Ya the main base is rough, and due mostly to recently selling all my verdants online and not wanting to rebuy. The heavy shock mana base is to make up for that(its pretty black heavy with shocks due to no black fetches) I'd be cutting one plains for a horizon canopy when I get around to getting one tho, that's already in the plans.
Abzan charm is there as another out to things like wurmcoil(cause **** tron, mirite?) And other problems....and is instant speed dredge in a pinch. I did use to +1 counters tho to swing for surprise lethal with spirit tokens recently
i've had haakon stuck a few times, definately. it's noticeable, in fact, i've only had the haakon engine online maybe one game so far? the rest of the deck has pulled through for that very well tho. smallpox is down to a 2 of currently, for similar reasons as you stated. and gets cut post board alot, thing is, when pox is good, pox is sooo good. and getting souls out first if you need the midgame pox is usually the plan. saccing a golgari thug, to a smallpox, is also pretty busted, especially throwing old siege rhino back onto the top of your deck for next turn.
I have 2 liliana's in paper, and I think i'd be happy at 2-3. prolly replacing the maindeck thoughtsiezes.(my list has had some minor changes over the past few days, mostly just tweaking things here and there). the list really does play alot less like a dedicated loam style list you'd assume, and more like junk midrange. but loam gives some pretty solid lategame.(yeah, i've darkblasted my golgari thug to start the siegerhino loop. yes it's fun.)
That's the list I've been using.. Its a little less heavy on the dredge interactions and closer to just a junk list with some value loam. I don't have lotv online, but I do in paper and would definitely run her if I had her.
I was testing edge of autumn for a bit as a psuedo cycle land style interaction, it was cute and sometimes useful but closer to a dead card than not. The one of golgari thug is a nod to the 4 rhino/4 goyf in my maindeck, in order to hedge against the dredges hitting threats. That said, rhino rebuys are ridiculous.I do definitely want one horizon canopy in there as a "draw engine" I just have to pick one up still. Really enjoying the list tho, so thank you guys for the work you all have put into it to give me a jumping off point.
This will definitely be my secondary list of choice for a while, and I think I'll run it through some dailies, maybe on stream(I usually stream UBFae PR RUG shackles control, for reference) but loam is prolly the one card I may love more than blossom
I've recently added 3 chalice of the void to my sb. My maindeck only has 5 1 cmc cards (all discard) so its not too bad....and chalice on one does work against bogles, burn, ur delver, and jeskai ascendency. Not necessarily a free win against those....but makes so many of their cards dead, winning shouldn't be too hard. Haven't gotten much testing yet, but I like the idea
Treasure cruise. I'm so down to test cruise and dig, don't even care about fetches. Went 3-1 on stream again last night, beat a blood Moon even. I really like the idea, especially for my play style(iE, one for one early and often) of cruise as a turn 4-6 "refill" button.
Hopefully I pick some up this weekend online and can start testing, my current list for reference
tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ub-faeries-current/
The change is gonna be cut vendetta and far/away for two cruises/digs. See which performs better over time(I think it'll be a meta call, personally. With cruise better against fair decks like bgx where you just want to refill vs control/combo meta where dig gives you selection)
liliana and batterskull win games. it's as simple as that, you have to keep in mind, when i rebuilt my list to include scions a few weeks ago, i decided to go about it not as a counterspell style control list, but as more of a bg/x STYLE list. don't look at my list and see blue and expect it to be your generic blue control deck, it's not. the entire gameplan is to trade 1 for 1 early as often as possible, then let cards like blossom, cryptic, mistbind give us "2 for 1" situations that pull us ahead and end the game over a few turns after stabilizing. similar to say jund, just doing trades till midgame, then landing an uncontested goyf and finishing the opponent off. or same thing, but with ravines, etc.
with less maindeck countermagic, it makes tapping out for things like lili and bskull alot less scary, and the raw power of those cards are worth it, imo. between discard, spellstutters, and kill spells, early games are usually full anyways even without remands/leaks. and those of you saying there are tons of scary non creature threats out there you need to counter....i'd like to know what meta's your playing in, 'cause in a pod/bgx/twin meta like mtgo is, my removal is all live 90% of the time. and generally easier to resolve than fighting counter wars over the creature itself. and if one sneaks through, that counterspell in your hand is useless.
