Has anyone tried that UG shell that placed overseas? It seemed pretty fun with the dorks and the ability to equip and swing swords on T3. I've only used proxies against local meta with that build and it seem fairly promising.
Another thing I was going to ask those who are running Lily as multiples. Have you guys thought about main decking a couple Urborg and maybe sideboarding or maining a couple phrexian obliterator? It seems like a thing if you could stick him reliably.
I'm looking to see what everyone thinks of the list.
I like your list and hope you will put up a play report. You have some neat things going on with Rat. Discard to Rat and bring back with SoLaS. Discard to Rat and flash back with Tiago. Your choice of Temple of Deceit is interesting and I would like to know how that plays out. I personally would cut a land that could come in tapped for Temple, rather than River. Aside from that, I disagree with the following cards -
Mystical Teachings - it is true this card has a lot of targets, but I think it is too slow and would be painful to have in hand anytime prior to T4 Aether Vial - I've tried vial in Faeries and feel that investing a draw in Vial offers very little, as everything except Rat can be cast with flash
I notice you have only two removal spells. I think I would rather see 2-3 more removal and 0-1 more Leak than the above cards. Especially removal you could use with Tiago such as Disfigure or GftT.
I like your list and hope you will put up a play report. You have some neat things going on with Rat. Discard to Rat and bring back with SoLaS. Discard to Rat and flash back with Tiago. Your choice of Temple of Deceit is interesting and I would like to know how that plays out. I personally would cut a land that could come in tapped for Temple, rather than River. Aside from that, I disagree with the following cards -
Mystical Teachings - it is true this card has a lot of targets, but I think it is too slow and would be painful to have in hand anytime prior to T4 Aether Vial - I've tried vial in Faeries and feel that investing a draw in Vial offers very little, as everything except Rat can be cast with flash
I notice you have only two removal spells. I think I would rather see 2-3 more removal and 0-1 more Leak than the above cards. Especially removal you could use with Tiago such as Disfigure or GftT.
With concerns to cutting River of Tears for Temple of Deceit, the other tap lands in the deck I could deck are Creeping Tar Pit and Secluded Glen. Tar Pit just so happens to be a win condition, and Glen can come into play untapped if I have any of my Faerie cards (14 in total). I think River is the only land I can justify cutting in order to test out the Temples.
Mystical Teachings is really just in here to test out. I feel I may move it to the sideboard and move one of my sideboard cards (like a Smother over to the mainboard. I feel against any of the slow match ups Teachings is really good since it will give me whatever I need when I cast it, which will allow me to close the game quicker. You may be right that it is too slow to be mainboard, but we'll see with the testing I do before the PTQ.
As for Æther Vial I think it gives you a lot of utility in this deck. It's not that it allows you to cast dudes at instant speed. It's that it allows you to cast the dudes both for free, and in an uncounterable manner. Being able to turn 4 Mistbind Clique them while also being able to hold up a Spellstutter Sprite with Vial seems like a super strong play. Not to mention if you get stalled for lands you can Vial in Snapcaster Mage and flashback spells without Tiago's additional 1U cost. I think a lot of people are used to how Vial works in say the Merfolk deck and are trying to see it being used that way in Faeries. However I think if you use it as a tempo card which allows you to pull off large value plays it may be really good. Not to mention it works really well with Sword of Light and Shadow being in the deck, since you can get back SSS and Vial them in for free. Again, testing will show how well it works, but I have high hopes for Vial in this deck.
As for an additional removal spell, my 3rd removal slot is taken up by Teachings. If Teachings doesn't work as well as I think it might I'll put another removal spell in the main.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
Travis Woo teched up a vial faeries that was pretty cool. I guess it just demonstrates their versatility..
Thank you for pointing out those vids. They were interesting to watch. With three Kiki + Pestermite I felt he had more a combo deck than control. I liked the time he Vialed for Kiki copying Mistbind, although that is not a play that would ever arise in BU Faeries! I did not see him use it for any plays that would represent something Faeries might do. Don't get me wrong: I like Vial. It's just that its strengths don't seem to me to bestow as much on Faeries as it does on other creatures. I could see Vialling out a Sower being quite good though.
Travis Woo teched up a vial faeries that was pretty cool. I guess it just demonstrates their versatility..
