[Deck] Faerie Stompy

[JeroenC]

How did your Belcher opponent cast EtW? Unless if I'm missing something, he only had 3 mana: one from Petal, one from Bayou and one from Rite of Flame... He can't use the LED to cast EtW, or am I completely losing it here?

[Aggro_zombies]

How did your Belcher opponent cast EtW? Unless if I'm missing something, he only had 3 mana: one from Petal, one from Bayou and one from Rite of Flame... He can't use the LED to cast EtW, or am I completely losing it here?

Declare Empty the Warrens. It's not in your hand anymore, but not quite on the stack yet.

Pay Empty the Warrens' mana cost. Sacrifice LED.

Put Empty the Warrens onto the stack.

EDIT: IIRC that's how it works. I know you can use LED to empty your hand when you're casting Infernal Tutor in ANT and TES.

[Eldariel]

Declare Empty the Warrens. It's not in your hand anymore, but not quite on the stack yet.

Pay Empty the Warrens' mana cost. Sacrifice LED.

Put Empty the Warrens onto the stack.

EDIT: IIRC that's how it works. I know you can use LED to empty your hand when you're casting Infernal Tutor in ANT and TES.

That doesn't work. You can only play LED's mana ability as an instant (see errata); you can RESPOND to Infernal Tutor with LED getting the mana to pay for whatever you're tutoring for, but you couldn't pay for the Tutor itself. In the same vein, you couldn't pay for Warrens itself. I reckon there's an SSG/ESG involved in resolving the Empty the Warrens.

[Aggro_zombies]

That doesn't work. You can only play LED's mana ability as an instant (see errata); you can RESPOND to Infernal Tutor with LED getting the mana to pay for whatever you're tutoring for, but you couldn't pay for the Tutor itself. In the same vein, you couldn't pay for Warrens itself. I reckon there's an SSG/ESG involved in resolving the Empty the Warrens.

Derp derp derp, I stand corrected then.

[ParkerLewis]

On the topic of mulligans, I mulled four times in fourteen games last night. Two were in a mull to five that I ended up winning anyway, and I went 2-1 in games where I mulliganed.

Not conclusive, but the whole mulligan problem is overrated.

Point is, you mulled 4 times out of 14. That is not negligible at all (also, sample size etc).

In any case, saying "it's overrated because I ended up winning anyway" implies that the loss of the cards doesn't impact the chances at winning, which is clearly false.

(It might be less important than in other decks, because what FS basically aims at is an explosive start and then hopes that the opponent won't be able to catch up in time. Still, an explosive start with 6 or less cards does mean one less way to deal with their plan / reaction or to add pressure).

[Tao]

Since I am not getting any reasonable answers to my critic on the current manabase, I will repeat it. The mana count is too low for the cards the deck plays.

I got unshakable opinion that taking out land and adding cc4 creature helped me to avoid mana screw and mulligans.

The thing is, adding additional mana sources would make the draws much worse midgame.

The first is one of the stupidest things I ever read, I won't even comment on that. Furthermore arguing against an unshakable opinion is useless.
The second is obvious. Of course the topdecks are brilliant when you play 21.5 mana sources and cram the deck with cards that cost 4-5 Mana (Sower, Swords, Mage for Chalice, Drifter) to use.

I am not saying that my suggestion with Signets is right, but somehow the mana count is wrong. Just look at it from a neutral position: 21.5 Mana sources and a curve way higher than any other deck in the format. This may be the reason why the deck shows so little Top8 results now. Of course it is possible to win on 5 cards but it is just as well possible to mulligan to doom.

[Joon]

Signets sounds...interesting to say at least. Maybe the Talisman cycle from Mirrodin could see play. At least those won't force you to take Manaburn because you had to activate it with a Tomb or a City, but the those Talisman things hurt every time you tap it for colored mana. Dunno which is better or if anything of those deserves space.

@ Tao

What would you cut for additional fastmana/manafixer? I don't think cutting threats is the way to go, but everything else looks like not removable to me.

[Kuma]

Point is, you mulled 4 times out of 14. That is not negligible at all (also, sample size etc).

In any case, saying "it's overrated because I ended up winning anyway" implies that the loss of the cards doesn't impact the chances at winning, which is clearly false.

(It might be less important than in other decks, because what FS basically aims at is an explosive start and then hopes that the opponent won't be able to catch up in time. Still, an explosive start with 6 or less cards does mean one less way to deal with their plan / reaction or to add pressure).

Obviously losing the cards hurts, but the great thing about Faerie Stompy is that Faerie Stompy's six card hands, and even a good number of five card hands still get the job done with aplomb. Faerie Stompy has numerous ways to recoup the card disadvantage (Trinket Mage, SoFI, SoLS, Mulldrifter, Sower, Glen Elendra Archmage, Chalice). My point is that these cards soften the impact of mulligans to the point where, in theory, mulligans are bad, but in actuality, their impact is rarely felt.

FWIW, I piloted Faerie Stompy to 13th out of 54 at The Meandeck Open yesterday, ending up 4-2. I mulled five times in fifteen games, but three of them were solid hands that I had to throw back because I knew what deck I was playing against and the seven card hands wouldn't have gotten the job done.

I'll probably write up a report, since I took notes.

[Illissius]

21.5 Mana sources and a curve way higher than any other deck in the format.

You do have to take into account that 8 of those sources produce . I don't think calling it 30 sources would be exactly right either, however. Don't know what the right way to count it is.

Relatedly, I goldfished Faerie Stompy a bunch yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the draws. Most hands were keepable or even awesome. As opposed to olden times when any time I tried a deck with a manabase like this, I drew nothing but hands with multiple Moxen, hands with no colored sources, hands with Moxen and no colored cards, hands with 1-2 Islands and expensive things, and so on. Not sure what this portends.

[scrumdogg]

The deck mulligans way too often because it can't cast what it has in hand, in my experience. Upping the average CC of the deck does not help with that. Furthermore, the deck often feels like an all or nothing proposition - which is scary given the amount of aggro-control played. If I wanted to go all or nothing, I would play combo... Team America having Sinkhole & Wasteland (which should be everywhere at GP Chicago given it's exposure at Worlds), Dreadstill and Threshold having more counters than we do, STP getting a functional reprint, etc etc. I almost always want to cast Chalice at one before I drop a threat. Playing the deck in a more controlling manner may not be conventional, but it hasn't felt wrong either. As such, I modified the list and have been running this (essentially) in testing for a while & in a 17 person tournament yesterday since the last sea Drake finally arrived Friday(five rounds, cut to Top 4 - which usually splits)

4x Ancient Tomb
4x City of Traitors
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Academy Ruins (unsure on this, has been useful at times, usually for recurring Chalice)
10x Island
4x Chrome Mox

4x Sea Drake
4x Serendib Efreet
4x Trinket Mage
1x Sower of Temptation
2x Glen Elendra Archmage
2x Pestermite
4x Mulldrifter

4x Chalice of the Void
4x Force of Will
3x Sword of Light & Shadow
1x Sword of Fire & Ice (may be swapped with the 4th SOLAS in SB - SOLAS and has been so much better & more relevant for me, plus I prefer the 5 equipment model so far to the 6-7 equipment model)
1x Sigil of Distinction
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x EE
1x Pithing Needle - this has been the most controversial slot so far, especially given the lust this deck has for COTV @1. However, it keeps being relevant. It kept Jitte from killing me in the match up yesterday with Dragon Stompy (Game 3 admittedly but that could have been Game 1 just as easily), Belcher gets played in my meta (sometimes in multiples...), and it dropped on Top before I could drop COTV @1 versus a CB deck, which was relevant as he later blew up my Chalii with an EE. Could easily be the 5th Sword or 3rd Pestermite (or other relevant toolbox piece #1 or #2).

SB (atm)
4x Trinisphere
3x Back to Basics
3x Gilded Drake (almost always smaller than what is getting ganked - Tombstalker, Tarmogoyf, Dreadnought, etc - plus I can recur with SOLAS)
1x Pithing Needle
1x Sword of Light and Shadow (was MD with 0x SoFI, added the SoFI to test, this replaced Pithing Needle #2)
3x In the Eye of Chaos (we have zero instants, go ahead and count the numbers in combo or any aggro-control deck - this essentially allows more trinisphere effects, creating a much higher possibility of getting and playing one Turn 1 or 2, and it pitches to FoW).

Round 1:
Poor bastard of a new player with a burn deck in which I open with Chalice at 1...on to game 2 shortly after dropping a sizeable flier & slapping a Sword upon it. SB -4 irrelevant toolbox pieces, +4 Trinisphere. Mulligan to 6 from a 1 land hand (will still happen...) into Turn 1 Chalice at 1...see also Game 1. Talk to him about building a relevant sideboard & welcome him to Legacy.

2-0 1-0

Round 2:
Get to play versus my friend Brendan (ebinsugewa) with Dragon Stompy. Hmm, haven't tested this perosnally yet, but the consensus is that it is favorable. Game 1 his opening explosion meets my FoW. My early beats plus stuff is not Force of Willed Advantage me. SB -4 COTV, +1 Pithing Needle, +3 Gilded Drake. Game 2 His Turn 1 Arc Slogger does NOT meet FoW, advantage him... Game 3, his early Blood Moon does almost nothing, the same cannot be said for his early Gathan Raiders... Even worse is the Jitte. Fortunately I am able to trade my Gilded Drake for his Raiders and get a Pithing Needle for Jitte after he removes 4 counters and my Serendib. My Sea Drake and Gilded Drake collide and I am able to sneak in the remaining damage at 3 life. Whew.

2-1 2-0

Round 3:
Local player, more of a T2/Extended/PTQ player but has been coming to Legacy and doing quite well with his Reveillark deck. Silly amounts of recursion & utility and a number of combo finishes (Blasting Station, Altar of Dementia, fairly sure there is at least one more...)

Game 1 see me lead with a Turn 1 Sea Drake into STP. Yay. Turn 2 I draw the Trinket Mage (dammit) into a COTV at 1. I get in with a series of beats and land a Sword. Yet, despite this game going some time and me resoving at least 2 Mulldrifters (one hardcast) I see no Force of Wills, nor a second Trinket Mage for Crypt. He combos off the turn before I could kill him. SB -1 EE, +1 Pithing Needle. I get an early COTV 1 & COTV 2 but not enough pressure before he gets Harmonic Slivers (and recursion effects). I replay COTV and then draw a Needle...hmmm, mistake on my part, should have waited to hit two and drop a Needle. He combos in my face. Fortunately I have no worries about seeing this deck anywhere except my local shop.

0-2 2-1

Round 3:
Another burn player, this one much betterand running R/b with surprises. Game 1 sees him Duress Turn 1 & take the Chalice. D'oh! Several turns later I have the choice of dropping SOLAS or a 3cc critter. I drop the critter as I will be able to drop and equip the Sword in one turn. This was a mistake, as he played another Duress & yoinked the Sword. Fortunately, Trinket Maged Sigil for 4 after equipping ends things quickly. SB -1 EE, -1 Crypt, -1 Needle, -1 SoFI, -1 Sower of Temptation, -2 Pestermite, +4 Trinisphere, +3 In the Eye of Chaos. Game 2 sees CotV1 & CotV2 with beaters before he can get Shattering Spree...and I still end the game on 8...with him havng Price of Progress x2 in hand and me with two non-basics. Yay! This is the first game I have ever won in which PoP has resolved (he hit me in response to CotV2 with PoP #1)! Ever! That card has been my bane! Ahem, sorry, still gleeful about that...

2-0 3-1

Round 5:
Get paired down with Nate at 2-1-1 playing Ugr Dreadstill - good player, good deck, can't draw. Bonus, I need to test anyway

Game 1 sees us chip back & forth countering relevant stuff (my initial CotV, his initial Dreadnought when he mistakenly taps 3 mana, telegraphing Trickbind) and my running out beaters. He plays Dreadnought #2, I play Sower of Temptation. Game 2...SB, I definitely need to test this more as I have too many cards I brought in - which is a problem only in the sense of what to board out... I think I added 9 cards, and eventually took out a Sea Drake as the 9th... He gets me to 10 with Factory Beats before everything gums up 4 Trinket Mages on the table between us (one of mine is wearing a Sigil with two counters on it). Here I make a mistake & respond to the goading of the judge (friends can be a real trial at times, especially in a local environment where fun is as large a factor as 'serious Magic'). The judge frequently gives me grief about going to time (regardless of what I play...) and winning the game as opposed to not losing the game. So I attempt to win the game by dropping a Sea Drake...which Nate follows with an EE for 3...I R a dumbass... No excuse, although knowing that I could draw in did not help my mental focus, but if I expect to be successful at a higher level I need to continue improving this aspect of my game. He gets another EE for zero, wiping out my Cotv1 & CotV2 (uh oh) which lets him drop a Dreadnought but also allows me to drop a Gilded Drake. Next turn he drops a rather large Tarmogoyf. It still would have worked in my favor had he not gotten the Echoing Truth on his Dreadnought and swung for the win on Turn 4 of extra turns...mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

1-1 3-1-1 - make Top 4 and we split (me, Belcher, UGW Threshold and the winner of Reveillark/Goblins, whoever that was....).

Testing is neither complete nor comprehensive yet, but I am extremely pleased with how the deck is working so far. The mulligan rate has dropped significantly and with 24 mana sources, I can play almost as a control deck if need be. I expect GP Chicago to have huge amounts of Team America, Dreadstill and Threshold given their quality, ease of play/acquisition for Extended players, and recent exposure to the broader Magic playing world. Given that combo will always show up (and I will get matched with it, like the 2 out of 3 Belcher decks at GP Philly...out of 500 players...that I faced in the first 4 rounds...). As such, I want a deck that has Force of Will and either Counter-Top or Chalice/Trinisphere. This deck (whatever version) seems like it could be the dagger at the heart of my expected metagame (plus it is a blast to play).

