It's true discard is useful, and I'll certainly keep testing it and at least keep it sideboard. I certainly hate when I get hit with IoK or TS T1. Later than T1 or T2 tho and I don't care too much.
This is a tricky count. You can cast Spellstutter Sprite (and Snapcaster Mage, if you're running it) turn 2, but it won't be a useful play very often (unless you desperately need a beater).
I'd like to quote Paulo Vitor's report from his testing prior to PT:Born of the Gods (yes, that one that CFB played that awful Scapeshift deck):
Quote from "PVDDR" »
The deck just couldn't compete with Zoo, Wild Nacatl was too good and Voice of Resurgence from both Zoo and Pod was very hard to beat.
Even more important than that was the fact that the cards just didn’t feel powerful enough. I was playing Spellstutter Sprites and Snapcaster Mages in my deck, and Mages were better, but I couldn’t play four of them because I needed some Faeries for Mistbind Clique and other Spellstutters. At that point, I was handicapping myself in the hopes that synergy would make up for less powerful cards, and it wasn’t looking like it would.
The first paragraph illustrates what happens if you try to play Faeries with no cheap interaction like the versions from smaller formats: you'll have problems against fast decks that demand you to disrupt them from turn 1. If that interaction is a mix of Spellstutter Sprites and Remands, you'll never beat a deck with Wild Nacatl, Voice of Resurgence and Loxodon Smiter.
Then there is the problem with Spellstutter Sprite. If you're playing against decks like Living End or Hive Mind, the card will be an autowin. It's also good against Infect, Burn and Affinity (if you managed to stabilize earlier with other cards), but against most fair decks and decks that try to resolve big spells to win, you won't be able to counter any relevant spell unless you have Bitterblossom in play and your opponent needs to cast spells to not fall behind, so the card is effectively mostly fodder for Mistbind Clique. In older Standard formats (Lorwyn-Conflux, when the archetype fell to tier2) there was the debate of whether you actually needed the fourth Spellstutter Sprite or not, so I'm pretty surprised that with as many topics and decklists as have been posted in this thread, everybody starts his deck with 4 Spellstutter Sprite and 56 extra cards.
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Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Spellstutter Sprite is definitely my most favored card in the deck. When I have opening hands with 2 in it, I'm just giddy. Even countering a 1-drop can be worth if you get a body and faerie into play afterwards. And depending if you are the play or draw, a spellstutter will be countering their T1 play or T2 play. Maybe the deck needs a 1 drop faerie to open with, but I don't see this being good anywhere. IMO, on the play, spellstutter will be stopping any T1 play they can make. On the draw, Spellsnare will stop any cmc 2 play. The hard part is stopping those cmc 1 creatures, which is where disfigure, or dismember come in. I've definitely eaten 4 life to kill a T1 anything, because that 4 life bought us way more life in the future and kept us from losing tempo.
Personal results have been good, so I believe that spellstutter sprite is an auto-4 of due to its creature type relevance for mistbind clique outside of the counter ability. My list in particular can threaten value-less Spellstutter Sprites frequently because of the presence of Grafted Wargear. Simply getting the flying 1/1 body on the board when there is nothing else relevant toward interacting with the opponent and (using major plays) progressing the game has been invaluable for me. So I would say that if the card is a major concern find means for it to fit into another angle outside of countering spells and being championed by bitterblossom...even if that angle is just effective means to bait an opponent. Being a wall for the turn when defending an Ashiok is another potential play, but I dont see too much matchup-diverse value there
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
The first paragraph illustrates what happens if you try to play Faeries with no cheap interaction like the versions from smaller formats: you'll have problems against fast decks that demand you to disrupt them from turn 1. If that interaction is a mix of Spellstutter Sprites and Remands, you'll never beat a deck with Wild Nacatl, Voice of Resurgence and Loxodon Smiter.
Although I agree with the cheap interaction part, and I'm with you that discard is necessary (and I actually love it), I have to disagree that by playing remands and sprites we will never be able to beat nacatl, voice and smiter. Remand and stutters will help you stabilize, little by little, until you get where you want to be. It doesn't matter if zoo beats you with 4 exalted triggers when you have bitterblossom out, you just chump them all the way. Yes, G1 will be hard as f*ck (to be honest, no matter what build you play, G1 against zoo will feel like an almost impossible to win uphill battle). But remands and stutters will get you with a reliable life total to the bitterblossom post damnation. From there, you can win. That is your plan, it won't always work, but they won't always get the creature curve in the order they want either. Zoo is a hard MU, where discard is powerful, and so are sweepers post board.
