Those games went awful. Game 1 I was on the draw, and the only plan with my starting hand was casting Inquisition of Kozilek to prevent him from making a turn 2 play, playing a Bitterblossom the next turn and pray that Mistbind Clique could stabilize two turns later. He lead with Noble Hierarch, so my Inquisition of Kozilek didn't stop his turn 2 play and I fell so far behind that not drawing the fourth land to cast Mistbind Clique didn't matter. Game 2 I mulliganed a hand with Bitterblossom and Spellstutter Sprite with 5 lands to keep a worse hand with 2 Bitterblossom and 4 lands (should have mulliganed again) to lose to an unopposed Blood Moon. I don't think the match-up is this bad, although being on the draw, bad luck and poor play made it impossible.
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Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Not sure if I should run 2 snapcasters for the extra counter/removal or swap them out for 2 scion of oonas to make the deck more tempo and pump up my 1/1s. I've tested both but so far have not seen much of a difference. Obviously I would prefer not to invest in to snapcasters but if it's necessary then maybe.
i prefer snapcasters. much more versatile. scion doesn't close out the game that much faster, and if you land one and it sticks, you were ahead anyways. that said, don't disregard them when building. i've played versions with no vendilion cliques with scions replacing them. its a meta call.
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I speak in sarcasm because calling people ******* ******** is not allowed.
Played a win-a-Modern Masters box tournament this weekend. Six swiss rounds with top8. Lost in semifinals. In my way, lost 1-2 to Grixis Twin, won 2-1 against Affinity twice, 2-0 against Jeskai combo and 2-1 against 8-Rack before ID'ing into top8, where I beat Burn 2-1 and lost to Collected Naya 0-2.
Played a win-a-Modern Masters box tournament this weekend. Six swiss rounds with top8. Lost in semifinals. In my way, lost 1-2 to Grixis Twin, won 2-1 against Affinity twice, 2-0 against Jeskai combo and 2-1 against 8-Rack before ID'ing into top8, where I beat Burn 2-1 and lost to Collected Naya 0-2.
I did not like discard. The tempo loss was real. I wanted to either kill the creature or play tar pit since my curve is pretty stock at any point beyond that. They were bad late and with the prevalence of affinity, burn and BG/x decks you do want those spell snares to take advantage. I replaced them and that improved my results.
The kill package of disfigure and dismembers were superb. The only creatures who mattered were the ones played T1. I either countered (if I can't kill) or ignored the rest since I was able to race any deck by playing so many (15) creatures. Disfigure is especially relevant right now vs confidants, jaces, abbots, delvers, lavamancers etc
You kind of nailed my thoughts on discard. It can be great against some matchups and a T1 IoK to grab a noble hierarch or goyf can be great. But, in most situations, it's not great and in some outright bad.
Both games, you will open with Shores. Hand 1, you IoK and grab a card and see their hand to prepare for next few turns. It's a great play on T1. The other hand, you hold and potentially disfigure a T1 creature.
Both hands removed a threat. But hand 1, you IoK something, they can still play another option that you now have to deal with on your turn, maybe you use GftT to kill it, then they play something else on T2 that you can't respond to. This is not a proactive game state at this point...
Where as if you start out T1 disfigure any T1 play they do, now on T2 you are ready to GftT or Spellstutter, or Remand their T2 play and you are still in control of the board. and can drop a V-Clique or BB onto a clean board when the time comes (and hopefully with them tapped out).
And that's a T1 IoK vs a T1 disfigure. A T5 IoK vs a T5 Disfigure way favors the removal or combat trick over hand disruption.
I don't post often anymore, but I always follow the thread. You are basically the faerie master on here and I love this list. It's very similar to what I have been playing lately. The creatures are identical and I love a high number of cryptici. I haven't cut the discard yet, but I may test it out. I've been have a lot of success with my current list, but I think disfigure can pull a lot of that weight. Thank you as always for posting.
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"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
I like the idea of dropping discard in favor of cheap kill spells. I think faeries CAN play a grindy game (what's grindier than BB?) but is best served playing the tempo game in this meta. With disfigure instead of IoK or Thoughtseize, you can wait for their play and kill it with a single mana, rather than getting in behind in tempo by trying to be proactive. It improves Zoo and Burn matchups as well, as we can T1 'bolt' their goblin guide/swiftspear/nacatl (obviously only t1 for nacatl) instead of making them discard one. If they have two, youre out of the tempo game completely with discard, but with disfigure, youre up on them.
