I went 3-1 at last night's modern event with my current list (see below for a refresher). I played against Storm, Eldrazi Tron, RG TitanShift, and Mono White Hate Bears/Eldrazi, so here's my write up.
Game 2, I manage to answer his early creatures with removal, then race his Mirran Crusader by blocking with Jace, Cunning Castaway Illusion tokens. It came close at the last turn, where he targeted the Illusion with a Path to Exile, but I had a Spellstutter to flash down in combat to block.
Game 1 was very strange. I manage to counter a Sleight of Hand and a Manamorphose, and then he starts attacking me with an Electromancer and Baral. I was pretty cautious about tapping out or low in case he's waiting for that, so I take the beats, firing of a Fatal Push when I draw one. Eventually, I counter a Serum Visions with Spellstutter Sprite, then he Grapeshots for 4, 1 at Sprite, 3 at me, knocking me to 7, then to 4 when he attacks with the two creatures. He passes, so I cast Snapcaster, Fatal PushingBaral. He's got no cards in hand now, so I untap, hold up Vendilion Clique, then pass Clique-ing him in draw step, seeing Sleight of Hand. I tank on this for a bit. I'm pretty much dead to any non Ritual, non Creature card, but I don't want to give him two looks instead of the one, so I have him bottom it. He draws, then shows me a land, then scoops up (even though he would have at least 2 turns before I win).
I was surprised by the Liliana of the Veils this week. I've never been much of a fan, but she took over games fast, and paired with the disruption and removal, was very good. I think there's enough card advantage now with Chart a Course where Liliana doesn't affect us too badly, and many times I just tossed a spare land or Bitterblossom. I'm actually rather tempted to take out a Vendilion Clique in the maindeck for Liliana #3, but I also kind of want to slot in a Shadow of Doubt to get people. This has been a very fun deck to play, and very rewarding when you get things right, and very punishing sometimes for even the tiniest errors.
P.S. I'm looking into getting a new computer to run MtGO so I can play Faeries more often. Does anyone have a rough estimate as to how much Faeries cost to build online?
Has anybody figured out how to solve the "Go Wide Vial/Cavern aggro deck" match up? With so much of our defense being permission and chump blocking I've been having a nightmare trying to figure out how to get an edge here. This is especially true with merfolk but also with humans and even slivers. Blocking is either fruitless or difficult to impossible and there isn't enough spot removal in the world to keep up with them. The best I've managed was to board out 100% of the faeries package and morph entirely into a generic UB control deck. While that strategy has worked against them it does leave me entirely without SB options for other important matches. Halp!
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Its a big shame propaganda isn't legal.
Kalitas/tasigur are great if you get to block (possible against humans, semi-possible vs slivers, almost impossible vs merfolk)
Flaying tendrils, EE, and bontu's last reckoning as 3 mana boardwipes can catch people off guard.
Liliana the last hope can be good for pinging down a lot of their guys, but its often not enough, and it often dies pretty fast.
Vampiric link has popped up now and again in sideboards, and depending on the scenario, can do some work in these matchups.
Otherwise, if you don't want to fill up your board with UB control cards, you kind of have to race them. I'm always happy I have a bunch of mistbinds in these matchups for this reason.
Yea, I usually find myself racing the go wide matchups, especially game 1. Sometimes it works, other times, you die to double Bitterblossom. Cryptic Command tapping guys is always good. Usually, I like having 1-2 sweeper effects in the sideboard, though sometimes I skimp on it depending on my current local meta.
Yea, I definitely have some tools in the board (damnation, ee, sword of light and shadow, kalitas, etc) but as stokpile mentioned, it can be hard to play a "UB control" style against them games 2/3 without dedicating a lot of board space.
Hi everyone. Was considering playing Faeries at the Competitive level, how is the deck's Humans / Robots matchups, and what's the agreed upon 75 if any?
Hi everyone. Was considering playing Faeries at the Competitive level, how is the deck's Humans / Robots matchups, and what's the agreed upon 75 if any?
