@borofill
So far in very deck I've played with U in it I have wanted two of those pups MD and most of the time 1 or 2 in the side. They are back breaking to some of the best cards in Modern granted it doesn't stop abrupt decay and that's why I've actually went with a 2-2 split snare and redirect or sway MD/SB respectively. In the matches that snare isn't at its best I just side em out for the other or some other relevant spell. I do if lot is a necessary evil, it can keep torn from searching (only relevant thing in that matchup), it counters cranial plating, goyf's, opposing snaps, rituals, electromancers, dark confident, spellskite, spellstutter sprite, bitterblossom, pack rat, etc. I find that both snare and pierce work well together as a split playset in most of my decks because they cover eachother in different circumstances. Pierce is great against that last push to combo off or your push to end the game. Remand helps both of then out considerably and with vapor snag MD I feel it allows for 2for1 justification on fatties or ooze
Boros charm is another beast that I don't think should be cut, the 4 DMG is nice and wins at times, but if you NEED to block in order to win next turn you can just make everything indestructible and prepare for victory.
Don't have any input on the prior mainly because I haven't tested it yet. However, I've been on a kick lately with a young pyro version utilizing the gitaxian probe in sequence with illusory angel. I've been able to hard cast a pyro (worse case eats dirt that moment) the. The following turn gitaxian into angel for PROFIT and a 4/4 flying body. It also fit with the Geist theme (admittedly why I tried it). It's kinda cute and what not, but it can literally lead to huge blowouts for the T4/5 kill. I don't have the number exact yet, I do feel that the angel gets a slight nod because of the number of spells we run though. Let me hear your thoughts
I might try a 1-1 split of tithe and pierce. Pierce sees so much legacy play it makes me wonder if I should be running more then one though.
I do like deflecting palm and the card art makes me think of old school martial art movies. Flavor should be "waaaachachachacha"
Dunno if I'm sold on the Charm yet it seems awesome casting it after Geist Trigger to net 6 life though. How are your sideboards coming along everyone? I'm still piecing mine together for what I think would be right and would like some suggestions. I've also been thinking about adding Baby Jace maindeck instead of Young Raper just to see if the draws help me run through the deck and refuel my hand appropriately. In my UB fae deck I use him to success and I think drawing extra spells and getting threats out for our opponents wouldn't hurt. He'd also take a punch or two getting them to turn sideways for Geist to get all up in that booty.
Thanks! I'm honestly glad to see this deck doing well whenever I got back into magic a year or so ago I knew that Geist was gonna be in whatever deck I wanted to be THE deck mainly because his story is just sick nasty.
I like how you went the higher curve route it makes sense. I've been thinking about dropping Young Pyro in favor of one Ajani V and another four drop that would make sense. I like Chandra and have bounced that idea back and forth because she does what you would need for Geist to get through. A part of me wants to give Geist another heavenly friend in Restoration Angel just for the body, evasion, and random block kill into combo. I guess that'd open up the debate "why don't you just play midrange then?" So I digress.
I plan on testing pretty hardcore coming up in the week against several different decks and I'll let you all know whats up. As far a redirect its basically swerve haha when its good its FANTASTIC, when it isn't its at least an out to abrupt decay or hand hate sitting in your hand. I might try some number of Trickbind just to neuter some decks tempo. It seems like a boss in the mirror also or against any snap deck not to mention Pod.
Slayers stronghold is a cool choice btw. For me, celestial or Ghost Quarter will more then likely be my land flex spot
whats up everyone. I was just checking in to see what you all thought about the mana base for Jeskai at the moment. With the khans fetchs now available I find that it would be a decent idea to evaluate what would be the "perfect" choice as it stands.
My version of the Jeskai Aggro looks something like this
Basically you got pyro not as a star player but as a role player when he comes up, if he doesn't it shouldn't matter because the other cards can pull their weight. 8 fetches because we really want to get into business reall nice and deep like. Snags to clear the way, boros charms to either deal lethal or protect from wipes, lavaman to go in hit'em'up'style. Colonnade to do something with flooding if that ever happens.
One thing I've been pondering about was a midrange sideboard outside of the obvious hate cards we can pack. Maybe some Mirran Crusader for the inevitable BG matchup, Ajani Vengeant or Chandra could also be nice post board. Still up in the air which dragon would be cool Stormbreath seems nicely positioned right now. Redirect is great against BG and quite funny when using it to smack a Lilly in the face or rip something from their hand after they pay 2 life.
Dunno if I can warrant a cryptic MD yet, but i've heard its a good card.
Just some thoughts lemme know what you guys think.
All in all I loved how the deck played out I felt like I was in control in most every match and really took some nice high risk high reward plays which was a great feeling. If you feel like reading below is the "quick" write up.
