Since a lot of our discussion has moved to the discord, for those not in it, I've been talking a lot about Dire Fleet Poisoner as another honorary faerie.
It makes a great surprise blocker and can also just be played as an aggressive creature to help you get in more damage, since most people don't like blocking deathtouch creatures.
Feel free to give your opinions
Hey man, Dire Fleet Poisoner only gives an attacking Pirate +1/+1, so Mutavault would be the only target for the buff, unless you have other poisoners, in which case, you may as well play UB Aggro/Tempo and not worry about Faeries. I don't think the extra damage argument is really that good, as Creeping Tar Pit is excellent for that, and many times Mistbind Clique or a swarm of tokens can smash in. I don't think the Poisoner adds enough to the deck to warrant what it would hinder, especially when it can be chumped by all sorts of the tokens that exist in common decks (Lingering Souls, Young Pyromancer, other Faerie tokens) and even lines up very poorly to Lightning Bolt, Kolaghan's Command (the can shoot it, or even get back a creature that traded with it earlier), and all the other burn in Grixis/Jeskai decks (as much as I hate the 'Dies to Removal' argument, all our other creatures have a strong ETB effect, so if we're getting them to spend a removal spell on Vendilion Clique or Snapcaster Mage, we've already gotten our value from them, whereas Poisoner doesn't have an ETB effect even close to on par with the other creatures).
I didn't mention that I was using it for the +1/+1 and deathtouch addition, but you brought up pretty much the point I brought up in the discord that the buff only works with itself and an attacking mutavault so that part of the ability is kinda meh, but isn't what I was mainly looking to do with the card.
The extra damage argument is that it can be played turn 2 and has to be dealt with before moving forward. If you're getting a 1 to 1 trade usually that's pretty decent, and it can clog the ground until your opponent finds removal for it (thus buying you extra turns for BB tokens, etc) and usually we can interact very easily with this removal thanks to spellstutter (path, push, bolt, etc). Creeping Tar Pit is excellent for getting in extra damage, as well as mutavault, but they are also a 4 mana commitment at sorcery speed and a 2 mana commitment at sorcery speed, while this can act as an instant speed blocker, in addition to a 2/2 attacker if needed. It can also just clog the board while your opponent looks for a way to remove it, which gives us the ability to devote the rest of our mana to things like attacking with mutavault/tar pit or holding up counters.
Poisoner does get chumped by Souls tokens, but so does the entire rest of our deck. Same can be said for Pyromancer tokens and for the niche mirror. This argument I'd treat a little similar to the "dies to removal" argument, there's no way to really get around that.
Note that all our other creatures also line up poorly to removal, regardless of how good they are. This doesn't have an insane ETB, but can still make people swinging in really consider whether or not they should as we can pop off a surprise blocker at any time, or we can just use it to clog the ground until they find the appropriate removal for it.
Yea, you have some good points. I guess I'm a little biased to the more control side of Faeries, where Snapcaster Mage is my go to guy if I absolutely need to flash someone down turn 2. I do agree that Poisoner would make a good surprise blocker, and does make a fair attacker, she just isn't as good as some of the other options we have. The impact it has in the late game is lukewarm, while Spellstutter basically counters anything, and Snapcaster is pretty nutter butter late in the game. I've never found myself wanting for extra damage or an attacker that's been hard to block, as when I've pivoted from controlling to attacking, I've basically got the board locked up. I think Poisoner could maybe come out of the sideboard for creature dense matchups, but to be honest, I'd rather just board in removal spells that Snapcaster can flash back. Maybe if they go back to Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, they can print a Faerie version of this card, then it'd be auto include.
Dire Fleet Poisoner is too narrow of a card to play in a non-tribal pirates deck. Combat tricks are nice, but Scion of Oona and Mistbind Clique are plenty good and devastating in their own right. There are just better plans. Most of the time, attacking is the only action we do in our turn. There are cases and decks designed to be more tap out control style like i play, but when Faeries plays a creature it needs to significantly affect the battlefield and the game state. Snapcaster Mage consistently does that. I don't see Dire Fleet Poisoner in that slot. Please test and report though. Testing is how we all learn and can judge cards easier we haven't played with yet.