With that in mind, I've been testing faeries without Creeping Tar Pit and I really like it. Not having a land that comes in tapped makes your mana faster, helps keep tempo, and I found myself not having mana for tar pit AND the mutavaults if I wanted an alpha swing. Ive been playing Cavern of Souls in place of them, three to be precise...its occasionally awkward, but the uncounterability just makes non merfolk blue matchups incredible.
Thank you again for stopping by, Osman. I really appreciate the time you put into testing faeries and also sharing your results with us.
My discard does often feel awkward, but I'm a bit wary of cutting it as it is our only out against things that b/u can't deal with otherwise. Also, turn 1 gives us invaluable information and potentially helps us protects a t2 bitterblossom.
I suppose that's why it's still in the sideboard, but how great have people been finding the mainboard disfigures? It seems like they'd be more awkward in a lot of matchups than discard. That said, I do find myself siding them in a lot.
Sigh, disfigure is very good at the moment, I just wish it wasn't such a bad card. Compared to the likes of thoughtseize, bolt, and path, it really is garbage, wish it said "and you gain 2 life" on the end.
I did not like discard. The tempo loss was real. I wanted to either kill the creature or play tar pit since my curve is pretty stock at any point beyond that. They were bad late and with the prevalence of affinity, burn and BG/x decks you do want those spell snares to take advantage. I replaced them and that improved my results.
The kill package of disfigure and dismembers were superb. The only creatures who mattered were the ones played T1. I either countered (if I can't kill) or ignored the rest since I was able to race any deck by playing so many (15) creatures. Disfigure is especially relevant right now vs confidants, jaces, abbots, delvers, lavamancers etc
You kind of nailed my thoughts on discard. It can be great against some matchups and a T1 IoK to grab a noble hierarch or goyf can be great. But, in most situations, it's not great and in some outright bad.
Both games, you will open with Shores. Hand 1, you IoK and grab a card and see their hand to prepare for next few turns. It's a great play on T1. The other hand, you hold and potentially disfigure a T1 creature.
Both hands removed a threat. But hand 1, you IoK something, they can still play another option that you now have to deal with on your turn, maybe you use GftT to kill it, then they play something else on T2 that you can't respond to. This is not a proactive game state at this point...
Where as if you start out T1 disfigure any T1 play they do, now on T2 you are ready to GftT or Spellstutter, or Remand their T2 play and you are still in control of the board. and can drop a V-Clique or BB onto a clean board when the time comes (and hopefully with them tapped out).
And that's a T1 IoK vs a T1 disfigure. A T5 IoK vs a T5 Disfigure way favors the removal or combat trick over hand disruption.
What if you hold up disfigure and they do nothing but play scalding tarn on turn one and you draw into bitterblossom? Have you gained any tempo? For every hypothetical situation you come up with for a turn one disfigure being stronger than a turn one IoK, I can find one where the opposite is true.
T5 IoK is also a stronger play if you plan on Mistbinding on their turn.
That's not to say that I find disfigure unplayable, I pack two main and two side.
It does make our matchup a against blue decks slightly worse, but they're so good already that it shouldn't matter much. It's still in the sideboard if one wants it!
And I think Cavern of Souls is something I might try, especially if I go less hand disruption. I really wish cavern applied to all spells of the chosen type, would be so good for us and I don't really see it boosting other decks too much.
What if you hold up disfigure and they do nothing but play scalding tarn on turn one and you draw into bitterblossom? Have you gained any tempo? For every hypothetical situation you come up with for a turn one disfigure being stronger than a turn one IoK, I can find one where the opposite is true.
T5 IoK is also a stronger play if you plan on Mistbinding on their turn.
That's not to say that I find disfigure unplayable, I pack two main and two side.
If we start analysing case by case we might spend dozens of pages to reach a simple conclusion: playing discard isn't tempo-wise, but gives you a versatile answer.
I'd also value the information it provides in a deck that can't afford the 2 life of Gitaxian Probe. Just to follow that very same example of the match-up against Naya Zoo with the hand with Mana Leak (I'm not sold on Remand in Faeries), Go for the Throat and Inquisition of Kozilek or Disfigure, if you cast IoK then you may know if it's better to use the Leak to counter the Tarmogoyf you didn't discard, or if it would be better to kill it with Go for the Throat and use the counter on Collected Company. Without that information, I'd counter the Goyf and keep the removal for whatever comes later. With discard I'm leaving the first creature on the battlefield (let's pray it's a Hierarch and not a Nacatl), while with Disfigure I'd counter their first three turns but would fall short to stop the fourth, and in this turn in which I should switch to the aggressor role I haven't been able to start racing my opponent because the threats of Faeries are too expensive.