Match 1: Bye (benefit of a odd number tourney signup I guess and the cards were in my favor, I do wish I could've played though because I just twiddled my thumbs and smelt incense with my girlfriend for 40 minutes)
Match 2: Tron R/G
Game 1- Open up with close to the nuts after mulling to 6 on the play, I play river drop seize. Realize homeslice has a tron deck and that I should've kept my first hand with my tec edge. Regardless, he has no threats really in hand, I take Sylvan Scrying. He opens slow, T2 I drop blossom and start that thing up...Skip ahead... My T3 I pass then V.Clique on his draw step, I see Karn in his hand and don't particularly want to be liberated, bury it. He draws another Karn *SMH* From then on out Karn just whips me up I dropped a second Bittblossom just to race and then got board wiped. Dropped a Lily, then he dropped Wurmcoil and it was clear I'd just lose. I don't scoop I take it like a man. 0-1 Tron favor
Sided in another Tec edge for 1 Mutavault, Removed all useless removal and hand hate, add sower and 4th Thoughseize
Game 2- Similar start he gets his urza set up quick, but I tec edge on tower entering the field. It stalls him I get a board state setup BB, Lily, and stutter. I grind him down to 2 life while I got twelve and he has been exiling everything with his Karn he landed on T5. I'd ticked Lily up to six and on his turn he board wipes me and exiles my last manland. I proceed to cry within GG
Loss 0-2 Tron (Cool dude we ended up tied for 1st at end)
Thoughts on the match: I really didn't have this deck in mind when throwing my sideboard together this evening and I'm glad that it was my first match. I'd like 3 total Edges or Ghost Quarter-esq cards against it in the future. Tectonic probably over quarter. Karn will wreck your face if he resolves and it is almost impossible to get back in it if he does I mean I had good draws, but he was exiling my land and I couldn't get a cryptic to bounce or anything. At one point I had a lily and cryptic in hand and two lands lmao.
Match 3: RDW
Game 1- Chitty chat on the draw then mull to six cause I want something more then 4 land two removal and V.Clique. Realize I'm about to get burnt when he plays mountain and then suspends. I have a moment of "Dang this is gonna be blow out" pass through my mind. Long story short I wasn't prepared Game 1 for burn. He drops me after 9 turns thanks to Grim. GG
0-1 Burn Advantage
Board out all thoughtseize, 1 bitterblossom, both dismember. Side in 2 Engineered Explosives, 1 Threads, 1 Spellskite, 1 Relic or Progenitus, 1 Bile Blight
Obviously I'm just looking for some value and I spotted a young pyro in his hand from the game prior so bile blight seemed like a okay choice.
It starts out good hand. I end up making a couple nice spellstutter counters while he is trapped at 2 mana, I find key removal for a grim that lands, I find another against some recurring hasty critter that comes back from the grave and a vexing devil I let stay *Agony warp 2 for 1*
end up going back to back upkeep mistbinds on 4 and 5. I win never dropping a bitterblossom, also helped he got screwed on mana.
1-1 Neutral
Game 3- He's on the play, T1 He starts off suspend. I go IoK stripping a burn spell. T2 He lands a Vexing devil Its cool with me that it stays, I hold up mana T3 he drops a hasty and then goes burn I flash sprite to negate. My turn I have just drawn Vendilion I pass. T4 His turn he goes for magus of the moon I mana leak that crap then he lands another 1 drop burn. My turn I almost jizz my pants I drew a engineered explosives. I flash a snap and use IoK then pass. T5 He drops Grim Lava and I officially know I'm gonna wreck his face with engineered. My turn I crack it and then proceed to mop up the tears of burn players across the world. Just kidding it was a really good match all together and I was super happy to have played two matchups I figured would be tough no matter what I brought into the event.
2-1 Faeries victory
Thoughts about the match: It is a tough matchup for sure. I see mistbind clique and engineered explosives as ALL STARS. Explosives just crushes their ground presence and mistbind follows up by just keeping them from blasting you in the face or doing anything worth mentioning at all. Agony warp also deserves an honorable mention letting me get a 2 for 1 on some key components of their deck. Mana leak is also good in the matchup they typically don't wanna tap out unless their making the most of their mana so being able to delay them is big. I could see this being a pretty easy matchup post board, but Game 1 they WILL beat you. I'm pretty sure unless you just get mad lucky and don't have bitterblossom in play. SSS by herself can counter most of their deck so I think other more proactive cards are better suited for this battlefield.
Matchup 4: B/W souls/obliterator midrange
Game 1: I keep a "Meh" hand he thoughtseized me and lingering souls got out of hand then he dropped a finks I scooped with 4 life didn't hardly get to do anything cool or worth noting just bad hand and draws.
Side: I fumble through my cards acting like I'm actually changing a bunch of cards, in reality I just moved 1 snapcaster from main for a Bile Blight.
Game 2: I mulligan down to 5 end up settling with 2 thoughtseize, 1 Mutavault, 1 Tar Pit, Vendilion. T1 On the play I lead with Pit nothing to do until T2 he also has no plays on T1. T2 I play muta after drawing blossom. I thoughtseize and immediately rip obliterator realizing he has no access to anything else but a lingering souls and a thoughtseize himself no white sources. His turn thoughtseize ripping my blossom. I draw land and begin an assault with mutavault I wish you all could have witnessed. He ends up getting mega mana screwed and I play control for days with card draws I'm just holding onto because it was too much fun plucking him with vault. I take him down to 4 life after about 6 shots from vault and a lily on the field. He scoops.
1-1 Neutral
I act like I'm boarding once again I change practically nothing. In fact, I went back to my MD list.
We begin I have a solid hand he mulligans to 6. He plays a swamp then thoughtseize's me, sees I have spellstutter, BB, Lily, removal, and lands He chooses blossom. I draw V.Clique. I play mutavault because I know he has trauma from the last beatdown/encounter. I pass, he plays land and has a scowl on his face which was a dead give away he didn't have anything good then throws it back. I draw a thoughtseize, play a thoughtseize with a river of tears and rip obliterator from a hand consisting of finks and black mana. He doesn't stick anything his turn I drop lily and ride her, like really RIDE her ass to victory making him ditch 3 finks, 2 souls, and sign in blood? whilest losing a couple manlands to removal. I ended up hitting another mutavault after losing my tarpit. I attached a sword to it in like T7 and started doing work.
