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Through the Looking Glass: Extended Faeries

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by Justin Richardson

Faeries has been a dominant force ever since Bitterblossom was printed. It was the most hated deck in Standard for 2 years. Then it did something no one expected. It started winning Extended tournaments. This article will go through the history of Faeries in the past few years of Extended PTQs and I'll go over Faeries for Pro Tour Amsterdam.

After Pro Tour Berlin where Elves crushed the competition, Faeries became the best deck as it had a very good Elves matchup. Riptide Laboratory recursion became too hard for Elves and every other deck to deal with and Mono Blue Faeries won more PTQs than any other deck. Here is a decklist I played to some success during this format a couple of years ago for those who have forgotten what Faeries looked like back then.

Next Level Faeries by Justin Richardson and Alex Hayne

1 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Mana Leak
2 Path to Exile
4 Spell Snare
1 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Chrome Mox
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Vedalken Shackles

2 Breeding Pool
2 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Polluded Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Riptide Laboratory

Sideboard
1 Ethersworn Cannonist
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
3 Kataki War's Wage
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Path to Exile
1 Trickbind
2 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Rule of Law
1 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Tormods Crypt

Near the end of the format Faeries was taken down a few notches by Zoo until the Extended Rotation which took Riptide Lab away from us. Zoo won the next Extended Pro Tour and was probably the best deck for the early PTQs. Then Thopter Depths took over the format. Faeries was never the dominant force it used to be in this format as it had its problems with the 2 strongest strategies: Thopter Foundry and Wild Nacatl. This did not stop the Flying Menace from still putting up some respectable finishes. In the end Faeries had 3 distinct versions. They had all reverted back to Ub with Bitterblossom but they all attacked the format at a different angle. The first 2 verions were Thopter Faeries popularized by Matej Zatlkaj at Grand Prix Oakland and Ninja Faries played to a Top 16 finish at Grand Prix Houston by Conley Woods.

The version I will be focusing on will be regular UB Faeries as it survives the transition into the new Extended.

Faeries by Sam Black Top 32 GP Houston

3 Mistbind Clique
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
3 Cryptic Command
2 Mana Leak
4 Smother
2 Spell Snare
4 Ancestral Visions
3 Thoughtseize
4 Bitterblossom
2 Umezawa`s Jitte
2 Jace Beleren
5 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Mutavault
1 Pendlehaven
4 River of Tears
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Secluded Glen
2 Watery Grave

Sideboard
1 Extirpate
2 Flashfreeze
2 Slay
4 Deathmark
1 Thoughtseize
1 Jace the Mind Sculptor
4 Leyline of the Void

This list was pretty standard with a lot of creature hate in the sideboard for the dreded Zoo matchup. Luckily as the July 1st rotation of Extended has made Zoo non-existant due to lack of Ravnica dual lands we don't have to worry about Wild Nacatl and friends anymore. What we do have to worry about howeever is Punishing Fire + Grove of the Burnwillows. This combination can be a beating as it can deal with every threat in Faeries and then actually win the game through burning the opponent out. I do think that Faeries can survive the hate and regain its Extended throne in Amsterdam.

A quick recap of what we have lost from the rotation.

Umezawa's Jitte: This is a big hit as it helped keep aggro decks in check and make sure that you could win the game quickly before the life loss from Bitterblossom and Thoughtseize adds up.

Spell Snare: One of my favourite cards as almost all the best cards cost 2. This loss is not as big as Jitte but still significant.

Watery Grave: Losing dual lands helped Faeries more then it hurt it as UB has many 2 Colour lands to help its manabase but the loss of Ravnica got rid of the Zoo deck which Faeries had a lot of trouble with.

Here is a current list Im testing with some friends who are going to Amsterdam.

Faeries by Alex Hayne

2 Thoughtseize
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Bitterblossom
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Scion of Oona
4 Mistbind Clique
1 Jace the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
4 Cryptic Command
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Doom Blade
1 Smother
5 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 River of Tears
2 Underground River
4 Secluded Glen
1 Sunken Ruins

Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Jace Beleren
2 Thoughtseize
1 Smother
1 Doom Blade
2 Damnation
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Vendilion Clique

Let me discuss some card choices that are a little odd.

Tectonic Edge: This card is absolutely needed now with Grove of the Burnwillows being in almost every deck. This stops the Punishing Fire recursion and allows you to get a board position without them gunning down all your creatures. One trick is killing their Grove making them return Punishing Fire then using Vendilion Clique to get rid of the Punishing Fire making them need to draw both parts of the combo again instead of just the piece they were missing.

Creeping Tar Pit: Manlands are awsome. Salt Marsh was great back in the day now slap a 3/2 unblockable body on it and its incredible. Being able to squeak the last few points of damage through a sea of blockers is perfect for faeries.

Scion of Oona: Scion Was great in t2 when Faeries was around but never saw much play in Extended due to its bad synergy with Jitte. Now without Jitte the deck lost a lot of reach and sometimes you need to win quickly before Bitterblossom loses you too much life. It's also great at countering removal spells and if you have 2 in play can lock out players with Punishing Fire.

Slaughter Pact/ Doom Blade/ Smother: the 1/1/1 split between removal spells is because the format is wide open and we don't know what the more popular aggro decks will be so we decided to go with a mix of removal thats solid vs everything.

Jace Beleren: I know everyone is hyped up on Jace 2.0 but I don't think he is that good this format as he is too slow to be fate sealing people and he does not fit in the curve as a sorcery 4 drop very well. Jace Beleren steps up and helps Faeries dig while fitting nicely into the curve of the deck.

Faeries gives you a lot of room to outplay your opponent as there is not one clear path to victory and the deck allows you to switch gears instantly based on the board position and what cards you have in your hand. You can grind them out with card advantage via Ancestral Visions and Bitterblossom. You can exile their entire library with Jace the Mind Sculptor. You can win out of nowhere in a few quick attacks with some Faerie Tokens pumped via Scion of Oona. Or you can do what makes Faeries so annoying and counter all their spells until they concede in frustration.

Due to the fact that Faeries is able to win in so many different ways it makes the deck incredibly hard to play optimally vs every matchup because every game is different. Most of the time you will be the control deck but you need to know how to manage your life total and when your supposed to switch roles and start attacking them. This is a key skill needed to succeed with Faeries and you must practice with the deck a lot to be able to recognize these situations.

Faeries Mirror matches are incredibly skill intensive. Most games will come down to Bitterblossom advantage but the games were both or none of the players has Bitterblossom are won by managing your resources, using the End Step to your advantage, trading blows back and forth and grinding them out of the long game. Key cardsin the matchup will be Bitterblossom, Scion of Oona, Thoughtseize, Cryptic Command, and Jace Beleran after sideboard.

In: 3 Jace Beleren, 1 Doom Blade, 2 Thoughtseize
Out: 2 Mistbind Clique, 1 Jace the Mind Sculptor, 1 Smother, 2 Mana Leak

RG Scapeshift is a popular deck due to having good matchups agaisnt all the non-combo decks in the format. Faeries has a lot problems in this matchup as they have Punishing Fire + Grove of the Burnwillows do deal with. Bloodbraid Elf and Kitchen Finks are also annoying as it usually takes more than 1 card to deal with each of them. You also have to be careful on when to tap out as they can play a Harmonize or Scapeshift to get ahead on cards or kill you respectively. After sideboard they will have Volcanic Fallout and Great Sable Stag, combined with all the other cards in their deck they make the matchup extremely difficult. Key cards will be Thoughtseize and Tectonic Edge.

In: 1 Tectonic Edge, 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Damnation, 1 Doom Blade
Out: 1 Jace the Mind Sculptor, 2 Scion ,3 Vendillion Clique

Mono Red is another unfavourable matchup but not as bad as Scapeshift. Mono red trades in the card advantage from Scapeshift for more speed and burn. In this matchup you really need to manage your life total closely and not take any unnesscary damage. Removal and Cheap counterspells are key as they keep your life total healthy in the early game and buy you time for your card advantage to kick in. After sideboard watch out for Volcanic Fallout.

In: 1 Smother, 1 Doom Blade
Out: 2 Thoughtseize.

Ad Nausem is one of the more popular combo decks floating around. You need to put pressure on them while having some disruption as they can sit back and sculpt the perfect hand to kill you if you give them too much time. Key cards will Thoughtseize and Vendilion Clique along with your counterspells.

In: 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Vendilion Clique, 3 Jace Beleren
Out: 1 Slaughter Pact, 1 Doom Blade, 1 Smother, 3 Mistbind Clique

That's a quick rundown of the important matchups, if you have any questions about other matchups or if you liked the article and have any ideas for future articles leave some feedback either here on Mana Deprived or on Mtg-Canada.com and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Until next time,

Justin Richardson signing off.

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