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Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
If we start analysing case by case we might spend dozens of pages to reach a simple conclusion: playing discard isn't tempo-wise, but gives you a versatile answer.
I'd also value the information it provides in a deck that can't afford the 2 life of Gitaxian Probe. Just to follow that very same example of the match-up against Naya Zoo with the hand with Mana Leak (I'm not sold on Remand in Faeries), Go for the Throat and Inquisition of Kozilek or Disfigure, if you cast IoK then you may know if it's better to use the Leak to counter the Tarmogoyf you didn't discard, or if it would be better to kill it with Go for the Throat and use the counter on Collected Company. Without that information, I'd counter the Goyf and keep the removal for whatever comes later. With discard I'm leaving the first creature on the battlefield (let's pray it's a Hierarch and not a Nacatl), while with Disfigure I'd counter their first three turns but would fall short to stop the fourth, and in this turn in which I should switch to the aggressor role I haven't been able to start racing my opponent because the threats of Faeries are too expensive.
From what I've found, the games that Faeries loses are those where we fall behind on board in the early game because we don't have good ways to catch up once we get behind (mainboard, at least). Bitterblossom is still a very powerful way to end games, and the rise of grixis lists means there are fewer wys on average that our opponents have to answer a resolved bitterblossom. Unfortunately, discard spells don't let you interact with the board at all, which facilitates falling behind on board and making it less likely that resolving your threats will result in you winning instead of simply pulling up from behind.
Playing without discard may cost you some amount of information about an opponent's hand, but what you gain is the ability to control the board in the early game instead of conceding early board advantage and trying to play catch-up later. The trade-off is that without the discard you need to be much tighter about determining (and then saving interaction for) what actually matters in the matchup. For example, maybe the extra removal early forces a Naya opponent to wait for turn 4 to cast collected company. If you are able to deploy a threat in the meantime (Mistbind Clique, for instance) then you may be able to trade your GfT for one of their creatures and potentially ignore or race the other one. If the alternative is getting smacked by a nacatl for 3+ turns or potentially allowing them to ramp into a T2 smiter, I'd gladly try my hand against the Company on T4.
Playing without discard also frees up a lot of room to add additional interaction along other axes (more varied removal, more counter magic, more threats) that remain relevant later into the game. Especially with the recent trend towards Faeries decks being more toward the 'controlling' end of the spectrum, having the extra early interaction with the board is extremely helpful in converting into the long game where we are more favored.
Merfolk matchup has been fun. There's so many tricks and interactions between them cheating in their fish to you flashing in fae and using your mutavaults with your scions and their lords is always cool
hello all i have been playing faeries at my lgs fnm/thnm for probably the last six months having gone from casual kitchen table to buying into poorly thought out UB midrange and now finally settling on faeries and im loving it, its unexpected for my opponent and interactive and difficult and everything i love about magic all rolled up into a tribe, while also having game against tier one decks. I have no problem now that i know the majority of the interactions. here is the decklist i am currently on. http://www.mtgvault.com/justzane/decks/ubfaetribe/
so now i have some questions im basically just looking for some feedback from you guys on, not necessarily definitive answers just feedback.
I have been playing tasigur as a two of, and i have been loving it. its never a card i am disapointed to see in my opening hand or even topdecking it it has definitely won me games just as a 4/5 monster for b or 1b. i have never even used its card drawing ability and thats just icing on the cake. all of that being said, i want to use snapcaster. i see the value inherent in its ability/body and there is a reason it is the most value blue creature in modern, the same reason it is 50+ dollars. plus it is basically a faerie just trapped in a human body. i dont believe i will be able to run both tasigur and snapcaster because they have conflicting actions, one delves/exiles gy and one flashbacks gy. Im wondering if anyone has has any success running both snap and tasi or if anyone has any opinion on which one is more effective in this deck. im asking this now because im considering buying into two snapcasters for this deck.
SLAUGHTER PACT!!! have you guys been running this? ever since i put one into this deck everytime i draw it im so happy to see it. turn one discard turn two BB AND SP can just be so overwhelming for my opponents, that i am considering running more than one. it is just so good!!!
