Hello. I am relatively new to u/B Faeries. I usually play standard, but I decided to dip into modern recently. THis is the list I've put together to start testing based on what I've seen people play:
I'm still in the process of putting my sideboard together. What matchups should I be trying to build my sideboard against? Currently I know that I want at least 1x Batterskull, 1x Damnation, 2x Hurkyl's Recall, 2x Disfigure, and at least 2x Relic of Progenitus.
You're packing only 3 removal spells. How are you going to handle a resolved threat against midrange? Or to keep up with Zoo?
I'd say need 5/6 Removals main. Vapor Snag is good, but it won't solve the problem. With so many faeries in you build, I'd up one Mistbind Clique in place of Ashiok.
Regarding sideboard: Fear fast Aggro decks )like Zoo or Affinity) and BGx midrange shells. Those are your worst match ups. Good news is you can always win those games, and the rest of the field is not that bad. Maybe tron can make you have a bad day, but you can win them easier than aggro or midrange. So, check your lolca meta before making calls for what to side and how many slots to dedicate to each match up.
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
(See page 169 taking out the Go for the Throat for a H. Recall in the board for deck list. Very much like the Metillion list).
Top 4'd a 48ish man PPTQ this evening.
Round 1 vs. Mono U Tron
Game 1: Goes 30 minutes into the round. I conceded at a slightly behind position to just move on to game two.
Game 2: I win off the back of V Clique, man lands, and Mistbind Clique
Game 3: Game goes to turns. I win off of a Sower'd Wurmcoil engine and a Spell snare for his Cyclonic Rift on turn 2 of turns.
Thoughts: Not sure about the the match up in general, but I feel we are pretty good against blue Tron decks.
Round 2 vs. creature heavy Burn featuring Atarka's Command
Went 2-0 off the back of Spellstutter Sprite
Thoughts: Burn isn't a bad matchup, and this version is even easier than the straight RW burn.
Round 3 vs. RW Burn
Game 1: Ideal draw for me with Spellstutters. He flooded out a bit as well.
Game 2: Another great draw for me and a mediocre one for him.
Throughts: Liliana is just too good.
Round 4 vs Grixis Delver
Game 1: I don't get much going and what little I had was easily answered or outclassed by his draw.
Game 2: I win off man lands and V clique
Game 3: At 12 life I play out a second Bitterblossom and put myself on a 6 turn clock. He floods out a bit and draws cards that did not interact with the board state. I win off token and man land beats.
At this point I am #1 in the standings going into round 5, where I proceed to double draw into the #2 seed for the top 8
TOP 8
Match 1 vs. the same RW burn player
Game 1: He receives a game loss due to a mistake in his submitted deck list, we proceed to game 2 him on the play and the inability to sideboard.
Game 2: Not really much to say about this one. I play a Bitterblossom as I had nothing else to do with a Goblin Guide beating down on me. Might have been able to stabilize off of a Liliana that was drawn late, but cannot be certain as I die to Bitterblossom triggers.
Game 3: Batterskull token gets a 2 for 1 which tipped the race in my favor. If he draws/has a Deflecting Palm/Skullcrack, I lose. There was also an opening for him to win with a top deck'd Boros Charm on his final turn.
Match 2 vs. Jund
Game 1: I find a sideboard card in my opening hand, and call the judge. Judge rules to fix my deck and mulligan to 6. Not much to say here, I was never really in it.
Game 2: I put together a Mistbind loop one turn away from doing lethal sitting at two life. Only way to lose was for him to top deck a burn spell, the turn of the first Mistbind, after casting 3 bolts already. He manages to draw a Kolaghan's command and kills me on his upkeep with the second Mistbind on the stack. Damnation rotted in my hand the whole game.
Thoughts: I do not feel it is a bad match up; however, I feel my sideboard plan was not correct. I brought in Relic of Progenitus, 2x Damnation, 1x Go for the Throat, took out 2x Spellstutter, 1 Tectonic edge, 1 Batterskull. One of the few matches I had where snapcaster was very strong.
General Thoughts: Liliana is a card I'd like to draw more of, considering upping to 3 and taking out the Tec Edge
Hello again. Played a 5 rounds FNM, and a 4 Round modern tournament on saturday as well:
Round 1: Grixis Delver (1-2)
Game 1 (On the draw): Crush him. That's all there is to say. Countered his digging and killed his threats, he could only watch me kill him with my increasing swarm of faeries. It felt good.
Game 2 (On the draw): I'm stuck in 2 lands (Vault and Shores), but still I'm able to answer to his threats. That is, of course, until he goes Tasigur + Angler in the same turn. I couldn't hold the line and die to bolt + snap + bolt. Sad
Game 3 (On the play): I still feel this should have been my mine, and I did miss the Drown in sorrow that I couldn't get for SB. I T1 Inquisition, T2 Bitterblossom, T3 Liliana and start killing him and his threats. EVERYTHING under control, until he manages to kill lili, and wipe my tokens with Engineered Explosives. So sad, again, can't cope with 2 anglers on the other side and I eventualy die with kolaghan's command and bolt.
Round 2: UWR Control (2-0)
Game 1(On the draw): Walk in the park. Discard and clique, followed by land beatdown, into bitterblossom and win.
Game 2(On the draw): T1 Inquisition, T2 Thoughtseize, T3 Liliana, T5 Liliana again. Cry me a river.
Round 3: Bogles (2-0)
Game 1(On the draw): He attempts to go with a spiritdancer, so I kill her and counter his bogle. He dies from bitterblossom + scion + mistbind.
Game 2(On the draw): He lands a bogle, and enchants it with rancor and ethereal armor. 5/2 Trample First Strike bogle on the other side of the table definitely seems scary. I turn 3 Lili and smile. Then he attempts to go on a Dryad Arbor but I kill it in response to the totem armor.
Round 4: Splinter Twin (2-0)
Game 1 (On the draw): Walk in the park. Discard into spellstutter coutnering desperate attempts of digging with visions and burn with bolt, timewalk with mistbind, more disrupt with vendilion clique and easy kill.
Game 2 (On the draw): Repeat the process, but with 2 lilis instead of 2 blossoms, and some more kill spells in case he realizes he can't combo against me. He does realize it. He still dies from the value of LIli and Batteskull.