Feel free to hit me up with thoughts on scion fair warning, it'll take a bit of adjusting. Scions require you to play more aggressively, but once you get the feel of em down, I think its worth the occasional situation of having nothing but a 1/1 for 3. Countering an electrolyze, or surprise buffing tokens to make blocks in your favor are insane, ntm the extra clock. And 3/3 or better mutavaults are pretty good ;). I've committed to the scion list, and if lacking testing, can always join my stream to see em in action
Haha ya I agree. There are probably closer to like 2/3 variations of faeries all in this one archetype and that causes some of the issues I've noticed between posters here. So I agree completely on that
And yeah, I haven't shaved since my wedding on may 8th. Wife hasn't complained yet, so I'm going for the yeard unless she says no more I've noticed, and will warn you now, when I start thinking hard I play with my beard a lot. I didn't realize it until I started rewatching my own streams for note taking g lol
Flashfreeze comes in against pod, the nyxwave decks if you stumble into em. Amulet of vigor combo. It's just really very versatile sideboard combo I recently started testing after seeing Jeff Hoogland really get a lot out of it, and I haven't looked back. It actually hits a lot of cards.
I used to run tec edge, but I don't think we have room for utility lands beyond our manlands. I could run one or two if I cut liliana(then I could cut the sunken ruins) but I think that's too much tradeoff for a small chance of seeing a partial answer. I have however been able to use memoricide out of the board against tron(usually name karn, or wurmcoil if I have board presence and just need to kill them. Its narrow, but the memoricide has been a fun one of for me(in paper, that slot is a hurkyls recall. They are 55$ online tho, so not bothering there yet)
My vod stay up on twitch.TV/brianbgrp for two weeks, and I export most of them to YouTube(same username BTW) feel free
I was the same way with scion at first, felt very men about him until I just started jamming him for testing purposes and watched em overachieve. I think a pile of early counter magic doesnt help the uwr matchup, you win that by resolving blossom. Leaks and remands get you nowhere special, extra kill spells to stop them from any board presence(every kill spell in my deck kills a colonnade, BTW) . scapeshift is rough, but it was rough IMO when I was on remands as well. You do NOT win counter wars with scapeshift. Frankly, I've won more scapeshift games off the back of scions giving me an actual clock than I ever did trying to play the counter game against em. Scion stopping electrolyzes is insane in that match.
Storm I won't even go into. If I lose to storm, its cause they had a very good hand. Between discard and spell stutters, early game is usually covered. Then I can kill em before they go off. It helps that I love storm and play a lot of it as well, so its usually fairly simple to know when/what to disrupt. Storm isn't something a spell stutter deck really needs to fret about I think.
I'm not saying pack rats are incorrect BTW. I see them as a perfectly viable game plan, especially in certain met as....I just don't like them. Simple as that, the card ruined limited, ruined standard, and its not fun to play or to lose against. Another unspike mindset, but I do like the deck better without them even away from my personal bias. The bias just ensures I stay away I play to win and be competitive, but I also play to enjoy myself. I don't think rats significantly increase our win% to warrant inclusion despite my bias, so I don't touch the ugly little *****s. /endrant
Can we get a full on discussion of Dig Through Time in this deck specifically though? I think it could have been good except for the fact that it feels like it requires you to already have been in a good position mana-cost wise. To cast it you need anywhere from 8 mana sources or 6 cards in your graveyard, adding and subtracting from each as necessary. Which means most likely you are not slipping up with a constant stream of mana and cards (and sometimes that just doesn't happen). I feel like this card is easily fueled by a liliana on either side of the board, so maybe it helps in the rock/rack matchups when we need specific cards?
I tested some against U-Tron and they felt terrible, but that may depend on that matchup. I played a pretty standard list with Pack Rat, Snapcaster and fetches added, so no cantrips which might have been another factor. I often had one or even both of them (played 2) in my hand without being able to cast them effectively.
I did not play many games though the test isn't that expressive but that again they simply felt terrible. I have a feeling that Fae might not be able to support them easily, although Liliana would have helped a huge deal (but I really don't like her either :)) I think the card needs to much setup for us to shine and decks like Scapeshift and UWR probably could use it way better.
We should pray that Ancestral Visions will be unbanned some day
@Briangrp: First of all congrats on your finishes. I don't really get your explanation for Scion though. The described Board state probably had 3 Living tokens + Tar Pit. You played the Scion and attacked for 10 with Tar pit (so 3 token *2 damage + 1 from Scion + 3 from Tar Pit). The question here is: Would you have lost the game if it was 1 turn longer? Exactly that would have happened without Scion (3 damage from token + 3 tar pit, then 4 from tokens +3 from Tar Pit) where even a Spellstutter would have sealed the deal. I don't think that example was really impressive to be honest but then again, I don't know the exact board state and if it had mattered its fine.
The thing I see with Scion is: He is often a 1/1 dude without impact (no blossom, only 1 spellstutter and such) where Snapcaster (-2 Scion) or the additional Vendilion Clique (-1 Scion) probably would have had way more impact. Of course this depends on so much factors that it's hard to really tell but I probably gained more value from Turn 2 Snapcasters than I would have had from Scion of Oona so far.