Thank you for pointing out those vids. They were interesting to watch. With three Kiki + Pestermite I felt he had more a combo deck than control. I liked the time he Vialed for Kiki copying Mistbind, although that is not a play that would ever arise in BU Faeries! I did not see him use it for any plays that would represent something Faeries might do. Don't get me wrong: I like Vial. It's just that its strengths don't seem to me to bestow as much on Faeries as it does on other creatures. I could see Vialling out a Sower being quite good though.
I think it depends a bit on your style. Vialed stuff can't be countered so I tend to picture things like spellstutter being vialed in. If you aren't running a turn one faerie or holding spell snare, vial makes sense. You could possibly drop counter spells for vial since you won't be having as many fights over whether spellstutter resolves. Vial would also allow you to put more pressure on in matches where we should be the aggressor.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern UB Tezzerator UBW Gifts B 8Rack
Legacy RB Goblins
I watched Woo's videos. While I do like that UR Vial Fae list, I have to agree with vonklaude in that it feels more like a weird Splinter Twin combo deck than it does a Faerie deck. However it is nice that you can essentially protect your combo since Vialing in Kiki-Jiki is ridiculous since it can't be countered.
I feel like his videos did help to show how powerful Vial can potentially be in a Faerie list though. Hell in his very first round he was able to just Vial in a Mistbind every turn and completely lock out his opponent without tapping a single mana. It's also nice to note that there were plenty of games he didn't have Vial on turn 1 and it still gave such insane value to his deck. Gonna sound like a broken record here, but I feel a lot of people are used to how Vial works in aggro decks and they except it to work the same in Faeries, which isn't true. Hell a guy at my LGS was aruging with me on how Vial was a wasted card slot because if I didn't drop it turn 1 it was useless, so I needed 4 of them, but I didn't have near enough creatures in my deck to support 4 of them.
Vial for faeries fills a support role which can cause your deck to snowball out of control through giving you insane mana advantages in a deck that is able to take over the game when properly using all of its resources. Hell even in games where you get it super late worst case scenario you can turn it into another Pack Rat.
The one card though I did see in Woo's video that interested me was Voidmage Prodigy. This guy seems to have a lot of utility in the Faerie Control list since Vendilion, Mistbind, SSS, Tiago, and Mutavault are all wizards you can just turn into counterspells when you need them. It's also another 2 drop you can Vial in, which is a bonus
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
2 UB Faeries decks made the top 8. One knocked the other out at the quarter finals and went on to win, beating Splinter Twin and Burn in the semis and final.
The winning deck was the Remand+Time Warp variant with 4 Vendilions, 4 Mistbind and 3 Spellstutter. Those creature numbers seem to be pretty common with the Time Warp deck.
The other deck was the more standard version with Mana Leak, Spell Snare and 2 Swords of FaF.
You mean it's the other way around. The standard version has won and the Time Warp version made 7th place.
I watched Woo's videos. While I do like that UR Vial Fae list, I have to agree with vonklaude in that it feels more like a weird Splinter Twin combo deck than it does a Faerie deck. However it is nice that you can essentially protect your combo since Vialing in Kiki-Jiki is ridiculous since it can't be countered.
I feel like his videos did help to show how powerful Vial can potentially be in a Faerie list though. Hell in his very first round he was able to just Vial in a Mistbind every turn and completely lock out his opponent without tapping a single mana. It's also nice to note that there were plenty of games he didn't have Vial on turn 1 and it still gave such insane value to his deck. Gonna sound like a broken record here, but I feel a lot of people are used to how Vial works in aggro decks and they except it to work the same in Faeries, which isn't true. Hell a guy at my LGS was aruging with me on how Vial was a wasted card slot because if I didn't drop it turn 1 it was useless, so I needed 4 of them, but I didn't have near enough creatures in my deck to support 4 of them.
Vial for faeries fills a support role which can cause your deck to snowball out of control through giving you insane mana advantages in a deck that is able to take over the game when properly using all of its resources. Hell even in games where you get it super late worst case scenario you can turn it into another Pack Rat.
The one card though I did see in Woo's video that interested me was Voidmage Prodigy. This guy seems to have a lot of utility in the Faerie Control list since Vendilion, Mistbind, SSS, Tiago, and Mutavault are all wizards you can just turn into counterspells when you need them. It's also another 2 drop you can Vial in, which is a bonus
2 UB Faeries decks made the top 8. One knocked the other out at the quarter finals and went on to win, beating Splinter Twin and Burn in the semis and final.
The winning deck was the Remand+Time Warp variant with 4 Vendilions, 4 Mistbind and 3 Spellstutter. Those creature numbers seem to be pretty common with the Time Warp deck.
