Last weekend I ran this list to a Top 8 performance at the Kuala Lumpur PTQ, and it’s very likely I will carry it over to Singapore barring some intense technological innovations out of Madison, WI:
Creatures (12)
Lands (22)
Spells (26)
You’ll notice that this list is very similar to the one I posted in my article last week, and this actually brings up a subject I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time. Recently, accusations have been directed at a few of my fellow co-authors for intentionally misleading readers by posting sub-par lists of popular archetypes to skew the metagame. I want to reiterate that no one I know actually does this. Not only does the evidence prove such allegations false – see, for example, Richard’s recent performance with Ichorid at GP: Chicago – but the very implications of the notion that anyone would regularly do this just don’t make any sense. Put simply: anything that’s posted on the internet more or less stays there forever. We, as writers, tend to get paid for our efforts. Moreover, this payment is reliable and consistent – so long as we reliably and consistently demonstrate our worth. The expected value of compromising public confidence in the body of our work as a whole compared to the relative benefit we might derive from a single PTQ season or a single event is simply very, very low. So, in short, I think such paranoia is unmerited.
If I post a list, it’s going to be good enough for me to play it. As it happened, I lost in the Top 8 to a deck I mauled in the Swiss, a very Standard-Faeries-esque U/B list with real hits like Mistbind Clique. In game 1 I opted to play a colorless land instead of a freshly-drawn Island to reveal less information (he had Cliqued me the turn before), and this meant that my available potential options were such that it made it more profitable for him to counter a spell with a Mana Leak instead of a Spellstutter Sprite, which meant that the next turn my proactive Sprite to kill a Clique was less adequately protected than it would have been otherwise. The situation was complicated, but I feel like I could have executed the turn better. Other than that, though, I feel my play throughout the day was better than it’s been in a long time. But the thought lingers in my mind – am I becoming Bruce? Why have I made the Top 8 in every PTQ I’ve played since December, landing in the finals twice, only to fail to get back on the tour? It’s nagging at me.
The only change I would make, if the tournament were tomorrow instead of yesterday, would be to swap out the singleton maindeck Threads for the fourth copy of Vendilion Clique. This card is totally insane and actually accomplishes everything, and becomes even better in lists that run Thirst for Knowledge to filter through redundant Clique copies. The ability to seize the initiative on the third turn while neutralizing the opponent’s most powerful upcoming threat – while at the same time doubling as a removal spell during combat and a proactive “Seal of Vendilion Clique” from opposing Faerie or Bant decks – is so valuable that I don’t mind occasionally yielding to the Legend Rule.
Likewise, I upped the Sower of Temptation count to four because in the mirror, versus Bant, and versus Affinity, there’s nothing better you can be doing really than dropping four-mana game-wins over and over again until the opponent dies. Control Magic was deemed too good to reprint, so clearly it’s even fairer when attached to a zero-mana 2/2 flying creature. Even if you’re 100% positive the Sower is going to die once your opponent untaps, you can always attach a Jitte to the creature that you stole to make combat a risky proposition either way. The card is honestly ridiculously unfair, even it steals something as lowly as a Faerie Rogue token, and I found myself always wanting a copy in my hand in some matchups, particularly if I was likely to be Cliqued. Four, then, it was.
Finally: I think it’s time to start seriously considering the card Remand again, even if out of the board. Right now there’s very little danger to simply running mid-sized threats out there in the Faerie mirror, because there are only so many Mana Leaks to go around. Remand allows you to win attrition wars (by Remanding your own spells) while also punishing, cheaply, opponents who for example want to just trump you with Archmages. I’ve found the mirror to be much, much more tempo-intensive than I ever initially conceived, and Remand cements that advantage while also proving useful against any midrange deck.
The only other random piece of advice I have is to not ‘strand’ your Jittes: that is, in a matchup where life total doesn’t matter much, try and get to the point where you can Jitte, equip, and kill something even if they have an Explosives, Putrefy, Grudge, or Jitte of their own to negate yours. Jitte advantage means more than having one when they don’t; it means using it better in the first place.
With that said, let’s move on to matchups.
Naya Zoo
This is commonly accepted to be one of Faeries’ worst matchups, but with this build I don’t honestly find it that problematic. Testing showed it to be very playskill-dependant, though it obviously became worse the more copies of Sulfuric Vortex that were present, and I think with the correct boarding plan the Faerie deck actually has an edge. There’s been a lot of talk about Ancestral Visions versus Thirst for Knowledge, and while it’s different if you’re running a build like Gau’s from the recent GP, I think Thirst is just strictly superior in Mono-Blue. For one thing, both Trinket Mage and Chrome Mox are insane*, and once you start running those you’re not going to need to bend over backwards too far to accommodate a critical mass of artifacts for Thirst. This also has the side effect of encouraging people to do awful things like board in Ancient Grudge to try and ‘get’ your lands, which basically never works unless it’s part of a dedicated Ponza package. But if Spell Snare is one of your most powerful cards – and it is – why do you want to compromise your ability to use it by spending your Spell Snare turn suspending a Visions? Obviously, if you’re on the play everything changes, but on the play you’re exponentially more likely to beat aggressive decks anyway.
The matchup is straightforward: kill their guys and stay alive. What may not be obvious is the need to use Mana Leak to counter Snare-able spells like Lightning Helix if the opponent is on four or so lands. A good Naya player will recognize that you don’t necessarily have to be quick to win this match. A solid flurry of three or four burn spells can often overwhelm Wizards’ countermagic, particularly since you don’t possess all that many blue sources, in the scope of things. This is one of the many reasons it’s important to get aggressive with Cliques, Mutavaults, and Mages as soon as the board is clear: they’re at 14 from their lands anyway, and you need to clock them before they can just sit there long enough to draw burn spells.
Sideboarding: -2 Cryptic Command, -2 Venser, -1 Relic, -2 Thirst for Knowledge, +2 Glen Elendra Archmage, +4 Sower of Temptation, +1 Trinket Mage
Your goal is to survive to the point where you can start dropping four-mana threats. Venser and Cryptic are fine, but tempo is not the order of the day, and 1UUU is too much to spend to counter a single spell. Glen Elendra, if it sticks, is usually enough to get you out of burn range, and Sower (you plan to have it die) is frequently worth 6-8 life points. More importantly, though, it wins the game for you if they’re out of burn spells and you can untap, which makes its inclusion vital. The good ol’ Archmage-into-Sower-plan also gets there a huge percentage of the time. This matchup is about assuming aggressive strategic moments, because the Zoo deck puts itself so far behind on life that it really does have trouble managing damage control while still finding the resources to kill you. You’re obviously the control deck, but you start winning when you realize that it’s easy to turn the tide.
Loam
This is another matchup where I really enjoy Trinket Mage, because again the incidental pressure forces them to do something other than focus on wrecking your hand with Loam and Crime and Thoughtseize. You are the aggressive deck in this matchup. Your countermagic is going to get stripped and they are going to find a Loam eventually. Clique is obviously a superstar, and the Persist ability on the Archmage is very relevant. Don’t get too worried about Bitterblossom; you have Explosives, and the life-loss actually helps you. Obviously you are going to want to counterspell it, but it’s not like in Standard where you can’t deal with the tokens. When my opponent has Blossom out, if it tells you anything, I frequently EE for 0 and not 2. I also Threads and Sower tokens like nobody’s business.
Sideboard: -2 Cryptic Command -1 Venser -2 Chrome Mox -4 Spellstutter Sprite +2 Glen Elendra Archmage +4 Sower of Temptation +1 Trinket Mage +1 Relic of Progenitus +1 Academy Ruins
This matchup is all about attrition – and normally this would make Command an all-star. But you can’t rely on keeping you hand, so you have to maximize your tap-out threats and your ability to make every single card count. Sprite goes because of Darkblast, Faerie Rogue tokens, and because there’s nothing essential for it to counter.
Bant
The matchup hinges upon whether or not they have a turn one Noble Hierarch. In fact, it can be very frustrating sometimes when they get draws that you just cannot conceivably beat. If they Hierarch into Troll into Jitte, well, it’s not your lucky day. On the other hand, the rest of their deck sans-Hierarch is kind of slow and clunky, and they aren’t really able to compete with your ability to interact at instant speed. Lab and Ruins ensure your long-term edge, so absent full-on nut draws this matchup is actually incredibly favorable for you.
Sideboard: -4 Spell Snare -1 Spellstutter Sprite -1 Relic of Progenitus -2 Chrome Mox +4 Sower of Temptation +1 Trinket Mage +1 Pithing Needle +1 Glen Elendra Archmage +1 Academy Ruins
Put simply, Snare and Sprite don’t reliably do enough to be worth it in this matchup, and absent those cards, the value of Chrome Mox decreases. You want 2-3 Sprites to counterspell late-game Paths to Exile, Bant Charms, and three-drops, but as insane as Hierarch is, the potential to Sprite him turn one off a Mox just isn’t worth leaving in so many marginal cards. You lose this match because your grip is something like 2 Spell Snare 1 Jitte with no creatures in play, and they just nickel and dime you until the game ends. Another advantage of Trinket Mage, by the way, is that you can board up to this many four-mana spells reliably because you still have effectively 28 mana sources plus Thirst. Needle comes in to name Village and Troll Ascetic and Sword of Fire and Ice. The plan of Needle their Ascetic and then Explosives seems inelegant, but remember that your Explosives at 3 generally wipes their board.
Note that this plan assumes they board out Goyf. Such an assumption should be valid, but in case it isn’t you’re going to want to rethink Snare.
Affinity
I really don’t think this is a bad matchup like everyone says it is. Myr Enforcer, sure, is your worst nightmare, followed by a close second in Thoughtcast. Sometimes, sure, you lose. But you have to recognize that as insane as Springleaf Drum is, it forces Affinity to function more like a normal deck with a normal number of resources. Against you, Affinity realistically has twelve game-winning threats: Master of Etherium, Cranial Plating, and Arcbound Ravager. Two of these get Snared. Multiple Enforcers are also real threats, but you can also draw multiple Mana Leaks. Trinket Mage and Vendilion Clique allow you to block random duders like Frogmite and Arcbound Worker at a profit. It’s not like it used to be: Affinity is a fair deck, nowadays.
