I suppose my real issue with eldrazi is actually killing them before they do something that makes all my efforts irrelevant. With 4 ghost quarters the many manlands aren't reliable, they drop a balista for 5 and BB is no longer viable and is now a liability. Those two things combined makes mistbind hard to stick and vendillion is hard to keep around and so forth.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
You really have to try to kill them before they get that far along.
Easier said than done, I know, but thats the goal.
Well timed discard spells/cliques taking relevant cards is huge though.
Pithing needle ballista seems more and more awesome by the day
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
>I saw he published his updated version, in which he made room to 2 Disfigure in the sideboard by cutting a Collective Brutality and moving a Hero's Downfall to the maindeck in the place of the lone Tasigur.
After many days/weeks of tuning and testing I'm back with my current list of Ancestral Vision faeries. After losing multiple win-and-in matches of local pptq's due to losing on turn 2 or mulls to Four I think the list is finished, or at least as "finished" as a modern deck can be. First, here is where I'm currently at:
Utility and dual lands
Faerie conclave is great, still haven't been sad to have it. The only aspect of the manabase I'm not happy with is a lack of pendelhaven and the river of tears. River is just there to facilitate turn 1 discard and push without cutting into my cryptic mana. I wish I had a better option, but the deck can't afford any more turn 1 tap lands (which does include drowned catacomb) and secluded glen just isn't reliable enough to be considered a turn 1 colored source. I have yet to try a third copy of watery grave, but it seems so wrong that I haven't put much consideration into it.
Mana leak & permission
Mana leak has remained amazing and is almost essential in many matches. It fills the same role of extra discard sometimes, but they work against the top of the deck and still gets the mana from your opponent. Right now I like a mix of discard and permission to survive in modern currently. The main use of them is to bridge the gap between SSS and cryptics coming online, especially against eldrazi and prime time. When you're against any tron variant they may seem like hot garbage, but are required to allow you to keep playing magic when they drop a karn or wurmcoil on turn 3.
I have tried a mix of logic knot and negates in this spot, but there were too many issues with this. The double blue on logic knot was a big problem surprisingly. Between mutavaults and wanting black early for discard/blossom/push and combined with a low fetch count it became difficult for it to be live. I like that it's a hard counter in the late game, but by then we have cryptic and sprites at the ready if the opponent is still alive in the first place. Negate has simply been too narrow. It's too often that I want to stop a kitchen finks, a wurmcoil, or a tasigur and wishing the negate was anything else.
Threats
Still only 1 snapcaster due to the lack of quality spells that are always live to flash back. A second would be nice for post board games, but I haven't found myself wanting more just yet. The odd one of gurmag angler has remained solid. Granted tasigur looks better on paper, but in practice being able to block or attack through a smasher or other anglers has proven to be much more important. That coupled with the large amount of spells that go bad eventually makes his ability even less of an attractive option. The main reason for the inclusion is to have large threat to play on the cheap that doesn't require a blossom to be good. I liked running two copies and was never straining to cast them, but I'm happy with just one non-mistbind finisher.
Mistbind clique specifically
Speaking of mistbind clique, the card is obscenely powerful. Even when it just dies instantly, the trigger is a BIG deal. Often it allows me to swing in with all of my manlands without fear of a push or bolt and smacking them for half their life total. Once you get that "clear for take off" turn the game is swung so far back in your favor that they need to consider holding up removal and not developing their board which goes right into our game plan. Not to mention that there are still a lot of very good players that don't quite understand the card or even know that it exists. But it is awkward and clunky without a blossom which is why I've kept the count at two copies.
Odd SB choices
I put this board together the ensure that I always have enough cards to bring in to match the amount that I want to take out against a particular deck. The hardest ones to work in were burn and RG tron which, aside from burn, is more of a local thing. At a GP I'd be amazed to play against classic tron, but locally it's a certainty. Regardless, that is why I have a pair of negates instead of something like ceremonious rejection or more strokes. Currently I like stroke more than rejection because of it's applications against titanshift which has been getting more popular week to week. The fact that rejection is a turn 1 hard counter while on the draw vs affinity doesn't escape me, but I feel like having extra cards for titanshift is more important than affinity currently.
Dredge!
There is a lack of direct graveyard hate because I have simply selected dredge as the deck I will scoop to. That's not to say that this configuration doesn't have game against them however. Jace AoT is actually quite good against them and tendrils can clean up a large portion of their dorks with kalitas being a house when you can cast him with protection.
Brutality
The three copies of collective brutality are there primarily as a concession to burn being a problem while still being anywhere from serviceable to amazing in many other matches. Granted this may seem like an excessive amount to run, but I feel that the versatility and power in the matches where they're desired makes it worth three slots. I love them against coco decks and storm, they're still good against merfolk and act as extra discard spells when that is desired. Blah, blah, blah I'm reading the card to you.
The point is that with so many viable decks in modern the versatility is just too important and it is such a massive tempo swing that it easily can bring you from behind to can't possibly lose. If there was a better and low mana cost option to bring in vs burn and still be solid in other matches I'd gladly play them, but this seems to be the best one available.
Doom blade & Downfall
A simple concession to needing more spot removal against eldrazi. The downfall also has the benefit of killing liliana, the last hope which is an obvious nightmare for us. For a while I was considering a second ratchet bomb over the doom blade, but I found that I wanted the kill spell a bit more than the utility piece. I looked at a lot of different options here, but what ultimately made me choose doom blade is that it's a card that can come in against affinity and I don't need the extra help against death's shadow so that lets my SB swaps work out cleanly.
Ratchet bomb
Obviously the card is a little 'meh' but it's still a necessity to me that one is included at the least and I'd still like a second. The main application is against lantern, affinity, RG ponza (I see several copies no matter what city I play in), and merfolk while still being great against liliana decks. It's slow, a bad top deck, but is still the best way we have to deal with "the weird" in the format. We don't have detention sphere so this is our best option. Pithing needle is still a great card, but the fact that it doesn't actually remove anything from play is why I feel bombs are the way to go.
Issues to solve
Dem eldrazi doe! As soon as a cavern comes down if they're not dead or dying the game is essentially over with out a large stroke of luck. I suppose fulminators or spreading seas could be added into the sideboard once again, but that is A LOT of sideboard space and not nearly as many main deck cards to switch around. If somebody could show off their "permission + LD" sideboard plan that would be great. I feel that is the best recipe for success in this match up, but I can't help but wonder if it's worth the equity you're giving up against the rest of the field cramming in that many narrow cards.
Dredge...again
In the same vein as above, this match can be quite rough. Bear in mind I may be a touch biased as two of my win-and-in matches were lost to dredge on turn 2 twice in a row so take the following with a grain of salt. Being able to stick a mist bind is typically enough of a swing that winning is academic, but that's a rarity. Our primary defense and interaciton pieces are permission and discard which all too often come out too late against them. Once their engine is online they basically stop casting spells entirely and no longer have relevant cards in hand so we're forced to race while holding up a cryptic for their lethal conflags.
