(Note: This is only going to be about the UB-based versions of the deck, mainly about the UBR one, but you're welcome to discuss other possible splashes instead of red, since there may be less need for it due to future metagame evolvements. For UGR lists check out Next Level Threshold, this deck evolved from the old UGR-Faeries lists. When talking about this very deck I will refer to it as BitterStalker from now on.)
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers...2648&type=card http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers...6041&type=card
Overview
1. Introduction
1.1 Current List
1.2 History Of The Deck
2. Classification And Playstyle
3. Structure
3.1 The Core
3.1.1 The Manabase
3.1.2 Threat-Density And Explanation
3.1.3 Utility & Disruption
3.2 Additional Cardchoices
3.2.1 Removal
3.2.1.1 Spotremoval
3.2.1.2 Massremoval
3.2.2 Other Cards
3.3 The Sideboard
3.3.1 Sample Sideboard
3.3.2 Sideboard Options
4. Matchup Analyses
4.1 Merfolk
4.2 Goblins
4.3 Zoo
4.4 TES
4.5 Dredge
4.6 Threshold & New Horizons
4.7 Landstill
4.8 Counterbalance Top
5. BitterStalker Compared To Other Tempo-Decks
6. Additional Reading
6.1 What splash is best.
6.2 Exploiting Tempo
6.3 Spell Pierce vs. Spell Snare
6.4 Why this deck shouldn't be called Faeries.
6.5 The Old Thread
1. Introduction
1.1 Current List
From now on I will always show the list I'm currently running in this section. As almost no one else really plays this deck these days, I figured it would make more sense to have just one section for decklists. Also, the old list that has been shown here, was pretty much outdatet.
//Lands
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
//Creatures
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Tombstalker
2 Vendilion Clique
//Other Spells
4 Bitterblossom
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Fire // Ice
4 Force Of Will
2 Ghastly Demise
1 Smother
3 Spell Snare
4 Stifle
2 Umezawa's Jitte
//Sideboard
3 Firespout
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Ravenous Trap
2 Relic Of Progenitus
3 Spell Pierce
This list is nothing too special. It's the product of tons of testing I've done with the deck. The most recent changes are the configuration of the removal-suite and the inclusion of the fourth Bitterblossom and the second Umezawa's Jitte. I'm playing the deck as aggressively as possible right now, but it still has strong control-capabilities.
The sideboard is for an open metagame with some number of Ichorid, Zoo, Merfolk, Goblins, (storm-) combo, control variants and other tempo decks. Look at 3.3 The Sideboard for further explanation.
1.2 History Of The Deck
Mainly, this deck evolved from T2 Faeries. A lot of the archetype-defining cards were Standard-legal together since a lot of them were printed in the Lorwyn block. Since I didn't play Magic during that time I don't know much about that era in T2, but apparently the deck (UB Faeries) was format-defining.
I'm sorry for the lack of sample decklists from back then, this is due to the lack of DeckCheck right now, but hopefully I will be able to edit this post and attach some lists from back then.
There have been several versions in Legacy featuring a lot of cards from these T2 lists, most of them straight UB. During that time the lists were really close to their T2 and Extended counterparts and the main differences were the addition of Force Of Will and Brainstorm and a more stable manabase due to fetchlands and duals. These lists were not focused on tempo-play but rather on control. Much of the cards played in these lists are considered clunky now (Sower Of Temptation) or are just outdatet (Scion Of Oona and Ancestral Vision).
They started experimenting with Counterbalance and a white splash (mainly for Swords To Plowshares) during early 2009, following Gabriel Nassif's GP win with a four-colour CounterTop list in March 2009; from about that time there were also some results from UBG-lists featuring Dark Confidant and Tarmogoyf (sorry again for the lack of reference).
To my knowledge people starting playing the now typical UBR BitterStalker lists in Legacy during mid-late 2009. This was when people started combining the namesake-threats Bitterblossom and Tombstalker and the manadenial/tempo-elements with the now typical red-splash. Since then, neither the structure of the deck nor the actual cardchoices have changed much, but lists have become way more streamlined.
2. Classification And Playstyle
BitterStalker is essentially a control deck, but it has much more reasonable clock than typical control variants, much akin to Next Level Thresh for example. We also have a lot of tempo-disruption elements which play an important role in this deck. Despite the relatively high threat-density for a control deck, this deck is not really aggro-control, as you usually only have one aggressive turn over the course of a game. This is the turn you drop a threat; in general turn two for Bitterblossom and turn three or four for Tombstalker.