Dire Fleet Poisoner is too narrow of a card to play in a non-tribal pirates deck. Combat tricks are nice, but Scion of Oona and Mistbind Clique are plenty good and devastating in their own right. There are just better plans. Most of the time, attacking is the only action we do in our turn. There are cases and decks designed to be more tap out control style like i play, but when Faeries plays a creature it needs to significantly affect the battlefield and the game state. Snapcaster Mage consistently does that. I don't see Dire Fleet Poisoner in that slot. Please test and report though. Testing is how we all learn and can judge cards easier we haven't played with yet.
If you're referring to scion and mistbind as aggressive things to get in more damage then I agree completely, but their uses are drastically different than this card.
Don't evaluate it for its second ability because it's narrow, evaluate it as a 2/2 flash deathtouch creature for 2 mana.
I think this card has a powerful board presence and definitely changes the state of the game, as most people testing Gifted Aetherborn felt about having a new creature-tool. Plenty of people play it now, there's discussion on whether or not to main or side it, but this can hold a similar argument if you're using them for the deathtouch ability more than lifelink, which I seem to need more often.
I'm just evaluating new cards and this one sticks out to me the most so far. There's also the other blue human that makes things 0/1's, but I would be trying that in a more control based build.
Dire Fleet Poisoner is too narrow of a card to play in a non-tribal pirates deck. Combat tricks are nice, but Scion of Oona and Mistbind Clique are plenty good and devastating in their own right. There are just better plans. Most of the time, attacking is the only action we do in our turn. There are cases and decks designed to be more tap out control style like i play, but when Faeries plays a creature it needs to significantly affect the battlefield and the game state. Snapcaster Mage consistently does that. I don't see Dire Fleet Poisoner in that slot. Please test and report though. Testing is how we all learn and can judge cards easier we haven't played with yet.
If you're referring to scion and mistbind as aggressive things to get in more damage then I agree completely, but their uses are drastically different than this card.
Don't evaluate it for its second ability because it's narrow, evaluate it as a 2/2 flash deathtouch creature for 2 mana.
I think this card has a powerful board presence and definitely changes the state of the game, as most people testing Gifted Aetherborn felt about having a new creature-tool. Plenty of people play it now, there's discussion on whether or not to main or side it, but this can hold a similar argument if you're using them for the deathtouch ability more than lifelink, which I seem to need more often.
I'm just evaluating new cards and this one sticks out to me the most so far. There's also the other blue human that makes things 0/1's, but I would be trying that in a more control based build.
Liliana the last hope was mentioned aswell. really interesting tech on a decent clock
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
has there been any talk about Release to the Wind? I think it could be a decent fun-of, since we can exile one of our guys in response to removal (and get a new trigger since they all have ETB triggers), exile a troublesome card for a turn, and it even has the corner case of exiling Bitterblossom before it kills us. I always seem to have a flex slot in my lists, so something like this is always intriguing.
has there been any talk about Release to the Wind? I think it could be a decent fun-of, since we can exile one of our guys in response to removal (and get a new trigger since they all have ETB triggers), exile a troublesome card for a turn, and it even has the corner case of exiling Bitterblossom before it kills us. I always seem to have a flex slot in my lists, so something like this is always intriguing.
The discord mentioned it wouldn't be half-bad as a fun of. I don't think anyone has done any extensive testing of it yet, though.
I've been focusing on Poisoner as my main testing card right now, Marauder potentially, depending on how things look with Poisoner. I think Marauder is just slower in our deck where poisoner does a lot of stuff very actively. I'm not 100% sold on trying Release just yet but if I'm unhappy with Poisoner after a while I can see myself testing a few maybe.
If release wasn't 3 mana, I could see it. Having to replay the thing for full mana cost kind of sucks if we hit our own things, and letting them be able to just replay it kind of sucks for hitting their things. If it only cost 1-2 mana, I could see the flexibility being worth the tradeoff, but 3 mana is more expensive than a flicker or a kill spell.
If release wasn't 3 mana, I could see it. Having to replay the thing for full mana cost kind of sucks if we hit our own things, and letting them be able to just replay it kind of sucks for hitting their things. If it only cost 1-2 mana, I could see the flexibility being worth the tradeoff, but 3 mana is more expensive than a flicker or a kill spell.