From personal experience I would say the Humans match-up is manageable, but isn't favored until post-sideboard.
You can definitely find sweepers in time but they need to be specific and hope they don't out power you by the time you find them.
As for robots, I usually have a pretty good time with it. Not having easy artifact removal is rough, but between the amounts of removal you have, spellstutter sprite, and plenty of sideboard removal options, usually this is a not-too-bad matchup.
So been thinking about this deck lately. To me, it seems like BB is at odds with the rest of the deck. The creatures and multitude of spells want to play tempo but BB wants to grind. This is why there isn't a set list for the archetype. Some people focus more on the grinding side of BB and some people focus more on the tempo aspect of the faeries. Has anyone considered moving BB to the sideboard and going a straight tempo build in UB or maybe even grixis?
Most people are playing some number of ceremonious rejections now, which makes robots a lot easier. In the past, it was always a bit back and forth, but never terrible. Its pretty manageable now.
For humans, its difficult, but its not bad enough that it should turn you away from the deck, unless you expect to play against it every round. We have plenty of tools to deal with them, and if we can keep some pressure up while fighting them, we stand a chance.
The problem is that there aren't really enough good faeries cards for us to choose what we're playing, and or cut the best one.
On top of that, the modern card pool doesn't really lend itself to tempo.
Faeries in general, tends to play a bit of a longer game, but it likes to come out swinging, if you will, and establish an early lead with discard/blossom/ancestral/etc.
I think faeries already has enough of an identity problem, as lists have more and more pushed themselves to just Ub control featuring bitterblossom + spellstutter sprite.
I think you could play UB or grixis tempo, but if you're not playing bitterblossom, its not really faeries. You could play clique, but its not a terribly impressive tempo play, just a flash clock, and spellstutter sprite without backup is really weak.
On top of that, most of the grixis lists have splashed for kolaghan's command, and moved towards grixis control, not a tempo deck.
Note on the changes:
I took out one of the Vendilion Cliques since I felt it wasn't pulling it's full weight. I considered the interaction it provides wasn't fast enough, and it's been quite fragile, especially with a lot of Walking Ballistas in the local meta. I briefly thought about playing a misers Shadow of Doubt, but figured the second Spell Snare would be better all around. I also made some slight changes to the sideboard, to adapt to the local stuff (lots of Boggles, hence the Explosives).
Round 1, Eldrazi Tron.
This was a miserable round. He mulliganed to 5 game 1, and my opening hand wasn't the greatest myself (it had 2 Opt, Bitterblossom, Mana Leak, Creeping Tar Pit, Secluded Glen, Mutavault). I played the turn 2 Bitterblossom and hoped he had nothing too bad, even though he had 2/3rds of Tron out. Well it turns out Walking Ballista for 3 beats Faerie tokens. I don't think I really misplayed there, as leaving up Mana Leak just slows him down a turn, and my clock that game was not fast.
Game 2, it's my turn to mulligan, and I end up going to 4 (Fatal Push, Mutavault, Watery Grave, Liliana of the Veil). I scry a Cryptic Command to the bottom, play Mutavault, then pass. I end up getting down a turn 3 Liliana, but I haven't drawn anything other than lands over 2 draw steps, and she gets answered by Reality Smasher, and I quickly lose this game as well.
Round 2, Bant Humans
This was an easy match, as this isn't the typical Humans deck, it's a less optimized budget build. Game 1, my opener has 2 Fatal Push and a Go for the Throat, so I slow him down enough to take over with Bitterblossom and beat down with Tar Pit and tokens.
Game 2, I kept a greedy one lander after a mulligan to 5, and nearly claw my way past multiple Champion of the Parish, but nearly isn't a win.
Game 3, Liliana, the last Hope took over. She killed more creatures this game than ever before, and then Mistbind Cliques on consecutive turns sealed it up.