Without early counter magic I think your Tron matchup is even worse? Probably trading this one for the sake of Pod and co, so that may be fine. I think you underestimate the role of Spell Snare though, as it often helps to force your spells through rather than being used to defensively
One last question I'm really interested in: Did you test with Pack Rats? Can't remember if you ever said something and I think they have way more impact than Scion of Oona (and help playing proactive as well).
On my phone so I can't go into too much detail but my example for scion was against pod. Idk bout your experience but every extra turn you give pod is a turn that pod can just take the game from you. Their topdecks are that damn powerful. Also, a point I skipped, running 4 scion makes running 3 mistbinds safe. And mistbinds closes games out very very easily I've found. When I ran without scions I had a very significant amount of dead mistbinds draws, now it happens but way way less often.
I'm fine with a meh tron matchup, personally. Its not super popular in paper, and mostly mono u tron online that I see anyways. You beat tron by stopping their wurmcoils or karns, and kill em before emmy shows up. Countering their ramp doesn't work for us like it does for the ur Fae variants, we don't have burn for reach once they get tronny. I just usually play it very aggro and try to race.
Lately, online, there hasn't been lots of countetmagic to worry about, making spell snare a lot worse IMO. Sure its good against bgx...but so is having the extra maindeck kill spells. Less dead draws is good. We are a late game, midrange/control deck. I don't want to draw things mid/late that are narrow like spell snare. That's why I cut remands and leaks, I want the majority of my draws to be gas. So I had to sacrifice some "early" disruption. If ya watch my stream ever you'll see I even board out discard in a lot of matches for that very reason. Its been working for me, as I said, pretend we are a bgx deck and not a U based control deck. That's the mental switch that changed my entire outlook and has since helped my record IMO.
I ran a 2 of pack rat in the past. I didn't like it, sure it takes over a few games, but idk. I think I take PVDs old playing faeries a to z article to heart and really looked at maintaining the synergies of the deck(hence my endorsing of scions lately). I feel the synergies that playing Fae tribal gives us are worth the occasional disruption tribal sometimes faces. Curving bb into sss/scion into mistbinds is just too damn good. Any game you hit that curve, you generally can't lose. Playing up those synergies I think is the route to legitimacy for the deck. Diluting that strategy I think makes me rather wanna swap to a BUg good stuff shell instead of a "faeries" shell. I don't want to play a ub control deck with bitterblossom. I want to play faeries. That sounds very unspike, I guess...but I mean it as I'm trying to build the best faeries competitive list, not just a generic UB control list(as I think straight control isn't viable in modern, durdle does NOT work. And there are better shells for a pure control deck in modern, like uwr or esper even. Or hell, actual jund.)
I failed at this post/quote thing. Like I said, posting from phone and the curse forums suck on mobile lol *edit*
i forgot to quote. this was in response to Anthreion talking about my list that 4-0'd. *edit*
That was me btw I also 4-0'd with the exact same list the monday night before that, it just didn't make the mothership(therefore, it did not make mtgtop8) and i 3-1'd with it the week before that.
Just today with the same list, i 3-1'd today as well(all of these were on stream, and my VOD's can be found on twitch.tv/brianbgrp or on my youtube channel, under the same handle) today i lost to soul sisters, then managed to beat pod 3 times in a row(yeah, I don't even know, i normally have issues with pod. but today I got revenge)
i'm REALLY happy with my list, to the point that I'm worried about changing it to fit in polluted deltas. almost willing to just be soft to blood moon for a purely painless manabase. It's that big of a deal, in my oh so humble opinion, to not have to worry about any self damage from lands. Your life total is your most important resource.
also, I was originally against scions, now I won't leave home without 'em. I've explained in my stream a few times, but I think that modern is a very proactive format. you can't afford to sit and durdle the way a standard control list does, modern is too powerful/explosive for that. UWR can sorta get away with it due to bolt/snap/bolt and the rest of their reach letting them close out the game fast. A deck like ubfae, really can't do that. scion is our "reach" it lets you play the normal control game of trading 1for1 early game, until you stabilize the board presence, then get to slam down a scion, sometimesi two, and end the game in a matter of 2 turns, 3 tops. Honestly think that's super important, i had a game today that was a perfect example of that, where opponent(pod) was at 14 life with a dude or two on board, and me with a blossom and some tokens. eot flash in scion, and all of a sudden my board got scary(i cracked him for ten that turn, tar pits are good yo). that kind of closing power is very hard to pass up.
also about no spell snare. I just went away from early countermagic beyond spellstutter completely. that made room for the scions and more removal. honestly, i started playing the deck more like you'd play a bg/x style deck, and i've done considerably better with that outlook opposed to a normal draw/go control deck. Any questions hit me up on twitter @brianbgrp or feel free to join me in my stream sometime and chat I don't check mtgsalvation super often.