You get to cast the card without paying the mana cost as long as it’s exiled by Release
I decided to ditch the Mana Leaks in favor of Spell Snare #3 and a Logic Knot, with my thinking being 'I'd rather cheaper interaction, and a counterspell that scales with the late game'. Spell Snare has game vs almost every matchup and is easier to leave up than the 2 mana for Mana Leak. Logic Knot can be my hard counter of choice, though I will admit, I'm a little unsure of how well it will be, hence only one copy. Shadow of Doubt, while maybe incorrect to play two, will probably be alright, plus it has the chance to just blow people right out. Everything else in the maindeck is pretty normal.
The sideboard is where I'm quite unsure. I have no idea how many different archtypes might show up, and I'm wary of skewing too far towards something (like Burn or Dredge for example). I've decided to play the Ceremonious Rejections, as it's a nice cheap way to interact with Eldrazi or Tron, as countering an early Chalice of the Void or Expedition Map can give enough time for me to pull out a win. i've come to the realization that the deck can't win vs Tron/Eldrazi by playing the control deck, so I have to get them on a tempo advantage. The Scarab God is probably the loosest part of the sideboard, but its done a fair share when I've drawn it (its quite good in creature match ups, to no surprise).
Does anyone have any suggestions? This will be the first major tournament I've taken the deck to since last February (GP Vancouver) and I'm a little unsure of the meta as a whole.
They local meta is pretty heavy on the Eldrazi Tron, Burn, and Scapeshift. Scapeshift is such a fantastic matchup for us I would basically consider it free wins. You just need to get to UUU and hold up a cryptic for the Titan and spellstutter + BB + 2 tokens for the scapeshift.
I would probably not run Shadow of Doubt, T2 you need to be casting bitterblossom or holding up a counterspell. It's great to catch them trying to fetch but it's basically a big old dead card against burn, affinity, and let's be honest, tron (you can stop one map but they'll just get another).
Additionally I would not run Secluded Glen. What are the faeries you are ok revealing in your list? Basically the only situation where this is ok is t2 reveal a BB and then play it right away. Most lists I've seen run 3 Tar Pits and some run a one-of River of Tears - I personally like Drowned Catacombs. If you have an extra Tar Pit I would run it, you seem a little low on larger clock threats with only 1 VClique.
I am currently running mono-u faeries because I haven't yet bought the UB land base but I play it a lot online.
Have fun this weekend! Hopefully I don't play you and get stomped
They local meta is pretty heavy on the Eldrazi Tron, Burn, and Scapeshift. Scapeshift is such a fantastic matchup for us I would basically consider it free wins. You just need to get to UUU and hold up a cryptic for the Titan and spellstutter + BB + 2 tokens for the scapeshift.
I would probably not run Shadow of Doubt, T2 you need to be casting bitterblossom or holding up a counterspell. It's great to catch them trying to fetch but it's basically a big old dead card against burn, affinity, and let's be honest, tron (you can stop one map but they'll just get another).
Additionally I would not run Secluded Glen. What are the faeries you are ok revealing in your list? Basically the only situation where this is ok is t2 reveal a BB and then play it right away. Most lists I've seen run 3 Tar Pits and some run a one-of River of Tears - I personally like Drowned Catacombs. If you have an extra Tar Pit I would run it, you seem a little low on larger clock threats with only 1 VClique.
I am currently running mono-u faeries because I haven't yet bought the UB land base but I play it a lot online.
Have fun this weekend! Hopefully I don't play you and get stomped
Thanks for the tips!
I don't know if it's just me, or something else, but I've struggled vs Scapeshift // TitanShift a fair bit. There's a player at my local store who plays the deck a lot, and my record against him is barely 50% (though I also seem to mulligan A LOT vs him, so there's many factors). I've always played the matchup with the idea that going long. Valkut will kill you. If you don't have the fast clock (turn two Bitterblossom being ideal), they can just make land drops and take over. It's rough sometimes, since you can't really tap low to swing with Tar Pit or Mutavaults. It's partially the reason why I wanted another Spell Snare, as snagging Farseek or Tribe-Elder on the draw is quite good, and can give you enough time to deploy a threat, plus it's a good target for Snapcaster Mage.
