[Deck] Faerie Stompy

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Originally Posted by Tao

I love your recent build. It looks focussed and just good.

But what is the reason for B2B over Winter Orb? You will probably untap more under an Orb than under B2B and for your opponent it won't make a big difference. Landtsitll will be annyoyed by both cards (depending on the version one will be worse for them than the other) and there are few decks in the meta that cn be completely shut down by it.

Also, against Wombat or Rifter B2B can't be boarded when you want a good card in that slot.

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I was playing Winter Orb for a long time. Then I played against Loam-A-Tog in the Finnish Champs. Winter Orb came out and did nothing since I lacked threats. If it were B2B, I would've won that game anyways, since he didn't have enough basics to function at all under it. Basically, many decks stretch themselves too thin so Back to basics gives FS the tool to punish them for it. It's worse against Wombat, Rifter, etc. of course, but those decks are easier MUs anyways (not to mention, I haven't seen a single one in a tournament, online or off, for about a year), and it absolutely just kills the decks you want it against. It's also playable against X-colour Fish/Thresh, where X is 4 or higher. Basically, B2B feels more bomby than Winter Orb and gives me more time to topdeck if I'm having trouble finding threats or so. WOrb slows them down, considerably so, but B2B just kills them.


The Marco: It's all possible, but I wouldn't go about adding white spells to the deck; one Tundra is manageable as far as B2B goes, but I wouldn't want to rely on few Islands when it comes down. Specifically, taking out threats for answers is bad. One of the reasons I liked the new build in the first place is that I get to play 23 creatures, which is a lot more than ever, so I won't get creature fucked. Also, 12 of them draw in a way or another so I can chain creatures relatively easily. As for Engineered Explosives, it's a good card, but I don't think you really need or want multiples. There're MUs where it does very little (midrange decks starting at 3 or higher with their curve, mirror-like MUs, etc.) and I'd rather not see it in those, so I think 1 is the correct number in MD.

I'd just thought I'd throw a quick side-winder in at this point

The build that I've been running (for the last 4 months), _eventually_ got though to a win in the last Legacy Tournament held in Manchester, England, UK

decklisting =
http://www.manascrew.co.uk/deck.aspx?deckID=44

Maindeck: 61 cards

4 Stifle
4 Trickbind
4 Force of Will

3 Cloud of Faeries
4 Sea Drake
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Phyrexian Dreadnaught
3 Trinket Mage

2 Lightning Greaves
3 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Pithing Needle
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Zuran Orb
1 Chalice of the Void

4 Chrome Mox
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
9 Island
1 Seat of the Synod

Sideboard (15 cards)
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Weatherseed Faeries
3 In the Eye of Chaos
4 Propoganda / Watchdog
1 Engineered Explosives
1 AEther Spellbomb


I'd changed it since the thread mentioned to consider Dreadnaughts in the build. Yes, I appreciate it is more like a hybrid between the archetypal Faerie Stompy & StifleNaught decks. But I think some of the ideas are worth the thread re-considering...


The main changes are : -

1. drop the slow-equipping SOFIs for Lightning Greaves (which also protect the Dreadnaughts against GOBLIN TINKERER and SWORD TO PLOWSHARES), and funnily enough ensures that you start attacking a turn earlier - which is not to be sniffed at for a 12/12 trampler :laugh:

2. Changing the counterspell back-up to Stifles & Trickbinds. This also helps in slowing down (1) fetchlands; (2) Aether Vial & (3) activated creature abilities,

I beat a classic Vial Goblins deck in the final round by...
> Sideboarding in 3x Weatherseed Faeries (crucial to the win as I saw 2 in both Games 2 and 3)
> Having access to the Pithing Needle (maindeck) was also crucial to switch off Aether Vial, then Tinkerer
> Stifle-ing the Goblin Tinkerer to stop the Dreadnaught dying in Game 3

Basically what won me the tournament (throughout) were the Dreadnaughts - which most decks couldnt handle; except one - which managed to SWORDS one of them, but the 2nd one got equipped with a Lightning Greaves for the win.

The Blue back-up flying force seem small by comparison...

I did a search and saw no discussion on Cloud Spirit and Rishadan Airship. They're both {2}{U} for 3/1 flyers with "~this~ can block only creatures with flying." I bring this up because every time I've worked on Faerie Stompy, the deck's consistency was the biggest issue. The deck would win everytime it had the Serendib Efreet or Sea Drake opening, and lose most of the rest of them. Do these additional large flyers help that? Or is the vulnerability to Fire too much?

Eladriel's recent build tries to slow down the explosiveness of the deck a little bit in favor of gaining a lot more staying power. 3/1 fliers without abilitiers that are unable to block don't fit into that concept.

Pestermite for example is a much better choice because it gets 3 abilities (Flash, ability to block, tapping) in favor of that one point of power. Tapping one Goyf and chumpblocking the other, or tapping Goblin's Vial in the upkeep before it hits 3 for Warchief madness (or tapping a Rakdos Put Dragon, the color your opponent is short of etc.) can buy you the decisive round to kill the opponent.