With the only real SB options here being direct graveyard hate to effectively swing the match in your favor I'm still asking if it's worth even considering. Nihil spellbomb is fine against DS, but we don't really need a lot of help against them as they're half the reason to play faeries in the first place. After that there aren't many real options for dredge hate that isn't wasted cardboard in every other match. This is why I've gone to cards like flaying tendrils and Jace AoT as they're solid against dredge and are good to great against many other decks as well.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
After many days/weeks of tuning and testing I'm back with my current list of Ancestral Vision faeries. After losing multiple win-and-in matches of local pptq's due to losing on turn 2 or mulls to Four I think the list is finished, or at least as "finished" as a modern deck can be. First, here is where I'm currently at:
Utility and dual lands
Faerie conclave is great, still haven't been sad to have it. The only aspect of the manabase I'm not happy with is a lack of pendelhaven and the river of tears. River is just there to facilitate turn 1 discard and push without cutting into my cryptic mana. I wish I had a better option, but the deck can't afford any more turn 1 tap lands (which does include drowned catacomb) and secluded glen just isn't reliable enough to be considered a turn 1 colored source. I have yet to try a third copy of watery grave, but it seems so wrong that I haven't put much consideration into it.
Mana leak & permission
Mana leak has remained amazing and is almost essential in many matches. It fills the same role of extra discard sometimes, but they work against the top of the deck and still gets the mana from your opponent. Right now I like a mix of discard and permission to survive in modern currently. The main use of them is to bridge the gap between SSS and cryptics coming online, especially against eldrazi and prime time. When you're against any tron variant they may seem like hot garbage, but are required to allow you to keep playing magic when they drop a karn or wurmcoil on turn 3.
I have tried a mix of logic knot and negates in this spot, but there were too many issues with this. The double blue on logic knot was a big problem surprisingly. Between mutavaults and wanting black early for discard/blossom/push and combined with a low fetch count it became difficult for it to be live. I like that it's a hard counter in the late game, but by then we have cryptic and sprites at the ready if the opponent is still alive in the first place. Negate has simply been too narrow. It's too often that I want to stop a kitchen finks, a wurmcoil, or a tasigur and wishing the negate was anything else.
Threats
Still only 1 snapcaster due to the lack of quality spells that are always live to flash back. A second would be nice for post board games, but I haven't found myself wanting more just yet. The odd one of gurmag angler has remained solid. Granted tasigur looks better on paper, but in practice being able to block or attack through a smasher or other anglers has proven to be much more important. That coupled with the large amount of spells that go bad eventually makes his ability even less of an attractive option. The main reason for the inclusion is to have large threat to play on the cheap that doesn't require a blossom to be good. I liked running two copies and was never straining to cast them, but I'm happy with just one non-mistbind finisher.
Mistbind clique specifically
Speaking of mistbind clique, the card is obscenely powerful. Even when it just dies instantly, the trigger is a BIG deal. Often it allows me to swing in with all of my manlands without fear of a push or bolt and smacking them for half their life total. Once you get that "clear for take off" turn the game is swung so far back in your favor that they need to consider holding up removal and not developing their board which goes right into our game plan. Not to mention that there are still a lot of very good players that don't quite understand the card or even know that it exists. But it is awkward and clunky without a blossom which is why I've kept the count at two copies.
Odd SB choices
I put this board together the ensure that I always have enough cards to bring in to match the amount that I want to take out against a particular deck. The hardest ones to work in were burn and RG tron which, aside from burn, is more of a local thing. At a GP I'd be amazed to play against classic tron, but locally it's a certainty. Regardless, that is why I have a pair of negates instead of something like ceremonious rejection or more strokes. Currently I like stroke more than rejection because of it's applications against titanshift which has been getting more popular week to week. The fact that rejection is a turn 1 hard counter while on the draw vs affinity doesn't escape me, but I feel like having extra cards for titanshift is more important than affinity currently.
Dredge!
There is a lack of direct graveyard hate because I have simply selected dredge as the deck I will scoop to. That's not to say that this configuration doesn't have game against them however. Jace AoT is actually quite good against them and tendrils can clean up a large portion of their dorks with kalitas being a house when you can cast him with protection.
Brutality
The three copies of collective brutality are there primarily as a concession to burn being a problem while still being anywhere from serviceable to amazing in many other matches. Granted this may seem like an excessive amount to run, but I feel that the versatility and power in the matches where they're desired makes it worth three slots. I love them against coco decks and storm, they're still good against merfolk and act as extra discard spells when that is desired. Blah, blah, blah I'm reading the card to you.
The point is that with so many viable decks in modern the versatility is just too important and it is such a massive tempo swing that it easily can bring you from behind to can't possibly lose. If there was a better and low mana cost option to bring in vs burn and still be solid in other matches I'd gladly play them, but this seems to be the best one available.
Doom blade & Downfall
A simple concession to needing more spot removal against eldrazi. The downfall also has the benefit of killing liliana, the last hope which is an obvious nightmare for us. For a while I was considering a second ratchet bomb over the doom blade, but I found that I wanted the kill spell a bit more than the utility piece. I looked at a lot of different options here, but what ultimately made me choose doom blade is that it's a card that can come in against affinity and I don't need the extra help against death's shadow so that lets my SB swaps work out cleanly.
Ratchet bomb
Obviously the card is a little 'meh' but it's still a necessity to me that one is included at the least and I'd still like a second. The main application is against lantern, affinity, RG ponza (I see several copies no matter what city I play in), and merfolk while still being great against liliana decks. It's slow, a bad top deck, but is still the best way we have to deal with "the weird" in the format. We don't have detention sphere so this is our best option. Pithing needle is still a great card, but the fact that it doesn't actually remove anything from play is why I feel bombs are the way to go.
Issues to solve
Dem eldrazi doe! As soon as a cavern comes down if they're not dead or dying the game is essentially over with out a large stroke of luck. I suppose fulminators or spreading seas could be added into the sideboard once again, but that is A LOT of sideboard space and not nearly as many main deck cards to switch around. If somebody could show off their "permission + LD" sideboard plan that would be great. I feel that is the best recipe for success in this match up, but I can't help but wonder if it's worth the equity you're giving up against the rest of the field cramming in that many narrow cards.
Dredge...again
In the same vein as above, this match can be quite rough. Bear in mind I may be a touch biased as two of my win-and-in matches were lost to dredge on turn 2 twice in a row so take the following with a grain of salt. Being able to stick a mist bind is typically enough of a swing that winning is academic, but that's a rarity. Our primary defense and interaciton pieces are permission and discard which all too often come out too late against them. Once their engine is online they basically stop casting spells entirely and no longer have relevant cards in hand so we're forced to race while holding up a cryptic for their lethal conflags.