The other deck was the more standard version with Mana Leak, Spell Snare and 2 Swords of FaF.
You mean it's the other way around. The standard version has won and the Time Warp version made 7th place.
Lol that's card for card my list I wrote an article on a couple weeks ago. Glad to see it does well on MODO as well as in paper.
2 UB Faeries decks made the top 8. One knocked the other out at the quarter finals and went on to win, beating Splinter Twin and Burn in the semis and final.
The winning deck was the Remand+Time Warp variant with 4 Vendilions, 4 Mistbind and 3 Spellstutter. Those creature numbers seem to be pretty common with the Time Warp deck.
The other deck was the more standard version with Mana Leak, Spell Snare and 2 Swords of FaF.
You mean it's the other way around. The standard version has won and the Time Warp version made 7th place.
Lol that's card for card my list I wrote an article on a couple weeks ago. Glad to see it does well on MODO as well as in paper.
That has to feel awesome. Congrats dude
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
There is no reason being friendly and being competitive can't be synonymous.
Hey guys, new to this forum. Yesterday I played in a small tourney with around 12 people total. It was my first time playing in this meta but will be going every Monday now. Here's what happened.
Match 1: Ad Nauseam
Side note: I've never played this matchup before, but I knew the deck at least.
G1: I didn't apply enough pressure on him (no Bitterblossom). At the end of my turn, he cast Ad Nauseam powered by Boseiju, who shelters all with a Phyrexian Unlife out. I responded by bouncing the Unlife with a Cryptic Command, but he cast Angel's Grace and beat me.
Side: -1 Darkblast, -1 Smother, -2 Vapor Snag, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: He mulled to 4 (he would later tell me he was looking for Leyline of Sanctity), I kept 7. On the play, I opened up with Inquisition, Bitterblossom, Liliana, Remand his Lotus Bloom. His hand was gone and he couldn't land anything and I proceeded to win with Tar Pits and tokens.
G3: We both kept 7. Early hand disruption kept him off his combo, but he landed an Unlife. I got him to 0 without Bitterblossom, and next turn I swung for 13 (infect at this point) after landing a Scion of Oona to pump everyone. He had no response to that.
1-0 (2-1)
Match 2: UWR Kiki
G1: He dominated this game with an impressive midrange game of Blade Splicer + Restoration Angel. Electrolyze also destroyed me. There wasn't much I could do, so we quickly went to G2.
Side: -3 Vendilion Clique, -2 Vapor Snag, -1 Darkblast, +2 Engineered Explosives, +2 Spellskite, +2 Liliana of the Veil
G2: His turn 1 tapped Colonnade was great to see as I landed a Bitterblossom. A turn 4 Mistbind locked him out, and with another his next turn he just scooped it up. The deck can be so explosive and Mistbind is such a good card against UWR builds.
G3: Two Bitterblossoms weren't enough as I had to resort to chumping Blade Splicer tokens and Restoration Angels.
1-1 (3-3)
Match 3: UWR Control
Side note: apparently this guy is notorious for playing control, and playing slowly. Next time I play him I'll tell him to hurry his ass.
G1: No early Bitterblossom hurt, as we went back and forth playing land and passing with me hitting with a lone Spellstutter for a few turns. Eventually I land a Mistbind on him and have him on a clock. I miscalculate our life totals (while he hits me with Celestial Colonnade) and he plays a Lightning Helix, and I lose the game with him at 1 life.
We had to stop in the middle of our G2 due to time, so he won the match 1-0.
1-2 (3-4)
Match 4: Scapeshift
Side note: at this point neither one of us can win packs, so we played for fun, but kept it competitive.
G1: I land T2 Bitterblossom and T3 Vendilion Clique, then I stay stuck at 3 lands for a while. Another Vendilion Clique put the second Scapeshift to the bottom. I hit him a few times, but then he draws a third and wins at 4 life.
Side: -1 Smother, -2 Dismember, , -1 Darkblast, -1 Vapor Snag, +1 Shadow of Doubt, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: A long, epic game. I land a T2 Bitterblossom, then follow it up with Vendilion Cliques and Mistbind Cliques. He plays a Volcanic Fallout and I cringe. I wouldn't let him get to his main phase without some sort of disruption, so we Remand and Cryptic back and forth for a few turns. Eventually the Bitterblossom rides me to victory as he can't deal with the constant beating. Great game, I was really focused and seemingly made all the right decisions in tight situations.
