much more consistent.  I think there's a lot of promise here and it could be pulled together without spending too much or putting forth too much effort.  Soon you'll be pumping lots of spirit tokens that can dive in for plenty of flying damage.  Confetti will stream from the rafters, music will be playing, etc., etc.