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Originally Posted by Anusien

I did a search and saw no discussion on Cloud Spirit and Rishadan Airship. They're both {2}{U} for 3/1 flyers with "~this~ can block only creatures with flying." I bring this up because every time I've worked on Faerie Stompy, the deck's consistency was the biggest issue. The deck would win everytime it had the Serendib Efreet or Sea Drake opening, and lose most of the rest of them. Do these additional large flyers help that? Or is the vulnerability to Fire too much?

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More like their vulnerability to Mogg Fanatic. Goblins is still played and Goyf Sligh is on the up tick. Also, not being able to block ground creatures is very very relevant as this deck hurts itself a lot and is often forced to play defense against quick decks until we gain the advantage.

In short, I agree that another Serendib/Drake would be amazing, but Pestermite and even Cloud of Faeries are a better choice than Cloud Spirit or Rishadan Airship.

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Originally Posted by Phantom

More like their vulnerability to Mogg Fanatic. Goblins is still played and Goyf Sligh is on the up tick.

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Both Cloud of Faeries and Pestermite have one toughness.

*shrug* I've never wanted to block with the deck before, but I can see the logic there.

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Originally Posted by Anusien

Both Cloud of Faeries and Pestermite have one toughness.

*shrug* I've never wanted to block with the deck before, but I can see the logic there.

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The difference between Cloud of Faeries and Pestermite and Cloud Spirit and Rishidan Airship is the utility. Sure they both die to fanatic and other removal but Airship and Spirit don't do anything but fly. Both Cloud and the mite can produce mana and the mite can be used to pull almost an infinite number of tricks that are always helpful.

Personally, I don't think the 1 point of power and not being able to block is worth it.

There aren't any good blue flying creatures with power for three that Faerie Stompy doesn't already run. There are the two 3/1's, Wind Drake [terrible], Cloud Elemental [barely better], and Wormfang Drake [large draw back for this deck]. Unless you splash or run Dreadnought/Stifle, you're stuck with Pestermite.

EDIT: Except for the non-flying Phyrexian War Beast and the mana hungry Phyrexian Ironfoot.

Pestermite and Mulldrifter both fill that 3cc role a lot better than Cloud Spirit or Rishadan Airship would. Both are better in topdeck mode, both have higher upside, and both have more utility. The only advantage the two 3/1s have is that they're 3/1s, but at that point I don't think 1 power makes up for the raw verasitility that Pestermite and Mulldrifter can bring to Faerie Stompy without conceding power elsewhere, something previous incarnations were not able to do very well.

So eldariel, I want to hear about your impressions of both Pestermite and Mulldrifter from your last tourney. Mulldrifter both looks and sounds good, but I'm not so sure about Pestermite. I think I'd rather just run a 10th island for consistency and then either the 3rd blast or the 4th mulldrifter. Do you think 4 drifters would be too much? Were pestermites really that good as a 2 of? On a seperate note, was EE @ 2 relavent enough to add a tundra and 2 fetches? What changes would you make to your list now? I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of these questions.

Kronicer

I hate being the new guy that comes in and reiterates things probably long ago discussed, but something I noticed at Worlds and didn't see posted in any of the lists here had me curious. I understand that CIP tapped lands don't have any place in an aggressive deck like this, but one of my opponents at Worlds was running Conclaves. Has that already been brought up and dismissed? Back in the Urza days I remember Conclaves and Cloud were pretty solid. Also something to sink mana into so you don't take burn from excess colorless. Maybe as of a two of in place of Islands?

I'd like to give this deck a go. Oddly enough I own 4 Drakes and 4 FoW's, it's the Artifacts I don't have...

The original decklist actually did run Conclaves. The problem with them now is that the deck really needs that Blue source ASAP (the CIPT really can wreck you). You give up a little bit of power by cutting the Conclaves, but since they suck with Equipment anways (since you'd have to re-equip each turn since it turns back to a Land), having immediate access to that Blue source just smooths things out a lot.

I am not familiar with you deck, but if you start playing Pestermite, you might also consider Skywing Aven, Fleeting Image (chump block Tarmogoyf all day) or Weatherseed Faeries (one of my casual favorites). Perhaps even Soratami Rainshaper.

All of those have been considered. Weatherseed Faeries was run prior to printing of Pestermite.

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Originally Posted by xycsoscyx

The original decklist actually did run Conclaves. The problem with them now is that the deck really needs that Blue source ASAP (the CIPT really can wreck you). You give up a little bit of power by cutting the Conclaves, but since they suck with Equipment anways (since you'd have to re-equip each turn since it turns back to a Land), having immediate access to that Blue source just smooths things out a lot.

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That makes sense. I figured it was along those lines. I guess he was running an older build.