G3: I have Vendilions countered and by turn 5 I'm left with a board of Spellskite and man-lands. He Scapeshifts and I let him (I'm still at 20 life). He puts 6 mountains and 2 Valakut, the molten pinnacle in, so I Cryptic Command to bounce a mountain, pay U to eat 3 damage, and take only 3 myself. I later Tec Edge a Valakut and proceed to win with my own lands.
2-2 (5-5)
Reactions: I was expecting to play more creature decks. Mainboard Smother and Darkblast were disappointing as they've helped me in the past vs Affinity, Delver, and Pod decks. The Vapor Snags were a new thing, but I wasn't very happy with them either. Shadow of Doubt never did its job other than pitching to Liliana and cantripping a few times. I think it's because I saw them too late. There were a few times that I would have caught my opponent off guard with fetchland activations, so I think the problem was running only one. I also wished I had more hand disruption, seeing as I played 2 true combo decks, 1 control and UWR Kiki (who never beat me by combo). I will tweak my decklist for next week and try to report back here again.
IMO, this deck has a lot of mainboard flex spots. There is the Faerie shell with a few support cards that I wish to keep no matter what:
4x Spellstutter Sprite
3x Vendilion Clique
2x Scion of Oona
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Bitterblossom
3x Cryptic Command
24/25 lands
Other than that, it's really up to anything. I need to find a balance between hand disruption, creature removal, counter magic, tempo advantage, and possibly even deck filtering. The mainboard cards to consider (I may be forgetting a few):
Hand disruption: Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Liliana of the Veil
Removal: Dismember, Smother, Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Darkblast
Counter magic: Mana Leak, Remand, Spell Snare, Countersquall
Tempo advantage: Time Warp, Vapor Snag, Shadow of Doubt
Deck filtering: Serum Visions
The swords fit somewhere up there as well, and honestly I don't know where to put Pack Rat
The biggest thing for me is having cards that are almost always relevant. I don't want to see Darkblast or Smother vs UWR Control (although Smother hits Colonnade). I don't want Spell Snare against decks that don't run critical 2-drops. I will tweak the deck and add more hand disruption. Any comments and/or suggestions are much appreciated.
2 UB Faeries decks made the top 8. One knocked the other out at the quarter finals and went on to win, beating Splinter Twin and Burn in the semis and final.
The winning deck was the Remand+Time Warp variant with 4 Vendilions, 4 Mistbind and 3 Spellstutter. Those creature numbers seem to be pretty common with the Time Warp deck.
The other deck was the more standard version with Mana Leak, Spell Snare and 2 Swords of FaF.
You mean it's the other way around. The standard version has won and the Time Warp version made 7th place.
Lol that's card for card my list I wrote an article on a couple weeks ago. Glad to see it does well on MODO as well as in paper.
The list looks very solid and consistent. Rather than try and broaden what Faeries does, it ensures Faeries does more of what it does well. Tiago giving recursion on key cards is an effect that I feel is quite similar to Liliana adding Edict and Discard effects. Liliana gives more of a tempo gain (free actions) whereas Tiago gives a materiel gain (the 2/1 body left behind). Possibly the materiel gain is more important to us since we have so few ways of drawing? Liliana amplifies what SoFaF does (fewer creatures around to block, more quickly gets opponent top-decking) but Tiago fights better in opponent's turn which of course is relevant and central to Faeries.
In the mana base, avoiding BB casts (Dismember doesn't count) allows the 5x Island (dropping Ruins) which I feel is strong. Possibly I would still run 1x Swamp for pulling to Path/Quarter and having T1 B untapped.
The biggest thing for me is having cards that are almost always relevant. I don't want to see Darkblast or Smother vs UWR Control (although Smother hits Colonnade). I don't want Spell Snare against decks that don't run critical 2-drops. I will tweak the deck and add more hand disruption. Any comments and/or suggestions are much appreciated.
This is the benefit behind running Pack Rat. Any dead cards you draw Game 1 you can turn into threats. If you are looking for slots for them I feel Scion of Oona is probably what you want to cut since you'll be putting in more creatures that aren't effected by Scion.
Good report by the way
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
So I guess "tempo faeries" is no longer being considered? I don't really see how we can improve control fae enough to make it tier 1 w/o new cards/reprints.
This is the deck I have been toying with, anyone playing anything similiar?
I like the mainboard quite a lot. I think you can tweak the #s of discard, snares, snags and pierce to w/e suits you. I think the sideboard could def use some more work. I am not sure if Darkblast, deathmark and sower deserve spots.
