UBx Faeries

[wcm8]

Now that Bitterblossom is available, this deck finally has a shot at terrorizing the Modern metagame.

Here's one of the successful lists from an Extended Event from 2011:


Grand Prix Kobe 2011
Number of Players : 711
Date: 24/04/2011 Format: Extended [Lor_M10_SoM]
Deck Name: Faeries Position: 1
Faeries Shouta Yasooka

3 Mistbind Clique
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Go for the Throat
3 Disfigure
3 Mana Leak
4 Cryptic Command
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Bitterblossom
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Reflecting Pool
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Mutavault
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Island
4 Secluded Glen

Sideboard:
2 Consume the Meek
1 Disfigure
3 Flashfreeze
4 Phyrexian Crusader
3 Sower of Temptation
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vendilion Clique

Obviously Jace is banned in Modern, but otherwise this deck could be a straight port.

The questions to consider:
-What cards have been printed since this time that should find a spot?
-Is splashing a third color worthwhile? It's certainly more feasible with a Fetchland/Shockland mana base.
-Does Aether Vial deserve consideration, or would this just be a "worse Merfolk" deck?
-What considerations need to be taken with porting this deck to Modern? (i.e. how can a UBx Tempo deck effectively fight against the current field? What sideboard cards need to be added to consistently win against the tier decks?)

Since there wasn't a thread for this yet, I figured I'd get the ball rolling. I will update the opening post once a 'proven' list is developed.


The last time this deck was beastly was late 2011 Extended Season. Shouta Yasooka won Grand Prix Kobe 2011 with the deck as detailed in the opening post, but following along the coverage and reading the match notes will give you a better idea of how the deck works than just looking at a decklist. The deck was very very good in many forms at the time. Check out these links for good info:
GP Kobe 2011 Coverage: https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpkob11/welcome
PVDR's Playing Fae From A to Z: http://www.channelfireball.com/home/pvs-playhouse-playing-fae-from-a-to-z/
Ari Lax Extended Faeries Primer: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/extended/21048-A-Faeries-Primer.html
LSV Fixing Faeries: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/initial-technology-2/

[wcm8]

Some things I'm considering:
-Snapcaster Mage and Dark Confidant are both powerful two drops that grant card advantage.
-Delver of Secrets isn't a faerie, but it is the best tempo creature. Not sure that Fae runs enough sorcs/instants to consistently flip him though.
-Playing a bunch of basic Islands and Shocklands could make Vedalken Shackles an effective control card.
-With the above, a Red splash could also grant access to Blood Moon. Red gives us access to Lightning Bolt, Electrolyze, Grim Lavamancer and a slew of sideboard options.
-Green splash gives us access to Tarmogoyf, still one of the most powerful creatures. DRS is banned, making Tarmogoyf somewhat more resistant to being shrunk. Unbanning Wild Nacatl also means that Zoo decks may come back in vogue, making Tarmogoyf an effective choice to stave off a ground onslaught until you can Mistbind Clique ftw. (And if a Bitterblossom ends up in the graveyard, Goyf is gonna be HUGE!) Green also allows for Abrupt Decay -- not quite as amazing in Modern as it is in Legacy, but still a powerful and flexible removal spell.
-I'm not sure what a White splash would yield aside from removal and sideboard options. Any thoughts here?

An early draft list for UBr:
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Scion of Oona
3 Mistbind Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Bitterblossom
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
2 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Smother
4 Mutavault
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Secluded Glen
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
4 Island
1 Mountain

[cartoonist]

Not sure about Confidant or Delver would be. The life loss from both Confidant and Bitterblossom might be too much, and there would be too many creatures to run Delver. I'd rather see Vapor Snag or a Hero's Demise or two.

Vial strikes me as too slow; it's more effective in Merfolk since most of the creature base is 2MC.

[[SLAYER]chaos]

This is what I was thinking, more of a lower curve temp build. Ninja to rebuy sprites and cliques. Would Smother just be better than dismember in this deck?

Creatures: 15
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Ninja of Deep Hours

Spells: 17
4 Thoughtseize
4 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
2 Dismember
2 Disfigure
2 Spell Snare

Enchantments: 4
4 Bitterblossom

Artifacts: 1
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Lands: 23
7 Fetch
4 Watery Grave
4 Mutavault
3 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
2 Faerie Conclave

[FTW]

UB Faeries

//13 Faeries:
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Bitterblossom
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Scion of Oona

//25 spells:
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Serum Visions
3 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
3 Remand
1 Smother
2 Dismember
3 Cryptic Command

//22 Lands:
2 Faerie Conclave
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Mutavault
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Watery Grave
2 Island
2 Darkslick Shores


In UBr I'd be more tempted to play Faerie-Twin

//Creatures: 16
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Bitterblossom
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Pestermite
2 Snapcaster Mage

//Spells: 22
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Smother
2 Cryptic Command

Lands: 22
UBr base with fetches

Sideboard:
4 Splinter Twin
1 Pestermite
etc

[Jeff]

I feel like I'd want to start with this list

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=37750


Creatures (10)

4 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Vendilion Clique

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Lands (27)

2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Cascade Bluffs
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Mutavault
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Tectonic Edge

Spells (21)

4 Cryptic Command
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Bitterblossom

Sideboard
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Anathemancer
1 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Flashfreeze
2 Firespout
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Pyroclasm
1 Tectonic Edge

-----

That's an old extended list with red. The manabase was pretty rough but I think it's probably better in modern. I think with Nacatl unbanned you're going to want bolt/firespout available, spending 2 mana to kill nacatl is a recipe for losing the game. Obviously a lot of the other sideboard cards don't work, and the Jaces have to go, but I think 3 color faeries with bolt is a good place to be.