okay, wall of text inc. here's my tourney report, also posted it to /r/spikes for those who frequent there
okay, for those following us Faerie players, here's a quick tourney report from the CFB 10k ptq yesterday in Oakland, CA. I've been streaming lately, for those who remember, and my list is fairly close to what i've been streaming with(main difference is hurkyl's in the sideboard in paper, but not online due to ridiculous price tag. and also i last minute bought two lilianas and put them in the deck, 'cause my inner spike said if i didn't i'd regret it. and I'm glad I did.)
anyways, here's the list I played: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ub-faeries-current/
my notes on the rounds aren't super strong, so it won't be a super detailed report, but i'll do a quick rundown of the 9 round tournament(409 players signed up, one short of a ten rounder)
round 1 Elliot - Bogles great, bogles in round 1, glad I got those Liliana's. game 1 was quick and dirty, with liliana coming down turn 3 and eating a kor spirit dancer with a Spirit Mantle on it, then me not letting anything else resolve.
game 2 he mulled to 5, and then had to deal with liliana, ee on 1,a nd a Spellskite.
1-0(2-0 games)
round 2 Matt - Tarmotwin game 1, he got stuck on 3 lands, I countered the few things he tried to play, and locked it up with cryptic land bounces while i beat in with a v clique.
game 2, well, game 2 Bitterblossom happened. t2 blossom just wins games, my notes/lifepad show most damage i took was from my blossom, and One swing with a goyf, while his steadily chipped down to zilch.
2-0(4-0 games)
round 3 Logan - Jund game 1, i ripped his hand apart with a discard heavy hand, and my lili hit before his, i don't remember all the details but game ended with my life going 20-18-15, and his going down in steady chunks of 2s and 3s till dead.
i specifically remember boarding out all my discard for more interaction here, based on stuff i read in my other thread about the Jund mirror matchup. so game 2 was very close, with him resolving coursers, and slowly beating me down with it, in the end I hit all the right topdecks while he got stuck with thoughtsiezes in his hand, game ended with me swinging for lethal both of us at 2 life.
3-0(6-0 in games)
round 4 Jesus - young pyro delver
game 1 was very intense and close, and came down to him having to have the exact topdeck to win. his out was topdecking snapcaster, snap Vapor Snag my blocker, swing with delver, then bolt for lethal exactly. anything else, and I kill him on the next turn. He hit the snapcaster, and I can't be mad about losing to drawing your out.
game 2 was a bit of a blowout, i killed his turn 1 delver, killed his turn 2 young pyro, then he had another young pyro turn 3, and I didn't draw an answer to it or it's horde of tokens until he had lethal on board. Them's the breaks.
3-1(6-2 in games)
rd 5 Nathan - Affinity ugh, turn 1 Darksteel Citadel, ornithopter, springleaf, Vault Skirge, t2 Cranial Plating. my life total went 19, 18, 11, 3, 1. his went 18. Yeah, affinity is rough.
game 2 was, somehow, worse. I stayed in it for a while, but couldn't manage to catch him stumble or draw a single Hurkyl's Recall to reset things all game. he also had 3 Vault Skirges on turn 2.
3-2(6-4 in games) Feeling a little dejected, but glad I had dodges affinity so far(there is TONS of affinity in the bay area, california. literally tons. I got lucky to only play it once today) but figured, 9 rounds, x-2 may sneak in. and my breakers should be decent so I'll keep going, cash was up to top 64, so x-3 was live for cashing.
On to round 6! Ben playing Jund.
played out very similarly to the last Jund matchup, game 1 he couldn't get anything going, and I had all the right answers at the right times. I ended the game without taking any damage, and doing a good job of keeping things at my control.
game 2, same game plan as earlier, out come sthe discard, in comes more kill spells, negates, etc. this one was alot closer, i remember a courser doing alot of work, singlehandedly bringing me from 20-8. then he had a Batterskull coming the next turn, with him at 8 life. and i topdecked a negate to stop it, then v clique next turn and finished him off with clique and tar pit.
4-2(8-4 in games)
okay, still live. doing really good with very strong wins all around, breakers looking decent as both of my losses are currently undefeated at the top table as well time for round 7.
round 7, eric with burn.
game 1, i did my best to just survive, not let eidolons resolve and get in damage when i could. he flooded a good bit, and i took over at 3 life and ended the game.
out comes thoughtsiezes and a single IOK, in comes 2 negates and a Spellskite. same thing as game 1, I actually end up stabilizing at 1 life, him at 8, no cards in hand. and upkeep mistbind him, then next turn kill him with mistbind + manlands. pretty much how most of my burn wins go, i win the game on the brink of death with them out of gas.