I was quite disappointed with how things went last night, but I don't think there was anything that could've gone better play wise. There are a few changes that I'm thinking of making, so I think next week's list will be something like this:
I haven't been to impressed with Pendelhaven currently, and figured a hedge against the land centric decks would be fine. I dislike the idea of playing more than 4 colorless mana lands, as Faeries is such a mana intensive deck. I kind of want to cut the two Mana Leaks to be a little more proactive, maybe playing Spell Snare #2 and them going to 1 Jace, Cunning Castaway, 2 Liliana of the Veil, or maybe even a second Shadow of Doubt, cause getting people is fun.
I switched a Secluded Glen with another Island as well, so I have a little more play vs Blood Moon decks. There's also been the odd time where Secluded Glen coming in tapped was an issue, so this alleviates that a little bit. I also threw a third Liliana of the Veil in the sideboard, though if I add her to the main deck, the sideboard would change a fair bit.
Hello everyone, this is my first post ever on mtgsalvation!
So yeah I like playing Faerie a lot, although right now I'm running a budget version of it (my budget is about 15$ a week). Here is the current version:
So right now I'm in the process of getting my lands, then some Cryptic Commands, then Vendilion Cliques and maybe Snapcaster Mages if the money allows it. I want to replace Remand, and Scion of Oona next. I have seen some builds with Gifted Aetherborn in them and I'm tempted to try them. With Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Mutavault and Gurmag Angler, I can see some kind of Faerie/Vampire/Zombie themes hybrid. Going that way, has anyone tried Phyrexian Crusader (probably in sideboard), or even Skinrender? I like the EoT effect a lot.
Considering cantrips, I understood their power recently (in theory). If I understand correctly, they make your deck smaller so more adaptable via the sideboard (a smaller deck means a bigger sideboard, in comparison). I'm now going with Opt, the budget option. Is there a consensus concerning Opt and Serum Visions? Is Serum considered better? I like the idea of scrying before drawing (with Opt), as well as the instant speed, but I constantly keep mana up to cast it at the end of my opponent's turn, but always forget. I guess this is where I need to learn. Concerning Remand, I have seen its potential, but usually I end up wishing for a more permanent answer.
Anyway, if you guys have any "update route" about an order I should follow to improve my deck, please let me know.
When I first started playing it, I main phased opt and always cursed silently (or loudly) whenever I did and realized my misplay. You're not alone. serum visions is 'better' for certain decks because it digs deeper. Faeries like to play at instant speed, which serum is not; opt is a good choice for those running more counter spells. Also, remand is not the worst. far // away should come out first IMO, I presume it's there to reuse SS, or replace with familiar's ruse. Agree with the order of improvement with land, CC, but for land, you may be able to get away without creeping tar pit right away. I recommend snapcaster mage over clique initially, because tiago has more uses outside of faeries, in case you ever change your mind about the deck.
I was thinking about adding Familiar's Ruse at some point but I read that if you do not own a creature (which happens quite often), it is a dead card. I never had the chance to use it yet, but I thought that Far // Away was better since it allowed a lot of options. You can either bounce one of your creatures for protection, to get another EtB effect, or even to get temporarily rid of an opponent's creature. The other mode seems pretty good against hexproof creatures (what are we supposed to do against Thrun?). If the mana permits, you can cast both!
I am aware that it is not considered a competitive card, but I wanted to try it a bit. I will consider trying Familiar's Ruse.
How is Sword of Light and Shadow vs the other swords? I have an opportunity to pick up an invention of one and thought it would be great as a 1-of in this deck.
Also, what is the plan vs control decks, like Grixis or Jeskai? Just power through them with BB, and hand hate away board wipes? I have a feeling 2-3 Collective Brutalities would be very strong in the main.
Just an FYI everyone, there was two Faeries decks on camera day one of GP OKC. Straight UB with Ancestral Vision, and another Grixis variant in the side match. I didn’t get to catch the full matches, but I hope to find the replays later
I think Ancestral Vision pairs better with the Liliana of the Veils than Opt or Chart a Course do, even if it doesn't work as well with Snapcaster Mage. I think main decking Liliana will help vs many of the popular decks right now, though it may be less potent with out other discard options. I think Shadow of Doubt is well positioned right now, as it stops/hinders Tron, TitanShift, Gifts Storm, and can annoy regular decks (or cycle away if need be). Two might be a little bit much, but it can cycle or be discarded to Liliana, so it may not matter. Spell Snare is another card that is good right now, really only being dead vs Tron (though it hits Sylvan Scying in the green versions).