I have to say after playing this deck all last evening that you really get a variety of game states. Most aggressive decks I've played in the past just beat. Then either won or ran out of gas, while I sat and top decked lands. The turn 3 win via Drake/SoFI/Psionic I expected. The turn 20+ with Chalice set at 1, 2, 3, me stabalizing at 1 life, and hardcasting Ranger I did not. Of course now that the deck is moving away from 4 MD Chalices are when I appreciate the validity of having them there. I trust Eladriel more than myself however and will test the list with the 1/3 split as well.

I do like the idea of having the dual around for EE. Again, probably long dismissed, but has anyone tested with a single off colored Artifact Land for just this purpose? While not so hot in your oppening hand, it would be fetchable with Mage. With the single dual, fetches, single Tree of Tales (for instance), and 3/4 Mages, it would make that second color readily available. Probably a horrible idea, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I played this deck to a 5-2 finish at the Worlds side event. Here was the list I ran:

CREATURES (19)
4 Sea Drake
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Trinket Mage
3 Cloud of Faeries
3 Weatherseed Faeries
1 Mulldrifter

SPELLS (19)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Force of Will
4 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Psionic Blast
2 Thirst for Knowledge
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Pithing Needle

MANA (22)
9 Snow-Covered Island
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Chrome Mox
4 City of Traitors
1 Seat of the Synod

SIDEBOARD (15)
3 Psychic Purge
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Winter Orb
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Weatherseed Faeries

The only matches I lost to were to Threshold, which involved me mulliganing to 3 game 1 and him just having a better draw game 2, and Affinity, which I played horribly against games 2 and 3 due to fatigue despite getting a turn 2 SoFI'd Sea Drake game 1.

The board suited me nearly perfectly during the entire tournament, with every card coming in at least once during the whole ordeal. My only wish was something better to bring in against Threshold, since all I had for him was the underwhelming Tormod's Crypt and Engineered Explosives. I debated on having Threads in my board prior to the tournament, but assumed that the double blue with only one colorless in the cost would be both deadly and inconsistant. In hindsight Trinisphere seems like a decent board card.

I settled my inner-argument regarding playing the StifleNaught version or not when I looked at the price tag of Phyrexian Dreadnaught at the event, but without that factor I still believe that Chalice of the Void is too powerful of a tool to cut for this interaction. It literally won me games, allowing my one of my guys to attack endlessly untouched while my Landstill opponent looked at my Chalice set to 1.

Those are my thoughts regarding this deck. Hopefully there will be local legacy events in the near future (I'm from Philadelphia) for me to attempt to provide more insight and perhaps innovation into the archetype.

@psyburat- Grats on the finish.

Hey guys, long time eh. I've been playing aggro loam for the most part recently and I was thinking of playing the black splash recently. Here's the list I've come up with.

Mana: 22
4 Chrome Mox
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Underground Tomb
3 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Swamp

Beats: 21
4 Sea Drake
4 Serendib Efreet
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Pestermite
3 Mulldrifter
3 Shriekmaw

Control: 8
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Trinishphere

Equipment: 6
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Umezawa's Jitte


Now the problem I have is that there's 3 slots left. What should they be? I was thinking FoW but I only run 14 blue cards so I think they wouldn't be all that great.

Thoughtseize? It basically serves the same purpose as FoW yet in a proactive fashion. The additional life loss may be an issue though.

Or, depending weither your SB runs any of the relevant artifacts (ie Tomb/EE/Needle) how about Trinket Mages in that slot? Although I think Mages should replace the Djinn slot and the artifacts in question should go into the 3 left. Do you find hitting UU difficult with the splash?

psyburat: That was me at Worlds that you were showing your deck to after the 7th round was over. I guess you could say watching it in action inspired me to pick this up.

Not too hard to get UU because 6 Islands and 4 chrome moxen.

@ mage - I'd like to stay away from mages in this build. This build is a much more aggresive version and trinket mage just isn't worh finding a pithing needle, especially once chalice is @ 1.

@ thoughseize - the reason i wont play it is the same reason to not play brainstorm, chalice @ 1.

I was thinking maybe 3 FoF's or maybe some burn like Psy Blast.

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Originally Posted by zulander

Not too hard to get UU because 6 Islands and 4 chrome moxen.

@ mage - I'd like to stay away from mages in this build. This build is a much more aggresive version and trinket mage just isn't worh finding a pithing needle, especially once chalice is @ 1.

@ thoughseize - the reason i wont play it is the same reason to not play brainstorm, chalice @ 1.

I was thinking maybe 3 FoF's or maybe some burn like Psy Blast.

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Damn, I wasn't even thinking about the cc of Thoughseize.

The only reason I bring up UU as I was under the impression that the original mono-blue list dropped it for its double cc restaints. Figured it would be even more of a potential problem with the splash.

I love Psy Blasts. I notice some lists here drop them altogether. If you're going more agressive anyway, seems like a good choice.

I do like your addition of Maw here though. Great utility and utterly sick when equipped.