5-2(10-4 in games) getting excited now, as I'm thinking I may be able to sneak in with 2 more solid finishes.
round 8, Austin playing pod.
game 1, he resolves a Spellskite, and I hit one of my more aggressive draws, and just started beating down, countering multiple Kitchen Finks, and using v clique to force a early Chord of Calling for 2(instead of 3) so he could only get a voice, instead of a finks, which was enough to secure me game 1.
out comes remands, and all my discard. in comes more kill spells, and Sower of Temptations. Austin, unfortunately, gets stuck on 2 lands, and only resolves a voice of resurgance, which i promptly steal with sower, he hits a noble, that gets liliana'd, then i seal it away with voice/sower/tar pit. he seemed a little upset, understandably, but my hand would have stopped about anything he coulda done with land drops anyways. i was sitting on a second sower, 2 smothers and a cryptic.
6-2(12-4 in games)
okay, this is it, i'm going into the last round at 35th place, with fairly solid breakers(57.25, 70.5882, 51.3276 for those who can understand this mumbo jumbo) not sure if i could make top 8 without some crazy luck, but I think if i won, i coulda snuck into top 16, at least. so onto the final match of the day!
round 9 Andrew playing burn burn again, he starts off with Goblin Guide into eidolon, i get to remand the eidolon, but I end up stuck on 3 lands, with a handful of 4 drops and lose game 1 with him down to 9 life. easily beatable if i had hit my fourth land.
game 2, Spellskite just does insane work at stopping him from being aggressive, and i just tear in with spellstutters countering, basically, everything, and a Vendilion Clique putting the clock on. end the game at a healthy 10 life and him dead.
game 3, well, game 3 i mull once, then get stuck with River of Tears, tec edge, swamp. and don't hit a fourth land until i'm at 6 life, he has 2 cards in hand, and he knows i have a Spell Snare(Goblin Guide showed him) and he's holding back for a few turns. so obviously he has 2 drops. i hit a land finally...another River of Tears. i tanked for a solid minute debating if i could shields down until the end of my turn, finally decided I wasn't winning the game by being stuck on 3 lands and had to take the risk. ate a double Boros Charm as soon as i played the land. Thems the breaks.
6-3(12-6 in games) a very solid day for me, i think. all my wins were VERY solid, and I'm okay with losing to affinity, as it's easily my most difficult matchup. the yp deck, close game 1, he beat me solidly game 2. and the last round was variance finally catching up, ended the night in 48th place, cashing for 50 bucks and a solid ego boost for my deck choices/play.
only changes I think i'd make, is i want to try out a Black Sun's Zenith in the side as a one of, replacing the Surgical Extraction or the Darkblast. it shuts off persist from pod, should do some work against affinity, and hoses every creature in the YP deck. and i need something to help recover from those decks.
now to get liliana's online for more testing! any questions, hit me up on here or on twitter @brianbgrp or ask in my stream if ya see me there www.twitch.tv/brianbgrp
Spells kite makes ravager modular pretty bad. That and I have enough cards worth taking out that its a free shot to get it in, and resolving it generally means I don't have to worry about countering a ravager and can focus on plating/ensoul/overseer
Abzan charm is there as another out to things like wurmcoil(cause **** tron, mirite?) And other problems....and is instant speed dredge in a pinch. I did use to +1 counters tho to swing for surprise lethal with spirit tokens recently
I have 2 liliana's in paper, and I think i'd be happy at 2-3. prolly replacing the maindeck thoughtsiezes.(my list has had some minor changes over the past few days, mostly just tweaking things here and there). the list really does play alot less like a dedicated loam style list you'd assume, and more like junk midrange. but loam gives some pretty solid lategame.(yeah, i've darkblasted my golgari thug to start the siegerhino loop. yes it's fun.)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qy37lbsbtipkkd/Screenshot 2014-12-04 18.34.18.png?dl=0
That's the list I've been using.. Its a little less heavy on the dredge interactions and closer to just a junk list with some value loam. I don't have lotv online, but I do in paper and would definitely run her if I had her.
I was testing edge of autumn for a bit as a psuedo cycle land style interaction, it was cute and sometimes useful but closer to a dead card than not. The one of golgari thug is a nod to the 4 rhino/4 goyf in my maindeck, in order to hedge against the dredges hitting threats. That said, rhino rebuys are ridiculous.I do definitely want one horizon canopy in there as a "draw engine" I just have to pick one up still. Really enjoying the list tho, so thank you guys for the work you all have put into it to give me a jumping off point.
