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Thread: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

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    Faerie Godfather

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    [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    25.2.2016: It's been years since I've written anything this and many a card have been printed since. I don't have the time to test everything and post an up-to-date list here in the front but Parcher and the Hatfields had been working on a modern build of the deck. I recommend everybody to consider adopting Stratus Dancer and True-Name Nemesis in spite of the problematic casting cost of the latter: the cards go really well with what the deck is trying to accomplish. I'll leave the old opening post as a legacy post but if somebody has the energy, it might be prudent to write a new one. I might do it myself later though no promises.

    Parcher's list, originally posted here (help the man playtest!):
    10 Snow-Covered Island
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    1 Seat of the Synod

    4 Chrome Mox
    1 Mox Diamond
    4 Chalice of the Void
    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    2 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Sigil of Distinction

    4 True-Name Nemesis
    4 Misthollow Griffin
    4 Stratus Dancer
    3 Sea Drake
    3 Looter il-Kor
    3 Trinket Mage
    2 Hangarback Walker

    4 Force of Will

    SB:

    3 Back to Basics
    3 Misdirection
    3 Phyrexian Revoker
    2 Warping Wail
    2 Wipe Away
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Tormod's Crypt


    Faerie Stompy

    Index
    1. What is Faerie Stompy?
    2. Building Faerie Stompy
      a. Basics
      b. Deck Core
      c. Other Slots
      d. Compiling List
      e. Sideboard
    3. In-Depth Card Analysis
      a. Why Core is Core
      b. Filling the Other Slots
      c. What Do You Sideboard
    4. Match-Ups (to come)
    5. Frequently Asked Questions
    6. Topics to Discuss
    7. History


    1. What is Faerie Stompy?

    Faerie Stompy (sometimes called Sea Stompy) is a mono-blue accelerated aggro-deck usually incorporating some Prison-components and equipment. The deck uses fast mana to skip the one-drop part of the curve entirely, and abuses this usually by playing Chalice of the Void with its now not-so-symmetrical effect locking out vast majority of the format, while FS is virtually unhindered. While Faerie Stompy doesn’t sport creatures quite as large as the green beasts that roam the format, its ability to cheat on mana means it still gets impressively sized creatures in play in due schedule, along with some utility drops that generally draw cards, tutor for things or throw a few wrenches into opponent’s gameplan.

    A notable advantage Faerie Stompy has over most decks with creatures is that its entire army flies, meaning the standard issue Goyf wall does precious little against the assault. This also enables Faerie Stompy to make wonderful use of equipment such as Sword of Fire and Ice and Umezawa’s Jitte, which just so happen to function perfectly with the deck’s manabase. On the flipside, the deck's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness; against other decks cheating the manacurve, Chalice of the Void tends to be quite uninspiring. Of course, other similar decks tend to also be built with Chalice-like cards in mind so it tends to null out.


    2. Building Faerie Stompy
    2a. Basics

    The deck tends to have various ratios working against one-another, each needing to be fulfilled for the deck to function consistently Various things in the deck set ratios which must be fulfilled for the deck to function:

    Creatures: You need enough to enable equipment. This is one of the biggest issues I was having before the printing of Mulldrifter; the draw effect was taking a creature slot meaning there was often a shortage of targets to equip against removal-heavy opponents. I wouldn't play under 20 creatures in Faerie Stompy, and the more, the merrier.

    Blue cards: You need enough to support Force of Will and Chrome Mox. That is the reason I have that Shoreline Ranger in the manabase and that is why I'm not running any artifact creatures, for example. Counting Forces themselves (I often imprint my first Force on a Mox if the hand is going to be played out quickly), I wouldn't run any less than 24 blue cards if I can help it. Hell, I'd want more than I presently run, but that just cuts too much into the deck's functioning.

    Fast mana: You need enough to get Chalices in play when they really hurt, and to stay up to speed with lowcurve decks, while trying to outpace more controlling piles. With the addition of various combo "kills" to normal Legacy-decks over the last years (Stiflenaught, Painter's Stone, Natural Proge, Loyal Iona), speed is more important than ever, especially since they will have some means to deal with your artifacts stalling them and thus you'd better win before they do something sick.

    Manabase: You don't do anything without 3 mana available so you'll want to ensure you have access to that very consistently. I wouldn't ever run any less than 21 mana sources, even with 8 fast mana cards, and tend towards more rather than less.


    2b. Deck Core

    Here is what I would consider the core of Faerie Stompy:
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    8 Island
    +5-6 mana sources

    4 Serendib Efreet
    4 Sea Drake
    4 Trinket Mage
    +8-10 creatures

    4 Force of Will
    4 Chalice of the Void
    3 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Sigil of Distinction
    +3-6 other spells

    In some metagames, Chalice could be culled to a smaller number, but overall, I'd say it's quite safe to say that 4 Chalices maindeck is correct, especially with the raise of various low-curve decks recently.

    2c. Other Slots

    Outside the Core, there are many slots open to other effects. I'd love to say there's one optimal list, but as is so often the case with Legacy, everything from your personal playstyle to metagame means there, frankly, isn't. There are lots of cards that could go to those slots, and especially last years have provided us with far more options than we have slots. There is a lot of freedom with what effects you pack. I'm not going to cover all the options here, as that would take as much space as the rest of the primer combined. I will, however, try to cover the most relevant ones.