Currently feels tier 1.5 most of the time, but some draws are just unbeatable and feel unfair.
I can't help but notice an alarming low number of Cryptic Commands in your mainboard. Low being zero in fact.
Also with the way your mana base is how do you not instantly scoop to a Blood Moon? You have exactly zero non-basics so there is no way to stop them from stopping you from doing anything the rest of the game.
Other than those two issues I do really like your decklist. It's looks really interesting and it would be nice to see it play out.
I would suggest looking up the article "Playing Fae from A to Z" as it is a really good read on how to work with a lot of the cards in the Faerie deck. It is to be noted that this is an article from when Faeries was in Extended (and Extended was alive) so there are a few things like him talking about JTMS VVS Beleren, as well as there was no Liliana of the Veil or Snapcaster. However most of the rest of the article is still a very good read for Faerie players.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
Winner of Indiana Modern State Championships was playing a very tight UBFaeries list. I can't seem to find any reports with it online, however. It's definitely worth looking into. I got knocked out of the Top 8 in the final Swiss round by it and can attest to how good it is.
If any of you can find it, please message me. I'd love to see it!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Modern has provided us a non-rotating format that is far more accessible than Legacy or Vintage, but still retains many of the qualities that people enjoy in those formats—such as a more stable metagame, the ability to play and tweak the same deck week after week, and simply a much more powerful card pool than Standard.”
- Sam Stoddard, “Developing Modern” (June 21, 2013) (by means of Sheridan Lardner, "Fixing Modern: Defining Format Mission (March 16, 2016))
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
I don't think that any deck can reliably run both Phyrexian Obliterator and Cryptic Command.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 River of Tears
2 Temple of Deceit
1 Tectonic Edge
4 Island
1 Swamp
Creatures (15)
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Mistbind Clique
3 Pack Rat
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Scion of Oona
4 Bitterblossom
3 Cryptic Command
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Æther Vial
2 Dismember
2 Mana Leak
2 Thoughtseize
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
3 Smother
2 Spell Snare
2 Echoing Truth
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Spell Pierce
2 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Thoughtseize
1 Cryptic Command
I'm looking to see what everyone thinks of the list.
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
I like your list and hope you will put up a play report. You have some neat things going on with Rat. Discard to Rat and bring back with SoLaS. Discard to Rat and flash back with Tiago. Your choice of Temple of Deceit is interesting and I would like to know how that plays out. I personally would cut a land that could come in tapped for Temple, rather than River. Aside from that, I disagree with the following cards -
Mystical Teachings - it is true this card has a lot of targets, but I think it is too slow and would be painful to have in hand anytime prior to T4
Aether Vial - I've tried vial in Faeries and feel that investing a draw in Vial offers very little, as everything except Rat can be cast with flash
I notice you have only two removal spells. I think I would rather see 2-3 more removal and 0-1 more Leak than the above cards. Especially removal you could use with Tiago such as Disfigure or GftT.
With concerns to cutting River of Tears for Temple of Deceit, the other tap lands in the deck I could deck are Creeping Tar Pit and Secluded Glen. Tar Pit just so happens to be a win condition, and Glen can come into play untapped if I have any of my Faerie cards (14 in total). I think River is the only land I can justify cutting in order to test out the Temples.
Mystical Teachings is really just in here to test out. I feel I may move it to the sideboard and move one of my sideboard cards (like a Smother over to the mainboard. I feel against any of the slow match ups Teachings is really good since it will give me whatever I need when I cast it, which will allow me to close the game quicker. You may be right that it is too slow to be mainboard, but we'll see with the testing I do before the PTQ.
As for Æther Vial I think it gives you a lot of utility in this deck. It's not that it allows you to cast dudes at instant speed. It's that it allows you to cast the dudes both for free, and in an uncounterable manner. Being able to turn 4 Mistbind Clique them while also being able to hold up a Spellstutter Sprite with Vial seems like a super strong play. Not to mention if you get stalled for lands you can Vial in Snapcaster Mage and flashback spells without Tiago's additional 1U cost. I think a lot of people are used to how Vial works in say the Merfolk deck and are trying to see it being used that way in Faeries. However I think if you use it as a tempo card which allows you to pull off large value plays it may be really good. Not to mention it works really well with Sword of Light and Shadow being in the deck, since you can get back SSS and Vial them in for free. Again, testing will show how well it works, but I have high hopes for Vial in this deck.