This will definitely be my secondary list of choice for a while, and I think I'll run it through some dailies, maybe on stream(I usually stream UBFae PR RUG shackles control, for reference) but loam is prolly the one card I may love more than blossom
Hopefully I pick some up this weekend online and can start testing, my current list for reference
tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ub-faeries-current/
The change is gonna be cut vendetta and far/away for two cruises/digs. See which performs better over time(I think it'll be a meta call, personally. With cruise better against fair decks like bgx where you just want to refill vs control/combo meta where dig gives you selection)
with less maindeck countermagic, it makes tapping out for things like lili and bskull alot less scary, and the raw power of those cards are worth it, imo. between discard, spellstutters, and kill spells, early games are usually full anyways even without remands/leaks. and those of you saying there are tons of scary non creature threats out there you need to counter....i'd like to know what meta's your playing in, 'cause in a pod/bgx/twin meta like mtgo is, my removal is all live 90% of the time. and generally easier to resolve than fighting counter wars over the creature itself. and if one sneaks through, that counterspell in your hand is useless.
Feel free to hit me up with thoughts on scion
And yeah, I haven't shaved since my wedding on may 8th. Wife hasn't complained yet, so I'm going for the yeard unless she says no more
I used to run tec edge, but I don't think we have room for utility lands beyond our manlands. I could run one or two if I cut liliana(then I could cut the sunken ruins) but I think that's too much tradeoff for a small chance of seeing a partial answer. I have however been able to use memoricide out of the board against tron(usually name karn, or wurmcoil if I have board presence and just need to kill them. Its narrow, but the memoricide has been a fun one of for me(in paper, that slot is a hurkyls recall. They are 55$ online tho, so not bothering there yet)
I was the same way with scion at first, felt very men about him until I just started jamming him for testing purposes and watched em overachieve. I think a pile of early counter magic doesnt help the uwr matchup, you win that by resolving blossom. Leaks and remands get you nowhere special, extra kill spells to stop them from any board presence(every kill spell in my deck kills a colonnade, BTW) . scapeshift is rough, but it was rough IMO when I was on remands as well. You do NOT win counter wars with scapeshift. Frankly, I've won more scapeshift games off the back of scions giving me an actual clock than I ever did trying to play the counter game against em. Scion stopping electrolyzes is insane in that match.
Storm I won't even go into. If I lose to storm, its cause they had a very good hand. Between discard and spell stutters, early game is usually covered. Then I can kill em before they go off. It helps that I love storm and play a lot of it as well, so its usually fairly simple to know when/what to disrupt. Storm isn't something a spell stutter deck really needs to fret about I think.
I'm not saying pack rats are incorrect BTW. I see them as a perfectly viable game plan, especially in certain met as....I just don't like them. Simple as that, the card ruined limited, ruined standard, and its not fun to play or to lose against. Another unspike mindset, but I do like the deck better without them even away from my personal bias. The bias just ensures I stay away
On my phone so I can't go into too much detail but my example for scion was against pod. Idk bout your experience but every extra turn you give pod is a turn that pod can just take the game from you. Their topdecks are that damn powerful. Also, a point I skipped, running 4 scion makes running 3 mistbinds safe. And mistbinds closes games out very very easily I've found. When I ran without scions I had a very significant amount of dead mistbinds draws, now it happens but way way less often.
I'm fine with a meh tron matchup, personally. Its not super popular in paper, and mostly mono u tron online that I see anyways. You beat tron by stopping their wurmcoils or karns, and kill em before emmy shows up. Countering their ramp doesn't work for us like it does for the ur Fae variants, we don't have burn for reach once they get tronny. I just usually play it very aggro and try to race.
Lately, online, there hasn't been lots of countetmagic to worry about, making spell snare a lot worse IMO. Sure its good against bgx...but so is having the extra maindeck kill spells. Less dead draws is good. We are a late game, midrange/control deck. I don't want to draw things mid/late that are narrow like spell snare. That's why I cut remands and leaks, I want the majority of my draws to be gas. So I had to sacrifice some "early" disruption. If ya watch my stream ever you'll see I even board out discard in a lot of matches for that very reason. Its been working for me, as I said, pretend we are a bgx deck and not a U based control deck. That's the mental switch that changed my entire outlook and has since helped my record IMO.
I ran a 2 of pack rat in the past. I didn't like it, sure it takes over a few games, but idk. I think I take PVDs old playing faeries a to z article to heart and really looked at maintaining the synergies of the deck(hence my endorsing of scions lately). I feel the synergies that playing Fae tribal gives us are worth the occasional disruption tribal sometimes faces. Curving bb into sss/scion into mistbinds is just too damn good. Any game you hit that curve, you generally can't lose. Playing up those synergies I think is the route to legitimacy for the deck. Diluting that strategy I think makes me rather wanna swap to a BUg good stuff shell instead of a "faeries" shell. I don't want to play a ub control deck with bitterblossom. I want to play faeries. That sounds very unspike, I guess...but I mean it as I'm trying to build the best faeries competitive list, not just a generic UB control list(as I think straight control isn't viable in modern, durdle does NOT work. And there are better shells for a pure control deck in modern, like uwr or esper even. Or hell, actual jund.)