[MrShine]

UB, URB, and UBG are all valid options going into testing.

UB - Consistent mana. Maximize on hand disruption. Conditional removal in B. Probably wants to play SCM.

URB - I see this list actually wanting R before B. More reactionary. Gains Lightning Bolt, Grim Lavamancer, Electrolyze. Hand disruption downplayed, gaining access to direct damage. Also probably wants SCM, or a more focused beatdown plan w/ Scion to maximize the Bolts, or both. Possibility of shoeing in the 'Twin combo. Demands a lot of testing to find a balanced list.

UBG - Goyf, and Decay. Resilient, and flexible. Decay is premier removal, besting both UB and URB options at the expense of an extra mana and lack of reach. Reach can be gained back via Goyf. Probably Won't fit SCM.

So... I'm pretty sure that Snapcaster merits consideration in every list; there are tons of reasons to run him, and Flash is the deck's game plan from Turn 0. Confidant is risky and competes w/ BB as a 2 drop, and doesn't play well with the rest w/o Flash.

I'm inclined to try R first for Bolts; reach is crazy good in Modern when everyone is doing a pile of dmg to themselves.

Don't get too crazy with the lists. Try to keep them streamlined and focused. I'll suggest a core of:

4 Spellstutter Sprite
3-4 Bitterblossom
2-3 Vendilion Clique
0-4 Mistbind Clique
0-3 Scion of Oona
and probably 4+ Thoughtseize/Inquisition and 3-4 Cryptic Command

We'll probably want Remand in the deck too, especially in the Tempo oriented Builds.

[Mr. Safety]

I kind of like UBW so it can play Lingering Souls and Ensnaring Bridge. It's a way to squeeze in Liliana of the Veil and make it work. You give up Mistbind/Vendi but gain resilience. White allows for some great maindeck options like Supreme Verdict (if you don't want to use Bridge) and Sphinx's Revelation. Sideboard options like Stony Silence and Timely Reinforcements are also great. It seems to be a good path with Zoo being a known quantity in the format again.

[MrShine]

I kind of like UBW so it can play Lingering Souls and Ensnaring Bridge. It's a way to squeeze in Liliana of the Veil and make it work. You give up Mistbind/Vendi but gain resilience. White allows for some great maindeck options like Supreme Verdict (if you don't want to use Bridge) and Sphinx's Revelation. Sideboard options like Stony Silence and Timely Reinforcements are also great. It seems to be a good path with Zoo being a known quantity in the format again.

For sure. It seems like this deck has a lot of places it can go. Its tough to see what will be stronger overall, at least until the meta shakes out a bit, and even then it might even come down to playstyle / preference. And sideboard options.

I feel like the direction you're heading though is towards something resembling more of a Gifts or Teachings shell with BB and Souls as a forcefield. Spellstutter Sprite really needs a critical mass to be good; even with 4 ofs in your deck you're not guaranteed to hit both SS and BB every game.

In the mean time, I'll be testing out the UBR version. Izzet Charm, Electrolyze, and Lavamancer are all really enticing options (on top of Bolt, ofc). And there's Terminate for big stuff if we need it. Much game. So Fae.

[H]

I like the idea of only playing Instants and Flash creatures, with the exception of Blossom and discard.

In this vein, I am intrigued by the idea of Sphinx's Revelation as our draw engine, plus Path as our premier undercosted removal, possibly out of the board, since I wouldn't want too much White cluttering up our mana.

[Mr. Safety]

Don't forget about Mutavault...it really holds together a deck relying only on Spellstutter and Bitterblossom for true faeries. It's colorless, but it casts Ensnaring Bridge just fine.

I played a lot of Faeries in Legacy when Mental Misstep was legal. Threats were Bitterblossom, Delver, and 3 Tombstalkers. The usual suspects added (Brainstorm, Force, etc.) For modern I feel that Delver isn't as good as Mistbind/Vendi. I'm not sure Scion is the correct path.

[[SLAYER]chaos]

I was thinking about doing a light red splash for bolts and maybe terminate main and firespout out of the board. If there's a lot of other fae running around though Lavamancer's could be pretty insane.

[MrShine]

chaos;789055']I was thinking about doing a light red splash for bolts and maybe terminate main and firespout out of the board. If there's a lot of other fae running around though Lavamancer's could be pretty insane.

Lavamancer is already insane! Twin and Jund are bringing it in post-board. Gets Confidant, Pestermite, Clique, mana dorks out of Pod...

