[Deck] Blue Skies

[DampingEngine]

This is the deck I used to make the finals of Kadilak's second Dual Land Draft. I have made a couple changes after my experiences at that tournament.

4x Flying Men
4x Cloud of Faeries
3x Sea Sprite
4x Serendib Efreet
4x Sea Drake

4x Aether Vial
4x Mask of Memory
4x Umezawa's Jitte
4x Force of Will
4x Standstill

4x Mishra's Factory
3x Wasteland
14x Island

SIDEBOARD:
4x Old Man of the Sea
3x Winter Orb
3x Chalice of the Void
2x In the Eye of Chaos
2x Rushing River
1x Wasteland

Card explanations:

Flying Men: There needs to be a 1-drop in this slot, and this is the best option being a flying creature and not having any disadvantage. It makes it possible to swing with Jitte on turn 3 along with Cloud, and late game Men can be discarded to Mask or Force.

Cloud of Faeries: Of course they just got much more exciting after the errata change, comboing with Aether Vial to give you 2 extra mana, untap Factories as a surprise, or make 2 mana out of 1 land when you're mana screwed. This isn't why they're good of course, it's because they cost 0 mana for a creature that carries equipment over the heads of most other creatures.

Sea Sprite: I actually played Skyshroud Condor in this slot at one point, but a 1/1 pro red body is often better than a 2/2 one, not to mention the fact that you can't play Condor sometimes. Besides that, blue does not have a wide array of good 2 drops, so Sea Sprite it is.

Serendib Efreet: This is really the all star of the deck. It can't be killed with a single bolt and blocks Mongoose all day among other things. One of the great undercosted creatures of all time.

Sea Drake: The other great fatty of the deck. Unfortunately it's both very hard to find and irreplacable. Its drawback can hurt, particularly if you have multiples, but with Vial it's usually not the end of the world. It can also save Factory from combat and it's drawback is cut in half if you were missing your land drop that turn otherwise, which happens quite a bit.

Aether Vial: I believe this deck abuses Vial even more than Goblins. The combo with Standstill is amazing. It also gives the ability to play and equip equipment while still playing creatures on the same turn. It also makes this deck one of the few decks where a one land hand is keepable. If my opening hand has Vial, creatures, Force of Will, and one land, I usually keep it & don't regret it.

Mask of Memory: I had forgotten the joy of playing this card until the DLD. It keeps your hand full of Force of Wills and fatties and turns dead lands and Jittes into good cards. It's rare when Mask is activated and it doesn't basically just say "Draw 2 cards", which is the nature of such draw and discard effects.

Umezawa's Jitte: This is probably my favorite card in the game currently. It's so deceptively powerful, and all 3 of its abilities come into play on a regular basis. I want to draw this every game, although I will be quick to board it out against a creatureless deck, especially one that doesn't deal damage like Solidarity.

Force of Will: Kind of a no brainer in blue decks. Why not more counterspells? it's usually easier just to draw into Forces with your draw engines than allot slots to a card that is subpar in many matches. Daze would be the only other counterspell I'd consider main deck, but at the moment, there's nothing that could be switched for Daze without making the deck strictly worse.

Standstill: The Vial-Standstill combo of Fish was the basis for my creation of this deck. Standstill is so easily castable in this deck that I have to say it's a better draw engine than Fact or Fiction or Thirst for Knowledge are in other decks. It does get boarded out against Goblins and some other aggro decks, but against decks like Threshold, you can cast Standstill at virtually any time and they'll have to break it almost immediately.

Mishra's Factory: Another combo with Standstill, this also adds another threat and occasional equipment carrier to the deck, and helps greatly against other aggro decks like Goblins by being an early 3/3+ blocker.

Wasteland: The other disruption in the main deck, it's a recent addition but one that has been great so far. The 4th Wasteland is in the board now.

14 Island, 21 total land: I feel this is the right amount considering certain one land or no island hands are keepable, if they have both Vial and Force or something similar. Standstill is the only card you actually can't play without blue mana so keep it in mind when looking at your opening hand.

SIDEBOARD: I'm not the best sideboard builder so this is all up for debate.

Old Man of the Sea: This is the anti-aggro sideboard which switches for Standstill in matches such as vs Goblins. It's a good sized creature so it can block the turn it comes into play if you're not worried about it dying, and if it sticks, it's a huge problem for aggro decks, especially Goblins where all but one of its creatures are targetable.

Winter Orb: This is the board for control decks like Wombat and Rifter, usually switching for Jitte. Ideally you can cast it after they tap out and surprise them, but it's a problem for them any time you cast it. Blue Skies has Vial to help work around the Orb, and Sea Drake's disadvantage turns into an advantage with Orb out. It's not a main deck option, but works very nicely with your strategy in the control matchup.

Chalice of the Void, In the Eye of Chaos: This is the hoser package for Solidarity. If you resolve In the Eye, it's almost impossible for them to win. They need 6 land in play before they can cast Cunning Wish, and they rarely have that much land on turn 6, so you'll have more than enough time to win before they can think about going off. Chalice is also good vs them, but a little more versatile. It can also be used vs Iggy Pop and some random decks like Burn. Since it's in the board, I would consider using it vs Threshold, but all my main deck cards are good vs them so I don't know what I would switch. I don't think a sideboard is necessary for Threshold anyways.

Rushing River: This gets boarded in against decks that have Exalted Angel or Reanimator decks, threats you can't deal with otherwise. I haven't tested this yet, so I can't guess if 2 is the right number or how effective it is.

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Matchups: I haven't run a gauntlet with the deck yet, but I have played it in several tournaments and can report on how I fared.

Threshold: Highly favorable. I beat white Threshold 2-0 twice at the DLD and have beat it previously as well. Equipment can be a problem for them just because of the tempo it generates, and they can't reasonably deal with all your creatures, especially if you play vial on the first turn. Without mass removal (and only two of your creatures die to Pyroclasm), they are generally just swarmed. Anything short of a 4th turn Enforcer with threshold can't realistically save them, and even then they may still be swarmed or have to deal with Jitte. I don't think any sideboarding should be done for this matchup as it would water down the deck's goals. None of your cards are really bad against them. I also tested against EBA and beat it 4-0, it seemed like it might be even more favorable than Threshold.

Solidarity: Unfavorable game 1, much better after board. I have won game 1s against Solidarity before, but it's very hard. The thing that makes this matchup better than it seems is that they're taking a big risk if they wait until you have lethal damage to go off. This is a risk because you will often be drawing extra cards off of Mask of Memory or Standstill if they wait, and drawing into Force of Will. Post board, it's a much easier matchup. Getting a Chalice will often buy you enough time to win, and resolving In the Eye makes it almost impossible for them to win.

Goblins: Probably 50/50. I haven't tried this matchup since I added the Old Men, and it could be favorable now. Previously I had been breaking even with Goblins, winning some matches and losing some. They can have awfully explosive starts, but at the same time Jitte is terrible for them as is Sea Sprite and the fatties. Standstill is really terrible vs them so at least it's a no brainer what to board out. Old Man or possibly Vedalken Shackles would be the best option here, Old Man being significantly faster but easier to destroy.