Thoughts after the match... How'd this guy even beat me the first game? I think that lingering souls is absolutely annoying as I always have, but agony warp made it funny at least. I got to at one point agony warp upon them entering the field just cause I could and wasn't too worried then my turn I snapped and did it again to kill the other. I think the most deadly thing in any matchup against souls decks would be bile blight it deals with them nicely just awkward to rely on double black when you need it. Lily is typically better. Mutavault is hilariously fun to watch just two-piece people to death and serves as a great blockade against people using black removal with creature prerequisites.
Overall the deck was great and the sideboard was at least 78 percent right. I wasn't a huge fan of snapcaster, but he seemed like a necessary advantage tool at times or served as a body to keep pushing when other systems were down. I wouldn't say run rat over him unless you want to run a 3/3 split hand hate because that'd be another card you could pitch late. I loved the rats when I did play them, but they just get rid of clunky cards like bitterblossom typically I prefer Lily to do that for me while also making them discard. If I have a snapcaster and instant in hand I can pitch the instant and still play it regularly. Can't do it with rat in Tiago's spot. I also can't T6 cryptic from grave which is so nasty I can't even stand it.
I would be interested in figuring out how much interaction is the right amount I felt that 5 removal (Influenced) and 5 hand hate (Preemptive) with 5 counters (reactive) *also not including spellstutter* seemed nice I was guaranteed by 1/4th of the deck to have interaction with the opponent also that provided Tiago fuel in which he typically has at least one target that is relevant.
For the record, I stand by my very first few posts in this thread about how great Lily is in this deck she does two things that we typically want to do anyways. Sometimes she isn't that good like in my tron matchup, She would've been if I had her in time which makes me want to run 3 again like my past lists, that would mean switching 1 secluded Glen with 1 Sunken Ruins. In my burn matchup she allowed me G1 to discard a burn from their hand then attract another spell on their turn. So she at least is a 2-1 in most of the matchups I played.
I'd like to see redirect in the sideboard maybe in the future just to annoy opposing thoughtseize decks I'd also like it against abrupt decay which would effectively allow us to wreck a lily they just dropped or anything else relevant in their deck.
Lingering souls is a **************** not enough stars honestly it just annoys me to deal with other fliers like that that are recurring plus on T5 the can just have 4 from no where and we only have 3 on five providing we just used BB with no other faerie entering. When that IS the case you are about to embark on an uphill battle because the decks that tote those around typically have much more dangerous things then the flying blockers.
I hope you guys enjoyed the bit I typed up it was so much fun playing tonight and I realized 3 things. Hot sweaty places still gross me out so I won tonight by sitting close to the fan that doubled as a B O repellant. Two, My wonderful lady is probably the greatest person in the world for hanging out with me each Friday night while I play music and THIS weekend she came to cheer me on in a COMPLETELY different setting plus I'm getting her into magic which mean WIN X 2. And finally I think that faeries is well placed still against the entire meta, even though I only played against 3 decks in the main tournament I still got to reevaluate those matchups. I'd conclude with saying Engineered Explosives is great and kicked tail a few times and that surgical extraction should be in every sideboard in modern and it blows my mind why it isn't.
So I think I'm going to build an all out aggro version of the deck using Obelisk of Urd as my win condition along with Oona
At your own risk.
By the way, folks, stop calling Scion of Oona just "Oona". Oona is a female name (as in Oona, Queen of the Fae), whereas her Scion is clearly a male faerie. FYI.
Not really a risk actually, I'd just like to see if it would work consistently as another win con over swords. The last bit about the name, really? You're cool hahaha I think people know who we're talking about. Obviously you did, feminine or not that would be the only card in competitive lists that you'd recognize aa a "Oona" subtitle to be.
wow you guys have a couple pages of just back and forth argument. I wanted to drop in just to see what cards you all feel should be addressed or at least discussed with their overall power levels in modern, now that GP Boston is gone and over with we have quite a few moles popping their heads out that scream pretty darn strong.
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.
Sorry I should've stated my land on T2. T2 I dropped River of Tears allowing for thoughtseize, T3 I dropped a second mutavault allowing for black mana, T4 I dropped a secluded glen revealing SSS-held up and tapped them on battle step also allowing for a tempo swing before dropping and equiping sword on T5
But without a faerie in play you need 5 mana to mistbind a mutavault
Ahhh so true I apologize it must've been when I had five mana available for vault. It was a week ago sorry for the miscommunication. I got lost in translation. *Derrrr face*
Example last friday at my LGS I had a game where I literally only swung with manlands (vault early tarpit after) G1 and blocked with tokens until I dropped sword and then I finished the game on T6 because he had no answers. G2 I opened Mutavault, T2 Thoughtseize, T3 IoK swing vault, T4 held up mistbind-tapped him out T5 dropped sword attached to mistbind and said good luck in your next match.
How did you cast that Mistbind on T4? I might be missing something.
Sorry I should've stated my land on T2. T2 I dropped River of Tears allowing for thoughtseize, T3 I dropped a second mutavault allowing for black mana, T4 I dropped a secluded glen revealing SSS-held up and tapped them on battle step also allowing for a tempo swing before dropping and equiping sword on T5
I like rat in the deck I'm not in a position to say that all in is the right move though. having 3 has been magical for me because it pretty much guarantees a T2 play (Blossom, Rat, SSS, etc) Its nice on the play to drop a rat then follow with thoughtseize blossom T3.