One thing that separates BitterStalker from other control decks is the lack of control-bombs, we don't really have a way to gain significant card advantage. We have to rely on tempo-advantages and card quality.
When playing BitterStalker (or basically any other deck) you should always seek to benefit more from your turns than your opponent benefits from their turns. The best way to achieve this is to develop your own board-position while preventing your opponent from doing so. Spellstutter Sprite and Bitterblossom are really good at doing this.
Spellstutter Sprite is obvious: you counter a spell and drop a creature at the same time for only two mana, achieving tempo- and cardadvantage, both of which are crucial to winning with this deck. Timing your Spellstutter Sprites is really important; you don't want to waste them on unimportant spells, but you also want to play them as early as possible, preferably countering their one drop on turn two after you led with Stifle. An example where it's important to keep them for important spells is when you cast Tombstalker. When you do this, you want to make sure that you didn't just waste your important threat, so it's often good to keep mana open for Spellstutter Sprite to counter your opponent's Swords To Plowshares or Path To Exile.
Bitterblossom is less obvious, but should be clear after short explanation. With Bitterblossom you do something that you often get told to not do: overextending. The thing about Bitterblossom is thats after an initial investment of two mana, you get a free creature every turn; you're developing your board-position without spending mana to do so, saving mana to play countermagic, removal and cards like Brainstorm. I'll say more about Bitterblossom's qualities in the main part of this primer.
Summed up this basically means: do as much as possible for the lowest amount of mana. This deck can often easily operate off of two lands (though it's often good to make more landdrops), maximising the power of your cantrips, as you usually don't have to search for landdrops and can put excess lands away with your Brainstorms.
3. Structure
3.1 The Core
The core of the deck generally looks like this:
//Lands
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
//Creatures
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Tombstalker
1 Vendilion Clique
//Other Spells
3 Bitterblossom
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force Of Will
3 Stifle
This is 42 cards and leaves quite some room for variation, though usually most lists are packing 6-7 pieces of removal maindeck and usually have two additional threats, usually the second Vendilion Clique and either the third Tombstalker or the fourth Bitterblossom (some lists have all of them). Most of them also have another four pieces of countermagic in the maindeck and play the full set of Stifles. On top of that there are usually 19-20 lands (sometimes even 21, which would be three more than here, but this is rather uncommon). This makes 57-60 cards, so effectively there are only about 3 flex slots.
Note that removal and additional countermagic will be discussed in 3.2 Additional Cardchoices as there are a lot of choices and some of them, even though heavily played, just don't belong to the core of the deck.
3.1.1 The Manabase
This is basically what all lists share. Since 20 lands is the most common number, there's not much variation here; usually only additional Volcanic Islands, a singleton Badlands or a basic Mountain are played. I don't think this deserves further explanation, but I'll drop some lines on each card.
Island
Some people say that this is the strongest card ever printed. One might argue that duallands are better than this one, but in a metagame full of Wastelands and sometimes even Blood Moon or Magus Of The Moon it's not exactly a bad idea to have one of these in your deck. Stifle is a way less common card, so it usually should not be that hard to get this card when you need, even if you only play one. Considering the deck is blue based it's a really good idea to have this one. Plus the deck can operate off of almost any two lands anyway.
Mountain
This is a rather uncommon choice and way less seen than the other basics, since most lists have a singleton Badlands instead of this. But depending on your other choices, it's often a good idea to have this one as well, as your red cards (Firespout and Lightning Bolt for example) are usually important against decks with manadenial in the form of Wastelands, i.e. Merfolk and Goblins. You don't want to get manascrewed and therefore be unable to cast your removal against these decks, so if your metagame is full of these, you should definitely consider running that basic Mountain, as it doesn't significantly weaken your manabase. In fact, it increases your chances against your common matchups.
Swamp
There are players out there who think this one is actually more important than the basic Island. In a way, they're right. Your removal spells are usually black and you want to consistently have that black mana to cast them. You also need to have two black mana to cast Tombstalker more often than you need to have access to two blue mana, although there are exceptions to this rule, of course. Another thing that speaks for the inclusion of a basic Swamp is that it is harder to manascrew you blue than it is to screw you on black mana.
Like I said before, the deck is easily capable of operating off of two lands, and Island and Swamp is often all you need.
Badlands
Lists without the basic Mountain often play one of these instead. It basically has the same purpose: smoothing out your manabase. It also makes it possible to cast a wide variety of cards off of two lands, thus it's often found in lists that utilise Terminate, so that you can cast almost all off your cards off of Badlands and Underground Sea.