Round 5: Jund (0-2):
Game 1(On the draw): Didn't draw enough removal and he kills me fast with goyf and tasigur. Really bad game, I mull to 6 and keep a 4 land hand without removal. Bad choice.
Game 2 (On the play): This game was much more interactive. Long story short, seems like my experience with Junk/Jund was useless because I choose to keep discard in the 60 I'm playing. WHYYYY????? We go into top deck mode, and that's wehn I realize my top deck is much worse than his (not only because our cards synergize to get card quality, but because I know that I might top deck discard into empty hands), he kills me with Lavaman and Raging Ravine.
Had I beaten the Jund player I would have been 2nd. Came out 7th, so it would have been a Top 8 anyway, if it was a tournament.
Wake up. It's saturday, 1 hour left before the tournament begins. I feel enlightened:
Round 1: Junk Liege (1-2)
I know this guy plays CoCo Value, so I think that's what he's playing.
Game 1 (On the draw): We fight a good fight. We start trading cards to kill threats on the other side, eventually I land a bitterblossom and start countering stuff, then another bitterblossom to finish it off. But he stars landing Lingering Souls and 1 turn before I can kill him I die to 0 life due to my blossoms. Tried to mistbind 1, but he pathed it. Sad game.
Game 2 (On the play): Open with Leyline and crush him with blossom into stutters with clique backup. There wasn't really an interaction here, he tried to path but couldn't, and that's that.
Game 3(On the draw): It hurts me to draw for the turn a Leyline (8th card in the deck T_T). I thoguhtseize, into blossom, into stutter and dismember. He starts pathing and lingering. I get Leyline online. We start ignoring each other's board state and reduce our life totals a lot. We're in top deck mode, we're both on a 2 turn clock, but I start attacking so I have the advantage. My hand is a land. His hand, I don't know. I do the math: If he doesn't draw a Liege I win. He topdecks liege. So long.
Round 2: Jund (2-1):
Game 1 (On the draw): I lose to a double confidant, goyf, scooze, tasigur, manlands. Drew 4 removlas and a few counters but in the end flooded and couldn't kill the land, so sad.
Game 2 (On the play): This is the most exquisite game I've ever played against Jund. Discard out this time, no need to suffer again from that horrid feeling of going to topdeck mode to draw a useless thoughtseize. My bitterblossom eats his decay (as planned) so I can safely land a Lili to use her as a discard source and removal. He gets a lili as well, and he gets to ulti with her, dealing with my blossom and 2 lands. I still recover from there with my Lili. She takes over the game leaving the coast clear both in hand and battlefield. Then second blossom into stutter into mistbind is awesome. Crushed him.
Game 3: He goes extra greedy: Keeps a one lander with 2 discard spells. He gets rid of my answers, but can't land his threats. By the time he gets to land a goyf I already have answers for it. I land a V clique getting rid of a decay (he couldn't respond with his tapped lands), then he lands a lili and I respond with a mistbind, tap his last land, sac mistbind and clique him again. So effing good. Untap and kill him with 2 vaults and a tarpit plus clique and tokens.
Round 3: Jund (2-0):
Game 1 (On the play): I start with discard eating his goyf, we start trading resources but I draw a lot of answers and manlands. Kill him with vaults and tar pit. Weird game 1.
Game 2 (On the draw): I start with leyline on the field even though I shouldn't have boarded this, but I was sure he was splashing white for lingering -he was not-. We start trading off again and he hurts himself a lot with alnds an seizes. I clique his threat and start beating down with mutavaults. Topdeck a blossom and rode it to victory.
Round 4: Splinter Twin (ID)
I didn't know he was playing twin tough, otherwise I'd have played the game and climbed to 2nd place. I ended up 8th. We all ID'd since the top 8 was locked for us anyway, so we saved an hour of play. Again, I regret this.
Top 8: UW Tron (1-2)
This round felt so unfair.
Game 1 (On the draw): I crush him so badly with an online bitterblossom, tempo him out with remands and commands bouncing lands, eventyually start timewalking him with Mistbind. He couldn't even play magic this game. Felt really proud of that.
Game 2 (On the draw): Leyline online from T1 (Remember this tron is all about Gifts Ungiven + Iona, Shield of Emeria + Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Unburial Rites, right?). So I start beating him with blossoms and a tar pit, then a stutter and finally land a blossom. He starts getting a sh*tload of mana and digs for answers really badly. In the end he wipes my board, while slowly dealing with my Manlands with his Celestial Colonnade. In the end I run out of gas with him at 2 life. Frustrating.
Game 3 (On the play): Close to game 2. I dealt with every possible threat he could play, countered everything I could, Timewalked him with Mistbind Clique, have a Vendilion Clique EoT to untap and kill him. Run out of gas in hand, he gifts (really poorly) into Snapcaster + Path + Supreme Verdict + Sphinx Rev. I give him Rev and Path. He paths mistbind and passes the turn. I can't kill him now, but even if he draws 7 and gains 7 next turn (he's pretty much tapped out now) I can still kill him with a second attack. He topdecks Elesh Norn. GG WP.
(Still can't find the damned Drown in Sorrow I know I have somewhere)
All in all I am really proud of the results of the list, and it feels really strong and smooth to play. I really want us to have some filtering effects, but that means the loss of the control role we can play, since in order to play cards like Anticipate, or Telling Time, or Serum visions. We can't play Faeries with those cards, at least not the control role. I can see it working in an aggro Fae, with no counters, more focused on discard and removal and 4 Scions in. For now I'll keep testing around this list, which felt amazingly strong. I am not giving up on my beloved Faeries!!
EDIT: Forgot to update with the list I will test this week:
Good results! This really nails in how much I want to get Liliana of the Veil now... but I just spent a ton on the whole deck, I don't think I can justify another couple hundred so quick... I was curious about Venser, Shaper Savant myself. I'll look forward to hearing how he does for you.
Reading your report, I saw you favor siding discard out against Jund. Is that the typical best play? Just go more removal, less hand disruption? Another game I saw you were able to ate a goyf T1, so that seems decent, but generally, what decks would you just chuck all hand removal?