On a side note: How are you guys liking planeswalkers? I have been using 2X lily after trying 3X which was alright. I do like the thought of maybe trying a 2/2 split with Lily and Jace in lists running Rat it seems like profit no matter who is in play and if you get both in play madness soon follows (typically from the opponent) I've landed both only in two games, but it was AMMMMMAAAAAZING.
On the mana base conversation, I think it would be perfectly logical to play the playset of creeping tar pit and dropping down to 3 mutavault to allow greater color access and attack longevity. I however am content with the following
4X Secluded Glen
4X River of Tears
4X Darkslick
3X Creeping Tarpit
4X Mutavault
2X Tectonic Edge
3X Island
1X Swamp
I run 2X Lily and she is almost never impossible to cast nor is Vendilion. I know mutavault seems like we should be using more color, but this mana is smooth as silk for the most part and sometimes the right decision is to start jamming with mutavault on an open board as soon as possible to get that life dwindling (like snapcaster in a way it isn't best to wait for a buyback or in this case a counter)
Example last friday at my LGS I had a game where I literally only swung with manlands (vault early tarpit after) G1 and blocked with tokens until I dropped sword and then I finished the game on T6 because he had no answers. G2 I opened Mutavault, T2 Thoughtseize, T3 IoK swing vault, T4 held up mistbind-tapped him out T5 dropped sword attached to mistbind and said good luck in your next match.
Has anyone tried to work out a mana base for Esper? I was making a list today and I just couldn't figure out what we'd really want as the mana fixing. Fetches hurt, but seem necessary especially if we want gifts package post board and access to hate cards. I think I'm going to focus my time in crafting Faerie Gifts because I believe it will sure up some very one sided matchups especially with Rock, Affinity, and Pod.
A whole bunch of people in the beginning of this thread suggested cards that were disregarded with a whim (Scion, Aether Vial, Lily, etc) only to be brought up again by the same people who denied their playability in the first place. As magic players and participants in competitive play everyone shouldn't be such bandwagon **** riders. We all know some cards die to bolt, most everything dies to abrupt decay, thoughtseize messes up plans, and aven mindcensor and blood moon are going to school you at some point in your life. Having said that all threads, not just this one should take a different avenue in how they call so many ideas rubish. Just because someone placed with a certain build doesn't make it the definitive version, it means that they are on the right track (or one of many right tracks). All roads connect and it is up to players who have time to test certain ideas who end up becoming victorious. I've piloted many of the versions of the deck (with scion tempo, sword/lily control, rat at various numbers, time warp, UB, UW, UR, UBw gift fae) all in all I think the deck can go in any of those directions and with the proper build could top and win, the main thing is if we want to be T1 we should adapt the core to whatever the meta call is. We aren't going to win against burn and affinity regularly with control UB list we have a shot, but it is typically a long shot beating them each round when they are naturally faster then us. UR fae would have an easier matchup against those expected decks due to sideboard option and overall card selection represented in those colors. If you want to get willy nilly and just swing flying with a sword then UG with a ramp into timewarp is probably your best plan to win fast.
Overall I think the perfect version of this deck has yet to be found or that the perfect version of this deck varies from tournament to tournament designed to specifically target the decks we'd expect to be highly represented. Being that faeries are glass cannons we won't always have perfect matchups and alot of stuff can shut our main strategy down so finding a backup plan is of the upmost importance. Bitterblossom can't be our only crutch whenever abrupt decay is running rampant unless we play a scion version to protect said enchantment. Also lingering souls in Rock, Junk, and BW are always gonna give us a run for our money. We should spend our time better constructing a list of cards that absolutely scare us then from that list find cards that would give us more of an upperhand or at least a fighting chance when we encounter those expected threats.
Having said that I currently feel the strongest color combo would be UG though we'd lose Blossom, seize, etc. We'd allow for quicker play and options for artifact decks Fracturing Gust could be pumped out fast against affinity, we'd have access to a ground beater like Goyf, a graveyard and life manipulator in ooze from sideboard, and a good manabase that could still support mutavault and tec edges. UR is also an option for racing and land hate molten rain and could abuse tectonic as well as other mana denial with snapcaster providing quick face damage, White is another option for pretty much the strongest hate cards in the game (though no one has been attempting the UW build at all)
I play currently with Control Fae (lily and sword) and have a great time saying "No" then pecking at the enemy until they are dead while at the same time dwindling my own life total via Blossom. However sometimes I wish I could say "No" a couple of times and then just take their life in a couple of swings which is how I felt when playing UG. The deck is subject to change because it has such an amazing core of tribal ETB effects and now that Hushwing Gryff is a card we can expect anything with white to have access to such a oppressing force.
So now that my rant is over, what are some cards that you all fear in your matchups against specific decks? Lets build a list of things that need attention and then offer suggestions on how to avoid or deal with those problematic situations. I would love to see us come together and try to make the strongest deck rather then listen to the same ideas get tossed back and forth and hear the same "dies to this, losses to that" argument every card has a kryptonite so just saying it losses out to one card is a weak argument and stand point. We run blue and almost everything in the format losses to blue and or black a couple times each match, still I never hear "That cards great but mana leak is a card" "Liliana is alright but dang it loses to thoughtseize" "Oh yeah, Tarmo would be good but spell snare eats it" "why are you playing affinity? Stoney SilenceKrosan gripNaturalizeAncient Grudge and Hurkyl's Recall just wreck us" Still people continue suite. So I ask you fellow faerie pilots which list do you feel has the most comfortable matchup against not just most of the field, but which list would provide us a equal opportunity in all of our matchups?