It's quite common to see this one as the 20th land.
Underground Sea
The most important dualland in the deck. The deck is naturally UB-based and it's helpful to have some of these in your list, so that you have a wider range of options with fewer lands on the battlefield. The typical number for these is three.
Volcanic Island
Definitely not as important as Underground Sea but nonetheless very useful. Against decks without Wastelands you don't want to always fetch for the basic Mountain when you need red so having one or two Volcanic Islands in your deck often comes in handy. It's also important to note that you can get this one off of Polluted Delta, a criterion that the basic Mountain doesn't fulfil.
Polluted Delta & Scalding Tarn
Probably the most important part of this deck's manabase. Fetchlands help stabilising it way more than duallands do, and on top of that, they have other important purposes. They would be worth playing only to find the right basics when needed, but doing this and at the same time helping to fuel your Tombstalker and maximising the power of your Brainstorms makes them outright awesome.
Since you only need eight of them at most, these two are more common, but sometimes you can find lists playing Bloodstained Mire. I recommend maxing out Polluted Deltas, then maxing out Scalding Tarns; you shouldn't need more. But if the basic Swamp is that important for you to reliably find, you can play some number of Bloodstained Mires.
3.1.2 Threat-Density And Explanation
Only counting actual threats, this deck almost always has exactly eight of them. As you can see, there are already six of them in the core so there are really only slight differences for the choice of threats. The most common practice is to have the second Vendilion Clique and the third Tombstalker, but there are some people who rather want to max out their Bitterblossoms, which can be done in addition to adding another Tombstalker or Vendilion Clique or at the cost of one of them.
Tombstalker
In regards of raw power, this is the deck's most efficient beater. In fact, it's the deck's only real beater. It's naturally a four turn clock, but in quite often you only have to swing three times with him, as your opponents usually have fetched a few times, cast a Force Of Will and you will often have swung with a Spellstutter Sprite.
It's really good that Tombstalker is flying, even though it doesn't have a big deal of influence on the fact that you can play him together with Firespout.
Alongside Tarmogoyf and Knight Of The Reliquary this is the format's most cost-efficient creature. You will usually cast him for two mana (three at most) and his drawback isn't even a real drawback. Of course you can't just drop him on turn two, but you only want to play him when you can protect him anyway.
Due to the fact that you can't really cast more than one (and don't need to) over the course of a game, you usually only want to have three of them in your deck. This is a good number to draw him frequently but to not have him clog your hand. Remember that you want to benefit as much as possible from your drawsteps and cantrips.
Not that you will ever need to know this, but note that you can remove any number of cards from your graveyard when you cast him, not only six. I never needed this, but perhaps this will one day win one of you a match, so it's probably worth knowing.
Vendilion Clique
Another flying beatstick, this time with useful utility.
At first it has Flash, which benefits the deck's tempo-play. Against decks that mostly operate on sorcery-speed this is really good. You can keep mana open for countermagic, removal and whatnot and if they don't do anything, you can cast it end of turn, effectively never having tapped out. It's ability to disrupt your opponent makes for another good way to use it's Flash-ability: to cast it during your opponents draw step. Casting it in your opponents draw step means that you see the highest amount of cards without them being able to cast any of these. Again, this is really strong against decks that mostly operate on sorcery-speed. Against decks with instant-removal, it's often good to have countermagic when casting Vendilion Clique; Spellstutter Sprite is really nice in here. You can also use Vendilion Clique to bait removal and clear the way for your Tombstalker.
For Vendilion Clique it is actually important that it is flying in regards to Firespout. It's also quite cool that it's a Faerie, even though it isn't necessary.
Bitterblossom
Hands down the best threat in the deck. It's relevant for both of the deck's faces (tempo and control) and still it's often only played as a three-off. The reason for this is simple, it's basically the same reason Tombstalker is only a three-off: they suck in multiples. Bitterblossom is slightly better in multiples, though, especially against control-variants where you want to win the game as soon as possible, preferably before they can drop their bombs. For Bitterblossom there are more reasons to run the full set than for Tombstalker.
