New decklist looks basically good to go. I want to take out 1 Clique for +1 Snapcaster, just because Snappy is a way better topdeck in most situations. I also agree with cutting Doom Blade in favor of Go for the Throat; as an added bonus, it gets around Spellskite in the Pod and Twin matchups.
As to the sideboard, I am worried that it is trying to do too much without doing anything particularly well. I'm not a big fan of Threads in a lot of matchups, because other sideboard cards will effectively accomplish the same goal. I also really dislike Jace as a way of dealing with Jund. With BBE gone, Jund's value is tied up in Confidant, who is easy to kill, and its walkers, who we should just be able to beat to death. Another removal option, a techy thing from old decklists, might be Psionic Blast as a catchall for both creatures and walkers. Finally, we should have at least 4 graveyard hate cards in the board, just because the decks that do use the graveyard need to be reliably answered.
I would try something like this. It is almost identical to the previous build, with some small revisions to the board and maindeck.
As to the testing gauntlet, I am alright with adding a Tron to the list. MTGO stats suggest that a Mono U Tron is the way to go, with the deck consistently placing higher than its RG counterpart. Paper magic also sees better Mono U performance than RG.
Here are three possible Mono U lists that we could add to the gauntlet. They are listed in order of best finishes to worst, although all of them did well in large events:
Those decks really aren't all that different, so I will probably go with the deck that had the best finish (5/196).
Mike: Once we finalize our gauntlet, you should add the lists to the first post for testing reference. We will still have to make minor adjustments to each list to reflect the deck we are testing against (e.g. +1 Abrupt Decay in Jund lists if we have Faeries in the metagame), but otherwise they are almost ready to go.
The gauntlet should reflect what we think would actually be played if faeries were in the meta, but not necessarily tuned just to beat faeries.[/DECK]
You do realize that by applying Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, by introducing Fae to the meta, you would be forcing other decks to react to it in some way. Thus, testing against decks that are in no way prepared for Fae would not be a valid test under practical application.
No deck works in a vacuum and Fae is no exception.
What I'm saying is, eventually you will have to test against the other decks in the gauntlet after meta adjustment to see what the effective change is, thus determining what Fae will have to do, if anything, to counter those changes.
Otherwise, there really isn't a lot that can be determined from all this unless Fae proves to be so dominant that nothing any deck does is going to matter.
There is the very real possibility that the other decks beat Fae before they bother reacting to it. Or at least put up enough of a fight that it wouldn't dominate.
If you test it against stock lists, and its just a Tier 2 deck, there is much less incentive to bother testing what happens if the decks start hating on it.
You are right that it is not an exhaustive test, but it is a reasonable first test.
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I support WotC's goal of shaping Modern in favor of diversity.
I ran a thought experiment on my blog Modern in a Nuclear Wasteland
of an extreme case of banning 20 more cards to make sure they get everything, then scaling back where appropriate. WotC seems to be on a slowly build up approach. Both ways probably reach similar end points.
The post Gatecrash metagame is proving to be closer to the endpoint than I estimated, so its very possible that few (if any) more cards need to be banned.
You do realize that by applying Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, by introducing Fae to the meta, you would be forcing other decks to react to it in some way. Thus, testing against decks that are in no way prepared for Fae would not be a valid test under practical application.
No deck works in a vacuum and Fae is no exception.
What I'm saying is, eventually you will have to test against the other decks in the gauntlet after meta adjustment to see what the effective change is, thus determining what Fae will have to do, if anything, to counter those changes.
Otherwise, there really isn't a lot that can be determined from all this unless Fae proves to be so dominant that nothing any deck does is going to matter.
As I mentioned before, my goal at least is to make small, reasonable adjustments to each list in anticipation of Faeries being in the metagame. For Jund, this would mean an additional maindecked Decay/Pulse. For Pod, it might mean an additional Harmonic Sliver or Voice in the maindeck (or even Decay). We would also want to make sure that every sideboard had at least 3-4 slots that were relevant in the Fae matchup, if not flat out dedicated to beating it.
If Faeries is dominant despite these small adjustments, that might be worrisome for Bitterblossom. If not, then we might conclude that it is a relatively safe unban. And, of course, this isn't an exhaustive test. It would just be one of many data points to consider, although it would be a much more evidence and testing driven data point than we are accustomed to seeing in the bannings discussion thread.
I agree Blue Tron is more relevant to testing than GR Tron. I prefer the Michigan list because it uses Sundering Titan, which seems good in a meta with lots of greedy mana like we see now. Only change I think I can suggest is maybe adding a Contagion Engine to the sideboard - its a nice second catch-all against aggro alongside Platinum Angel. Not sure if its relevant though...Tron probably just wants to go bigger than most decks rather than try to adjust its strategy.
I can post an M-Pod list when I get home from work this evening. I'm pretty proficient with it and its currently in a pretty good spot in the metagame, so I don't think many changes beyond 1x Scavenging Ooze will be necessary.
That leaves UWR Control, Scapeshift, and Robots as the remaining lists to be filled out in the gauntlet. I don't see Affinity making any changes unless its upping the Mox Opals due to the legendary rule change. UWR has a lot of natural variation so we'd have to settle on one and find a way to justify it. Scapeshift will probably only need minor sideboard adjustments though - I view that as a deck that just wants to kill faster than the opponent...maybe a Tolaria West and a Boseiju, or a Firespout and Volcanic Fallout, like 1-2 cards max.
Should there be a pure combo deck like Storm, Eggs, or Cheerios in the testing just to confirm Faeries' historical value in regulating those?
Lastly, I'm well aware there are fundamental flaws with the nature of the test as Eepop and LBS pointed out. Personally, I think the possibility of skewing the test with bias is worthwhile if it gives us some concrete results as opposed to the dogmatic circle-jerk we typically see in the banned list discussion. We can always go back and readjust the gauntlet and try again if it looks like the subtle changes we made were 'too much' relative to the performance Faeries puts up - that's the beauty of experimentation...we can control many of the variables. Regardless, I tried to explain why I made the changes to Jund I made, and I feel they're all still valid, regardless of whether or not Faeries is part of the meta...it just gets a little better if Faeries is there.
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Faeries stuff
I had totally forgotten about Psionic Blast. Good call. Speaking of blasts, would Darkblast be worth considering as a 1-of in the sideboard? I considered the V-Clique change to account for the fact that the new Legend rule gives much less downside to Legendary cards with Enters the Battlefield effects, but I can see your point about more Snaps too. Other than that I'm quite happy with it and willing to give up on tinkering til the gauntlet is done.