Sphinx's Rev is... Dirty ;). Nice counterpoint to BB.

Scion might be too much of a trick at the moment but its a nice way to play the tempo game as well as blank a removal spell. I think it has merit with R (Burn) but probably not with other versions that are diversifying their threats (Tarmo).

Can Tombstalker possibly be good in Modern? If we can get enough cards into the 'yard, UB probably will want to try it. Might not be as good as Snapcaster, though.

[Mr. Safety]

I really feel that rev is exactly what faeries wants. Its a very good engine that gives you incidental lifegain.

[H]

Will there be enough cards in the yard to really use Lavamancer reliably is my only question. Perhaps I will run 4 Seize and 2 Inquisition to make sure I am running spells out there and into the yard.

I was thinking 4 Mana Leak and 4 Remand, then 4 Bolts and 2 Lavamancer and 1 Terminate and 23 Lands. Or maybe I'll go down to 22 Lands, I guess I will see how it plays.

[[SLAYER]chaos]

For non red builds, what's this decks plan against tron? Is cranial extraction good enough if we slow them down until turn 4 to strip all the karn's or wurmcoil's out of their deck?

[Lord Seth]

chaos;789413']For non red builds, what's this decks plan against tron? Is cranial extraction good enough if we slow them down until turn 4 to strip all the karn's or wurmcoil's out of their deck?
As a Tron player myself, I think the best plan for Faeries is to counter/discard all of Tron's bombs (plus Pyroclasm for obvious reasons) and try to beat down on them in the meantime. Tron can't really cast anything particularly relevant until turn 3 (they have Pyroclasm, but it's pretty mediocre on turn 2), so you have time to get a bit of pressure down, then play the tempo game.

I don't think Cranial Extraction is particularly great against Tron, at least not for Faeries. Cranial Extraction (and its brother, Slaughter Games) are better for slower decks against Tron, as it ensures Tron won't draw one of its more dangerous threats in the future. For Faeries, though, which wants to kill off Tron before it runs out of disruption, it's really a "do nothing" card unless the card in question is in their hand, in which case you would've been better off with just a regular discard card. If it were legal, Lobotomy might be worth it, though. Unfortunately, it's not.

[YamiJoey]

This is my preliminary UB List.

Permanents: 22
4 Bitterblossom
4 Dark Confidant
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique

Spells: 16
3 Thoughtseize
4 Mana leak
4 Remand
2 Dismember
3 Cryptic Command

lands: 22
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Faeriw Conclave
3 Mutavault
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Watery Grave
1 Sunken Ruin

It's a fairly straight forward game-plan. Counter and kill everything they do, and hit them with X/1 Fliers until they lose on turn 6 or 7. I decided against adding in more Thoughtseizes due to there being 4 BB, 4 Bob, and 2 Dismember. Any additional would have to be IoK's for sure.

[Sigar]

River of Tears is definitely the land you want besides Secluded Glen in UB Faeries. It casts turn 1 discard, turn 2 Bitterblossom, and then acts as blue mana for the rest of the game for Cryptic Command. And unlike Darkslick Shores it doesn't enter the battlefield tapped on turn 4 (crucial)! And you don't wanna take 3 damage from fetch + Watery Grave when you're playing a control deck with Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom. Zoo is a deck now cause of the Wild Nacatl unbanning, so life loss matters even more now.

[Mr. Safety]

chaos;789413']For non red builds, what's this decks plan against tron? Is cranial extraction good enough if we slow them down until turn 4 to strip all the karn's or wurmcoil's out of their deck?

I would say that discard/counters along with surgical extraction/extirpate out of the board. I also think that sower of temptation is a hot option. It is weak against pyroclasm, but I am assuming some number of snares in there.

[Mr. Safety]

This is my preliminary UB List.

Permanents: 22
4 Bitterblossom
4 Dark Confidant
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Scion of Oona
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Mistbind Clique

Spells: 16
3 Thoughtseize
4 Mana leak
4 Remand
2 Dismember
3 Cryptic Command

lands: 22
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Faeriw Conclave
3 Mutavault
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Watery Grave
1 Sunken Ruin

It's a fairly straight forward game-plan. Counter and kill everything they do, and hit them with X/1 Fliers until they lose on turn 6 or 7. I decided against adding in more Thoughtseizes due to there being 4 BB, 4 Bob, and 2 Dismember. Any additional would have to be IoK's for sure.

How is faerie conclave even close to the power level of creeping tar pit? Even as a non-faerie its just plain better.

Also, 22 lands seems low when you're counting on cryptic/mistbind to win you games.

[JACO]

How is faerie conclave even close to the power level of creeping tar pit? Even as a non-faerie its just plain better.

Also, 22 lands seems low when you're counting on cryptic/mistbind to win you games.

Aside from the fact that there are not nearly enough lands for all the 4 drops in that deck, the Creeping Tar Pits are indeed a vast improvement over Faerie Conclave. That list has 0 chance of being competitive. 4 Dark Confidant, 4 Bitterblossom, 3 Thoughtseize, and 2 Dismember equals roughly a million life lost per game.

