Certainly, Vedalken Shackles is an alternative win condition I haven't considered for months (more precisely, since I tested it against the uprising Zoo decks and found the card to be too slow). However, Polluted Delta allowing you to look for the basic Swamp is a great upgrade, that might even appear in versions without that need of Islands. For instance, the current manabase for traditional builds could evolve from this:
with this new River of Tears slot being disputed with Secluded Glen for almost equivalent manabases, or one extra basic land of each for people more afraid of Blood Moon. Both the old and new manabase give you 13 black sources turn 1 to cast Inquisition of Kozilek/Thoughtseize/Disfigure reliably, and a higher amount considering turn 1 Creeping Tar Pit plays to cast Bitterblossom turn 2 consistently.
Each of these manabase has its slight deffects, with the old one having too many River of Tears, so you could find yourself in awkward situations in which you need blue mana in your turn to cast Cryptic Command, or black mana in the opponent's turn to make a Pack Rat token, and the new one making you lose more life. I'm still unsure of which one is better.
Certainly, none of these manabases is compatible with running Vedalken Shackles. That card forces you to run many Islands, thus more fetchlands, making Thoughtseize a card you can no longer play maindeck, due to life loss but also lack of enough turn 1 black sources (unless you run even more fetchlands, increasing the life loss problem). Something like this could be tried:
On the FNM two days ago I finished 2-1-1, which should be 3-0-1. Damn overtime....
Match 1: Junk BGw 0 - 1
Draw BB: A fairly easy beatdown. I can keep the tarmogoyf(s) in check with faerie tokens and I beat him to death with Creeping Tar Pits. hmmm...Creeping Tar Pits. A Mistbind Clique kicks the final blow.
Draw: I mulliganed a hand with with 5 lands, a cryptic and a batterskull...should have kept that hand. I need to mull to five and get mana screwed. I almost beat him down with 2 Tar Pits, until at 5 life he paths one of them and hits back with Thrun and Ooze for the kill. Very sad game.
Play: I need to mull to four (!). Very sad start as I felt I should have won this one, especially as I felt that I was clearly more skilled than my opponent.
Match 2: RG Tron 0 - 1 - 1
Draw: I keep him in check with Mistbind Clique, then cliqued my mistbind cliqued and then Doom Bladed my own mistbind clique to clique him again and it was too much.
Draw: I should have leaked an expidition map early in the game. He quickly drops his Tron-Trio and dumps a Wurmcoil engine which I leak. Then another Wurmcoil hits the field and I cannot keep up the pace
Play BB: A very, very skill intensive last round. I finally am able to hit him a few times with the manlands. He quickly gathers his tron and plays an Ulamog, with me having a couple of tokens on the field. I am able to slow him down with a sower, which is promptly exiled by a karn. Him at 1 life attacks with the Ulamog and that was the last turn. If I had one turn extra, I could have attacked with 2 tokens he couldnt block....damn overtime.
Match 3: BG Deathcloud 1 - 1 - 1
Draw: I keep a sketchy hand, but Vendilion clique, into spellstutter sprite into Mistbinc Clique does it. He eventually drops a death cloud, but the spellstutter sprite drops the final few life points left. Mistbind Clique indeed makes us better suited versus mass removal.
Play: I drop a fast Liliana of the Veil, which quickly empties the hands. Mistbind Clique does the rest.
Match 4: Tarmo-Affinity 2 - 1 - 1
Thats right! The exact list played in Kobe, Japan. Affinity with Tarmogoyfs. Very curious indeed.
Play: I start with a Thoughtseize picking out the cranial plating. I then eat about 10 points, until the commands and mistbinds become active...which completely finish him.
Draw: I need to mull and keep a mana leak, command and 4 land hand. I knew it was too slow. I almost won the game, but I draw a liliana and two lands and I am outpaced by the robot invasion.
Play BB: A godhand (Darkblast, Bitterblossom, Spell Snare, Spreading Seas, 2 tar pits and swamp), with again hand disruption dropping his cranial playing. During mid-game he starts to cry (not literally) about the deck, while I keep firm control. Dismember is so good versus Ensouled Artifact lands. Spreading Seas is so good against blinkmoths.
I never saw my recalls or Damnation, my ratchet bomb only in the losing match. I feel that Hurkyl's recall is maybe not that important after all against Affinity.
ON TARMOAFFINITY
I am also not impressed with TarmoAffinity at all. Less explosiveness is good for us. The list kills somewhat slower, which is perfect! No Etched Champions, Steel Overseers and Ravagers makes our removal much less urgent and more efficient. With two Dismembers and four Cryptics, I had more than enough outs (2 for 1!) to a Soul'ed Citadel. I hope this subtype will become very popular these days.
ON BITTERBLOSSOM
I added BB everytime I had an online Bitterblossom running. I have seen Bitterblossom only three times in 11 games. Bitterblossoms is a stabilizer that can finish games, but it is not a finisher per see. Even while my opponents featured strong board present, the lack of Bitterblossoms in the games did not really scare me. I feel the realy finishers in the game are Mistbind Clique, Cryptic Command and Creeping Tar Pit. The trick playing faeries is not to play with, but without it. Also, the must to playing Bitterblossoms necessarily on turn two is sooo overrated.