Sorry if it came across otherwise, I was actually trying to be positive. LBS was just saying there was no reason to test without the gauntlet reacting to the new deck.
I was trying to explain that if the reason to test is that if the guantlet wins out before even changing anything then it is a strong statement toward the safety of a potential unbanning (at least in cases where the only decks that would use the card are crystal clear like Bitterblossom and GGT).
That's not to say the decks shouldn't be reacting, just that they don't have to in order to get meaningful results.
I think the changes you made to Jund are fine, as they wouldn't look odd to turn up in a tournament with an unchanged banned list. Boil is a little oddly specific, but I kind of doubt it would even turn out to be all that good, so whatever.
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I support WotC's goal of shaping Modern in favor of diversity.
I ran a thought experiment on my blog Modern in a Nuclear Wasteland
of an extreme case of banning 20 more cards to make sure they get everything, then scaling back where appropriate. WotC seems to be on a slowly build up approach. Both ways probably reach similar end points.
The post Gatecrash metagame is proving to be closer to the endpoint than I estimated, so its very possible that few (if any) more cards need to be banned.
Ok I am more or less satisfied with the list, and based on all the contributions in the thread so far, I can't imagine there would be too many more adjustments. If I start testing and something is just fundamentally not working, then I will report back with any re-adjustments before starting the tests over.
Just for the sake of completeness, here is the final UB Faeries list that I am going to run through the gauntlet. This list combines the best elements of the old Bitterblossom lists while still maintaining metagame relevance in the Modern scene. On the former count, it preserves many of the old synergies (Mistblind Clique to lock out, Spellstutter Sprite to counter, Scion of Oona to protect BB, etc.) that once made Faeries "oppressive", thus helping us to see if those same characteristics remain broken in today's Modern environment. It also adds in the synergy of Snapcaster Mage and a revamped removal suite to handle the pressures of contemporary decks.
My first opponent will be the, arguably, number one deck to beat in the format: The almighty Melira Pod. Unlike Kiki Pod, Melira Pod is much better suited at playing an aggressive gameplan, not just a controlling one. It also has a faster and more explosive combo plan, and some solid options against control decks.
I will be using Sam Pardee's winning list from GP Portland, with some small adjustments made to reflect a metagame with UB Faeries, as well as some cards recently reprinted in M14. The singleton Wall of Roots will be replaced with a lone Scavenging Ooze, a card that will definitely be in Pod decks after the M14 rotation. To reflect the presence of Faeries in the metagame, the sideboard will be outfitted to include an additional Abrupt Decay in place of one copy of Lingering Souls. It will also have a lone Cloudthresher as a specialized answer to Faeries, fetchable off of a big Chord or after Podding out a Reveilark. I do not anticipate getting to test game 2/3 for a few days, so I am open to any sideboard changes that anyone else has.
As a review of my methods, I will be testing on Magic Workstation with my playtest team. Players have extensive experience in tournament-caliber Magic, both in Modern and in old Standard/Extended. We will be using MWS for the sake of efficiency and time, although real-life testing admittedly presents challenges and opportunities that we do not also see in digital testing. For games 1 and 2, we will test 20 games each, with 10 on the play and 10 on the draw. We will also play a series of unrecorded warmup games, 5 on the play and 5 on the draw, to accustom ourselves to the decks, as well as playing a series of 10 solitaire goldfish hands to see how the deck mulligans.
I will keep notes on mulligans, opening hands, and general game narratives, with special attention payed to the roll of Bitterblossom in each match. Finally, I will assume that both opponents have an above-average skill level and know how to play the Faeries/Pod matchup. That means that a Pod player will be aware of a potential Scion of Oona response to any enchantment removal, and might work to play around that. It also means that a Faeries player will know exactly what to counter and disrupt. Although this doesn't necessarily approximate the average tournament, where player skills vary widely, it is a much better test than deliberately playing against bad players.
I agree Blue Tron is more relevant to testing than GR Tron. I prefer the Michigan list because it uses Sundering Titan, which seems good in a meta with lots of greedy mana like we see now. Only change I think I can suggest is maybe adding a Contagion Engine to the sideboard - its a nice second catch-all against aggro alongside Platinum Angel. Not sure if its relevant though...Tron probably just wants to go bigger than most decks rather than try to adjust its strategy.
The one benefit to testing GR Tron vs. Faeries would be the Pyroclasms. But if our Scapeshift list uses Pyroclasm or Firespout, we could get a pretty good idea without having to test against GR Tron.
That leaves UWR Control, Scapeshift, and Robots as the remaining lists to be filled out in the gauntlet. I don't see Affinity making any changes unless its upping the Mox Opals due to the legendary rule change. UWR has a lot of natural variation so we'd have to settle on one and find a way to justify it. Scapeshift will probably only need minor sideboard adjustments though - I view that as a deck that just wants to kill faster than the opponent...maybe a Tolaria West and a Boseiju, or a Firespout and Volcanic Fallout, like 1-2 cards max.
Yeah, UWR is going to be tough to narrow down to just one list. If anything, I'd suggest testing against both UWR Geist Midrange and UW(r) Control, as they seem to play out pretty differently. Geist of Saint Traft seems like a good thing to have to test against, as the card shows up a lot, but isn't in any of the other lists.
Should there be a pure combo deck like Storm, Eggs, or Cheerios in the testing just to confirm Faeries' historical value in regulating those?
I think there definitely should be, however I almost feel like we should test against pre-ban Storm, since that would give us a better idea of how Faeries would fair against strong combo decks. I think this could give us a lot of really useful information for how much of a balancing effect Faeries could have on a meta where combo is a bit stronger, which will be good information to have during future ban list testing (like, say, testing an unban of Ponder or Preordain).
I had totally forgotten about Psionic Blast. Good call. Speaking of blasts, would Darkblast be worth considering as a 1-of in the sideboard? I considered the V-Clique change to account for the fact that the new Legend rule gives much less downside to Legendary cards with Enters the Battlefield effects, but I can see your point about more Snaps too. Other than that I'm quite happy with it and willing to give up on tinkering til the gauntlet is done.
Darkblast has some nice synergy in a list running more Snapcasters (because you can take advantage of dredging), but I don't know how impactful it is in the board over some of the other options we have. What would we bring it in against? How much of an advantage would it give us post-board over other cards we could use in that slot?