    Mana:
    - Chrome Mox
    - Seat of the Synod
    - Mox Diamond
    - Faerie Conclave
    - Shoreline Ranger

    Creatures:
    - Sower of Temptation
    - Mulldrifter
    - Pestermite
    - Cloud of Faeries
    - Glen Elendra Archmage
    - Spellstutter Sprite
    - Weatherseed Faeries
    - Esperzoa

    Equipment:
    - Umezawa's Jitte
    - Sword of Light and Shadow

    Trinkets:
    - Pithing Needle
    - Engineered Explosives
    - Cursed Scroll
    - Relic of Progenitus

    Spells:
    - Control Magic
    - Misdirection
    - Daze
    - Condescend
    - Thirst for Knowledge
    - Compulsive Research
    - Psionic Blast

    2d. Compiling List

    From this cards, we choose the ones that allow us to fulfill the necessary ratios, and customize the deck to have the effects we want it to. For example, the build I’m using right now, made without any specific metagame considerations looks like this:

    4 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    10 Island
    4 Chrome Mox
    1 Shoreline Ranger

    4 Serendib Efreet
    4 Trinket Mage
    4 Sea Drake
    3 Sower of Temptation
    4 Mulldrifter
    2 Pestermite

    4 Force of Will
    4 Chalice of the Void
    1 Pithing Needle
    3 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Sigil of Distinction
    3 Umezawa's Jitte


    The ratios given above are all filled. I want the deck to have plenty of game against creature-decks due to the inherent strengths against combo, so I include 9 cards worth of various removal effects. I want to minimize my chances of losing to lack of equippables so I push to 22 creatures and 23 mana sources should minimize my chances of having to mulligan for lands. The rest cover the control-role to give the deck interactive options against the opponent, with Chalice and Force doing the bulk of the job but Needle stepping in every now and then when it's the key. It's a solid, generic list designed to have a game against anything. This isn't particularly metagamed, but it's what I'd consider if I had to face a random, Grand Prix-like metagame.

    2e. Sideboard

    Sideboard obviously needs to be tailored for any given metagame. That said, a quick look through cards I'd consider sideboarding in Faerie Stompy:
    - Sower of Temptation
    - Glen Elendra Archmage
    - Weatherseed Faeries
    - Umezawa's Jitte
    - Sword of Light and Shadow
    - Pithing Needle
    - Engineered Explosives
    - Relic of Progenitus
    - Tormod's Crypt
    - Control Magic
    - Misdirection
    - Back to Basics
    - Blue Elemental Blast
    - Submerge
    - Hibernation
    - Llawan, Cephalid Empress
    - Arcane Laboratory
    - Propaganda

    Many of the cards that don't make it to the maindeck end up in the sideboard for the appropriate match-ups. Given the deck's nature with all the ratios mentioned above, there isn't too much room for other cards in the maindeck post-board, which makes boarding cards that function as parts of the deck's normal gameplan excellent. Exception is match-ups where you side out Chalices; there you can generally afford to bring more stuff in.

    Rest of the sideboard is mostly color hate effects and hate against linear decks, especially graveyard-based ones. Here's an example of what you could use in an unknown metagame with the above maindeck:
    1 Pithing Needle
    3 Tormod's Crypt
    2 Back to Basics
    2 Blue Elemental Blast
    3 Glen Elendra Archmage
    3 Submerge
    1 Engineered Explosives


    3. In-Depth Card Analysis
    3a. Why Core is Core

    City of Traitors & Ancient Tomb: Most efficient more or less permanent colorless mana acceleration in the format, something this deck counts on. Nothing much to say here; you could try others, but these are just the best.

    Island: The deck runs little colored mana so it's important you don't lose what you have to Wasteland, Stifle or such. As such, basic Islands have been found the safest core of the manabase.

    Serendib Efreet & Sea Drake: Biggest nearly-drawbackless 2U beaters in the game, they synergise tremendously well with Tomb and City (to the degree that Sea Drake can be played without losing your lands if you can get it in play with only one land on the battlefield) and are great for ending the game in a hurry.

    Trinket Mage: Chalice is good so you want extras. This here little fellow gets you your Chalices while gladly picking up a sword and flaying some Goyfs.

    Force of Will: Legacy is a wide-open format. This is the "Oh shit!"-button that can literally deal with everything. Also instrumental to us beating combo, enables you to protect your beaters from removal in response to equipping, force through gamebreakers and so on. There's a reason it's in the top 2 most played cards in the format.

    Chalice of the Void: Some decks just die to it. Others just lose several key spells. Mostly blanks out all the bothersome removal you'd normally be dealing with. Most decks have to get rid of it or counter it if they want to beat you. The few that don't tend to have similar measures themselves and thus the dead cards cancel out G1.

    Sword of Fire and Ice: Simply the most efficient equipment there is, especially in a deck full of flyers. This speeds up your clock tremendously (in fact, SoFI's existent single-handedly gives the deck a turn 3 kill), turns a lowly 1/1 into a 4-turn clock, draws you cards to stop opponent from coming back, deals with Merfolk/Goblin/Elf-hordes and is just generally awesome.

    Sigil of Distinction: I was torn with whether to include this here, but I've come to the conclusion the deck really wants one. The basic function? This card turns your Trinket Mages into threats when necessary. If you're threat light, playing a Trinket and getting this can give you a Trinket Mage full capable of kicking Goyf ass. Hell, I've seen Trinkets beat Knights of Reliquary in combat. These happen to be pretty big in a deck with this much fast mana. Of course it's not as good as other equipment in the deck hence why it's only a singleton, but having the means to turn a Trinket Mage into a gigantic threat is worth it.

    3b. Filling the Other Slots

    Mana:
    Chrome Mox: Costs you card, gives you U, can be found with Trinket Mage. As I feel the deck needs more acceleration especially to make Drake truly awesome, I'm going with 4 Moxes. Losing a card sucks, but with all the inherent card advantage in the deck, that is bearable, and Chalice turn 1 is so much stronger than Chalice turn 2 it isn't even funny.