OVERALL:
I should have scored 3-1-0 easily GRRR!!. I have gained a lot of confidence in the faerie list. I can just underline what Anthreion says. Have confidence in your list, know when to play what and calculate your needs to kill your opponent. Stabilizing the board is funny, but dropping 20 life from your opponent is the ultimate goal!
I really would like to play snapcasters. But I had to replace them with Liliana of the Veils as a budget option, sadly.
The sideboard was very odd and scrambled together in a 5 minute stress excercise. The Seas will turn into another Sower and I think that the Extirpate should also be a different card. I think about cutting one Recall for a Pithing Needle. And I want a fourth Thoughtseize in the side, or a third Inquisition of Kozilek.
PS: I would like to thank forum for passing over tips to combat pod lists. I win much more against them. I feel that Scion lists perform better than non-Scion lists vs Pod, which is not insignifcant as pod lists are 10% of the Meta.
Which produces 18x Black with 15 untapped (show a faerie, our turn) and 18x Blue with 15 untapped (show a faerie, their turn). But I think in this case one is forced to play at least 14 faeries, such as -
Some things to note: I guess nobody here plays under 14 Faeries (at least 13 should be in every list though, as I could imagine someone cutting 1 Vendilion or Mistbind) so the count of Glens or Rivers should be okay.
I like your numbers (tapped/untapped) but I don't like the land split to be honest. Of course it is highly unlikely to draw all 4 Deltas, but if this happens you have to be fetching for swamps instead of Islands, something I wouldn't really like. With only two Islands you probably won't draw any naturally and an early Moon could still be backbreaking.
Another thing is, your Deltas will never be able to colour fix... again, the probablity for another dual is high but it could still happen and a hand with Polluted Delta, Pendelhaven, Mutavault, Discard, Blossom, SSS, Mana Leak or such would be terrible but otherwise holdable (although it might be questionable if you really would like to hold it).
The question is what changes we really would like to make here. The easiest one with staying @25 lands (which is one to much in my opinion) would be swapping one swamp for a Watery Grave. I would probably cut one River for another Island as well (still not THAT impressive in numbers, but at least round about 12% more chance to draw one)
On the FNM two days ago I finished 2-1-1, which should be 3-0-1. Damn overtime....
Match 1: Junk BGw 0 - 1
Draw BB: A fairly easy beatdown. I can keep the tarmogoyf(s) in check with faerie tokens and I beat him to death with Creeping Tar Pits. hmmm...Creeping Tar Pits. A Mistbind Clique kicks the final blow.
Draw: I mulliganed a hand with with 5 lands, a cryptic and a batterskull...should have kept that hand. I need to mull to five and get mana screwed. I almost beat him down with 2 Tar Pits, until at 5 life he paths one of them and hits back with Thrun and Ooze for the kill. Very sad game.
Play: I need to mull to four (!). Very sad start as I felt I should have won this one, especially as I felt that I was clearly more skilled than my opponent.
Match 2: RG Tron 0 - 1 - 1
Draw: I keep him in check with Mistbind Clique, then cliqued my mistbind cliqued and then Doom Bladed my own mistbind clique to clique him again and it was too much.
Draw: I should have leaked an expidition map early in the game. He quickly drops his Tron-Trio and dumps a Wurmcoil engine which I leak. Then another Wurmcoil hits the field and I cannot keep up the pace
Play BB: A very, very skill intensive last round. I finally am able to hit him a few times with the manlands. He quickly gathers his tron and plays an Ulamog, with me having a couple of tokens on the field. I am able to slow him down with a sower, which is promptly exiled by a karn. Him at 1 life attacks with the Ulamog and that was the last turn. If I had one turn extra, I could have attacked with 2 tokens he couldnt block....damn overtime.
Match 3: BG Deathcloud 1 - 1 - 1
Draw: I keep a sketchy hand, but Vendilion clique, into spellstutter sprite into Mistbinc Clique does it. He eventually drops a death cloud, but the spellstutter sprite drops the final few life points left. Mistbind Clique indeed makes us better suited versus mass removal.
Play: I drop a fast Liliana of the Veil, which quickly empties the hands. Mistbind Clique does the rest.
Match 4: Tarmo-Affinity 2 - 1 - 1
Thats right! The exact list played in Kobe, Japan. Affinity with Tarmogoyfs. Very curious indeed.
Play: I start with a Thoughtseize picking out the cranial plating. I then eat about 10 points, until the commands and mistbinds become active...which completely finish him.
Draw: I need to mull and keep a mana leak, command and 4 land hand. I knew it was too slow. I almost won the game, but I draw a liliana and two lands and I am outpaced by the robot invasion.
