There are plenty of ways to build a Magic: The Gathering deck around a specific theme or creature type. For Spirit decks, you can access a plethora of support to power up your ethereal creatures. You could take your deck in a more token-based approach to go wide and overwhelm your opponents.
If you’re more of a control player, you can load up on cards that protect you and counter your opponent's play. No matter which path you take, these cards will be a welcome addition to your Spirit-themed deck.
Updated August 15, 2023, by Ryan Hay: Spirits are one of those creature archetypes that will continuously gain more and more support as more and more sets are printed. Sets with a more spooky theme, like those that take place on Innistrad, will, of course, be loaded with all sorts of powerful spirits, but even on more traditional planes there's a good chance to be a spirit or two thrown in there.
The other thing about Spirits being a typal theme is that as more cards are printed that let you choose a creature type to get benefits, there will always be cards to pick up to improve your Spirit deck. Three new cards are being added to the list, a powerful Elemental that can change its creature type, a piece of flaming equipment, and a Spirit lord that probably should have been included the first time around.
13 Haunted Library
This little enchantment can sneak under your opponent’s notice for a few turns before they realize its power. For every creature an opponent controls dies, you get to pay one generic mana to make a 1/1 Spirit token.
While it does require you to hold up at least a few extra mana at the end of your turn to activate, you can very quickly capitalize on your opponent’s removal spells by amassing an army of your own. Haunted Library can be particularly effective after a board wipe, letting you recover your board before your opponents even get a turn.
12 Tocasia's Welcome
Whether you’re making an army of tokens or just casting Spirit creatures regularly, Tocasia’s Welcome can help you draw a bunch of cards. Since Tocasia’s Welcome cares about the creature’s mana value and not power, you can still draw cards even when you have effects that raise your creature's power which is a common condition in cards like Mentor of the Meek.
The downside of Tocasia’s Welcome is that it will only trigger once a turn, but with a way to create tokens at instant speed or by casting cards with flash, you can trigger its draw effect on your opponent's turn.
11 Angel Of Flight Alabaster
Even if you’re for the more token-based approach with your Spirit deck Angel of Flight Alabaster can be a great way to keep returning the Spirits in your graveyard. At the start of your turn, you get to pick a Spirit card in your graveyard and return it to your hand.
While a bit slower than other types of creature reanimation, Angel of Flight Alabaster is a little more unassuming, letting you return creatures over a few turns. This Angel can also be used to return the same creature over and over again if it has an ability that requires you to sacrifice it like Selfless Spirit.
10 Breath Of The Sleepless
A little bit on the higher end for an enchantment but Breath of the Sleepless is a powerful one regardless. Breath of the Sleepless gives all your Spirit spells flash, letting you cast them at any time you want. This lets you pick and choose how you want your turns to go, letting you keep up mana for counterspells if you’re worried about a large spell your opponent might cast — while still being able to flash your creatures into play before your next turn.
Breath of the Sleepless’ second ability is a little less impactful but can still save you in a pinch if you need to stop a creature heading your way before attackers are declared.
9 Quintorius, Field Historian
Traditionally Spirits have been relegated to just blue and white, but a recent push for red Spirits has brought some powerful new additions for you to play with. Quintorius, Field Historian, gives your Spirits a nice bonus to their attack, making him a one-sided boost to your creatures.
Quintorius is also an engine of sorts, letting you create tokens every time a card leaves your graveyard. You could be exiling those cards to cast other spells or using something like Angle of Flight Alabaster to bring a creature back once a turn.
8 Starlight Spectacular
Unfinity had plenty of weird and rules-bending cards, some of which became legal for formats like Commander. Starlight Spectacular is one of these cards, helping you give your army of Spirits a huge boost in power but it does require a bit of math to keep track of.
Starlight Spectacular lets you pick creatures you control one at a time to give each creature +1/+1 until the end of the turn, equal to the number of creatures chosen before it. With a lot of Spirits in play, your creatures can quickly grow strong enough to take out a player or two with just one swing. This ability will trigger at the start of each combat step of your turn, so even if someone stops you for a turn or two, you can pick up the attack next turn.