    Seat of the Synod: Wasteable Island that you can fetch with Trinket Mage. Arguments go both ways. I'm not presently playing it since against most decks you'd want to fetch it, I find you just rather pick up Chrome Mox as it's un-Wasteable. And it makes some fringe keeps into mulligans. That said, there are great arguments both ways.

    Mox Diamond: I always dismissed this card, but Media314r8 has done quite well with it in the past. I never liked how it isn't really a mana source and requires you to run extra lands to truly function. Chrome Mox is a card you can choose not to play when flooding, and where you can choose the card to "cut for it" while you play it. Mox Diamond requires you to make that cut already in the deck construction phase and doesn't give you the option to "not play it" since you paid for including it by removing threats already in deck construction. It also makes for worse topdecking. On the flipside though, it provides any color of mana which is particularly relevant with Engineered Explosives, and it gives you "room" in your manabase to run utility lands. If you consider Mox Diamond, look into cards like Wasteland, Academy Ruins, off-color artifact lands and manlands. These allow you to benefit of the increased bluecount without invoking the flood-issues these cards usually come with.

    Faerie Conclave: The "best" blue manland, it's the only one I'd consider playing if I wanted to increase the creature count. However, as it stands, I find the Wasteland-immunity and the ability to play Back to Basics more important.

    Shoreline Ranger: My solution to the "blue-count issue" and flooding simultaneously; Shoreline Ranger pitches to FoW and Chrome Mox. If you need the Island but have the 2-mana lands, you'll cycle it turn 1. Same with 2 Island+Shoreline hands though I'd be slow to keep those. When you don't need it for mana, it mostly pitches and once in a blue moon, you might cast it as a threat. Remember, it's not pretty but what matters is that it works. Many a people have died to Goblin Welders before. A 6-mana 3/4 flyer isn't good, but gets the job done when you have nothing better.

    Creatures:
    Sower of Temptation: The deck is light on removal, as is typical for blue. This card doubles as a removal-spell and a solid body on its own right. 2UU is a playable cost nowadays, and Sower can just lead to blowouts if not removed. And even if it is, it still blanked one attack from whatever you stole. Sword of Fire and Ice and Light and Shadow can protect it and SoLS can even recur Sower when it's prone to dying. Generally, you don't lose creature match-ups if Sower sticks; it's effectively +2 cards, same as Fact or Fiction. Opponent loses one creature, you gain one creature and Sower to boot.

    Mulldrifter: Draw cards for 2U; worse than many draw-spells, but what you really want is the 4U version that comes with a free body. Thanks to the way the deck is built, this is plenty to be equipped, and the extra cards help you overcome the card advantage fight in spite of Forces and Moxes against many decks. Awesome against anything controlling and removal-heavy, decks that are traditionally issues. Like Sower, this is +2 cards with the plusside that you retain the cards even if this gets removed.

    Pestermite: 2U fits to the curve nicely and while nothing this card does is that impressive on its own, the combination of everything it does is superb. 2/1 flyer body isn't amazing, but good enough to pick up a Sword and go to town. It taps Goyfs or Maze of Iths, taps opponents' lands turn 2 to effectively Time Walk them, can be snuck in EOT to get a body in face of heavy sorcery removal, screws up combat math something severe, untaps the creature with Jitte in combat for a blowout, untaps opponent's Shackles to get back whatever they stole (for a turn), can "accelerate" itself out for mere U if you untap a 2-mana land (or 2 if that's more convenient) and so on. I really like this and would play more if I could fit them.

    Cloud of Faeries: Relic from the first editions of the deck, this 1U fellow is used as an accelerator and a free body. It can untap 2-mana lands to get you an extra 1 in pool, accelerating to 4-drops nicely. The problem? Most playable 4-drops cost 2UU as opposed to 3U, or are artifacts. Still, the combination of Cycling, freeness & acceleration gives Cloud great utility and doubles can accelerate out SoFI-equip or Mulldrifter, and it plays around Daze great. This has its uses; the question is whether that's the optimal use of those slots. It is worth noting that losing manaburn made her much better.

    Glen Elendra Archmage: This is the first good 3U creature since...ever. Sure, the body is unimpressive, but the ability? Counter non-creature spells! That's amazing! Get this in play against any combo- or control-deck and watch them grimace. They generally try to win with expensive spells that just win the game if resolved, and here you have free counter for two of them. And if they don't make you use her to counter, you'll just beat them senseless while winning counter battles. Suddenly combo's Chants and Duresses aren't so hot. The real question is whether to maindeck or to sideboard her.

    Spellstutter Sprite: A useful 1U-drop; who knew?! If you get the mileage out of this creature, she'll be truly stellar. The problems are a few; first, you'll rarely be using her with other Faeries in play so she'll mostly snag one-drops, which in turn clashes with Chalice. She also is quite inept at snagging instants, so she'll mostly be taking Zoo-drops (in response to which she gets burned) and Sensei's Divining Tops. Physically, she's quite unimpressive at 2-mana 1/1. I could certainly see playing her in slightly more controlling list, but the ability is quite limited and rarely meshes well with the timing you'd want to use your 2-drops at. Savvy opponents can usually find times when they can hit you with 1-drop removal without fear of Spellstutter outside late-game position where you've burned through your creatures.

    Weatherseed Faeries: Red has lots of removal and some good creatures. Red also can't really deal with pro-red. Combine this fellow with any equipment and you'll rock red decks to hell and back. Obviously a metagame call based on how much red you expect, decks like Goblins, Aggro Loam, Burn and Zoo really dislike this small fellow, in spite of her unimpressive stats. Equips without fear of "Bolt in response" are just gold.