There probably should be thoughtseizes in here, maybe at 2/3 split with inquisition. only 2 fetches because we don't want to take a lot of damage. blossom will more than do that for us. and given the aggro tendencies of this format, that's a good thing.
V cliques were originally at 2, but the new legend rule makes it better in multiples. never want 4 though, since the curve on the deck is already high. 3-4ish (more 4) is where the deck starts firing on all cylinders.
cryptic can be a 3 or 4 of, depending on what you want to do with with the deck. there should be some number of spell snare maybe, especially when accounting for the mirror. it stops the majority of counters and utility creatures. but familiar's ruse is so good with a bb out, since it is essentially counterspell. plus you can definitely pull off some sweet plays with 4 mana open and a spellstutter. bouncing mistbind on their turn may set you back slightly in terms of beat down tempo, but reusing it on their upkeep sets them back an entire turn. remand is weaker in the deck, since our card advantage is no longer virtual in the form of delaying them, it is actual in the tokens we poop out.
removal suite is also up for debate. disfigure is premier removal in this deck. there are a ton of x/2s, and most importantly it kills deathrite shaman. peppersmoke is just a fun card that lets you get value out of 1/1s or trade up with your 3/1s or 4/4s. smother is a card i enjoy immensely, since it hits 90% of the creatures played, including man lands. i like go for the throat over doom blade, since the affinity match up is pretty solid with disfigure and smother (and peppersmoke).
the sideboard i left out on purpose, since it is entirely meta dependent. but there should be some number of devour flesh in it. i would not play sower, and if i did, it would be a one of. it dies way too easily in the meta. threads or even soul ransom are better choices.
Here's an example of a stock list for Gruul Zoo that Lantern provided with Scavenging Ooze added to the mix. Lantern indicated that the sideboard could use some minor tweaking for the post-Dragon's Maze metagame - other than 1 or 2 cards I can't think of any changes I'd make.
I'm only going to propose mild changes to the sideboard: -1 Vines of Vastwood - one less is fine -1 Pillar of Flame - enough removal in the maindeck +1 Domri Rade - I'd love to get this in the maindeck, but it SB will have to do +1 Choke - lots of islands in the meta right now between U-tron & UWR (+Faeries for this test...could be crippling alongside Blood Moon)
For the Robots deck, I propose going with the red version. Its fast, has fantastic reach, and gets access to good tools for the current metagame in the sidebaord. I'm no Robots player, but it seems like the best build on paper at least. Robot will try to win while interacting as little as possible, so I'm not sure if there's any point in tweaking the sideboard. The splash-hate for Faeries from its plan against Pod with Torpor Orbs should be more than enough.
liliana isn't where fae wants to be. we play no flashback cards, and as an edict, devour flesh is better at instant speed. i've thought about cavern, but all our stuff is instant speed and this would be the counter spell deck. plus it opens us up even more to blood moon effects.
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I speak in sarcasm because calling people ******* ******** is not allowed.
There probably should be thoughtseizes in here, maybe at 2/3 split with inquisition. only 2 fetches because we don't want to take a lot of damage. blossom will more than do that for us. and given the aggro tendencies of this format, that's a good thing.
V cliques were originally at 2, but the new legend rule makes it better in multiples. never want 4 though, since the curve on the deck is already high. 3-4ish (more 4) is where the deck starts firing on all cylinders.
cryptic can be a 3 or 4 of, depending on what you want to do with with the deck. there should be some number of spell snare maybe, especially when accounting for the mirror. it stops the majority of counters and utility creatures. but familiar's ruse is so good with a bb out, since it is essentially counterspell. plus you can definitely pull off some sweet plays with 4 mana open and a spellstutter. bouncing mistbind on their turn may set you back slightly in terms of beat down tempo, but reusing it on their upkeep sets them back an entire turn. remand is weaker in the deck, since our card advantage is no longer virtual in the form of delaying them, it is actual in the tokens we poop out.
removal suite is also up for debate. disfigure is premier removal in this deck. there are a ton of x/2s, and most importantly it kills deathrite shaman. peppersmoke is just a fun card that lets you get value out of 1/1s or trade up with your 3/1s or 4/4s. smother is a card i enjoy immensely, since it hits 90% of the creatures played, including man lands. i like go for the throat over doom blade, since the affinity match up is pretty solid with disfigure and smother (and peppersmoke).
the sideboard i left out on purpose, since it is entirely meta dependent. but there should be some number of devour flesh in it. i would not play sower, and if i did, it would be a one of. it dies way too easily in the meta. threads or even soul ransom are better choices.
I think some tweaks may even benefit the deck honestly (personal touches to consider Germanturkey)
I think the Harbringer is really underrated, and it helps to have fewer dependable faeries in this environment I think...in addition the champion interaction with Mistbind Clique is very good, plus there may be some cards you might feel are auto-includes in the sb of your list like 2x snapcaster mage to make good use of your small removal suite and either Damnation or Infest as a guideline for sideboards. Spell Snare should actually be somewhere, I agree, but I think the sb might be the best place for it because faerie players can watch for the frequency of cmc2 spells and see if they are more valuable than the discard or in some cases bitterblossom (like aggro matchups). The singleton Ingenuity is a card that I think faeries uses to their advantage a lot more often than not, but its just a suggestion, I cut a counter because of the consistency of that counter in multiples for past versions of this deck.
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
MTGO Daily results suggest the traditional 3-color version of Jund has been doing better than the 4c version with Lingering Souls and Ajani. I will swap out the Finks for another Huntmaster. Lavaclaw Reaches and Wolf-Run could be a Treetop Village I suppose - I'll swap the Lavaclaw Reaches out for one at least; I find the ability to pump for the win in the late game as additional reach to be more relevant than the 3/3 body, especially now that the metagame has slowed down slightly.
Of course you can still splash red for Galvanic Blast and Whipflare, but you want basic Islands in the maindeck, not Mountains.
I initially gravitated towards the red version because its the fastest. If its not the correct call, then thank you for pointing it out. I'm not an expert in every deck, nor do I pretend to be, which is why I've been asking for input on all the lists I post here.
How about this blue-ish version that Zvi played to a Top8 finish at GP Portland instead? It only has 1 Master of Etherium and doesn't have Unified Will in the sideboard, but its more in line with the kind of deck you were talking about. And it has proven results at a GP, which helps.