SWORD OF F+F. i might not necessarily keep a hand with this card in it depending on obviously the other cards. but topdecking this and dumping it onto a token or VC or mistbind or even god forbid tasi can just be devastating for an opponent. i have noticed a lot of the lists on here not including it and i just think its too good to not include at least as a SB for grindy matchups or GBx ones. making them discard, proBG, untapping your lands is so ridiculously good, and youre going to say Kcommand and abrupt decay but in my experience and with six discard MB/counters it has just not been relevant. im considering running two.
Finally SCION OF OONA. i have not found this card to be effective whatsoever. if i have BB and one token on the board turn three i am generally not going to want to play this card. it feels to me as they say "winmore" i will be wanting removal or countering , and i find its +1+1/hexproof effect to honestly be lackluster in comparison to other possible plays. it seems really good when i look at it, but in my play testing it has just been a game loser for me, i even try it as specifically a counter target spell targeting my faerie but honestly i would rather play redirect if thats what im playing scion of oona for.
this post is me just generally trying to brew discussion on topics that i find very relevant. i also want to say that i really appreciate that this forum is so active, and your insights have been invaluable in my operating/planning my faeries deck.
P.S
UB FOR LIFE HELL NAH I AINT SPLASHIN NO COLORS IM KEEPIN MY PAINLESS MANABASE and HELL NAH I AINT LOSIN MY DISCARD YOU CRAY????? YOU CRAY??? DISCARD IS OP.
Zbraith i agree alot with what you are saying.
i want to get into a discuss
I have been playing tasigur as a two of, and i have been loving it. its never a card i am disapointed to see in my opening hand or even topdecking it it has definitely won me games just as a 4/5 monster for b or 1b. i have never even used its card drawing ability and thats just icing on the cake. all of that being said, i want to use snapcaster. i see the value inherent in its ability/body and there is a reason it is the most value blue creature in modern, the same reason it is 50+ dollars. plus it is basically a faerie just trapped in a human body. i dont believe i will be able to run both tasigur and snapcaster because they have conflicting actions, one delves/exiles gy and one flashbacks gy. Im wondering if anyone has has any success running both snap and tasi or if anyone has any opinion on which one is more effective in this deck. im asking this now because im considering buying into two snapcasters for this deck.
For me i have 1 slot for delve it was between Tasigur and Murderous cut and i honestly have no idea which one is better.
i agree with your points about snapcaster you can't run him with the other GY cards. there just isn't enough in there for both of them for me Snapcaster feels so weird using 3 to 4 mana to basically kill a creature and in this deck 4 mana is asking alot. and most of the time the other creatures are weaker than what we are playing or cant just straight up be ignored and chumped for days. And honestly i have no idea what to cut for him.
SLAUGHTER PACT!!! have you guys been running this? ever since i put one into this deck everytime i draw it im so happy to see it. turn one discard turn two BB AND SP can just be so overwhelming for my opponents, that i am considering running more than one. it is just so good!!!
see the above about my take on removal the opponent's creatures just aren't as good as ours. i rather use t3 to protect our BB since if they can't answer it we just win.
SWORD OF F+F. i might not necessarily keep a hand with this card in it depending on obviously the other cards. but topdecking this and dumping it onto a token or VC or mistbind or even god forbid tasi can just be devastating for an opponent. i have noticed a lot of the lists on here not including it and i just think its too good to not include at least as a SB for grindy matchups or GBx ones. making them discard, proBG, untapping your lands is so ridiculously good, and youre going to say Kcommand and abrupt decay but in my experience and with six discard MB/counters it has just not been relevant. im considering running two.
i was 100% on SoFaF train till kolghans command came out and lantern and robots became so damn popular it's just too much of a hostile environment for it right. I tested it and i rarely got to hit with it. However i really recommend Sword of Light and sword it's amazing vs a lot of even decks that don't run answers to artifacts the pro white and black is massive it's dodges nearly removal in this format but Bolt. also it's amazing answer to Lingering souls. I think SoFaF is really good it's not in my 75 and it's easily right on the edge of my SB/MB if the meta ever shifts it's coming back.
Finally SCION OF OONA. i have not found this card to be effective whatsoever. if i have BB and one token on the board turn three i am generally not going to want to play this card. it feels to me as they say "winmore" i will be wanting removal or countering , and i find its +1+1/hexproof effect to honestly be lackluster in comparison to other possible plays. it seems really good when i look at it, but in my play testing it has just been a game loser for me, i even try it as specifically a counter target spell targeting my faerie but honestly i would rather play redirect if thats what im playing scion of oona for.
