Forum:Deck Guide/Spirit

Spirit Deck Guide

by Gadjiltron

Intro
Spirit Monsters are not exactly a Type, but a sub-classification of monsters, much like the more well-known Union Monsters. Introduced in Legacy of Darkness, the Spirits, unfortunately, don't see much play to this day, even after The Duelist Genesis attempted to rectify this issue.

Most Spirits trace their origins, appearances, and names to Japanese folklore, or Buddhism. Well, except for one. They also share a common trait by having the same background for each of their artworks.

Mechanics
Spirit Monsters are an unusual lot. First and foremost, most of them cannot be Special Summoned, preventing an effective swarm with them. Next, at the end of the turn where they are Summoned or flipped face-up, they return to your hand, leaving you wide open to an attack after Summoning a Spirit. It is these rules that make Spirits unfavoured by the masses.

However, they make up for this with powerful effects, like forcing the opponent to discard out his entire hand prior to drawing the next turn, or getting to attack every monster on the field once. Some of these effects trigger when the Spirit is Summoned, and thus their return-to-hand effect allows you to reuse their effects over and over again, while letting them avoid monster removal through Battle or card effects. In fact, the strength and abusability of some effects has led to some notable Spirits hitting the banlist.

Analysis

 * Speed: Let's face it - Spirits are slow. You can't Special Summon most of them, and there're few ways to extend the number of Normal Summons you get a turn. They do, however, have a few tricks to slow down the opponent by a good deal.
 * Power: Not a lot of the low-level Spirits are very strong, and it's usually a hassle to Tribute Summon for the Spirits. They do make up for their lack of power with impressive effects though.
 * Consistency: Spirits are usualy a hit-or-miss archetype. It's a sad thing that they lack the search power that other archetypes have that can smoothen out their inconsistencies.
 * Risk: As mentioned earlier, Spirits have a habit of leaving you wide open to attacks. Let's hope you have some cards to hold off direct attacks...
 * Meta Ranking: Hey, since when was the last time you saw a Deck that was mainly Spirits enter the meta?

Monsters
Now, let's take a look at the Spirit family:


 * Asura Priest - One of the notable Spirits that still sees some play in an occasional unusual deck. He has an ability to attack all of your opponent's monsters once each, and combined with 1700 ATK it's a force to be reckoned with for a low-level Spirit.
 * Dark Dust Spirit - For one Tribute, he can destroy all other face-up monsters. This is a pretty powerful effect, and is recommended that he's used to deal a finishing blow. Well, let's hope you can knock your opponent within 2200 LP for his attack to end the Duel there and then.
 * Fushi no Tori - This Spirit holds a paltry 1200 ATK with a so-so effect. If it deals Battle Damage to your opponent, you gain LP equal to the damage done. Considering its wimpy ATK, however, it'd take a miracle for this undying phoenix to score a hit.
 * Great Long Nose - For one Tribute, he brings you 1900 ATK, which is something not so great, given that monsters of interest at one Tribute have 2000 or more. If he ever deals Battle Damage to the opponent, your opponent skips their next Battle Phase, preventing a counterattack. Is he good? Only if you can persistently summon and score damage with this tengu.
 * Gundari - A strange anti-Synchro Spirit introduced in Absolute Powerforce. If he battles with a Synchro, he bounces both the Synchro and himself at the start of the Damage Step, before either player takes damage. But seriously, why use him when you have access to a more efficient version that can also stay on the field?
 * Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi - The heaviest hitter for Spirits, standing at 2800/2900 for two Tributes. If he does Battle Damage, your opponent empties out their hand before they draw during their next turn. An amazing effect that will disrupt your opponent's tempo - but be wary that this will actually aid Infernity builds.
 * Inaba White Rabbit - The little moon rabbit also has the tendency to be a really annoying one. He holds a humble 700 ATK, but can attack your opponent directly, with his Spirit attribute allowing him to dodge most monster removal. If you keep yourself well-guarded, the repeated chips of 700 damage can and will add up over time.
 * Izanagi - Okay, so he's not actually a Spirit, but he sure can lend a great hand to them. You can Special Summon him by removing a Spirit in your hand from play, though if you wish you still can Normal Summon him. He boasts a fair 2200 ATK that can fend off a lot of the low-level beaters, and makes the self-returning effects of your Spirits optional. Keep the larger hitters on your field, and let the smaller ones who can't last battle return to your hand.
 * Izanami - There's nothing worse than having an important Spirit getting discarded by Card Destruction or the like. Fortunately, Izanami can fix this. On Normal Summon or flip, you can trade a card in your hand for a Spirit in your Graveyard. Her 1800 DEF can also help you fend off smaller monsters for a turn as well.
 * Kinka-byo - This demonic cat isn't too useful in a pure Spirit Deck, though there are some uses of it if you happen to run other LV1 Monsters. On Normal Summon or flip, it Special Summons a LV1 monster in your Graveyard, though that monster is removed from play the moment this card leaves the field. If you want to use its revival effect, let's hope you have a way to use it before the turn ends.
 * Maharaghi - Another Spirit of questionable use. It boasts some modest stats of 1200/1700, and on Normal Summon or flip, it has a delayed effect. Before you draw next turn, you get to see the top card of your deck. Then, you either set it back at the top of the Deck and draw it, or move it to the bottom and hope that whatever underneath is more useful. Give it a try, the knowledge might be useful.
 * Otohime - Abysmal stats of 0/100 come with an average effect of changing the Battle Position of one of your opponent's monsters. Maybe you could set her to provide a surprise disabling a monster's ability to attack, or do a few cool tricks with Creature Swap. Either way, don't run too many of her.
 * Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier - This guy sticks out like a sore thumb in that he's more suited to go with the Ice Barrier monsters than with the Spirits. He's not even derived from Japanese folklore! If he bounces himself by his effect if you control another Ice Barrier monster, you can bounce one of your opponent's monsters. Definitely reserved for Ice Barrier Decks.
 * Susa Soldier - The god of the sea and storms is the strongest of the LV4 or lower Spirits, boasting an immense 2000 ATK and no drawback for attacking. He can take down a lot of monsters at his Level, but sadly any Battle Damage is halved. Then again, direct attacking with him would be pretty devastating if he didn't have that effect.
 * Tsukuyomi - On Normal Summon or flip, the deity of the moon turns one monster face-down. Naturally, back in her day this allowed abuse with Mask of Darkness to continuously retrieve and activate Time Seal, creating a lock that was devastating when the opponent was topdecking. She could also be used offensively to render great beatsticks defenseless where their effects cannot trigger or their paltry DEF can be run over. No wonder she's Forbidden.
 * Yamata Dragon - The eight-headed serpent is another heavy hitter, though slightly inferior to Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, standing at 2600 ATK for 2 Tributes. Unlike its rival, rather than breaking your opponent's tempo by disposing of their entire hand, it refills your hand by letting you draw until your hand has 5 cards when it does Battle Damage. Considering Spirits, however, it's just as likely that they won't need the draw since their hand would be nearing the 5 card count with Spirits returning there repeatedly.
 * Yamato-no-Kami - The god of mountains is a strange one, as he defies the usual Spirit definitions, instead turning himself into a Nomi. Special Summoned by removing a Spirit in your Graveyard, he boasts a pretty decent 2200 ATK, and an ability to destroy S/Ts if he runs over a monster. If push comes to shove he can also be used as quick Tribute fodder to bring out the heavy-hitters.
 * Yata-Garasu - Perhaps the most famous of all Spirits, since it was a factor in forming the Forbidden List. Whenever the three-legged raven inflicts Battle Damage to the opponent, they skip their next Draw Phase. Combined with Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End's field and hand wipe, it resulted in a lock that ensured that the opponent has no chance to survive make their time break out of the lock.

Spells and Traps
The Spirits also have some S/Ts that can support them, with some notable ones introduced after TDGS.