Play BB: A godhand (Darkblast, Bitterblossom, Spell Snare, Spreading Seas, 2 tar pits and swamp), with again hand disruption dropping his cranial playing. During mid-game he starts to cry (not literally) about the deck, while I keep firm control. Dismember is so good versus Ensouled Artifact lands. Spreading Seas is so good against blinkmoths.
I never saw my recalls or Damnation, my ratchet bomb only in the losing match. I feel that Hurkyl's recall is maybe not that important after all against Affinity.
ON TARMOAFFINITY
I am also not impressed with TarmoAffinity at all. Less explosiveness is good for us. The list kills somewhat slower, which is perfect! No Etched Champions, Steel Overseers and Ravagers makes our removal much less urgent and more efficient. With two Dismembers and four Cryptics, I had more than enough outs (2 for 1!) to a Soul'ed Citadel. I hope this subtype will become very popular these days.
ON BITTERBLOSSOM
I added BB everytime I had an online Bitterblossom running. I have seen Bitterblossom only three times in 11 games. Bitterblossoms is a stabilizer that can finish games, but it is not a finisher per see. Even while my opponents featured strong board present, the lack of Bitterblossoms in the games did not really scare me. I feel the realy finishers in the game are Mistbind Clique, Cryptic Command and Creeping Tar Pit. The trick playing faeries is not to play with, but without it. Also, the must to playing Bitterblossoms necessarily on turn two is sooo overrated.
OVERALL:
I should have scored 3-1-0 easily GRRR!!. I have gained a lot of confidence in the faerie list. I can just underline what Anthreion says. Have confidence in your list, know when to play what and calculate your needs to kill your opponent. Stabilizing the board is funny, but dropping 20 life from your opponent is the ultimate goal!
I really would like to play snapcasters. But I had to replace them with Liliana of the Veils as a budget option, sadly.
The sideboard was very odd and scrambled together in a 5 minute stress excercise. The Seas will turn into another Sower and I think that the Extirpate should also be a different card. I think about cutting one Recall for a Pithing Needle. And I want a fourth Thoughtseize in the side, or a third Inquisition of Kozilek.
PS: I would like to thank forum for passing over tips to combat pod lists. I win much more against them. I feel that Scion lists perform better than non-Scion lists vs Pod, which is not insignifcant as pod lists are 10% of the Meta.
Mainboard seems solid. Side is kind of confusing with the many 1-ofs. But you said you were in hurry, so you can be forgiven.
As for Pod, I run a rather unusual sideboard, which includes a full set of Annul. I know it might seem strange at first blush, but it's actually proved rather useful. Annul, especially in combination with Snaps, more or less fixes 4 (!) of our worst matchups: Affinity, Tron, Pod and 8Rack (yes, I am extremely scared of 8Rack).
So what I do against Pod is side out Mana Leaks (don't stop a turn 2 Pod unless we're on the play), 2 Inquisition (doesn't hit Pod), 2 Doom Blade and 4 Blossom (in this matchup I want to play hard control rather than tempo). In come 4 Annul (because f*** you Pod!), 2 more Snares (against Voice), 1 additional Snappy (synergizes well with Annul and Snare) and Disfigure (hits most relevant stuff and is faster than Blade). Hope this helps.
Edit: how the actual **** is Liliana more budget-friendly than Snappy??? oO
Yes, it was really weird sideboarding...When I first looked into it, I felt like: Is this it?
Against Pod, I learned to tempo them out, rather than playing the control game . I found that blasting their creatures away and trading 1 for 1 simply means game losses. Instead, out-tempoing them by Mistbind Cliques, Cryptics and a lot of hand disruption and 1 mana kill spells for the dorks worked much better! (for me!) It is why I start to like Hibernation better against Pod. + Hibernation is snapcastable.
If you cannot beat the crowd, control the crowd. And remember. If I include the sideboard, I have 8 ways to stop a Turn 2 Pod on the draw (Deathmark, Disfigure, 2x Dismember, 1x Darkblast, 3x Thoughtseize). After killing a BoP/NH, Mana leak is active again.
8 Rack?
Anthreion, here my thoughts on 8 rack.
Memory Lapse/Robert is right. Faeries is one of his easiest matchups, if we are to stick to our game plan. Poor us. He posted somewhere here that Bitterblossoms suited his deck probably better than it did us. I cannot blame him.
1. Drop 3-4 lands max at any given time. Include at least 2 manlands (a vault and a tar pit), if you draw into them of course. Keep the rest in hand. It will feel somewhat unnatural, but you need to keep a full hand at all times.
2. Counter all targeted removal hand removal if necessary and wrench mind. There is no point in countering non-targeted removal, unless you can exploit a spellstutter sprite. Really think carefully about the impact of every discard-spell and act accordingly. There are no no-brainer situations. The main things you like to counter are Ensnaring Bridge, Liliana, Spellskite/Rats, in that order.
SIDEBOARDING AGAINST 8-RACK:
Cards you want to side in:
Negate, Hurkyl's Recall, Engineered Explosives, Ratchet Bomb, Spreading Seas, Any discard, Echoing Truth, Jace Beleren, Grafdigger’s Cage, Extirpate, Surgical Extraction if you really get annoyed by Raven’s Crime..