I failed at this post/quote thing. Like I said, posting from phone and the curse forums suck on mobile lol *edit*
That was me btw
Just today with the same list, i 3-1'd today as well(all of these were on stream, and my VOD's can be found on twitch.tv/brianbgrp or on my youtube channel, under the same handle) today i lost to soul sisters, then managed to beat pod 3 times in a row(yeah, I don't even know, i normally have issues with pod. but today I got revenge)
i'm REALLY happy with my list, to the point that I'm worried about changing it to fit in polluted deltas. almost willing to just be soft to blood moon for a purely painless manabase. It's that big of a deal, in my oh so humble opinion, to not have to worry about any self damage from lands. Your life total is your most important resource.
also, I was originally against scions, now I won't leave home without 'em. I've explained in my stream a few times, but I think that modern is a very proactive format. you can't afford to sit and durdle the way a standard control list does, modern is too powerful/explosive for that. UWR can sorta get away with it due to bolt/snap/bolt and the rest of their reach letting them close out the game fast. A deck like ubfae, really can't do that. scion is our "reach" it lets you play the normal control game of trading 1for1 early game, until you stabilize the board presence, then get to slam down a scion, sometimesi two, and end the game in a matter of 2 turns, 3 tops. Honestly think that's super important, i had a game today that was a perfect example of that, where opponent(pod) was at 14 life with a dude or two on board, and me with a blossom and some tokens. eot flash in scion, and all of a sudden my board got scary(i cracked him for ten that turn, tar pits are good yo). that kind of closing power is very hard to pass up.
also about no spell snare. I just went away from early countermagic beyond spellstutter completely. that made room for the scions and more removal. honestly, i started playing the deck more like you'd play a bg/x style deck, and i've done considerably better with that outlook opposed to a normal draw/go control deck. Any questions hit me up on twitter @brianbgrp or feel free to join me in my stream sometime and chat
okay, for those following us Faerie players, here's a quick tourney report from the CFB 10k ptq yesterday in Oakland, CA. I've been streaming lately, for those who remember, and my list is fairly close to what i've been streaming with(main difference is hurkyl's in the sideboard in paper, but not online due to ridiculous price tag. and also i last minute bought two lilianas and put them in the deck, 'cause my inner spike said if i didn't i'd regret it. and I'm glad I did.)
anyways, here's the list I played:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ub-faeries-current/
my notes on the rounds aren't super strong, so it won't be a super detailed report, but i'll do a quick rundown of the 9 round tournament(409 players signed up, one short of a ten rounder)
round 1 Elliot - Bogles great, bogles in round 1, glad I got those Liliana's. game 1 was quick and dirty, with liliana coming down turn 3 and eating a kor spirit dancer with a Spirit Mantle on it, then me not letting anything else resolve.
game 2 he mulled to 5, and then had to deal with liliana, ee on 1,a nd a Spellskite.
1-0(2-0 games)
round 2 Matt - Tarmotwin game 1, he got stuck on 3 lands, I countered the few things he tried to play, and locked it up with cryptic land bounces while i beat in with a v clique.
game 2, well, game 2 Bitterblossom happened. t2 blossom just wins games, my notes/lifepad show most damage i took was from my blossom, and One swing with a goyf, while his steadily chipped down to zilch.
2-0(4-0 games)
round 3 Logan - Jund game 1, i ripped his hand apart with a discard heavy hand, and my lili hit before his, i don't remember all the details but game ended with my life going 20-18-15, and his going down in steady chunks of 2s and 3s till dead.
i specifically remember boarding out all my discard for more interaction here, based on stuff i read in my other thread about the Jund mirror matchup. so game 2 was very close, with him resolving coursers, and slowly beating me down with it, in the end I hit all the right topdecks while he got stuck with thoughtsiezes in his hand, game ended with me swinging for lethal both of us at 2 life.
3-0(6-0 in games)
round 4 Jesus - young pyro delver
game 1 was very intense and close, and came down to him having to have the exact topdeck to win. his out was topdecking snapcaster, snap Vapor Snag my blocker, swing with delver, then bolt for lethal exactly. anything else, and I kill him on the next turn. He hit the snapcaster, and I can't be mad about losing to drawing your out.
game 2 was a bit of a blowout, i killed his turn 1 delver, killed his turn 2 young pyro, then he had another young pyro turn 3, and I didn't draw an answer to it or it's horde of tokens until he had lethal on board. Them's the breaks.
3-1(6-2 in games)
rd 5 Nathan - Affinity ugh, turn 1 Darksteel Citadel, ornithopter, springleaf, Vault Skirge, t2 Cranial Plating. my life total went 19, 18, 11, 3, 1. his went 18. Yeah, affinity is rough.
game 2 was, somehow, worse. I stayed in it for a while, but couldn't manage to catch him stumble or draw a single Hurkyl's Recall to reset things all game. he also had 3 Vault Skirges on turn 2.
3-2(6-4 in games) Feeling a little dejected, but glad I had dodges affinity so far(there is TONS of affinity in the bay area, california. literally tons. I got lucky to only play it once today) but figured, 9 rounds, x-2 may sneak in. and my breakers should be decent so I'll keep going, cash was up to top 64, so x-3 was live for cashing.
On to round 6! Ben playing Jund.
played out very similarly to the last Jund matchup, game 1 he couldn't get anything going, and I had all the right answers at the right times. I ended the game without taking any damage, and doing a good job of keeping things at my control.
game 2, same game plan as earlier, out come sthe discard, in comes more kill spells, negates, etc. this one was alot closer, i remember a courser doing alot of work, singlehandedly bringing me from 20-8. then he had a Batterskull coming the next turn, with him at 8 life. and i topdecked a negate to stop it, then v clique next turn and finished him off with clique and tar pit.
4-2(8-4 in games)
okay, still live. doing really good with very strong wins all around, breakers looking decent as both of my losses are currently undefeated at the top table as well time for round 7.
round 7, eric with burn.
game 1, i did my best to just survive, not let eidolons resolve and get in damage when i could. he flooded a good bit, and i took over at 3 life and ended the game.
out comes thoughtsiezes and a single IOK, in comes 2 negates and a Spellskite. same thing as game 1, I actually end up stabilizing at 1 life, him at 8, no cards in hand. and upkeep mistbind him, then next turn kill him with mistbind + manlands. pretty much how most of my burn wins go, i win the game on the brink of death with them out of gas.
5-2(10-4 in games) getting excited now, as I'm thinking I may be able to sneak in with 2 more solid finishes.
round 8, Austin playing pod.
game 1, he resolves a Spellskite, and I hit one of my more aggressive draws, and just started beating down, countering multiple Kitchen Finks, and using v clique to force a early Chord of Calling for 2(instead of 3) so he could only get a voice, instead of a finks, which was enough to secure me game 1.
out comes remands, and all my discard. in comes more kill spells, and Sower of Temptations. Austin, unfortunately, gets stuck on 2 lands, and only resolves a voice of resurgance, which i promptly steal with sower, he hits a noble, that gets liliana'd, then i seal it away with voice/sower/tar pit. he seemed a little upset, understandably, but my hand would have stopped about anything he coulda done with land drops anyways. i was sitting on a second sower, 2 smothers and a cryptic.
6-2(12-4 in games)
okay, this is it, i'm going into the last round at 35th place, with fairly solid breakers(57.25, 70.5882, 51.3276 for those who can understand this mumbo jumbo) not sure if i could make top 8 without some crazy luck, but I think if i won, i coulda snuck into top 16, at least. so onto the final match of the day!
round 9 Andrew playing burn burn again, he starts off with Goblin Guide into eidolon, i get to remand the eidolon, but I end up stuck on 3 lands, with a handful of 4 drops and lose game 1 with him down to 9 life. easily beatable if i had hit my fourth land.
game 2, Spellskite just does insane work at stopping him from being aggressive, and i just tear in with spellstutters countering, basically, everything, and a Vendilion Clique putting the clock on. end the game at a healthy 10 life and him dead.
game 3, well, game 3 i mull once, then get stuck with River of Tears, tec edge, swamp. and don't hit a fourth land until i'm at 6 life, he has 2 cards in hand, and he knows i have a Spell Snare(Goblin Guide showed him) and he's holding back for a few turns. so obviously he has 2 drops. i hit a land finally...another River of Tears. i tanked for a solid minute debating if i could shields down until the end of my turn, finally decided I wasn't winning the game by being stuck on 3 lands and had to take the risk. ate a double Boros Charm as soon as i played the land. Thems the breaks.
6-3(12-6 in games) a very solid day for me, i think. all my wins were VERY solid, and I'm okay with losing to affinity, as it's easily my most difficult matchup. the yp deck, close game 1, he beat me solidly game 2. and the last round was variance finally catching up, ended the night in 48th place, cashing for 50 bucks and a solid ego boost for my deck choices/play.
only changes I think i'd make, is i want to try out a Black Sun's Zenith in the side as a one of, replacing the Surgical Extraction or the Darkblast. it shuts off persist from pod, should do some work against affinity, and hoses every creature in the YP deck. and i need something to help recover from those decks.
now to get liliana's online for more testing! any questions, hit me up on here or on twitter @brianbgrp or ask in my stream if ya see me there www.twitch.tv/brianbgrp