Survival: Slightly favorable. This isn't that bad a matchup since they can't block your creatures and you can often race them, which is how you win the majority of your games against any deck. Old Man can be sided in in this matchup.

Deadguy Ale: 50/50, maybe slightly favorable. They can go hymn, hymn, I win and there's not much you can do about it. However, if you get vial their land destrcution becomes bad, and if you topdeck creatures, they often have no way of dealing with them. This is another matchup where Old Man shines, since most of their threats are neutralized and their lack of creature removal becomes an even bigger weakness. I side them in for Sea Sprites.

others I have played:

5/3: I thought this would be a bad matchup since their creatures are so big, but it's favorable. I lost one game mainly due to double Tangle Wire, which is near impossible to overcome, but won the other two. One game was won by disrupting his mana, which is probably that deck's biggest weakness. The other game was won by swarm tactics, making his Tangle Wires and Smokestacks bad.

Dirt: I also won this matchup, 2-0. In fact, he did so little game 1 I didn't know what he was playing and boarded in my Old Men thinking it was a Deadguy variant. Wasteland is terrible for him as is Force of Will, since many of his spells are not must-counters. Also, Standstill is pure gold against it.

Iggy Pop: I beat this deck with my Counterspell/Disrupt sideboard, I don't know how good other cards like Chalice would be against it, but at least it's turn 1 disruption if set to 0. Force of Will is of course the best card you can have in your deck if you're facing Iggy Pop, so you at least have some advantage despite having a slow clock. Wasteland should also improve the matchup. I recently tested this matchup and went 3-0 without sideboards. Of course I had Force of Will in all three games, which singlehandedly determines whether you can win game 1 or not. I didn't get to test with board, but if you're playing first, a first turn Chalice for 0 should help a lot. If you're not playing first, the Chalice should probably be set to 1.

I hope to continue to test this deck in a tournament setting and post the results. I think it's a good choice if you expect a lot of threshold and fares well against other aggro decks.

[TheDarkshineKnight]

Okay, I don't mean to be an ass, but, why would I want to run THIS over Faerie Stompy which I do believe has positive matchups against the Tier 1 decks?

[SuckerPunch]

I do think Fairie Stompy overall is a lot stronger.

But I don't think the two decks warrant comparison because they are so incredibly different strategically, in terms of the curve, in terms of every aspect of what defines a deck.

Fairie Stompy can be explosive but inconsistent (in terms of mana) at times. This is just the opposite and if anything is more of a Fish deck. And as far as fish decks go, it seems very strong.

I wouldn't say that Sea Drake is irreplacable here either. It's drawback is pretty huge, unless you're lucky to have gotten a Vial in your openign hand and it resolved. For the most part, I think War Beast could serve a similar function without the drawback, it survives bolt as well, though War Beast isn't nearly as awesome with Mask.

[DampingEngine]

I've played both Faerie Stompy (although it was a different version than the one here on the Source) and this deck, and I found this deck to be better. Faerie Stompy isn't as good vs decks like Goblins and Deadguy Ale for example because it has a weak manabase and has a lot of trouble when the lands are attacked. Also, as SuckerPunch mentioned, it is generally unstable and can "lose to itself". It doesn't mulligan well at all, which is quite the opposite of Skies. It also runs a worse draw engine of Thirst for Knowledge over Standstill, which I mentioned a bit, and runs less threats. Actually, I was surprised when FS showed up on the source that it didn't run any more fatties than Skies. In my version, I had used Thought Devourer in addition and it worked well, but like I said, I also ran more mana sources which I think is another flaw in the source FS deck. FS probably does have a better matchup against Solidarity though, and I know both decks are fine vs Threshold. I just don't like playing decks that are so inconsistent in major tournaments because you have to win so many matches to win the tournament, and you can't help but lose some games to inconsistency with a deck like FS.

[SuckerPunch]

Actually, i used a play deck near identical to this a while ago.

Yes Fairie Stompy may be somewhat inconsistent, and it's fair that you don't want to play it at a tourney for that reason.

But I really don't think there's anything this deck can do that comes remotely close to damaging your opponent as much as an early Chalice of the Void or esp 2 chalices (one set at one and one at two) which happens quite often due to Trinket Mage does.

[Lego]

Have you considered or tested Sword of Fire and Ice? Off the bat I'd guess that it's not playable simply because there are no Ancient Tombs, but I have an obsession with the Sword. It seems like it could be a house with so many flyers, and seems better in the Solidarity and Goblins matches than Mask of Memory does. Then again, it has to hit play to become relevant.

Speaking of, why no Ancient Tomb? I'm not advocating making this Fearie Stompy by any stretch, but it seems like as a 3 or 4 of (you'd have to remove one of the other colorless lands, I'm thinking) it might be viable, and allow you to run something like Sword, while hopefully increasing your matchup with Solidarity. Have you tested this?

[Phantom]

I've played both Faerie Stompy (although it was a different version than the one here on the Source) and this deck, and I found this deck to be better. Faerie Stompy isn't as good vs decks like Goblins and Deadguy Ale for example because it has a weak manabase and has a lot of trouble when the lands are attacked.

You say this, but then you put these matchups at 50/50. Faerie Stompy goes at least 60/40 vs. Goblins and something insane like 80/20 vs. Deadguy (I once went 19-1 vs Deadguy in 10 pre and post board matches). You also say that Standstill is a better draw engine than TFK/FoF. It CAN be, but there are many, many times when it is not. In addition to the sub-parness against Goblins, Standstill can never really get you out of a jam or dig for a kill piece after being topdecked.

That being said, I do like the deck. I think where it will perform better is vs. Control. Faerie Stompy always mauled Rifter thanks to Chalice, but has a tough time with heavy removal decks like The Rock, Dirt, and Truffle Shuffle (I'm assuming on TS). Your deck runs a bigger threat base which will be tough for control decks to completely handle. Also, you may have a slightly more favorable Thresh matchup.

Plus, it's always good to see Flying Men doing their thing.

As to your board, Propaganda seems better vs. Aggro than Old Man.

Edit: Lego_Army_Man brought up Swords, which are a legitimate thought. You might not even need 4 Tombs to run them now that they changed the synergy between vial and Cloud for good. Even with one mana lands, a first turn Vial can mean a third turn play and equip. That's nearly as fast as Faerie Stompy. Also, you should really consider Trinket Mage. He's so insanely powerful, both for what he does when he's played, and for the room he frees up in the sideboard. First of all, he let's you get a Vial in any game you want. Also, he let's you run a myriad of answers in the board. Trouble with the Solidarity matchup? Why not run 8 ways to play Chalice instead of 4? Solid Thresh matchup? Why not boost it to autowin by siding in a single Crypy and some Chlices, all while packing 4 Tutors for them? Zoo decks and Discard bothering you? Send them packing with a Cursed Scroll.