Dark Confidant should not be in these decks if you plan on playing 6-8 4 drops. Get over it.

[dreinal13]

For those considering Bob, just don't. It's more likely that with the amount of life you'll be paying to gain card advantage, the moment you want the hurting to stop, it's too late.

[Mr. Safety]

Aside from the fact that there are not nearly enough lands for all the 4 drops in that deck, the Creeping Tar Pits are indeed a vast improvement over Faerie Conclave. That list has 0 chance of being competitive. 4 Dark Confidant, 4 Bitterblossom, 3 Thoughtseize, and 2 Dismember equals roughly a million life lost per game.

Dark Confidant should not be in these decks if you plan on playing 6-8 4 drops. Get over it.

I didn't even notice the bobs, and I agree. Blossom IS bob for faeries. Mistbind and cryptic are also too powerful to cut to 3 (or *gasp* less!)

[[SLAYER]chaos]

In the argument between conclave and CTP. Tar pit is definitely more powerful, but that 3rd mana to activate can prevent you from having counterspell mana up. This is a deck where mana is at a huge premium on your opponent's turn even after you start moving into the mid game aggro plan.

[JACO]

chaos;790243']In the argument between conclave and CTP. Tar pit is definitely more powerful, but that 3rd mana to activate can prevent you from having counterspell mana up. This is a deck where mana is at a huge premium on your opponent's turn even after you start moving into the mid game aggro plan.While the 1 mana could potentially make a difference, you're generally only swinging with your Creeping Tar Pit or Faerie Conclave when you have nothing better to do with the mana, or to try to deal the fatal blow. Unblockable is better than Flying in that regard, and 3 points of damage is better than 2 (also have to swing fewer times with Creeping Tar Pit). Since they both come into play tapped, I'd much rather have the one that makes UB rather than just U mana, especially if the deck is more than just UB (like UBR, or UBG, which I probably plan on testing first).

[Sigar]

Creeping Tar Pit is also alot better in the mirror and vs Colonade decks due to being unblockable.

[JACO]

The last time this deck was beastly was late 2011 Extended Season. Shouta Yasooka won Grand Prix Kobe 2011 with the deck as detailed in the opening post, but following along the coverage and reading the match notes will give you a better idea of how the deck works than just looking at a decklist. The deck was very very good in many forms at the time. Check out these links for good info:
GP Kobe 2011 Coverage: https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/gpkob11/welcome
PVDR's Playing Fae From A to Z: http://www.channelfireball.com/home/pvs-playhouse-playing-fae-from-a-to-z/
Ari Lax Extended Faeries Primer: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/extended/21048-A-Faeries-Primer.html
LSV Fixing Faeries: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/initial-technology-2/

Yes, all of these links are in reference to Extended Faeries, but the similarities are there for these to be very relevant to the current Modern format. Your main enemies are GR Tron (lots of sweepers and clock), Pod (lots of doods and a combo kill), and Splinter Twin (combo kill with disruption). Nacatl Zoo will be worth watching, but I don't think it will be good enough.

As far as splashes, Red gives you Lightning Bolt, Firespout, and other sideboard stuff. White gives you Path to Exile, Stony Silence, Aven Mindcensor, Lingering Souls (if you wanted more value), and others. Green gives you Abrupt Decay, Tarmogoyf if you want a big body, Golgari Charm, and other junk. Green or White seems pretty awesome to me right now.

[Wake]

River of Tears is definitely the land you want besides Secluded Glen in UB Faeries. It casts turn 1 discard, turn 2 Bitterblossom, and then acts as blue mana for the rest of the game for Cryptic Command. And unlike Darkslick Shores it doesn't enter the battlefield tapped on turn 4 (crucial)! And you don't wanna take 3 damage from fetch + Watery Grave when you're playing a control deck with Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom. Zoo is a deck now cause of the Wild Nacatl unbanning, so life loss matters even more now.

Agreed, I can't believe I see lists with Darkslick Shores in them at all...

[radiowave]

Has anyone found a Faeries build that wins, like, even 30 or 40% of the time against Zoo? I feel like Zoo is set to be fairly popular in the format and I have yet to figure out how we have anything close to a reasonable matchup against them. Most Faeries decklists seem to have about 6 removal spells penciled in preboard, which means we have 54 cards that are awful against them. Maybe some combination of Batterskulls/Wurmcoils, extra removal, Engineered Explosives, Damnations and Vampire Nighthawks out of the sideboard is enough to steal a match here and there?

I haven't playtested at all against Pod yet, but that also seems like it'd be close to unwinnable. If we can't beat either Pod or Zoo then it seems like we've got a huge problem trying to be a realistic deck in a competitive metagame since I don't think any of the decks Faeries will naturally crush (Storm, Ad Nauseam) are actually especially popular or good. I don't know that we're a better tempo deck than Delver, or that we're a better midrange deck than GBx, or a better control deck that UWR, or that we're a close enough second to any of them to compensate. If I'm just wrong, I would love to know about it, since I am very interested in acquiring this deck if it's actually good.

