I am intrigued by the possibility of Deathrite Shaman in this deck. It's a one-drop that also accelerates mana, gives you a bit of reach, and gets even better if you're willing to splash green. Thoughts?
@Kennen: Yes, you can use V-Clique to target yourself and get rid of a dead card. This gets better if you have something like Riptide Laboratory to re-use the effect.
I have heard vague rumors of a moustache-dispensing vending machine in a distant laundromat, across the street from a tattoo parlor. However, this information is shaky, and time is of the essence.
So I almost have the whole mono U list, but for casual people don't enjoy playing against it due to all the counterspells. So I decided to make a UB semi casual deck with ninjas and faeries. It's really fun to play but im not really sure on one thing so here is the list
The only thing im not so sure about are the 2 Throat Slitters. Do I keep them to hold the ninja theme and help fuel my oppents graveyard for ink-eyes or should I maybe have 2 Vendilion Cliques it can also fuel the graveyard and is also a faerie and an enabler? I was thinking about adding 2 more Signal Pests but I feel I have enough enablers due to Bitterblossom
So any feedback would be great and remember it's semi casual.
You might want to consider adding Minamo, School at Water's Edge to untap your Higure or Ink-Eyes for blocking and such. Shizo, Death's Storehouse is another great card for you to make your legendaries unblockable. Changelings can be fetched for by Higure so Nameless Inversion can be a sneaky card in the deck for some spot removal. I noticed you don't run Cloud of Faeries which is actually one of the most powerful cards in FNS surprisingly. She smoothes out your turn 2/3 by allowing you to drop two threats in one turn. Adding a single Sakashima's Student could also be nice in case your friends drop something really nasty on the board especially other legendaries.
Hi, just want to share my mono-blue build of the deck.
I feel the deck has received a major boost in power and synergy from the last two sets, actually two cards in particular: Favorable Winds from Avacyn Restored and Faerie Impostor from Return to Ravnica.
On Faerie Impostor: I feel this card is custom made for Ninja-Fae deck. The deck traditionally suffer from inablility to get back the Ninja or Spellstutter once played. The Imposter solves this. Play Impostor post combat, you get to recycle your card draw or counter for next turn at the same time leave a decent evasive body on the battlefield. You can even loop the Ninja/Spellstutter with Impostor turn after turn if you opponent is unable to block flying creatures.
On Favorable Winds: With so many flying 1/1s in this deck, this card is an Honor of the Pure in blue. Here's a situation I had once: Turn 1: Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Faerie Impostor. Turn 2: Favorable Winds, with Daze and Spellstutter Sprite in hand. You get the idea... This card turns Ornithopter which was traditionally just a Ninja feeder into an actual threa (not big threat by itself, but the synergy adds up)
I noticed the discussion lately has been mostly UB build with all the "good stuff", UB build feels more like a control version where I want this deck to be more tempo. Besides the black Ninjas costed too much even at Ninjitsu cost.
Appreciate any constructive advice on this deck.
Hi, just want to share my mono-blue build of the deck.
I feel the deck has received a major boost in power and synergy from the last two sets, actually two cards in particular: Favorable Winds from Avacyn Restored and Faerie Impostor from Return to Ravnica.
On Faerie Impostor: I feel this card is custom made for Ninja-Fae deck. The deck traditionally suffer from inablility to get back the Ninja or Spellstutter once played. The Imposter solves this. Play Impostor post combat, you get to recycle your card draw or counter for next turn at the same time leave a decent evasive body on the battlefield. You can even loop the Ninja/Spellstutter with Impostor turn after turn if you opponent is unable to block flying creatures.
On Favorable Winds: With so many flying 1/1s in this deck, this card is an Honor of the Pure in blue. Here's a situation I had once: Turn 1: Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Faerie Impostor. Turn 2: Favorable Winds, with Daze and Spellstutter Sprite in hand. You get the idea... This card turns Ornithopter which was traditionally just a Ninja feeder into an actual threa (not big threat by itself, but the synergy adds up)
I noticed the discussion lately has been mostly UB build with all the "good stuff", UB build feels more like a control version where I want this deck to be more tempo. Besides the black Ninjas costed too much even at Ninjitsu cost.
Appreciate any constructive advice on this deck.
The lack of Umezawa's Jitte mainboard slows down your clock considerably. It also takes away your best option at creature control in the deck. The tempo portion of the deck is made up with cards like Stifle, Daze, and the Standstill + Cloud of Faeries combo. I think splashing black for Bitterblossom is the way to go as it also really opens up your sideboard options. I believe your list might be a little more efficient if you take out the Mistblade Shinobi for something a little more threatening. You can have some absolutely filthy starts in the MonoU build, but if you start slow or get derailed that's game most of the time. I think Faerie Impostor and Favorable Winds can have a place in a Faerie deck for sure, but then why even bother with the ninjas?
