Wow… only two more weeks left in the Extended season. It seems like we have been playing the format for so long. Alara Reborn is just around the corner. As I am writing this, I am on the plane from Singapore back to Europe, on my way home for the first time in months.
I went to Singapore with Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and Martin Juza, and met with Sam Black and Brian Kowal the day after we arrived. Besides testing for the upcoming Grand Prix, we also decided to go clubbing one night. I know, I know… you just want to hear more about Faeries, but you are going to have to put up with a club story first.
The first club we entered saw us surrounded by all the girls in the room; we could barely move. They were literally mobbing us, and we did not know what to do. As we would have liked a bit more privacy, and we all felt awkward about the situation, we decided to go to another club. As soon as we moved to the dance floor of club number two, all the girls disappeared, which felt awkward again. Every single one disappeared. What is up with this country? After those experiences, we decided to playtest most evenings while enjoying lychee juice and strawberry ice cream.
This is the version of Faeries that we all ran, based on Martin Juza’s list from Los Angeles. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa and Martin Juza decided to play an Island over the River of Tears, Sam Black run two Trickbinds over two Stifle, and Zac Hill included a fourth Sower of Temptation in his sideboard.
Creatures (13)
Lands (23)
Spells (24)
I was not completely happy with the list but I like 71 of the cards. It seems like Relic of Progenitus is not needed anymore in the sideboard as I didn’t face a single deck I wanted the card against (and I didn’t see any Loam based decks near me). I also don’t like the third Umezawa’s Jitte in the deck, but I still didn’t find a card I would want to play over it. Instead of the Relic of Progenitus I could see myself playing a card that stops Woolly Thoctar and Tarmogoyf (like Curse of Chains).
Perhaps some of the games that I played can be useful to you if you are planning on trying to qualify with Faeries. Even if you are not, it could be useful to have more experience playing against them. A lot has already been said about Faeries in this format, but hopefully specific game situations like what came up for me could be useful for helping you figure out solutions to certain games.
Round 4 versus Pang, Wind with Mono Red Burn: 0-2
Game 1
I suspended an early Ancestral Vision and kept myself alive thanks to several counterspells. Unfortunately I couldn’t build up pressure as my draws didn’t feature Vendilion Clique, Spellstutter Sprite, or Mutavault (a Vendilion Clique trades with a Mogg Fanatic). After resolving the second Ancestral Vision, I was very close to winning the game thanks to Venser combined with Umezawas Jitte. The turn before I could set this up, he managed to kill me with several one-mana burn spells, against which Venser, Mana Leak, and Spell Snare where useless.
Game 2
He was stuck on two lands and played several burn spells that dealt me three, while I built up a counter wall thanks to Thirst for Knowledge. I ended up with a decision: either keep a Spell Snare or a Spellstutter Sprite along with 2 Mana Leak, Flashfreeze, and another Spell Snare. I decided to keep the Spell Snare. The next few draw steps featured 2 more Spell Snares, while he drew two more lands and was able to play his one-mana burn spells around my Mana Leaks. In the end he Demonfired me for the win. This is a good matchup for Faeries, but Demonfire was the right card to beat me.
Round 5 versus Wong, Matthew with Doran: 2-0
Game 1
I suspended an Ancestral Vision on my first turn and stopped a second turn threat with a Spell Snare. He resolved a Doran, the Siege Tower, but I was able to stop it with Venser. I eventually resolved Ancestral Vision, and the card advantage from Riptide Laboratory and Ancestral Vision created a big enough advantage to win me the game.
Game 2
He mulliganed down to 5 cards, and I Spell Snared a second turn Sculler (which I decided to keep up over suspending Ancestral Vision). After I suspended the Vision on my second turn, he resolved a Doran. The Doran attacked me twice before I bounced it at the end of his turn. After resolving the Vision, I was able to Sower his Doran and stick a Jitte.
When you have an opportunity to play Spell Snare on turn 2 (on the draw), you should probably wait to suspend your Vision. Stopping a key two-drop is very good.
Round 6 versus Watanabe, Yuuya with Storm: 0-2
Game 1
He won the die roll and started off the game by suspending a Lotus Bloom. I couldn’t build enough disruption to stop him comboing off on his fourth turn, and a Mind’s Desire for five revealed another Desire, which won the game.
Game 2
He had the first action with a Ponder on turn 1, and he suspended three Lotus Blooms on turn 2. I was not able to draw a second Blue source to Vendilion Clique him before his fifth turn to stop him from comboing off, and when he played a Vendilion Clique at the end of my fifth turn, it made sure I couldn’t stop him with a Stifle.
It is surprising that more people don’t use Vendilion Clique in their Storm decks. It can help force through the combo, plus it trades with other people’s Vendilion Cliques, and makes you not lose to Telemin Performance.
Round 7 versus Lau, Sam Lei Kang with Naya: 2-1
This round is not particularly notable, as nothing really interesting came up. The best lesson here is to mulligan hands that can’t actually win, especially if you are on the draw against Naya.
Round 8 versus Dela Cruz, Ramon G with Kithkin: 2-0
Game 1
He opened with Goldmeadow Stalwart and Figure of Destiny, which I am able to stop with Engineered Explosives. I ended up drawing both Vedalken Shackles, which stopped his pressure, as I stole another Figure of Destiny and a Wilt-Leaf Liege. He decided to run his guys into my board so he could resolve 2 Spectral Processions off the two Windbrisk Heights he controlled. Umezawa’s Jitte on the Liege, while the other Vedalken Shackles stole one of his Spirits, was enough to keep the pressure off, while Jitte won the game in the long run.
Game 2
He started with a Figure of Destiny and pumped it in his second turn, while putting a Windbrisk Heights into play. He tried to play a Spectral Procession on his third turn, but I had the Mana Leak to stop it. After he pumped his Figure of Destiny to 4/4, the next turn I stole it with Sower of Temptation, and made it a 2/2 in response to him targeting the Sower with Path to Exile. I eventually stabilized with a Vedalken Shackles and countered most of his spells. He couldn’t really stop 2 Spellstutter Sprites beating him down, while a Riptide Laboratory made sure he didn’t resolve many of his spells.
It was interesting to see Kithkin in Extended, but it is probably not as good as Naya.
Round 9 versus Boonsiri, Toon with Domain Zoo: 2-0
Game 1
I suspended an early Ancestral Vision, while I kept off the pressure with both a Spell Snare and an Engineered Explosives. At six life I decided to steal a Dark Confidant with Sower of Temptation, when he was at 12. You have to live a little dangerously sometimes.
I revealed a Vendilion Clique of the Confidant and dropped down to three. After playing a Vendilion Clique in his draw step to make sure I didn’t die to a Tribal Flames, I bounced his Dark Confidant at the end of his turn. He dropped to five after my attack, and scooped after his draw step.
Game 2
He made early pressure with two Wild Nacatls, while I suspended an early Ancestral Vision. On my third turn, on 11 life, I had the decision to either blow up the Engineered Explosives or drop down to 5 life. As my hand was full of counterspells, I decided that dropping down to five would be the better play, and I Mana Leaked a post-combat Duergar Hedge-Mage. I blew up the Engineered Explosives in my turn, and I was able to counter every relevant spell he cast from then on.
Round 10 versus Lim, Fang Zhen, Joseph with Storm: 2-0
Game 1
I suspended a first turn Ancestral Vision, and he just played a fetch land and fetched up a Steam Vents. He started building up mana with a Dreadship Reef he played on his second turn. I built up early pressure with Vendilion Clique. A few turns later he tried to go off, but thanks to the information I gathered with Vendilion Clique I knew which spells I had to counter, and I could stop him easily.
It is very important to remember how valuable the information is from the Clique. Often it is better to not take anything, just so that you know how to play around your opponent’s cards.
Game 2
He missed his third land drop after he played a Dreadship Reef and another land. After he built up mana for some turns, while not finding a third land, I was able to Venser the storage land at the end of his turn. He never found enough mana sources to be able to combo off without me being able to stop him easily with Mana Leak or Spellstutter Sprite.
Round 11 versus Feng, Bao with Naya: 1-2
Game 1
I suspended a first turn Ancestral Vision (this seems to happen a lot in this format…). The first action from him was a second-turn Tarmogoyf. He followed up the Tarmogoyf with two Woolly Thoctars, for which I don’t have an answer, and I died before the Ancestral Vision resolved (of course, this happens a lot too).
Game 2
I stopped a second turn Tarmogoyf and a third turn Woolly Thoctar. After that, he resolved a Sulfuric Vortex, which I am able to race easily as he wasn’t able to deal me any damage, and he took several points from his Fetch and Shock lands. Sulfuric Vortex is powerful, but it is much better as a complement to something else.
Game 3
After I was able to deal with his early pressure with the help of Threads of Disloyalty and Sower of Temptation, I ended up in a situation where I can race Sulfuric Vortex if he didn’t draw a Volcanic Fallout. He had the Fallout when I tried to attack with Sower of Temptation and Mutavault, and I died two turns later as I was not able to draw Venser, Shaper Savant.
Volcanic Fallout is just another example of the impact of Conflux on Extended. There have been a few interesting changes in the format, like Path to Exile, Noble Hierarch, Knight of the Reliquary, and Volcanic Fallout, but nothing too crazy.
I know a lot of people suggest adding Path to Exile to Faeries, but I think it is better to have the consistency right now. Mono-Blue means more consistent draws.
Round 12 versus Bautista, Giovanni with Naya: 2-1
Game 1
He mulliganed down to four cards and couldn’t build up pressure. The game was over very quickly after I Vendilion Cliqued him on his third turn — he hadn’t yet played a spell.
Game 2
I mulliganed and had to keep a hand with Threads of Disloyalty as my only way to stop his early beatdown. After I used Threads of Disloyalty on one of his guys, I couldn’t deal with a Sulfuric Vortex, and thus I died.
Game 3
He mulliganed again, and I stopped his early pressure with an Engineered Explosives. I countered most of his spells of relevance, and eventually stuck a Umezawa’s Jitte on my Spellstutter Sprite to win the game.
Round 13 versus Tan, Richmond with Domain Zoo: 1-2
Game 1
I mulliganed into a speculative hand which didn’t get there, and I was not able to fight his pressure at all.
Game 2
Engineered Explosives and Spell Snare handled the early pressure, while I was able to build up my hand with Thirst for Knowledge. He didn’t miss a land drop until the end of the game, which made it easy for me to beat him down with a mix of Mutavault, Spellstutter Sprite and Umezawas Jitte.
Game 3
I boarded in the Stifles for the third game as I wanted a way to interact with him on my first turn, and to protect a Threads of Disloyalty from Duergar Hedge-Mage.
I mulliganed and saw a hand including Island, Riptide Laboratory, Spellstutter Sprite and 3 Stifle, which I decided to keep. He played a Shock land on his first two turns, and followed that up with two Tidehollow Scullers. I never found a solution to the Scullers, and died pretty quickly.
Round 14 versus Heng, Chye Hwee with UB Trinket Control: 1-2
Game 1
We both mulliganed, and I was screwed while he got flooded. Eventually he drew Thirst for Knowledge and could build up pressure with Trinket Mage and Sower of Temptation (stealing my Vendilion Clique). I was able to deal with the Vendilion Clique, but I didn’t have an answer to a Tombstalker he resolved soon after.
Game 2
I suspended an Ancestral Vision on turn 1, while his first action was a Vendilion Clique at the end of my third turn. In the draw step of his third turn, I was able to resolve a Vendilion Clique and made sure the Ancestral Vision would resolve in my next upkeep. On the same turn I resolved the Vision, I also resolved a Future Sight, which won the game a few turns later.
Game 3
We both resolved a Future Sight on our fifth turn, after both building up our hands with Vision, Trinket Mage, Thirst for Knowledge, and Vendilion Clique. We both built up a hand full of counterspells and had trouble resolving threads. When we both reached enough mana to play around Mana Leak, I had trouble dealing with his threats while dealing with the combination of Executioner’s Capsule, Academy Ruins, and Future Sight.
I end up in the Top 64. Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa played against Sam Black in the last round of Swiss for Top 8, where Sam Black lost the quarterfinals. Zac Hill played for Top 16 in the last round, but sadly lost. Martin Juza was disqualified during round 10 when he was standing at 8-1.
I think this is the best deck in the format, and all the finishes are respectable.
Thanks for reading!
Manuel B