I would probably play BUG Fae before UG Fae. Having access to both Goyf and Bitterblossom is too good to pass up. However, I personally still prefer Esper because I still love the Gifts sideboard plan.
This is what I'm talking about! Esper faeries seems to me to be the key to success all around because we could completely shift our game plan post board and catch them off guard and Elesh Norn seems like a ridiculous card alongside an ever growing army of faeries. I'd also add one whip in the SB in that kind of build mainly because it is a nice tag alongside gifts. The only problem I'd find in that color base is trying to justify mainly faeries in the build there are so many viable options in creatures in Esper and I feel like the shell would look a little lack luster in comparison to those who are trying to use faeries tribal theme more so. Two color is the way we'd be able to keep the shell of faeries intact without letting other great cards push their way into our supply of ammo. UBG on the other hand is kind of an exception because it does offer some beastly cards in Abrupt Decay, Goyf, Blossom, and Ooze. Unfortunately and fortunately that is a lot of competition vying for the 2 CMC slot.
Lets play theory for a second if you had a hand in UBg that looked something like (Land, Fetch, Goyf, blossom, Seize, M.Clique, SSS) What would you do on your first two turns and why? (obviously this is a nuts draw, but it allows us to look at a staple game plan) Do you see Lily in a list like this? What kind of removal/denial package would you run and what creatures would you run seeing as we want a solid 12 creatures that will allow us to play the right proactive and reactive gameplan?
A mock list I'd imagine is something like
4 Goyf (obviously)
1 V.Clique (is double blue always gonna be viable for more?)
4 Spellstutter (we don't really need mana leak now with blossom and decay)
3 Mistbind Clique (timewalk for win seems obvious with a beater on the ground and in the sky)
4 Blossom
3 Decay (siding the fourth because we have SSS for lower costed mofo's)
4 Thoughtseize (we want to get rid of whatever isn't as easy to deny with SSS and Decay)
2 IoK (why not make sure we get rid of stuff up to 3 CMC?)
2 Dismember
1 Darkblast?
2 Remand (stall em out and draw)
2/3 Lily (This list wants to deny our control matchup of answers)
Swords or no swords?
What else would you run? I could see mana dorks in a list like this instead of random land we really only want 4CMC for affinity hate in green and mistbind clique so our curve is fairly low.
When I have more time I'll make a full list of both color combos and see what you'd do differently.
I can already tell you in Esper PtE, Lingering souls, and Lily are gonna be there for me because of their overall usability and synergies. Blossom and lingering souls in the same deck seems amazing from the start and being able to be so proactive mainboard and reactive and "Sneaky" post board with gifts would be insanity.
Thanks for listening to my rant before fellas. I just want to pick everyones brain a bit more and get things snowballing into more creative strategies with such a creative group of cards the possibilities seem endless.
So far in very deck I've played with U in it I have wanted two of those pups MD and most of the time 1 or 2 in the side. They are back breaking to some of the best cards in Modern granted it doesn't stop abrupt decay and that's why I've actually went with a 2-2 split snare and redirect or sway MD/SB respectively. In the matches that snare isn't at its best I just side em out for the other or some other relevant spell. I do if lot is a necessary evil, it can keep torn from searching (only relevant thing in that matchup), it counters cranial plating, goyf's, opposing snaps, rituals, electromancers, dark confident, spellskite, spellstutter sprite, bitterblossom, pack rat, etc. I find that both snare and pierce work well together as a split playset in most of my decks because they cover eachother in different circumstances. Pierce is great against that last push to combo off or your push to end the game. Remand helps both of then out considerably and with vapor snag MD I feel it allows for 2for1 justification on fatties or ooze
Boros charm is another beast that I don't think should be cut, the 4 DMG is nice and wins at times, but if you NEED to block in order to win next turn you can just make everything indestructible and prepare for victory.
Just my thoughts
I do like deflecting palm and the card art makes me think of old school martial art movies. Flavor should be "waaaachachachacha"
Dunno if I'm sold on the Charm yet it seems awesome casting it after Geist Trigger to net 6 life though. How are your sideboards coming along everyone? I'm still piecing mine together for what I think would be right and would like some suggestions. I've also been thinking about adding Baby Jace maindeck instead of Young Raper just to see if the draws help me run through the deck and refuel my hand appropriately. In my UB fae deck I use him to success and I think drawing extra spells and getting threats out for our opponents wouldn't hurt. He'd also take a punch or two getting them to turn sideways for Geist to get all up in that booty.
I like how you went the higher curve route it makes sense. I've been thinking about dropping Young Pyro in favor of one Ajani V and another four drop that would make sense. I like Chandra and have bounced that idea back and forth because she does what you would need for Geist to get through. A part of me wants to give Geist another heavenly friend in Restoration Angel just for the body, evasion, and random block kill into combo. I guess that'd open up the debate "why don't you just play midrange then?" So I digress.
I plan on testing pretty hardcore coming up in the week against several different decks and I'll let you all know whats up. As far a redirect its basically swerve haha when its good its FANTASTIC, when it isn't its at least an out to abrupt decay or hand hate sitting in your hand. I might try some number of Trickbind just to neuter some decks tempo. It seems like a boss in the mirror also or against any snap deck not to mention Pod.