What's thoughts on 4 IoKs, I see 2-3 and 2-3 Thoughtseize is the going rate, but IoK is so good. I like your 2 Spell Snares, I only side 1, but I think I might switch that over to 2 and maybe mainboard them as well.
No one else in my meta plays Faeries, so it was a ton of fun Friday to be that guy.
What are thoughts on Extirpate or Surgical Extraction as a side option? Let's you see hand, can mess with graveyard stuff, can potentially pull cards out of their hand (and library), can kill a combo deck (not that faeries needs help there) - can depower a goyf at instant speed and I really like the phyrexian mana cost aspect. I suppose the question would become, what do you take out that does less work? I guess really, these cards don't effect the game enough to take a slot or two when we already have such good disruption.
Has Sage's Dousing been tested? It seems we run a lot of wizards..
Good results! This really nails in how much I want to get Liliana of the Veil now... but I just spent a ton on the whole deck, I don't think I can justify another couple hundred so quick... I was curious about Venser, Shaper Savant myself. I'll look forward to hearing how he does for you.
Reading your report, I saw you favor siding discard out against Jund. Is that the typical best play? Just go more removal, less hand disruption? Another game I saw you were able to ate a goyf T1, so that seems decent, but generally, what decks would you just chuck all hand removal?
What's thoughts on 4 IoKs, I see 2-3 and 2-3 Thoughtseize is the going rate, but IoK is so good. I like your 2 Spell Snares, I only side 1, but I think I might switch that over to 2 and maybe mainboard them as well.
No one else in my meta plays Faeries, so it was a ton of fun Friday to be that guy.
What are thoughts on Extirpate or Surgical Extraction as a side option? Let's you see hand, can mess with graveyard stuff, can potentially pull cards out of their hand (and library), can kill a combo deck (not that faeries needs help there) - can depower a goyf at instant speed and I really like the phyrexian mana cost aspect. I suppose the question would become, what do you take out that does less work? I guess really, these cards don't effect the game enough to take a slot or two when we already have such good disruption.
Has Sage's Dousing been tested? It seems we run a lot of wizards..
I wish Silumgar Sorcerer was a faerie... been using it in standard and for 3 mana it counters a creature and/or gives you another flyer.
Anways, thoughts on any of these cards? THey may have been mentioned before, but there's 4300+ posts here lol
@Venser:
The card is really good against BGx (bounces abrupt decay, Tasigur and can attack and chump block to get that extra turn we so desperately need against them), and also against Tron can bounce Emrakul (though it's not of much use), the other eldrazi, and Wurmcoil Engines. It's good because it can't be Negated or Dispelled.
@Discard: Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are great, but you don't want to have more than 5/6 in your deck. It's really good against control and combo. Now, when you're in front of a BGx deck there can happen a lot of things, but only one is granted: You will both end up with an empty hard, contesting the board for the win. And when you top deck a discard, you will be at disadvantage. That's why I side them out and will never keep them, I rather have Lilis, which can contribute to the topdeck war cause and contest the battlefield on her own.
@Extirpate/Surgical Extraction:
This is card disadvantage. It has the potential of card advantage, but on its own is just disadvantage. You trade a card in your hand for a card in the graveyard, with the potential of taking more cards from hand. Yes, it can kill a combo right there, but is it worth it? In my eyes, no.
@Mentioned Counters: Sage's Dousing: This is a bad mana leak. For 3CMC I'd rather cast Dissolve, Deprive, Hinder. That card is just bad IMO.
Condescend: This is a good counterspell, but better in the hand of a Tron player, as they can put a lot of pressure with the Urza lands. You can try it, the scry seems good. I would recommend playing it alongside Remand, for a good tempo achieving, since Condescend can't be used early in the game.
Delay: This is a bad Remand that doesn't draw you a card.
Dimir Charm: This is one of my favourite charms. I used to play this card a lot in faeries and I am considering it back. It's a great one-off in the deck, it can kill a lot of stuff and it can certainly counter some good stuff as well. I have posted about this in Page 118 (if my memory doesn't fail me), back when Treasure Cruise was legal and Scapeshift saw play.
@Silumgar Sorcerer:
I think he's a trap. It's not good enough, maybe if he was a faerie. Just remember that if you sac him for the exploit, it won't trigger the 'When Silumgar Sorcerer exploits a creature...' clause, cause he will be on the graveyard by the time the ability could be checked. You can use him and see if that's what you want, or maybe just play Escense Scatter and avoid putting yourself in a situation where a removal spell nullifies the exploit and you find yourself trading a fae in play for a Silumgar Sorcerer. The card is not good to me, sorry.
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In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
(See page 169 taking out the Go for the Throat for a H. Recall in the board for deck list. Very much like the Metillion list).
Bladiebla. Tournament succes!
Well done! Always those stupid semifinales >.< . I don't think that dropping Tect Edge is a real deal. Scapeshift and Tron are still not your friends and I found it overperforming in the Jund matchup, were every removal spell counts. That said, new builds of jund are favourable for us (unlike unfavourable junk lists). Bitterblossom is a house now they run 2 Abrupt Decay. My thoughts about all the matches is pretty much the same. It's great to have another sample going on with the list I have been developing for months now.
I only scored very humble results during the last FNM. Being very tired left my play a lot to desire for.
1-1 draw against RG tron
2-1 win against RG tron
0-2 loss against Zoo Company
2-0 win against 8-rack. I have no idea how 8-rack is supposed to win once the opponent gets acquantained with it. It realy is a one-trick pony.
Also, Darktutor, I love you your results and your considerations about anticipate et al. A faeriedeck should have powerful draws, not such cards. I like your experimental, but competitively orientated mind. Really helps us to beat the meta . Grats! Also love the 4 Lilianas.
I still feel that UB Faeries are reasonably well-positioned in the meta. However, the upsurge of Company decks might really shrink our chances.
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No one else in my meta plays Faeries, so it was a ton of fun Friday to be that guy.
As long as you win you should feel proud . I also have no one else to play and test faeries with. In my country (Holland) Faeries has the highest top8/attendence conversion rate of all decks, guess who played faeries solo .