The copy of The Scarab God in the sideboard is merely speculation, as I want to test this guy a bunch and see what match ups it'd be good in. It seems like a decent card in the attrition Jund or Abzan matches, and maybe even Eldrazi Tron if you can dodge Thought-Knot Seer.
I'm waffling back and forth on putting the 4th Mutavault back in over Tectonic Edge, as I don't think just one hate land would tip the scales in the bad match up enough to warrant not having Mutavault. i also do kind of want to put Jace, Cunning Castaway back in the deck, even as a one of, maybe cutting the second Shadow of Doubt? I was overall impressed with Jace, but he was really only good if you already had a board presence, as dropping him and making a token was not high impact enough. The other card I cut is Chart a Course, which was also very good, but I figured with Liliana of the Veil in the main deck, I would rather a more explosive card advantage engine. Chart a Course was impressive as well, and I can see it creeping it's way into more lists, but I found it to be mediocre a little more often than I would've liked, though that may be bias talking.
Does anyone have any opinions or thoughts on this iteration of the list? I'd love to hear some ideas or constructive critiques.
What list do you run Red_Night? And do you run Lili last hope at all compared to Ashiok? I am trying to figure out which is better to run main right now, and it sounds like last hope isn't that good right now. Maybe if Abzan becomes big and lingering souls makes a comeback...
The problem is that your logic on why Ashiok is good is all wrong. You really can't say he helps exiling cards off the top because those cards are basically random and it would be the same if he exiled cards off the bottom. He could as well exile 3 lands and give your opponent gas.
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4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Go for the Throat
2 Chart a Course
2 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
2 Jace, Cunning Castaway
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Mutavault
3 Island
2 Secluded Glen
2 Flooded Strand
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Collective Brutality
2 Countersquall
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damnation
1 Dispel
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Round 1, TitanShift;
Game 1, I mulliganed to 6 while my opponent kept 7 and went first, suspending Search For Tomorrow. I play a Creeping Tar Pit after drawing Spellstutter Sprite (my hand now is Spellstutter Sprite, Island, Jace, Cunning Castaway, Snapcaster Mage, Chart a Course, Mutavault). He untaps, plays an untapped shock land Explores to play a Valkut, then suspends another Search for Tomorrow. I draw another land, then cast Chart a Course to try and hit action (hit Cryptic Command and Fatal Push, discarding the Fatal Push). He casts a suspended Search, draws his card, plays a sixth land, then Titans me off Through the Breach, so I scoop them up.
Game 2, I keep 7 and it's his turn to mulligan. I play a Darkslick Shores, he answers with a fetch plus shock for Search for Tomorrow, then I Opt, scying Liliana of the Veil and drawing it. I play an untapped Watery Grave (I have Countersquall, Spell Snare, Opt, Liliana of the Veil, Creeping Tar Pit, Pendelhaven, then pass, Spell Snare-ing his Sakura Tribe Elder, then Opting (bottom a land, draw a Chart a Course. I play Liliana on my turn, and it basically locks him out. I counter a few more of his spells, then ultimate the Liliana (splitting his lands Sacred Foundry/Plains/Valkut/Mountain vs Stomping Ground/Stomping Ground/Cinder Glade/Forest, and he kept the Stomping Ground pile, then scooped up a turn later.
Game 3, was much like game 2, where Liliana takes over. I had a very good start, and he stumbled a little, and so it was actually fairly easy to win.
Sideboard Plan: -4 Fatal Push, -1 Vendilion Clique, +2 Countersquall, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +1 Dispel (I briefly considered Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, but hitting his lands of the +2 is not a good idea)
Round 2, Mono White Hate Bears/Eldrazi:
Game 1, I get beat by a fast Aether Vial, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben start. Not much to really say about this game.