Then there is the problem with Spellstutter Sprite. If you're playing against decks like Living End or Hive Mind, the card will be an autowin. It's also good against Infect, Burn and Affinity (if you managed to stabilize earlier with other cards), but against most fair decks and decks that try to resolve big spells to win, you won't be able to counter any relevant spell unless you have Bitterblossom in play and your opponent needs to cast spells to not fall behind, so the card is effectively mostly fodder for Mistbind Clique. In older Standard formats (Lorwyn-Conflux, when the archetype fell to tier2) there was the debate of whether you actually needed the fourth Spellstutter Sprite or not, so I'm pretty surprised that with as many topics and decklists as have been posted in this thread, everybody starts his deck with 4 Spellstutter Sprite and 56 extra cards.
To be honest, I think in this thread people start with 4 Bitterblossom, 4 Spellstutter Sprite, then add 52 cards. I'm not saying this is wrong, as I usually play with those 8 slots. But I have been harassed and raged in the past for proposing to diminish the BB count when splashing.
This is where we are standing at the moment:
Faeries is good, but not good enough.
Most people in this thread refuse to change manabase.
Most people in this thread refuse to splash a color.
People in this thread refuse to consider different core cards count.
People in this thread are expecting that card that will lead this deck to a rise in the format.
Most people in this thread is a mix of old school players that don't play many big events, new players that just picked the deck up, and people that are just too attached to Lowryn standard/extended Faeries.
We need to start trying new things if we want different results. Want to play without discard? Want to play Ashiok? Want to play Lili? Want to splash white/red/green? Want to go with 4 scions? Want to cut BB? Want to drop Sprites count? Want to play Damnation main? Want to try something different? Go for it, play it, test it. Play 10 events, play 50 matches, see how it goes, report it. If we don't open our minds to change, we will close the door to evolution for this deck. This is not Lorwyn anymore, this is not the good old Faeries anymore. This is time to change, people.
So let's begin. Even though I changed to Grixis control, and I am loving that deck, I will sleeve up faeries again, for every time I open this thread my heart pounds out of my chest. I want to play this deck so badly! I will try to test 2 variants:
Tarmo Faeries and UB Faeries:
In BUG Tarmo Faeries, the splash pushes me back from being tempo oriented control, thus I need to push forward with beaters while disrupting with cheap efficient cards. This is more of a midrangey shell, with no remands, no cryptics and favoring serum visions. More of a bug beatdown with necessary interaction for cheap cost.
The second build, the traditional UB Tempo/Control Faeries, is more of the list I used to play earlier this year. Playing less colors pushes the need for playing more counters/tempo elements. There's not really a lot to say about the build that I haven't already said about how I feel the UB faeries shell.
EDIT: Both sideboards need polishing, and I need to see how the metagame shifts in my area, but that's the start.
Now, before I am crucified from playing a card like Quickling, allow me to say that it has been quite useful in my list.
I believe that the reason why it hasn't worked before is because it was often played within a heavier control shell (more spell focused).
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't outshine our other Faeries. However, it does flicker and save the better ones from death. (IN STYLE~)
Will more than likely remove Ghostly Flicker from the list, I rarely use it and is often side-boarded.
I may be delusional but I have often believed that Sudden Spoiling is our version of a one-sided Damnation.
Removes any aggro during the opponent's turn. And it removes pesky flyers or punishing abilities during our turn.
The 4 scions do seem counter intuitive to using swords (plus all the k-cmds), but I ran 3 scions main for a while and swords in side and I had them in together, it was usually fine. I do think Quickling is worth a try, I ran it in standard for a few months with other flash creatures and I rarely had issues there. I will be looking at my cards tonight to figure out what 75 I use tomorrow. But if people use Familiar's Ruse, why not Quickling? It's easier to use than Mistbind - Mistbind costs 4 and you need 2 other faeries to guarantee safety. Quickling costs 2 and is more of a counter than anything else. Either counter their removal or bounce and re-use a spellstutter (for 4 total). You just have to be smart about your plays.
As much as I want to play some standard with new cards tomorrow, I have loved faeries and am dying to play modern tomorrow. Darktutor put out some player-types we all might fall under [Most people in this thread is a mix of old school players that don't play many big events, new players that just picked the deck up, and people that are just too attached to Lowryn standard/extended Faeries] and I'm kinda a mix. I played when Revised was out through Visions (but nothing big), then I quit and came back off and on just casually playing but not really buying cards until Innistrad. I've been playing fairly heavily since Innistrad (at least as heavily as I can with 2 kids, working full time and going to law school). So I never played faeries in standard and only got the cards once MM2015 came out. So I do lack a lot of piloting experience, but I also home-brew all my other decks, so I'm pretty good about thinking for myself and outside the box. I wish I had more time to play-test as there's where it really comes down to it (results).