As for an additional removal spell, my 3rd removal slot is taken up by Teachings. If Teachings doesn't work as well as I think it might I'll put another removal spell in the main.
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
Thank you for pointing out those vids. They were interesting to watch. With three Kiki + Pestermite I felt he had more a combo deck than control. I liked the time he Vialed for Kiki copying Mistbind, although that is not a play that would ever arise in BU Faeries! I did not see him use it for any plays that would represent something Faeries might do. Don't get me wrong: I like Vial. It's just that its strengths don't seem to me to bestow as much on Faeries as it does on other creatures. I could see Vialling out a Sower being quite good though.
I think it depends a bit on your style. Vialed stuff can't be countered so I tend to picture things like spellstutter being vialed in. If you aren't running a turn one faerie or holding spell snare, vial makes sense. You could possibly drop counter spells for vial since you won't be having as many fights over whether spellstutter resolves. Vial would also allow you to put more pressure on in matches where we should be the aggressor.
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
I feel like his videos did help to show how powerful Vial can potentially be in a Faerie list though. Hell in his very first round he was able to just Vial in a Mistbind every turn and completely lock out his opponent without tapping a single mana. It's also nice to note that there were plenty of games he didn't have Vial on turn 1 and it still gave such insane value to his deck. Gonna sound like a broken record here, but I feel a lot of people are used to how Vial works in aggro decks and they except it to work the same in Faeries, which isn't true. Hell a guy at my LGS was aruging with me on how Vial was a wasted card slot because if I didn't drop it turn 1 it was useless, so I needed 4 of them, but I didn't have near enough creatures in my deck to support 4 of them.
Vial for faeries fills a support role which can cause your deck to snowball out of control through giving you insane mana advantages in a deck that is able to take over the game when properly using all of its resources. Hell even in games where you get it super late worst case scenario you can turn it into another Pack Rat.
The one card though I did see in Woo's video that interested me was Voidmage Prodigy. This guy seems to have a lot of utility in the Faerie Control list since Vendilion, Mistbind, SSS, Tiago, and Mutavault are all wizards you can just turn into counterspells when you need them. It's also another 2 drop you can Vial in, which is a bonus
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
You mean it's the other way around. The standard version has won and the Time Warp version made 7th place.
Actually, Voidmage Prodigy is a pretty good idea.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Lol that's card for card my list I wrote an article on a couple weeks ago. Glad to see it does well on MODO as well as in paper.
UB Faeries GP Record - 22/9/2, 1 Top 64
Where did you write said article?
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
2 Scion of Oona
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Spell Snare
1 Shadow of Doubt
3 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Smother
2 Dismember
1 Darkblast
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Vapor Snag
4 Bitterblossom
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Island
1 Swamp
4 Secluded Glen
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Sunken Ruins
3 River of Tears
2 Spell Snare
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Darkblast
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Damnation
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Spellskite
Match 1: Ad Nauseam
Side note: I've never played this matchup before, but I knew the deck at least.
G1: I didn't apply enough pressure on him (no Bitterblossom). At the end of my turn, he cast Ad Nauseam powered by Boseiju, who shelters all with a Phyrexian Unlife out. I responded by bouncing the Unlife with a Cryptic Command, but he cast Angel's Grace and beat me.
Side: -1 Darkblast, -1 Smother, -2 Vapor Snag, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: He mulled to 4 (he would later tell me he was looking for Leyline of Sanctity), I kept 7. On the play, I opened up with Inquisition, Bitterblossom, Liliana, Remand his Lotus Bloom. His hand was gone and he couldn't land anything and I proceeded to win with Tar Pits and tokens.
G3: We both kept 7. Early hand disruption kept him off his combo, but he landed an Unlife. I got him to 0 without Bitterblossom, and next turn I swung for 13 (infect at this point) after landing a Scion of Oona to pump everyone. He had no response to that.
1-0 (2-1)
Match 2: UWR Kiki
G1: He dominated this game with an impressive midrange game of Blade Splicer + Restoration Angel. Electrolyze also destroyed me. There wasn't much I could do, so we quickly went to G2.
Side: -3 Vendilion Clique, -2 Vapor Snag, -1 Darkblast, +2 Engineered Explosives, +2 Spellskite, +2 Liliana of the Veil
G2: His turn 1 tapped Colonnade was great to see as I landed a Bitterblossom. A turn 4 Mistbind locked him out, and with another his next turn he just scooped it up. The deck can be so explosive and Mistbind is such a good card against UWR builds.