Game 2, I manage to answer his early creatures with removal, then race his Mirran Crusader by blocking with Jace, Cunning Castaway Illusion tokens. It came close at the last turn, where he targeted the Illusion with a Path to Exile, but I had a Spellstutter to flash down in combat to block.
Game 3, He played Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, which ate a Fatal Push on my turn 2, then played a Vrynn Wingmare, which got Go For the Throated, then another Thalia, which got Liliana of the Veiled. This pretty much locked up the game, though he still made me work for it.
Sideboard Plan: -2 Mana Leak, -1 Vendilion Clique, -1 Cryptic Command, -1 Mistbind Clique, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Damnation
Round 3, Eldrazi Tron:
Game 1, we each mulligan (me to 5, him to 6), I get Thought-knot Seered turns two and three, then say lets go to game 2.
Game 2, again showcased Liliana of the Veil (I'm sensing a theme here). I had mulliganed to 6, then topdecked a Liliana on turn 4 after he Thought-knot Seered on his third turn. I then kill his Reality Smasher when he casts it a turn or two later by tossing a Go for the Throat and Opt at it. I then beat him up with Creeping Tar Pit and Mutavault.
Game 3, this game got really close. He played a turn one Expedition Map, cracking it turn two for Cavern of Souls, then never drew a fourth land until very late (Eldrazi Temple, Cavern of Souls, Tron land). I treaded water for the first couple of turns, casting a Chart a Course and Opt to try and find action so I could start attacking. He casts a Thought-knot Seer, takes, Go for the Throat (leaving Snapcaster Mage, Fatal Push, Secluded Glen, 2 Mutavault), then passes. I topdeck a Polluted Delta, Push the Thought-knot (drawing Creeping Tar Pit), play Mutavault, and for a few turn the course is clear for me to get offensive with lands (which I have many of in hand)and Snapcaster Mage. He hits a fourth land, then decides to race back with Reality Smasher, knocking me to 10, and forcing me to be a little defensive. I can get him down to 3 with a hit off Creeping Tar Pit and Mutavault, which I do. On his turn, he plays a land, casts an Expedition Map, cracks it for Ghost Quarter, kills my Tar Pit, then Walking Ballista for 1. This basically wins him the game, as the Ballista can kill Snapcaster Mage, the Reality Smasher eats Mutavault, then I'm left with a second Tar Pit (my land drop that turn) and no other pressure. I could hold back, but that lets him untap, and at the very least, pump up Ballista, or possibly draw the third Tron land and go ham on me. Turns out he just played another Reality Smasher, shoots Snapcaster with Ballista, forcing me to animate my lands to block, and I lose next turn.
Sideboard Plan: -1 Spell Snare, -1 Cryptic Command, -2 Fatal Push, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, +1 Damnation
Round 4, U/R Storm:
Game 1 was very strange. I manage to counter a Sleight of Hand and a Manamorphose, and then he starts attacking me with an Electromancer and Baral. I was pretty cautious about tapping out or low in case he's waiting for that, so I take the beats, firing of a Fatal Push when I draw one. Eventually, I counter a Serum Visions with Spellstutter Sprite, then he Grapeshots for 4, 1 at Sprite, 3 at me, knocking me to 7, then to 4 when he attacks with the two creatures. He passes, so I cast Snapcaster, Fatal Pushing Baral. He's got no cards in hand now, so I untap, hold up Vendilion Clique, then pass Clique-ing him in draw step, seeing Sleight of Hand. I tank on this for a bit. I'm pretty much dead to any non Ritual, non Creature card, but I don't want to give him two looks instead of the one, so I have him bottom it. He draws, then shows me a land, then scoops up (even though he would have at least 2 turns before I win).
Game 2, I Thoughtseize away a Blood Moon, leaving a hand of Sleight of Hand, Sleight of Hand, Manamorphose, Island, Steam Vents. He untaps, plays his second land, Sleight of Hands and passes. I Thoughtseize him again, and take a Pieces of the Puzzle, with the new cards being another Island and a Serum Visions. He untaps and manages to storm off enough between multiple Manamorphose and a Ritual, so he Empty the Warrens for 8 tokens. I don't have a way to beat that many, so I scoop.