I elaborated this before, it's both tempo- and cardadvantage. You turn one card into several little threats at the cost of two mana and a few life. A turn two Bitterblossom paired up with (free) countermagic (Force Of Will, Daze) can win games on its own. It's also very resilient, and there is not much one can do about it. Your opponent has to remove it instantly after you dropped it, or they're likely to lose the game. Otherwise you still got some tokens out of it, so your opponent didn't actually stop you, they just prevented you from further developing your board. The thing is that you probably developed your board enough. There are basically two cards that are good against Bitterblossom: Engineered Plague and Pernicious Deed. The first one turns Bitterblossom into a rather bad joke, only costing you life turn after turn. The second is not as good as it seems. They have to spend five mana on removing your Bitterblossom and tokens, so that will likely take some time, so that you can find answers to their answers. Stifle for example is quite good against Pernicious Deed.
The fact that Bitterblossom powers out your Spellstutter Sprites also speaks for its inclusion to the deck. In the end it's up to you to decide if you want to run the full set.
3.1.3 Utility & Disruption
These are the core-cards that are left to discuss. Let's look at them.
Brainstorm
Now this is what's called a "format staple". In almost all blue decks in the format you are going to find a set of Brainstorms. There's a reason for this. They help smoothing out your draws; increasing your card-quality significantly. The interaction of Brainstorm and fetchlands (Polluted Delta and the like) is often referred to as being an essential Ancestral Recall. This is not entirely true, but it's a very strong interaction nonetheless. It helps you finding threats or answers in time, and it occasionally helps you hiding your important cards against discard. It can also completely turn the tide when you get unlucky with your draws. You can just cast your Brainstorm and get rid of excess lands or excess threats, powering out your Tombstalker or possibly Ghastly Demise.
I won't elaborate all its uses here. If you play Legacy for some time you know how good it is anyway, and if not, there are several articles on the correct use of Brainstorm, which you should definitely read.
Daze
In a way, this is another format staple. It's a great card on its own, but it also helps us achieving our main goal when playing this deck: creating a tempo-advantage by laying down threats and still be able to deal with your opponents threats, or sometimes handling multiple threats at the same time. Daze can also help smoothing out your landdrops. When you're set back one landdrop, you're technically not going to miss one, and like I said several times before (and probably will repeat a few more times) this deck can operate off of few lands anyway. It has great synergy with most of the cards in your deck. It's awesome when paired with Stifle and Wasteland as your opponent is less likely to have the extra mana to pay for your Daze. It's also pretty good after a turn two Bitterblossom or when paired with Spellstutter Sprite against Zoo for example, when your opponent tries to play around your Daze by casting a one-drop on turn two instead of running headfirst into your Daze or possibly Spell Snare and you counter their first one-drop and then cast Daze on the burn spell they want to use to neuter your Spellstutter Sprite.
Like with Brainstorm, there are quite some articles on this card, and most people should know how it works. A lot of people are running the full set of Dazes, you should always consider doing so.
Note that the threat of Daze is often even more dangerous than you actually having it. This is due to the fact that players often try to play around your Dazes. When you have them in hand, this makes them dead cards (which is usually not even that bad), but when you don't have them, you gained tempo on them without even doing anything about it since they develop slower than they usually would.
Force Of Will
Again, format staple. As you can see, this deck is packing a lot of cards that have proven to be good. And like Daze, this card perfectly fits this deck's playstyle. At the price of one extra card and one life this card gives you an awesome tempo-advantage, allowing you to tap out for removal, threats, or other disruption, but beware of opponent Dazes. You really don't want to waste this card (plus the card you pitched to cast it).
It gives you an out to (essential) turn one kills like double Dark Ritual, Ad Nauseam or stuff like turn one Trinisphere, even though the latter is less common.
Spellstutter Sprite
The reason this deck is often referred to as Tempo Faeries, even though I think this term is inappropriate.
Anyway, this card is one of the reasons for this deck's strength; as it's both, countermagic and a (small) body. Nevertheless, it often gives you an important tempo-boost and multiples of these often result in wins. When you cast the second one, it's often over for your opponent, even when they can't figure that out. But you should have achieved so much tempo- and cardadvantage by then that they won't be able to do much anymore. This card is essential for the deck's success and often makes for really good plays when combined with the other cards of the deck, obviously Bitterblossom, but also Tombstalker. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference when paired with the latter one, but that often means that your clock is going to be one turn faster, which is sometimes crucial for tempo decks, even though this deck has the means to get out of awkward situations.
Stifle
This one is typically played as a four-off, but some lists only pack three of them. Note that a turn one Stifle on a fetchland does not only give you a tempo-boost, but can also really shake up your opponent, especially when paired up with Wasteland, thus resulting in even more tempo-advantages and virtual cardadvantage, as they can't cast all of their spells. Note that even the threat of Stifle can have an impact on the game, as it might make your opponent play around it and then run into your Wasteland, much like with Daze. And speaking of Daze, these two have great synergy as well. Stifle also has synergy with Spellstutter Sprite, allowing you to counter their first spell in a game with Spellstutter Sprite, giving you a massive tempo-boost.