I think some tweaks may even benefit the deck honestly (personal touches to consider Germanturkey)
I think the Harbringer is really underrated, and it helps to have fewer dependable faeries in this environment I think...in addition the champion interaction with Mistbind Clique is very good, plus there may be some cards you might feel are auto-includes in the sb of your list like 2x snapcaster mage to make good use of your small removal suite and either Damnation or Infest as a guideline for sideboards. Spell Snare should actually be somewhere, I agree, but I think the sb might be the best place for it because faerie players can watch for the frequency of cmc2 spells and see if they are more valuable than the discard or in some cases bitterblossom (like aggro matchups). The singleton Ingenuity is a card that I think faeries uses to their advantage a lot more often than not, but its just a suggestion, I cut a counter because of the consistency of that counter in multiples for past versions of this deck.
All of these decks have way too little removal for how aggressive the format is. If combo were more prevalent, these would be sweet, but in a creature dominated format, you guys need to up the ante on removal spells.
Also, I would consider spellskite to protect bitterblossom. Extended Fae lists played it quite a bit, and it's something to consider maindeck.
Also, I see a lot of stuff in your guys faerie lists that seem to put it more towards the control spectrum. Ideally, Faeries should be a midrange tempo deck. It doesn't want to be fooling around with cute cards like Familiar's Ruse and Jace's ingenuity. If you guys like them for your own variants, sure that's fine, but if you're making a gauntlet, you should probably try to make something that's more of a "stock" variant that can compete in the meta.
I'm not saying this is perfect, but I think it would hold up much better in the meta than the lists you guys listed. Cryptic command is awesome and all, but playing 8x 4-drops in modern is a bit expensive, especially when you're trying to fight through counters of decks like UWR geist and such.
Ok I am more or less satisfied with the list, and based on all the contributions in the thread so far, I can't imagine there would be too many more adjustments. If I start testing and something is just fundamentally not working, then I will report back with any re-adjustments before starting the tests over.
Just for the sake of completeness, here is the final UB Faeries list that I am going to run through the gauntlet. This list combines the best elements of the old Bitterblossom lists while still maintaining metagame relevance in the Modern scene. On the former count, it preserves many of the old synergies (Mistblind Clique to lock out, Spellstutter Sprite to counter, Scion of Oona to protect BB, etc.) that once made Faeries "oppressive", thus helping us to see if those same characteristics remain broken in today's Modern environment. It also adds in the synergy of Snapcaster Mage and a revamped removal suite to handle the pressures of contemporary decks.
My first opponent will be the, arguably, number one deck to beat in the format: The almighty Melira Pod. Unlike Kiki Pod, Melira Pod is much better suited at playing an aggressive gameplan, not just a controlling one. It also has a faster and more explosive combo plan, and some solid options against control decks.
I will be using Sam Pardee's winning list from GP Portland, with some small adjustments made to reflect a metagame with UB Faeries, as well as some cards recently reprinted in M14. The singleton Wall of Roots will be replaced with a lone Scavenging Ooze, a card that will definitely be in Pod decks after the M14 rotation. To reflect the presence of Faeries in the metagame, the sideboard will be outfitted to include an additional Abrupt Decay in place of one copy of Lingering Souls. It will also have a lone Cloudthresher as a specialized answer to Faeries, fetchable off of a big Chord or after Podding out a Reveilark. I do not anticipate getting to test game 2/3 for a few days, so I am open to any sideboard changes that anyone else has.
As a review of my methods, I will be testing on Magic Workstation with my playtest team. Players have extensive experience in tournament-caliber Magic, both in Modern and in old Standard/Extended. We will be using MWS for the sake of efficiency and time, although real-life testing admittedly presents challenges and opportunities that we do not also see in digital testing. For games 1 and 2, we will test 20 games each, with 10 on the play and 10 on the draw. We will also play a series of unrecorded warmup games, 5 on the play and 5 on the draw, to accustom ourselves to the decks, as well as playing a series of 10 solitaire goldfish hands to see how the deck mulligans.
I will keep notes on mulligans, opening hands, and general game narratives, with special attention payed to the roll of Bitterblossom in each match. Finally, I will assume that both opponents have an above-average skill level and know how to play the Faeries/Pod matchup. That means that a Pod player will be aware of a potential Scion of Oona response to any enchantment removal, and might work to play around that. It also means that a Faeries player will know exactly what to counter and disrupt. Although this doesn't necessarily approximate the average tournament, where player skills vary widely, it is a much better test than deliberately playing against bad players.
I am eagerly awaiting what you find, if you also don't mind giving me a PM, I would like to skype share screens during your testing as well since I cannot use MWS for a variety of reasons on this computer, but would love to observe the games if possible.
@badd business- I actually could agree with you on the number of 4cmc spells, but I would personally put the value of cryptic and mist bind clique at 3 each if you really are that worried. -1 mist bind +1 scion or vendilion clique and +1 cryptic command because I think its the best option the deck has. Jace's ingenuity was a personal card yes, but it actually did dig enough to get you into your options, maybe not an absolute choice for a gauntlet. I was never so sure about Familiar's ruse but it seems a very positive interaction for reusing spell stutter sprite or mist bind clique, so I would say don't be so quick to dismiss it as cute. The deck might actually benefit from a hard counter and this one can interact profitably with the deck
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
All of these decks have way too little removal for how aggressive the format is. If combo were more prevalent, these would be sweet, but in a creature dominated format, you guys need to up the ante on removal spells.
Also, I would consider spellskite to protect bitterblossom. Extended Fae lists played it quite a bit, and it's something to consider maindeck.
Also, I see a lot of stuff in your guys faerie lists that seem to put it more towards the control spectrum. Ideally, Faeries should be a midrange tempo deck. It doesn't want to be fooling around with cute cards like Familiar's Ruse and Jace's ingenuity. If you guys like them for your own variants, sure that's fine, but if you're making a gauntlet, you should probably try to make something that's more of a "stock" variant that can compete in the meta.
I'm not saying this is perfect, but I think it would hold up much better in the meta than the lists you guys listed. Cryptic command is awesome and all, but playing 8x 4-drops in modern is a bit expensive, especially when you're trying to fight through counters of decks like UWR geist and such.
On the one hand, I agree that the Fae list needs more removal. 4 removal spells is just not enough for a format that is 80% creature-based decks, especially when 4 of the top 6 archetypes (Affinity, Zoo, Jund, Pod) are also heavily creature-based. In this metagame, a card like Disfigure can definitely go a long way. Cryptic Command probably needs to get cut to make room for those, which is fine given the speed of the format.