[Tao]

Well, maybe you know better my experiences than I do. But I dont believe it. There are only two person in the world that know better what I think than me - my mother and my wife. You, my dear, are neither of them.

I tell you this - in my hands this deck plays better with 17 mana than with 18 or 19. I know jackshit if it is because threat/CotV/Fow/imprintable stuff/whatever-the-non-land-crap density. Maybe it is rather my play skill than the deck, what has improved, but as long as I win games, I dont care.

On your Signet obsession - and what shall we discuss? Know what? Take out Drakes, Efreeti, Swords and stuff and ram into the deck more Islands, Signets, Felwar Stones and Thran Dynamo.

You seem to be confusing something. You made a strictly wrong statement and thus I call the statement stupid. I call the statement stupid, not you personally, and not your wife or mother or president.

It is not about your personal experience. Saying "I got unshakable opinion that taking out land and adding cc4 creature helped me to avoid mana screw" is like saying "Due to my personal experience I got the unshakable opinion that a D6 rolls higher than a D8".

And I am not obsessed about Signets btw, they were just an idea. If you'd play more lands like Scrumdogg instead it is fine, too.

[Tacosnape]

I haven't kept track of who bickered about what, but here's what I've got:

1. Signets are awful. I mean, really.

2. While it's wrong to say it's so all the time, you could make a legitimate point that in certain hands, specifically those with 1-2 Chrome Moxes, having 4CC blue cards would be more beneficial to your manabase than having Islands. That said, Islands are good and I'm pretty sure the right configuration is either 8-9 Islands and a Seat, or 9-10 Islands.

3. @Illissius: I think of in Faerie Stompy as a color, only a color with the bonus side that you can pay two blue for instead. Meaning you're running eight sources to hit the , and can function alright without it in a pinch. It also means your mana curve of everything with in it is effectively dropped by one. (Since you really only need two mana sources, one blue and one , to hit something that costs ).

This isn't an entirely accurate way to measure it either, as on several occasions you -will- be having to pay the two blue to hit the . Just saying.

[No_Life_No_Future]

Has Gathan Raiders been discussed?

It has some poor synergy with FOW, but its an awesome beater.

[Tao]

With Efreet, Sea Drake, Trinket Mage and Pestermite the CC3 slotz is full to the brim and they are all better than Gathan Raiders because you don't get Hellbent as fast as in DS.

[DuxDucis]

Has Gathan Raiders been discussed?

I would be concerned about the lack of evasion. Personally, I hardly ever find myself with no cards in hand, extra Chalices Moxes etc. In my mind a 3/3 with no evasion and no utility is a bad choice. Along with not pitching to FoW and being a terrible imprint on Chrome Mox.

I think there isn't much left to discuss.

[Djinn]

Esperzoa
2u
Artifact Creature - Jellyfish Uncommon
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, return an artifact you control to its owner's hand.
4/3

Same mana cost as Sea Drake, same p/t, it flies, pitches to FoW and all the alike. How bad is the drawback? I can see the deck getting more explosive starts with this guy tho the maindeck might have to be reconsidered as a whole (welcome back seat of the synod!)

(Directly taken from http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=143186)

[rsaunder]

I don't think seat of the synod is worth running, even if it means gaining this guy. I don't like getting my U sources wasted, and with B2B in the board, it seems weak.

[georgjorge]

Sadly, not imprintable on Chrome Mox .

But I think it's one of the most interesting creature for the deck from the last sets. Not something you'd want to drop on turn one or two, but from turn three onwards seems good, at least with Seats in the deck.

[Kuma]

Why are we excited about this card again?

It's useless if you have no other artifacts, and even if you do, why would you want to put them back in your hand? We want our Chalices on the board, not in our hand. Sometimes we like to have them set at a number other than zero.

Shocking!

Once in a while, I like tapping my Chrome Moxen for mana. Just saying...

And when I control no artifacts, I like attacking with my creatures.

Jeez, just because it's a 4/3 flier for 2U doesn't mean it has to be considered.

[EternalDragon09]

i just put together a list of FS i was looking for some feed-back on it.
Beaters 18
4 sea drake
4 cloud of faeries
4 serendib efreet
3 pestermite
3 trinket mage

Spells 21
4 Force of will
2 misdirection
4 chalice of the void
4 sword of fire/ice
2 umezawa's jitte
1 pithing needle
1 tormod's crypt
3 thirst for knowledge

Land 21
4 chrome mox
4 city of traitors
4 ancient tomb
7 island
2 seat of the synod