    Esperzoa: Printing of this guy caused quite the stir; another playable 4/3 flyer for 2U? Since then it has died down a bit, as its drawback is far larger than that of Sea Draka. Sure, it can be used to reset Needles and Chalices, but most of the time? You want that Chalice in play, having empty Moxes is against your plan, returning imprinted Moxes is a disaster and you'd rather not give opponent the window to use whatever ability you deemed dangerous enough to Needle. And returning equipment? Nice mana investment there. Also, as an artifact creature it is much easier to remove than rest of the deck, something that's often an issue with equipment. That said, it's still a 4/3 for 2U and warrants consideration. Note: Artifacts do not imprint on Chrome Mox no matter how colored. They pitch to FoW just fine though.

    Equipment:
    Umezawa's Jitte: Probably the best equipment printed thus far, and SoFI's natural companion, Jitte has been a key in the deck since its inception. This is the bane of decks with smaller-than-Goyf creatures, makes racing nigh' impossible for the opponent and is just responsible for turning more impossible board positions than just about anything else. Being slightly cheaper than SoFI also makes it play nice with the manacurve, and it acts as an answer to opposing Jittes, which could cause problems. Only mediocre against control and even there, speeds up your clock by quite a bit.

    Sword of Light and Shadow: The other Sword, SoLS is less impressive while goldfishing than SoFI, but between Mulldrifter and Sower, the recursion ability has a huge impact, and pro-white/black tends to be much stronger than pro-blue/red. Gaining life still helps with the race and it has modest stat boost too. This especially shines against black/white controlling decks, grinding the game out to victory.

    Trinkets:
    Pithing Needle: This is my favorite Trinket. It covers so much this deck otherwise has trouble dealing with from Survival of the Fittest to Maze of Ith to Sensei's Divining Top to Vedalken Shackles to Pernicious Deed to Qasali Pridemage to Aether Vial to Umezawa's Jitte to Wasteland to Mishra's Factory...well, I'm sure you get the point already. It's the only card I find good enough to play in spite of being a nombo with Chalice at 1. In many of the match-ups you use it in, you want Chalice at 2 anyways, and in the others you use it to deal with what slipped through the Chalice.

    Engineered Explosives: This is a nice trinket since it slips right through Chalice. This deals with things like Aether Vials, Elf hordes, Goblin Lackeys, some Merfolk, Mother of Runes, Pithing Needles and so on. It shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone that a format like Legacy contains lots of 1-drops. The other, perhaps more important use is being able to deal with opponent's token hordes, particularly armies formed of Empty the Warrens. As Trinket Mageable, having even one makes you virtually immune to Empty the Warrens making it definitely worth at least a sideboard slot.

    Cursed Scroll: The deck empties its hand rather fast and sometimes has trouble getting the last points in...or that's the theory anyways. The problem is that the deck actually draws a rather large number of cards and Cursed Scroll is relatively slow compared to the deck's normal gameplan. Worse, it doesn't benefit of the equipment at all and dies to most of the cards Faerie Stompy would have trouble with in the first place requiring it, such as Pernicious Deed. It's also a nombo with Chalice at 1 but at least wipes the stupid tribal crap off the board.

    Relic of Progenitus: In addition to being here to deal with graveyard strategies, this card is mostly a man with a singular purpose; make Goyf small. As Goyf is the primary means by which many decks race you, having the means to make it a cute little puppy certainly has some charm. This, however, has a tried-and-true problem; you generally want Chalice at 1 in play and often when you'd really want the effect, it conflicts with Chalice. However, in some match-ups you want this and Chalice at 2 (for example, Countertop, Aggro Loam and Lands), so it is not entirely without merit. The fact that Ichorid match-up rewards Chalice at 1 greatly though puts a damper on things.

    There are also some trinketable creatures in consideration, but they have thus far proven too weak to include. We are still waiting for the drawbackless X for X/X.

    Spells:
    Control Magic: Nowadays, with the modern manabase, this is most certainly better than the ancient Binding Grasp, especially since Goyf is naturally X/X+1 meaning it'll block itself all day anyways. This is a less powerful, inherently useless, far-harder-to-remove version of Sower of Temptation. Basically, if you get this down, you can be reasonably sure your 2-for-1 sticks, at least G1. Basically, unless they have Qasali Pridemage, they aren't removing it. Being able to steal Tarmogoyfs, Tombstalkers and company can certainly take games. The question is whether this is better than Sower and whether you can afford cards dead against e.g. Ad Nauseam Tendrils where you really want an early threat.

    Misdirection: With burn getting more common lately, this card has gotten much better. To recap, you generally use it for the following: Redirect burn to kill opponent's creatures or face. Redirect removal to kill opponent's creatures. Redirect Hymn/Thoughtseize to protect your hand and make opponent toss something. Redirect LD to...well, obvious. Redirect counters to force something through. Of these, with Bant-decks packing tons of creatures now and burn being out in force again, redirecting burn and removal have both gotten much better as of late. It's definitely worth considering couple of Misdirections in the maindeck as nasty surprises.

    Daze: Once, the deck didn't run enough Islands to support Daze. Not so anymore. With many lists sporting 11+ Islands, it is clear that this card has to be considered. The deck plays into a tempoplan, wants to force through spells early while tapping out, taps out quite a bit itself and can actually benefit of "return land"-effects with Sea Drake; this seems like a rather good fit. I know I'll be testing it for myself.

    Condescend: This slot actually involves any X-counter; I just picked Condescend since it's IMHO the best of the crop, though I suppose Power Sink has something going on for it too. I think it's about time to consider a more counter-heavy version of the deck, with the recent printings and the way the metagame is going with the harder match-ups being slow, ponderous decks. I'm not sure this is the right way to approach them, but it is certainly an option.