A couple of other notes, coming from someone who's used to Grixis Delver (but moving on thanks to the Deathrite ban):
- I don't think we want to play 6-7 discard spells like GBx does, because we don't have enough card advantage or individual card power to deal with the bad topdecks later in the game. I'd actually consider 0 discard spells to make space for other cards, but if I were going to run more than 0 I think I would start at 3 and add from there if necessary rather than start from a higher total and shave them. I don't think you'll often wish you had more, especially with Vendilion Cliques to show you their hand anyway.

- Red is very appealing to me because Lightning Bolt kills Wild Nacatls and Bolt-Snap-Bolt kills players, but I don't know that our manabase can support it well enough without allied fetches. I don't want to have to deal 6 damage to myself in a game to play my spells when I'm trying to take over the with Bitterblossom. Not in a world where our opponents have their own Bolts. Maybe there's a way to construct the manabase that does let us realistically add red, because it would support our gameplan very well if we could do it. WTB a blue-red fastland.

- Without red, I definitely do not feel like 4 Snapcaster Mages are correct. I'd like to be able to play some number greater than 0, but I don't think we have enough cheap spells to make it really good. (Especially because I don't think this deck is great with a ton of discard, since that's the best thing we can do for one mana.) My instinct is to play 2 Snaps.

- Mana Leak seems way better than Remand in this deck since we just do not have a fast enough clock to take full advantage of a playset of Remands. We need our answers to actually get rid of their threats, buying time doesn't work very well except against stuff like Tron where you know they can't just replay their Karn on the same turn. I think I would play at least 3 Mana Leaks before my first Remand, although some builds could conceivably want a full playset of Mana Leaks and also some number of Remands.

- In Grixis Delver (with Deathrite Shamans and 4 Serum Visions making my life easier for casting spells on time), I was able to support 3 Cryptic Commands on 19 blue sources, of which 16 came into play untapped. I wouldn't have gone any tighter than that on mana requirements, but it was usually fine. Faeries will be running 4 Mutavaults, so you're looking at a 23 land deck needing all of its non-Mutavault lands to produce blue reliably in order to achieve a similar level of access to blue. Your total 4-drop count is also an issue, since you presumably want to play 2-4 Mistbind Cliques as well. I'm as greedy with my mana as anyone, but it's going to be very tough to figure out how to balance our desire for a reasonably low land count with our desire for a powerful high end. You can't have everything.

- I suspect that, outside of very fast builds, Creeping Tar Pit is better than Faerie Conclave. Faerie Conclave is closer to being a fifth Mutavault, but two mana to activate is way more than one. I think I would rather accept that I only get 4 'vaults and play Tar Pit since it gives me a different angle (late-game finisher) and it at least taps for black while you're waiting to get there. On the topic of Tar Pit, playing fewer discard spells also means we suffer less by playing a turn one tapped land while on the play. On the draw, of course, you'd probably like to have a discard spell or a Spell Snare available.

[maritlage]

throwing my two cents in with this:

// Lands
4 [SOM] Darkslick Shores
4 [AVR] Cavern of Souls
1 [ZEN] Swamp (1)
1 [IN] Island (1)
4 [LRW] Secluded Glen
3 [MOR] Mutavault
2 [SHM] Sunken Ruins
4 [FUT] River of Tears

// Creatures
4 [MMA] Scion of Oona
4 [MMA] Spellstutter Sprite
3 [LRW] Mistbind Clique

// Spells
4 [9E] Mana Leak
4 [MOR] Bitterblossom
4 [FD] Serum Visions
2 [ROE] Inquisition of Kozilek
3 [ISD] Liliana of the Veil
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
4 [LRW] Cryptic Command
1 [ZEN] Spell Pierce



Know for the lands I am still running the Shores because face it its that or everything else comes into play tapped or cost you life. Which with Wild Nacatl and Bitterblossom being things now mean something. Second you are playing high tide magic. Little to nothing is done on your turn except for Liliana of the Veil , Bitterblossom, Serum Visions, Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek and you never cast anything unless it gains you card advantage or board advantage. Cavern of Souls is there to keep your critical spells of Sprite, Scion, and Mistbind always resolve and all you need to fight over is Bitterblossom . The rest of your cards are there to eek small incremental advantages through a Lilly soft lock or stripping key spells with Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek . Now people may say why no Vendilion Clique . Thats because it is a very situational because of the redundancy put in many decks. V. Clique is more a side board card as a 1 or 2 of to slow down combo. As for the rest of the side board its tough to come up with it until after the PT cause that will give us a lot more info on what fills the vacuum of Deathrite Shaman unless your LGS offers a Modern tournament to play in then you may know what people are playing and can build entirely.

[Mr. Safety]

Has anyone found a Faeries build that wins, like, even 30 or 40% of the time against Zoo? I feel like Zoo is set to be fairly popular in the format and I have yet to figure out how we have anything close to a reasonable matchup against them. Most Faeries decklists seem to have about 6 removal spells penciled in preboard, which means we have 54 cards that are awful against them. Maybe some combination of Batterskulls/Wurmcoils, extra removal, Engineered Explosives, Damnations and Vampire Nighthawks out of the sideboard is enough to steal a match here and there?