What are thoughts on Extirpate or Surgical Extraction as a side option? Let's you see hand, can mess with graveyard stuff, can potentially pull cards out of their hand (and library), can kill a combo deck (not that faeries needs help there) - can depower a goyf at instant speed and I really like the phyrexian mana cost aspect. I suppose the question would become, what do you take out that does less work? I guess really, these cards don't effect the game enough to take a slot or two when we already have such good disruption.
Actually, against Tron the cards are nice. A one-off is perfectly justifiable, I would not get anywhere beyond that though. We don't need more than 3-5 slots against combo decks, however, these slots need to be general and good.
Has Sage's Dousing been tested? It seems we run a lot of wizards..
No, did you?
How about Condescend ?
Did you?
Delay?
Good against counter mirrors. However, we already beat counter mirrors so hard that we don't usually care.
Dimur Charm?
Has some sidedeck merits. Can remember some suggested it during the Cruise-Delver Era.
Well done! Always those stupid semifinales >.< . I don't think that dropping Tect Edge is a real deal. Scapeshift and Tron are still not your friends and I found it overperforming in the Jund matchup, were every removal spell counts. That said, new builds of jund are favourable for us (unlike unfavourable junk lists). Bitterblossom is a house now they run 2 Abrupt Decay. My thoughts about all the matches is pretty much the same. It's great to have another sample going on with the list I have been developing for months now.
I only scored very humble results during the last FNM. Being very tired left my play a lot to desire for.
1-1 draw against RG tron
2-1 win against RG tron
0-2 loss against Zoo Company
2-0 win against 8-rack. I have no idea how 8-rack is supposed to win once the opponent gets acquantained with it. It realy is a one-trick pony.
Also, Darktutor, I love you your results and your considerations about anticipate et al. A faeriedeck should have powerful draws, not such cards. I like your experimental, but competitively orientated mind. Really helps us to beat the meta . Grats! Also love the 4 Lilianas.
I still feel that UB Faeries are reasonably well-positioned in the meta. However, the upsurge of Company decks might really shrink our chances.
I guess against Zoo company you want to see Batterskull, Sword and a lot of removal, including Damnation. Maybe you should up the Damnation to 2 if you struggle with that kind of decks.
Thanks for the comment man, I have to be experimental since, otherwise, we will be stuck outside of the top tables and that's something me and my faeries don't like.
I'm not really sure about the 4 lilis there, though I really like it. There is 1 slot that is being contested by 3rd Thoughtseize, Venser, Shaper Savant, 4th Liliana of the Veil, Sword of Fire and Ice and Blue Sun's Zenith. Only testing will say what's best.
I agree that Faeries is not bad positioned at all, it's even betetr than a couple of months ago. I disagree with Company decks, though they are hard, it's not impossible to beat them and they're definitely easier than BGx midrange. Try Drown in Sorrow it works marvels against CoCo Melira and CoCo Elves.
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[quote from="Nardraug »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/542105-ub-x-faeries?comment=4341"]
@Silumgar Sorcerer:
I think he's a trap. It's not good enough, maybe if he was a faerie. Just remember that if you sac him for the exploit, it won't trigger the 'When Silumgar Sorcerer exploits a creature...' clause, cause he will be on the graveyard by the time the ability could be checked. You can use him and see if that's what you want, or maybe just play Escense Scatter and avoid putting yourself in a situation where a removal spell nullifies the exploit and you find yourself trading a fae in play for a Silumgar Sorcerer. The card is not good to me, sorry.
sorry for offtop, you can sac sorcerer for his "exploit trigger", that mean that silumgar sorcerer is creature-cancel for 1UU, you can ask about it judges, when i had asked ours (2 lvl) they said that it is legal for all exploit-creatures in set
i think this creature not bad for standard, but not for modern and fairies decks
return to topic:
I had used Surgical Extraction in last PPTQ. It useless against burn decks, against some strange esper decks, where not much complects of cards. It was good against BGx decks, coz i had removed decays, tarmo and rhino. I think it good for side, 2 pcs. In main it's not so nice
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Sorry for my english. It is not my native language.
sorry for offtop, you can sac sorcerer for his "exploit trigger", that mean that silumgar sorcerer is creature-cancel for 1UU, you can ask about it judges, when i had asked ours (2 lvl) they said that it is legal for all exploit-creatures in set
i think this creature not bad for standard, but not for modern and fairies decks
Well that seems like they are forcing the ability too much (just like they did with Bestow when you respond by killing the bestow target). It doesn't really make sense that a creature can check from graveyard if it exploited a creature or not. Anyway that's way off topic. My bad, you can exploit it to counter. I still rather Essence Scatter.
return to topic:
I had used Surgical Extraction in last PPTQ. It useless against burn decks, against some strange esper decks, where not much complects of cards. It was good against BGx decks, coz i had removed decays, tarmo and rhino. I think it good for side, 2 pcs. In main it's not so nice
I disagree. If you extract a goyf you are flipping a coin to see if the other guy has goyf or not in his hand. Let's say you extract goyfs, he untaps slams a rhino. Boom, another threat and you have one less card to deal with it in your hand. If it was a Go for the Throat, Dismember, or W/E Removal you play, you could have killed it, but you had a surgical extraction and got rid of cards that were not in hand/battlefield. That is card disadvantage, and that's the way it works against BGx more often than not. The card is good cause it hoses combo, but that's that.
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I wish Silumgar Sorcerer was a faerie... been using it in standard and for 3 mana it counters a creature and/or gives you another flyer.
@Venser:
The card is really good against BGx (bounces abrupt decay, Tasigur and can attack and chump block to get that extra turn we so desperately need against them), and also against Tron can bounce Emrakul (though it's not of much use), the other eldrazi, and Wurmcoil Engines. It's good because it can't be Negated or Dispelled.
Dimir Charm: This is one of my favourite charms. I used to play this card a lot in faeries and I am considering it back. It's a great one-off in the deck, it can kill a lot of stuff and it can certainly counter some good stuff as well. I have posted about this in Page 118 (if my memory doesn't fail me), back when Treasure Cruise was legal and Scapeshift saw play.