G3: Two Bitterblossoms weren't enough as I had to resort to chumping Blade Splicer tokens and Restoration Angels.
1-1 (3-3)
Match 3: UWR Control
Side note: apparently this guy is notorious for playing control, and playing slowly. Next time I play him I'll tell him to hurry his ass.
G1: No early Bitterblossom hurt, as we went back and forth playing land and passing with me hitting with a lone Spellstutter for a few turns. Eventually I land a Mistbind on him and have him on a clock. I miscalculate our life totals (while he hits me with Celestial Colonnade) and he plays a Lightning Helix, and I lose the game with him at 1 life.
We had to stop in the middle of our G2 due to time, so he won the match 1-0.
1-2 (3-4)
Match 4: Scapeshift
Side note: at this point neither one of us can win packs, so we played for fun, but kept it competitive.
G1: I land T2 Bitterblossom and T3 Vendilion Clique, then I stay stuck at 3 lands for a while. Another Vendilion Clique put the second Scapeshift to the bottom. I hit him a few times, but then he draws a third and wins at 4 life.
Side: -1 Smother, -2 Dismember, , -1 Darkblast, -1 Vapor Snag, +1 Shadow of Doubt, +2 Liliana of the Veil, +2 Spellskite
G2: A long, epic game. I land a T2 Bitterblossom, then follow it up with Vendilion Cliques and Mistbind Cliques. He plays a Volcanic Fallout and I cringe. I wouldn't let him get to his main phase without some sort of disruption, so we Remand and Cryptic back and forth for a few turns. Eventually the Bitterblossom rides me to victory as he can't deal with the constant beating. Great game, I was really focused and seemingly made all the right decisions in tight situations.
G3: I have Vendilions countered and by turn 5 I'm left with a board of Spellskite and man-lands. He Scapeshifts and I let him (I'm still at 20 life). He puts 6 mountains and 2 Valakut, the molten pinnacle in, so I Cryptic Command to bounce a mountain, pay U to eat 3 damage, and take only 3 myself. I later Tec Edge a Valakut and proceed to win with my own lands.
2-2 (5-5)
Reactions: I was expecting to play more creature decks. Mainboard Smother and Darkblast were disappointing as they've helped me in the past vs Affinity, Delver, and Pod decks. The Vapor Snags were a new thing, but I wasn't very happy with them either. Shadow of Doubt never did its job other than pitching to Liliana and cantripping a few times. I think it's because I saw them too late. There were a few times that I would have caught my opponent off guard with fetchland activations, so I think the problem was running only one. I also wished I had more hand disruption, seeing as I played 2 true combo decks, 1 control and UWR Kiki (who never beat me by combo). I will tweak my decklist for next week and try to report back here again.
IMO, this deck has a lot of mainboard flex spots. There is the Faerie shell with a few support cards that I wish to keep no matter what:
4x Spellstutter Sprite
3x Vendilion Clique
2x Scion of Oona
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Bitterblossom
3x Cryptic Command
24/25 lands
Other than that, it's really up to anything. I need to find a balance between hand disruption, creature removal, counter magic, tempo advantage, and possibly even deck filtering. The mainboard cards to consider (I may be forgetting a few):
Hand disruption: Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Liliana of the Veil
Removal: Dismember, Smother, Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Darkblast
Counter magic: Mana Leak, Remand, Spell Snare, Countersquall
Tempo advantage: Time Warp, Vapor Snag, Shadow of Doubt
Deck filtering: Serum Visions
The swords fit somewhere up there as well, and honestly I don't know where to put Pack Rat
The biggest thing for me is having cards that are almost always relevant. I don't want to see Darkblast or Smother vs UWR Control (although Smother hits Colonnade). I don't want Spell Snare against decks that don't run critical 2-drops. I will tweak the deck and add more hand disruption. Any comments and/or suggestions are much appreciated.
have: sarkhan / liliana of the veil / phyrexian obliterator / avacyn, angel of hope / goblin guide / damnation / more
want: lorwyn thoughtseize / foil faeries / foil cryptic command / foil mutavault / foil restoration angel (non-promo) / more
The list looks very solid and consistent. Rather than try and broaden what Faeries does, it ensures Faeries does more of what it does well. Tiago giving recursion on key cards is an effect that I feel is quite similar to Liliana adding Edict and Discard effects. Liliana gives more of a tempo gain (free actions) whereas Tiago gives a materiel gain (the 2/1 body left behind). Possibly the materiel gain is more important to us since we have so few ways of drawing? Liliana amplifies what SoFaF does (fewer creatures around to block, more quickly gets opponent top-decking) but Tiago fights better in opponent's turn which of course is relevant and central to Faeries.