I plan to run this at a Legacy tournament tonight and then refine it for a larger tournament on Monday. I'll let people know how it goes. So far from testing with my other decks I can say that Goblins and Burn are terrible match-ups (if Piledriver hits the table, you're probably going to lose), but Chill can shut them down in the postboard. I think it's a pretty solid deck and I'll have 2 Force of Wills to add in for Monday (on loan from a friend). Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Alright so here are the results. On Sunday I went 1 and 2 with the deck posted and definitely found some weaknesses. Unfortunately my second game was against my fiance with Goblins and I knew beforehand this was a horrible matchup and I would likely not win. My other loss was against Tendrils combo which was my fault not the decks (bad use of counterspells).
Tonight I ran the following list and went 2 and 2 (I borrowed the Forces):
My losses were to Ad Naseum Tendrils (which was my fault, first game I forgot to Ninjutsu a Spellstutter Sprite, second game I kept a hand without Force and lost to a turn 1 combo despite using Daze) and some kind of B/G aggro. The B/G aggro was a very unorthodox deck and main-decked creature removal that I couldn't deal with very effectively. I wasn't sure what to sideboard in and the first game dragged to 50 minutes, so I just played game 2 without boarding but looking back I should have used Pithing Needle and 2 more Curfew.
I will say all my losses were my own fault and were winnable games. My biggest victory was over Sneak and Show which was just an exercise in frustration for my opponent thanks to all the bouncing and counterspell recursion.
The best cards in the deck are definitely Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Impostor. They just go along perfectly with everything the deck is trying to do and Faerie Imposter is a great beater as well. I think the Faerie Conclave's can be useful to ensure you have a beater or extra Faerie, but I'm sure Mutavault is better in most situations. The biggest surprise card is definitely Curfew. This is a great card in my opinion and does a lot of work. It also doesn't target making it great against Mother of Runes and Goblin Piledriver.
I think there needs to be some removal though to deal with things like Piledriver more effectively. Dismember might be the way to go. Goblins is just a terrible, terrible match though. Between Cavern of Souls and Vial there isn't a whole lot you can do. Hope for a Jitte and hope they don't just Matron for a Tuk Tuk Scrapper.
I may add a second Jitte mainboard because it does work, but it's also not something you want two of.
This is what I'm currently running and it's doing pretty well. Beats most fair decks and combo decks, but there are two major problems that need addressing.
There problem decks are Punishing Jund and Esperstoneblade. Seattle has a very well developed meta and as such these two decks are fairly common. Punishing Jund is a problem because it removes faeries all day, but Surgical can sort of deal with it. Stoneblade is a larger problem because between Bitterblossom and Lingering Souls it's hard to keep the air clear. Echoing Truth can help, but between the air threats and Stoneforge bringing down Batterskull there is no end to the threats. Your counters compete with their counter and they have discard on top of it.
Any advice for these matchups? I'm considering Vendalken Shackles to try to steal threats when I can't bounce them, but they have a rather high mana cost.
This is what I'm currently running and it's doing pretty well. Beats most fair decks and combo decks, but there are two major problems that need addressing.
There problem decks are Punishing Jund and Esperstoneblade. Seattle has a very well developed meta and as such these two decks are fairly common. Punishing Jund is a problem because it removes faeries all day, but Surgical can sort of deal with it. Stoneblade is a larger problem because between Bitterblossom and Lingering Souls it's hard to keep the air clear. Echoing Truth can help, but between the air threats and Stoneforge bringing down Batterskull there is no end to the threats. Your counters compete with their counter and they have discard on top of it.
Any advice for these matchups? I'm considering Vendalken Shackles to try to steal threats when I can't bounce them, but they have a rather high mana cost.
Shackles can definitely work especially when combined with something like Back to Basics to combine theft with mana denial. BtB will also help out with the Punishing Fire issue if they're using Grove of the Burnwillows to keep recurring it. I suggest possibly splashing black to open up your card options a bit. Since you are using Faerie Imposter maybe try out Baleful Strix and black also allows you to play your own Bitterblossom. Thethirdbardo posted a nice BtB/Control list somewhere in the 50s in this thread that could give you some ideas. Also, if you can afford it Stifle is a fantastic card for the deck. It allows you to counter fetch lands and also deny Stoneblade their ability to search for an equipment with SFM. Good luck and keep brewing.
This is what I'm currently running and it's doing pretty well. Beats most fair decks and combo decks, but there are two major problems that need addressing.