Game 3, I counter his early set up spells, Spell Snare a Baral, then get him in the Liliana lock. This was another easy game.
Sideboard Plan: -2 Jace, Cunning Castaway, -2 Opt, -2 Mana Leak, -2 Mistbind Clique, -1 Vendilion Clique, -1 Cryptic Command, +3 Thoughtseize +2 Countersquall, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +1 Dispel (I took out another Cryptic for Damnation after game 2)
I was surprised by the Liliana of the Veils this week. I've never been much of a fan, but she took over games fast, and paired with the disruption and removal, was very good. I think there's enough card advantage now with Chart a Course where Liliana doesn't affect us too badly, and many times I just tossed a spare land or Bitterblossom. I'm actually rather tempted to take out a Vendilion Clique in the maindeck for Liliana #3, but I also kind of want to slot in a Shadow of Doubt to get people. This has been a very fun deck to play, and very rewarding when you get things right, and very punishing sometimes for even the tiniest errors.
P.S. I'm looking into getting a new computer to run MtGO so I can play Faeries more often. Does anyone have a rough estimate as to how much Faeries cost to build online?
Kalitas/tasigur are great if you get to block (possible against humans, semi-possible vs slivers, almost impossible vs merfolk)
Flaying tendrils, EE, and bontu's last reckoning as 3 mana boardwipes can catch people off guard.
Liliana the last hope can be good for pinging down a lot of their guys, but its often not enough, and it often dies pretty fast.
Vampiric link has popped up now and again in sideboards, and depending on the scenario, can do some work in these matchups.
Otherwise, if you don't want to fill up your board with UB control cards, you kind of have to race them. I'm always happy I have a bunch of mistbinds in these matchups for this reason.
From personal experience I would say the Humans match-up is manageable, but isn't favored until post-sideboard.
You can definitely find sweepers in time but they need to be specific and hope they don't out power you by the time you find them.
As for robots, I usually have a pretty good time with it. Not having easy artifact removal is rough, but between the amounts of removal you have, spellstutter sprite, and plenty of sideboard removal options, usually this is a not-too-bad matchup.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
For humans, its difficult, but its not bad enough that it should turn you away from the deck, unless you expect to play against it every round. We have plenty of tools to deal with them, and if we can keep some pressure up while fighting them, we stand a chance.
The problem is that there aren't really enough good faeries cards for us to choose what we're playing, and or cut the best one.
On top of that, the modern card pool doesn't really lend itself to tempo.
Faeries in general, tends to play a bit of a longer game, but it likes to come out swinging, if you will, and establish an early lead with discard/blossom/ancestral/etc.
I think faeries already has enough of an identity problem, as lists have more and more pushed themselves to just Ub control featuring bitterblossom + spellstutter sprite.
I think you could play UB or grixis tempo, but if you're not playing bitterblossom, its not really faeries. You could play clique, but its not a terribly impressive tempo play, just a flash clock, and spellstutter sprite without backup is really weak.
On top of that, most of the grixis lists have splashed for kolaghan's command, and moved towards grixis control, not a tempo deck.
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Go for the Throat
2 Chart a Course
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
2 Jace, Cunning Castaway
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Mutavault
3 Island
2 Secluded Glen
2 Flooded Strand
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Countersquall
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damnation
1 Dispel
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Collective Brutality
Note on the changes:
I took out one of the Vendilion Cliques since I felt it wasn't pulling it's full weight. I considered the interaction it provides wasn't fast enough, and it's been quite fragile, especially with a lot of Walking Ballistas in the local meta. I briefly thought about playing a misers Shadow of Doubt, but figured the second Spell Snare would be better all around. I also made some slight changes to the sideboard, to adapt to the local stuff (lots of Boggles, hence the Explosives).
Round 1, Eldrazi Tron.