That said, I totally disagree with the removal of Snapcaster. He's just too good in too many matchups. If anything, upping the removal suite to 6 spells makes Snapcaster even better, giving us additional use out of each of our versatile spells. Snappy also helps out if we are cutting 2 Commands to make room for Disfigure (more value from our reduced countermagic arsenal).
Also, I've tested Fae with bitterblossom before as I've mentioned in the ban-list thread. I've had a pretty hard time making it to be competitive no matter how I tune it. It has a very difficult time keeping up with the aggressive nature of the format, and even when you keep the aggressive decks down, it still has problems with tron like most other blue-based midrange or control decks do.
For a deck that struggled with tribal Kithkin, dealing with modern RDW, Zoo, Jund, Junk, GW aggro, Slippery Bogles, Affinity, and even Merfolk is a really difficult proposition even if you can presumably add superior removal. Blossom would absolutely be a fair unban, and it actually would help to keep combo decks in check since Faeries are a very powerful anti-combo, anti-control deck.
Faeries was a staple in 4 block extended and old thopter-depths extended since very few aggressive creature decks actually existed in those formats. In old extended, it also had access to jitte, which helped a ton against decks such as Zoo which could easily tear through it's weak creatures. I enjoy faeries in a metagame, but this is an awful meta for any faerie deck to exist, and it just does not fit the bill.
Although I believe 4-5 removal spells is fine, from my previous (M13 and RTR, I believe) testing, I believe 0 Tiagos is wrong (this is aimed at the latest lists, not ktkenshinx's). Without Tiago (tried SoFaF and more disruption instead), I got my butt kicked by Pod consistently pre-board. The best disruption in the deck was removal, and 4 removal spells still weren't good enough. Bitterblossom was a joke against Pod because they simply started assembling combos and continually forcing removal instead. Heck, I think Pod was one of the decks that had the easiest time dealing with Ancestral Vision in UB Fae.
Tiago also improves your grind plan against UWR Midrange and does a number on Jund if you can eliminate Deathrite and Ooze. Well, he's his usual awesome self against everyone else.
I believe UB Fae has to board fairly anti-aggro because UB isn't such a good colour combination for defense (worse life gain, smaller creatures than UW). This got apparent when I tested against my Geist of Saint Win list that is not tuned for the Fae match-up--Bitterblossom became a free burn spell for the UWR deck late-game because it couldn't block well enough, and UWR threw a lot of burn and removal in my face in response to the Mistbind Clique trigger (and then Blossom killed me half the time). Even Turn 2 Blossom couldn't quite handle Turn 3 Traft (although I should try out chumping the Angel token instead of trying to get enough Faerie Rogues to kill Traft).
I can only post my current list tomorrow because I don't have it on me right now and it's bedtime for me. Probably its most noteworthy feature is 0 Scion of Oona, though (I still think other Fae or more disruption are better than a 3-cmc 1/1 with admittedly synergistic abilities).
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As to the sideboard, I am worried that it is trying to do too much without doing anything particularly well. I'm not a big fan of Threads in a lot of matchups, because other sideboard cards will effectively accomplish the same goal. I also really dislike Jace as a way of dealing with Jund. With BBE gone, Jund's value is tied up in Confidant, who is easy to kill, and its walkers, who we should just be able to beat to death. Another removal option, a techy thing from old decklists, might be Psionic Blast as a catchall for both creatures and walkers. Finally, we should have at least 4 graveyard hate cards in the board, just because the decks that do use the graveyard need to be reliably answered.
I would try something like this. It is almost identical to the previous build, with some small revisions to the board and maindeck.
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion of Oona
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells - 20
4 Bitterblossom
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Smother
1 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
1 Ultimate Price
1 Dismember
4 Cryptic Command
3 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
2 Swamp
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Deathmark
2 Extirpate
3 Spreading Seas
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Academ Ruins
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Psionic Blast
As to the testing gauntlet, I am alright with adding a Tron to the list. MTGO stats suggest that a Mono U Tron is the way to go, with the deck consistently placing higher than its RG counterpart. Paper magic also sees better Mono U performance than RG.
Here are three possible Mono U lists that we could add to the gauntlet. They are listed in order of best finishes to worst, although all of them did well in large events:
5/196: PTQ Garden City, MI
5/137: PTQ Brno, Czech Republic
5/129: PTQ Oakmont, PA
Those decks really aren't all that different, so I will probably go with the deck that had the best finish (5/196).
Mike: Once we finalize our gauntlet, you should add the lists to the first post for testing reference. We will still have to make minor adjustments to each list to reflect the deck we are testing against (e.g. +1 Abrupt Decay in Jund lists if we have Faeries in the metagame), but otherwise they are almost ready to go.
You do realize that by applying Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, by introducing Fae to the meta, you would be forcing other decks to react to it in some way. Thus, testing against decks that are in no way prepared for Fae would not be a valid test under practical application.
No deck works in a vacuum and Fae is no exception.
What I'm saying is, eventually you will have to test against the other decks in the gauntlet after meta adjustment to see what the effective change is, thus determining what Fae will have to do, if anything, to counter those changes.
Otherwise, there really isn't a lot that can be determined from all this unless Fae proves to be so dominant that nothing any deck does is going to matter.
If you test it against stock lists, and its just a Tier 2 deck, there is much less incentive to bother testing what happens if the decks start hating on it.
You are right that it is not an exhaustive test, but it is a reasonable first test.
I ran a thought experiment on my blog
Modern in a Nuclear Wasteland
of an extreme case of banning 20 more cards to make sure they get everything, then scaling back where appropriate. WotC seems to be on a slowly build up approach. Both ways probably reach similar end points.
The post Gatecrash metagame is proving to be closer to the endpoint than I estimated, so its very possible that few (if any) more cards need to be banned.
As I mentioned before, my goal at least is to make small, reasonable adjustments to each list in anticipation of Faeries being in the metagame. For Jund, this would mean an additional maindecked Decay/Pulse. For Pod, it might mean an additional Harmonic Sliver or Voice in the maindeck (or even Decay). We would also want to make sure that every sideboard had at least 3-4 slots that were relevant in the Fae matchup, if not flat out dedicated to beating it.