 * Mirror of Yata - A Spirit Equip, which makes the self-bouncing effect completely optional. In fact, you'll probably only need it around for the turn the Spirit is Summoned, since if the Spirit doesn't return to the hand by the End Phase where it is Summoned or flipped up, it no longer has this effect trigger. This doesn't mean that the Equip becomes useless after this phase, because it can also destroy itself in place of the Spirit if the Spirit would be destroyed in battle.
 * Orb of Yasaka - That thing which Yata is seen perched upon. If the equipped Spirit scores a kill, you gain LP equal to the original ATK of the equipped monster, which I find is much better than what Fushi no Tori can come up with. No need to worry if the Spirit bounces itself, because Orb of Yasaka will bounce along with it.
 * Spirit's Invitation - Of course, it isn't always fair that you always lose the monsters you Summon. Spirit's Invitation allows you to bounce an opponent's monster of your choice whenever a Spirit is bounced in any way - be it by its own effect, or your opponent's card effect. This will set your opponent back a turn or so since they'd have to resummon whatever you bounced - even worse if you just bounced a Tribute monster or Synchro monster. It costs 500 LP to maintain during each of your End Phases, which isn't too great a cost either.
 * Spiritual Energy Settle Machine - This Continuous Spell forces all Spirit monsters to stay on the field, whether you want them to or not, and costs 1 card from your hand per End Phase to keep the effects active. If removed, all Spirits are bounced immediately, which is something you never want. Might as well use Izanagi or Mirror of Yata, which don't have such costs or drawbacks.
 * Sword of Kusanagi - Hey, it's that sword Susa Soldier has. Unfortunately, it doesn't increase ATK, just introduces Trample to the equipped Spirit, and the equip bounces with the Spirit. Perhaps good with the several Spirits that require dealing of Battle Damage to use their effects, but honestly I believe it would be better if they just got more ATK. It'd make Fushi no Tori playable.

Supplementary Cards
Of course, the small population of Spirits and their supports means that you'll require other cards to properly run them and cover for their weaknesses. First and foremost, you will need cards that will be able to hold off direct attacks since most of the time your field will be wide open:


 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness - A classic OTK-stopper who can Special Summon himself the moment you take damage while you control no cards. He also can generate a Token if you have taken Battle Damage, with the size of the Token being equal to how much damage you took in one shot. This not only helps stave off a series of attacks, but provides two nice pieces of Tribute fodder with which you can attack or Tribute for a large Spirit.
 * Tragoedia - Slightly superior to Gorz in that you can Special Summon her even while you control cards. Furthermore, the Spirit Deck's habit of keeping a large hand easily allows Trag to reach respectable ATK and DEF scores. You can even discard excess Spirits to seize your opponent's monsters as Tribute for the larger Spirits.
 * Battle Fader and Swift Attacking Scarecrow - Both of these monsters can stop a direct attack and end the entire Battle Phase, which is very handy for saving your LP. Battle Fader is slightly superior in that it Special Summons itself, allowing it to be Tributed the next turn.
 * Dimension Wall - Might as well make the best out of the fact that your opponent will try to attack you directly a lot of times. Flip this up to turn the Battle Damage done to you right on the opponent.

Another problem the Spirits face is that they need lots of Normal Summons if they want to swarm. It's also a problem if they want to summon their larger members from an empty field. The following cards should be able to rectify these to a certain extent:


 * Ultimate Offering - This is the go-to card if you want a lot of Normal Summons. Just pay 500 LP and you get another Summon. At the same time, you can do the same during your opponent's Battle Phase to Summon monsters as an emergency defense.
 * Cyber Dragon - Since you have an open field most of the time, you should be able to Special Summon Cyber Dragon with relative ease. This will be able to serve 2 purposes - either as a beatstick, or as Tribute fodder to summon the other Spirits.
 * Treeborn Frog - The Monarchs' favourite Tribute engine can possibly be used in the Spirit Deck, if only as Tribute fodder to summon bigger Spirits. Just be careful about your set S/Ts.
 * Spirit Reaper and Marshmallon - What do they have in common? Why, they can't be destroyed in battle. These little ones can help you hold off all direct attacks until they are ready to be Tributed for your bigger Spirits.
 * Spring of Rebirth - Each time a monster is returned from the field to your hand, you regain 500 LP. This will give you a refund for the LP you paid using Ultimate Offering, and will be more than enough to maintain Spirit's Invitation. If you use any of the above, it is encouraged that this be included to make the most of the self-bouncing effects of Spirits.

Example Deck
Knowing the advantages and drawbacks of the various Spirits, it is up to you to judge what to run, and how many copies of it. Here is an example Spirit Deck, and it is highly recommended that you try to vary yours.