    Thirst for Knowledge: Since the printing of Mulldrifter, I have completely gotten rid of this card. While it digs deeper and can discard dead Moxes for live cards, getting extra body out of the deal was just much too good to pass up on. Thirst is a great card advantage effect, but the issue is that this deck generally wants at least one creature into play each turn too. It can be hard to get the UU4 to both, cast Thirst and a dude. Casting just Thirst and skipping a turn can be really bad for you tempo-wise. As such, I'm preferring Mulldrifter that removes "U" from the equation of draw+creatures. Oh, and requires less non-creatures in the deck while at it. That said, for pure draw, this is probably still the best.

    Compulsive Research: Pretty much the same as Thirst, except more likely to draw you three, but less likely to discard then-useless card. Also, sorcery, but you shouldn't worry about that that much here as the deck is quite sorcery-speed for mana use anyways.

    Psionic Blast: Once-best removal in aggro blue that doubled as a finisher, this card was mostly obsoleted by certain Tarmogoyf. I'm sure you've heard of the card. Basically, when we blew up Werebears, we were all good, but now we can't blow up 2-drops with our 3-drops. It's still a consideration for blasting the head, but mostly the damage to self and inability to remove cards has taken the bite out of it.

    Trinisphere: This is an extremely polarizing card. It can make for some absolutely unfair plays like turn 1 Mox - Tomb -> Trini, turn 2 Drake. Or something of the sort. Early Trini can be backbreaking. Then, on the other hand, turn 3 you might as well be casting Great Wall for all your opponent cares. This really needs some backup land destruction. If you run Wasteland, Winter Orb, Smokestack and so on, I could definitely see the allure in Trini; you can tie opponent's mana all game. But why the hell are you in the Faerie Stompy-thread then?

    It is definitely a powerful card, but as the entire rest of our plan is focused on denying opponent's cards rather than mana, it's just alone. It's still a kick in the teeth for some decks, most notably combo, but it's just kind of slow there and very weak against any decks with a modicum of removal after they have 3 lands in play. Is it possible to build a Faerie Stompy-build efficiently utilizing Trinisphere? Probably. Have I seen one? Nope.


    3c. What Do You Sideboard

    First, a word on sideboarding. The sideboard space is heavily limited. As such, I suggest you utilize the maindeck Trinket Mages to best of your ability; Powder Keg deals with tokens just as well as Engineered Explosives, but as Engineered Explosives is fetchable, it should take priority. It'll take less slots for the same effect. This is also why you'll want to focus on Tormod's Crypt-like graveyard hate and preferably use Needles and such as catch-all, rather than branch out to effects that are similar but simply take more sideboard space.

    With that said, onto the cards. Many of the cards covered above often find themselves in the sideboard when metagame doesn't fall exactly right for them. Short list of MDable cards commonly on the sideboard:
    - Sower of Temptation
    - Glen Elendra Archmage
    - Weatherseed Faeries
    - Umezawa's Jitte
    - Sword of Light and Shadow
    - Pithing Needle
    - Engineered Explosives
    - Relic of Progenitus
    - Control Magic
    - Misdirection

    Those cards are generally sideboarded for the same reason you'd mainboard them; in some match-ups you really want Control Magic-effects, in others you want that equipped Faerie, in others all you need is one piece of equipment to blank Humility, in yet others you have to deal with token hordes and some decks just are particularly graveyard-heavy. That said, not every sideboard card should be a maindeck consideration. More specialized sideboard cards that specifically exist to make life a living hell for one archetype or another:

    Back to Basics: Legacy is a format of thousand dollar manabases. This shuts them down. There are many 3-4color decks that just can't afford a sufficient number of basics to function under Back to Basics. There's also a number of poorly built decks that simply contain less basics than they should. A number of those decks, such as Rock-builds and some low-curve control are quite poor match-ups. As such, Back to Basics is here to punish them for their greedy manabase. It also obviously helps a ton against decks like Lands. We function quite fine under it thanks to Chrome Mox, Islands, Sea Drake and untappers. Definitely a powerful sideboard card for the match-ups where you expect tapouts and are playing the aggro-role. Also fine additional hate against multicolor combo as they generally need to tap out to bounce your Chalices.

    Winter Orb: The previous go-to land hate, I find Winter Orb eclipsed by Back to Basics. People just need to stall for few turns to get back to game against Winter Orb. You need an aggressive draw to capitalize. Not so with Back to Basics. It just locks them out. Both come in versus control, but while Winter Orb stalls them, Back to Basics ends them. Back to Basics also is more applicable in other match-ups as usable. And is a blue card, and crucially an enchantment so Hurkyl's Recall/Rebuild doesn't hit it. Quite simply, unless your metagame is flooded with Mono-White and Mono-Blue Control, you definitely should just run Back to Basics over this.

    Tormod's Crypt: Progenitus's Relic's angry little brother, this doesn't cantrip nor tap to remove less crap, but this does cost 0 and wipes out graveyards for free. Very key against things like Reanimator and Ichorid, it also has uses against all manners of Loam-decks, and can be decent even against something as simple as Tempo Thresh to slow down the beats. Note that it's often card disadvantage, but with Mages and all, it can be worth it.

    Blue Elemental Blast: You may wonder why I'd suggest something so mediocre that clashes with Chalice at 1, but Blue Elemental Blast does few very key tasks. First, it allows you to deal with Goblin Lackey on the draw somewhat consistently, improving your Goblins match-up tremendously. Second, it gives you a powerful tool against decks like Aggro Loam, Dragon Stompy, red Tendrils, Burn and so on. Note that against Burn, yes, you want Chalice at 1 but if you get that you're winning anyways; BEB will help with the games you don't see it in.