Like I said before, I'm not 100% sold on Shadow of Doubt, and it is basically there to just try and get people. In a sense, it does kind of act as a counterspell, and sometimes the tempo hit works out pretty good. It for sure goes down in value when the opponent knows about it. I wonder if I should swap the second copy for the 4th Spell Snare (lets channel the Ryan Overtuf spirit) or a second Logic Knot, or is there something else better?
The Secluded Glens are pretty much just for playing a pain free turn 2 Bitterblossom. I avoid playing them turn one if I need them untapped, and late game, they act like Darkslick Shores. I've not been a fan of the third Tar Pit, as always ETB tapped lands are something I don't want too many of. The Drowned Catacombs suggestion is good, though there's enough times when I don't have an Island or Swamp out because my hand had Darkslick Shores plus Mutavault or something. Maybe if I run another Watery Grave it might be worth trying again.
I've got a small local modern event tomorrow, so I'll make some fine adjustments to the list and try it out.
Not intending to be mean, but your list definitely would struggle against titanshift, IMO.
You only have 2 mistbind/1 vendilion, you have no mainboard thoughtseizes, you have 3 spell snare, and only 1 logic knot.
Coupled with the 4 snapcaster mages, you don't have a whole lot of disruption for them game 1.
I'd highly suggest trying to find room for a disdainful stroke or flashfreeze or 2 in the board.
I personally am not a fan of spell snares in this deck (it has a lot of overlap with spellstutter sprite).
I think shadow of doubt is pretty decent as well, though I've always struggled to find space for it. I think the card is pretty fine though.
I agree that I don't love secluded glen in your list. I'm a big fan of river of tears, but I admit not everyone is. Drowned catacombs or sunken ruins might do you better than glen, however. I think you don't have enough faeries to really make it work, but if you disagree, feel free to keep running it.
Not intending to be mean, but your list definitely would struggle against titanshift, IMO.
You only have 2 mistbind/1 vendilion, you have no mainboard thoughtseizes, you have 3 spell snare, and only 1 logic knot.
Coupled with the 4 snapcaster mages, you don't have a whole lot of disruption for them game 1.
I'd highly suggest trying to find room for a disdainful stroke or flashfreeze or 2 in the board.
I personally am not a fan of spell snares in this deck (it has a lot of overlap with spellstutter sprite).
I think shadow of doubt is pretty decent as well, though I've always struggled to find space for it. I think the card is pretty fine though.
I agree that I don't love secluded glen in your list. I'm a big fan of river of tears, but I admit not everyone is. Drowned catacombs or sunken ruins might do you better than glen, however. I think you don't have enough faeries to really make it work, but if you disagree, feel free to keep running it.
Hey man, thanks for your thoughts.
The Mistbind Cliques have always been on the edge of adding another. I love them when they do their thing, but when I'm behind and can't champion something, they l bad. I've seen many people run three, and I see the logic behind it, but I've sacrificed raw power for a little better consistency. I've also cut the extra Vendilion Clique since I found it too slow at disrupting/not strong enough at disrupting, plus there's a fair bit of Walking Ballistas, Liliana, the Last Hopes or Lingering Souls going around, so Vendilion Clique has lost some stock with me. I'd like a little more from my 3 mana creature. Maybe I'll put it back in, but I've usually been able to close games out with tokens or Tar Pits.
Spell Snare doesn't always overlap with Spellstutter Sprite, they actually are very different. If you're on the draw, Sprite can't hit a two drop, since you don't have mana, nor can it get one on the play. Snare has the bonus of being 1 mana, so you can cast it and still hold up Sprite to counter their response or second spell. I've liked Spellstutter Sprite as a 'stay ahead' sort of play, where you use it to counter the spell that can get them back in the game, while putting more pressure on board.
I like the thought of Flashfreeze in the sideboard a little better than Disdainful Stroke, since Flashfreeze has a few more applications (I can fire it off at an early spell, or bring it in vs Ponza and get a Stone Rain or Blood Moon)
Maybe I'm building this deck to be too much like UB Control with a forced Faerie sub-theme, but there's logic behind my thought, no matter how convoluted they are. i'm willing to try changes, but I really only get to play modern vs a few local decks once or twice a week (I'm saving up for a computer and then MtGO), so usually things get tried once or twice before moving to the next one.