Theoretically speaking, Ensnaring Bridge out of the board, dropping Mistbinds for them. This jives with Liliana and Bitterblossom nicely. I think white, bringing Lingering Souls in the main and Timely Reinforcements out of the sideboard is a nice option too. Not to mention Path to Exile for big threats like Goofy and Knight. After three lands it just doesn't matter how many they have, so Path is a solid spell against them. I'm also a big proponent of using Sphinx's Revelation in a white-splashed version, it's just absurd when games go long for the faeries player.

[JPoJohnson]

Another note on Tar Pit vs Conclave - If you run Scion you can animate the conclave to give it shroud. Not a major note, just throwing that out there. I would also typically run tar pit over the conclave.

[radiowave]

Theoretically speaking, Ensnaring Bridge out of the board, dropping Mistbinds for them. This jives with Liliana and Bitterblossom nicely. I think white, bringing Lingering Souls in the main and Timely Reinforcements out of the sideboard is a nice option too. Not to mention Path to Exile for big threats like Goofy and Knight. After three lands it just doesn't matter how many they have, so Path is a solid spell against them. I'm also a big proponent of using Sphinx's Revelation in a white-splashed version, it's just absurd when games go long for the faeries player.

Ensnaring Bridge is certainly an option, and not one I'd considered. We have a limited number of cards that get through it, and I don't know how many Bitterblossom we want in the deck postboard, and some Zoo variants will have Qasali Pridemage to kill it, but if you don't run into any of those problems it can potentially lock them out. Seems worth trying.

I agree that a white splash gets you out of some of your problems, but it has the same problem as the red splash where the lack of allied fetches forces you into a painful manabase, which is risky against Zoo. It also seems to create a deck that is much worse against most other matchups, since Path + Leak is awkward and Lingering Souls force us to play at sorcery speed and are not that powerful against a lot of decks. I haven't constructed or played a UBw version so I'm just running on theory, but my concern would be that we end up being a bad version of UWR since the white cards push us out of our natural advantages as a Faeries deck.

[Arsenal]

I've been posting a bit in the UWR about UB Fae, so I figured I'd post it in the appropriate thread.

I've watched AJ Sacher and Paul Cheon playing with Faeries on stream over the last week or so, and both of them were getting crushed or barely winning versus format heavyweights like Mono Green Ramp, Burn, no-DRS Jund, etc. I mean, I think Paul Cheon started 0-6 in games at one point yesterday night and he played with both the control and aggro versions of UB Fae.

Paul even commented that he thought Fae was poorly positioned against the ultra fast decks (Zoo, Affinity) and didn't have much of a long game versus dedicated control (Tron, UWR) and despite many people playing with it, it hasn't been putting up many results aside from 1 Premier Event win. I mean, Modern isn't 2008 Standard; many top Modern decks just don't care about 1/1 Flyers (Tron) or can bypass permission (active Pod) entirely, etc.

So far, the decklists that people have been running with are honestly just re-treads of 2008 Standard with slight modifications (Snapcaster Mage in some lists, Creeping Tar Pit, etc). I don't think that will cut it in Modern. I honestly believe that a third color is needed to shore up some of the problems that straight UB Fae has.

AJ Sacher suggested a white or red splash would likely be the best colors to explore. I'm leaning towards the red splash myself as Lightning Bolt seems to be the best card in the format right now.

[wcm8]

I'm inclined to agree. The top tier modern decks simply don't care about many of the cards that Fae plays.

Young Pyromancer is a token generator that can be more explosive (albeit requires resources, and non-evasive), and it also doesn't randomly kill you late game. It's possible that Bitterblossom has simply been outclassed by alternatives. URx Delver might be the Modern equivalent of UB 2008 Standard-era Faeries.

[Lord Seth]

A Faeries build seems more meta dependent than Zoo, which may be part of the reason Zoo is doing better; it's much easier to construct a "this will do well in practically any given meta" Zoo deck than Faeries. So maybe someone just hasn't stumbled upon the right list for Faeries yet.

Of course, it's also possible that Faeries still isn't at the competitive level yet, and will need Ancestral Vision to have a real shot at getting there.

[Arsenal]

The problem is that tribal decks are quite limited in what they can and can't do during deck construction. Zoo just needs a critical mass of cheap, efficient beaters backed up by cheap, efficient burn/removal spells. Faeries needs to maintain enough actual Faeries cards to make other cards in their deck "work". Half their deck is independently good (Thoughtseize, countermagic, removal), but the other half is tribal-powered and when the opponent can turn off a couple cards Faeries needed to get it's tribal engine going, it just flails and dies to more streamlined, redundant decks. I mean, Paul got CRUSHED by Mono Green Ramp because it just was ultra redundant and many of Paul's cards didn't matter at all... not saying the health of Faeries should be measured by it's Mono Green Ramp matchup, but it's never a good sign when you can't beat tier 2 decks like Burn, Mono Green Ramp, etc.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Are we really basing the verdict of this deck off of two sort of known names doing poorly with it? Mono green is barely a deck, it's also built off of the same principles as Tron which is to kill the shit out of control decks. That matchup is one that needs to be looked at but I don't see how, "We can't beat ramp decks and they're tier 2, let's call it." comments are at all useful. In Magic decks are always bad until proven good. That's just how it works.