Sideboarding: -2 Cryptic Command, -1 Glen Elendra Archmage, -1 Relic of Progenitus, -2 Thirst for Knowledge, -1 Spellstutter Sprite (on the draw) / -1 Venser, Shaper Savant (on the play), +4 Sower of Temptation, +1 Pithing Needle, +1 Trinket Mage, +1 Hurkyl’s Recall
The post-board matchup is a slaughter. I have heard people say really educated things like “Sower is bad, they have Ravager” as if flying Nekrataal was something to sneeze at. I understand, again, that this contravenes established wisdom, but the fact of the matter is that Affinity has been reduced to playing fair. Random 2/2 creatures are not Disciples of the Vault. You can tutor up one-mana Lobotomy for two of their best weapons, you can randomly draw the GG that is Hurkyl’s, you can start lobbing flying Control Magics, you can control and trade with every single one of their creatures – honestly, this is a great matchup for you in games two and three.
Slide
Terry Soh actually made Top-8 at yesterday’s PTQ with a solid looking Slide deck, and most of the players I’ve talked to that advocate the deck insist that it butchers Faeries. I think our maindeck Relic helps a little bit, sure, but the thing to understand is that their deck is notoriously threat-light. Again, you are the aggro deck. Their deck has enough mana and enough velocity that you’re not going to be able to just sit there and counter everything that moves. On the other hand, they aren’t terribly good at mitigating pressure at instant speed – even Slice and Dice doesn’t kill most of your guys. Thirst for Knowledge is important to keep up with the cards they can look at, and the threat of Venser + Lab is necessary to keep their mana at a relatively constant supply. You want, above all, to continue to play lands.
Sideboarding largely depends on whether they’re using Lightning Rift and/or Seismic Assault. Gaddock Teeg and Tarmogoyf are two obviously-Snare-able threats, but on the other hand you can’t afford useless cards in this matchup. In general, I’d say that something like -2 Snare — 3 Jitte -2 Chrome Mox +2 Archmage +1 Academy Ruins +2 Trickbind (nice return-to-play trigger) +1 Trinket Mage +1 Relic of Progenitus is something good, with +1 Needle if they have Assault over Rift.
Wizards
This matchup is going to be determined by whoever is able to seize tempo. I love cards like Venser and Trinket Mage in this matchup, as long as you take good care to think about exactly what can happen to you if you choose to tap out. Recognize that Sprite is not always going to get you there with Ancestral Visions, because if they Snare it with all of their mana open there’s not usually a whole lot you can do (though Venser is typically rather savage in that situation). Tarmogoyf makes your Snares a lot better and theirs still kind of marginal, but can also just beat you down all by himself. In general, you’re going to have to find opportunities to create small advantages, and parlay those advantages into something more substantial.
Sideboarding: -4 Spellstutter Sprite -1 Relic of Progenitus -2 Cryptic Command -2 Chrome Mox -1 Engineered Explosives +1 Trinket Mage +4 Sower of Temptation +1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir +1 Academy Ruins +3 Trickbind (for AVisions and also for value) +1 Glen Elendra Archmage
I am sure this is going to be one controversial sideboard plan. “Isn’t Sprite insane?” Well, kind of. The issue is this: what are you fighting over? As everyone correctly realizes by now, Faeries is not very good at fighting expensive threats. This leads to people boarding in expensive threats, meaning that when you’re holding two-mana 1/1 creatures, you’re not holding bombs. Plus, as stated earlier, Sprite rarely counters Ancestral Visions in reality. This sideboard plan allows other people’s Snares to become much worse than your Snares, giving you very real advantage in the long game while also upping your relevant threat density. It also means that while they have no good way to absolutely say “no!” to your mechanisms of card advantage, you can certainly do so to theirs. At the same time, you’re improving your tempo with cards like Mage, Sower, and Teferi – all the while maintaining sufficient artifact density for Thirst to retain its effectiveness.
There are other matchups, of course – Sullivan decks, Swans, Elves, and Storm (which really should be boarding Clique now, and not because of Telemin Performance but rather because the card is just savage and solves all your problems if cast on the end step) – but I find most of the matchups I didn’t cover to be relatively straightforward. At any rate, if you have more specific questions, please contact me in the forums and I’ll make sure to reply.
Until next time: Enjoy playing with Blue cards, because for whatever reason they’re not yet banned.
Zac
* Trinket Mage doesn’t seem good until you start playing it, at which point you wonder how you did anything without him beforehand. It’s difficult to articulate, but the fact that you always have a creature to hold a Jitte, coupled with his ability to trade with ‘value-added’ cards like Mutavault, Eternal Witness, Frogmite, and Duegar Hedge-Mage, really turns him into a matchup-swinging creature. The Faerie mirror, moreover, is all about creating small advantages, particularly over mana-access, and Mage performs this role admirably.