There problem decks are Punishing Jund and Esperstoneblade. Seattle has a very well developed meta and as such these two decks are fairly common. Punishing Jund is a problem because it removes faeries all day, but Surgical can sort of deal with it. Stoneblade is a larger problem because between Bitterblossom and Lingering Souls it's hard to keep the air clear. Echoing Truth can help, but between the air threats and Stoneforge bringing down Batterskull there is no end to the threats. Your counters compete with their counter and they have discard on top of it.
Any advice for these matchups? I'm considering Vendalken Shackles to try to steal threats when I can't bounce them, but they have a rather high mana cost.
based on your sideboard and the problems you need to address.. this should be your card choices.
one more thing, you'll need wasteland MB. an opposing manland can be a threat to you.
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Shackles can definitely work especially when combined with something like Back to Basics to combine theft with mana denial. BtB will also help out with the Punishing Fire issue if they're using Grove of the Burnwillows to keep recurring it. I suggest possibly splashing black to open up your card options a bit. Since you are using Faerie Imposter maybe try out Baleful Strix and black also allows you to play your own Bitterblossom. Thethirdbardo posted a nice BtB/Control list somewhere in the 50s in this thread that could give you some ideas. Also, if you can afford it Stifle is a fantastic card for the deck. It allows you to counter fetch lands and also deny Stoneblade their ability to search for an equipment with SFM. Good luck and keep brewing.
I would love to splash black, but Underground Seas are way out of my price range. I don't want to do a half-assed splash using shocks or Secluded Glen. I'm pretty much stuck with the mono-Blue build at the moment and I think Back to Basics might be helpful in this build. I'm a little concerned about adding too many 3 CMC cards though as I'm running 18 islands at the moment.
The biggest question is what to cut? Ornithopters are too useful due to their cost, ability to block early threats like Goblin Lackey, and being great Ninja enablers. Faerie Imposter is a pretty great creature both due to being a 2/1 for U and bouncing a Ninja/Spellstutter/Clique. Curfew is a great tempo card. Everything else seems essential.
Besides Shackles and Back to Basics as great sideboard options, I've also considered a few more maindeck options. I could add a second Jitte (or a Sword of Fire and Ice), but I'm not sure what to cut for them. Stifle seems like it would be great in either the maindeck or sideboard as well, but I don't own any currently and don't really want to buy them unless it's going to greatly improve the deck.
I would love to splash black, but Underground Seas are way out of my price range. I don't want to do a half-assed splash using shocks or Secluded Glen. I'm pretty much stuck with the mono-Blue build at the moment and I think Back to Basics might be helpful in this build. I'm a little concerned about adding too many 3 CMC cards though as I'm running 18 islands at the moment.
The biggest question is what to cut? Ornithopters are too useful due to their cost, ability to block early threats like Goblin Lackey, and being great Ninja enablers. Faerie Imposter is a pretty great creature both due to being a 2/1 for U and bouncing a Ninja/Spellstutter/Clique. Curfew is a great tempo card. Everything else seems essential.
Besides Shackles and Back to Basics as great sideboard options, I've also considered a few more maindeck options. I could add a second Jitte (or a Sword of Fire and Ice), but I'm not sure what to cut for them. Stifle seems like it would be great in either the maindeck or sideboard as well, but I don't own any currently and don't really want to buy them unless it's going to greatly improve the deck.
Back to Basics is mainly a sideboard card because there are plenty of mono color decks in the format. I would just groan whenever I got matched up with Goblins, Merfolk, or RDW with them mainboard. I think running two Jitte is probably ideal as 3 is the max you can run, but having multiples can get pretty annoying. How is the Judge's Familiar performing? I tried running the card too however I rarely had the chance to sacrifice it to counter something. Most of the time I think I would have preferred running Signal Pest, but I also run Mutavault so I get a little more value out of Pest.
As for the Sword of Fire and Ice, I really like the card but the 3CMC can be a pain with this deck. It actually won me a match against Merfolk in a tournament in conjunction with stealing his Lord of Atlantis with Shackles. I guess maybe cutting a Familiar and Mistblade for a second Jitte and Sword of Fire and Ice could be nice, but I think Sword of Feast and Famine might be better purely for the protection colors.
Back to Basics is mainly a sideboard card because there are plenty of mono color decks in the format. I would just groan whenever I got matched up with Goblins, Merfolk, or RDW with them mainboard. I think running two Jitte is probably ideal as 3 is the max you can run, but having multiples can get pretty annoying. How is the Judge's Familiar performing? I tried running the card too however I rarely had the chance to sacrifice it to counter something. Most of the time I think I would have preferred running Signal Pest, but I also run Mutavault so I get a little more value out of Pest.
As for the Sword of Fire and Ice, I really like the card but the 3CMC can be a pain with this deck. It actually won me a match against Merfolk in a tournament in conjunction with stealing his Lord of Atlantis with Shackles. I guess maybe cutting a Familiar and Mistblade for a second Jitte and Sword of Fire and Ice could be nice, but I think Sword of Feast and Famine might be better purely for the protection colors.