If zoo and affinity are problems, Firespout was the reason to play Fae in Legacy. That card just absolutely crushes entire decks, and can be dodged with fliers. Affinity has fliers, but having your own 1/1 chump blockers has always been the way to stop them or at least slow them down until you can win.

Burn can be a problem for control decks of any variety, and without white we (faerie decks) are left without a way to heal the wounds, but Spellstutter Sprite can pretty much counter any thing in their deck and the long forgotten, but incredibly good in cantrip heavy decks Tombstalker provides an extremely fast and mostly unkillable clock. And his big nemesis DRS is now booted from the format.

Just because a couple big names lost a few games does not mean this deck is going to always be bad.

[Arsenal]

Faeries can be good, but I'm unclear as to what it currently is good against. Also, losing to a smattering of tier 2 decks is a bad sign for Faeries as it's quite limited in what it can and can't play to have a stronger overall shell. I mean, why play this over another aggro-control like UWR Midrange?

[Mr. Safety]

Modern is a unique environment. It will take time to develop the right list for faeries. I am inclined to say that it will be better as a midrange deck than a pure control deck. Red seems like the best third color for bolts and firespout. I think the real weak spot is mistbind, honestly. The only four drop that seems worth playing is cryptic. Attacking with tar pit or just playing tombstalker with backup seems better than mistbind.

Someone mentioned tombstalker, which I think is good. I played a lot of legacy faeries back in the day and it was a solid 2-of.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Faeries can be good, but I'm unclear as to what it currently is good against. Also, losing to a smattering of tier 2 decks is a bad sign for Faeries as it's quite limited in what it can and can't play to have a stronger overall shell. I mean, why play this over another aggro-control like UWR Midrange?

You don't think you're calling the deck bad too early? Someone's version lost to a couple of tier 2 decks, but that doesn't even mean anything. Back when Canadian Thresh was called that in Legacy that deck would constantly lose to tier 2 decks that just played basics. Stuff like the Rock and UW tempo crushed it. That deck was good but it was also tuned to beat the tier 1 strategies. The fact that a deck loses to bad decks doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Give it time. Control decks had a shitty time in Modern for the first 6 months or so, until people started getting a better feel for how to stop other people's strategies. UWr wasn't a deck that could beat tier 1 decks for a long time. BBE ban helped that obviously, but it wasn't the sole reason for control being a viable strategy. Bitterblossom is an extremely powerful card and the deck allows you to play other powerful strategies in Tombstalker (giant fatty that gets by most removal), possibly even Bloodmoon, and an array of good controlling creatures.

[Arsenal]

I suppose a more apt question is why would you want to play Faeries over a UB Control deck free of tribal restrictions? You mentioned running Tombstalker, which is a great idea. But if you're running Thoughtseize, Mana Leak, Spell Snare, Cryptic Command, Snapcaster Mage, Vendilion Clique, Tombstalker, Creeping Tar Pit, Smother/Doom Blade, etc... why not go all the way and cut the Faerie cord completely? I mean, you could still run Bitterblossom if you really wanted to have that type of inevitability, but you'd ditch the clunky Spellstutter Sprite, Secluded Glen, Mistbind Clique, Scion of Oona, Mutavault, etc.

[Phoenix Ignition]

When I think of a good faeries deck I think of the Legacy one that doesn't run a bunch of bad faeries just to be in the creature type. You don't need to run stuff that slows you down like Mistbind or Scion of Oona. The cards I could definitely see being run are Bitterblossom, Vendilion Clique (both of those extremely good on their own), and Spellstutter. Spellstutter is one of those cards that either sucks or is amazing, but the cool thing about it is it is one of the cheapest hard counters you can run that gets better as the game goes on (usually). Stuff like Rune Snag is pretty bad early on and gets better later. Spellstutter serves dual purpose if you play something like Tombstalker because it can automatically hit Path to Exile, which normal counters (remand, mana leak, Spell snare, Spell pierce) don't have a shot at.

I'm not saying run the other garbage faeries just because tribal is cute. You could still run a UBx control shell with Snapcasters, but having access to Bitterblossom (which crushes control mirrors), and Spellstutter (which is better than the average counterspell against quick decks) are valuable in the right matchups, and all you have to do is build the rest of the deck around the deficiencies those present, which aren't even that many.

[Mr. Safety]

I was thinking the same. Play bb, spellstutter, and vendi for faeries, then some number between 1 and 4 mutavaults. This is what makes fairies good, and it doesn't need any other tribal synergies. In legacy I played faeries with mental misstep before it was banned and I was using delver.