If Faeries is dominant despite these small adjustments, that might be worrisome for Bitterblossom. If not, then we might conclude that it is a relatively safe unban. And, of course, this isn't an exhaustive test. It would just be one of many data points to consider, although it would be a much more evidence and testing driven data point than we are accustomed to seeing in the bannings discussion thread.
If anyone wants to test an unbanned Thopter Foundry via cockatrice, let me know, I want to break this out:
4 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Celestial Collonade
2 Arid Mesa
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Plains
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Mystic Gate
1 Watery Grave
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
3 Electrolyze
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Spell Snare
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Cryptic Command
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Detention Sphere
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
2 Gifts Ungiven
I agree Blue Tron is more relevant to testing than GR Tron. I prefer the Michigan list because it uses Sundering Titan, which seems good in a meta with lots of greedy mana like we see now. Only change I think I can suggest is maybe adding a Contagion Engine to the sideboard - its a nice second catch-all against aggro alongside Platinum Angel. Not sure if its relevant though...Tron probably just wants to go bigger than most decks rather than try to adjust its strategy.
I can post an M-Pod list when I get home from work this evening. I'm pretty proficient with it and its currently in a pretty good spot in the metagame, so I don't think many changes beyond 1x Scavenging Ooze will be necessary.
That leaves UWR Control, Scapeshift, and Robots as the remaining lists to be filled out in the gauntlet. I don't see Affinity making any changes unless its upping the Mox Opals due to the legendary rule change. UWR has a lot of natural variation so we'd have to settle on one and find a way to justify it. Scapeshift will probably only need minor sideboard adjustments though - I view that as a deck that just wants to kill faster than the opponent...maybe a Tolaria West and a Boseiju, or a Firespout and Volcanic Fallout, like 1-2 cards max.
Should there be a pure combo deck like Storm, Eggs, or Cheerios in the testing just to confirm Faeries' historical value in regulating those?
Lastly, I'm well aware there are fundamental flaws with the nature of the test as Eepop and LBS pointed out. Personally, I think the possibility of skewing the test with bias is worthwhile if it gives us some concrete results as opposed to the dogmatic circle-jerk we typically see in the banned list discussion. We can always go back and readjust the gauntlet and try again if it looks like the subtle changes we made were 'too much' relative to the performance Faeries puts up - that's the beauty of experimentation...we can control many of the variables. Regardless, I tried to explain why I made the changes to Jund I made, and I feel they're all still valid, regardless of whether or not Faeries is part of the meta...it just gets a little better if Faeries is there.
---
Faeries stuff
I had totally forgotten about Psionic Blast. Good call. Speaking of blasts, would Darkblast be worth considering as a 1-of in the sideboard? I considered the V-Clique change to account for the fact that the new Legend rule gives much less downside to Legendary cards with Enters the Battlefield effects, but I can see your point about more Snaps too. Other than that I'm quite happy with it and willing to give up on tinkering til the gauntlet is done.
Speculate less. Test more.
I was trying to explain that if the reason to test is that if the guantlet wins out before even changing anything then it is a strong statement toward the safety of a potential unbanning (at least in cases where the only decks that would use the card are crystal clear like Bitterblossom and GGT).
That's not to say the decks shouldn't be reacting, just that they don't have to in order to get meaningful results.
I think the changes you made to Jund are fine, as they wouldn't look odd to turn up in a tournament with an unchanged banned list. Boil is a little oddly specific, but I kind of doubt it would even turn out to be all that good, so whatever.
I ran a thought experiment on my blog
Modern in a Nuclear Wasteland
of an extreme case of banning 20 more cards to make sure they get everything, then scaling back where appropriate. WotC seems to be on a slowly build up approach. Both ways probably reach similar end points.
The post Gatecrash metagame is proving to be closer to the endpoint than I estimated, so its very possible that few (if any) more cards need to be banned.
Just for the sake of completeness, here is the final UB Faeries list that I am going to run through the gauntlet. This list combines the best elements of the old Bitterblossom lists while still maintaining metagame relevance in the Modern scene. On the former count, it preserves many of the old synergies (Mistblind Clique to lock out, Spellstutter Sprite to counter, Scion of Oona to protect BB, etc.) that once made Faeries "oppressive", thus helping us to see if those same characteristics remain broken in today's Modern environment. It also adds in the synergy of Snapcaster Mage and a revamped removal suite to handle the pressures of contemporary decks.
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique
3 Scion of Oona
3 Snapcaster Mage
Spells - 20
4 Bitterblossom
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Smother
1 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
1 Ultimate Price
1 Dismember
4 Cryptic Command
3 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
2 Swamp
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Deathmark
2 Extirpate
3 Spreading Seas
2 Steel Sabotage
1 Academy Ruins
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Psionic Blast
My first opponent will be the, arguably, number one deck to beat in the format: The almighty Melira Pod. Unlike Kiki Pod, Melira Pod is much better suited at playing an aggressive gameplan, not just a controlling one. It also has a faster and more explosive combo plan, and some solid options against control decks.
I will be using Sam Pardee's winning list from GP Portland, with some small adjustments made to reflect a metagame with UB Faeries, as well as some cards recently reprinted in M14. The singleton Wall of Roots will be replaced with a lone Scavenging Ooze, a card that will definitely be in Pod decks after the M14 rotation. To reflect the presence of Faeries in the metagame, the sideboard will be outfitted to include an additional Abrupt Decay in place of one copy of Lingering Souls. It will also have a lone Cloudthresher as a specialized answer to Faeries, fetchable off of a big Chord or after Podding out a Reveilark. I do not anticipate getting to test game 2/3 for a few days, so I am open to any sideboard changes that anyone else has.
Here is the Pod list as I will be testing it:
3 Forest
3 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures - 28
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Cartel Aristocrat
3 Deathrite Shaman
1 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Murderous Redcap
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Reveillark
1 Spellskite
2 Viscera Seer
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Dismember
1 Harmonic Sliver
2 Lingering Souls
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Cloudthresher
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Shriekmaw
3 Thoughtseize
1 Voice of Resurgence
As a review of my methods, I will be testing on Magic Workstation with my playtest team. Players have extensive experience in tournament-caliber Magic, both in Modern and in old Standard/Extended. We will be using MWS for the sake of efficiency and time, although real-life testing admittedly presents challenges and opportunities that we do not also see in digital testing. For games 1 and 2, we will test 20 games each, with 10 on the play and 10 on the draw. We will also play a series of unrecorded warmup games, 5 on the play and 5 on the draw, to accustom ourselves to the decks, as well as playing a series of 10 solitaire goldfish hands to see how the deck mulligans.