I treat it as a spellstutter sprite 5/6 the 2 for 1 value is so massive. jund or any midrange deck really can't come back from t1 Discard t2 discard and t3 scion as a counter is so much ******* tempo. even if they kill it it still forces a 2 for 1 so sometimes it's even a 3 for 1 and in this format 2-1 are beatings and 3-1 are blow outs.
UB FOR LIFE HELL NAH I AINT SPLASHIN NO COLORS IM KEEPIN MY PAINLESS MANABASE and HELL NAH I AINT LOSIN MY DISCARD YOU CRAY????? YOU CRAY??? DISCARD IS OP.
You're Goddamn right.
If you want to splash go play esper/grixis control
Painless is required
IF you think discard isn't tempo Mulligan and see what happens. You can literally win the game on t1 with discard and smart play.
I do like most of your list and i really wanted to try out Spreading Seas so how has it been? that's another card that sitting off the sideboard ready to go in.
Question For everyone Pick 1. Dispel, Negate, Spell Pierce.
I highly recommend people run some form of card draw either thinktwice or visions.
Spell pierce > Countersquall > negate > spell snare > dispel in the mainboard (unless you have the strangest metagame)
I'm not sure where remand and leak fit in there however.
I'm kind of unsure as to my thoughts on discard right now. There are some decks/scenarios where discard is super critical. You can't assume disfigure replaces thoughtseize, they often serve different roles.
I'm also unsure about how much I like card draw/cantrips in this deck. In theory I want as much draw power as I can cram in here, but then is it worth playing remand over counterspells? Is it worth playing serum visions (not even draw, just selection) with discard and tarpits that fight over turn 1 plays? Think twice has never felt good in this deck, I'd rather play something like anticipate (again, not card advantage, but we aren't as critical on our land drops as some decks, and grabbing the cards we need is good) but then do I want to be playing a somewhat lackluster 2 mana spell?
I would love something like ancestral visions, but I'm not sure we're getting that. I'd like some faerie that allowed us to scry when it enters the battlefield, but I don't think we're getting that either. I want draw/scry, but I want good cards as opposed to weak-ish stuff that requires us to cut "actual" cards.
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Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
UB Faeries
U Taking Turns
BGW Abzan Midrange
EDH Decks
MonoU Sakashima the Impostor and the Clone Army
UG Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
Dralnu, Lich LordUBR Kess, Dissident Magenice im impressed you beat affinity twice with no dedicated artifact hate
2 Snapcaster Mages and 3 Disfigure mainboard with a Damnation and 2 Engineered Explosives from the sideboard seems more than enough (in addition to the other mainboard removal and counters).
You kind of nailed my thoughts on discard. It can be great against some matchups and a T1 IoK to grab a noble hierarch or goyf can be great. But, in most situations, it's not great and in some outright bad.
Let's look at some potential card draws:
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Remand
1 Go for the Throat
1 River of Tears
1 Island
1 Darkslick Shores
versus
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Remand
1 Go for the Throat
1 River of Tears
1 Island
1 Darkslick Shores
Both games, you will open with Shores. Hand 1, you IoK and grab a card and see their hand to prepare for next few turns. It's a great play on T1. The other hand, you hold and potentially disfigure a T1 creature.
Both hands removed a threat. But hand 1, you IoK something, they can still play another option that you now have to deal with on your turn, maybe you use GftT to kill it, then they play something else on T2 that you can't respond to. This is not a proactive game state at this point...
Where as if you start out T1 disfigure any T1 play they do, now on T2 you are ready to GftT or Spellstutter, or Remand their T2 play and you are still in control of the board. and can drop a V-Clique or BB onto a clean board when the time comes (and hopefully with them tapped out).
And that's a T1 IoK vs a T1 disfigure. A T5 IoK vs a T5 Disfigure way favors the removal or combat trick over hand disruption.
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
With that in mind, I've been testing faeries without Creeping Tar Pit and I really like it. Not having a land that comes in tapped makes your mana faster, helps keep tempo, and I found myself not having mana for tar pit AND the mutavaults if I wanted an alpha swing. Ive been playing Cavern of Souls in place of them, three to be precise...its occasionally awkward, but the uncounterability just makes non merfolk blue matchups incredible.