Your board could look like this:

4 Propaganda
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Winter Orb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Cursed Scroll

[TheDarkshineKnight]

I've played both Faerie Stompy (although it was a different version than the one here on the Source) and this deck, and I found this deck to be better. Faerie Stompy isn't as good vs decks like Goblins and Deadguy Ale for example because it has a weak manabase and has a lot of trouble when the lands are attacked. Also, as SuckerPunch mentioned, it is generally unstable and can "lose to itself". It doesn't mulligan well at all, which is quite the opposite of Skies. It also runs a worse draw engine of Thirst for Knowledge over Standstill, which I mentioned a bit, and runs less threats. Actually, I was surprised when FS showed up on the source that it didn't run any more fatties than Skies. In my version, I had used Thought Devourer in addition and it worked well, but like I said, I also ran more mana sources which I think is another flaw in the source FS deck. FS probably does have a better matchup against Solidarity though, and I know both decks are fine vs Threshold. I just don't like playing decks that are so inconsistent in major tournaments because you have to win so many matches to win the tournament, and you can't help but lose some games to inconsistency with a deck like FS.

Even if Blue Skies has a better matchup against Goblins than Faerie Stompy, I would run Faerie Stompy simply because it is better against Solidarity. Goblins is beginning to lessen in popularity, which means the Solidarity matchup is significantly greater in importance.

[DampingEngine]

Well like I said, I haven't run a gauntlet with this deck so I don't have any real percentages. It could be much more favorable than I predict vs Goblins and Deadguy. It could be more favorable vs Solidarity as well; I have beaten it in matches in the past. Plus my sideboard could have been better for it, Chalice is probably better than what I had and there could be something even better out there. And you were hitting on one point that I was trying to get at. Against various tier 2-3 decks like the control decks, Skies is usually better than FS because you won't lose any games to horrible draws due to an unstable manabase and lower threat density. You will face many decks not in the top tier in a large tournament just because it's Legacy and that's how it is. Less than half the decks I played vs at the DLD were tier 1, including my top 4 match.

As for Ancient Tomb and Sword of Fire and Ice, I have tested both in the deck. Ancient Tomb is terrible with Sea Sprite and Standstill and it also has to replace a utility land and not an island, which means less threats or disruption. You'd have to totally change the deck to add Tomb, and then you'd have something more like FS anyways. Sword of Fire and Ice was terrible for me and Mask of Memory was great for me, which is why I propose the current equipment configuration. I can swing with Jitte on turn 3 much, much easier than I can swing with Sword of Fire and Ice. Also, I don't want either in my deck in matchups like Solidarity because they're too expensive. I want to drop my biggest creatures from turn 3 and on ideally. They can win on turn 4 easily so SoFI is much too late. I draw twice as many Forces off of Mask for much less mana and if I'm swinging with Mask on turn 3, I can drop a Chalice that I just drew into on the same turn. This is all off the top of my head.

As for propaganda, I have boarded it before but only a couple times so it didn't prove anything. I know Old Man is very good though. Your first thought might be that it dies too easily, but realize that it is creatures 25-28 when I side it in since it often replaces Standstill. It would only be bad vs mass removal, and it's not coming in vs decks with mass removal.

The reason I don't run stuff like Trinket Mage or Phyrexian War Beast is because that would compromise the deck's strategy. As it is right now, Skies can beat decks like Goblins and Threshold because it has 20 (mostly) unblockable creatures. This combines with the equipment to stifle the strategies of aggro and aggro control decks. Also, Trinket Mage would be very slow in this deck considering anything you mentioned except Tormod's Crypt would be coming out on turn 4 or even later. FS can cast it on turn 1 sometimes, which is a world of difference.

As a final note, both decks are iffy for the average player since Sea Drakes have gone completely through the roof and may be worth more than my foil Jittes now. I'm sure some people couldn't get them even if they were willing to pay that much so it's a big problem. I'm just glad I've hoarded all these playable Portal cards, and I expect anyone with Goblin Settlers to PM me immediately.

[xsockmonkeyx]

I'm just glad I've hoarded all these playable Portal cards, and I expect anyone with Goblin Settlers to PM me immediately.


check your PM :smile:

[Ch33bs]

I think this deck could use a white splash. White offers a few cards I really like for this deck. The first one being Pride of the Clouds. Second is Swords to Plowshares. White also has nice cost effective flyers like Leonin Skyhunter, Suntail Hawk, and Lantern Kami. I would even be tempted to run Meddling Mage.

[SuckerPunch]

This is way off topic. But I'm just curious. How much did Sea Drake cost you when you started hoarding them? I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a playset as soon as portal was legalized as I knew I wanted them but I figured I had time and should wait till there was a way to make aggro blue competitive, stupid mistake. I had to pay a bunch for them later. So I just want ot hear how much they were on ebay before this archeatype showed up.

And not to sound harsh, but a similar build was posted and considered in the Fairie Stompy thread, and was rejected as it tested worse against the popular decks. And random decks are just as vulnerable to Chalice as compettive decks if they're built well (ie. run a low efficent curve). But I agree the two decks are different and warrant different places in the meta.

I do love Mask of Memory though.

[Eldariel]

I wouldn't say the deck is inferior to Faerie Stompy in any way. It simply trades card power for consistency, a trade I wouldn't do, but I can definately see floating some peoples' boats. Worth noting that both decks have the essentially same amount of blue mana, but this one has Vial to support cards like Old Man of the Sea. Here you've got an access to Wasteland and Mishra's Factory over accelerants. Overall, if I was going to play a Fishesque deck in this format, it'd be very much like this.

[Ch33bs]

Decklist deleted. This list isn't Blue Skies, it's U/W Fish. They're different decks, and a Fish thread already exists. Please discuss your list there, and keep this thread on topic. - Zilla

[SuckerPunch]

Zilla, I don't know if that decklist was inappropriate or off topic. Blue Skies is basically fish. If anything, all the talk about fairie stompy (which I admittedly partook in) was what was off topic as this deck is a hell of a lot closer to fish than fairie stompy.

And the list posted was this deck + swords and pride of the clouds, the very same white splash cards that people were suggesting on this thread + Kira, Great Glass Spinner to dodge all sorts of removal. You could argue that fish plays more utility creatures (though a lot of variants dont) and thats what differentiates it from blue skies, but the list posted didn't have any utility creatures either (sans Kira), just flying beaters.

Sorry if that came off as rude, that's not how it was meant to sound.

[Getsickanddie]

Blue Skies is basically fish.

While this deck runs a lot of the same creatures as fish, it really plays a lot differntly. This deck forgoes a lot of disruption for a more pure beatdown strategy. In a really heavy combo metagame I'd opt to run a more traditional fish build that runs cards like voidmage prodigy, spiketail hatchling, daze, counterspell, mana leak, stifle etc.

[SuckerPunch]

A lot of the decklists I see over in the fish thread don't run the overwhelming majority of the cards you listed. Also my point was, the list ch33bs posted wasn't fish either. It ran no utility creatures other than Kira, great glass spinner. Everything it ran was a flying beater, it just had a light white splash for Pride of the Clouds and Swords, both of which were already suggested earlier in the thread. And regardless, this deck is a heck of a lot closer to fish than Fairie stompy.

[Ch33bs]

The deck also perfoms better than fish in the current MWS metta. Yes, it plays alot like fish but you tend to beat more face with it. The white splash gives it a better clock. Of course we all know that a better clock is good for soldarity. With the addition of STP and Pride it also gives you a better game agaist gobblins.