In the mana base, avoiding BB casts (Dismember doesn't count) allows the 5x Island (dropping Ruins) which I feel is strong. Possibly I would still run 1x Swamp for pulling to Path/Quarter and having T1 B untapped.
This is the benefit behind running Pack Rat. Any dead cards you draw Game 1 you can turn into threats. If you are looking for slots for them I feel Scion of Oona is probably what you want to cut since you'll be putting in more creatures that aren't effected by Scion.
Good report by the way
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
This is the deck I have been toying with, anyone playing anything similiar?
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Scion of Oona
3 Vendilion Clique
Enchantments (4)
4 Bitterblossom
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
Instants (13)
4 Vapor Snag
4 Remand
3 Spell Snare
2 Spell Pierce
4 Mutavault
2 Creeping Tar pit
4 Watery Grave
4 Darkslick Shores
4 River of Tears
4 Secluded Glen
1 Dispel
1 Dismember
1 Darkblast
1 Spell Pierce
1 Negate
1 Duress
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Deathmark
1 Spellskite
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Hibernation
1 Sower of Temptation
I like the mainboard quite a lot. I think you can tweak the #s of discard, snares, snags and pierce to w/e suits you. I think the sideboard could def use some more work. I am not sure if Darkblast, deathmark and sower deserve spots.
Currently feels tier 1.5 most of the time, but some draws are just unbeatable and feel unfair.
Also with the way your mana base is how do you not instantly scoop to a Blood Moon? You have exactly zero non-basics so there is no way to stop them from stopping you from doing anything the rest of the game.
Other than those two issues I do really like your decklist. It's looks really interesting and it would be nice to see it play out.
I would suggest looking up the article "Playing Fae from A to Z" as it is a really good read on how to work with a lot of the cards in the Faerie deck. It is to be noted that this is an article from when Faeries was in Extended (and Extended was alive) so there are a few things like him talking about JTMS VVS Beleren, as well as there was no Liliana of the Veil or Snapcaster. However most of the rest of the article is still a very good read for Faerie players.
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
If any of you can find it, please message me. I'd love to see it!
- Sam Stoddard, “Developing Modern” (June 21, 2013) (by means of Sheridan Lardner, "Fixing Modern: Defining Format Mission (March 16, 2016))
How to Use Spoiler Tags
Starting Over: The Origins of the Mulligan Rule
Practical Approach to Slow Play
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 2: SWARM and TOOLBOX
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 3
THE Guide to Aggro, Part 4
These videos are by MTG Salvation Moderator Lantern!
Introduction to Tempo
Controlling Tempo
Elements of Tempo
Roadblocks to Tempo
How Not To Build A Deck - Tempo
Learn How To Sideboard, Dammit!
Mulligan's Island
The Art of the Mulligan
The Art of the Mulligan: Eight Case Studies
Fundamentals: The Mulligan
Some Mulligan Exercises
A Mulligan Is Worth Three Cards
The Mulligan Debate
Common Sense: The Art of the Mulligan
Who's The Beatdown?
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Eldrazi Temple
2 Fetid Heath
3 Godless Shrine
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
2 Tectonic Edge
Artifacts (4):
4 Æther Vial
4 Path to Exile
Creatures (29):
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Flickerwisp
4 Serra Avenger
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Dismember
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Flooded Strand
6 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
Creatures (16):
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Stormchaser Mage
2 Gut Shot
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mutagenic Growth
3 Spell Pierce
3 Twisted Image
3 Vapor Snag
Sorceries (8):
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
2 Dispel
1 Forked Bolt
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Repeal
2 Roast
1 Spell Snare
2 Spellskite
1 Vapor Snag
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Copperline Gorge
5 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures (14):
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Atarka's Command
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
3 Searing Blaze
Sorceries (8):
4 Lava Spike
4 Rift Bolt
2 Deflecting Palm
4 Destructive Revelry
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Path to Exile
2 Rending Volley
3 Skullcrack
19 Forest
3 Treetop Village
Creatures (24):
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Dryad Militant
2 Dungrove Elder
4 Experiment One
4 Leatherback Baloth
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Rancor
Instants (10):
3 Aspect of Hydra
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Dismember
2 Choke
2 Gut Shot
2 Deglamer
2 Feed the Clan
2 Oxidize
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Skylasher
1 Unravel the Æther