I will keep notes on mulligans, opening hands, and general game narratives, with special attention payed to the roll of Bitterblossom in each match. Finally, I will assume that both opponents have an above-average skill level and know how to play the Faeries/Pod matchup. That means that a Pod player will be aware of a potential Scion of Oona response to any enchantment removal, and might work to play around that. It also means that a Faeries player will know exactly what to counter and disrupt. Although this doesn't necessarily approximate the average tournament, where player skills vary widely, it is a much better test than deliberately playing against bad players.
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Watery Grave
4 Mutavault (less than 4 is just wrong)
4 River of Tears
2 Creeping Tar-Pit
6 Island
1 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Sunken Ruins
4 Bitterblossom
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique
4 Cryptic Command
3 Spell Snare
3 Mana Leak
2 Disfigure
3 Smother
1 Jace Beleren
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Damnation
2 Sword of Fire and Ice/Threads of Disloyalty
Side:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Slay
1 Deathmark
3 Batterskull
2 Thoughtseize
The one benefit to testing GR Tron vs. Faeries would be the Pyroclasms. But if our Scapeshift list uses Pyroclasm or Firespout, we could get a pretty good idea without having to test against GR Tron.
Yeah, UWR is going to be tough to narrow down to just one list. If anything, I'd suggest testing against both UWR Geist Midrange and UW(r) Control, as they seem to play out pretty differently. Geist of Saint Traft seems like a good thing to have to test against, as the card shows up a lot, but isn't in any of the other lists.
I think there definitely should be, however I almost feel like we should test against pre-ban Storm, since that would give us a better idea of how Faeries would fair against strong combo decks. I think this could give us a lot of really useful information for how much of a balancing effect Faeries could have on a meta where combo is a bit stronger, which will be good information to have during future ban list testing (like, say, testing an unban of Ponder or Preordain).
Darkblast has some nice synergy in a list running more Snapcasters (because you can take advantage of dredging), but I don't know how impactful it is in the board over some of the other options we have. What would we bring it in against? How much of an advantage would it give us post-board over other cards we could use in that slot?
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Scion of Oona
3 Vendilion Clique
Enchantments
4 Bitterblossom
Instants
4 Cryptic Command
3 Disfigure
3 Mana Leak
2 Familiar's Ruse
2 Peppersmoke
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
Lands (24)
5 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
3 Swamp
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Marsh Flast
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Watery Grave
Testing based solely on my own card availability.
There probably should be thoughtseizes in here, maybe at 2/3 split with inquisition. only 2 fetches because we don't want to take a lot of damage. blossom will more than do that for us. and given the aggro tendencies of this format, that's a good thing.
V cliques were originally at 2, but the new legend rule makes it better in multiples. never want 4 though, since the curve on the deck is already high. 3-4ish (more 4) is where the deck starts firing on all cylinders.
cryptic can be a 3 or 4 of, depending on what you want to do with with the deck. there should be some number of spell snare maybe, especially when accounting for the mirror. it stops the majority of counters and utility creatures. but familiar's ruse is so good with a bb out, since it is essentially counterspell. plus you can definitely pull off some sweet plays with 4 mana open and a spellstutter. bouncing mistbind on their turn may set you back slightly in terms of beat down tempo, but reusing it on their upkeep sets them back an entire turn. remand is weaker in the deck, since our card advantage is no longer virtual in the form of delaying them, it is actual in the tokens we poop out.
removal suite is also up for debate. disfigure is premier removal in this deck. there are a ton of x/2s, and most importantly it kills deathrite shaman. peppersmoke is just a fun card that lets you get value out of 1/1s or trade up with your 3/1s or 4/4s. smother is a card i enjoy immensely, since it hits 90% of the creatures played, including man lands. i like go for the throat over doom blade, since the affinity match up is pretty solid with disfigure and smother (and peppersmoke).
the sideboard i left out on purpose, since it is entirely meta dependent. but there should be some number of devour flesh in it. i would not play sower, and if i did, it would be a one of. it dies way too easily in the meta. threads or even soul ransom are better choices.
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Experiment One
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Vexing Devil
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Dismember
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Pillar of Flame
Land - 19
4 Arid Mesa
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Blood Moon
2 Deglamer
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Sulfur Elemental
2 Torpor Orb
3 Vines of Vastwood
I'm only going to propose mild changes to the sideboard:
-1 Vines of Vastwood - one less is fine
-1 Pillar of Flame - enough removal in the maindeck
+1 Domri Rade - I'd love to get this in the maindeck, but it SB will have to do
+1 Choke - lots of islands in the meta right now between U-tron & UWR (+Faeries for this test...could be crippling alongside Blood Moon)
Any other changes that should be considered?
Speculate less. Test more.
4 Ornithopter
2 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Vault Skirge
3 Arcbound Ravager
4 Steel Overseer
3 Etched Champion
Artifacts - 12
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Cranial Plating
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Shrapnel Blast
Land - 16
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
3 Glimmervoid
1 Mountain
3 Whipflare
3 Deglamer
2 Spellskite
3 Torpor Orb
4 Blood Moon
Thoughts?
Speculate less. Test more.
Jund:
No Lingering Souls? Swap the Finks for those.
Why Lavaclaw Reaches? Most lists I see play Treetop Village because it has a bigger butt.
Why Kessig Wolf Run? As far as I know, only decks with Knight of the Reliquary (i.e. Kibler's Naya Midrange) can make full use of it. I think you want another Treetop Village in this slot.
Affinity:
Most lists are blue-based with Master of Etherium and Thoughtcast maindeck, and Spell Pierce/Unified Will SB. Shrapnel Blast is not played any more, neither is Steelshaper's Gift (just FYI).
Of course you can still splash red for Galvanic Blast and Whipflare, but you want basic Islands in the maindeck, not Mountains.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
I think some tweaks may even benefit the deck honestly (personal touches to consider Germanturkey)
I think the Harbringer is really underrated, and it helps to have fewer dependable faeries in this environment I think...in addition the champion interaction with Mistbind Clique is very good, plus there may be some cards you might feel are auto-includes in the sb of your list like 2x snapcaster mage to make good use of your small removal suite and either Damnation or Infest as a guideline for sideboards. Spell Snare should actually be somewhere, I agree, but I think the sb might be the best place for it because faerie players can watch for the frequency of cmc2 spells and see if they are more valuable than the discard or in some cases bitterblossom (like aggro matchups). The singleton Ingenuity is a card that I think faeries uses to their advantage a lot more often than not, but its just a suggestion, I cut a counter because of the consistency of that counter in multiples for past versions of this deck.