As you can see, the deck has a lot of synergy between its cards.
Anyway, there are more things you can do with Stifle, like countering Qasali Pridemage's ability targeting your Bitterblossom or countering your opponent's Wastelands. The card is not as narrow as some people seem to think.
Wasteland
In a way, this looks like it does the same as Stifle: manascrewing your opponent and thus gaining tempo. In a way, this is right, but manadenial is not the most important factor of both cards. Of course manadenial is strong and can sometimes just win games on its own, just because it's virtual cardadvantage since your opponent can't cast all of their cards. What makes them strong is the tempo you gain off them, and this is where they differ.
You want to use your Stifles as early as possible, preferably on turn one. This way, you get the most benefit; Stifle on an opponent's fetchland sets them back a turn. You traded one for one, and essentially you didn't do anything on your first turn either. But in your turn two you actually are in turn two since you had a (profitable) landdrop, while your opponent will essentially only be in turn one (and possibly be manascrewed). You developed your board while your opponent could not do so.
Wasteland is a bit different. You usually do not want to use it on turn one, it doesn't help you. A turn one Wasteland is nothing but manadenial. It doesn't help developing your board, it sets back both you and your opponent, and if your opponent had a one-drop (Wild Nacatl or Goblin Lackey for example), you played tempo on yourself, your opponent could develop more profitable than you could. So when is the best time to use it? In general the answer is on turn three, after you started actively developing your board, but a turn two Wasteland can often be really strong as well. The reasoning for this is that our deck has a fundamental turn two; what you do on turn two is crucial for the outcome of your games.
Like I stated before, you usually start actively developing your board on turn two; you don't want to delay your Spellstutter Sprite or Bitterblossom, these cards are usually best when played early; you should always seek to play them as early as possible. The best situation to use a Wasteland is after you did something your opponent needs to answer, this way you essentially only set them back a turn because you already did what you needed to do, while they still have to find the (right) answer to it.
Another reason to not use it on turn one is its synergy with Daze. When used on turn one it doesn't increase the strength of your Dazes, but when you already have an island on the battlefield, your Daze becomes stronger, you actively benefit from your Wasteland.
3.2 Additional Cardchoices
3.2.1 Removal
Obviously there's more to the deck than just the core, even though it makes up for most of the deck. Another important part of the deck is its removal-suite. The deck always plays removal, usually 6-7 pieces of mass- and spotremoval combined, but there are lists that play more. The only reason that this is not part of the core is that there are a lot of options. And there aren't only lots of options, the variety of removal actually being played is indeed very wide. Some people only pack spotremoval maindeck, other people play splits of spot- and massremoval. There is no absolutely right thing to do, there aren't even "best" pieces of removal, since it's pretty much of a metagame choice. Playstyle also has great influence, as has the rest of the deck.
3.2.1.1 Spotremoval
Having access to (cost efficient) spotremoval is important in Legacy. You need to deal with cards like Tarmogoyf, Knight Of The Reliquary, opposing Vendilion Cliques and a lot more, for example Goblin Lackeys or merfolk lords. You don't want to lose just because you didn't have the counter at the right time.
I apologise if I don't discuss all choices in detail, but there really are a lot of viable options. Also, due to the fact, that this pretty much depends on your metagame, I won't give any judgement about what to play.
Diabolic Edict
A classic that has suffered from the metagame-evolvements. Due to the aggressive nature of Legacy, this is not commonly played anymore, since most decks with creatures tend to have more than one at a time on the battlefield. It's quite good against Threshold-variants with Nimble Mongoose or decks with Progenitus, but the former are usually packing Spell Snare, waiting to counter your removal, and the latter ones often have a Dryad Arbor to fetch for, as have most Reanimator-lists this card would otherwise be good against.
Fire // Ice
This one has been really good in the past, as it could often create nice cardadvantage, but due to the recent power creep in creatures it has suffered a lot. On the one hand it's pretty bad that your two-mana removal spell can't kill your opponents one-mana Wild Nacatl, but on the other hand it can still be really versatile, so it's always worth looking at.
Ghastly Demise
This is cost-efficient, but conditional removal. You'll find yourself unable to kill your opponents one-drop with it from time to time, but it's really good at killing merfolk lords, especially Coralhelm Commander in response to a level up.
