Spirits has been a fringe strategy in Modern for some time now. Whether you're playing straight to keep your mana simple or splashing Green for Noble Hierarch and Collected Company, Spirits has sort of usurped Faeries as the instant-speed tempo deck of choice in Modern. With Core 2019 bringing Supreme Phantom into Modern, it may be enough for the Spirits deck to become a real player in Modern. Let's take a look at Syuseki's build:

Blue-White Spirits - Modern | Syuseki, 5-0 Modern League

• Creatures (26)
• 3 Phantasmal Image
• 3 Selfless Spirit
• 4 Drogskol Captain
• 4 Mausoleum Wanderer
• 4 Rattlechains
• 4 Spell Queller
• 4 Supreme Phantom

• Instants (3)
• 3 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Lingering Souls

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (23)
• 2 Island
• 2 Plains
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Watery Grave
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 3 Marsh Flats
• 3 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Mutavault

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Blessed Alliance
• 3 Damping Sphere
• 2 Disenchant
• 2 Dismember
• 1 Kataki, War's Wage
• 1 Path to Exile
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Unified Will

Buy This Deck Export text format

Previously, one of the problems with this deck was that it was rather slow relative to the other aggressive decks in Modern. You had Drogskol Captain to increase your clock, but Captain is expensive and vulnerable to all manner of removal spells. WIth Supreme Phantom and Phantasmal Image in the mix, it's much easier for you to get your spirits out of Lightning Bolt range early on, then back that up by making them hexproof. With Aether Vial, you can use Supreme Phantom, Drogskol Captain, and Phantasmal Image to effectively counter interactive spells while also increasing your clock, which is an incredible place to be.

One of the biggest advantages of this deck is that it is incredible at protecting Spell Queller. Between Mausoleum Wanderer and Selfless Spirit backed up by Lords and Rattlechains, Spell Queller can be effectively a hard counter on everything from Krark-Clan Ironworks to Supreme Verdict.

If you're looking for a tricky tempo deck, this seems like a great choice. You can always keep your opponent guessing by substituting in small numbers of cards like Vendilion Clique and even Spellstutter Sprite to go along with your Mutavaults, and you get access to all the great sideboard cards in White and Blue for post-board games.