With the only real SB options here being direct graveyard hate to effectively swing the match in your favor I'm still asking if it's worth even considering. Nihil spellbomb is fine against DS, but we don't really need a lot of help against them as they're half the reason to play faeries in the first place. After that there aren't many real options for dredge hate that isn't wasted cardboard in every other match. This is why I've gone to cards like flaying tendrils and Jace AoT as they're solid against dredge and are good to great against many other decks as well.
i would suggest cutting a leak for 1 thoughtsieze, its the only real strategic oddity I see with the deck, though Im skeptical of the Gurmag Angler. Im looking at trying wydwen soon though so 1 of threats are often preference
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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
i would suggest cutting a leak for 1 thoughtsieze, its the only real strategic oddity I see with the deck, though Im skeptical of the Gurmag Angler. Im looking at trying wydwen soon though so 1 of threats are often preference
I agree that our random one off finishers are very specific in what we want out of them. For me the requirements for a singleton finisher are "doesn't die to push or bolt and can fight with 5/5s well" and the angler fits the bill. One other that I've considered but haven't had the time to actually test was Ammit Eternal. It seems fine on the surface, a 5/5 for only 3 mana and the games where you just want a giant monster to clock them they aren't casting too many spells. Obvious downside is that it isn't likely to block an angler, smasher or even TKS all that effectively. There's a decent amount of options to choose from, but once you hit 5 mana you have to ask if you should just go one higher for a titan.
Interesting suggestion of -1 leak and +1 thoughtseize, can you elaborate on that? It would seem that two thoughtseize main might be too many and going under 4 mana leaks always feels weird. Granted only 3 serums is also weird, so I guess I can't fight you on that one. I understand that curve is a real consideration for the deck and we're already choked on possible 2s and 4s to play. If only spell snare were awesome right now =(
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
I've been playing grafdigger's cage in my board as my gravehate of choice.
I don't think grixis shadow is terribly difficult, and I'm concerned a lot more with collected company.
Ammit eternal is a neat card, but it feels like I'd want a few more proactive spells to really make him work. You are playing serum visions though, which will likely help. Which brings me to the next point...
Why are you playing serum visions?
Obviously its not a useless card, but I feel that I don't usually have terrible problems of drawing cards "out of order", or not to the same extent as I might in other decks. Those three slots could become another thoughtseize, another land (23 seems low), another vendilion clique/snapcaster/mistbind clique, or something else entirely.
I will also agree that thoughtseize is really strong right now.
As I said in my previous post, I'm playing the full set, and while it does get painful sometimes, IoK and fatal push have too much overlap for my liking, and theres nothing worse than IoKing an opponent and seeing a shadow + a tasigur, and looking at the fatal push in your hand.
I've been playing grafdigger's cage in my board as my gravehate of choice.
I don't think grixis shadow is terribly difficult, and I'm concerned a lot more with collected company.
Ammit eternal is a neat card, but it feels like I'd want a few more proactive spells to really make him work. You are playing serum visions though, which will likely help. Which brings me to the next point...
Why are you playing serum visions?
Obviously its not a useless card, but I feel that I don't usually have terrible problems of drawing cards "out of order", or not to the same extent as I might in other decks. Those three slots could become another thoughtseize, another land (23 seems low), another vendilion clique/snapcaster/mistbind clique, or something else entirely.
I will also agree that thoughtseize is really strong right now.
As I said in my previous post, I'm playing the full set, and while it does get painful sometimes, IoK and fatal push have too much overlap for my liking, and theres nothing worse than IoKing an opponent and seeing a shadow + a tasigur, and looking at the fatal push in your hand.
I also used cages when I had dedicated GY hate for the same reasons, worried about coco and kitchen finks way more than merely delaying delve monsters.
As for serum visions, it's simply here to add consistency to the deck which is the deck's greatest shortcoming. Any game where I get to "do my thing" feels like I can't lose without something catastrophic happening. If I can go durdle on 1, BB on 2, sprite and push on 3, mistbind or cryptic on 4 then there's no way I'm losing that one. Serum helps to ensure that happens. If the opponent messes that up, then that basically forces a stumble on my part and serum visions lets me recover extremely fast on the cheap. What I cut for them was, well, basically what you listed as possible replacements heh.
I rarely get mana screwed even on 23 since I've also lowered my curve a touch by going down a cryptic and a mistbind while the serums can bail out a sketchy 6 card hand very easy. Before I had serums I had a constant problem of drawing well and crushing or drawing 'out of order' as you put it and getting destroyed by bad players with worse decks because mine didn't cooperate.
It's also worth noting that as a synergy deck we can get a lot of hands that don't do anything like "lands, AV, sprite, cryptic" or something like "island, island, mutavault, blossom, sprite, mistbind" that we have to throw back. The typical clunker of a hand with a serum is an easy keep because we're almost always 1 card away from a snap keep be it an extra land or piece of interaction and serum finds them. Also, anecdotal evidence here, but I've had to mull with this deck more than any other fair deck I've played and the serums alleviate that considerably.
I agree that IoK and push have some overlap, but a lot of the time there is either a clear difference (taking voice, engineered explosives, plating) or I don't care which it is (merfolk, zoo, burn) so long as I can cast it. I go back and forth between having a pair of thoughtseize in the SB in addition to the one in the main depending on whether or not I want to focus on beating a specific deck or not so I can get behind playing multiples of them. However cramming the full set in the main is just too scary for me unless you completely forego fetches and shocks.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
While I agree doing our thing is important, I feel that effectively spending mana and being able to both pressure and interact are really the most important things to focus on. Serum does not pressure/interact, and only sometimes lets us spend mana effectively.
Nothing wrong with the card, but I feel that simply having more answers in my deck is preferable.
I'm on 3 cryptic, 3 mistbind, 7 manlands, 0 serum, and I'm on 25 lands with one of them being a cycling land. 24 lands feels like the minimum to me, even with serum visions. Stumbling on colors or quantity is a real beating for this deck quite often, and I hate having to cast sorceries to try to find my land drop for the turn.
I don't play faeries all that often anymore, but I always felt that many of the games where my deck didn't cooperate I would still be able to win. Sure, sometimes you're gonna draw an absolutely unwinnable pile, but most of the time, the game might be awkward but still maneuverable.
As for mulligans, I'm always loath to keep a 6 card clunker + serum visions. Sometimes I'm greedy and I'll keep, but far too often the serum visions will fail to find you sufficient "fixers" and you're left with a hand thats just as clunky as the 6 you kept. With a better cantrip (brainstorm/ponder in particular) that are much more able to fix bad hands, this is different, but serum visions is so negligible so often.
I'd definitely suggest trying the full set of thoughtseizes. You might end up vindicated after taking a ***** ton of damage, but you might be surprised.
Played at a PPTQ in Southern California today, went 4-2 and got 11th place overall out of approx 37 people, my only losses to the 1 and 2 seed going into the top 8.
I went in expecting to play against a lot of red/green and artifact/colorless decks, which I, unfortunately, didn't face in any way.
My matchups were as follows:
Round 1 - 0-2 LOSS BR Goodstuff
Game 1 he starts off on a few Gifted Aetherborn which I never draw removal for, which was a super frustrating game to play. I don't have many things that can trade with it, and by the time I threw something in front of it, he had removal for all of my stuff.
Side:
-1 LtLH -1 Cryptic Command -1 Bitterblossom
+1 Hero's Downfall +1 Damnation +1 Engineered Explosives (I really wasn't sure what he was playing so this seemed to be the fairest trades given I only saw 2 drop creatures and removal)
Game 2 I draw absolutely nothing for the second time and just lose due to having no removal. This game was seriously frustrating for me, as it felt like an easily winnable matchup that just didn't pan out well because my deck didn't want to work for me.