If someone wants to work on the deck with me I'd be very thankful. If you wish to you can contact me over AIM

[JeremM]

Could the big brother of the efreet, Serendib Djinn, have a place in this deck as a heavy-hitting finisher? The manabase would have to be altered considerably to run nonbasic Islands (Tolaria, Seat, Minamato, or that bouncing land from Kamigawa) and open up to Wasteland/PoP, but the ability of having a creature that can tangle with Enforcers and eat a Fireblast might help out a bit.

Speaking of Fireblast, could Misdirection find a home in the SB or possibly MD? Given the obscene amount of spot removal in the format, it'll rarely be card disadvantage and would sometimes be card advantage (Hymn/Verdict and such), and the benefits of tempo (along with making your opponent think twice before Vindicating!) couldn't hurt.

Looking at your decklist again, I notice that you have no way of dealing with resolved threats such as Worship. While there's not much room for bounce in the current list, perhaps somewhere in the board Rushing Rivers or Boomerangs (land decks don't seem to be going anywhere after GenCon) could find space to deal with such cards.


As a final note, both decks are iffy for the average player since Sea Drakes have gone completely through the roof and may be worth more than my foil Jittes now. I'm sure some people couldn't get them even if they were willing to pay that much so it's a big problem. I'm just glad I've hoarded all these playable Portal cards, and I expect anyone with Goblin Settlers to PM me immediately.

No kidding. When Faerie Stompy was first being discussed they were cheaper than a pack of Tic Tacs; two months later they were around the Birds of Paradise level; today they're probably the most expensive card in Legacy printed after 1994, possibly only trumped by Rolling Earthquake, Burning of Jingze, and ilk. A lot of my friends got into MtG with Portal 2, so I might have to look through their collections and hope for hitting the proverbial jackpot ("Sea Drake? Oh, that's from Portal, and it's not like anybody ever uses Portal/Starter cards.")

[JeremM]

I did some playtesting with this deck, and decided to try using Spindrift Drakes in place of the Flying Men. I'm rather torn on using them as a full replacement after a few games, as they can either win a game thanks to the nearly guaranteed 2 damage a turn, or sit dead in my hand because of the tempo loss.

I also added a fourth Mask and cut one Sprite, as the hand-fixing ability of the Mask has won me quite a few games by keeping my hand stocked with creatures. It also finds needed land/FoWs, which always helps, whereas the Sprite often feels like a Zephyr Falcon in non-burn/Goblin matchups.

[The Marco]

Since you are playing mono blue, why no Tomb and City of Traitor?

[Lego]

Since you are playing mono blue, why no Tomb and City of Traitor?

This has been discussed before, and I'm sure DampingEngine will say it again, but basically the reason is that they make the deck bad. They are too inconsistent, and don't provide enough explosiveness to justify this inconsistency. They hurt your matchups across the board by causing you to lose a significant portion of games to yourself rather than your opponent. That's why DampingEngine claims this is a better choice than Faerie Stompy, and I tend to agree.

[DampingEngine]

I just wanted to clarify one thing about this deck vs. Faerie Stompy. I think it's an understatement to say that the optimal list for FS hasn't been found yet. I think it's got a lot of potential, and like I said, me & a friend were even working on the archetype ourselves, before it was posted on the Source. I stopped working on it because I decided that it could never be as consistent as Skies while using the mana accelerants it does, and if someone proves me wrong someday, that's fine, but I'm certainly right in saying that about the versions that have showed up in tournaments so far. Also, I think the matchup results that have been posted in this thread and the FS thread are unrealistic. Just the other day my friend was testing it and went 50-50 vs Goblins and the games he won were very close. It also won under 50% against a couple other decks including 3 color Angel Stompy and my black disruption deck, which is most similar to Deadguy Ale among established decks, which makes me think my original assessment that it would not be favored vs Deadguy would be correct (I would guess that Deadguy would be an even worse matchup than my black deck would, especially if it ran 4 Swords to Plowshares as recent lists have). However, some changes to the deck like adding threats and colored mana producers could improve it greatly.

As for adding white, I can say that UW Fish is a solid deck and probably one of the more underrated decks in the current meta. I didn't get to see the deleted decklist, but simply adding Pride and STP to my deck is an interesting though. Pride is a good sized threat that would be better than Sprite in most matchups, and adding removal would be very nice although I think equipment is just better than removal 90% of the time. I have wanted something like a Boomerang several times when playing though, and certain bombs like Exalted Angel have been a huge problem if I didn't have Force when it was cast. Rushing River would probably be the best option since I can often afford to sacrifice a land and the CC shouldn't be too high if I'm just using it against problems that come out 3rd turn or later anyways. I also like the idea of Misdirection, but I don't know necessary it is. It would be great vs a Burn deck and vs Deadguy Ale, although I would have a hard time removing any main deck cards for it and I don't need a different board for those matchups very much.

I also wanted to mention that I went 3-1 vs Solidarity without board in my latest testing. This was reminiscent of my experience playing the matchup in local tournaments, where I always won against it. However, the players who piloted the deck when I beat it were not as experienced (or good as the case may be) as Ewokslayer in all likelihood. I don't know what that says about how favorable the matchup is all things being equal, and I would like to test the matchup playing 5 games and then having the players swap decks and play 5 more games to give a more realistic appraisal. Hopefully I can test matchups more soon, but I don't think MWS is realistic for testing and it's hard to do it in person. I will keep updating when I know more.

EDIT: To add to what Lego said in the last post, FS may have some advantages over Skies but if you just add Ancient Tomb to Skies, it creates a deck much worse than either across the board. I've tested it so I know that for sure.

[Ch33bs]

The STPs are good in the deck becuase it deals with threats like Piledriver, threshd' Werebear, Reanimation targets, and a bunch of big creatures that would require you to remove more than 2 Jitte counters which is alot in a deck like this.

[Barsoom]

Hi all.
I'm trying to build this deck that i consider very nice and a viable deck in the format.
As Ch33bs i think that adding white to this deck helps very much in many situations.
Here my current list:

4 Flying Men (4 Spindrift Drake)
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Sea Sprite (4 Spiketail Hatchling)
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Sea Drake (4 Waterspout Djinn) i go for djinns cause i don't have 200$ to buy drakes :frown:

4 Aether Vial
3 Mask of Memory
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill

4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
14 Island

White Version:
- 4 Sea Sprite (Spiketail Hatchling)
- 1 Sea Drake (Waterspout Djinn)
- 1 Mask of Memory
- 1 Umezawa's Jitte
- 8 Island
+ 3 Pride of the Clouds
+ 4 Swords to Plowshares
+ 4 Taiga
+ 4 Flooded Strand

This is my basic list to start tweaking; i began with monoblue version to know how to play and after i will test the white version that can increase very much the matches for me.
All suggestions and tips are very appreciate.
Bye Bye

[Shriekmaw]

Some alternatives to Sea Drakes that I have found are Thought Devourers which are pretty good for a 4 mana 4/4 flyer. It just seems a little better to me than Waterspout Djinn.

I would also cut one jitte and 1 mask and run 2 sword of Fire & Ice. I think your build does look pretty solid. Just keep playtesting matchups and good luck in future tournaments.