Cards you want to side out:
Any excess removal (keep about 2-3 removal that can kill black creatures (Mutavault, Pack Rat, occasionally dark confidant), any (but not all) Bitterblossoms, Any (all is fine) Mistbind Cliques.
ON BITTERBLOSSOM
DO NOT PLAY THIS ONE. It will kill you, while the 8rack player is lolling all game long. Unless you are absolutely sure you can get rid of it through Cryptic or Mistbind Clique. Many novel, but also experienced 8 rack players will remove it from your hand without a doubt.
ON ENSNARING BRIDGE
Aaaah, the pain of ñot able to attack while downticking the clock with your bitterblossom online! This is one of your first targets with hand disruption and counters. This will stop us from doing anything and we get locked out. However, if resolved does not necessarily cost us the game, as we will see later.
ON LILIANA OF THE VEIL
Needs to be killed or countered as soon as possible. It is their main discard engine. It is pretty hard to do with an active bridge, but at least our creatures have evasion.
ON WASTE NOT
Let them resolve Waste Not. I prefer to call it Waste Turn. The turn they cast this, you get an additional card in hand. If that is a counter, they are pretty much screwed. From then on, counter all their discard spells or merely pitch lands. They will run out of gas very quickly. Playing this in addition to their 8 'racks' will result in 11 to 12 racks. Racks dont kill. Discards spells do. The less discard spells they play, the better. I have had games with people dropping two Wastes after eachother. Funny. If they drop Waste Not later in the game, they themselves have turned or will pretty much turn into top deck mode. Then, the more lands you can pitch to Waste not, the better, because it will be one complete waste of the card itself.
ATTACKING
Game one will be hard. Game two and three less so. The trick is to collect a lot of creatures on the field and counters in your hand, if the 8rack has player tempered down a little. If you follow the basic gameplan, then you WILL get there. If there is enough guys, drop a recall or a command on the bridge and blow out with all your guys. If you are able to counter the bridge the next turn its game. If not, it is just stalling for the next moment.
I have had games where I won just by stalling and denial, waiting for that final blow. Hurkyl's Recall dodges spellkite, returns half of the racks and bounces bridge.
It is most useful. It does not work against Leyline of Sanctity, but I never had that one boarded agaisnt me.
SPLASHES
Last but not least, I really like the concept of 8-rack, but I also feel that the list is really set in stone, like Storm. 8-rack does not really tolerate any splashes, expect for blue to allow just spellskite.
Mono-black rack is harsh, any splashes save the skite one are much easier. Especially if they included Waste Not also.
There has been a lot of discussion about Esper Faeries, but what about BUG (Sultai) faeries??
Abrupt Decay and now Sultai Charm seem like extreme strong and versatile cards that would work well in place of some of the Black removal (smother etc). G also gives access to lifegain (kitchen finks, thragtusk etc) to help balance out BB's life loss.
Also Scryb Ranger's prot from blue and its ability to untap a creature can allow us to attack and def with sword equipped creatures.
Also Scryb Ranger's prot from blue and its ability to untap a creature can allow us to attack and def with sword equipped creatures.
Atleast Sword of Feast and Famine gives protection to green so it's not going to work with Scryb Ranger. And I believe that's the sword Fae is mostly using.
A 3-5% gain at the cost of 10-15% life points sounds like a bad deal to me. As you indicate, colour fixing might be the main benefit. For BU Sunken Ruins' does that without life loss. So it feels to me like Polluted Delta is a card for three-colour decks, not two.
@vonklaude: Your points are valid, but you are missing the main reason for the colourfix: Immunity to Blood Moon. The real question might be: Is Blood Moon dangerous enough to pay the life for your manabase or simply try to dodge it. I would say try to dodge it, as you mostly will be able to counter it OR still be able to win with some board presence (and a normal Island) but I think we should at least find an optimal Blood Moon save Manabase to really judge it.
The Immunity to Blood Moon would be the point that invalidates Sunken Ruins, as it would be a mountain as well.
Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays 1.
Ferocious - If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, counter that spell instead.
Seems like a very interesting sideboard card. Potentially stronger in Scion of Oona or Pack Rat builds that are more likely to hit 4 power. Thoughts?
I honestly don't think that this is worth a sideboard slot. Even in Pack Rat builds you have a hard time hitting 4 Power, in Scion builds you need at least 2 Faeries (Mistbind+Scion, Scion+Vendilion) to reliably hardcounter. Without Scion (and Rats instead for instance) you always have to fear the "blowout" if your critter gets killed. I think this card would mostly be Non-Creature Force Spike in our deck, something we do not want.