Slayers stronghold is a cool choice btw. For me, celestial or Ghost Quarter will more then likely be my land flex spot
My version of the Jeskai Aggro looks something like this
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Young Pyromancer
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Vendilion Clique
19 Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
2 Boros Charm
3 Lightning Helix
2 Vapor Snag
3 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
1 Elctrolyze
4 Serum Visions
20 Land
4 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
2 Hollowed Fountain
2 Steam Vents
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Island
1 Celestial Colonnade
Basically you got pyro not as a star player but as a role player when he comes up, if he doesn't it shouldn't matter because the other cards can pull their weight. 8 fetches because we really want to get into business reall nice and deep like. Snags to clear the way, boros charms to either deal lethal or protect from wipes, lavaman to go in hit'em'up'style. Colonnade to do something with flooding if that ever happens.
One thing I've been pondering about was a midrange sideboard outside of the obvious hate cards we can pack. Maybe some Mirran Crusader for the inevitable BG matchup, Ajani Vengeant or Chandra could also be nice post board. Still up in the air which dragon would be cool Stormbreath seems nicely positioned right now. Redirect is great against BG and quite funny when using it to smack a Lilly in the face or rip something from their hand after they pay 2 life.
Dunno if I can warrant a cryptic MD yet, but i've heard its a good card.
Just some thoughts lemme know what you guys think.
1 Tectonic Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Swampy
4 Ialand
4 River of Tears
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Secluded Glen
3 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Bitterblossom
Creatures 12
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique
Removal Suite 5
1 Smother
1 Agony Warp
1 Doomblade
2 Dismember
2 Mana Leak
3 Cryptic Command
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
Plainswalker
2 Liliana of the Veil
Equipment
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
All in all I loved how the deck played out I felt like I was in control in most every match and really took some nice high risk high reward plays which was a great feeling. If you feel like reading below is the "quick" write up.
Match 1: Bye (benefit of a odd number tourney signup I guess and the cards were in my favor, I do wish I could've played though because I just twiddled my thumbs and smelt incense with my girlfriend for 40 minutes)
Match 2: Tron R/G
Game 1- Open up with close to the nuts after mulling to 6 on the play, I play river drop seize. Realize homeslice has a tron deck and that I should've kept my first hand with my tec edge. Regardless, he has no threats really in hand, I take Sylvan Scrying. He opens slow, T2 I drop blossom and start that thing up...Skip ahead... My T3 I pass then V.Clique on his draw step, I see Karn in his hand and don't particularly want to be liberated, bury it. He draws another Karn *SMH* From then on out Karn just whips me up I dropped a second Bittblossom just to race and then got board wiped. Dropped a Lily, then he dropped Wurmcoil and it was clear I'd just lose. I don't scoop I take it like a man. 0-1 Tron favor
Sided in another Tec edge for 1 Mutavault, Removed all useless removal and hand hate, add sower and 4th Thoughseize
Game 2- Similar start he gets his urza set up quick, but I tec edge on tower entering the field. It stalls him I get a board state setup BB, Lily, and stutter. I grind him down to 2 life while I got twelve and he has been exiling everything with his Karn he landed on T5. I'd ticked Lily up to six and on his turn he board wipes me and exiles my last manland. I proceed to cry within GG
Loss 0-2 Tron (Cool dude we ended up tied for 1st at end)
Thoughts on the match: I really didn't have this deck in mind when throwing my sideboard together this evening and I'm glad that it was my first match. I'd like 3 total Edges or Ghost Quarter-esq cards against it in the future. Tectonic probably over quarter. Karn will wreck your face if he resolves and it is almost impossible to get back in it if he does I mean I had good draws, but he was exiling my land and I couldn't get a cryptic to bounce or anything. At one point I had a lily and cryptic in hand and two lands lmao.
Match 3: RDW
Game 1- Chitty chat on the draw then mull to six cause I want something more then 4 land two removal and V.Clique. Realize I'm about to get burnt when he plays mountain and then suspends. I have a moment of "Dang this is gonna be blow out" pass through my mind. Long story short I wasn't prepared Game 1 for burn. He drops me after 9 turns thanks to Grim. GG
0-1 Burn Advantage
Board out all thoughtseize, 1 bitterblossom, both dismember. Side in 2 Engineered Explosives, 1 Threads, 1 Spellskite, 1 Relic or Progenitus, 1 Bile Blight
Obviously I'm just looking for some value and I spotted a young pyro in his hand from the game prior so bile blight seemed like a okay choice.
It starts out good hand. I end up making a couple nice spellstutter counters while he is trapped at 2 mana, I find key removal for a grim that lands, I find another against some recurring hasty critter that comes back from the grave and a vexing devil I let stay *Agony warp 2 for 1*
end up going back to back upkeep mistbinds on 4 and 5. I win never dropping a bitterblossom, also helped he got screwed on mana.
1-1 Neutral
Game 3- He's on the play, T1 He starts off suspend. I go IoK stripping a burn spell. T2 He lands a Vexing devil Its cool with me that it stays, I hold up mana T3 he drops a hasty and then goes burn I flash sprite to negate. My turn I have just drawn Vendilion I pass. T4 His turn he goes for magus of the moon I mana leak that crap then he lands another 1 drop burn. My turn I almost jizz my pants I drew a engineered explosives. I flash a snap and use IoK then pass. T5 He drops Grim Lava and I officially know I'm gonna wreck his face with engineered. My turn I crack it and then proceed to mop up the tears of burn players across the world. Just kidding it was a really good match all together and I was super happy to have played two matchups I figured would be tough no matter what I brought into the event.