Thank you again for stopping by, Osman. I really appreciate the time you put into testing faeries and also sharing your results with us.
I suppose that's why it's still in the sideboard, but how great have people been finding the mainboard disfigures? It seems like they'd be more awkward in a lot of matchups than discard. That said, I do find myself siding them in a lot.
Sigh, disfigure is very good at the moment, I just wish it wasn't such a bad card. Compared to the likes of thoughtseize, bolt, and path, it really is garbage, wish it said "and you gain 2 life" on the end.
What if you hold up disfigure and they do nothing but play scalding tarn on turn one and you draw into bitterblossom? Have you gained any tempo? For every hypothetical situation you come up with for a turn one disfigure being stronger than a turn one IoK, I can find one where the opposite is true.
T5 IoK is also a stronger play if you plan on Mistbinding on their turn.
That's not to say that I find disfigure unplayable, I pack two main and two side.
If we start analysing case by case we might spend dozens of pages to reach a simple conclusion: playing discard isn't tempo-wise, but gives you a versatile answer.
I'd also value the information it provides in a deck that can't afford the 2 life of Gitaxian Probe. Just to follow that very same example of the match-up against Naya Zoo with the hand with Mana Leak (I'm not sold on Remand in Faeries), Go for the Throat and Inquisition of Kozilek or Disfigure, if you cast IoK then you may know if it's better to use the Leak to counter the Tarmogoyf you didn't discard, or if it would be better to kill it with Go for the Throat and use the counter on Collected Company. Without that information, I'd counter the Goyf and keep the removal for whatever comes later. With discard I'm leaving the first creature on the battlefield (let's pray it's a Hierarch and not a Nacatl), while with Disfigure I'd counter their first three turns but would fall short to stop the fourth, and in this turn in which I should switch to the aggressor role I haven't been able to start racing my opponent because the threats of Faeries are too expensive.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
From what I've found, the games that Faeries loses are those where we fall behind on board in the early game because we don't have good ways to catch up once we get behind (mainboard, at least). Bitterblossom is still a very powerful way to end games, and the rise of grixis lists means there are fewer wys on average that our opponents have to answer a resolved bitterblossom. Unfortunately, discard spells don't let you interact with the board at all, which facilitates falling behind on board and making it less likely that resolving your threats will result in you winning instead of simply pulling up from behind.
Playing without discard may cost you some amount of information about an opponent's hand, but what you gain is the ability to control the board in the early game instead of conceding early board advantage and trying to play catch-up later. The trade-off is that without the discard you need to be much tighter about determining (and then saving interaction for) what actually matters in the matchup. For example, maybe the extra removal early forces a Naya opponent to wait for turn 4 to cast collected company. If you are able to deploy a threat in the meantime (Mistbind Clique, for instance) then you may be able to trade your GfT for one of their creatures and potentially ignore or race the other one. If the alternative is getting smacked by a nacatl for 3+ turns or potentially allowing them to ramp into a T2 smiter, I'd gladly try my hand against the Company on T4.
Playing without discard also frees up a lot of room to add additional interaction along other axes (more varied removal, more counter magic, more threats) that remain relevant later into the game. Especially with the recent trend towards Faeries decks being more toward the 'controlling' end of the spectrum, having the extra early interaction with the board is extremely helpful in converting into the long game where we are more favored.
I've enjoyed the merfolk matchup anyways
so now i have some questions im basically just looking for some feedback from you guys on, not necessarily definitive answers just feedback.
I have been playing tasigur as a two of, and i have been loving it. its never a card i am disapointed to see in my opening hand or even topdecking it it has definitely won me games just as a 4/5 monster for b or 1b. i have never even used its card drawing ability and thats just icing on the cake. all of that being said, i want to use snapcaster. i see the value inherent in its ability/body and there is a reason it is the most value blue creature in modern, the same reason it is 50+ dollars. plus it is basically a faerie just trapped in a human body. i dont believe i will be able to run both tasigur and snapcaster because they have conflicting actions, one delves/exiles gy and one flashbacks gy. Im wondering if anyone has has any success running both snap and tasi or if anyone has any opinion on which one is more effective in this deck. im asking this now because im considering buying into two snapcasters for this deck.
SLAUGHTER PACT!!! have you guys been running this? ever since i put one into this deck everytime i draw it im so happy to see it. turn one discard turn two BB AND SP can just be so overwhelming for my opponents, that i am considering running more than one. it is just so good!!!