I beat UG Ponza 2-1 (topdecked Go for the Throat to race Grave Titan), then lost 0-2 to Mono White Eldrazi (mulligan to 5 game one, mulligan to 6 game two and I can’t stop an Aether Vial on 4 and 3 Thoughtknot Seers), lost 1-2 vs UR Madcap Experiment/Blue Moon (he gets turn 3 Blood Moon on the play game 2, then resolves one around turn 6 of game 3 when I get stuck on 2 Darkslick Shores, Island, Mutavault), and lost 0-2 to Infect (I drew only two removal spells the entire match, Go for the Throat and Collective Brutality).
Mono White Eldrazi: -2 Shadow of Doubt, -1 Logic Knot, -1 Spell Snare, -1 Cryptic Command, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Damnation, +1 The Scarab God, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope
UR Madcap: -4 Fatal Push, -2 Go for the Throat, +2 Countersquall, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Dispel, +1 Flashfreeze, +1 Damnation
Infect: -2 Spell Snare, -2 Shadow of Doubt, -1 Cryptic Command, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Dispel, +1 The Scarab God
Before the tournament, I swapped a Thoughtseize in the sideboard for a Flashfreeze. I had hoped to switch out a Shadow of Doubt, but didn’t know what to put in its place.
Hi folks. There's some good discussion going on here; I'm glad to see so many ideas being passed around. This archetype has a ton of potential, but there's still so much fine-tuning to be done.
I want to talk about our mana base. I feel very strongly that we should be running 4 Drowned Catacomb, and move away from Darkslick Shores. Do the math, and it just makes sense.
Darkslick Shores' drawback kicks in right when we'd want that mana. Creeping Tar Pit already causes enough frustration at that point; we don't need more.
Frank Karsten wrote a game-changing article a few years ago, using advanced math to show us how many sources of each color we should run to be 90% likely to meet specific needs (three blue mana by Turn 4, for example).
Using that info, you'll see that if you build a solid mana base with 14 Swamps and/or Islands (including fetches and Watery Grave), you'll have better than a 90% chance of having at least one Swamp or Island on Turn 1. That means your Drowned Catacomb has a 90% chance of coming in untapped Turn 2 (and the other 10% you'd probably mull anyway), and the odds go up every turn after that. Think about that. Early untapped 90% of the time, late game always untapped.
Another factor that shouldn't be overlooked is how we plan to get to BB T3 for Lili, and 1UUU for Cryptic. Karsten says that for a 90% chance to hit BB on T3, you want 19 B sources; and for UUU by T4, you want 22. Kinda makes you hate Mutavault, huh? He also notes that cantrips and filters like Opt, Serum Visions, etc, can be counted as some fraction of a land. He says each of those is usually worth about .25 to .5 lands, but by my math I'd say Serum Visions is worth .75 (you have about a 90% chance of it getting you to a land).
As an aside, Secluded Glen wants to be good, but unless you immediately reveal and play Bitterblossom, it's not worth it. That's just too situational to be good in Modern.
Here's the land mix I'm running right now. It is by no means perfect, but I'm satisfied that it gives me the best odds to accomplish what I want.
The biggest problem with talking about this deck is how different lists can look.
That being said, I personally am a fan of secluded glen, and a fan of river of tears. Drowned catacombs is alright, and I avoid darkslick shores.
Also, 14 island/swamps is more than it seems like.
I think secluded glen is better than a lot of people give it credit for. Revealing cards means your opponent is going to be playing around it, and you can often get a good handle on how the next couple of turns will play out. Additionally, playing a glen tapped when you have a faerie in hand can also be a relevant mind game.
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I didn't mention that I was using it for the +1/+1 and deathtouch addition, but you brought up pretty much the point I brought up in the discord that the buff only works with itself and an attacking mutavault so that part of the ability is kinda meh, but isn't what I was mainly looking to do with the card.
The extra damage argument is that it can be played turn 2 and has to be dealt with before moving forward. If you're getting a 1 to 1 trade usually that's pretty decent, and it can clog the ground until your opponent finds removal for it (thus buying you extra turns for BB tokens, etc) and usually we can interact very easily with this removal thanks to spellstutter (path, push, bolt, etc). Creeping Tar Pit is excellent for getting in extra damage, as well as mutavault, but they are also a 4 mana commitment at sorcery speed and a 2 mana commitment at sorcery speed, while this can act as an instant speed blocker, in addition to a 2/2 attacker if needed. It can also just clog the board while your opponent looks for a way to remove it, which gives us the ability to devote the rest of our mana to things like attacking with mutavault/tar pit or holding up counters.