    Submerge: With the increased Island-count, this is an excellent sideboard option. Not only does it stop attacker, it forces them to recast it...next turn. That effectively means two turns of peace from the ravaging Goyf, or even better, in response to a fetchland you can just shuffle them away entirely. The kicker, of course, being that this spell is wholly free. Good trade if I've ever seen one!

    Hibernation: So yeah, green creatures are pretty good. Then there's that one huge annoyance, that Proge-something. It's hard to remove. Hibernation removes it. So...uhh yeah, Hibernation is quite an excellent tempo effect against Threshold/Counterbalance-builds that also deals with The Most Annoying Wincon In Legacy.

    Llawan, Cephalid Empress: The best reasoning for including her is how bad she rapes you. Many decks include her against Merfolk and happen to be able to bring her in against you too. As a bonus, she also deals with Progenitus, Trygon Predator, Rhox War Monk and all manners of annoying Bant-creatures. Oh, and ensures that they aren't coming back. And is a body to beat with while at it. 3U is much harder a manacost than 2U, but the effect is positively brutal.

    Arcane Laboratory: Say you really, really despise Storm-combo. Say that in spite of all the Chalices, Forces, Glen Elendra Archmages and beats you just can't beat it. Then this is for you. It's your one-stop answer to combo problems. They will need to remove it before they go off, and it isn't easy to remove. Couple it with couple of other disruptive permanents and Forces and they should be quite thoroughly dead. The only problem is that the match-up is good enough for me to find this waste of space. You could use those slots to deal with decks not among your best match-ups too.

    Propaganda: An answer to all manners of swarm-decks; when racing and your guys fly, it's quite beneficial to make opponent's attacks slow as balls. You get in unimpeded while they twiddle around with their 1/2 Goblin Piledrivers or 3/2 Silvergill Adepts, deciding whether to improve their board or swing. The downside is that this doesn't directly trade with any of their cards, which in turn makes their removal-spells hurt more. That, and they tend to bring in arti/enc hate anyways which hits this also, reducing its effectiveness. That said, Chalices are often good in the same MUs.


    4. Match-Ups

    To come soon enough...


    5. Frequently Asked Questions
    Faerie Stompy is a deck with some potential rules-issues. While they aren't really too complex, they get asked from time to time so trying to pre-emptively answer the most common questions to save everyone some time.

    Q: You play Sea Drake with one land in play. What happens?
    A: Sea Drake's ability requires two targets. Without two lands, it cannot go on the stack. Free Drake.

    Q: How do Chalices interact with manacost-based cards like other Chalices or Engineered Explosives?
    A: On the stack, X is equal to the mana paid. So Chalice at 2 counters would counter an attempted Chalice at 1 counter, since converted casting cost of Chalice at 1 is 2. In all other zones, the X is 0, so Engineered Explosives at 0 destroys your Chalices.

    Q: How does Misdirection interact with opposing counters?
    A: You can basically always Misdirect the counter to target Misdirection. While resolving, Misdirection is still a legal target. It will then leave the stack and the counter will be countered as a state-based effect. This with targeted counters, anyways.

    Q: How consistent is the deck?
    A: It has to mulligan somewhat more often than your average Legacy-deck's due to hands with only brown mana sources being generally unplayable. That said, as the deck can often keep hands mostly on the power of Chalice alone, this is somewhat alleviated. With the addition of various card advantage effects and tutors, the deck is very consistent for a Chalice-deck, and you don't generally have to mulligan more than e.g. Zoo, though you mulligan for different reasons.

    Q: Why play Faerie Stompy over e.g. Dragon Stompy?
    A: Faerie Stompy's advantage is that it isn't a balls-on-the-walls deck. It can win without its lock pieces. It has a robust midgame plan and is perfectly capable of fighting the card advantage war against control-decks and racing aggro-decks. Due to its card choices, it's more elastic and capable of assuming more roles than most Chalice-decks. Its card advantage engine and lack of wasted resources spent on acceleration are big parts of this.

    Q: Can you build Faerie Stompy without Sea Drake?
    A: Yes, it is possible. The deck will lose some of its aggressive edge without the card and Back to Basics on the sideboard will become notably worse, but with the critical mass of decent 3-drops finally in print, a Sea Drakeless Faerie Stompy isn't that gimped. However, since the metagame is placing more and more of a premium on speed, the associated loss of speed is a hurdle anyways. Either way, refer to the "3. In-Depth Card Analysis" section for options.


    6. Topics to Discuss

    - Optimal construction of the manabase? Chrome Mox or Mox Diamond, at what ratio? Shoreline Ranger? Seat of the Synod?

    - Which effects to maindeck and which to sideboard? For the first time ever, the deck has more good maindeckable options than it has slots. Pestermites, Sowers, Mulldrifters, Glen Elendra Archmages and company are all wonderful cards. Which make the cut?

    - What equipment payload is the optimal? In this metagame, should Jitte/SoFI reign supreme?

    - What builds beyond the standard exist and do they offer meaningful advantages over the traditional builds? Would a tempo-route with Daze be viable? What about more controllish build with actual mana counter too?

    - What sideboard best hits the metagame as it stands? What do we want against Countertop? Zoo? Tempo Threshold? The various graveyard strategies? Is it time to maindeck a fetchable gravehate effect in the main?

    - Is there promise in the 26 mana source list eschewing Chrome Mox entirely for Mox Diamond? Something more Staxish in that direction? What non-basics best take advantage of the opened landslots?

    - Why the hell isn't this deck being played when it's an absolute metagame breaker? Have people decided it's not worth playing or why hasn't it been picked up in this new metagame?


    7. History

    Old Faerie Stompy-material for those interested in reading:
    The First One
    The Second One
    Old MTGSalvation-thread
    FS Interview for MTGSalvation
    FS Interview for LegacyItalia (scroll down for the English translation)
    Last edited by Eldariel; 02-25-2016 at 02:43 AM.