It has a bit of antisynergy with Tombstalker, but its speed makes up for that. Also note that it can't kill black creatures and you sometimes won't be able to kill a Knight Of The Reliquary or Terravore because they're just too big for it.
Lightning Bolt
This card sure is cost-efficient, but like every other piece of removal it has some downsides. It can't kill bigger dudes, but I think its power during the first two or three turns of the game makes up for that. The major downside is that it's red. Against tribal aggro, you neither want to fetch for a dualland on your first turn, nor do you want to fetch for a basic Mountain. This is less important against Merfolk than against Goblins, since you don't need your removal as early against Merfolk as against Goblins, but it's at least sometimes important. If you consider playing Lightning Bolt, you might as well consider Flame Slash, but that doesn't give you any reach and might be subpar due to being a sorcery and thus making you unable to react properly. If you expect a lot of Zoo it's reasonable to include a few maindeck Lighting Bolts, as they really help against their early creatures, but keep in mind that recently more and more Zoo-lists are running Wastelands as well.
Smother
Hits almost every creature in the format for a reasonable cost, but gets hit by Spell Snare. Two mana might sometimes be too slow, but it's definitely worth mentioning. It's almost the same as Terminate, only with a better manacost and with less potential targets. I'd also always play Smother over Go For The Throat as it has more potential relevant targets. It doesn't hit opposing Tombstalkers though, and with more and more Team America lists spiking up, you might want to do the change.
Snuff Out
Snuff Out, compared to other spotremoval, enjoys an awesome tempo-advantage. You can cast it without leaving mana open for it, but this comes with a cost. Often four life is less than what the creature you're going to remove would deal to you, so it's not that much of a downside. You can also hardcast it during the mid-lategame, which kind of makes up for the potential early lifeloss.
It might also be a downside that it can't hit any black creatures, but there aren't much of these in the current meta anyway, basically only Tombstalker and Dark Confidant. If your meta is full of these, you should probably play something else.
Like with Force Of Will, just make sure to not run it into Daze. This might end up killing you.
Terminate
In the past, this has always been the most widely played piece of spotremoval in BitterStalker. Like Diabolic Edict, this is another classic. It kills every creature except for those with shroud or protection from black and/or red. Notable examples for this are Progenitus and Dark Depths tokens, though they are not that common anymore.
Terminate's two major downsides are the colour-requirements (which is not that bad, but still subpar) and the susceptibility to Spell Snare, which is heavily played in the current meta. These are the reasons for more and more people dropping Terminate.
3.2.1.2 Massremoval
Engineered Explosives
Probably the most versatile piece of removal in the format. It hits basically everything, from Chalice Of The Void over Empty The Warrens tokens to Tarmogoyf and back to Sylvan Library. Oh, and it nicely plays around Counterbalance, while still being able to blow it up. Did I mention that it can kill Jace, The Mind Sculptor, given that you have an off-colour dual in your deck?
It's also really good against Zoo for example, since your opponents will often try to play around your Dazes. And in fear of your spotremoval, they might tend to overextend into a crew of Wild Nacatls, Steppe Lynxes and Grim Lavamancers. Really an awesome card.
Firespout
Not as versatile as Engineered Explosives, but still very powerful. It's a key card in winning your tribal-matchups, so you should keep some of them ready if your meta is full of these decks. It also plays nicely with your creaturebase, as it will never hit any of your own creatures. Its only downside is that it doesn't hit any fatties.
Grim Lavamancer
Recursive spotremoval and additional reach. Sadly he doesn't fit the deck and the creatures he's supposed to kill are either to big (Merfolk) or too many to deal with them all (Goblins). He's also not that good against Zoo. The antisynergy with Firespout and Tombstalker (possibly even Ghastly Demise) doesn't help him either. He's indeed pretty good against Enchantress, but that's not exactly a metagame-defining deck. Having Grim Lavamancer as your spotremoval of choice also helps against control variants, as it increases your threat-density.
Umezawa's Jitte
Just like Grim Lavamancer, this is both, recursive spotremoval and a possible wincondition. Just like him, it's better against tribal aggro and worse against Zoo. But unlike Grim Lavamancer, Umezawa's Jitte actually has synergy with your deck. Be it the fact, that your creatures are evasive or that you have recursive token-production (Bitterblossom), this card really benefits the deck, despite being a bit clunky. An equipped Tombstalker is nothing to scoff at and ends games quickly. Even with Spellstutter Sprite it's really good against control-variants; it easily turns all of your creatures into relevant clocks.