Round 2 - 2-0 WIN Esper Mill
Game one I beat down with man lands because he couldn't mill me quickly enough. I ended up taking away his best cards (ensnaring bridge) with early game discard and kept them off the table to ensure the win.
Side:
-1 LtLH -2 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Echoing Truth +1 Negate +1 Dispel
Round 2 I get an early Liliana and they struggle to establish a board. I eventually get a ton of lands in play, ult Liliana giving them a choice of their lands or their Bridges, which they chose bridges. I top deck Echoing Truth and win.
Round 3 - 2-1 WIN Abzan Red
Game one I ended up getting a game loss due to a deck registration issue, so we went straight into game 2.
Game two I had a hand that was just a bunch of value cards, and they didn't play anything out very quickly. I answered things when needed and Liliana plus man lands eventually got me a win.
Side:
-2 Thoughtseize -2 Inquisition of Kozilek -1 LtLH
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils (He was playing Bobs and lingering souls, which Liliana could have also taken care of in hindsight) +1 Hero's Downfall
Game three I keep a hand with doubles in it for being semi thoughseize proof, and then my opponent got stuck on two lands after I resolved a liliana of the veil. I got there again by just beating down with manlands as per usual.
Round 4 - 0-2 LOSS 4 Color Humans
Let me preface this by saying this matchup is abysmal and I was not prepared to go against it in the slightest.
Game one I keep a removal light hand, and they end up running out creatures very quick. I end up getting stuck on 2 lands and lose pretty easily.
Side:
-1 Remand -1 Bitterblossom -1 Tasigur
+1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils +1 Hero's Downfall
Game two I get stuck on lands again, and he plays Xathrid Necromancer into a board with already 2 creatures. I draw a wrath and manage to get rid of the creatures which leave behind zombies, only to get blown out by not drawing anything to remove them with after that point.
Round 5 - 2-0 WIN Abzan
Game one I expect to lose pretty quickly to Lingering Souls but didn't see any. I stabilize off of Bitterblossom and win quickly.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -2 Thoughseize
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Hero's Downfall
He sides into Leyline which is laughable as I got rid of all of my targetted discard, which is pretty nice. At this point, I just take over the game quickly using a tasigur which I protect through what felt like a million Path to Exiles, and got there.
At this point, we find out that there is little chance that an X-2 makes it into the top, but due to me losing to the top seeds and the rest of the people I played doing halfway decent, I decided I would stick around and try and win my last game.
Round 6 - 2-0 WIN UW Control
Game 1 I won from Bitterblossom. They didn't have much going on at all the entire game and most of their win conditions rely on resolving a planeswalker or just beating in with manlands which I didn't let them do.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -1 LtLH
+1 Dispel +1 Negate +1 Hero's Downfall
Game 2 took a while, but I eventually got there with man lands. I was glad I left in Thoughseize because I ended up remanding an Ojutai at one point which I thoughseized out of their hand, only to find out they had no removal at instant speed, so I beat in with manlands for the rest of the game.
I feel really indifferent because overall I feel like I did well but missing the top 8 was disappointing.
I was upset I didnt get any use out of Flashfreeze as well because the night before at FNM it actually was pretty great, but everyone seemed to audible to different things locally. I think the best thing I could do at this point is switch out LtLH in the main for something else, and move her to the sideboard in Flashfreeze's place. Everything else seems to be the right numbers, but sweepers will probably go back to 1 Languish 1 Damnation.
As per usual, if you guys have any questions always feel free to ask me anything. I'm in the discord as well so if you want to reach me there you always can.
Coming up soon I would also like to test out Jace, Cunning Castaway just as a little bit of spice. I had someone tell me today when I brought it up that I should just be playing Jace Beleren but I think since this Jace can still make dudes to close out games, I would like to test him a little bit before completely throwing the idea out the window. I think everything else in the deck is consistent enough to where I probably wouldn't change it too much.
Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoy hearing about my tournament.
While I agree doing our thing is important, I feel that effectively spending mana and being able to both pressure and interact are really the most important things to focus on. Serum does not pressure/interact, and only sometimes lets us spend mana effectively.
Nothing wrong with the card, but I feel that simply having more answers in my deck is preferable.
I'm on 3 cryptic, 3 mistbind, 7 manlands, 0 serum, and I'm on 25 lands with one of them being a cycling land. 24 lands feels like the minimum to me, even with serum visions. Stumbling on colors or quantity is a real beating for this deck quite often, and I hate having to cast sorceries to try to find my land drop for the turn.
I don't play faeries all that often anymore, but I always felt that many of the games where my deck didn't cooperate I would still be able to win. Sure, sometimes you're gonna draw an absolutely unwinnable pile, but most of the time, the game might be awkward but still maneuverable.
As for mulligans, I'm always loath to keep a 6 card clunker + serum visions. Sometimes I'm greedy and I'll keep, but far too often the serum visions will fail to find you sufficient "fixers" and you're left with a hand thats just as clunky as the 6 you kept. With a better cantrip (brainstorm/ponder in particular) that are much more able to fix bad hands, this is different, but serum visions is so negligible so often.
I'd definitely suggest trying the full set of thoughtseizes. You might end up vindicated after taking a ***** ton of damage, but you might be surprised.
I've tried heavy thoughtseize versions and serum versions of the deck recently. I'm currently on 4 serum, 2 thoughtseize, and 1 inquisiton with 24 land. The damage is very real in this deck even thought thoughtseize is amazing. I love serum right now. I definitely understand the argument about when you are spending mana, but I think the meta has changed and we usually have a little more time. AV may be better, but I like 4 snapcaster and I think pairing it with serum is best.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Played at a PPTQ in Southern California today, went 4-2 and got 11th place overall out of approx 37 people, my only losses to the 1 and 2 seed going into the top 8.
I went in expecting to play against a lot of red/green and artifact/colorless decks, which I, unfortunately, didn't face in any way.
My matchups were as follows:
Round 1 - 0-2 LOSS BR Goodstuff
Game 1 he starts off on a few Gifted Aetherborn which I never draw removal for, which was a super frustrating game to play. I don't have many things that can trade with it, and by the time I threw something in front of it, he had removal for all of my stuff.
Side:
-1 LtLH -1 Cryptic Command -1 Bitterblossom
+1 Hero's Downfall +1 Damnation +1 Engineered Explosives (I really wasn't sure what he was playing so this seemed to be the fairest trades given I only saw 2 drop creatures and removal)
Game 2 I draw absolutely nothing for the second time and just lose due to having no removal. This game was seriously frustrating for me, as it felt like an easily winnable matchup that just didn't pan out well because my deck didn't want to work for me.
Round 2 - 2-0 WIN Esper Mill
Game one I beat down with man lands because he couldn't mill me quickly enough. I ended up taking away his best cards (ensnaring bridge) with early game discard and kept them off the table to ensure the win.
Side:
-1 LtLH -2 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Echoing Truth +1 Negate +1 Dispel
Round 2 I get an early Liliana and they struggle to establish a board. I eventually get a ton of lands in play, ult Liliana giving them a choice of their lands or their Bridges, which they chose bridges. I top deck Echoing Truth and win.
Round 3 - 2-1 WIN Abzan Red
Game one I ended up getting a game loss due to a deck registration issue, so we went straight into game 2.