  2. #2
    I'm so meta, even this acronym
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Nice writeup! You might want to mention that Ezperzoa and friends don't imprint on Chrome Mox, and possibly the interaction with Tangle Wire (which is always a consideration in decks with some 50+ permanents, many which doesn't mind getting tapped). About the Swords, I've always felt that party of SofaI's allure was the ability to decimate Merfolk/Goblins, but with most creatures Flying an active SoLaS should be enough to beat them. The lifegain is also generally more relevant versus other aggressive decks than the extra damage (since X/2's are scarce outside of Tribal) And, like you mentioned, it's better versus the decks poorer matchups (decks packing Deed in particular as well as Zoo).

  3. #3

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    great work! i hope this will lead fs back to where it belongs =)

    and i finally remember the card i was thinking of: Parallax Tide! It may decide the game in our favor especially with challice.

  4. #4
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Nice Primer!

    Llawan, Cephalid Empress costs 3U, not 2UU.
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    Sure as hell sounds like fun.

  5. #5
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Parallax Tide is jank. Tangle Wire is bad in Legacy.

  6. #6

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Very well written primer. Congrats on that. Let's hope we can provide some testing and some development to the deck :)

  7. #7

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Underground Stompy

    4 Serendib Efreet
    4 Trinket Mage
    4 Sea Drake
    4 Tombstalker

    4 Force of Will
    4 Snuff out

    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Relic of Progenitus
    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    4 Sword of Fire and Ice
    4 Chalice of the Void
    4 Mox Diamond

    4 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Underground Sea
    1 Swamp
    1 Island
    1 Seat of the Synod
    1 Vault of Whispers

  8. #8

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    i have a probem with draw..does Sword of Fire and Ice is enough ?


    .....post your opinion on this..

  9. #9

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Quote Originally Posted by 3ktor View Post
    i have a probem with draw..does Sword of Fire and Ice is enough ?


    .....post your opinion on this..
    I heard that Mulldrifter (namely with SoLS) is quite good. ;-)

    Nice primer, indeed!
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  10. #10

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Quote Originally Posted by 3ktor View Post
    Underground Stompy
    I don't think that list belongs here. It's way too inconsistent. Tombstalker requires double black mana. That's next to impossible to achieve with any consistency.

    There is no reason what so ever to splash a color in this deck. None.

  11. #11
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Stewart View Post
    I don't think that list belongs here. It's way too inconsistent. Tombstalker requires double black mana. That's next to impossible to achieve with any consistency.

    There is no reason what so ever to splash a color in this deck. None.
    I dunno, seems workable at least. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth should be in the list somewhere for sure. I don't know if Snuff Out and Tombstalker are really game-changing enough to warrant splashing black, but it's definitely not out of the question.
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  12. #12

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Even if it's workable. Why would it be worth doing that to the deck's manabase, and making it vulnerable to Wasteland, Blood Moon and colorscrew just to play Tombstalker and Snuff Out.

    A.) This deck doesn't fill up the grayeyard anywhere near as fast as Pox or Dark Ritual and 1cc spell based decks to make Tombstalker come out quickly. Not to mention the BB in the casting cost.

    B.) This deck has enough trouble with it's own lifetotal as it is thanks to Ancient Tomb even without Snuff Out. I would rather play Sower of Temptation or Control Magic and straight up steal the creature, or failing that slow them down by a turn or two with cards like Pestermite, Submerge or hell even Man o War while gaining tempo.

    C.) By far the biggest problem with the Underground Stompy list is that it's NOT playing Engineered Explosives! If I ever to splash a color into F. Stompy for some reason, EE would be the first card I would make room for.

    Back to topic, truly excellent primer Eldariel, one of the best I've ever read. That said, I'm surprised that you felt Basilisk Collar didn't even warrant a mention.

  13. #13
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Thanks for refreshing the primer.

    As mentioned in the old thread, Faerie Stompy has a lot of tools to fight today's metagame. A reasonable turnout at GP Madrid supports the fact that we can still compete despite recent printings of several cards that prove a challenge to the deck's success.

    Q: Can you build Faerie Stompy without Sea Drake?
    While not exactly the best build, I've played without Sea Drakes before. Juggernaut coupled with Cloud of Faeries was a lot of fun :D
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  14. #14
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Lessee now:
    @Infi&Kuma: Corrections made at Esperzoa & Llawan.

    @dgl&Infi: Parallax Tides and Tangle Wires are IMHO suited for a sufficiently different strategy compared to FS that I don't think they warrant consideration right now. They'd go much better with Trinisphere-plan, but again, find the slots...

    @3ktor: I actually eschewed the whole "splashes"-section, but I think Faerie Stompy is at its best mono-colored. The splashes, particularly green (that Goyf-thingy), white (Stoneforge Mystic, Aven Mindcensor, maybe even EE) and maybe even black offer some cards, but the creature base is already quite good so I'm not sure we just need such. The list you're suggesting seems to run too few beaters and thus has serious issues against removal-heavy decks. Further, the fact that Waste on your UB source can just end the game seems unalluring.

    @Clark Kant: I haven't gotten to test the card at all in spite of having it in my SB for a while. As such, I really just can't say a thing about a card I have no experience with. I urge folks to give it a whirl and share the experiences though; it may be a useful effect in some match-ups, particularly the Lifelink.

    @DuxDucis: Yeah, Juggernaut is a surprisingly good option for the slot. It's big as all hell (though smaller than Goyf...) and does just fine with the aggressive hands. It really demands Cloud of Faeries or such tho.