I can attest to the fact that my 4x islands, along with discard and counterspells have been able to set up situations where blood moon either doesnt resolve OR is made to not matter. However it should also be said that there are some decks which utilize blood moon that can run away from you and resolve a moon while you are trying to handle other aspects of the situation. Plus if you expect it to be a problem Ratchet Bomb is a card i have boarded in to help, also because the decks that board them usually have other permanents that can be caught by it
Also, I really wish Adamant Negation's original effect was any spell just so we could have a Force Spike in faeries. I would be more likely to play it if that were the case. But I agree that its not worth the spot
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
The use of gifts in that deck is way different than you intended to use it.
I have tried fetch-land in my last few games, but I am not really convinced so far.
Yes I know. Instead of using it as a sideboard package, the deck presented runs Gifts as a mainboard way to get a lot of gas from your deck. I don't think it's a terrible idea, but it looks kind of weird imho. I just thought it was worth mentioning.
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Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
The use of gifts in that deck is way different than you intended to use it.
I have tried fetch-land in my last few games, but I am not really convinced so far.
I feel like the only real reason to play fetchlands is if you are splashing. Splashes require fixing, other than that we already have a strong mana base. There are some arguments against or in favor of fetchlands in UB Fae but in the end I think it will come down to preference. Someone likes to not play a full playset of river of tears and wants to be sure that he fetches what he needs exactly the time he needs, someone else doesn't want to have the drawback of the life loss.
I am still not sold on the idea of playing green pretty much for the tarmogoyf. I would like to see a BUG list w/o the tarmo, especially with the new cards being printed. I think if you are treating the deck as a BG/x then we are losing the core idea of the deck. UBg of UBw will probably be the best approach with the fetches reprint.
What does everyone here think of Murderous Cut? Since this is the only black deck in Modern that wants removal, has too much lifeloss to play dismember, and doesn't run Bob, I think that it might fit here.
I am still not sold on the idea of playing green pretty much for the tarmogoyf. I would like to see a BUG list w/o the tarmo, especially with the new cards being printed. I think if you are treating the deck as a BG/x then we are losing the core idea of the deck. UBg of UBw will probably be the best approach with the fetches reprint.
Tarmogoyf, Abrupt Decay, and now Sultai Charm I feel are very solid reasons to consider running BUg Faeries. It expands your removal in so many ways it's kind of ridiculous, not to mention Goyf is a huge menace in Modern for a reason. I know I'd at least try out a list if I had a set of Goyfs at my disposal.
As suggested earlier in this thread, I've been playing with 4 Serum Visions with 23 lands and I like it a lot. Also dropped a discard and a Spell Snare to the sideboard to make room.
I've been able to scry away so many cards that would have been pretty terrible to draw or search for specific answers.
Visions does look like an amazing addition to the list, the problem though is finding room for it. I know my UB list is super Tempo oriented and finding cards to take out for Visions is rather difficult. If I can figure out what to cut for them I will give them a try, but as for how good they are, no one is debating their playability
What does everyone here think of Murderous Cut? Since this is the only black deck in Modern that wants removal, has too much lifeloss to play dismember, and doesn't run Bob, I think that it might fit here.
If you want to run this you should probably make sure your deck has fetches in it, as well as no Snapcasters. The fetches help to give you more cards to delve which makes this more manageable to cast, and Delve has clear anti-synergy with Snapcaster. Other than that it seems like a decent removal spell if you can get it to work. At least we aren't running Bob, so we don't have to worry about revealing this and taking 5.
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Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
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Looks like a good place to start. Academy Ruins and TfK seem sweet. Faeries misses card draw without AV.
On the FNM two days ago I finished 2-1-1, which should be 3-0-1. Damn overtime....
Match 1: Junk BGw 0 - 1
Draw BB: A fairly easy beatdown. I can keep the tarmogoyf(s) in check with faerie tokens and I beat him to death with Creeping Tar Pits. hmmm...Creeping Tar Pits. A Mistbind Clique kicks the final blow.
Draw: I mulliganed a hand with with 5 lands, a cryptic and a batterskull...should have kept that hand. I need to mull to five and get mana screwed. I almost beat him down with 2 Tar Pits, until at 5 life he paths one of them and hits back with Thrun and Ooze for the kill. Very sad game.
Play: I need to mull to four (!). Very sad start as I felt I should have won this one, especially as I felt that I was clearly more skilled than my opponent.
Match 2: RG Tron 0 - 1 - 1
Draw: I keep him in check with Mistbind Clique, then cliqued my mistbind cliqued and then Doom Bladed my own mistbind clique to clique him again and it was too much.
Draw: I should have leaked an expidition map early in the game. He quickly drops his Tron-Trio and dumps a Wurmcoil engine which I leak. Then another Wurmcoil hits the field and I cannot keep up the pace
Play BB: A very, very skill intensive last round. I finally am able to hit him a few times with the manlands. He quickly gathers his tron and plays an Ulamog, with me having a couple of tokens on the field. I am able to slow him down with a sower, which is promptly exiled by a karn. Him at 1 life attacks with the Ulamog and that was the last turn. If I had one turn extra, I could have attacked with 2 tokens he couldnt block....damn overtime.