@Silumgar Sorcerer:
I think he's a trap. It's not good enough, maybe if he was a faerie. Just remember that if you sac him for the exploit, it won't trigger the 'When Silumgar Sorcerer exploits a creature...' clause, cause he will be on the graveyard by the time the ability could be checked. You can use him and see if that's what you want, or maybe just play Escense Scatter and avoid putting yourself in a situation where a removal spell nullifies the exploit and you find yourself trading a fae in play for a Silumgar Sorcerer. The card is not good to me, sorry.
The Rulings for exploit cards (and Silumgar Sorcerer) specifically state You can sacrifice the creature with exploit if it’s still on the battlefield. This will cause its other ability to trigger.. Had me nervous I had been using him wrong for months lol.
Venser does seem like it could be beneficial against abrupt decay, just need to get to 4 mana before they decay your BB, but it certainly does some other work and maybe buys you a turn to get on 3 blue mana for a cryptic if not quite there.
Dimir Charm is a tough one. It does provide 3 solid outs that can all be viable against different decks/situations. Can be a T2 removal against scooze or goyf (before they get bigger) or a mutavault etc.
Has Sage's Dousing been tested? It seems we run a lot of wizards..
No, did you?
How about Condescend ?
Did you?
Delay?
I haven't had much opportunity to test yet. Only played my 1st week of it and yeah, I feel I did pretty good. Only really losing straight out to Jund mid-range. I did some pretesting vs CoCo Malira and got some bad draws and he comboed off on me. CoCo is a hard card to get around as he is holding his mana EOT just as I am - so I either counter the CoCo and leave him free on his turn to cast whatever he wants, or hope he whiffs to stay open myself to jump in later... hoping for a whiff seems best bet, but when he lands an E-Wit and a something else... it's just rough.
And in case you missed it a couple pages ago, the only list I've tried so far is this:
As I was saying though, I never once thought about siding in Glen Elendra Archmage so that may come out. I effectively used Black's Sun and EE vs merfolk. Spellskite of course was win vs burn. Spell Snare was good to side in. I never drew Deathmark when I brought it in vs Jund, but I imagine it would be good vs goyf/scooze. Recall did it's job vs U-tron. I did get a sword in my hand vs merfolk, but never got it out (and won w/o it).
My 1st 3 matches vs merfolk (I played him again in top 8 - for 6 total matches) I didn't see a Scion at all and he was wondering where my "Lords" were lol. A 4th would have actually served me well maybe...
sorry for offtop, you can sac sorcerer for his "exploit trigger", that mean that silumgar sorcerer is creature-cancel for 1UU, you can ask about it judges, when i had asked ours (2 lvl) they said that it is legal for all exploit-creatures in set
i think this creature not bad for standard, but not for modern and fairies decks
Well that seems like they are forcing the ability too much (just like they did with Bestow when you respond by killing the bestow target). It doesn't really make sense that a creature can check from graveyard if it exploited a creature or not. Anyway that's way off topic. My bad, you can exploit it to counter. I still rather Essence Scatter.
return to topic:
I had used Surgical Extraction in last PPTQ. It useless against burn decks, against some strange esper decks, where not much complects of cards. It was good against BGx decks, coz i had removed decays, tarmo and rhino. I think it good for side, 2 pcs. In main it's not so nice
I disagree. If you extract a goyf you are flipping a coin to see if the other guy has goyf or not in his hand. Let's say you extract goyfs, he untaps slams a rhino. Boom, another threat and you have one less card to deal with it in your hand. If it was a Go for the Throat, Dismember, or W/E Removal you play, you could have killed it, but you had a surgical extraction and got rid of cards that were not in hand/battlefield. That is card disadvantage, and that's the way it works against BGx more often than not. The card is good cause it hoses combo, but that's that.
Sorry, I'm responding at work, so I get interrupted a lot and missed the correction before posting.
I may consider siding a couple extractions, but not sure... What I like about it is the instant cast and 0-mana cost ability so you can still extract something and then still have mana open to remand or Go for the Throat (GFTT? too bad it's not GTFO). It does seems a dead card and pure card disadvantage though. As far as cramming value into one turn though, it's a boost... sometimes I'm stuck with 6 cards in hand and only 3 mana...
Countermagic is the smell before rain, the sun on the horizon and the chocolate chips in my mint chocolate chip ice cream. It's the first time I saw a woman naked and the first time I smelled perfume. It's that feeling you get when you know you're right.
But most of all; it's the feeling of playing Magic
I think for a card that gets much worse as the game goes on, you might not want 4 mana leaks, unless you have a knack for forcing the opponent to make them good lategame but with fulminator mage sb and liliana main you may want sword of light and shadow. And if you can come into it, the 3rd Creeping Tar Pit might be really good for you.
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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 Mana Leaks are a replacement for the Remands I used to play. I think Mana Leak is a little less dead than Remand. I honestly haven't had time to really grind with this deck, so I don't know how well (or poorly) they really perform. What do you suggest swapping for the third Tar-Pit?
Countermagic is the smell before rain, the sun on the horizon and the chocolate chips in my mint chocolate chip ice cream. It's the first time I saw a woman naked and the first time I smelled perfume. It's that feeling you get when you know you're right.
But most of all; it's the feeling of playing Magic
The Mana Leaks are a replacement for the Remands I used to play. I think Mana Leak is a little less dead than Remand. I honestly haven't had time to really grind with this deck, so I don't know how well (or poorly) they really perform. What do you suggest swapping for the third Tar-Pit?
Manabase:
You really don't need shocklands at all. I have neved had an issue with the manabase and I don't run any. I don't understand why you're not playing Secluded Glen though. I'd never play less than 4 Tar Pits, especially with Sword of Feast and Famine in your 75 (which untaps it to block if needed). I believe 5 islands is too much, if you open with a 2 lander hand including double island you will have to mulligan. Decrease the chances of bad land opening hands, increase your win percentage. If you're planning to cast Batterskull and Cryptic Command with no card filtering/draw spells I'd suggest to up land count to 25.
The Shadow of Doubt is just a miser tempo play against most decks. It does work against Tron and Amulet Bloom (two decks that I struggle against) and at least it cycles. I'll be honest, I do want to see if I can nail any Bloom players with it like Chapin did at the GP.