3.2.2 Other Cards
This section is probably going to be quite long, as it deals with a lot of different kind of cards, for example cantrips and additional countermagic, but also other utility, like lategame-engines or manlands. This is also the section that is most likely to grow, so maybe you should check it out from time to time.
Jace, The Mind Sculptor
To put it short, he's too slow for BitterStalker. We can't abuse him like other decks can, neither do we want to have like six lands in play to cast him around Spell Pierce. Even if we could actually cast him, we couldn't protect him properly. We don't have effective cardadvantage-engines like control decks have, or virtual cardadvantage like Humility + Moat and the like, so having that many lands means that we haven't drawn enough disruption to defend ourself and/or we haven't drawn enough threats to actually win the game. If this is the case, a Tombstalker would probably the best card we could draw, as we don't have to protect it as we have to protect Jace, The Mind Sculptor.
If there were more true control variants I could see myself packing some of these in the sideboard, though I think that other additional threats like Grim Lavamancer for example would probably be better.
Mishra's Factory & Mutavault
Just quoting myself on this, I think I described it pretty well:
Ponder
In theory, this is a good card. In practice, it doesn't fit BitterStalker, as it slows us down. Just think about what you're going to search for with Ponder. You almost always want to hit some disruption. If you're looking for additional lands, then why do you cast Ponder? You should be keeping mana up for disruption and not tapping out to cast cantrips. This is one of the things you almost never want to do with BitterStalker. Considering you're always going to look for disruption it would be better to just have disruption instead.
Another thing is that Ponder requires you to make additional landdrops in that it is, like Brainstorm, best when coupled with fetchlands, thus making your draws less effective by not letting you use your Brainstorms to full power, since you have to keep fetchlands for future Ponders.
Preordain
This looks a lot like Ponder, but the difference is that it doesn't require you to have a fetchland ready to shuffle away the bad stuff you have just seen. It might be a bit better in the mid-lategame, but you still don't want to tap out early. In general we can say that non-Brainstorm cantrips are rather bad in this deck. Not being able to cast them at instant speed is an important downside.
Spell Pierce
Nice countermagic for one mana. This can help us in a lot different ways. It's main purpose would be to protect our threats, like for example countering the Swords To Plowshares that targets our freshly cast Tombstalker or countering the Force Of Will that's being thrown at our Bitterblossom. It's second important use would be to protect ourselves in countering our opponents Jace, The Mind Sculptor or Ad Nauseam for example. Spell Pierce is a very versatile card, but it's not exceptionally good against control, unless we can resolve an early threat (which should be our main goal anyway), otherwise they're just going to pay that two extra mana.
Spell Snare
Another nice piece of countermagic for one mana. This helps more with out-tempoing our opponents. Against Zoo, you can counter their turn two Tarmogoyf without having to bounce your land (Daze); against other tempo decks you can counter their Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant on turn two on the play while still being able to pay for Daze. It generally competes for the same slot as Spell Pierce, look at 6.2 Spell Pierce vs. Spell Snare for further insight on that topic.
Standstill
Another card that looks really good in theory. I think it actually has the potential to be good in BitterStalker, but that would slow us down a lot. It also doesn't help that manlands are pretty bad in this deck and we can basically lose to our own Standstill due to one single removal-spell. Way too narrow for this deck, but someone might put it to good use.
3.3 The Sideboard
3.3.1 Sample Sideboard
This is my current sideboard. Like I've said before, this is for an open meta. You have something to bring in against basically every deck with this board. Lighting Bolt is a really good card to bring against any form of aggro except maybe Bant variants, which have rather big creatures.
Depending on the kind of aggro you expect in your meta, you cut play around with the Lighting Bolts and Firespout, but Firespout is the best bet if you expect both Goblins and Merfolk; it's not that good against most modern Zoo variants, though (not that you would need it).
If you expect a lot of Goblins, you should consider Engineered Plague instead of Firespout, which is really strong against them, but rather bad against Merfolk, where additional spotremoval is better than Engineered Plague. In this case you could probably cut some of your Lighting Bolts for Red Elemental Blasts or Pyroblasts, which also help against control variants.
If you don't expect a lot of Dredge, cut the Ravenous Traps for Extirpates, which are better against other graveyard-based decks and also help against decks like Show And Tell / Emrakul.
The Spell Pierces are in here because they're pretty versatile in the current meta, but another hardcounter would be better. Again, look at Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast or perhaps even Negate, it's actually quite strong. Dispel is another option for cheap countermagic, but I always considered it too narrow.