Match 3: BG Deathcloud 1 - 1 - 1
Draw: I keep a sketchy hand, but Vendilion clique, into spellstutter sprite into Mistbinc Clique does it. He eventually drops a death cloud, but the spellstutter sprite drops the final few life points left. Mistbind Clique indeed makes us better suited versus mass removal.
Play: I drop a fast Liliana of the Veil, which quickly empties the hands. Mistbind Clique does the rest.
Match 4: Tarmo-Affinity 2 - 1 - 1
Thats right! The exact list played in Kobe, Japan. Affinity with Tarmogoyfs. Very curious indeed.
Play: I start with a Thoughtseize picking out the cranial plating. I then eat about 10 points, until the commands and mistbinds become active...which completely finish him.
Draw: I need to mull and keep a mana leak, command and 4 land hand. I knew it was too slow. I almost won the game, but I draw a liliana and two lands and I am outpaced by the robot invasion.
Play BB: A godhand (Darkblast, Bitterblossom, Spell Snare, Spreading Seas, 2 tar pits and swamp), with again hand disruption dropping his cranial playing. During mid-game he starts to cry (not literally) about the deck, while I keep firm control. Dismember is so good versus Ensouled Artifact lands. Spreading Seas is so good against blinkmoths.
I never saw my recalls or Damnation, my ratchet bomb only in the losing match. I feel that Hurkyl's recall is maybe not that important after all against Affinity.
ON TARMOAFFINITY
I am also not impressed with TarmoAffinity at all. Less explosiveness is good for us. The list kills somewhat slower, which is perfect! No Etched Champions, Steel Overseers and Ravagers makes our removal much less urgent and more efficient. With two Dismembers and four Cryptics, I had more than enough outs (2 for 1!) to a Soul'ed Citadel. I hope this subtype will become very popular these days.
ON BITTERBLOSSOM
I added BB everytime I had an online Bitterblossom running. I have seen Bitterblossom only three times in 11 games. Bitterblossoms is a stabilizer that can finish games, but it is not a finisher per see. Even while my opponents featured strong board present, the lack of Bitterblossoms in the games did not really scare me. I feel the realy finishers in the game are Mistbind Clique, Cryptic Command and Creeping Tar Pit. The trick playing faeries is not to play with, but without it. Also, the must to playing Bitterblossoms necessarily on turn two is sooo overrated.
OVERALL:
I should have scored 3-1-0 easily GRRR!!. I have gained a lot of confidence in the faerie list. I can just underline what Anthreion says. Have confidence in your list, know when to play what and calculate your needs to kill your opponent. Stabilizing the board is funny, but dropping 20 life from your opponent is the ultimate goal!
I really would like to play snapcasters. But I had to replace them with Liliana of the Veils as a budget option, sadly.
The List:
3 Mistbinc Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Bitterblossom
2 Liliana of the Veil
4 Cryptic Command
3 Thoughtseize
3 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Doom Blade
2 Dismember
1 Disfigure
4 Secluded Glen
4 River of Tears
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Mutavault
3 Island
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Swamp
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Tectonic Edge
sb:
2 Negate
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Batterskull
1 Damnation
1 Extirpate
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Spreading Seas
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Hibernation
1 Darkblast
1 Deathmark
The sideboard was very odd and scrambled together in a 5 minute stress excercise. The Seas will turn into another Sower and I think that the Extirpate should also be a different card. I think about cutting one Recall for a Pithing Needle. And I want a fourth Thoughtseize in the side, or a third Inquisition of Kozilek.
PS: I would like to thank forum for passing over tips to combat pod lists. I win much more against them. I feel that Scion lists perform better than non-Scion lists vs Pod, which is not insignifcant as pod lists are 10% of the Meta.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678I might suggest -
----------
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
2 River of Tears
3 Secluded Glen
2 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven or Tectonic Edge
Which produces 18x Black with 15 untapped (show a faerie, our turn) and 18x Blue with 15 untapped (show a faerie, their turn). But I think in this case one is forced to play at least 14 faeries, such as -
--------------
4 Bitterblossom
3 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
If playing fewer faeries, I would reverse the counts of River of Tears vs Secluded Glen and cut one Swamp for a Watery Grave.
Some things to note: I guess nobody here plays under 14 Faeries (at least 13 should be in every list though, as I could imagine someone cutting 1 Vendilion or Mistbind) so the count of Glens or Rivers should be okay.
I like your numbers (tapped/untapped) but I don't like the land split to be honest. Of course it is highly unlikely to draw all 4 Deltas, but if this happens you have to be fetching for swamps instead of Islands, something I wouldn't really like. With only two Islands you probably won't draw any naturally and an early Moon could still be backbreaking.
Another thing is, your Deltas will never be able to colour fix... again, the probablity for another dual is high but it could still happen and a hand with Polluted Delta, Pendelhaven, Mutavault, Discard, Blossom, SSS, Mana Leak or such would be terrible but otherwise holdable (although it might be questionable if you really would like to hold it).
