Pioneer: Mono Blue Spirits (2025) - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

With Pioneer evolving and the rise of Mono Red Lynx bringing changes to the Metagame, it's only natural that players will revisit old archetypes and adapt them to the new competitive landscape, including new cards, or using pieces that are more favored in tournaments now.

One such case is Mono Blue Spirits. In an environment where non-basic lands are being punished and a portion of the environment is becoming less interactive to deal with the speed of Red Aggro, a pure Tempo list benefits from having the tools to prey on these strategies.

In this article, we present the most recent iteration of the deck, with a guide to the main matchups on Pioneer today!

Mono Blue Spirits hasn't changed much in the last few years. Most of the additions in the most recent sets have been support cards for the Sideboard, or pieces for flex slots. For example, Cryptic Coat can be any card that favors the type of play you propose — be it more cheap protection with Slip Out the Back, or another threat that has more interactions with the list, such as Brazen Borrower or Enduring Curiosity.

Unlike other Metagames, Mono Blue Spirits is a bit more favored in the current format due to some changes that have occurred: the rise of Mono Red Lynx has made some non-interactive strategies grow in the last few weeks, and Tempo lists like Spirits perform well against these less interactive archetypes as long as they can delay Mono Red for enough time, not to mention that it doesn't have many problems with Sunspine Lynx, given that it uses eighteen basic lands in the list.

On the other hand, it is still a weak deck against black Midranges and the possible rise of Sacrifice lists should be seen as a risk to the archetype.

Maindeck

Spectral Sailor and Ascendant Spirit are one-drops that interact with the creature type and have abilities that make them worth running in longer games. Ascendant Spirit is the main reason for using snow lands in the list, since it can become a 4/4 or even a 6/6 with Flying.

Mausoleum Wanderer can protect our creatures against more expensive sweepers like Extinction Event while temporarily growing whenever we cast a spirit. These two features can be best used with Rattlechains in play.

Rattlechains and Supreme Phantom provide the typal interactions needed to justify playing many spirits. The former provides protection from removal and the ability to play around your opponent by giving Flash to all spirits, and Phantom provides an additional power to the board that helps close out games faster.

Shacklegeist works as an interaction and tempo play by clearing blockers or preventing your opponent's biggest creatures from dealing too much damage over the course of the game. It can also be used to lock up combat in games where your opponent has few threats on the board.

Cryptic Coat was our choice in the flex slots, and can be any card that best fits your Metagame. Here, we use it as a recurring threat that has pseudo-protection against the opponent's removal and an unblockable body, while providing a relevant clock for a Tempo deck.

Curious Obsession is a cheap source of card advantage, and we can extract value from it from the second turn onwards by enchanting any of our one-drops and protecting them with cheap spells.

Geistlight Snare has good interaction with spirits and the possibility of enchanting them with Curious Obsession, where it becomes a Mana Leak for only . Even without Obsession, the possibility of having access to a variant of one of the most efficient counterspells in history tends to compensate for the cost of with a spirit in play.

Spell Pierce complements Geistlight Snare to punish greedy decks that use higher mana value spells, or to protect creatures from removal in the early game.

Fading Hope doubles as another way to “counter” removal and even sweepers in some cases, in addition to dealing with opponents’ creatures for a turn. This cheap board interaction is essential for dealing with Heartfire Hero or another Mono Red creature on a more explosive turn, and also permanently resolves Unholy Annex’s demon token.

With snow lands, it is possible to run Faceless Haven instead of Mutavault, and despite the higher cost to activate, the 4/3 body exerts much more pressure after a sweeper, and the possibility of using it in longer games to pressure the opponent also makes it more relevant.

Otawara, Soaring City complements the interaction package without losing the possibility of being a land drop in the early game.

Sideboard

Mystical Dispute is the best answer we have against Azorius Control, it also works in the Izzet Phoenix game and against archetypes with high mana values ​​and greedy mana bases.

Disdainful Stroke is a good answer against Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Invoke Despair, Bring to Light and any other card with a higher mana value. The rise of Mono Black Midrange as one of the most relevant decks in the Metagame, combined with the importance of Nykthos Ramp in the format, makes it a viable choice as a two-of.

Flashfreeze is our answer against red or green decks. It may be preferable to have Aether Gust instead, but with cards like Manifold Mouse and Screaming Nemesis in Red Aggro and the added value that Mono Green can generate from a “bounce” make a classic staple that was reprinted in Foundations the most appropriate choice in the current Metagame.

Unable to Scream deals with creatures that we need to deprive of abilities instead of returning to their owner's hand and is our main interaction against Screaming Nemesis, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or even Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

The extra Fading Hope works in games where we need a spell that doubles as a two-way card: extra protection against spot removals and an interaction which considerably delays the opponent's plans without generating value for them.

March of Swirling Mist is our choice for protection against sweepers. It can also remove blockers from the path to lethal damage or prevent your opponent from winning the game for a turn, but it is rarely used in this way.

Unlicensed Hearse is our choice of graveyard interaction that we can activate at instant speed against Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Arclight Phoenix or Cauldron Familiar.

Mono Red Lynx

IN

OUT

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Nykthos Ramp

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Jund Sacrifice

IN

OUT

Mardu Greasefang

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!