I will post my list and I will try to take notes tomorrow.
Also, anyone going to be trying any of the new cards out? I am thinking of trying an Ob Nixilis Reignited... we'll see. I think everything else that we'd be interested in costs 1 mana more than we'd be willing
these cards have terrible drawbacks or are too slow to really catch anybody doing things in modern, but they are minor things, so maybe UB Ashiok Control can work; faeries is a different manner of beast though, so Im not too sure
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
Yeah, those cards are terrible for modern lol, oh forgot that terrible 2 mana discard too. But those are the closest thing to playable from this set. Sad
Wish they'd just give us something new to mess with... Too bad Silumgar's cmd ended up being so high costed, we could have used a good blue/black cmd...
But if people use Familiar's Ruse, why not Quickling?
The difference between those two cards is that the other is ETB trigger and the other is additional cost. The moment you use Familiar's Ruse, the creature is already in your hand. If Quickling would use the same mechanic, then it would see play. It's just that Quickling is potential 2-for-1 against you, which is something people don't want to play.
And I get that Mistbind curves out nicer, is much stronger card, etc etc. But it is the same potential for being 2 for 1'd. Just don't play a sloppy Quickling and you'll be fine.
Yeah, those cards are terrible for modern lol, oh forgot that terrible 2 mana discard too. But those are the closest thing to playable from this set. Sad Wish they'd just give us something new to mess with... Too bad Silumgar's cmd ended up being so high costed, we could have used a good blue/black cmd...
Yeah BFZ wasn't helpful at all. and im not holding my breath for Gatewatch to be any better.
Shame Simgur cmd isnt good at all. and i doubt it would be played even at 4cmc.
But if people use Familiar's Ruse, why not Quickling?
The difference between those two cards is that the other is ETB trigger and the other is additional cost. The moment you use Familiar's Ruse, the creature is already in your hand. If Quickling would use the same mechanic, then it would see play. It's just that Quickling is potential 2-for-1 against you, which is something people don't want to play.
I wouldn't play either in this format.
Alot of people are trying to slow this deck down by playing more controlling cards like lili and ash. if i was to play a PW in this deck i would play jace b.
I dont think that's the way to go anyways.
i think we should be more of a tempo deck (i believe we are the best tempo deck in the format since the ddt/cruise bannings killed delver).
If we're the best tempo deck in this format, then tempo isn't a deck in this format.
I'll post my list here again, it hasn't changed much, but I still feel its the best direction to take.
currently playing without any tarpits because I kept getting that at the worst possible time (when I needed an untapped land) not sure if they shall stay.
I think this style of deck, with a good 1 drop, would be very powerful.
As it is, the deck is somewhat slow, but you can often lock people out enough to still win.
4 dismembers, that IS ballsy. I was just thinking today if I can run 4, it really keeps you up on tempo if not up on life. Need a touch of lifegain somewhere to offset that.
I was also thinking tarpits have slowed me down at the wrong times.
If we're the best tempo deck in this format, then tempo isn't a deck in this format.
I'll post my list here again, it hasn't changed much, but I still feel its the best direction to take.
currently playing without any tarpits because I kept getting that at the worst possible time (when I needed an untapped land) not sure if they shall stay.
I think this style of deck, with a good 1 drop, would be very powerful.
As it is, the deck is somewhat slow, but you can often lock people out enough to still win.
few odd choices that i would like to be explained.
Faerie harbinger and quickling but no cryptics?
Even snap caster would be better with all the spells you run.
Pierce over leak and remand? how do you stop anything above a 3 mana creature ever?
I firmly believe Ghost quarter is better than edge because it can actually hit bloom/tron etc before/as they go off while sometimes edge can be played around
also upside sometimes it is a wasteland against certain decks
Now, before I am crucified from playing a card like Quickling, allow me to say that it has been quite useful in my list.
I believe that the reason why it hasn't worked before is because it was often played within a heavier control shell (more spell focused).
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't outshine our other Faeries. However, it does flicker and save the better ones from death. (IN STYLE~)
I may be delusional but I have often believed that Sudden Spoiling is our version of a one-sided Damnation.
Removes any aggro during the opponent's turn. And it removes pesky flyers or punishing abilities during our turn.
Play a good number of games (not less than 20) against different decks. Tell us how the quickling worked, keeping in mind these 3 factors when you draw it:
How many times did you play it and it rocked? How did it rock?
How many times did you play it and it was meh? As in not impressive
How many times did you have it in your hand and felt miserable because of it?
Be honest, don't try to force it when you draw it, just let it be and tell us how it performed. Even though I hate it, I am in favor of testing/playing it if it pulls some good work.