    @Everyone: Thanks! Seems the primer is readable and all given nobody has clawed their eyes out yet. Pity, woulda wanted to see that.

    At any rate, I'd like to hear folk's experiences with the extra counters. I think it may be the right time to consider them right now, particularly Daze. Also, the green-hate/blue-hate/Proge-hate SB in MUs where it's live.

  15. #15

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Misdirection: It's our FoW 5-8! Sometimes it's just crap but on the other side it can redirect the removal/burn/discard right into their face!
    There are two questions about it - Which of them is better and how much FoW can a deck take?
    I think we can take 6 FoW effects unless we loose to much - especially with Chrome Mox we might "imprint" 2-5 cards each game! Even for us it's a hard drawback!
    Maybe a 2-2 cut with Mox Diamond can make it a bit better and it's also trinketable for EE^^

    FoW or Misdirection? 4-2 or even 3-3, we have to figure it out...

    Daze: We don't have enough Islands, it's a dead card after the 3rd round and we love to play challice 2 if possible - it's still a hot card but i prefer to combine it with wasteland, sinkhole, stifle, trinisphere or any sphere of resistence effects

  16. #16

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    ...well...
    the deck has MOX DIAMOND instead of CHROME MOX.. for the reason of 2 black mana... + 1 card in graveyard for Tombstalker with diamond...also SNUFF OUT and FOW hellps a lot to fill up your graveyard...+ 4 fetses..
    NOW think that i can play first turn.. polluted delta for swamp + mox diamond --> 2 cards in graveyard + 2 black mana + no problem for blood moon+ i have a swamp to cast snuff out :O

    AND yes EE would be a perfect idea couse this deck can produce 3 different mana + ( blue+black+it depends how many diamond you have on board)

    BUT i could easily take out 1 tombstalker and add 1 more swamp..for mana stability , something like THIS:

    Underground Stompy

    4 Serendib Efreet
    4 Trinket Mage
    4 Sea Drake
    3 Tombstalker

    4 Force of Will
    4 Snuff out

    2 Engineered Explosives
    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    4 Sword of Fire and Ice
    4 Chalice of the Void
    4 Mox Diamond

    4 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Underground Sea
    2 Swamp
    1 Island
    1 Seat of the Synod
    1 Vault of Whispers



    ......now... how can i get some more draw ? what to cut out ...?

  17. #17

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    xmxmxm..

    Urborg isnt an answer in what i m looking for..the problem isnt 2 black mana..but 1 basic swamp for blood moon effect and snuff out..

    Also i believe that this deck belongs here..its not a Demon Stompy , its still actually s Sea Stompy , but the name doesnt matter..

    As for why to splash black.. SNUFF OUT + TOMBSTALKER give to this deck a great tempo..snuff takes out goyf..and stalker has toughness 5 and no 3 like all other creatures in this deck...which are all 1 lightning bolt ( in case that chalise isnt on board-or think incinerate or hellix.. ) also 5 in attack with challise for 1 is 4 turn lock with no drawbacks ( +1 force and 1 snuff out in hand.. )
    also tombstalker + snuff out get over counterbalance ;)

    BUT the creatures are few..moreover the drawing.. SO HOW LIKE THIS:

    Sea Stompy

    4 Mulldrifter
    4 Serendib Efreet
    3 Trinket Mage
    4 Sea Drake
    3 Tombstalker

    4 Force of Will
    4 Snuff out

    1 ??? ( jitte ? needle ? EE ? )

    4 Sword of Fire and Ice
    4 Chalice of the Void
    4 Mox Diamond

    4 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Polluted Delta
    4 Underground Sea
    2 Swamp
    1 Island
    1 Seat of the Synod
    1 Vault of Whispers



    I have also to say..that i have tested this build and with mox diamonds instead of Chrome moxes the Mulligans are reduced dramaticaly...

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  18. #18
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Nice primer, Eldariel, and great timing, as I'm currently in the process of building this!

    Looking forward to the matchup analysis.
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  19. #19
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    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldariel View Post
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Ancient Tomb
    10 Island
    4 Chrome Mox
    1 Shoreline Ranger

    4 Serendib Efreet
    4 Trinket Mage
    4 Sea Drake
    3 Sower of Temptation
    4 Mulldrifter
    2 Pestermite

    4 Force of Will
    4 Chalice of the Void
    1 Pithing Needle
    3 Sword of Fire and Ice
    1 Sigil of Distinction
    3 Umezawa's Jitte
    Switch Shoreline Ranger for Seat if the Synod and you've got my list.

    Biggest problem I encounter with this list is that I often don't have enough creatures and I have problems with Qasali Pridemage. In this list I think I'm going to replace 1 Sword of Fire and Ice with a maindeck Glen-elendra Archmage.

    But unfortunately that doesn't deal with the other problem: Qasali Pridemage. The way I see it, this guy singlehandedly killed all stompy decks.
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  20. #20

    Re: [Deck] Faerie Stompy

    Quote Originally Posted by Skeggi View Post

    Biggest problem I encounter with this list is that I often don't have enough creatures and I have problems with Qasali Pridemage. In this list I think I'm going to replace 1 Sword of Fire and Ice with a maindeck Glen-elendra Archmage.

    But unfortunately that doesn't deal with the other problem: Qasali Pridemage. The way I see it, this guy singlehandedly killed all stompy decks.
    Could we stop crying about the Pridemages? He's removing just ONE artifact of us - Challice 1 or an equipment. Why aren't we complaining about Path to Exile? I think because we all already know StoP.
    Which decks are playing Qasali? There are only a few: Zoo, Bant and some Survival lists.
    So we have to check and improve our matchups against Zoo, Bant and my hate-matchup survival (got once a loosing spree of 7 games...)^^

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