Game two I had a hand that was just a bunch of value cards, and they didn't play anything out very quickly. I answered things when needed and Liliana plus man lands eventually got me a win.
Side:
-2 Thoughtseize -2 Inquisition of Kozilek -1 LtLH
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils (He was playing Bobs and lingering souls, which Liliana could have also taken care of in hindsight) +1 Hero's Downfall
Game three I keep a hand with doubles in it for being semi thoughseize proof, and then my opponent got stuck on two lands after I resolved a liliana of the veil. I got there again by just beating down with manlands as per usual.
Round 4 - 0-2 LOSS 4 Color Humans
Let me preface this by saying this matchup is abysmal and I was not prepared to go against it in the slightest.
Game one I keep a removal light hand, and they end up running out creatures very quick. I end up getting stuck on 2 lands and lose pretty easily.
Side:
-1 Remand -1 Bitterblossom -1 Tasigur
+1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils +1 Hero's Downfall
Game two I get stuck on lands again, and he plays Xathrid Necromancer into a board with already 2 creatures. I draw a wrath and manage to get rid of the creatures which leave behind zombies, only to get blown out by not drawing anything to remove them with after that point.
Round 5 - 2-0 WIN Abzan
Game one I expect to lose pretty quickly to Lingering Souls but didn't see any. I stabilize off of Bitterblossom and win quickly.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -2 Thoughseize
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Hero's Downfall
He sides into Leyline which is laughable as I got rid of all of my targetted discard, which is pretty nice. At this point, I just take over the game quickly using a tasigur which I protect through what felt like a million Path to Exiles, and got there.
At this point, we find out that there is little chance that an X-2 makes it into the top, but due to me losing to the top seeds and the rest of the people I played doing halfway decent, I decided I would stick around and try and win my last game.
Round 6 - 2-0 WIN UW Control
Game 1 I won from Bitterblossom. They didn't have much going on at all the entire game and most of their win conditions rely on resolving a planeswalker or just beating in with manlands which I didn't let them do.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -1 LtLH
+1 Dispel +1 Negate +1 Hero's Downfall
Game 2 took a while, but I eventually got there with man lands. I was glad I left in Thoughseize because I ended up remanding an Ojutai at one point which I thoughseized out of their hand, only to find out they had no removal at instant speed, so I beat in with manlands for the rest of the game.
I feel really indifferent because overall I feel like I did well but missing the top 8 was disappointing.
I was upset I didnt get any use out of Flashfreeze as well because the night before at FNM it actually was pretty great, but everyone seemed to audible to different things locally. I think the best thing I could do at this point is switch out LtLH in the main for something else, and move her to the sideboard in Flashfreeze's place. Everything else seems to be the right numbers, but sweepers will probably go back to 1 Languish 1 Damnation.
As per usual, if you guys have any questions always feel free to ask me anything. I'm in the discord as well so if you want to reach me there you always can.
Coming up soon I would also like to test out Jace, Cunning Castaway just as a little bit of spice. I had someone tell me today when I brought it up that I should just be playing Jace Beleren but I think since this Jace can still make dudes to close out games, I would like to test him a little bit before completely throwing the idea out the window. I think everything else in the deck is consistent enough to where I probably wouldn't change it too much.
Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoy hearing about my tournament.
Congrats on the finish. My list is pretty similar to yours with a few slight changes. I'm wondering why you like languish over a second damnation. Do you think it is worth having your tasigur survive? Also, I've also considered the new Jace. He is very different from Jace Beleren. People tend to be very slow on trying new things. I think this Jace can be more useful for the reasons you pointed out.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I'd be in favor of playing something in place of AV if we could somehow make our clock faster, but as is we don't have that option really. We could play copter or scions but they're just too slow and fragile. A thought scour and delve package is possible, but we don't have enough GY synergy to make it worth it. Just 4 snaps and a couple delve fatties isn't enough for that many durdle cards to be worth it. As is, going without ancestral makes the late game pretty bad for us because blossom is typically a liability by then if they're not nearly dead.
Ideally my list would be -1 something and +1 land but there just isn't room. Sure I'm on 8 manlands but I don't consider them 'action.' Rather they're something to do when I'm on empty and effectively act as my form of "reach." I agree that 24 lands is where we should aim for typically so I'm still fishing around for what I can cut. I don't want to run less discard, I need all the monsters and permission etc. At least boarding is easier than building the deck heh.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Congrats on the finish. My list is pretty similar to yours with a few slight changes. I'm wondering why you like languish over a second damnation. Do you think it is worth having your tasigur survive? Also, I've also considered the new Jace. He is very different from Jace Beleren. People tend to be very slow on trying new things. I think this Jace can be more useful for the reasons you pointed out.
I like to have Languish over the second damnation because there are times when it matters against things like Selfless Spirit. I have the availability to play 2 if I wanted because of card availability, but there aren't a ton of Eldrazi decks running around my meta that would prompt me to change over to a second damnation just yet.
On the subject of having Tasigur survive, it's just an added bonus. The deck really doesn't have too many threats that can kill the opponent so keeping an extra one in play is always nice.
I know people are hesitant to try JCC, but I think he's got potential and at his mana cost he warrants testing. I know people were hesitant at first when LtLH came around, but I slotted it in nearly immediately, whether it be side or mainboard, and never took it out of the 75. There have been a few cards like that recently that just take time to kinda get acknowledgment from multiple people, but I'm sure once the time comes around JCC will have some sort of showing, whether it be good or bad. I think a planeswalker that fits our deck style, can get rid of excess bitterblossoms/lands, and build towards delve cards in the deck provides something that at least my version of the deck has been looking for. Not to mention it also provides threats in its illusions, which are even better than normal illusions as they don't sacrifice to abilities, only to spells. I think it's nice that we see this change and in the end, they're burning a card on something that's not our face, an important spellstutter, or something of that sort. At worst we get more blockers that we can use to clog up the ground and trade with pesky x/2 creatures.
Congrats on the finish. My list is pretty similar to yours with a few slight changes. I'm wondering why you like languish over a second damnation. Do you think it is worth having your tasigur survive? Also, I've also considered the new Jace. He is very different from Jace Beleren. People tend to be very slow on trying new things. I think this Jace can be more useful for the reasons you pointed out.
I like to have Languish over the second damnation because there are times when it matters against things like Selfless Spirit. I have the availability to play 2 if I wanted because of card availability, but there aren't a ton of Eldrazi decks running around my meta that would prompt me to change over to a second damnation just yet.
On the subject of having Tasigur survive, it's just an added bonus. The deck really doesn't have too many threats that can kill the opponent so keeping an extra one in play is always nice.
I know people are hesitant to try JCC, but I think he's got potential and at his mana cost he warrants testing. I know people were hesitant at first when LtLH came around, but I slotted it in nearly immediately, whether it be side or mainboard, and never took it out of the 75. There have been a few cards like that recently that just take time to kinda get acknowledgment from multiple people, but I'm sure once the time comes around JCC will have some sort of showing, whether it be good or bad. I think a planeswalker that fits our deck style, can get rid of excess bitterblossoms/lands, and build towards delve cards in the deck provides something that at least my version of the deck has been looking for. Not to mention it also provides threats in its illusions, which are even better than normal illusions as they don't sacrifice to abilities, only to spells. I think it's nice that we see this change and in the end, they're burning a card on something that's not our face, an important spellstutter, or something of that sort. At worst we get more blockers that we can use to clog up the ground and trade with pesky x/2 creatures.
I can see the new jace being good in our deck as all of the words on the card are good for us. More go wide threats, card selection, creates an overwhelming board advantage, difficult to deal with threat etc. It has all the benefits of smuggler's copter without the huge downside of needing a board presence already. The real question is whether or not the mana cost is worth it. Obviously it would be great at 2 mana, but at 3 we have things like more counter magic, liliana of various flavors, jace beleren and so forth.
I wouldn't be shocked if it ended up being trash or perfectly acceptable card choice so that's my noncommittal answer. But what I can say for sure is that the card fits into our strategy well enough that we should be testing it. Even if it's as a potential less good bitterblossom number 5 or as an alternative main deck plan there is enough potential that it's worth us looking into.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
I'd be in favor of playing something in place of AV if we could somehow make our clock faster, but as is we don't have that option really. We could play copter or scions but they're just too slow and fragile. A thought scour and delve package is possible, but we don't have enough GY synergy to make it worth it. Just 4 snaps and a couple delve fatties isn't enough for that many durdle cards to be worth it. As is, going without ancestral makes the late game pretty bad for us because blossom is typically a liability by then if they're not nearly dead.
AV is good in the late game WHEN you get it early enough. Unfortunately, when you get it late, that's +3 turns to getting your cards, when that could've been counter magic against their finisher and now means the end of the game. An early AV is boss, but timing is everything. I would agree that scions and copters are no good, and a delve package is best reserved for grixis delver and not faeries.
Opt is back, and I could not be more excited. I have a feeling that this instant-speed cantrip is what we've been looking for, as we can now play a discard spell, Fatal Push, or Creeping Tar Pit on turn 1, either play Bitterblossom or hold up a counterspell/kill spell/cantrip on turn 2, and not tap out on our turn for the rest of the game. We can also now play 3-4 Snapcaster Mage (our spirit faerie) without any concern. Are others hoping to brew with this bad boy?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Easier said than done, I know, but thats the goal.
Well timed discard spells/cliques taking relevant cards is huge though.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Can you please link this post?
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
4 Bitterblossom
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Mistbind Clique
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Snapcaster Mage
Permission
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mana Leak
3 Cryptic Command
Removal
4 Fatal Push
2 Go for the Throat
Discard
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
4 Ancestral Vision
3 Serum Visions
Mana Base
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Faerie Conclave
3 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
1 River of Tears
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
3 Collective Brutality
2 Damnation
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Doom Blade
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Negate
1 Ratchet Bomb
Utility and dual lands
Faerie conclave is great, still haven't been sad to have it. The only aspect of the manabase I'm not happy with is a lack of pendelhaven and the river of tears. River is just there to facilitate turn 1 discard and push without cutting into my cryptic mana. I wish I had a better option, but the deck can't afford any more turn 1 tap lands (which does include drowned catacomb) and secluded glen just isn't reliable enough to be considered a turn 1 colored source. I have yet to try a third copy of watery grave, but it seems so wrong that I haven't put much consideration into it.
Mana leak & permission
Mana leak has remained amazing and is almost essential in many matches. It fills the same role of extra discard sometimes, but they work against the top of the deck and still gets the mana from your opponent. Right now I like a mix of discard and permission to survive in modern currently. The main use of them is to bridge the gap between SSS and cryptics coming online, especially against eldrazi and prime time. When you're against any tron variant they may seem like hot garbage, but are required to allow you to keep playing magic when they drop a karn or wurmcoil on turn 3.
I have tried a mix of logic knot and negates in this spot, but there were too many issues with this. The double blue on logic knot was a big problem surprisingly. Between mutavaults and wanting black early for discard/blossom/push and combined with a low fetch count it became difficult for it to be live. I like that it's a hard counter in the late game, but by then we have cryptic and sprites at the ready if the opponent is still alive in the first place. Negate has simply been too narrow. It's too often that I want to stop a kitchen finks, a wurmcoil, or a tasigur and wishing the negate was anything else.
Threats
Still only 1 snapcaster due to the lack of quality spells that are always live to flash back. A second would be nice for post board games, but I haven't found myself wanting more just yet. The odd one of gurmag angler has remained solid. Granted tasigur looks better on paper, but in practice being able to block or attack through a smasher or other anglers has proven to be much more important. That coupled with the large amount of spells that go bad eventually makes his ability even less of an attractive option. The main reason for the inclusion is to have large threat to play on the cheap that doesn't require a blossom to be good. I liked running two copies and was never straining to cast them, but I'm happy with just one non-mistbind finisher.
Mistbind clique specifically
Speaking of mistbind clique, the card is obscenely powerful. Even when it just dies instantly, the trigger is a BIG deal. Often it allows me to swing in with all of my manlands without fear of a push or bolt and smacking them for half their life total. Once you get that "clear for take off" turn the game is swung so far back in your favor that they need to consider holding up removal and not developing their board which goes right into our game plan. Not to mention that there are still a lot of very good players that don't quite understand the card or even know that it exists. But it is awkward and clunky without a blossom which is why I've kept the count at two copies.
Odd SB choices
I put this board together the ensure that I always have enough cards to bring in to match the amount that I want to take out against a particular deck. The hardest ones to work in were burn and RG tron which, aside from burn, is more of a local thing. At a GP I'd be amazed to play against classic tron, but locally it's a certainty. Regardless, that is why I have a pair of negates instead of something like ceremonious rejection or more strokes. Currently I like stroke more than rejection because of it's applications against titanshift which has been getting more popular week to week. The fact that rejection is a turn 1 hard counter while on the draw vs affinity doesn't escape me, but I feel like having extra cards for titanshift is more important than affinity currently.
Dredge!
There is a lack of direct graveyard hate because I have simply selected dredge as the deck I will scoop to. That's not to say that this configuration doesn't have game against them however. Jace AoT is actually quite good against them and tendrils can clean up a large portion of their dorks with kalitas being a house when you can cast him with protection.
Brutality
The three copies of collective brutality are there primarily as a concession to burn being a problem while still being anywhere from serviceable to amazing in many other matches. Granted this may seem like an excessive amount to run, but I feel that the versatility and power in the matches where they're desired makes it worth three slots. I love them against coco decks and storm, they're still good against merfolk and act as extra discard spells when that is desired. Blah, blah, blah I'm reading the card to you.
The point is that with so many viable decks in modern the versatility is just too important and it is such a massive tempo swing that it easily can bring you from behind to can't possibly lose. If there was a better and low mana cost option to bring in vs burn and still be solid in other matches I'd gladly play them, but this seems to be the best one available.
Doom blade & Downfall
A simple concession to needing more spot removal against eldrazi. The downfall also has the benefit of killing liliana, the last hope which is an obvious nightmare for us. For a while I was considering a second ratchet bomb over the doom blade, but I found that I wanted the kill spell a bit more than the utility piece. I looked at a lot of different options here, but what ultimately made me choose doom blade is that it's a card that can come in against affinity and I don't need the extra help against death's shadow so that lets my SB swaps work out cleanly.
Ratchet bomb
Obviously the card is a little 'meh' but it's still a necessity to me that one is included at the least and I'd still like a second. The main application is against lantern, affinity, RG ponza (I see several copies no matter what city I play in), and merfolk while still being great against liliana decks. It's slow, a bad top deck, but is still the best way we have to deal with "the weird" in the format. We don't have detention sphere so this is our best option. Pithing needle is still a great card, but the fact that it doesn't actually remove anything from play is why I feel bombs are the way to go.
Issues to solve
Dem eldrazi doe! As soon as a cavern comes down if they're not dead or dying the game is essentially over with out a large stroke of luck. I suppose fulminators or spreading seas could be added into the sideboard once again, but that is A LOT of sideboard space and not nearly as many main deck cards to switch around. If somebody could show off their "permission + LD" sideboard plan that would be great. I feel that is the best recipe for success in this match up, but I can't help but wonder if it's worth the equity you're giving up against the rest of the field cramming in that many narrow cards.
Dredge...again
In the same vein as above, this match can be quite rough. Bear in mind I may be a touch biased as two of my win-and-in matches were lost to dredge on turn 2 twice in a row so take the following with a grain of salt. Being able to stick a mist bind is typically enough of a swing that winning is academic, but that's a rarity. Our primary defense and interaciton pieces are permission and discard which all too often come out too late against them. Once their engine is online they basically stop casting spells entirely and no longer have relevant cards in hand so we're forced to race while holding up a cryptic for their lethal conflags.
With the only real SB options here being direct graveyard hate to effectively swing the match in your favor I'm still asking if it's worth even considering. Nihil spellbomb is fine against DS, but we don't really need a lot of help against them as they're half the reason to play faeries in the first place. After that there aren't many real options for dredge hate that isn't wasted cardboard in every other match. This is why I've gone to cards like flaying tendrils and Jace AoT as they're solid against dredge and are good to great against many other decks as well.
i would suggest cutting a leak for 1 thoughtsieze, its the only real strategic oddity I see with the deck, though Im skeptical of the Gurmag Angler. Im looking at trying wydwen soon though so 1 of threats are often preference
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
I agree that our random one off finishers are very specific in what we want out of them. For me the requirements for a singleton finisher are "doesn't die to push or bolt and can fight with 5/5s well" and the angler fits the bill. One other that I've considered but haven't had the time to actually test was Ammit Eternal. It seems fine on the surface, a 5/5 for only 3 mana and the games where you just want a giant monster to clock them they aren't casting too many spells. Obvious downside is that it isn't likely to block an angler, smasher or even TKS all that effectively. There's a decent amount of options to choose from, but once you hit 5 mana you have to ask if you should just go one higher for a titan.
Interesting suggestion of -1 leak and +1 thoughtseize, can you elaborate on that? It would seem that two thoughtseize main might be too many and going under 4 mana leaks always feels weird. Granted only 3 serums is also weird, so I guess I can't fight you on that one. I understand that curve is a real consideration for the deck and we're already choked on possible 2s and 4s to play. If only spell snare were awesome right now =(
I don't think grixis shadow is terribly difficult, and I'm concerned a lot more with collected company.
Ammit eternal is a neat card, but it feels like I'd want a few more proactive spells to really make him work. You are playing serum visions though, which will likely help. Which brings me to the next point...
Why are you playing serum visions?
Obviously its not a useless card, but I feel that I don't usually have terrible problems of drawing cards "out of order", or not to the same extent as I might in other decks. Those three slots could become another thoughtseize, another land (23 seems low), another vendilion clique/snapcaster/mistbind clique, or something else entirely.
I will also agree that thoughtseize is really strong right now.
As I said in my previous post, I'm playing the full set, and while it does get painful sometimes, IoK and fatal push have too much overlap for my liking, and theres nothing worse than IoKing an opponent and seeing a shadow + a tasigur, and looking at the fatal push in your hand.
I also used cages when I had dedicated GY hate for the same reasons, worried about coco and kitchen finks way more than merely delaying delve monsters.
As for serum visions, it's simply here to add consistency to the deck which is the deck's greatest shortcoming. Any game where I get to "do my thing" feels like I can't lose without something catastrophic happening. If I can go durdle on 1, BB on 2, sprite and push on 3, mistbind or cryptic on 4 then there's no way I'm losing that one. Serum helps to ensure that happens. If the opponent messes that up, then that basically forces a stumble on my part and serum visions lets me recover extremely fast on the cheap. What I cut for them was, well, basically what you listed as possible replacements heh.
I rarely get mana screwed even on 23 since I've also lowered my curve a touch by going down a cryptic and a mistbind while the serums can bail out a sketchy 6 card hand very easy. Before I had serums I had a constant problem of drawing well and crushing or drawing 'out of order' as you put it and getting destroyed by bad players with worse decks because mine didn't cooperate.
It's also worth noting that as a synergy deck we can get a lot of hands that don't do anything like "lands, AV, sprite, cryptic" or something like "island, island, mutavault, blossom, sprite, mistbind" that we have to throw back. The typical clunker of a hand with a serum is an easy keep because we're almost always 1 card away from a snap keep be it an extra land or piece of interaction and serum finds them. Also, anecdotal evidence here, but I've had to mull with this deck more than any other fair deck I've played and the serums alleviate that considerably.
I agree that IoK and push have some overlap, but a lot of the time there is either a clear difference (taking voice, engineered explosives, plating) or I don't care which it is (merfolk, zoo, burn) so long as I can cast it. I go back and forth between having a pair of thoughtseize in the SB in addition to the one in the main depending on whether or not I want to focus on beating a specific deck or not so I can get behind playing multiples of them. However cramming the full set in the main is just too scary for me unless you completely forego fetches and shocks.
Nothing wrong with the card, but I feel that simply having more answers in my deck is preferable.
I'm on 3 cryptic, 3 mistbind, 7 manlands, 0 serum, and I'm on 25 lands with one of them being a cycling land. 24 lands feels like the minimum to me, even with serum visions. Stumbling on colors or quantity is a real beating for this deck quite often, and I hate having to cast sorceries to try to find my land drop for the turn.
I don't play faeries all that often anymore, but I always felt that many of the games where my deck didn't cooperate I would still be able to win. Sure, sometimes you're gonna draw an absolutely unwinnable pile, but most of the time, the game might be awkward but still maneuverable.
As for mulligans, I'm always loath to keep a 6 card clunker + serum visions. Sometimes I'm greedy and I'll keep, but far too often the serum visions will fail to find you sufficient "fixers" and you're left with a hand thats just as clunky as the 6 you kept. With a better cantrip (brainstorm/ponder in particular) that are much more able to fix bad hands, this is different, but serum visions is so negligible so often.
I'd definitely suggest trying the full set of thoughtseizes. You might end up vindicated after taking a ***** ton of damage, but you might be surprised.