3.3.2 Sideboard Options
Blue Elemental Blast / Hydroblast
These help improving your Goblins matchup, but have only few other uses outside of that. You can bring them in against TES to counter their Burning Wishes for example, but I don't recommend doing so. You rather want some one-mana removal that can't be countered with Red Elemental Blast, as these also help in other matchups. Lightning Bolt comes to mind.
Diabolic Edict
You might want to pack some of these if you're expecting to see a lot of Emrakul, The Aeons Torn and Progenitus. Look at 3.2.1.1 Spotremoval for further explanation.
Engineered Explosives
You should have at least three of these somewhere in your 75. Look at 3.2.1.2 Massremoval to find out why.
Engineered Plague
This card helps against tribal-aggro, but I don't recommend playing them. It's quite strong against Goblins, but against Merfolk they're only good in multiples. When you have two of them, they're really good against them, but only as long as they have less than two lords on the table. If they have, any piece of spotremoval is better.
Extirpate
A silverbullet against Life From The Loam-based decks. You often just win after resolving it against them. It's also quite good against Dredge but be sure to play it right. Look at 4.5 Dredge for further explanation.
In the past it has been really good against Threshold-variants of any kind since you could Wasteland their Tropical Island and then Extirpate it, preventing them from casting any of their threats at all. But recently more and more lists are packing basics and the appropriate fetchlands so it's not as strong as it used to be. I don't recommend bringing it against them anymore, unless you know for sure they don't have basics.
Faerie Macabre
Another piece of gravehate. It's not that good against the most common graveyard-based decks, but in exchange it's really strong against Reanimate since they can do almost nothing about it (except for letting you discard it of course). But considering Reanimate is on the decline, I don't recommend running them, you should rather run Extirpate and/or Ravenous Trap, depending on your meta or what your expecting the meta to be.
Firespout
This is the best card we can bring against tribal-aggro, and it's also quite good against other aggro-decks like Zoo (but only against the faster, one-drop heavy builds). Like with Engineered Explosives, you should have about three somewhere in your 75. Look at 3.2.1.2 Massremoval.
Lightning Bolt
It might look a bit odd to see Lightning Bolt as a sideboard card, but it works really well for me and several other people. You don't need the additional removal maindeck, but it's good to have some of them for your aggro-matchups. Again, look at 3.2.1.1 Spotremoval for additional information.
Mindbreak Trap
If you're really worried about combo (I mean seriously worried) you can run some of these, but in general they're too narrow. Depending on what your maindeck looks like (basically whether you run Spell Pierce or Spell Snare) you usually either want to have Spell Pierce or even Mystic Remora in your sideboard, as they also help against other decks.
Perish / Nature's Ruin
These used to be heavily run, but are rarely seen anymore these days. If you expect a metagame full of Bant-variations, you might want to have some of them in your sideboard, but against all other decks, we usually have better answers in Engineered Explosives and Firespout. It's quite good against Progenitus though. With the recent rise of Zoo decks featureing tons of green fat, these might probably be worth looking into again.
Ravenous Trap
Not counting Relic Of Progenitus, which also has other uses, this is the best card to exile your opponent's whole graveyard in one shot. Just like with Daze and Stifle the threat of this card is often enough to slow down your opponents. Unlike basically every other hatepiece you can bring, they won't see this coming, making it harder for them to play around it.
Whether to run Ravenous Trap or not depends on what you want to beat with it. If it's mainly Reanimate or decks with Life From The Loam, you're most likely better off with Extirpate or Faerie Macabre, but against Dredge Ravenous Trap is just golden.
Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast
These are mainly good against Merfolk, but they also help against control variants and basically everything with Force Of Will and Brainstorm. But since all of these matchups except for Merfolk are rather good for us, you might want to have additional spotremoval like Lightning Bolt instead.
Relic Of Progenitus
Hands down the best piece of graveyard-hate ever printed. It helps in a lot of common matchups, basically against everything with Tarmogoyf and every other deck that relies on its graveyard as a resource (Dredge comes to mind).
It helps slowing down all of these decks significantly and when paired up with countermagic, it can win games against Dredge, as they won't be able to get into the game at all.
Spell Pierce
This is a quite good sideboard card, much better than it is in the maindeck right now. It helps against quite some decks and is always a strong contender for about three sideboard slots. It competes with Mindbreak Trap and Mystic Remora and is much less narrow than these. Look at 3.2.2 Other Cards and 6.2 Spell Pierce vs. Spell Snare as well.