This was a miserable round. He mulliganed to 5 game 1, and my opening hand wasn't the greatest myself (it had 2 Opt, Bitterblossom, Mana Leak, Creeping Tar Pit, Secluded Glen, Mutavault). I played the turn 2 Bitterblossom and hoped he had nothing too bad, even though he had 2/3rds of Tron out. Well it turns out Walking Ballista for 3 beats Faerie tokens. I don't think I really misplayed there, as leaving up Mana Leak just slows him down a turn, and my clock that game was not fast.
Game 2, it's my turn to mulligan, and I end up going to 4 (Fatal Push, Mutavault, Watery Grave, Liliana of the Veil). I scry a Cryptic Command to the bottom, play Mutavault, then pass. I end up getting down a turn 3 Liliana, but I haven't drawn anything other than lands over 2 draw steps, and she gets answered by Reality Smasher, and I quickly lose this game as well.
Sideboard Plan: -2 Spell Snare, -2 Mana Leak,-1 Fatal Push, -1 Vendilion Clique, +3 Thoughtseize, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +1 Disdainful Stroke
Round 2, Bant Humans
This was an easy match, as this isn't the typical Humans deck, it's a less optimized budget build.
Game 1, my opener has 2 Fatal Push and a Go for the Throat, so I slow him down enough to take over with Bitterblossom and beat down with Tar Pit and tokens.
Game 2, I kept a greedy one lander after a mulligan to 5, and nearly claw my way past multiple Champion of the Parish, but nearly isn't a win.
Game 3, Liliana, the last Hope took over. She killed more creatures this game than ever before, and then Mistbind Cliques on consecutive turns sealed it up.
Sideboard Plan: -2 Mana Leak, -1 Spell Snare, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Damnation, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope
(I left the one Spell Snare in to snag any of his 2 drops early, and he was prone to upping the counters on Aether Vial to 3, then casting 2 drops, so I figured it'd be live enough.)
Round 3, Sultai Death's Shadow
Game 1, I flood pretty hard, and after a good start, get beat by unanswerable Tarmagoyfs (turns out Bitterblossom makes them really big).
Game 2, I manage to land a Jace, Cunning Castaway and a Liliana, the Last Hope, but have no way to protect them. One eats an Abrupt Decay, the other gets hit by Death's Shadow and Gurmag Angler. Few short turns later, and I lose.
Sideboard Plan: -2 Mana Leak, -1 Cryptic Command, -1 Mistbind Clique, -1 Spell Snare, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Dispel
I was quite disappointed with how things went last night, but I don't think there was anything that could've gone better play wise. There are a few changes that I'm thinking of making, so I think next week's list will be something like this:
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Go for the Throat
2 Chart a Course
2 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Jace, Cunning Castaway
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Island
3 Mutavault
2 Flooded Strand
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Secluded Glen
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Countersquall
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Thoughtseize
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Dispel
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Engineered Explosives
I haven't been to impressed with Pendelhaven currently, and figured a hedge against the land centric decks would be fine. I dislike the idea of playing more than 4 colorless mana lands, as Faeries is such a mana intensive deck. I kind of want to cut the two Mana Leaks to be a little more proactive, maybe playing Spell Snare #2 and them going to 1 Jace, Cunning Castaway, 2 Liliana of the Veil, or maybe even a second Shadow of Doubt, cause getting people is fun.
I switched a Secluded Glen with another Island as well, so I have a little more play vs Blood Moon decks. There's also been the odd time where Secluded Glen coming in tapped was an issue, so this alleviates that a little bit. I also threw a third Liliana of the Veil in the sideboard, though if I add her to the main deck, the sideboard would change a fair bit.
So yeah I like playing Faerie a lot, although right now I'm running a budget version of it (my budget is about 15$ a week). Here is the current version:
2 Faerie Conclave
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Island
2 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven
2 Polluted Delta
4 Secluded Glen
4 Swamp
4 Watery Grave
Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom
Instants
1 Cryptic Command
2 Far // Away
4 Fatal Push
2 Mana Leak
4 Opt
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Gurmag Angler
2 Mistbind Clique
2 Scion of Oona
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Sorceries
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dismember
1 Doom Blade
2 Echoing Truth
1 Go for the Throat
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Negate
So right now I'm in the process of getting my lands, then some Cryptic Commands, then Vendilion Cliques and maybe Snapcaster Mages if the money allows it. I want to replace Remand, and Scion of Oona next. I have seen some builds with Gifted Aetherborn in them and I'm tempted to try them. With Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Mutavault and Gurmag Angler, I can see some kind of Faerie/Vampire/Zombie themes hybrid. Going that way, has anyone tried Phyrexian Crusader (probably in sideboard), or even Skinrender? I like the EoT effect a lot.
Considering cantrips, I understood their power recently (in theory). If I understand correctly, they make your deck smaller so more adaptable via the sideboard (a smaller deck means a bigger sideboard, in comparison). I'm now going with Opt, the budget option. Is there a consensus concerning Opt and Serum Visions? Is Serum considered better? I like the idea of scrying before drawing (with Opt), as well as the instant speed, but I constantly keep mana up to cast it at the end of my opponent's turn, but always forget. I guess this is where I need to learn. Concerning Remand, I have seen its potential, but usually I end up wishing for a more permanent answer.
Anyway, if you guys have any "update route" about an order I should follow to improve my deck, please let me know.
Cheers, and long live the faeries!
I was thinking about adding Familiar's Ruse at some point but I read that if you do not own a creature (which happens quite often), it is a dead card. I never had the chance to use it yet, but I thought that Far // Away was better since it allowed a lot of options. You can either bounce one of your creatures for protection, to get another EtB effect, or even to get temporarily rid of an opponent's creature. The other mode seems pretty good against hexproof creatures (what are we supposed to do against Thrun?). If the mana permits, you can cast both!
I am aware that it is not considered a competitive card, but I wanted to try it a bit. I will consider trying Familiar's Ruse.
Thanks!
Also, what is the plan vs control decks, like Grixis or Jeskai? Just power through them with BB, and hand hate away board wipes? I have a feeling 2-3 Collective Brutalities would be very strong in the main.
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spell Snare
2 Liliana of the Veil
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
3 Mutavault
2 Flooded Strand
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
2 Secluded Glen
1 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Countersquall
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Dispel
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Engineered Explosives
1 The Scarab God
1 Disdainful Stroke
I think Ancestral Vision pairs better with the Liliana of the Veils than Opt or Chart a Course do, even if it doesn't work as well with Snapcaster Mage. I think main decking Liliana will help vs many of the popular decks right now, though it may be less potent with out other discard options. I think Shadow of Doubt is well positioned right now, as it stops/hinders Tron, TitanShift, Gifts Storm, and can annoy regular decks (or cycle away if need be). Two might be a little bit much, but it can cycle or be discarded to Liliana, so it may not matter. Spell Snare is another card that is good right now, really only being dead vs Tron (though it hits Sylvan Scying in the green versions).
The copy of The Scarab God in the sideboard is merely speculation, as I want to test this guy a bunch and see what match ups it'd be good in. It seems like a decent card in the attrition Jund or Abzan matches, and maybe even Eldrazi Tron if you can dodge Thought-Knot Seer.
I'm waffling back and forth on putting the 4th Mutavault back in over Tectonic Edge, as I don't think just one hate land would tip the scales in the bad match up enough to warrant not having Mutavault. i also do kind of want to put Jace, Cunning Castaway back in the deck, even as a one of, maybe cutting the second Shadow of Doubt? I was overall impressed with Jace, but he was really only good if you already had a board presence, as dropping him and making a token was not high impact enough. The other card I cut is Chart a Course, which was also very good, but I figured with Liliana of the Veil in the main deck, I would rather a more explosive card advantage engine. Chart a Course was impressive as well, and I can see it creeping it's way into more lists, but I found it to be mediocre a little more often than I would've liked, though that may be bias talking.
Does anyone have any opinions or thoughts on this iteration of the list? I'd love to hear some ideas or constructive critiques.