Sudden Spoiling is a tempo card, in the sense that it makes us lose tempo. For the 2 purposes you want to play it you have Cryptic Command which does the same thing while countering a spell, bouncing a pesky permanent, or drawing a card. I don't believe this is comparable to Damnation, or any sweeper as it needs to work alongside blockers or cards like Drown in Sorrow, which requires a lot of set up or a high board advantage to be effective.
The 4 scions do seem counter intuitive to using swords (plus all the k-cmds), but I ran 3 scions main for a while and swords in side and I had them in together, it was usually fine. I do think Quickling is worth a try, I ran it in standard for a few months with other flash creatures and I rarely had issues there. I will be looking at my cards tonight to figure out what 75 I use tomorrow. But if people use Familiar's Ruse, why not Quickling? It's easier to use than Mistbind - Mistbind costs 4 and you need 2 other faeries to guarantee safety. Quickling costs 2 and is more of a counter than anything else. Either counter their removal or bounce and re-use a spellstutter (for 4 total). You just have to be smart about your plays.
Also, anyone going to be trying any of the new cards out? I am thinking of trying an Ob Nixilis Reignited... we'll see. I think everything else that we'd be interested in costs 1 mana more than we'd be willing
Although that looks like a good start to a standard deck lol
Swords vs Scions:
Scion and Swords are not that of nonbo. I used to play 4 Scions and a sword and never had troubles with it.
These are the scenarios I had to face when playing that combination of cards:
I had the sword before the Scion so I could attach it before giving Shroud
I had the Scion before the sword so I attached the sword to the Scion
I had two Scions in play, so I didn't even care about the sword (In the sense that I was not the one worried about dealing with board state)
I never drew the sword (often)
I never drew the Scions (rarely)
I never drew the Scions nor the swords (almost never)
Familiar's Ruse vs Quickling:
Ruse a very good card as it pushes you forward so much when you're ahead in the game. It can be tricky when you're even in board state, and it's a pain when you're behind or have no boardstate.
Quickling has the same problem, while instead of helping control with a hard counterspell it can blank removal, re-buy an ETB or just go aggromode against difficult MUs (Like Tron).
I am not an advocate of these 2 cards, but I lean more to the Ruse, as I have played it in the past and was somewhat satisfied by it. Nonetheless, I wouldn't play more than 1 Ruse or 2 Quicklings. It's never good to rely on synergies only, your cards need to be good on their own, so even though I don't use cards that are only good in synergy, I am in favor in testing them as if we find the correct synergy list, the deck has potential to be a blowout. Going that route is tricky, and underwhelming when you're behind, but if managed to get a 60 so powerful and redundant that these cards work, I'm all in to jump in that train.
The New cards: Part the Waterveil: I hate the timewalk effects in Faeries, sorry can't give an objective perspective here. I'd rather play any of the already available effects though. Horribly Awry: Strictily worse than Essence Scatter and Remove Soul Spell Shrivel: Hate it, sorry. I'd even play Cancel over this. For the same CMC and effect you already have Dissipate. Complete Disregard: This can actually be good against Etched Champion, I wouldn't disregard this card completely ;-) Ulamog's Nullifier: Too conditional to be effective, wouldn't really play it over a Cryptic Command or Mistbind Clique (which are at the top of our CMC curve)
Alot of people are trying to slow this deck down by playing more controlling cards like lili and ash. if i was to play a PW in this deck i would play jace b.
I dont think that's the way to go anyways.
i think we should be more of a tempo deck (i believe we are the best tempo deck in the format since the ddt/cruise bannings killed delver).
I believe Lili is a great way of dealing with games, especially those ones where we fall behind. She's a great card against Burn, Aggro, Control, Bogles, Combo and Tron. Every time you draw a card and wish it was something else, lili takes care of it by symmetrically discarding a card from both players hand, while growing in loyalty with a game winning ultimate. She also forces to change the angle of attack (not just combat phase, but the changing the lines of play) of your oppponent. She is another 'must answer' card in the deck, and she works pretty well there. Jace Beleren works symmetrically as well with his +2, though drawin cards is something we don't want our opponents to do with our resources. Yes, in theory he will draw you 3 cards for each card your opponents draw, but more often than not it will be a 1UU 'each player draws a card' sorcery and then eat removal or get crushed by creatures. We don't play combo and we are not fast (in the sense of aggro) to close games, so I wouldn't play him. When Beleren was good in faeries Lili didn't exist, neither did Ashiok. So, a 3CMC planeswalker that drew cards was more than just good.
Ob Nixilis Reignited seems like a maybe sideboard card. It requires a lot of effort to get there, but he should be able to win you the game on his own. His synergy with lili is strong too. 5CMC is steep though.