Victim of Night is facing off against Go for the Throat in this deck and I went with Victim because it isn't dead against affinity. Dismember can kill what Victim doesn't. I'd like to tune the deck so that it has fewer terrible matchups, and Victim lets us interact a bit better in the Affinity games.
The Fetchland+shock land mana base is a holdover from when the deck was supporting Tasigur or Murderous Cut or Dig through Time. It worked to that end, though was not without issues. I can switch to Secluded Glen easily (though I don't like River of Tears, I just found it unreliable too often), but I don't think I have time to test it and get used to it. I've been playing this mana base (or close to it) since Khans was released, so I've gotten used to interactions and such.
I also don't like having too many ETB tapped lands, they tend to clog up and slow things down if multiple get drawn early.
Countermagic is the smell before rain, the sun on the horizon and the chocolate chips in my mint chocolate chip ice cream. It's the first time I saw a woman naked and the first time I smelled perfume. It's that feeling you get when you know you're right.
But most of all; it's the feeling of playing Magic
I am a HUGE fan of my painless mana base. It makes Blood Moon an instant win against us, but provides such an advantage against the majority of the field. It is also part of what makes the Burn match up tip into our favor. Post-Board, out racing us can be tough.
I am a HUGE fan of my painless mana base. It makes Blood Moon an instant win against us, but provides such a huge advantage against the majority of the field. It is also part of what makes the Burn match up tip into our favor. Post-Board, out racing us can be tough.
I run 4 Deltas and no shocklands because of this. They up my Island count to 9 and my swamp count to 5, in order to escape from Blood Moon.
You're packing only 3 removal spells. How are you going to handle a resolved threat against midrange? Or to keep up with Zoo?
I'd say need 5/6 Removals main. Vapor Snag is good, but it won't solve the problem. With so many faeries in you build, I'd up one Mistbind Clique in place of Ashiok.
Regarding sideboard: Fear fast Aggro decks )like Zoo or Affinity) and BGx midrange shells. Those are your worst match ups. Good news is you can always win those games, and the rest of the field is not that bad. Maybe tron can make you have a bad day, but you can win them easier than aggro or midrange. So, check your lolca meta before making calls for what to side and how many slots to dedicate to each match up.
Top 4'd a 48ish man PPTQ this evening.
Round 1 vs. Mono U Tron
Game 1: Goes 30 minutes into the round. I conceded at a slightly behind position to just move on to game two.
Game 2: I win off the back of V Clique, man lands, and Mistbind Clique
Game 3: Game goes to turns. I win off of a Sower'd Wurmcoil engine and a Spell snare for his Cyclonic Rift on turn 2 of turns.
Thoughts: Not sure about the the match up in general, but I feel we are pretty good against blue Tron decks.
Round 2 vs. creature heavy Burn featuring Atarka's Command
Went 2-0 off the back of Spellstutter Sprite
Thoughts: Burn isn't a bad matchup, and this version is even easier than the straight RW burn.
Round 3 vs. RW Burn
Game 1: Ideal draw for me with Spellstutters. He flooded out a bit as well.
Game 2: Another great draw for me and a mediocre one for him.
Throughts: Liliana is just too good.
Round 4 vs Grixis Delver
Game 1: I don't get much going and what little I had was easily answered or outclassed by his draw.
Game 2: I win off man lands and V clique
Game 3: At 12 life I play out a second Bitterblossom and put myself on a 6 turn clock. He floods out a bit and draws cards that did not interact with the board state. I win off token and man land beats.
At this point I am #1 in the standings going into round 5, where I proceed to double draw into the #2 seed for the top 8
TOP 8
Match 1 vs. the same RW burn player
Game 1: He receives a game loss due to a mistake in his submitted deck list, we proceed to game 2 him on the play and the inability to sideboard.
Game 2: Not really much to say about this one. I play a Bitterblossom as I had nothing else to do with a Goblin Guide beating down on me. Might have been able to stabilize off of a Liliana that was drawn late, but cannot be certain as I die to Bitterblossom triggers.
Game 3: Batterskull token gets a 2 for 1 which tipped the race in my favor. If he draws/has a Deflecting Palm/Skullcrack, I lose. There was also an opening for him to win with a top deck'd Boros Charm on his final turn.
Match 2 vs. Jund
Game 1: I find a sideboard card in my opening hand, and call the judge. Judge rules to fix my deck and mulligan to 6. Not much to say here, I was never really in it.
Game 2: I put together a Mistbind loop one turn away from doing lethal sitting at two life. Only way to lose was for him to top deck a burn spell, the turn of the first Mistbind, after casting 3 bolts already. He manages to draw a Kolaghan's command and kills me on his upkeep with the second Mistbind on the stack. Damnation rotted in my hand the whole game.
Thoughts: I do not feel it is a bad match up; however, I feel my sideboard plan was not correct. I brought in Relic of Progenitus, 2x Damnation, 1x Go for the Throat, took out 2x Spellstutter, 1 Tectonic edge, 1 Batterskull. One of the few matches I had where snapcaster was very strong.
General Thoughts: Liliana is a card I'd like to draw more of, considering upping to 3 and taking out the Tec Edge
Good results! This really nails in how much I want to get Liliana of the Veil now... but I just spent a ton on the whole deck, I don't think I can justify another couple hundred so quick... I was curious about Venser, Shaper Savant myself. I'll look forward to hearing how he does for you.
Reading your report, I saw you favor siding discard out against Jund. Is that the typical best play? Just go more removal, less hand disruption? Another game I saw you were able to ate a goyf T1, so that seems decent, but generally, what decks would you just chuck all hand removal?
What's thoughts on 4 IoKs, I see 2-3 and 2-3 Thoughtseize is the going rate, but IoK is so good. I like your 2 Spell Snares, I only side 1, but I think I might switch that over to 2 and maybe mainboard them as well.
No one else in my meta plays Faeries, so it was a ton of fun Friday to be that guy.
What are thoughts on Extirpate or Surgical Extraction as a side option? Let's you see hand, can mess with graveyard stuff, can potentially pull cards out of their hand (and library), can kill a combo deck (not that faeries needs help there) - can depower a goyf at instant speed and I really like the phyrexian mana cost aspect. I suppose the question would become, what do you take out that does less work? I guess really, these cards don't effect the game enough to take a slot or two when we already have such good disruption.