Poisoner does get chumped by Souls tokens, but so does the entire rest of our deck. Same can be said for Pyromancer tokens and for the niche mirror. This argument I'd treat a little similar to the "dies to removal" argument, there's no way to really get around that.
Note that all our other creatures also line up poorly to removal, regardless of how good they are. This doesn't have an insane ETB, but can still make people swinging in really consider whether or not they should as we can pop off a surprise blocker at any time, or we can just use it to clog the ground until they find the appropriate removal for it.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
One can pray, but we will see. I'm testing it as a few of for sure when it comes out.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
If you're referring to scion and mistbind as aggressive things to get in more damage then I agree completely, but their uses are drastically different than this card.
Don't evaluate it for its second ability because it's narrow, evaluate it as a 2/2 flash deathtouch creature for 2 mana.
I think this card has a powerful board presence and definitely changes the state of the game, as most people testing Gifted Aetherborn felt about having a new creature-tool. Plenty of people play it now, there's discussion on whether or not to main or side it, but this can hold a similar argument if you're using them for the deathtouch ability more than lifelink, which I seem to need more often.
I'm just evaluating new cards and this one sticks out to me the most so far. There's also the other blue human that makes things 0/1's, but I would be trying that in a more control based build.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
Warkite Marauder might be pretty okay if you have lots of Peppersmoke or Darkblast in the deck. Moment of Craving might also be alright as a sideboard card (it's like a moderate Collective Brutality).
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
The discord mentioned it wouldn't be half-bad as a fun of. I don't think anyone has done any extensive testing of it yet, though.
I've been focusing on Poisoner as my main testing card right now, Marauder potentially, depending on how things look with Poisoner. I think Marauder is just slower in our deck where poisoner does a lot of stuff very actively. I'm not 100% sold on trying Release just yet but if I'm unhappy with Poisoner after a while I can see myself testing a few maybe.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
You get to cast the card without paying the mana cost as long as it’s exiled by Release
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Opt
4 Fatal Push
4 Cryptic Command
3 Spell Snare
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Go for the Throat
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Logic Knot
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
2 Watery Grave
2 Flooded Strand
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Secluded Glen
1 Swamp
2 Collective Brutality
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Countersquall
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
1 Damnation
1 The Scarab God
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
I decided to ditch the Mana Leaks in favor of Spell Snare #3 and a Logic Knot, with my thinking being 'I'd rather cheaper interaction, and a counterspell that scales with the late game'. Spell Snare has game vs almost every matchup and is easier to leave up than the 2 mana for Mana Leak. Logic Knot can be my hard counter of choice, though I will admit, I'm a little unsure of how well it will be, hence only one copy. Shadow of Doubt, while maybe incorrect to play two, will probably be alright, plus it has the chance to just blow people right out. Everything else in the maindeck is pretty normal.
The sideboard is where I'm quite unsure. I have no idea how many different archtypes might show up, and I'm wary of skewing too far towards something (like Burn or Dredge for example). I've decided to play the Ceremonious Rejections, as it's a nice cheap way to interact with Eldrazi or Tron, as countering an early Chalice of the Void or Expedition Map can give enough time for me to pull out a win. i've come to the realization that the deck can't win vs Tron/Eldrazi by playing the control deck, so I have to get them on a tempo advantage. The Scarab God is probably the loosest part of the sideboard, but its done a fair share when I've drawn it (its quite good in creature match ups, to no surprise).
Does anyone have any suggestions? This will be the first major tournament I've taken the deck to since last February (GP Vancouver) and I'm a little unsure of the meta as a whole.
I am also attending the F2F in vancouver.
They local meta is pretty heavy on the Eldrazi Tron, Burn, and Scapeshift. Scapeshift is such a fantastic matchup for us I would basically consider it free wins. You just need to get to UUU and hold up a cryptic for the Titan and spellstutter + BB + 2 tokens for the scapeshift.
I would probably not run Shadow of Doubt, T2 you need to be casting bitterblossom or holding up a counterspell. It's great to catch them trying to fetch but it's basically a big old dead card against burn, affinity, and let's be honest, tron (you can stop one map but they'll just get another).
Additionally I would not run Secluded Glen. What are the faeries you are ok revealing in your list? Basically the only situation where this is ok is t2 reveal a BB and then play it right away. Most lists I've seen run 3 Tar Pits and some run a one-of River of Tears - I personally like Drowned Catacombs. If you have an extra Tar Pit I would run it, you seem a little low on larger clock threats with only 1 VClique.
I am currently running mono-u faeries because I haven't yet bought the UB land base but I play it a lot online.
Have fun this weekend! Hopefully I don't play you and get stomped
Thanks for the tips!
I don't know if it's just me, or something else, but I've struggled vs Scapeshift // TitanShift a fair bit. There's a player at my local store who plays the deck a lot, and my record against him is barely 50% (though I also seem to mulligan A LOT vs him, so there's many factors). I've always played the matchup with the idea that going long. Valkut will kill you. If you don't have the fast clock (turn two Bitterblossom being ideal), they can just make land drops and take over. It's rough sometimes, since you can't really tap low to swing with Tar Pit or Mutavaults. It's partially the reason why I wanted another Spell Snare, as snagging Farseek or Tribe-Elder on the draw is quite good, and can give you enough time to deploy a threat, plus it's a good target for Snapcaster Mage.
Like I said before, I'm not 100% sold on Shadow of Doubt, and it is basically there to just try and get people. In a sense, it does kind of act as a counterspell, and sometimes the tempo hit works out pretty good. It for sure goes down in value when the opponent knows about it. I wonder if I should swap the second copy for the 4th Spell Snare (lets channel the Ryan Overtuf spirit) or a second Logic Knot, or is there something else better?
The Secluded Glens are pretty much just for playing a pain free turn 2 Bitterblossom. I avoid playing them turn one if I need them untapped, and late game, they act like Darkslick Shores. I've not been a fan of the third Tar Pit, as always ETB tapped lands are something I don't want too many of. The Drowned Catacombs suggestion is good, though there's enough times when I don't have an Island or Swamp out because my hand had Darkslick Shores plus Mutavault or something. Maybe if I run another Watery Grave it might be worth trying again.
I've got a small local modern event tomorrow, so I'll make some fine adjustments to the list and try it out.
You only have 2 mistbind/1 vendilion, you have no mainboard thoughtseizes, you have 3 spell snare, and only 1 logic knot.
Coupled with the 4 snapcaster mages, you don't have a whole lot of disruption for them game 1.
I'd highly suggest trying to find room for a disdainful stroke or flashfreeze or 2 in the board.
I personally am not a fan of spell snares in this deck (it has a lot of overlap with spellstutter sprite).
I think shadow of doubt is pretty decent as well, though I've always struggled to find space for it. I think the card is pretty fine though.
I agree that I don't love secluded glen in your list. I'm a big fan of river of tears, but I admit not everyone is. Drowned catacombs or sunken ruins might do you better than glen, however. I think you don't have enough faeries to really make it work, but if you disagree, feel free to keep running it.
Hey man, thanks for your thoughts.
The Mistbind Cliques have always been on the edge of adding another. I love them when they do their thing, but when I'm behind and can't champion something, they l bad. I've seen many people run three, and I see the logic behind it, but I've sacrificed raw power for a little better consistency. I've also cut the extra Vendilion Clique since I found it too slow at disrupting/not strong enough at disrupting, plus there's a fair bit of Walking Ballistas, Liliana, the Last Hopes or Lingering Souls going around, so Vendilion Clique has lost some stock with me. I'd like a little more from my 3 mana creature. Maybe I'll put it back in, but I've usually been able to close games out with tokens or Tar Pits.
Spell Snare doesn't always overlap with Spellstutter Sprite, they actually are very different. If you're on the draw, Sprite can't hit a two drop, since you don't have mana, nor can it get one on the play. Snare has the bonus of being 1 mana, so you can cast it and still hold up Sprite to counter their response or second spell. I've liked Spellstutter Sprite as a 'stay ahead' sort of play, where you use it to counter the spell that can get them back in the game, while putting more pressure on board.