EDIT: So much commenting made me forget about the cards I wanted to discuss: Soul Manipulation: I don't think this card is optimal or super flexible but it's neither a bad card. It's an EssenceSoul with recursion attached, you might say. But I see it as a recursion card with the possibility of getting a 2-for-1 against other decks. I counter your creature and buyback my V Clique/M Clique/ Stutter/Snapcaster/Whatever you play. I don't know if I would play it MB or sideboard. But it looks good against BGx and Zoo/aggro, where we have to chump block a lot and our creatures get killed easily.
Glen Elendra Archmage seems like a good card to fit even in MB nowadays. The 2-for-1ness of the format atn is undeniable, and is another card that can help us get there, while keeping up the Faeries count. I'd play 1/2 in the 75.
We have a lot of work to do here if we want to rise again.
Dismember is what it is. I don't love it, but I've been really disappointed with murderous cut, and slaughter pact doesnt hit everything we need. Thus, dismember is a good one-mana answer(this is a theme here).
Often times, I pay 3 for dismember. Sometimes you need the life, sometimes you need the mana. The fact that dismember does allow you to choose, plus killing nearly everything in the format (dismember + a token blocking kills 99% of the creatures you would be worried about).
Smother fills in the gaps, being efficient, and nice against goyfs that get a nice bonus when a bitterblossom hits the grave.
There isn't really maindeck playable lifegain in u/b. The manabase is painless though, so there is that.
Still back and forth on tarpits.
Harbinger and quicklings are actually solid cards. Quickling allows you to recast things like spellstutter, mistbind, vendilion, etc. Its nice as a block > bounce to save a creature as well.
Harbinger is primarily here to tutor up repeated mistbinds, but also sometimes just to fetch up some scions, bitterblossom, or quicklings depending on the scenario. I also run 2 sower and 1 archmage in the side, which harbinger also grabs.
Snapcaster is another card I played with a while ago, and it never impressed me. It rarely did what we want, and even in decks with more spells, it doesn't fit in well.
You stop creatures with removal spells, or letting the game get to a point where they don't matter. A single goyf staring down a blossom is fine for me.
Cryptic is bad against other blue decks, its bad against burn, its mediocre against affinity, etc... I like cryptic less and less, and I've got plenty of cards at four mana.
I go back and forth on tect edges and ghost quartters too. In theory, 2 tect edges is better than 2 ghost quarters, because you can send them further behind. The trade-off is the whole 4 lands thing. We shall see about this one.
Again, people are looking at Quickling wrong when they're analyzing it. Look at the card, and then remove "creature" from it's type line. Quit looking at it like a creature, and look at it like an Instant that reads: "Save target creature from Abrupt Decay."
Abrupt Decay is the single biggest enemy to this deck, and Quickling and Mistbind are two of the only things we can play that will counter it. Mistbind is too slow, but has the added benefit of saving your Bitterblossom as well. Quickling has the added benefit of letting you re-use an ETB, and also interacts in very interesting ways with Mistbind Clique itself.
Quickling is an important creature when it comes to the champion effect however. Despite the longstanding opinion that it isn't worth playing, I do like it, and will continue to play it for the forseeable future.
Also, sometimes that two-power flier does work. Often times its not spectacular, but damage is damage sometimes.
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I run 23 cards MB that I can cast T1 or T2.
This is a tricky count. You can cast Spellstutter Sprite (and Snapcaster Mage, if you're running it) turn 2, but it won't be a useful play very often (unless you desperately need a beater).
I'd like to quote Paulo Vitor's report from his testing prior to PT:Born of the Gods (yes, that one that CFB played that awful Scapeshift deck):
The first paragraph illustrates what happens if you try to play Faeries with no cheap interaction like the versions from smaller formats: you'll have problems against fast decks that demand you to disrupt them from turn 1. If that interaction is a mix of Spellstutter Sprites and Remands, you'll never beat a deck with Wild Nacatl, Voice of Resurgence and Loxodon Smiter.
Then there is the problem with Spellstutter Sprite. If you're playing against decks like Living End or Hive Mind, the card will be an autowin. It's also good against Infect, Burn and Affinity (if you managed to stabilize earlier with other cards), but against most fair decks and decks that try to resolve big spells to win, you won't be able to counter any relevant spell unless you have Bitterblossom in play and your opponent needs to cast spells to not fall behind, so the card is effectively mostly fodder for Mistbind Clique. In older Standard formats (Lorwyn-Conflux, when the archetype fell to tier2) there was the debate of whether you actually needed the fourth Spellstutter Sprite or not, so I'm pretty surprised that with as many topics and decklists as have been posted in this thread, everybody starts his deck with 4 Spellstutter Sprite and 56 extra cards.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Although I agree with the cheap interaction part, and I'm with you that discard is necessary (and I actually love it), I have to disagree that by playing remands and sprites we will never be able to beat nacatl, voice and smiter. Remand and stutters will help you stabilize, little by little, until you get where you want to be. It doesn't matter if zoo beats you with 4 exalted triggers when you have bitterblossom out, you just chump them all the way. Yes, G1 will be hard as f*ck (to be honest, no matter what build you play, G1 against zoo will feel like an almost impossible to win uphill battle). But remands and stutters will get you with a reliable life total to the bitterblossom post damnation. From there, you can win. That is your plan, it won't always work, but they won't always get the creature curve in the order they want either. Zoo is a hard MU, where discard is powerful, and so are sweepers post board.
To be honest, I think in this thread people start with 4 Bitterblossom, 4 Spellstutter Sprite, then add 52 cards. I'm not saying this is wrong, as I usually play with those 8 slots. But I have been harassed and raged in the past for proposing to diminish the BB count when splashing.
This is where we are standing at the moment:
We need to start trying new things if we want different results. Want to play without discard? Want to play Ashiok? Want to play Lili? Want to splash white/red/green? Want to go with 4 scions? Want to cut BB? Want to drop Sprites count? Want to play Damnation main? Want to try something different? Go for it, play it, test it. Play 10 events, play 50 matches, see how it goes, report it. If we don't open our minds to change, we will close the door to evolution for this deck. This is not Lorwyn anymore, this is not the good old Faeries anymore. This is time to change, people.
So let's begin. Even though I changed to Grixis control, and I am loving that deck, I will sleeve up faeries again, for every time I open this thread my heart pounds out of my chest. I want to play this deck so badly! I will try to test 2 variants:
Tarmo Faeries and UB Faeries:
4x Serum Visions
3x Thoughtseize
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Spell Snare
CMC2:
4x Bitterblossom
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Tarmoogoyf
3x Abrupt Decay
1x Go for the Throat
1x Snapcaster Mage
CMC3:
1x Dismember
2x Liliana of the Veil
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Mistbind Clique
Lands:
2x Mutavault:
4x Polluted Delta
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Watery Grave
1x Breeding Pool
1x Overgrown Tomb
2x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Hinterland Harbor
3x Island
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Darkblast
2x Dispel
1x Negate
1x Golgari Charm
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Damping Matrix
1x Liliana of the Veil
2x Damnation
2x Thragtusk
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Spell Snare
1x Darkblast
4x Bitterblossom
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Remand
1x Go for the Throat
1x Smother
1x Doom Blade
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Dismember
1x Liliana of the Veil
3x Vendilion Clique
2x Mistbind Clique
1x Murderous Cut
4x Mutavault
4x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Secluded Glen
3x Darkslick Shores
4x Polluted Delta
4x Island
1x Swamp
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Dispel
2x Countersquall
2x Liliana of the Veil
2x Damping Matrix
2x Damnation
3x Leyline of the Void
In BUG Tarmo Faeries, the splash pushes me back from being tempo oriented control, thus I need to push forward with beaters while disrupting with cheap efficient cards. This is more of a midrangey shell, with no remands, no cryptics and favoring serum visions. More of a bug beatdown with necessary interaction for cheap cost.
The second build, the traditional UB Tempo/Control Faeries, is more of the list I used to play earlier this year. Playing less colors pushes the need for playing more counters/tempo elements. There's not really a lot to say about the build that I haven't already said about how I feel the UB faeries shell.
EDIT: Both sideboards need polishing, and I need to see how the metagame shifts in my area, but that's the start.
2 Quickling
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
SPELLS 21
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Murderous Cut
2 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
2 Go for the Throat
2 Remand
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Cryptic Command
4 Bitterblossom
1 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Island
3 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Mutavault
4 River of Tears
4 Secluded Glen
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Batterskull
2 Dispel
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Spell Snare
2 Redirect
2 Sudden Spoiling
2 Monastery Siege
Now, before I am crucified from playing a card like Quickling, allow me to say that it has been quite useful in my list.
I believe that the reason why it hasn't worked before is because it was often played within a heavier control shell (more spell focused).
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't outshine our other Faeries. However, it does flicker and save the better ones from death. (IN STYLE~)
Will more than likely remove Ghostly Flicker from the list, I rarely use it and is often side-boarded.
I may be delusional but I have often believed that Sudden Spoiling is our version of a one-sided Damnation.
Removes any aggro during the opponent's turn. And it removes pesky flyers or punishing abilities during our turn.
Feedback is greatly appreciated!!
As much as I want to play some standard with new cards tomorrow, I have loved faeries and am dying to play modern tomorrow. Darktutor put out some player-types we all might fall under [Most people in this thread is a mix of old school players that don't play many big events, new players that just picked the deck up, and people that are just too attached to Lowryn standard/extended Faeries] and I'm kinda a mix. I played when Revised was out through Visions (but nothing big), then I quit and came back off and on just casually playing but not really buying cards until Innistrad. I've been playing fairly heavily since Innistrad (at least as heavily as I can with 2 kids, working full time and going to law school). So I never played faeries in standard and only got the cards once MM2015 came out. So I do lack a lot of piloting experience, but I also home-brew all my other decks, so I'm pretty good about thinking for myself and outside the box. I wish I had more time to play-test as there's where it really comes down to it (results).
I will post my list and I will try to take notes tomorrow.
Also, anyone going to be trying any of the new cards out? I am thinking of trying an Ob Nixilis Reignited... we'll see. I think everything else that we'd be interested in costs 1 mana more than we'd be willing
Part the Waterveil
Horribly Awry
Spell Shrivel
Complete Disregard
Ulamog's Nullifier
Although that looks like a good start to a standard deck lol
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Wish they'd just give us something new to mess with... Too bad Silumgar's cmd ended up being so high costed, we could have used a good blue/black cmd...
The difference between those two cards is that the other is ETB trigger and the other is additional cost. The moment you use Familiar's Ruse, the creature is already in your hand. If Quickling would use the same mechanic, then it would see play. It's just that Quickling is potential 2-for-1 against you, which is something people don't want to play.
And I get that Mistbind curves out nicer, is much stronger card, etc etc. But it is the same potential for being 2 for 1'd. Just don't play a sloppy Quickling and you'll be fine.
Yeah BFZ wasn't helpful at all. and im not holding my breath for Gatewatch to be any better.
Shame Simgur cmd isnt good at all. and i doubt it would be played even at 4cmc.
I wouldn't play either in this format.
Alot of people are trying to slow this deck down by playing more controlling cards like lili and ash. if i was to play a PW in this deck i would play jace b.
I dont think that's the way to go anyways.
i think we should be more of a tempo deck (i believe we are the best tempo deck in the format since the ddt/cruise bannings killed delver).
I'll post my list here again, it hasn't changed much, but I still feel its the best direction to take.
4 mistbind clique
2 quickling
2 scion of oona
4 spellstutter sprite
2 vendilion clique
4 dismember
2 smother
2 spell snare
2 spell pierce
1 tragic slip
4 inquisition of kozilek
6 island
4 mutavault
4 secluded glen
4 swamp
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 tectonic edge
currently playing without any tarpits because I kept getting that at the worst possible time (when I needed an untapped land) not sure if they shall stay.
I think this style of deck, with a good 1 drop, would be very powerful.
As it is, the deck is somewhat slow, but you can often lock people out enough to still win.
I was also thinking tarpits have slowed me down at the wrong times.
few odd choices that i would like to be explained.
Faerie harbinger and quickling but no cryptics?
Even snap caster would be better with all the spells you run.
Pierce over leak and remand? how do you stop anything above a 3 mana creature ever?
I firmly believe Ghost quarter is better than edge because it can actually hit bloom/tron etc before/as they go off while sometimes edge can be played around
also upside sometimes it is a wasteland against certain decks
Play a good number of games (not less than 20) against different decks. Tell us how the quickling worked, keeping in mind these 3 factors when you draw it:
Sudden Spoiling is a tempo card, in the sense that it makes us lose tempo. For the 2 purposes you want to play it you have Cryptic Command which does the same thing while countering a spell, bouncing a pesky permanent, or drawing a card. I don't believe this is comparable to Damnation, or any sweeper as it needs to work alongside blockers or cards like Drown in Sorrow, which requires a lot of set up or a high board advantage to be effective.
Swords vs Scions:
Scion and Swords are not that of nonbo. I used to play 4 Scions and a sword and never had troubles with it.
These are the scenarios I had to face when playing that combination of cards:
Familiar's Ruse vs Quickling:
Ruse a very good card as it pushes you forward so much when you're ahead in the game. It can be tricky when you're even in board state, and it's a pain when you're behind or have no boardstate.
Quickling has the same problem, while instead of helping control with a hard counterspell it can blank removal, re-buy an ETB or just go aggromode against difficult MUs (Like Tron).
I am not an advocate of these 2 cards, but I lean more to the Ruse, as I have played it in the past and was somewhat satisfied by it. Nonetheless, I wouldn't play more than 1 Ruse or 2 Quicklings. It's never good to rely on synergies only, your cards need to be good on their own, so even though I don't use cards that are only good in synergy, I am in favor in testing them as if we find the correct synergy list, the deck has potential to be a blowout. Going that route is tricky, and underwhelming when you're behind, but if managed to get a 60 so powerful and redundant that these cards work, I'm all in to jump in that train.
The New cards:
Part the Waterveil: I hate the timewalk effects in Faeries, sorry can't give an objective perspective here. I'd rather play any of the already available effects though.
Horribly Awry: Strictily worse than Essence Scatter and Remove Soul
Spell Shrivel: Hate it, sorry. I'd even play Cancel over this. For the same CMC and effect you already have Dissipate.
Complete Disregard: This can actually be good against Etched Champion, I wouldn't disregard this card completely ;-)
Ulamog's Nullifier: Too conditional to be effective, wouldn't really play it over a Cryptic Command or Mistbind Clique (which are at the top of our CMC curve)
I believe Lili is a great way of dealing with games, especially those ones where we fall behind. She's a great card against Burn, Aggro, Control, Bogles, Combo and Tron. Every time you draw a card and wish it was something else, lili takes care of it by symmetrically discarding a card from both players hand, while growing in loyalty with a game winning ultimate. She also forces to change the angle of attack (not just combat phase, but the changing the lines of play) of your oppponent. She is another 'must answer' card in the deck, and she works pretty well there.
Jace Beleren works symmetrically as well with his +2, though drawin cards is something we don't want our opponents to do with our resources. Yes, in theory he will draw you 3 cards for each card your opponents draw, but more often than not it will be a 1UU 'each player draws a card' sorcery and then eat removal or get crushed by creatures. We don't play combo and we are not fast (in the sense of aggro) to close games, so I wouldn't play him. When Beleren was good in faeries Lili didn't exist, neither did Ashiok. So, a 3CMC planeswalker that drew cards was more than just good.
Ob Nixilis Reignited seems like a maybe sideboard card. It requires a lot of effort to get there, but he should be able to win you the game on his own. His synergy with lili is strong too. 5CMC is steep though.
EDIT: So much commenting made me forget about the cards I wanted to discuss:
Soul Manipulation: I don't think this card is optimal or super flexible but it's neither a bad card. It's an Essence Soul with recursion attached, you might say. But I see it as a recursion card with the possibility of getting a 2-for-1 against other decks. I counter your creature and buyback my V Clique/M Clique/ Stutter/Snapcaster/Whatever you play. I don't know if I would play it MB or sideboard. But it looks good against BGx and Zoo/aggro, where we have to chump block a lot and our creatures get killed easily.
Glen Elendra Archmage seems like a good card to fit even in MB nowadays. The 2-for-1ness of the format atn is undeniable, and is another card that can help us get there, while keeping up the Faeries count. I'd play 1/2 in the 75.
We have a lot of work to do here if we want to rise again.
Often times, I pay 3 for dismember. Sometimes you need the life, sometimes you need the mana. The fact that dismember does allow you to choose, plus killing nearly everything in the format (dismember + a token blocking kills 99% of the creatures you would be worried about).
Smother fills in the gaps, being efficient, and nice against goyfs that get a nice bonus when a bitterblossom hits the grave.
There isn't really maindeck playable lifegain in u/b. The manabase is painless though, so there is that.
Still back and forth on tarpits.
Harbinger and quicklings are actually solid cards. Quickling allows you to recast things like spellstutter, mistbind, vendilion, etc. Its nice as a block > bounce to save a creature as well.
Harbinger is primarily here to tutor up repeated mistbinds, but also sometimes just to fetch up some scions, bitterblossom, or quicklings depending on the scenario. I also run 2 sower and 1 archmage in the side, which harbinger also grabs.
Snapcaster is another card I played with a while ago, and it never impressed me. It rarely did what we want, and even in decks with more spells, it doesn't fit in well.
You stop creatures with removal spells, or letting the game get to a point where they don't matter. A single goyf staring down a blossom is fine for me.
Cryptic is bad against other blue decks, its bad against burn, its mediocre against affinity, etc... I like cryptic less and less, and I've got plenty of cards at four mana.
I go back and forth on tect edges and ghost quartters too. In theory, 2 tect edges is better than 2 ghost quarters, because you can send them further behind. The trade-off is the whole 4 lands thing. We shall see about this one.
Abrupt Decay is the single biggest enemy to this deck, and Quickling and Mistbind are two of the only things we can play that will counter it. Mistbind is too slow, but has the added benefit of saving your Bitterblossom as well. Quickling has the added benefit of letting you re-use an ETB, and also interacts in very interesting ways with Mistbind Clique itself.
Lantern Prison
Dredge
Nahiri Harbinger
Also, sometimes that two-power flier does work. Often times its not spectacular, but damage is damage sometimes.