2-1 Faeries victory
Thoughts about the match: It is a tough matchup for sure. I see mistbind clique and engineered explosives as ALL STARS. Explosives just crushes their ground presence and mistbind follows up by just keeping them from blasting you in the face or doing anything worth mentioning at all. Agony warp also deserves an honorable mention letting me get a 2 for 1 on some key components of their deck. Mana leak is also good in the matchup they typically don't wanna tap out unless their making the most of their mana so being able to delay them is big. I could see this being a pretty easy matchup post board, but Game 1 they WILL beat you. I'm pretty sure unless you just get mad lucky and don't have bitterblossom in play. SSS by herself can counter most of their deck so I think other more proactive cards are better suited for this battlefield.
Matchup 4: B/W souls/obliterator midrange
Game 1: I keep a "Meh" hand he thoughtseized me and lingering souls got out of hand then he dropped a finks I scooped with 4 life didn't hardly get to do anything cool or worth noting just bad hand and draws.
Side: I fumble through my cards acting like I'm actually changing a bunch of cards, in reality I just moved 1 snapcaster from main for a Bile Blight.
Game 2: I mulligan down to 5 end up settling with 2 thoughtseize, 1 Mutavault, 1 Tar Pit, Vendilion. T1 On the play I lead with Pit nothing to do until T2 he also has no plays on T1. T2 I play muta after drawing blossom. I thoughtseize and immediately rip obliterator realizing he has no access to anything else but a lingering souls and a thoughtseize himself no white sources. His turn thoughtseize ripping my blossom. I draw land and begin an assault with mutavault I wish you all could have witnessed. He ends up getting mega mana screwed and I play control for days with card draws I'm just holding onto because it was too much fun plucking him with vault. I take him down to 4 life after about 6 shots from vault and a lily on the field. He scoops.
1-1 Neutral
I act like I'm boarding once again I change practically nothing. In fact, I went back to my MD list.
We begin I have a solid hand he mulligans to 6. He plays a swamp then thoughtseize's me, sees I have spellstutter, BB, Lily, removal, and lands He chooses blossom. I draw V.Clique. I play mutavault because I know he has trauma from the last beatdown/encounter. I pass, he plays land and has a scowl on his face which was a dead give away he didn't have anything good then throws it back. I draw a thoughtseize, play a thoughtseize with a river of tears and rip obliterator from a hand consisting of finks and black mana. He doesn't stick anything his turn I drop lily and ride her, like really RIDE her ass to victory making him ditch 3 finks, 2 souls, and sign in blood? whilest losing a couple manlands to removal. I ended up hitting another mutavault after losing my tarpit. I attached a sword to it in like T7 and started doing work.
Thoughts after the match... How'd this guy even beat me the first game? I think that lingering souls is absolutely annoying as I always have, but agony warp made it funny at least. I got to at one point agony warp upon them entering the field just cause I could and wasn't too worried then my turn I snapped and did it again to kill the other. I think the most deadly thing in any matchup against souls decks would be bile blight it deals with them nicely just awkward to rely on double black when you need it. Lily is typically better. Mutavault is hilariously fun to watch just two-piece people to death and serves as a great blockade against people using black removal with creature prerequisites.
Overall the deck was great and the sideboard was at least 78 percent right. I wasn't a huge fan of snapcaster, but he seemed like a necessary advantage tool at times or served as a body to keep pushing when other systems were down. I wouldn't say run rat over him unless you want to run a 3/3 split hand hate because that'd be another card you could pitch late. I loved the rats when I did play them, but they just get rid of clunky cards like bitterblossom typically I prefer Lily to do that for me while also making them discard. If I have a snapcaster and instant in hand I can pitch the instant and still play it regularly. Can't do it with rat in Tiago's spot. I also can't T6 cryptic from grave which is so nasty I can't even stand it.
I would be interested in figuring out how much interaction is the right amount I felt that 5 removal (Influenced) and 5 hand hate (Preemptive) with 5 counters (reactive) *also not including spellstutter* seemed nice I was guaranteed by 1/4th of the deck to have interaction with the opponent also that provided Tiago fuel in which he typically has at least one target that is relevant.
For the record, I stand by my very first few posts in this thread about how great Lily is in this deck she does two things that we typically want to do anyways. Sometimes she isn't that good like in my tron matchup, She would've been if I had her in time which makes me want to run 3 again like my past lists, that would mean switching 1 secluded Glen with 1 Sunken Ruins. In my burn matchup she allowed me G1 to discard a burn from their hand then attract another spell on their turn. So she at least is a 2-1 in most of the matchups I played.
I'd like to see redirect in the sideboard maybe in the future just to annoy opposing thoughtseize decks I'd also like it against abrupt decay which would effectively allow us to wreck a lily they just dropped or anything else relevant in their deck.
Lingering souls is a **************** not enough stars honestly it just annoys me to deal with other fliers like that that are recurring plus on T5 the can just have 4 from no where and we only have 3 on five providing we just used BB with no other faerie entering. When that IS the case you are about to embark on an uphill battle because the decks that tote those around typically have much more dangerous things then the flying blockers.
I hope you guys enjoyed the bit I typed up it was so much fun playing tonight and I realized 3 things. Hot sweaty places still gross me out so I won tonight by sitting close to the fan that doubled as a B O repellant. Two, My wonderful lady is probably the greatest person in the world for hanging out with me each Friday night while I play music and THIS weekend she came to cheer me on in a COMPLETELY different setting plus I'm getting her into magic which mean WIN X 2. And finally I think that faeries is well placed still against the entire meta, even though I only played against 3 decks in the main tournament I still got to reevaluate those matchups. I'd conclude with saying Engineered Explosives is great and kicked tail a few times and that surgical extraction should be in every sideboard in modern and it blows my mind why it isn't.
Much love faerie pilots peace and g'night.
Not really a risk actually, I'd just like to see if it would work consistently as another win con over swords. The last bit about the name, really? You're cool hahaha I think people know who we're talking about. Obviously you did, feminine or not that would be the only card in competitive lists that you'd recognize aa a "Oona" subtitle to be.
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.
Ahhh so true I apologize it must've been when I had five mana available for vault. It was a week ago sorry for the miscommunication. I got lost in translation. *Derrrr face*
Sorry I should've stated my land on T2. T2 I dropped River of Tears allowing for thoughtseize, T3 I dropped a second mutavault allowing for black mana, T4 I dropped a secluded glen revealing SSS-held up and tapped them on battle step also allowing for a tempo swing before dropping and equiping sword on T5
On a side note: How are you guys liking planeswalkers? I have been using 2X lily after trying 3X which was alright. I do like the thought of maybe trying a 2/2 split with Lily and Jace in lists running Rat it seems like profit no matter who is in play and if you get both in play madness soon follows (typically from the opponent) I've landed both only in two games, but it was AMMMMMAAAAAZING.
On the mana base conversation, I think it would be perfectly logical to play the playset of creeping tar pit and dropping down to 3 mutavault to allow greater color access and attack longevity. I however am content with the following
4X Secluded Glen
4X River of Tears
4X Darkslick
3X Creeping Tarpit
4X Mutavault
2X Tectonic Edge
3X Island
1X Swamp
I run 2X Lily and she is almost never impossible to cast nor is Vendilion. I know mutavault seems like we should be using more color, but this mana is smooth as silk for the most part and sometimes the right decision is to start jamming with mutavault on an open board as soon as possible to get that life dwindling (like snapcaster in a way it isn't best to wait for a buyback or in this case a counter)
Example last friday at my LGS I had a game where I literally only swung with manlands (vault early tarpit after) G1 and blocked with tokens until I dropped sword and then I finished the game on T6 because he had no answers. G2 I opened Mutavault, T2 Thoughtseize, T3 IoK swing vault, T4 held up mistbind-tapped him out T5 dropped sword attached to mistbind and said good luck in your next match.
Has anyone tried to work out a mana base for Esper? I was making a list today and I just couldn't figure out what we'd really want as the mana fixing. Fetches hurt, but seem necessary especially if we want gifts package post board and access to hate cards. I think I'm going to focus my time in crafting Faerie Gifts because I believe it will sure up some very one sided matchups especially with Rock, Affinity, and Pod.
This is what I'm talking about! Esper faeries seems to me to be the key to success all around because we could completely shift our game plan post board and catch them off guard and Elesh Norn seems like a ridiculous card alongside an ever growing army of faeries. I'd also add one whip in the SB in that kind of build mainly because it is a nice tag alongside gifts. The only problem I'd find in that color base is trying to justify mainly faeries in the build there are so many viable options in creatures in Esper and I feel like the shell would look a little lack luster in comparison to those who are trying to use faeries tribal theme more so. Two color is the way we'd be able to keep the shell of faeries intact without letting other great cards push their way into our supply of ammo. UBG on the other hand is kind of an exception because it does offer some beastly cards in Abrupt Decay, Goyf, Blossom, and Ooze. Unfortunately and fortunately that is a lot of competition vying for the 2 CMC slot.
Lets play theory for a second if you had a hand in UBg that looked something like (Land, Fetch, Goyf, blossom, Seize, M.Clique, SSS) What would you do on your first two turns and why? (obviously this is a nuts draw, but it allows us to look at a staple game plan) Do you see Lily in a list like this? What kind of removal/denial package would you run and what creatures would you run seeing as we want a solid 12 creatures that will allow us to play the right proactive and reactive gameplan?
A mock list I'd imagine is something like
4 Goyf (obviously)
1 V.Clique (is double blue always gonna be viable for more?)
4 Spellstutter (we don't really need mana leak now with blossom and decay)
3 Mistbind Clique (timewalk for win seems obvious with a beater on the ground and in the sky)
4 Blossom
3 Decay (siding the fourth because we have SSS for lower costed mofo's)
4 Thoughtseize (we want to get rid of whatever isn't as easy to deny with SSS and Decay)
2 IoK (why not make sure we get rid of stuff up to 3 CMC?)
2 Dismember
1 Darkblast?
2 Remand (stall em out and draw)
2/3 Lily (This list wants to deny our control matchup of answers)
Swords or no swords?
What else would you run? I could see mana dorks in a list like this instead of random land we really only want 4CMC for affinity hate in green and mistbind clique so our curve is fairly low.
When I have more time I'll make a full list of both color combos and see what you'd do differently.
I can already tell you in Esper PtE, Lingering souls, and Lily are gonna be there for me because of their overall usability and synergies. Blossom and lingering souls in the same deck seems amazing from the start and being able to be so proactive mainboard and reactive and "Sneaky" post board with gifts would be insanity.
Thanks for listening to my rant before fellas. I just want to pick everyones brain a bit more and get things snowballing into more creative strategies with such a creative group of cards the possibilities seem endless.