Has Sage's Dousing been tested? It seems we run a lot of wizards..
How about Condescend ?
Delay?
Dimur Charm?
I wish Silumgar Sorcerer was a faerie... been using it in standard and for 3 mana it counters a creature and/or gives you another flyer.
Anways, thoughts on any of these cards? THey may have been mentioned before, but there's 4300+ posts here lol
@Venser:
The card is really good against BGx (bounces abrupt decay, Tasigur and can attack and chump block to get that extra turn we so desperately need against them), and also against Tron can bounce Emrakul (though it's not of much use), the other eldrazi, and Wurmcoil Engines. It's good because it can't be Negated or Dispelled.
@Discard:
Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are great, but you don't want to have more than 5/6 in your deck. It's really good against control and combo. Now, when you're in front of a BGx deck there can happen a lot of things, but only one is granted: You will both end up with an empty hard, contesting the board for the win. And when you top deck a discard, you will be at disadvantage. That's why I side them out and will never keep them, I rather have Lilis, which can contribute to the topdeck war cause and contest the battlefield on her own.
@Extirpate/Surgical Extraction:
This is card disadvantage. It has the potential of card advantage, but on its own is just disadvantage. You trade a card in your hand for a card in the graveyard, with the potential of taking more cards from hand. Yes, it can kill a combo right there, but is it worth it? In my eyes, no.
@Mentioned Counters:
Sage's Dousing: This is a bad mana leak. For 3CMC I'd rather cast Dissolve, Deprive, Hinder. That card is just bad IMO.
Condescend: This is a good counterspell, but better in the hand of a Tron player, as they can put a lot of pressure with the Urza lands. You can try it, the scry seems good. I would recommend playing it alongside Remand, for a good tempo achieving, since Condescend can't be used early in the game.
Delay: This is a bad Remand that doesn't draw you a card.
Dimir Charm: This is one of my favourite charms. I used to play this card a lot in faeries and I am considering it back. It's a great one-off in the deck, it can kill a lot of stuff and it can certainly counter some good stuff as well. I have posted about this in Page 118 (if my memory doesn't fail me), back when Treasure Cruise was legal and Scapeshift saw play.
@Silumgar Sorcerer:
I think he's a trap. It's not good enough, maybe if he was a faerie. Just remember that if you sac him for the exploit, it won't trigger the 'When Silumgar Sorcerer exploits a creature...' clause, cause he will be on the graveyard by the time the ability could be checked. You can use him and see if that's what you want, or maybe just play Escense Scatter and avoid putting yourself in a situation where a removal spell nullifies the exploit and you find yourself trading a fae in play for a Silumgar Sorcerer. The card is not good to me, sorry.
Well done! Always those stupid semifinales >.< . I don't think that dropping Tect Edge is a real deal. Scapeshift and Tron are still not your friends and I found it overperforming in the Jund matchup, were every removal spell counts. That said, new builds of jund are favourable for us (unlike unfavourable junk lists). Bitterblossom is a house now they run 2 Abrupt Decay. My thoughts about all the matches is pretty much the same. It's great to have another sample going on with the list I have been developing for months now.
I only scored very humble results during the last FNM. Being very tired left my play a lot to desire for.
1-1 draw against RG tron
2-1 win against RG tron
0-2 loss against Zoo Company
2-0 win against 8-rack. I have no idea how 8-rack is supposed to win once the opponent gets acquantained with it. It realy is a one-trick pony.
Also, Darktutor, I love you your results and your considerations about anticipate et al. A faeriedeck should have powerful draws, not such cards. I like your experimental, but competitively orientated mind. Really helps us to beat the meta . Grats! Also love the 4 Lilianas.
I still feel that UB Faeries are reasonably well-positioned in the meta. However, the upsurge of Company decks might really shrink our chances.
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As long as you win you should feel proud . I also have no one else to play and test faeries with. In my country (Holland) Faeries has the highest top8/attendence conversion rate of all decks, guess who played faeries solo .
Actually, against Tron the cards are nice. A one-off is perfectly justifiable, I would not get anywhere beyond that though. We don't need more than 3-5 slots against combo decks, however, these slots need to be general and good.
No, did you?
Did you?
Good against counter mirrors. However, we already beat counter mirrors so hard that we don't usually care.
Has some sidedeck merits. Can remember some suggested it during the Cruise-Delver Era.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678I expect it to have awesome matches against:
Tron, Affinity, Abzan, Jund and the rest we are already good against.
Instead of regarding this list as a Faerie list, it is more a Mistbind Clique list. All this list wants to do is spam and reuse Mistbind Clique.
It will probably suck very hard against Zoo and Company decks and Burn.
Who is in?
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678I guess against Zoo company you want to see Batterskull, Sword and a lot of removal, including Damnation. Maybe you should up the Damnation to 2 if you struggle with that kind of decks.
Thanks for the comment man, I have to be experimental since, otherwise, we will be stuck outside of the top tables and that's something me and my faeries don't like.
I'm not really sure about the 4 lilis there, though I really like it. There is 1 slot that is being contested by 3rd Thoughtseize, Venser, Shaper Savant, 4th Liliana of the Veil, Sword of Fire and Ice and Blue Sun's Zenith. Only testing will say what's best.
I agree that Faeries is not bad positioned at all, it's even betetr than a couple of months ago. I disagree with Company decks, though they are hard, it's not impossible to beat them and they're definitely easier than BGx midrange. Try Drown in Sorrow it works marvels against CoCo Melira and CoCo Elves.
sorry for offtop, you can sac sorcerer for his "exploit trigger", that mean that silumgar sorcerer is creature-cancel for 1UU, you can ask about it judges, when i had asked ours (2 lvl) they said that it is legal for all exploit-creatures in set
i think this creature not bad for standard, but not for modern and fairies decks
return to topic:
I had used Surgical Extraction in last PPTQ. It useless against burn decks, against some strange esper decks, where not much complects of cards. It was good against BGx decks, coz i had removed decays, tarmo and rhino. I think it good for side, 2 pcs. In main it's not so nice
Well that seems like they are forcing the ability too much (just like they did with Bestow when you respond by killing the bestow target). It doesn't really make sense that a creature can check from graveyard if it exploited a creature or not. Anyway that's way off topic. My bad, you can exploit it to counter. I still rather Essence Scatter.
I disagree. If you extract a goyf you are flipping a coin to see if the other guy has goyf or not in his hand. Let's say you extract goyfs, he untaps slams a rhino. Boom, another threat and you have one less card to deal with it in your hand. If it was a Go for the Throat, Dismember, or W/E Removal you play, you could have killed it, but you had a surgical extraction and got rid of cards that were not in hand/battlefield. That is card disadvantage, and that's the way it works against BGx more often than not. The card is good cause it hoses combo, but that's that.
The Rulings for exploit cards (and Silumgar Sorcerer) specifically state You can sacrifice the creature with exploit if it’s still on the battlefield. This will cause its other ability to trigger.. Had me nervous I had been using him wrong for months lol.
Venser does seem like it could be beneficial against abrupt decay, just need to get to 4 mana before they decay your BB, but it certainly does some other work and maybe buys you a turn to get on 3 blue mana for a cryptic if not quite there.
Dimir Charm is a tough one. It does provide 3 solid outs that can all be viable against different decks/situations. Can be a T2 removal against scooze or goyf (before they get bigger) or a mutavault etc.
I haven't had much opportunity to test yet. Only played my 1st week of it and yeah, I feel I did pretty good. Only really losing straight out to Jund mid-range. I did some pretesting vs CoCo Malira and got some bad draws and he comboed off on me. CoCo is a hard card to get around as he is holding his mana EOT just as I am - so I either counter the CoCo and leave him free on his turn to cast whatever he wants, or hope he whiffs to stay open myself to jump in later... hoping for a whiff seems best bet, but when he lands an E-Wit and a something else... it's just rough.
And in case you missed it a couple pages ago, the only list I've tried so far is this:
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
CMC-2 (16):
4x Bitterblossom
1x Countersquall
2x Go for the Throat
2x Mana Leak
2x Remand
1x Snapcaster Mage
4x Spellstutter Sprite
CMC-3 (8):
2x Dismember
3x Scion of Oona
3x Vendilion Clique
3x Cryptic Command
3x Mistbind Clique
Land:
2x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Island
4x Mutavault
4x River of Tears
4x Secluded Glen
2x Swamp
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Deathmark
2x Engineered Explosives
1x Flashfreeze
2x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Smother
1x Spell Snare
2x Spellskite
2x Sword of Light and Shadow
As I was saying though, I never once thought about siding in Glen Elendra Archmage so that may come out. I effectively used Black's Sun and EE vs merfolk. Spellskite of course was win vs burn. Spell Snare was good to side in. I never drew Deathmark when I brought it in vs Jund, but I imagine it would be good vs goyf/scooze. Recall did it's job vs U-tron. I did get a sword in my hand vs merfolk, but never got it out (and won w/o it).
My 1st 3 matches vs merfolk (I played him again in top 8 - for 6 total matches) I didn't see a Scion at all and he was wondering where my "Lords" were lol. A 4th would have actually served me well maybe...
Sorry, I'm responding at work, so I get interrupted a lot and missed the correction before posting.
I may consider siding a couple extractions, but not sure... What I like about it is the instant cast and 0-mana cost ability so you can still extract something and then still have mana open to remand or Go for the Throat (GFTT? too bad it's not GTFO). It does seems a dead card and pure card disadvantage though. As far as cramming value into one turn though, it's a boost... sometimes I'm stuck with 6 cards in hand and only 3 mana...
What are the worse threats that BGx has for us?
Siege Rhino, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Huntmaster of the Fells, Olivia Voldaren and Batterskull. Maybe we should be boarding Disdainful Stroke? It's a very narrow card, but can be really useful against Tron and CoCo decks as well. I'm thinking it's probably better than Flashfreeze as a card to consider.
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Mistbind Clique
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
Artifacts (1)
1 Batterskull
Enchantments (4)
4 Bitterblossom
Spells (17)
4 Mana Leak
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Cryptic Command
2 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
2 Victim of Night
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Liliana of the Veil
Lands (24)
5 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Mutavault
4 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Swamp
2 Annul
2 Spell Snare
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Disfigure
2 Fulminator Mage (I may play Spreading Seas in this slot)
1 Dispel
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Steel Sabotage
1 Spellskite
1 Countersquall
This is the list I'm almost assuredly taking to the local PPTQ. What are your thoughts?
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Manabase:
You really don't need shocklands at all. I have neved had an issue with the manabase and I don't run any. I don't understand why you're not playing Secluded Glen though. I'd never play less than 4 Tar Pits, especially with Sword of Feast and Famine in your 75 (which untaps it to block if needed). I believe 5 islands is too much, if you open with a 2 lander hand including double island you will have to mulligan. Decrease the chances of bad land opening hands, increase your win percentage. If you're planning to cast Batterskull and Cryptic Command with no card filtering/draw spells I'd suggest to up land count to 25.
Victim of Night doesn't kill Olivia Voldaren and Huntamster of the Fells, and those 2 cards are your worst nightmare.
I don't understand the singleton Shadow of Doubt.
Victim of Night is facing off against Go for the Throat in this deck and I went with Victim because it isn't dead against affinity. Dismember can kill what Victim doesn't. I'd like to tune the deck so that it has fewer terrible matchups, and Victim lets us interact a bit better in the Affinity games.
The Fetchland+shock land mana base is a holdover from when the deck was supporting Tasigur or Murderous Cut or Dig through Time. It worked to that end, though was not without issues. I can switch to Secluded Glen easily (though I don't like River of Tears, I just found it unreliable too often), but I don't think I have time to test it and get used to it. I've been playing this mana base (or close to it) since Khans was released, so I've gotten used to interactions and such.
I also don't like having too many ETB tapped lands, they tend to clog up and slow things down if multiple get drawn early.
I run 4 Deltas and no shocklands because of this. They up my Island count to 9 and my swamp count to 5, in order to escape from Blood Moon.
4x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Secluded Glen
4x Polluted Delta
4x Island
1x Swamp
I believe this to be the best manabase I have ever tested.