I like the thought of Flashfreeze in the sideboard a little better than Disdainful Stroke, since Flashfreeze has a few more applications (I can fire it off at an early spell, or bring it in vs Ponza and get a Stone Rain or Blood Moon)
Maybe I'm building this deck to be too much like UB Control with a forced Faerie sub-theme, but there's logic behind my thought, no matter how convoluted they are. i'm willing to try changes, but I really only get to play modern vs a few local decks once or twice a week (I'm saving up for a computer and then MtGO), so usually things get tried once or twice before moving to the next one.
I beat UG Ponza 2-1 (topdecked Go for the Throat to race Grave Titan), then lost 0-2 to Mono White Eldrazi (mulligan to 5 game one, mulligan to 6 game two and I can’t stop an Aether Vial on 4 and 3 Thoughtknot Seers), lost 1-2 vs UR Madcap Experiment/Blue Moon (he gets turn 3 Blood Moon on the play game 2, then resolves one around turn 6 of game 3 when I get stuck on 2 Darkslick Shores, Island, Mutavault), and lost 0-2 to Infect (I drew only two removal spells the entire match, Go for the Throat and Collective Brutality).
Sideboard plans;
UG Ponza: -3 Spell Snare, -2 Cryptic Command, +2 Thoughtseize, +2 Countersquall, +1 Flashfreeze
Mono White Eldrazi: -2 Shadow of Doubt, -1 Logic Knot, -1 Spell Snare, -1 Cryptic Command, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Damnation, +1 The Scarab God, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope
UR Madcap: -4 Fatal Push, -2 Go for the Throat, +2 Countersquall, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Dispel, +1 Flashfreeze, +1 Damnation
Infect: -2 Spell Snare, -2 Shadow of Doubt, -1 Cryptic Command, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Dispel, +1 The Scarab God
Before the tournament, I swapped a Thoughtseize in the sideboard for a Flashfreeze. I had hoped to switch out a Shadow of Doubt, but didn’t know what to put in its place.
I want to talk about our mana base. I feel very strongly that we should be running 4 Drowned Catacomb, and move away from Darkslick Shores. Do the math, and it just makes sense.
Faeries really shines once we hit four mana. Cryptic Command, Mistbind Clique, Snapcaster Mage targeting Mana Leak ... these are the plays that win us games.
Darkslick Shores' drawback kicks in right when we'd want that mana. Creeping Tar Pit already causes enough frustration at that point; we don't need more.
Frank Karsten wrote a game-changing article a few years ago, using advanced math to show us how many sources of each color we should run to be 90% likely to meet specific needs (three blue mana by Turn 4, for example).
Using that info, you'll see that if you build a solid mana base with 14 Swamps and/or Islands (including fetches and Watery Grave), you'll have better than a 90% chance of having at least one Swamp or Island on Turn 1. That means your Drowned Catacomb has a 90% chance of coming in untapped Turn 2 (and the other 10% you'd probably mull anyway), and the odds go up every turn after that. Think about that. Early untapped 90% of the time, late game always untapped.
Another factor that shouldn't be overlooked is how we plan to get to BB T3 for Lili, and 1UUU for Cryptic. Karsten says that for a 90% chance to hit BB on T3, you want 19 B sources; and for UUU by T4, you want 22. Kinda makes you hate Mutavault, huh? He also notes that cantrips and filters like Opt, Serum Visions, etc, can be counted as some fraction of a land. He says each of those is usually worth about .25 to .5 lands, but by my math I'd say Serum Visions is worth .75 (you have about a 90% chance of it getting you to a land).
As an aside, Secluded Glen wants to be good, but unless you immediately reveal and play Bitterblossom, it's not worth it. That's just too situational to be good in Modern.
Here's the land mix I'm running right now. It is by no means perfect, but I'm satisfied that it gives me the best odds to accomplish what I want.
3 Flooded Strand
3 Watery Grave
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Mutavault
That being said, I personally am a fan of secluded glen, and a fan of river of tears. Drowned catacombs is alright, and I avoid darkslick shores.
Also, 14 island/swamps is more than it seems like.
I think secluded glen is better than a lot of people give it credit for. Revealing cards means your opponent is going to be playing around it, and you can often get a good handle on how the next couple of turns will play out. Additionally, playing a glen tapped when you have a faerie in hand can also be a relevant mind game.