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Fatal Push
1 Go for the Throat
1 Murderous Cut
3 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Bitterblossom
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
4 Island
1 Swamp
1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
3 Darkslick Shores
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Echoing Truth
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Dispel
1 Flashfreeze
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Flaying Tendrils
I went in expecting to play against a lot of red/green and artifact/colorless decks, which I, unfortunately, didn't face in any way.
My matchups were as follows:
Round 1 - 0-2 LOSS BR Goodstuff
Side:
-1 LtLH -1 Cryptic Command -1 Bitterblossom
+1 Hero's Downfall +1 Damnation +1 Engineered Explosives (I really wasn't sure what he was playing so this seemed to be the fairest trades given I only saw 2 drop creatures and removal)
Game 2 I draw absolutely nothing for the second time and just lose due to having no removal. This game was seriously frustrating for me, as it felt like an easily winnable matchup that just didn't pan out well because my deck didn't want to work for me.
Side:
-1 LtLH -2 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Echoing Truth +1 Negate +1 Dispel
Round 2 I get an early Liliana and they struggle to establish a board. I eventually get a ton of lands in play, ult Liliana giving them a choice of their lands or their Bridges, which they chose bridges. I top deck Echoing Truth and win.
Game two I had a hand that was just a bunch of value cards, and they didn't play anything out very quickly. I answered things when needed and Liliana plus man lands eventually got me a win.
Side:
-2 Thoughtseize -2 Inquisition of Kozilek -1 LtLH
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils (He was playing Bobs and lingering souls, which Liliana could have also taken care of in hindsight) +1 Hero's Downfall
Game three I keep a hand with doubles in it for being semi thoughseize proof, and then my opponent got stuck on two lands after I resolved a liliana of the veil. I got there again by just beating down with manlands as per usual.
Game one I keep a removal light hand, and they end up running out creatures very quick. I end up getting stuck on 2 lands and lose pretty easily.
Side:
-1 Remand -1 Bitterblossom -1 Tasigur
+1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils +1 Hero's Downfall
Game two I get stuck on lands again, and he plays Xathrid Necromancer into a board with already 2 creatures. I draw a wrath and manage to get rid of the creatures which leave behind zombies, only to get blown out by not drawing anything to remove them with after that point.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -2 Thoughseize
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Hero's Downfall
He sides into Leyline which is laughable as I got rid of all of my targetted discard, which is pretty nice. At this point, I just take over the game quickly using a tasigur which I protect through what felt like a million Path to Exiles, and got there.
Round 6 - 2-0 WIN UW Control
Side:
-2 Inquisition -1 LtLH
+1 Dispel +1 Negate +1 Hero's Downfall
Game 2 took a while, but I eventually got there with man lands. I was glad I left in Thoughseize because I ended up remanding an Ojutai at one point which I thoughseized out of their hand, only to find out they had no removal at instant speed, so I beat in with manlands for the rest of the game.
I feel really indifferent because overall I feel like I did well but missing the top 8 was disappointing.
I was upset I didnt get any use out of Flashfreeze as well because the night before at FNM it actually was pretty great, but everyone seemed to audible to different things locally. I think the best thing I could do at this point is switch out LtLH in the main for something else, and move her to the sideboard in Flashfreeze's place. Everything else seems to be the right numbers, but sweepers will probably go back to 1 Languish 1 Damnation.
As per usual, if you guys have any questions always feel free to ask me anything. I'm in the discord as well so if you want to reach me there you always can.
Coming up soon I would also like to test out Jace, Cunning Castaway just as a little bit of spice. I had someone tell me today when I brought it up that I should just be playing Jace Beleren but I think since this Jace can still make dudes to close out games, I would like to test him a little bit before completely throwing the idea out the window. I think everything else in the deck is consistent enough to where I probably wouldn't change it too much.
Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoy hearing about my tournament.
FULL TIME FAERIES
I've tried heavy thoughtseize versions and serum versions of the deck recently. I'm currently on 4 serum, 2 thoughtseize, and 1 inquisiton with 24 land. The damage is very real in this deck even thought thoughtseize is amazing. I love serum right now. I definitely understand the argument about when you are spending mana, but I think the meta has changed and we usually have a little more time. AV may be better, but I like 4 snapcaster and I think pairing it with serum is best.
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Congrats on the finish. My list is pretty similar to yours with a few slight changes. I'm wondering why you like languish over a second damnation. Do you think it is worth having your tasigur survive? Also, I've also considered the new Jace. He is very different from Jace Beleren. People tend to be very slow on trying new things. I think this Jace can be more useful for the reasons you pointed out.
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Ideally my list would be -1 something and +1 land but there just isn't room. Sure I'm on 8 manlands but I don't consider them 'action.' Rather they're something to do when I'm on empty and effectively act as my form of "reach." I agree that 24 lands is where we should aim for typically so I'm still fishing around for what I can cut. I don't want to run less discard, I need all the monsters and permission etc. At least boarding is easier than building the deck heh.
I like to have Languish over the second damnation because there are times when it matters against things like Selfless Spirit. I have the availability to play 2 if I wanted because of card availability, but there aren't a ton of Eldrazi decks running around my meta that would prompt me to change over to a second damnation just yet.
On the subject of having Tasigur survive, it's just an added bonus. The deck really doesn't have too many threats that can kill the opponent so keeping an extra one in play is always nice.
I know people are hesitant to try JCC, but I think he's got potential and at his mana cost he warrants testing. I know people were hesitant at first when LtLH came around, but I slotted it in nearly immediately, whether it be side or mainboard, and never took it out of the 75. There have been a few cards like that recently that just take time to kinda get acknowledgment from multiple people, but I'm sure once the time comes around JCC will have some sort of showing, whether it be good or bad. I think a planeswalker that fits our deck style, can get rid of excess bitterblossoms/lands, and build towards delve cards in the deck provides something that at least my version of the deck has been looking for. Not to mention it also provides threats in its illusions, which are even better than normal illusions as they don't sacrifice to abilities, only to spells. I think it's nice that we see this change and in the end, they're burning a card on something that's not our face, an important spellstutter, or something of that sort. At worst we get more blockers that we can use to clog up the ground and trade with pesky x/2 creatures.
FULL TIME FAERIES
I can see the new jace being good in our deck as all of the words on the card are good for us. More go wide threats, card selection, creates an overwhelming board advantage, difficult to deal with threat etc. It has all the benefits of smuggler's copter without the huge downside of needing a board presence already. The real question is whether or not the mana cost is worth it. Obviously it would be great at 2 mana, but at 3 we have things like more counter magic, liliana of various flavors, jace beleren and so forth.
I wouldn't be shocked if it ended up being trash or perfectly acceptable card choice so that's my noncommittal answer. But what I can say for sure is that the card fits into our strategy well enough that we should be testing it. Even if it's as a potential less good bitterblossom number 5 or as an alternative main deck plan there is enough potential that it's worth us looking into.
AV is good in the late game WHEN you get it early enough. Unfortunately, when you get it late, that's +3 turns to getting your cards, when that could've been counter magic against their finisher and now means the end of the game. An early AV is boss, but timing is everything. I would agree that scions and copters are no good, and a delve package is best reserved for grixis delver and not faeries.
Zetsu's Cube on CubeTutor.com
Zetsu's Ebay MTG Online Store
Zetsu's Poker Draft Method