Spiritomb (TEU-CRE)

As Spiritomb floats in and out of the meta spotlight, so too do the days of our lives. Since its release, Spiritomb has been a niche archetype that aims to uptrade the opponent by inflicting damage to itself. Methods of self harm and health/damage modification have changed and evolved overtime with cards like Rainbow Energy and Hustle Belt, but now we see possessed stone taking on it's final form, relying solely on the cards Spikemuth and Cape of Toughness. The minimal commitment in space to ramping

As Spiritomb floats in and out of the meta spotlight, so too do the days of our lives. Since its release, Spiritomb has been a niche archetype that aims to uptrade the opponent by inflicting damage to itself. Methods of self harm and health/damage modification have changed and evolved overtime with cards like Rainbow Energy and Hustle Belt, but now we see possessed stone taking on it's final form, relying solely on the cards Spikemuth and Cape of Toughness. The minimal commitment in space to ramping Spiritomb's damage has let the deck commit more spaces to cards that are otherwise imactful, ergo becoming more consistent than ever.

Even in Spiritomb's final hours, it sees play because of it's favorable matchup spread and a lack of tool removal in current decks. Many decks are not willing to commit a slot to a card like Tool Scrapper and Tool Jammer simply because there arent many impactful tools running around within the format. With Air Balloon being the only tool played in approximately 90% of decks at the current moment, Tool Scrapper will continue to not see play, even when Spiritomb is relevant. That being said, the road is not completely clear for Spiritomb as cards like Inteleon CRE and Shadow Rider Calyrex V pose some hurdles that must be overcome. This puts the archetype in a position where the deck is dominant enough to perform well at a high level, but not dominant enough to be teched for. The upcoming months for Spiritomb are sure to be exciting and pivotal to the deck's legacy.