SWORD OF F+F. i might not necessarily keep a hand with this card in it depending on obviously the other cards. but topdecking this and dumping it onto a token or VC or mistbind or even god forbid tasi can just be devastating for an opponent. i have noticed a lot of the lists on here not including it and i just think its too good to not include at least as a SB for grindy matchups or GBx ones. making them discard, proBG, untapping your lands is so ridiculously good, and youre going to say Kcommand and abrupt decay but in my experience and with six discard MB/counters it has just not been relevant. im considering running two.
Finally SCION OF OONA. i have not found this card to be effective whatsoever. if i have BB and one token on the board turn three i am generally not going to want to play this card. it feels to me as they say "winmore" i will be wanting removal or countering , and i find its +1+1/hexproof effect to honestly be lackluster in comparison to other possible plays. it seems really good when i look at it, but in my play testing it has just been a game loser for me, i even try it as specifically a counter target spell targeting my faerie but honestly i would rather play redirect if thats what im playing scion of oona for.
this post is me just generally trying to brew discussion on topics that i find very relevant. i also want to say that i really appreciate that this forum is so active, and your insights have been invaluable in my operating/planning my faeries deck.
P.S
UB FOR LIFE HELL NAH I AINT SPLASHIN NO COLORS IM KEEPIN MY PAINLESS MANABASE and HELL NAH I AINT LOSIN MY DISCARD YOU CRAY????? YOU CRAY??? DISCARD IS OP.
O.P.
i want to get into a discuss
For me i have 1 slot for delve it was between Tasigur and Murderous cut and i honestly have no idea which one is better.
i agree with your points about snapcaster you can't run him with the other GY cards. there just isn't enough in there for both of them for me Snapcaster feels so weird using 3 to 4 mana to basically kill a creature and in this deck 4 mana is asking alot. and most of the time the other creatures are weaker than what we are playing or cant just straight up be ignored and chumped for days. And honestly i have no idea what to cut for him.
see the above about my take on removal the opponent's creatures just aren't as good as ours. i rather use t3 to protect our BB since if they can't answer it we just win.
i was 100% on SoFaF train till kolghans command came out and lantern and robots became so damn popular it's just too much of a hostile environment for it right. I tested it and i rarely got to hit with it. However i really recommend Sword of Light and sword it's amazing vs a lot of even decks that don't run answers to artifacts the pro white and black is massive it's dodges nearly removal in this format but Bolt. also it's amazing answer to Lingering souls. I think SoFaF is really good it's not in my 75 and it's easily right on the edge of my SB/MB if the meta ever shifts it's coming back.
I treat it as a spellstutter sprite 5/6 the 2 for 1 value is so massive. jund or any midrange deck really can't come back from t1 Discard t2 discard and t3 scion as a counter is so much ******* tempo. even if they kill it it still forces a 2 for 1 so sometimes it's even a 3 for 1 and in this format 2-1 are beatings and 3-1 are blow outs.
You're Goddamn right.
If you want to splash go play esper/grixis control
Painless is required
IF you think discard isn't tempo Mulligan and see what happens. You can literally win the game on t1 with discard and smart play.
I do like most of your list and i really wanted to try out Spreading Seas so how has it been? that's another card that sitting off the sideboard ready to go in.
Question For everyone Pick 1. Dispel, Negate, Spell Pierce.
I highly recommend people run some form of card draw either thinktwice or visions.
I'm not sure where remand and leak fit in there however.
I'm kind of unsure as to my thoughts on discard right now. There are some decks/scenarios where discard is super critical. You can't assume disfigure replaces thoughtseize, they often serve different roles.
I'm also unsure about how much I like card draw/cantrips in this deck. In theory I want as much draw power as I can cram in here, but then is it worth playing remand over counterspells? Is it worth playing serum visions (not even draw, just selection) with discard and tarpits that fight over turn 1 plays? Think twice has never felt good in this deck, I'd rather play something like anticipate (again, not card advantage, but we aren't as critical on our land drops as some decks, and grabbing the cards we need is good) but then do I want to be playing a somewhat lackluster 2 mana spell?
I would love something like ancestral visions, but I'm not sure we're getting that. I'd like some faerie that allowed us to scry when it enters the battlefield, but I don't think we're getting that either. I want draw/scry, but I want good cards as opposed to weak-ish stuff that requires us to cut "actual" cards.