[Barsoom]

Some alternatives to Sea Drakes that I have found are Thought Devourers which are pretty good for a 4 mana 4/4 flyer. It just seems a little better to me than Waterspout Djinn.


There are many Blue Flying Fatties in magic that are good alternatives to Sea Drakes, but i think that SD are a little more good of this :mad:, but only too expensive for an average player. Anyhow also Devourers are quite good in the deck i think but for now i have djinns and use them...
About SoFI DampingEngine tell about its some arguments and i'm quite agree with him.
However i will test SoFI more accuratly in future and will see.

ps: Ch33bs seems that you are working with this deck how is for now your tweaking/improvements? :wink:

[revenge_inc]

This may seem like a retarded idea, but what about Dandan for the sideboard.(against Reset High Tide)

-Both players should have islands(so islandhome won't matter)
-The High Tide player won't have any creatures so its basically 2 mana for 4 power.


(Yay, my first post in these forums :smile: )

Edit: Love the deck by the way, when I get the $, I will definately get the few cards I need to make it.

Edit#2(I keep thinking of stuff to say): How good do you think Unstable Mutation and Bonesplitter would be in the deck &or sideboard?

[Ch33bs]

I worked on blue skies for awhile with enchantments and felt that they were way not needed at all. I found that if you play the deck with a fishesque way it performs better. The first way I built the deck was an easy turn 3 or 4 kill. I got tired of it and I went and set out to improve some match ups. Gobbos being one. So I went to red becuase I saw many people play UR Fish and do good. I found it wasn't helping. I tried white and loved it. I first had Worship, Meddling Mage and STP in the main and said wow this beats aggro usualy. Mind you this was before the HUGE rise of Solidarity when the field was Gobbos, Survival, and ect. When I did that I found that survival was really fun and scrapped it. I picked the deck back up a week before the Dissenion preview weeks and when I saw Pride of the Clouds I almost had an orgasm to how well suited it is in a deck with that orginally had 30ish creatures with flying. Once I saw this thread I was like FTW dude. So I tweaked it and made it alot more like fish. Now my list looks like:

Flying Men///
4 Cloud of Faeries
3 Kira
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Serendib Djinn
4 Pride of the Clouds
4 Flying Men

Jank//
4 Aether Vial
4 STP
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Force of Will
4 Brianstorm

LAND//
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tundra
6 Island


This list is basicaly a conecpt of the main. I have not yet solidified the SB. I have not tested the Djinn yet. I feel he just may be what I was looking for. What made look to the Djinn was my fun times with Negator in BR Sui.

If your playing mono blue I'd suggest get -4 Standstill +4 High Tide.

[revenge_inc]

If your playing mono blue I'd suggest get -4 Standstill +4 High Tide.

No offense but I think that would be a horrible move! Standstill with Vial is sooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

After you drop the beats (when you don't draw the Vial) just drop the standstill so they either die from beats or play something and you draw three cards.

High Tide is inefficient in an aggro deck like this one. But maybe Chrome Mox would be OK

(Suggested reading:First post of this thread)

[Barsoom]

@revenge_inc: Dandan seems a quite good idea vs High Tide, the problem is that he helps only vs it but is definitely a card to consider.
About Unstable Mutation seems too extreme for me, and cause is and Enchantment can't be move; instead Jitte helps in much more situations and don't die with the creature. Same things about Bonesplitter, it is simply bad.
@Ch33bs: your list looks good, except for Serendib Djinn; i never test it but seems to me too danger expecially vs Gobbs; 3 life (4 with also serendib) and an island a turn, mmm. Maybe 2 may help some times but i don't think (cause i don't test its this is only my first sensation :tongue:).
About High Tide i never think about it in a deck like this; Vial + Cloud are a very good accelerant alone, and probably are enough.

[Eldariel]

Dandan is good against Threshold too. Fast beater which trades with Threshed Mongeese or Werebears is definately nothing to sneeze at, and they're going to have Islands. Works fine against Landstill too.

[Lego]

High Tide is inefficient in an aggro deck like this one. But maybe Chrome Mox would be OK

Not to mention you'd autolose to Solidarity. Untap, Draw, main phase, "Cast High Tide. Cast some creatures. Pass my turn." Solidarity Player: "EOT, win."

[Barsoom]

What do you think about Spiketail Hatchling in this deck instead of Sea Sprite? The Sprites are good only vs Gobbos but the Hatchlings can be a nuisance for many decks to play around.
this choice is for Blue version of this deck i think; Pride of the Clouds is more good of Sprites and Hatchlings in white version.

[Ch33bs]

Not to mention you'd autolose to Solidarity. Untap, Draw, main phase, "Cast High Tide. Cast some creatures. Pass my turn." Solidarity Player: "EOT, win."

Yes thats true. I wouldn't suggest this deck to be play mono colored at a big tourney. If you play mono blue you should be playing more agressively. With that in mind High Tide would be nice.

[Barsoom]

Ok i have made and i'm making in these days some testing with the deck, against some decks i have (not all metagame decks), and HERE (http://samsunait.netsons.org/magic) are the Results, that i'll try to update daily.
I don't know if that will help someone but anyhow i decide to post them.
You can find all lists of the decks against i play (and the BS i play) at that link.
For now i'm testing only Mono Blue version, but today i have buy 4 Pride of the Clouds via e-bay and when they arrives i start playing and tweaking white version that i feel be a bit more strong.

You can see in the Results that i lost 3 times vs my Rebels deck and i end up that this deck suffers from distruption (for now with this list of course), in this case StP and Disenchant, and Longbow Archers are a very fucking guys vs it... :confused:
vs Affinity for now no problem also if he have Thopters that fly to block we have too many Fliers and he can do few things.
What i can say after some matches i play is that the deck is very very funny to play (at least for me) and quite strong then i advice gain all people to give it a chance... :wink:
Goodbye and watch out my Results (http://samsunait.netsons.org/magic)!!!

[JeremM]

I've tooled around with this deck a bit more, and really began to wonder about the effectiveness of Standstill. It always felt like a win-more card, since it's pointless to cast if you don't have favorable board position and will never bring you out of any jams - the only card in the deck that does that outside of basic land and extra Jittes (and if you're losing with a live Jitte, you weren't going to win even with a topdecked Ancestral :wink: ). I removed it for Rushing Rivers, as the deck really felt like it needed a way to deal with resolved permanents, although even the RR's at risk now thanks to Wipe Away (the Split Second Boomerang for 1UU), as WA can stymie Solidarity and clear permanents through a counter-web.

I also boarded out the Sea Sprites, since the pro-red was often unneeded. I tried maindecking Winter Orbs in their place, but the Worbs didn't feel like they did enough to merit MDing (and excluded Spindrift Drakes, which I feel are better than Flying Men - more on that later). I think that Stifle might be the perfect card for the slot, as it's incredibly flexible - given the number of activated/triggered abilities in the format (Fetches, Wasteland, Lackey, DoJ, Storm combo, Salvagers/Gamekeeper, etc) it's a perfect foil.