7 Unsettled Mariner
Protecting all your cards with a blanket taxing effect is a great way to stop whatever shenanigans your opponent is trying to do. Unsettled Mariner counters a spell or ability from your opponent unless they pay one generic mana.
The fact that Unsettled Mariner also counters abilities and not just spells can put a hamper on any sort of enter-the-battlefield effects your opponents might be playing. As a changeling creature, Unsettled Mariner is every creature type, so you get whatever added bonus you might have set up for your Spirit creatures.
6 Titan Of Littjara
A six-mana 6/6 is a solid creature already, but in a Spirit deck, Titan of Littjara becomes a card-drawing machine. When the Titan comes into play, you pick a creature type, with the Titan's creature type changing to that type, effectively making it a Spirit in your deck. When the Titan enters the battlefield or attacks, you trigger its ability to draw a card for each other creature you control that shares a creature type with the Titan.
If you do draw any cards this way, you have to discard a card too, but that's a small price to pay. You might not want to attack every turn with the Titan since you'll likely quickly have way too many cards in hand, especially if you're playing a token build, but even then, having more options is better than none.
5 Thalisse, Reverent Medium
If you’re on the token track with your Spirit deck, then Thalisse, Reverent Medium is one of the best creatures you could include. At the end of your turn, you create a number of 1/1 Spirit tokens with flying equal to the number of tokens you’ve already made this turn.
While its ability requires you to have a way to make tokens, even if you can only make one token on your turn, you get to double up on it. On the turns when you can make more tokens, you can quickly create an army of fliers to take over the skies.
4 Andúril, Flame Of The West
An equipment to declare your rule over the battlefield, Anduril, Flame of the West comes from Middle-Earth to summon Spirits to join your fight. At just three mana, Anduril comes down early in the match, and with an equip cost of just two, you can easily equip it multiple times per turn. When your equipped creature attacks, you create two 1/1 tapped Spirits, and if your equipped creature is legendary, those tokens are tapped and attacking instead.
Anduril also adds a hefty boost to your equipped creature's power, meaning if you attach it to your commander, you'll bring your opponents closer to losing from Commander Damage. Even if Anduril isn't equipped to a legendary creature and is instead attached to a token, you'll be able to rapidly produce tokens turn after turn by attacking every turn, even if there isn't an opening.
3 Intangible Virtue
There are plenty of cards that grant +1/+1 to your board, but few of these anthem effects are as good as Intangible Virtue. As an anthem effect, Intangible Virtue gives your creatures a boost in power, helping you scale your little 1/1 creatures past those of your opponents. But Intangible Virtue doesn’t stop there; it also gives your creature tokens vigilance, letting you send them into attack while keeping them up as blockers too.
Since Intangible Virtue only gives the bonus to creature tokens, this enchantment is best in a token-based Spirit deck, where there are lots of tokens to give the bonuses to.
2 Drogskol Captain
One of the best creature lords ever printed, Drogskol Captain is an auto-include in your Spirit deck if it's in your commander's color identity. Like other lords in Magic, Drogskol Captain gives your Spirits +1/+1, which is pretty standard, and then gives them all hexproof, which is incredibly powerful. Preventing all your creatures from being targeted by a spell or ability keeps everything safe, and if your opponents want to stop you, they'll have to burn either two targeted removal spells or at least a board wipe to stop it.
Even then, you're playing blue and white, giving you all sorts of counter magic to stop your opponent's spells and tons of ways to give your creatures indestructible for a turn or two, making Drogskol Captain a problematic creature to help overwhelm your opponents.
1 Hallowed Haunting
Hallowed Haunting requires you to build your deck with an enchantment theme, but with it, you get one of the most powerful Spirit token creators in Magic. Every time you cast an enchantment, you make a Spirit Cleric token that has a power and toughness equal to the number of Spirits you control.
Once you hit seven or more enchantments, all creatures you control gain flying and vigilance. Even though most of your Spirit creatures will already have flying, ensuring your board has this strong evasion helps you close out the game.