The question is what changes we really would like to make here. The easiest one with staying @25 lands (which is one to much in my opinion) would be swapping one swamp for a Watery Grave. I would probably cut one River for another Island as well (still not THAT impressive in numbers, but at least round about 12% more chance to draw one)
Mainboard seems solid. Side is kind of confusing with the many 1-ofs. But you said you were in hurry, so you can be forgiven.
As for Pod, I run a rather unusual sideboard, which includes a full set of Annul. I know it might seem strange at first blush, but it's actually proved rather useful. Annul, especially in combination with Snaps, more or less fixes 4 (!) of our worst matchups: Affinity, Tron, Pod and 8Rack (yes, I am extremely scared of 8Rack).
So what I do against Pod is side out Mana Leaks (don't stop a turn 2 Pod unless we're on the play), 2 Inquisition (doesn't hit Pod), 2 Doom Blade and 4 Blossom (in this matchup I want to play hard control rather than tempo). In come 4 Annul (because f*** you Pod!), 2 more Snares (against Voice), 1 additional Snappy (synergizes well with Annul and Snare) and Disfigure (hits most relevant stuff and is faster than Blade). Hope this helps.
Edit: how the actual **** is Liliana more budget-friendly than Snappy??? oO
Instant - [Uncommon]
Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays 1.
Ferocious - If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, counter that spell instead.
http://www.bigmagic.net/news/image/tktpreview.jpg
Seems like a very interesting sideboard card. Potentially stronger in Scion of Oona or Pack Rat builds that are more likely to hit 4 power. Thoughts?
After testing a bit it seems this addition has helped me grab lands early when needed, and scry away lands later when I don't need them.
In addition, I have noticed the ability to find that crucial turn 2 BB more often. Not sure if anyone else I tried this out, thoughts?
Against Pod, I learned to tempo them out, rather than playing the control game . I found that blasting their creatures away and trading 1 for 1 simply means game losses. Instead, out-tempoing them by Mistbind Cliques, Cryptics and a lot of hand disruption and 1 mana kill spells for the dorks worked much better! (for me!) It is why I start to like Hibernation better against Pod. + Hibernation is snapcastable.
If you cannot beat the crowd, control the crowd. And remember. If I include the sideboard, I have 8 ways to stop a Turn 2 Pod on the draw (Deathmark, Disfigure, 2x Dismember, 1x Darkblast, 3x Thoughtseize). After killing a BoP/NH, Mana leak is active again.
8 Rack?
Anthreion, here my thoughts on 8 rack.
Memory Lapse/Robert is right. Faeries is one of his easiest matchups, if we are to stick to our game plan. Poor us. He posted somewhere here that Bitterblossoms suited his deck probably better than it did us. I cannot blame him.
1. Drop 3-4 lands max at any given time. Include at least 2 manlands (a vault and a tar pit), if you draw into them of course. Keep the rest in hand. It will feel somewhat unnatural, but you need to keep a full hand at all times.
2. Counter all targeted removal hand removal if necessary and wrench mind. There is no point in countering non-targeted removal, unless you can exploit a spellstutter sprite. Really think carefully about the impact of every discard-spell and act accordingly. There are no no-brainer situations. The main things you like to counter are Ensnaring Bridge, Liliana, Spellskite/Rats, in that order.
SIDEBOARDING AGAINST 8-RACK:
Cards you want to side in:
Negate, Hurkyl's Recall, Engineered Explosives, Ratchet Bomb, Spreading Seas, Any discard, Echoing Truth, Jace Beleren, Grafdigger’s Cage, Extirpate, Surgical Extraction if you really get annoyed by Raven’s Crime..
Cards you want to side out:
Any excess removal (keep about 2-3 removal that can kill black creatures (Mutavault, Pack Rat, occasionally dark confidant), any (but not all) Bitterblossoms, Any (all is fine) Mistbind Cliques.
ON BITTERBLOSSOM
DO NOT PLAY THIS ONE. It will kill you, while the 8rack player is lolling all game long. Unless you are absolutely sure you can get rid of it through Cryptic or Mistbind Clique. Many novel, but also experienced 8 rack players will remove it from your hand without a doubt.
ON ENSNARING BRIDGE
Aaaah, the pain of ñot able to attack while downticking the clock with your bitterblossom online! This is one of your first targets with hand disruption and counters. This will stop us from doing anything and we get locked out. However, if resolved does not necessarily cost us the game, as we will see later.
ON LILIANA OF THE VEIL
Needs to be killed or countered as soon as possible. It is their main discard engine. It is pretty hard to do with an active bridge, but at least our creatures have evasion.
ON WASTE NOT
Let them resolve Waste Not. I prefer to call it Waste Turn. The turn they cast this, you get an additional card in hand. If that is a counter, they are pretty much screwed. From then on, counter all their discard spells or merely pitch lands. They will run out of gas very quickly. Playing this in addition to their 8 'racks' will result in 11 to 12 racks. Racks dont kill. Discards spells do. The less discard spells they play, the better. I have had games with people dropping two Wastes after eachother. Funny. If they drop Waste Not later in the game, they themselves have turned or will pretty much turn into top deck mode. Then, the more lands you can pitch to Waste not, the better, because it will be one complete waste of the card itself.