I'm still not sure where to go for the 1cc creature slot. Flying Men are vanilla enough to be useful, but the sheer power of Spindrift Drake is rather frightening. The Drakes trade with any 1-drop in the format short of Elephants (including most Ritual drops!), put an opponent on a clock from the first turn, and aren't mostly harmless if drawn past turn three. From my limited playtesting, I've never won a game from Flying Men, yet the 2 guaranteed damage a turn from the Drakes is fantastic. Yeah, the tempo loss sucks sometimes - I wouldn't recommend playing them turn one if you can go Vial-Cloud/Equipment instead - but if there's one thing I learned from Faerie Stompy, it was that sometimes it's worth it to trade tempo/cards for sheer power.

[Barsoom]

I completely agree with you about Spindrift Drakes; be 2/1 istead of 1/1 make all difference in the world. and as you say theirs drawback hurts so few times that we can coexist with it.
About the effectiveness of Standstill i'm troubled. Some times they are amazing, specially when you cast vial at first turns and then you can lock opponent very fast, sometimes when they come later are useless.
Fow now i stay with its but this is a disputed slot i think.

[Barsoom]

I have made some changes at my original list after enough testing.
You can find my current list HERE (http://samsunait.netsons.org/Magic/Blue%20Skies.txt)
The more important addition is surely Kira, Great Glass-Spinner. I found it (or Her:tongue: ?) very useful many times, counter an absurd amount of disruption (sometimes i suprised the opponent casting her with Vial) like StP, Bolts, Vindicate, Jittes (very important this) and many many more... he make also your Mishras creatures immune to Wasteland.
His little drawback is that when i have to attach Jitte or Sword i must pay 2 times, but much times they come first of Kira then is quite little drawback.
For now i'm insecure about keet the Swords in the deck or leave them and go for another jitter and djinn. what do you think?

[matxer]

Great aggro deck with some control ! And pretty competitive.

I would suggest to replace the Old Men of the See (slow and vulnerable to burn) by Blue Elemental Blasts in the SB.

What about more control ?
+2 Echoing Truth
- 1 Flying Men
- 1 Mask of memory
1 more blue card also helps casting FoW.

4 Jitte ? The World Champ feels its too much of a good thing because 2 in hand is dead wood. How about replacing 1 Jitte by 1 Sword of Ice and Fire ?

[Barsoom]

Great aggro deck with some control ! And pretty competitive.
4 Jitte ? The World Champ feels its too much of a good thing because 2 in hand is dead wood. How about replacing 1 Jitte by 1 Sword of Ice and Fire ?

I Think No. 3 is the right number for now with 2 Swords that can help (with the casting cost of 3, 2 Swords is the max we can have).
Jitte is the most important card in this deck (with Vials of course) and i want to have it EVERY match.
And now where Faerie Stompy, Madness and others deck have it Main having more to play can help sometimes if they play one before you, or if they break your existing jitte.
ps: we have here anyhow a good card anti-jittes and she is Kira. I found She very useful many times.

[Brushwagg]

Well I have to say after seeing this deck in action toady, I think it's fine the way it is. While it has a really shitty game 1 vs. combo the board more then makes up for it. Post board the combo match is alot easier. I'm not sure I would mess with the MD that much. While a Jitte in hand while one is on the table is kinda meh, just remember the extras can be pitched to Mask of Memory.

@Damping Engine:Can you please update the SB for everyone?

[Barsoom]

just remember the extras can be pitched to Mask of Memory.


I'm not playing Mask currently. Speaking honestly, for me it is not very useful; i found SoFI much more good and not too expensive for this deck, and standstill draw me 3 cards like all games, and i think is enough.

After more testing here my current list:

4 Spindrift Drake
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Spiketail Hatchling (these guys are useful like 60% of times; the other 40% are only cannon fodder:frown:. What we can try of different in this slot?
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Waterspout Djinn
3 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner (Enemy:StP/Jittes/Bolts ecc.. your creatures. Me:Ok, in response i tap Vial for 3 and play Kira.... Enemy:Damn!! :wink:) This is a rather regular situation.

4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill (contrariwise some people say this card is fucking insane specially at beginning of game; many times i only play 2° turn Faeries and then Stand; if they won't die in 20 turns they must break it...)
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Sword of Fire and Ice

4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
14 Island

I'm not even test the Sideboard, but i'll make it sure in near future.

[NoGameShow]

You might want to consider Rootwater Thief in your hatchling slot repeated extracts could be useful.

[scrumdogg]

You might also consider the new 'Spindrift Drake' shadow card from Time Spiral (Drifters il-Dal? maybe?). If printed as previewed, it is a 2/1 shadow for U that has an upkeep of U. Efficient power to CC with a minor drawback & good evasion.

[Brushwagg]

The problem with Spindrift or other with an upkeep is it slows the deck down by a full turn. Not someting that you really want since this deck is really wants to keep a quick tempo.

@Mask of Memory:I've first hand what this card does. You really hurt the overall deck by cutting it. This is the true draw engine of the deck.

[DampingEngine]

Yeah, Spindrift Drake is the worst idea I've heard for the deck. It basically time walks your opponent in exchange for a creature with 1 power more. This is totally irrelevant because you can't win with a single Spindrift just like you can't win with a single Flying Men. Flying Men doesn't stop you from playing other cards that you can win with, while Spindrift does.

I am going to post the new sideboard in a sec. I think it solves the combo problem as well as it can be solved, at least for Solidarity and Iggy Pop.

I found that adding the 4th Mask of Memory was a brilliant idea and I'm fine with taking out a Sea Sprite for it. If anyone wants to play Spiketail Hatchling over Sea Sprite that's fine, it's totally a metagame choice. Goblins can be a tough match and Sea Sprite is way better against it, that's the main reason I like it.

As for Standstill, it certainly can be a win more, but there have been many times it won me a game I might have lost. One play that might not be apparent is Forcing your opponent's first creature no matter what it is, then dropping Standstill on turn 2. They are then forced to break it and you have gained both tempo and card advantage if you have creatures in play. You couldn't afford the card disadvantage of doing this unless you had Standstill, but this play wins a lot of games vs. aggro decks. It's also one of the big reasons that Skies beats Threshold. There is almost never a time you can't drop Standstill without them having to break it immediately.

[Barsoom]

I don't understand how Mask of Memory is more good of SoFI. He seems like a win-more card, that draw other win card; but i think we have already Standstill that make this way, and if you are vs aggro and you need a way to win and you draw more ceatures 1/1, i don't think is a good situation.
Instead SoFI can win in this situation, also if you have only one 1/1 pump to 3/3 ecc ecc.
Maybe the right choice is to find a home for together in the deck (2 Mask 2 SoFI) as you make in your first version.

About Spindrift Drake i dunno if you never play with it but his drawback don't hurt very much, seriously. I Never play it first turn cause many times i have Vial, then 2° go for it and Faeries/Spiketails. Flying Man seem to vanilla for me, that's all.

When you post the sideboard can you post also your current decklist?

[TheDarkshineKnight]

I don't understand how Mask of Memory is more good of SoFI. He seems like a win-more card, that draw other win card; but i think we have already Standstill that make this way, and if you are vs aggro and you need a way to win and you draw more ceatures 1/1, i don't think is a good situation.
Instead SoFI can win in this situation, also if you have only one 1/1 pump to 3/3 ecc ecc.
Maybe the right choice is to find a home for together in the deck (2 Mask 2 SoFI) as you make in your first version.

About Spindrift Drake i dunno if you never play with it but his drawback don't hurt very much, seriously. I Never play it first turn cause many times i have Vial, then 2° go for it and Faeries/Spiketails. Flying Man seem to vanilla for me, that's all.

When you post the sideboard can you post also your current decklist?

It's because Mask of Memory costs one mana less to play, one mana less to equip, and let's you draw two cards; though, you do have to discard a card. In essence, Mask of Memory is faster than Sword of Fire and Ice.

[Barsoom]

It's because Mask of Memory costs one mana less to play, one mana less to equip, and let's you draw two cards; though, you do have to discard a card. In essence, Mask of Memory is faster than Sword of Fire and Ice.

Yes much more faster, but much more weak.
SoFI give +2/+2, Pro Red/Blue, 2 damage and a card. In simple terms with SoFI you can win also with Hatchling that deal 5 damage a turn without Gobs can make nothing.
But anyhow i understand that Mask is strong then as i have already say maybe 2 Mask 2 SoFI are the best for this deck; the problem for me is that i don't know what to leave to my current list...

[Barsoom]

I must take back my own words, when i speak bad about Mask of Memory.
I try it with a 4x slot and what can i say is: wonderful!! much more better that SoFI for sure.
With it i draw like a crazy every game and i'm reaching all what i need.
you was right guys, fantastic card for this deck.
Now i think that i'm quite near at perfect version of the deck (my of course with Drakes, Waterspouts ecc ecc) works very very good at the moment.

[SillyMetalGAT]

I am going to post the new sideboard in a sec. I think it solves the combo problem as well as it can be solved, at least for Solidarity and Iggy Pop.

So where is it?

[DampingEngine]

So where is it?

I edited the original post to reflect the new main deck and sideboard.

I'm glad you've seen how good Mask is, Samsunait. You probably did the same thing I did, which was play with 2 Mask and 2 SoFI, and realized that you almost always would prefer a Mask. It's hard to explain how stuff like that works, but the simple answer is that SoFI is just too slow for this deck. You can't accel into it so either it comes down turn 5 or eats most of your mana on 2 seperate turns early in the game. These are turns where you should be playing 3cc creatures or swinging with Factories, or playing the usually superior Jitte.

[Barsoom]

You probably did the same thing I did, which was play with 2 Mask and 2 SoFI, and realized that you almost always would prefer a Mask.

Yea you right :wink:

A question someone play this deck at next SCG Duel for Duals? so, for data.

[Barsoom]

I have 2 suggestions for this deck:
What do you think about Legacy Allure in Side instead of Old Man vs aggro? Allure is less destroyable than man and take a creature forever; Man is more fast i know. Maybe we can try Allures for a "budget" version of the deck cause Men are so fucking expensive :mad:.

Another tip is 3 Stifle in MD, leaving (in my version) a mask and 2 kira that i took to Side. Stifle seems to me too powerful to not use but dunno if this deck is the right deck for it...
What do you think?

[Lego]

I have 2 suggestions for this deck:
What do you think about Legacy Allure in Side instead of Old Man vs aggro? Allure is less destroyable than man and take a creature forever; Man is more fast i know. Maybe we can try Allures for a "budget" version of the deck cause Men are so fucking expensive :mad:.

Another tip is 3 Stifle in MD, leaving (in my version) a mask and 2 kira that i took to Side. Stifle seems to me too powerful to not use but dunno if this deck is the right deck for it...
What do you think?

If you don't have Old Man of the Sea, Propaganda is probably a good budget replacemet. It's no Old Man, but it'll still be relatively good versus aggro. Vedalken Shackles is also good, although it ties up your mana more.

[Barsoom]

Hello all.
I post my latest version of the deck with some appends:

4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Spindrift Drake
3 Spiketail Hatchling
2 Waterspout Djinn
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Sprite Noble

4 Aether Vial]
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
4 Mask of Memory
3 Umezawa's Jitte

4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
14 Island

Sideboard:
4 Sea Sprite
4 Legacy's Allure
3 Rushing River

As you see i add 2 Sprite Noble.
This list maybe seem a random Blue Skies deck :wink: and probably it is, but don't matter cause is soooo fun to play!!!

[Black Rain]

Here we are again. I'm updating this list because of the discussion of how to abuse vial and I believe this is a viable strategy. This is of course a budget version being that I don't own sea drakes , but still very competitive. The interaction of vial and some of these creatures gives the deck dynamic synergy. I originally constructed this deck because of the warp *flash*:mad: had put on the meta game. I also like the simplicity of a playing a mono color deck. I have always liked counterspells and fast efficient creatures. I'm stuck in aggro-control mode so legacy is the perfect format for me. This deck has decent machups against threshold and goblins, and is just a blast to play. I removed the masks because they were slow and inefficient. They never aided me in actually winning the game Sof&i does.
Here's a list critique if you must.

//Creatures//
4x Flying Men
4x Cloud of Faeries
4x Serendib Effreet
3x Spiketail Hatchling
3x Looter ill-Kor
2x Kira, the great glass spinner


//Spells//
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
4x Aether Vial
3x Standstill
3x Jitte
2x Sofi


//Land//
13x Island
4x Mishra's Factory
3x Wasteland

//Sideboard//
3x Sea Sprite
3x Echoing Truth
4x Blue Elemental blast
1x Kira
2x Vedalken Shackles
2x Arcane Lab



I decided to delete MoM from the list because I found it to be a mana hog and just sluggishly slow. I also kept running into situations where I had more equipment in my hand than creatures.:cry: That really blows. Looter is a more mana efficient draw engine as well as an aggresive equipment wielder. Sofi just wins games and actually still gives the deck card advantage. Also whenever I wanted to cast mask I felt I should be casting jitte. It' what wins games. Kira seems like a contradiction in a deck that requires equipment for victory, but you play her after equiping to make your soldiers more durable.
Aether vial with Kira, Spiketail, and Cloud of Faeries equals good times.
Try it out against the rest of your field, Sea Sprite is a house against goblins. Sprite combined with Sofi gives the green men a run for their money. I'm sorry about the low content mods, but most of the card choices have been explained in earlier posts,

[Shriekmaw]

I edited the original post to reflect the new main deck and sideboard.

I'm glad you've seen how good Mask is, Samsunait. You probably did the same thing I did, which was play with 2 Mask and 2 SoFI, and realized that you almost always would prefer a Mask. It's hard to explain how stuff like that works, but the simple answer is that SoFI is just too slow for this deck. You can't accel into it so either it comes down turn 5 or eats most of your mana on 2 seperate turns early in the game. These are turns where you should be playing 3cc creatures or swinging with Factories, or playing the usually superior Jitte.


I agree with the above statement, that SOFI is just too mana intensive for the deeck and believe the spilt of Jitte and Mask of Memory works out for the best.

I believe the best blue card against combo in the board is probably Arcane Laboratory or In The Eye of Chaos. I'm also a fan of running snow-covered islands to play Phyrexian Ironfoot in the deck as he is really good.

I haven't seen this deck played in awhile, but with Goblins gone, I believe it could be one of the best decks in the current metagame.

[Wallace]

4 Sea Drake
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Cloud of Faries
3 Flying Men
3 Phyrexian Ironfoot

4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
3 Stifle
4 Aether Vial
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Mask of Memory
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

4 Mishra' Factory
4 Wasteland
14 Snow-Covered Island

After looking at all the comments and concerns on my other thread this is what I came up with.

[Wallace]

So I went 4-2 in the Epic DLD playing my version of Skies. I call it Skies over Syracuse, snow-covered land it's Syracuse... I got the idea from a friend who won the GP Columbus trial at Millennium Games.
Here is my List:

4 Sea Drake
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Cloud of Faeries
3 Coast Watcher
3 Phyrexian Ironfoot

4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
2 Stifle
2 Daze
4 Aether Vial
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Mask of Memory
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

4 Mishra' Factory
4 Wasteland
12 Snow-Covered Island

Board:
4 Hydroblast
3 Vedalken Shackles
3 Pithing Needle
3 Back to Basics
2 In the Eye of Chaos

Round 1: Dead Guy- Lost 1-2.
Seal of Cleansing in from the board wrecked me game 2 and I made a play mistake game 3, he got a really good draw.

Round 2: Angel Stompie I won 2-0
Game one features a Cloud of Faeries w/ Dbl Mask. Game 2 Shackles FTW.

Round 3: Survival- Brian Thomas- Lost 0-2
I drew way to much land both games, he smashed me.

Round 4: B/W/G Dead Guy- Brian F.S.- won 2-0
This was an easy match, It was my deck he was using, his draws were not good, he never hit green in either game.

Round 5: Ichorid - Bane of the Living - won 2-0
First game took a little while for me to gain control, I got active Jitte and won. Game 2 was easy, he never really got going.

Round 6: Burn - won 2-0
I thought this was going to be a tougher match that it was. I gat the great turn 2 Cloud of Faries, Jitte combo. Jitte got going and game was over. Game 2 was a little closer, I played turn 3 Eye of Chaos, was nice because it prevented him from playing his Fireblast FTW.

[Cavius The Great]

Have you considered running Curiosity in place of Mask of Memory since it's pitchable to Force of Will and nets you the same amount of cards?

[kicks_422]

Probably because of the healthy amount of removal in the format. The only (IIRC) local enchantment seeing (a bit of) play in Legacy would be Rancor, and that's because of the built-in safety clause.

[Wallace]

Have you considered running Curiosity in place of Mask of Memory since it's pitchable to Force of Will and nets you the same amount of cards?

That sounds like a good idea in thery, but it's not. While Curiosity is a good card, it's really a one a done sort of thing. If a creature with mask on it dies, it's no big deal, I just throw it on another dude. You can't say the same for Curiosity, creature dies and I am out a draw engine. Also Curiosity does not net me the same amount of cards, it draws one. With the mask I get to dig 2 cards deep, keeping one. As for the force of will, I have plenty of cards to pitch to it, 24 to be exact.
http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/8ED/en-us/Card45240.jpg = Bad :frown:
http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/MRD/en-us/Card46153.jpg = Awsome!

[Phantom]

Completely agreed. An aggro deck that turns opposing Swords into card disadvantage deserves to lose.

@ Sacearuse: Interesting build. Seven pieces of equipment seems an awful lot for the amount of draw you are running. Do you ever find yourself with too many pieces? Also Coast Watcher seems a strange choice. I guess he does stop the most prevalent creature in the meta, but does he ever live? No one is running green removal and you can't shut down Swords or Bolt with Chalice.

[Wallace]

Completely agreed. An aggro deck that turns opposing Swords into card disadvantage deserves to lose.

@ Sacearuse: Interesting build. Seven pieces of equipment seems an awful lot for the amount of draw you are running. Do you ever find yourself with too many pieces? Also Coast Watcher seems a strange choice. I guess he does stop the most prevalent creature in the meta, but does he ever live? No one is running green removal and you can't shut down Swords or Bolt with Chalice.

Only once did I find myself with to much equip. I am dropping the SoFI for a mystery card. The equip. is needed to support the smaller creatures and to keep my hand full. Coast watcher is a replacement for Sea Sprite, whice has been run for a long time in this deck. Pro Red is no longer a big deal, Pro Green on the other hand is sweet. Blocks Tarmogoyf, Mongoose, Werebear, and Baloth just to name a few. I don't really have a hard time keeping him alive, I just don't cast it until I need it, or I can just Vial it out. This deck run's very smothly and only has trouble with a couple of decks in the format. I am looking at ways I can change my current build for the next big legacy event. I will keep this thread updated with the results. I am looking for any suggestions people may have.

[Cavius The Great]

Now that you guys explained your reasoning behind Curiosity, have you considered Coastal Piracy? There's really no disadvantage to Coastal Piracy, besides it being a win more card, but I think you could fit in as a singleton in your build. It's also a really nice topdeck versus discard allowing you to refill your hand as long as you have an army still in play. I think it's worth testing to say the least.

[Wallace]

There is one disadvantage, :2::u::u: , that is a little much for this deck to support. There is really no reason for any more card draw in this deck. Between the Masks and the Standstills I draw plenty of cards.

[electrolyze]

this is probably a insane big necro, but i like to know if this deck still can compete with the other decks in legacy. is there any new build or is the old build still good enough?

because i like the deck and like to know if can be still good in the modern legacy:laugh:

i think this deck is still really strong because i think its consistenter than faerie stompy(but not so explosive) and because of the flying creatures, i think it can be really strong in the meta with thresh, loam and other aggro/control decks. if not correct me than:laugh: but i like to know if its still strong.

thanks, electrolyze

[Barsoom]

This is the list i'm playing with:

4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Flying Men
3 Spiketail Hatchling
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Mask of Memory
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

4 Mishra's Factory
3 Wasteland
13 Island

I added Sower of Temptation cause this deck is an house for it; other choices are preatty much standard.

[Wallace]

Here is the list that I have been running:

4 Sea Drake
4 Serendib Efreet
3 Phyrexian Ironfoot
3 Looter il-kor
3 Cloud of Faeries
1 Vexing Sphinx

4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
4 Aether Vial
3 Stifle
3 Daze
3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Light and Shadow

4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
12 Snow-covered Island

Sideboard:
3 Vedalken Shackles
4 Pithing Needle
4 Back to Basics
3 Guiled Drake
1 1 Sword of Light and Shadow

I dropped the Mask of Memory's because I am now running Looter il-kor. The addition of more Stifles and Dazes to the MB makes a big difference. Sword of Light and Shadow was/is a meta choice and can easily changed out with Sword of Fire and Ice. Hope this helps...

[Benie Bederios]

Not sure if this is already been discussed, is there any reason( except the name of the deck) not to splash colors? Both blue and white give decent 1- drops if you're ramping up Vial. The manabase can easily support it, you might want to change some spots to fit in in Brainstorm( with fetches this is an autoinclude.)

Also as beef creatures there is Epochrasite, it's 4/4 if you Vial it and hard to kill. The only problem is that when he is suspended and you play Standstill he will break it.

BB