3 Mistbind Clique
1 Faerie Harbinger
3 Scion of Oona
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Bitterblossom
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtsieze
4 Cryptic Command
3 Mana Leak
1 Familiar's Ruse
1 Go for the Throat
1 Smother
1 Doom Blade
2 Disfigure
4 Secluded Glen
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Marsh Flast
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Watery Grave
5 Island
2 Swamp
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
MTGO Daily results suggest the traditional 3-color version of Jund has been doing better than the 4c version with Lingering Souls and Ajani. I will swap out the Finks for another Huntmaster. Lavaclaw Reaches and Wolf-Run could be a Treetop Village I suppose - I'll swap the Lavaclaw Reaches out for one at least; I find the ability to pump for the win in the late game as additional reach to be more relevant than the 3/3 body, especially now that the metagame has slowed down slightly.
I initially gravitated towards the red version because its the fastest. If its not the correct call, then thank you for pointing it out. I'm not an expert in every deck, nor do I pretend to be, which is why I've been asking for input on all the lists I post here.
How about this blue-ish version that Zvi played to a Top8 finish at GP Portland instead? It only has 1 Master of Etherium and doesn't have Unified Will in the sideboard, but its more in line with the kind of deck you were talking about. And it has proven results at a GP, which helps.
4 Vault Skirge
4 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
3 Etched Champion
2 Memnite
1 Master of Etherium
Artifacts - 12
4 Cranial Plating
4 Mox Opal
4 Springleaf Drum
4 Thoughtcast
2 Galvanic Blast
Land - 16
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Darksteel Citadel
3 Glimmervoid
1 Island
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Spellskite
2 Spell Pierce
2 Thoughtseize
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Whipflare
Speculate less. Test more.
GP San Diego:
Junk had 11 Day 2s, 1 Day 1 undefeated, 1 Top 8.
Jund (Ajani) had 5 Day 2s, 1 Top 8.
GP Portland:
Junk had 1 Day 1 undefeated.
Jund had nothing.
Affinity: Yes, something like that. All Top 8/16 lists from PT: RTR onwards look like that, you can pick any one and run with it.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
All of these decks have way too little removal for how aggressive the format is. If combo were more prevalent, these would be sweet, but in a creature dominated format, you guys need to up the ante on removal spells.
Also, I would consider spellskite to protect bitterblossom. Extended Fae lists played it quite a bit, and it's something to consider maindeck.
Also, I see a lot of stuff in your guys faerie lists that seem to put it more towards the control spectrum. Ideally, Faeries should be a midrange tempo deck. It doesn't want to be fooling around with cute cards like Familiar's Ruse and Jace's ingenuity. If you guys like them for your own variants, sure that's fine, but if you're making a gauntlet, you should probably try to make something that's more of a "stock" variant that can compete in the meta.
I'm not saying this is perfect, but I think it would hold up much better in the meta than the lists you guys listed. Cryptic command is awesome and all, but playing 8x 4-drops in modern is a bit expensive, especially when you're trying to fight through counters of decks like UWR geist and such.
4x Bitterblossom
Instants / Sorceries
2x Repeal
2x Remand
2x Cryptic Command
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Mana Leak
2x Disfigure
2x Devour Flesh
2x Go for the Throat
Creatures
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Mistbind Clique
3x Vendilion Clique
3x Scion of Oona
4x Secluded Glen
1x Faerie Conclave
2x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Watery Grave
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Mutavault
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Island
1x Swamp
sidebard
1 Batterskull
3 Spellskite
3 Spell Snare
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Deathmark
2 Infest
1 Spell Pierce
1 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Relic of Progenitus
I am eagerly awaiting what you find, if you also don't mind giving me a PM, I would like to skype share screens during your testing as well since I cannot use MWS for a variety of reasons on this computer, but would love to observe the games if possible.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
On the one hand, I agree that the Fae list needs more removal. 4 removal spells is just not enough for a format that is 80% creature-based decks, especially when 4 of the top 6 archetypes (Affinity, Zoo, Jund, Pod) are also heavily creature-based. In this metagame, a card like Disfigure can definitely go a long way. Cryptic Command probably needs to get cut to make room for those, which is fine given the speed of the format.
That said, I totally disagree with the removal of Snapcaster. He's just too good in too many matchups. If anything, upping the removal suite to 6 spells makes Snapcaster even better, giving us additional use out of each of our versatile spells. Snappy also helps out if we are cutting 2 Commands to make room for Disfigure (more value from our reduced countermagic arsenal).
For a deck that struggled with tribal Kithkin, dealing with modern RDW, Zoo, Jund, Junk, GW aggro, Slippery Bogles, Affinity, and even Merfolk is a really difficult proposition even if you can presumably add superior removal. Blossom would absolutely be a fair unban, and it actually would help to keep combo decks in check since Faeries are a very powerful anti-combo, anti-control deck.
Faeries was a staple in 4 block extended and old thopter-depths extended since very few aggressive creature decks actually existed in those formats. In old extended, it also had access to jitte, which helped a ton against decks such as Zoo which could easily tear through it's weak creatures. I enjoy faeries in a metagame, but this is an awful meta for any faerie deck to exist, and it just does not fit the bill.
Tiago also improves your grind plan against UWR Midrange and does a number on Jund if you can eliminate Deathrite and Ooze. Well, he's his usual awesome self against everyone else.
I believe UB Fae has to board fairly anti-aggro because UB isn't such a good colour combination for defense (worse life gain, smaller creatures than UW). This got apparent when I tested against my Geist of Saint Win list that is not tuned for the Fae match-up--Bitterblossom became a free burn spell for the UWR deck late-game because it couldn't block well enough, and UWR threw a lot of burn and removal in my face in response to the Mistbind Clique trigger (and then Blossom killed me half the time). Even Turn 2 Blossom couldn't quite handle Turn 3 Traft (although I should try out chumping the Angel token instead of trying to get enough Faerie Rogues to kill Traft).
I can only post my current list tomorrow because I don't have it on me right now and it's bedtime for me. Probably its most noteworthy feature is 0 Scion of Oona, though (I still think other Fae or more disruption are better than a 3-cmc 1/1 with admittedly synergistic abilities).