ATTACKING
Game one will be hard. Game two and three less so. The trick is to collect a lot of creatures on the field and counters in your hand, if the 8rack has player tempered down a little. If you follow the basic gameplan, then you WILL get there. If there is enough guys, drop a recall or a command on the bridge and blow out with all your guys. If you are able to counter the bridge the next turn its game. If not, it is just stalling for the next moment.
I have had games where I won just by stalling and denial, waiting for that final blow. Hurkyl's Recall dodges spellkite, returns half of the racks and bounces bridge.
It is most useful. It does not work against Leyline of Sanctity, but I never had that one boarded agaisnt me.
SPLASHES
Last but not least, I really like the concept of 8-rack, but I also feel that the list is really set in stone, like Storm. 8-rack does not really tolerate any splashes, expect for blue to allow just spellskite.
Mono-black rack is harsh, any splashes save the skite one are much easier. Especially if they included Waste Not also.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678Abrupt Decay and now Sultai Charm seem like extreme strong and versatile cards that would work well in place of some of the Black removal (smother etc). G also gives access to lifegain (kitchen finks, thragtusk etc) to help balance out BB's life loss.
Also Scryb Ranger's prot from blue and its ability to untap a creature can allow us to attack and def with sword equipped creatures.
We wont naturally have a 4 or greater unless mistbind hits, and at that point we should be winning.
I'd just consider spell pierce better every time.
Atleast Sword of Feast and Famine gives protection to green so it's not going to work with Scryb Ranger. And I believe that's the sword Fae is mostly using.
----------------------
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
1 River of Tears
2 Secluded Glen
1 Swamp
1 Pendlehaven or Tectonic Edge
2 Watery Grave
Which yields 17 B (14 untapped) and 19 U (16 untapped), versus -
---------------
3x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Island
4x Mutavault
4x River of Tears
4x Secluded Glen
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Swamp
1x Tectonic Edge
Which is only 1 untapped B and U worse.
A 3-5% gain at the cost of 10-15% life points sounds like a bad deal to me. As you indicate, colour fixing might be the main benefit. For BU Sunken Ruins' does that without life loss. So it feels to me like Polluted Delta is a card for three-colour decks, not two.
The Immunity to Blood Moon would be the point that invalidates Sunken Ruins, as it would be a mountain as well.
I honestly don't think that this is worth a sideboard slot. Even in Pack Rat builds you have a hard time hitting 4 Power, in Scion builds you need at least 2 Faeries (Mistbind+Scion, Scion+Vendilion) to reliably hardcounter. Without Scion (and Rats instead for instance) you always have to fear the "blowout" if your critter gets killed. I think this card would mostly be Non-Creature Force Spike in our deck, something we do not want.
Also, I really wish Adamant Negation's original effect was any spell just so we could have a Force Spike in faeries. I would be more likely to play it if that were the case. But I agree that its not worth the spot
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29301_Faeries-In-Modern.html
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
I have tried fetch-land in my last few games, but I am not really convinced so far.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678Yes I know. Instead of using it as a sideboard package, the deck presented runs Gifts as a mainboard way to get a lot of gas from your deck. I don't think it's a terrible idea, but it looks kind of weird imho. I just thought it was worth mentioning.
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
I feel like the only real reason to play fetchlands is if you are splashing. Splashes require fixing, other than that we already have a strong mana base. There are some arguments against or in favor of fetchlands in UB Fae but in the end I think it will come down to preference. Someone likes to not play a full playset of river of tears and wants to be sure that he fetches what he needs exactly the time he needs, someone else doesn't want to have the drawback of the life loss.
I am still not sold on the idea of playing green pretty much for the tarmogoyf. I would like to see a BUG list w/o the tarmo, especially with the new cards being printed. I think if you are treating the deck as a BG/x then we are losing the core idea of the deck. UBg of UBw will probably be the best approach with the fetches reprint.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Tarmogoyf, Abrupt Decay, and now Sultai Charm I feel are very solid reasons to consider running BUg Faeries. It expands your removal in so many ways it's kind of ridiculous, not to mention Goyf is a huge menace in Modern for a reason. I know I'd at least try out a list if I had a set of Goyfs at my disposal.
Visions does look like an amazing addition to the list, the problem though is finding room for it. I know my UB list is super Tempo oriented and finding cards to take out for Visions is rather difficult. If I can figure out what to cut for them I will give them a try, but as for how good they are, no one is debating their playability
If you want to run this you should probably make sure your deck has fetches in it, as well as no Snapcasters. The fetches help to give you more cards to delve which makes this more manageable to cast, and Delve has clear anti-synergy with Snapcaster. Other than that it seems like a decent removal spell if you can get it to work. At least we aren't running Bob, so we don't have to worry about revealing this and taking 5.
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros