What can you think of that was so different from all other monster types in the game?  Archfiends?  The LV monsters?  Exodia?

 

Nope.  Spirit.  Spirit decks have the most unique abilities.  First released in Mythological Age, they have become rather forgotten as Control Decks became abused.  However, thanks to the 9/1 bannings, those decks have been taken down a notch.

 

All spirit monsters have the exact same "Spirit" effects.  They cannot be special summoned in anyway, either from your graveyard, removed-from-game or otherwise.  This means that when they die, you have a very limited amount of options to bring them back.

 

Next is the part about them returning to your hand at the end of the turn in which they were summoned or reverse summoned.  This is the part of it's effect that makes these types of monsters so unique.  The most obvious bad sides are easy to find.  It causes you to lose alot of defense.  Having no monsters on the field is never good.  Also, the fact that your hand will become very cluttered.

 

Having no monsters on the field during your opponent's turn does have it's upsides to it though.  Anti-Monster cards such as Smashing Ground and Fissure become literally useless, and monsters like Lava Golem clutter your opponent's hand.  This adds a nice control element to your side, in which alot of your opponent's anti-monster cards are rendered useless.

 

The good part of this effect comes in combo with the card that also came with Mythological Age: Grasp of the Spirits.

 

If you don't know it, it's the backbone of every Spirit deck.  It is a permanent Trap card.  Each time a spirit monster on your field returns to your hand, your opponent must return 1 monster on his own field back to their hand.  The downside to is the cost of 500 lifepoints during each of your standby phases.

 

What is worse then having no ability to use your anti-monster cards?  How about having to re-summon each and every monster you had back to the field?  Yes, the annoyance is astounding with Grasp of the Spirits haunting your dreams.

 

Another punishing magic card for the spirits is the  Elemental Spring.  This card is a permanent magic card that rewards you 500 lifepoints for EACH monster that is returned to the owner's hand.  This includes your opponent's monsters (combo with Grasp of the Spirits).  That means you can actually gain 500 lifepoints a turn (you gain 1000 for returning yours and your opponent's monster to the owner's hands, then you pay 500 lifepoints to keep Grasp of Spirits on the field)  This is a sadistic combo.

 

Now, since Spirit monsters rely so heavily on magic and trap cards that stay on the field, protection is obviously needed.  This could be Magic Jammer (with plenty of cards in hand) or even Magic Gardner. 

 

Ok.  Some other cards can really seriously aid a Spirit deck.  Scapegoat comes into mind.  This card can easily act as a temperary shield.  Another card is Killer Snake (Sinister Serpent).  It helps by providing a constant discarder if you don't want to discard one of your spirit monsters.  Finally, a card I just love to hate, is Marshmellon.  A burn/defense/food card, it acts like a sadistic little evil wall as you use monsters such as Pathfinding White Rabbit to attack directly.

 

Now, there are alot of cards which you shouldn't use with Spirits.  For one thing, no spirit deck should ever use a high level monster of any kind.  This means that Hino Kagu Tsuchi (Fire Starter), Yamata Dragon (Orochi Dragon), Great Long Nose (Great Tengu), and any other monster that requires a sacrifice or two, are NEVER to be put in a spirit deck.  The reason is that if they do return to your hand, your doomed. 

 

This is why they invented another card which no Spirit deck should use: Spirit Fixation Equipment.

 

While the card is on the field, Spirit monsters will remain on the field.  Thats horrible.  Why do you want to turn your monsters into normal, crappy guys?  Why?  The whole point of Spirit monsters was to combo with Grasp of the Spirits.

 

Now, as I mentioned earlier, when a Spirit monster is in the cemetery, it's near impossible to get them back.  This is, however, easily solved by the great card, Reversal of Dead.  The greatest recycle card in the game.

 

Well, from what I can see, Konami released some cards that don't seem to matter much, but they seem to make sense.

 

Imperial Oppression.  A permanent Trap that states that while it is on the field, both players can pay 800 lifepoints to negate and destroy a special summon.  It may seem abit bad for any deck, but think about it.  Your using a spirit deck.  You are gaining thousands of lifepoints just by summoning, then letting them return to your hand.  This card has a low cost when you think about it.  And once you realize that you NEVER special summon (thanks to the Spirit monster's "bad" effect), this is a one sided card.

 

Forced Transfer (Creature Swap).  Easy to explain right?  Steal a monster for "free."  The only weakness in this combo is that in order for you to attack that turn, you'd destroy one of your own spirit monsters...

 

Ok.  I'm almost done talking.

 

The last part is what kinds of monsters to use in a spirit deck.  The most obvious is The Divine Emperor of Thunder (Susa Soldier) which has one of the strongest attack points for a low level monster.     Another is Asura.  The ability to attack the entire field can prove to be devastating.  Add an equip card or instant magic, and it's godly.  Lastly, is the most annoying card of the spirits.  Pathfinding White Rabbit.  This little freak attacks directly, as mentioned earlier, and has 700 attack points to boot.  Combine this with any defensive wall, and you have a massive advantage of burn, bounce, and heal... all in one little bunny.

 

That's my Deck Essay.  There was too much to cover, so if i missed something, email me to inform me.

 

 

-DSZero