How Do I Play It?
The Spirits call for a non-standard playing style. Thus, to use them effectively, keep the following in mind:


 * Do not Tribute Summon your Spirit unless you have a means to keep it on the field. If you let your high-level Spirits return to your hand, you have wasted a number of resources to bring out a temporary advantage. Tributing to bring out a large Spirit to end the game is an exception though.
 * Similarly, don't go berserk with Normal Summoning unless you have a good reason to do so. Excessive use of Ultimate Offering can burn a good amount of LP, unless you have Spring of Rebirth to get all of it back. An intelligent opponent will also be able to keep track of what Spirits have shown up in your hand and deduce what you could possibly be holding in your hand as well.
 * Remember that you still can Set your Spirits for emergency defense. Spirits only return to your hand after they are Summoned or flipped face up, so Setting them will allow them to hold off attacks for a while.
 * Keep in mind which Spirits you want returned to your hand and which you want on the field. If your hand begins overflowing due to Spirits returning to your hand, keep in mind which Spirits you want to keep in your hand when you end up discarding due to exceeding the hand size limit.

Other Tips
Of course, there are other cards not listed above that would be a great help to the Spirit Deck any time:


 * Neo-Spacian Grand Mole is a very good bounce card. Like Gundari, he bounces himself and the monster he battles with without any damage done to either player. Unlike Gundari, he can stay on the field, and can bounce non-Synchro monsters.
 * Creature Swap can make for some very mean tricks when used with your Spirits. Since they return to their owners' hand at the End of the turn, you can trade one of your Spirits for one of your opponent's monsters, and end the turn. The Spirit comes back to your hand while you retain control of the opponent's monster, letting you use it as Tribute or a beatstick for the subsequent turns! Mystic Box does the same thing, only that you can destroy an opponent's monster of your choice. The Spirit still returns to your hand, nullifying the removal cost for this card.
 * Shackles of the Underworld can help you deal with large beatsticks standing in your way. Monsters equipped with it can't attack or change battle position, and are shrunk to 100 ATK and DEF. This allows almost any Spirit to run it over, giving an opening for Battle Damage effects to trigger as well.
 * Mausoleum of the Emperor is a good card that can help you get out your Tribute monsters without need of Tribute fodder. Just pay 1000 LP per Tribute required. However, you will still need a way to keep those monsters on the field, otherwise you're leaving yourself wide open and weaker than before.
 * Future Visions is a Field that not only cripples your opponent's momentum, but can help you bypass the Spirits' self-bouncing effect. As any monster that is Normal Summoned is removed from play until your next Standby Phase, the Spirit hence bypasses the only window where it would bounce itself, and return to the field without needing any further maintenance effort. Dimensionhole can do the same thing, but you have control over when to activate it - just use it on the Main Phase 2 if you need to attack with it this turn.
 * Needle Ceiling is a Trap that crushes all face-up monsters on the field when there are 4 or more monsters present. Naturally, most of your monsters will be face-down or hiding in your hand, allowing you to punish the opponent for swarming so much.
 * Light and Darkness Dragon is something that would be more likely to show up in the opponent's Deck than yours. But why is this here? Here's a tip: Spirits of any kind will tear it to bits. When Spirits try to return to the hand at the End Phase, LaDD will have to sacrifice 500 ATK and DEF to negate it. However, the Spirits will try to return to the hand again in a separate Chain, and this repeats until LaDD can't negate any more effects. Hilarity ensues as even a simple Inaba White Rabbit will reduce LaDD to a shell of its former self, with all of its ATK and DEF wasted negating effects that keep trying to trigger.

Keep an eye out for what your opponent might use to destroy the Spirit Deck though:
 * Fengsheng Mirror is clear anti-Spirit support, where your opponent looks at your hand and discard a Spirit from there. Sure, it's highly situational and unlikely to show up, but you'll never know since it still lets your opponent see your hand.
 * Spiritual Energy Settle Machine is capable of bouncing all Spirits you have worked so hard to maintain. This can be problematic when your opponent just plays this card and refuses to maintain it, hence bouncing off all your hard work. Its narrow use, once again, will make it unlikely to appear, maybe except in Spirit mirror matches.
 * Degenerate Circuit removes from play all cards that would be returned to your hand. This means that Spirits that would return themselves would be taken out of play, where you have little chance to retrieve them. Ouch.
 * Card Destruction discards both player's hands and gives them new ones. Of course, your opponent will be using this to remove all the good Spirits you've kept in your hand.
 * Macro Cosmos and Dimensional Fissure could potentially spell trouble as well. Since they send your Spirits out of play instead of the Graveyard, you'll end up with virtually no way of getting them back if they successfully pick apart your hand.