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Thread: UB Ensnaring Faeries

  1. #1
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    UB Ensnaring Faeries

    I built this deck about a month ago as a way to play Ensnaring Bridge and Bitterblossom together. I've gone 8-4-1 over the course of 4 weeklies, but my concern is that two of my losses are to Grixis Delver and another is to Czech Pile, leaving me unsure if this deck would ever be a good choice given the current metagame. What tends to get me in those matchups are Gurmag Angler and TNN, if I can't stick an Ensnaring Bridge. I'm not sure if that's a solvable problem unless I just up my GftTs/edict effects.

    Faeries is kind of a misnomer since I always set Cavern to Wizard for Snapcaster/JVP, but of course the synergy between SSS/Blossom/Mutavault/Bridge/Jitte is a key component of the deck. Cavern actually seems unnecessary -- it is a holdover from an early draft of the deck where I planned to run Trophy Mage (also a wizard) as a way to find Bridge and potentially other artifacts, but that took up a lot more space than I wanted to. It's also a pretty strong card in counter wars and when Vendilion Clique is boarded in (which is almost always the case, so much so that I think it maybe should be a good maindeck card, but the cut would probably be Bridge, which is a key reason I want to play this deck.)

    Anyway, have at it.

    Current version (3-3-1):
    4 Spellstutter Sprite
    3 Snapcaster Mage
    2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Force of Will
    4 Fatal Push
    4 Thoughtseize
    2 Ponder
    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    2 Bitterblossom
    2 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Spell Snare
    1 Go for the Throat
    1 Collective Brutality
    1 Cursed Scroll

    4 Cavern of Souls
    4 Mutavault
    4 Underground Sea
    4 Polluted Delta
    3 other blue fetches
    1 island
    1 swamp
    1 Bloodstained Mire

    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Vendilion Clique
    2 Echoing Truth
    1 Sorcerous Spyglass
    1 Hydroblast
    1 Ratchet Bomb
    1 Collective Brutality
    1 Marsh Casualties
    1 Liliana, the Last Hope
    1 Diabolic Edict


    First version (5-1):
    4 Snapcaster Mage
    4 Spellstutter Sprite

    4 Ponder
    4 Brainstorm
    4 Force of Will
    4 Fatal Push
    4 Thoughtseize
    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    2 Bitterblossom
    2 Ensnaring Bridge
    2 Spell Snare
    1 Go for the Throat
    1 Collective Brutality

    4 Cavern of Souls
    4 Mutavault
    4 Underground Sea
    4 Polluted Delta
    3 other blue fetches
    1 island
    1 swamp
    1 Bloodstained Mire

    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Surgical Extraction
    2 Vendilion Clique
    1 Sorcerous Spyglass
    1 Chill
    1 Echoing Truth
    1 Engineered Explosives
    1 Ratchet Bomb
    1 Collective Brutality
    1 Marsh Casualties
    1 Liliana, the Last Hope
    1 Diabolic Edict

  2. #2
    Is Cancer

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    Jul 2014
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    Re: UB Ensnaring Faeries

    You might consider starting with my QuellBlade deck, and adding bridges to it in some of the flex slots. I haven't been playing for awhile, but I had a very positive ratio and quite enjoyed the deck. I'll be piloting a version of it this week if I go to legacy (adding Mindcensors and Cliques to the flex slots.)

    IMO; you're missing DRS (the drain go around bridge, which is handy), Lifegain (Jitte gets around bridge, controls the board, and helps against Burn, Blossom, etc., DRS can help too), and the White sideboard is amazing to have (Canonist, Tutor, CPriest, etc.)

    You're also only running 2 Bridge. I'd up the number of Bridges to 3-4, and up the number of Brutalities to 3-4 so you can get rid of the extras without always relying on Brainstorm to do it. If you do go to White, the Plows are a handy swap to off Anglers and ZP becomes available for the x/1's like TNN and Pyro. Quellblade's main issue to solve at the moment is that it's weak to Eldrazi; however a Bridge version would certainly make that MU much better. Something to think about anyway.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nestalim View Post
    Wrong. Gideon Emblem protect you from losing and you can even open your binder and slam some cards on the board, not even the HJ can DQ you now.

  3. #3

    Re: UB Ensnaring Faeries

    I agree with tescren: Deathrite Shaman and Bitterblossom are best bud's. Kinda like peanut butter and jelly or some other well-known and complementary pairing.

    Liliana of the Veil and/or Baleful Strix could be worth considering if you're having trouble with Angler. (Lilly is nice with bridge too.)

    FWIW, I've been having a reasonable amount of success recently with a Bridge-less UBg Faeries deck:


    4 Deathrite Shaman
    3 Bitterblossom
    2 Spellstutter Sprite
    2 Snapcaster Mage
    1 True-Name Nemesis
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Tombstalker

    4 Fatal Push
    2 Diabolic Edict

    4 Brainstorm
    4 Ponder
    4 Force of Will
    3 Daze
    1 Counterspell
    2 Thoughtseize

    1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
    1 Umezawa's Jitte

    4 Polluted Delta
    2 Misty Rainforest
    2 Verdant Catacombs
    4 Underground Sea
    2 Tropical Island
    1 Island
    1 Swamp
    1 Creeping Tar-Pit
    3 Wasteland

    SB
    2 Baleful Strix
    2 Flusterstorm
    2 Hymn to Tourach
    2 Surgical Extraction
    1 Blue Elemental Blast
    1 Engineered Explosives
    1 Invasive Surgery
    1 Liliana, the Last Hope
    1 Marsh Casualties
    1 Nihil Spellbomb
    1 Standstill


    ("Success" = generally 4-1s and 3-2s online, a 5-0 in there somewhere, and 3rd place for a Taiga at a paper event yesterday.)

    Ok, the Fae theme isn't *that* strong and it's more of a UB good stuff deck. Still, Bitterblossom seems really strong at the moment, so I like trying to force one through turn two with Daze or FoW back-up. I used to run more Spellstutter Sprites, but it's somewhat clunky for Legacy if you're only answering a 1 CMC play from the opponent. It's insane if you have BB in play, but you're often winning those games anyway.

    Not 100% sure about the main-deck Thoughtseizes or Edicts. Go for the Throat or Baleful Strix could be better as removal. Might want counters rather than discard as additional one CMC interaction.

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