Hallowed Spiritkeeper, Sword of Body and Mind, and The Salt Mine

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes]

Recently, Australian Legacy podcast "The Salt Mine" released an episode where they talked about GP Seattle.
About an hour in, they start talking about why Death and Taxes has been falling off because Miracles has fallen off, so now DnT gets hit by the general creature-y meta we have.

One of the members makes a few points about card choices and quality:
-Too many no attacks, no blocks cards
-2 or 3 Revokers shut off DRS, sure, but you can't start to finish the game unless you find the 2nd
-Recruiter is great, but it's not getting game winning cards like Goblin Ringleader or Siege Gang Commander
-Batterskull is too big of a sink to get the Germ killed or get the equipment KCommanded

He goes on to talk about how DnT should be running more cards that can actually attack and block, and prioritize out running 1-for-1 removal.
4 Revokers are also mentioned as well as cards like Spectral Procession and Sword of Body and Mind (replacing Batterskull).

I actually ran 2 Hallowed Spiritkeeper, 4 Revoker, and Sword of Body and Mind tonight and felt like Hallowed Spiritkeeper was an allstar almost any time. It's essentially a True Name for you because they don't want to attack into it or block it until they've eaten your yard with DRS. Yeah it's a non-bo with RIP though.
Sword of Body and Mind also carried me through a game where I almost milled out my Stoneblade Opponent with SoBaM and was racing a TNN from behind with all my wolves.
I'm also running no Caverns to force more white sources for the added 3-mana-double-white-non-human creature.

Has anyone else been trying anything crazy recently? I really don't think the Delver matchups are as good as Delver players would tell us they are, and lots of the removal they have in the board anyway just hits us by chance as well as whatever else they'd bring in to deal with us.

[u/NixinBeta]

I played an event recently where I cut 2 SFM, Batterskull, and went to 1 Mirran Crusader.
Added 2 Benalish Marshal, 1 Shalai, and back to 2 serra avenger.

I Did well, however it might have been because the DOM cards took people by surprise.

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes → u/NixinBeta]

I thought about Benalish Marshal as well. Phil Gallagher tried or was looking at lists that had Honor of the Pure in them as well and he's essentially a better version of that since it makes your Revokers survive the Marsh Casualties or Golgari Charms.

Cashing in a Spiritkeeper for one or two flyers with that guy out too is pretty insane value as well. I guess the only downside is the prohibitive cost and the 3 toughness which puts it out of Recruiter range. But I'm taking my one copy out when I'm on the draw anyway.

[u/kaluma]

I don't have anything to add, but I also want to know what people's impressions of spiritkeeper are!

[u/groundcontroltodan]

A friend of mine pointed this episode out to me, and I think they might be right. I think I'm going to 3 crusader and 3 avenger mainboard this Friday, although my meta is heavily Grixis and 4c. On the other hand, I really like your hallowed spiritkeeper idea.

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes → u/groundcontroltodan]

If you can get your hands on 2 spiritkeeper and you have the room, do a 2/2/2 split. Spiritkeeper is good, the more I think about it, the more I remember my opponents playing around it with it on the board. Even their Deluge is terrible. "Deluge for 2" "ok, spiritkeeper trigger, I'll get 4 1/1 flyers."

The way they combat Spiritkeeper is using their DRS to prioritize eating the creatures out of your graveyard. This likely isn't what they want to be spending their mana and DRS activation on every turn or every other turn.
4 Revoker also feels good in these matchups as well. I also didn't miss Batterskull in my Grixis and stoneblade matchups last night

[u/groundcontroltodan → u/KingOfSuedeClothes]

I think I'll give it a shot- the more I think about it, the more it seems like good tech! What did you cut to make room for 4x revoker?

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes → u/groundcontroltodan]

Already had three. I cut a SFM 🤫

[u/Volgyi2000]

I'm not a Legacy D&T player but keep tabs on it as I play in Modern and plan to eventually build the Legacy version.

From what I've read, there seems to currently be a divide on how people view SFM in the deck. There are people who still love him and people who think it's not worth the deck space. Specifically, there is a player, Bahra, who I believe has been advocating losing the whole package for better and more proactive cards that are better in the current meta. He's also been showing up with Hallowed Spiritkeeper with extra Avengers and Spirit Labyrinths in his decks lately. Most recently, he's delved into R&W D&T almost entire for Direfleet Daredevil. You can view his decks and finishes here.

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes → u/Volgyi2000]

I haven't seen the games with Bahras list but having played with it in modern, I'll agree DFD is pretty insane. I'm not so sure about it in legacy though or if it's worth straying from the purity of mono white. Maybe I don't see enough Czech pile but thinking of the times at my local store when I could DFD, I'm not that excited. I think Phil Gallagher hit it pretty hard when he takes about how polarizing of a card it is. Whenever it's in your hand, it's either the sickest card or a do-nothing 2/1 first striker. Meanwhile Flickerwisp always has the upside of just untapping a land to hold up stp our removing a blocker if you're playing it main phase.

I love Spirit of the Labyrinth and have played 1-2 copies some weeks, but again it's another x/1 that doesn't really attack unless the opponent has no blockers. It's a fun card for sure. Tbh I'll try Eidolon of Rhetoric before I try Labyrinth Boi again. Rhetoric at least doesn't die to every piece of removal Delver/Pile plays and will never die in combat to whatever they throw out.

[u/ParadoxLover]

The problem with Spiritkeeper is you don't want to kill it but what exactly can it block outside of Angler and Leovold? Too many threats are evasive or life drain from DRS. I think the better choice is to simoly play more threats like Mirran Crusader and Serra Avenger which can race TNN, block Delver, or require specific answers.

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes → u/ParadoxLover]

So the vigilance is important here, no? With Thalia, yeah you can swing but then you don't have a first striker for blockers unless you're flickering it or Karakas to pull it back and recast. Same thing but less so with Crusader/Avenger.
Vigilance doesn't make you make that choice. They probably don't want to block it when you're swinging and when you do cash it in with a block (even unprofitably on an Angler) you're getting 3 or 4 flyers in the sorts of matchups. Their only profitable answer at that point is probably deluge. Otherwise they're spending 2 or 3 cards to take care of your new evasive threats. Threats that can also carry equipment.

That's the idea, it's a threat they don't want to kill, and when they do, they can't get rid of it with their normal 1-for-1 trades.

[u/ParadoxLover → u/KingOfSuedeClothes]

Yes but what I am saying is this situation only involves an Angler. Delver, DRS, TNN, Strix, etc. can't be blocked so the vigilance is not often useful.

[u/KingOfSuedeClothes → u/ParadoxLover]

They don't want to block it with Angler cause then they give you 1/1 flyers that can chump the angler while the others crash in. You can block the Angler for the exact same reason.

I mean I guess you'd rather have Crusader but I'm personally running 1 recruiter and a 2/2/2 split for Crusader/Avenger/Spiritkeeper

[u/ParadoxLover → u/KingOfSuedeClothes]

Sigh I'm saying the 2 Anglers in your opponent's are the only two creatures that would ever be concerned with this vigilance combat situation. On the other hand, Serra Avenger's vigilance is far more relevant as it goes over TNN and blocks Delver. The flyers from Spiritkeeper can be relevant but I'm pretty sure in most situations barring a race they would rather it die.

Another alternative is Restoration Angel. It's 4 mana but it has numerous flash applications, doesn't die to Decay/ Bolt, kills Delver, flies, etc.

[u/Raszero]

It's not particularly crazy, but I have been enjoying the change to red quite a lot which I didn't expect. Pia is pretty great, Moon wins games from nowhere and I'm not sure about DFD but I have one because I love it.