[Jeff]

Scion is definitely a sideboard card at best, mostly for protecting Bitterblossom from Abrupt Decay, but I think you're severly underrating Mistbind. The best part about faeries is when you pass the turn with 4 mana up. If they play a spell in their first main, you counter and tap their team with cryptic. If they attack first, you flash in mistbind, tap all their lands, and block and kill one of their creatures. There's no real option that plays around both. I think the card is a legitimately important part of the archetype.

Play Blossom, Mutavault, Spellstutter, Mistbind, and Vendilion. Leave your Scions in the board.

[Phoenix Ignition]

I'm not sure about that. Mistbind is pretty terrible without Bitterblossom out and if that's the case can be easily killed. There's no way that you can get him in there without giving the opponent a shot at lightning bolting your existing faerie. Pyroclasm is a big enough problem to take out any nonland faerie and to champion Mutavault you have to activate and pass priority. This gives them a chance to tec edge/lightning bolt/what have you and leave you 2 for 1ed, and tapped out. It can slow down stuff like Tron or mono green ramp but it definitely comes at a price and might be better off sideboarded.

[Mr. Safety]

Scion is definitely a sideboard card at best, mostly for protecting Bitterblossom from Abrupt Decay, but I think you're severly underrating Mistbind. The best part about faeries is when you pass the turn with 4 mana up. If they play a spell in their first main, you counter and tap their team with cryptic. If they attack first, you flash in mistbind, tap all their lands, and block and kill one of their creatures. There's no real option that plays around both. I think the card is a legitimately important part of the archetype.

Play Blossom, Mutavault, Spellstutter, Mistbind, and Vendilion. Leave your Scions in the board.

The champion facet of mistbind holds it back. I can see 2 somewhere in the main/side. It gets much better with Scion, but I'm not sold on scion. I kind of like notorious throng and sword of fire and ice for the deck better.

[Jeff]

In all seriousness, did you play faeries back when it was a deck before? Because Mistbind is freaking insane. Yes, it takes time to set up and no, it's not perfect in all situations, but that card is one of the best cards in the deck.

I'm willing to concede that the card isn't good anymore, if people have tested with it and the removal in the format is just so much better now than it was then that you can't reliably champion or something. It sounds to me like you're reading the card and imagining situations, and that you haven't been playing with it. If I'm wrong about that, then I apologize.

[FoolofaTook]

In all seriousness, did you play faeries back when it was a deck before? Because Mistbind is freaking insane. Yes, it takes time to set up and no, it's not perfect in all situations, but that card is one of the best cards in the deck.

I'm willing to concede that the card isn't good anymore, if people have tested with it and the removal in the format is just so much better now than it was then that you can't reliably champion or something. It sounds to me like you're reading the card and imagining situations, and that you haven't been playing with it. If I'm wrong about that, then I apologize.

At the moment UBx Faeries isn't that strong online. The main problem is that without Bitterblossom it is under-powered in the early to mid-game. Mistbind Clique is the bomb it's trying to cast and even with flash it's not all that. Tapping out during the opponent's upkeep to drop a MBC and gain big tempo is risky unless you have multiple faeries out to be championed. Tapping out end of opponent's turn is less risky but also less effective and also inviting instant removal to 2 for 1 you.

Jace is what the list is missing.

[Jeff]

At the moment UBx Faeries isn't that strong online. The main problem is that without Bitterblossom it is under-powered in the early to mid-game. Mistbind Clique is the bomb it's trying to cast and even with flash it's not all that. Tapping out during the opponent's upkeep to drop a MBC and gain big tempo is risky unless you have multiple faeries out to be championed. Tapping out end of opponent's turn is less risky but also less effective and also inviting instant removal to 2 for 1 you.

Jace is what the list is missing.

Faeries was just fine for a long time before Jace was printed. Mistbind is a fine play on upkeep and an even better play during combat, especially if they have sorceries they wanted to play in the second half of the turn. Also, between Bitterblossom, Spellstutter, Vendilion, and Mutavault, it's USED to just not be that hard to have multiple faeries in play when you played Mistbind. What I don't know (and can't know because I haven't tested) is whether the format is too fast for Mistbind to be good.

I guess my assertion is this. The format may have changed to the point that Mistbind isn't good, but if Mistbind isn't good, Faeries probably isn't going to be good. I won't be surprised if there aren't any faeries decks that do well at the PT, but I would be surprised if there were faeries decks without Mistbind that did well.

(having said that I've just guaranteed it will happen, but oh well)

[Mr. Safety]

In all seriousness, did you play faeries back when it was a deck before? Because Mistbind is freaking insane. Yes, it takes time to set up and no, it's not perfect in all situations, but that card is one of the best cards in the deck.

I'm willing to concede that the card isn't good anymore, if people have tested with it and the removal in the format is just so much better now than it was then that you can't reliably champion or something. It sounds to me like you're reading the card and imagining situations, and that you haven't been playing with it. If I'm wrong about that, then I apologize.

I played it in standard, extended, and legacy. Modern is a whole new format, one where lightning bolt is common enough to question 4 copies of mistbind.

[Jo11ygrnreefer]

Kinda lurking here, but I feel faeries are are about 1-2 new cards away from being a real threat again.