Judge's Familiar is an all-star for me. There is a lot of combo in my area and you can never have too many counters. I don't see why the colors on Feast and Famine would be that helpful, most of the stuff that's killing my guys is Red (Lightning Bolt, Goblin Sharpshooter, Pyroclasm, and Punishing Fire). I rarely face Black or Green (does it even exist?) targeted destruction. The biggest threat is always Terminus, but nothing except a counterspell will save you from that.
Yeah sideboard seems best for Back to Basics with all the Goblins running around, though I'd love to see their Cavern of Souls remain tapped. Also I can't imagine cutting a Mistblade, he's way too effective to the point where I think he might be the best card in the deck.
Judge's Familiar is an all-star for me. There is a lot of combo in my area and you can never have too many counters. I don't see why the colors on Feast and Famine would be that helpful, most of the stuff that's killing my guys is Red (Lightning Bolt, Goblin Sharpshooter, Pyroclasm, and Punishing Fire). I rarely face Black or Green (does it even exist?) targeted destruction. The biggest threat is always Terminus, but nothing except a counterspell will save you from that.
Yeah sideboard seems best for Back to Basics with all the Goblins running around, though I'd love to see their Cavern of Souls remain tapped. Also I can't imagine cutting a Mistblade, he's way too effective to the point where I think he might be the best card in the deck.
I see, in my meta most people play decks like Maverick, RUG / BUG Delver, and Show and Tell, so being able to get by / block all of those monsters is a really nice bonus. Getting to untap all my lands to look threatening for a counter is always nice too.
IMHO. i'd still opt for faerie conclave... just a playing style. are you planning on ninjutsuing a land? thats a bad play imho.
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A team should be as happy as a meal - TEAM HAPPYMEAL
EDH - UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV UBW Oloro, Ageless Ascetic Modern - Mono U tron / Polymorph / NFTW (ninja for the win)GR tronGR
Buy All the planeswalkers!!!
Buy All the Dual Lands!!!
Buy All the fetches!
Create tons of EDH Decks!!!
Eat Nothing but Oats!! (LOL, not true)
Train MMA!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
Some comments: Blinkmoth Nexus is a substitute for Faerie Conclave that is (for me) too slow and needs 1U for transform when Blinkmoth only 1. And ok Mutavault and Mishra's Factory can become a 2/2 but they don't fly ;).
2 Pithing Needle of main because they can be usefull against a lot of decks and can also give us advantage in the first hands if played on fetches and the opponent doesn't make attention!
I'm try to understand if there is something better than Faerie Impostor that sometimes can be a problem!
In some case the deck need something for remove permanents (from the board, if they go back in the deck or in the oppo's hand is not such a big problem) like enchantments or artifacts. Any idea? Maybe move some Echoing Truth in the main deck?.
I would recommend dropping maindeck Pithing Needles in favor of a Force of Will and another Daze (or a Spell Pierce). It's just too hard to know what to name the first game with a Needle if it starts in your hand.
I really like this deck and I'm thinking if there is some sort of utility in running it UW. I'm reading of people that don't know how to deal with some creatures and StP would be great.
Can the white open some doors for this deck or it's pretty much useless?
White can definitely open up some doors to solutions. Swords is of course the all-star allowing you to breath easy if you didn't counter that one creature. It also allows to play something like Rest in Peace and Suppression Field in your sideboard as answers to stuff like Reanimator or Deathrite Shaman. Maybe even playing Geist as a finisher or SFM so you can run single equipments without worrying about finding them.
But I'm not so sure about a bunch of stuff. 20 creatures are too less? Do we need more? And my sideboard is about what I actually own, so I don't now how I could make it better.
Another card I'd love is Cloudshift, but we just have Spellstrutter, so we maybe have to add some other "comes in to play" creatures, like Snapcaster Mage.
Hmmm, I'm thinking maybe:
- 2 x Mistblade Shinobi
- 3 x Faerie Impostor
- 2 x Misty Rainforest
- 2 x Island
for
+ 1 x Stoneforge Mystic
+ 1 x Vendilion Clique
+ 3 x Snapcaster Mage
+ 3 x Wasteland
+ 1 x Plains
I like your sideboard though and wouldn't really change much.
I think some of these decks are drifting off to the point that it defeats the purpose of the deck. For example if you're going to drop Mistblade, Curfew, and most of the turn 1 creatures (Judge's Familiar, Ornithopter, sometimes Faerie Imposter, etc.). You probably need to get rid of Standstill, because you'll never have tempo in your favor. Other decks will dump down early threats that you won't be able to deal with. Sure you can counter spells early on, but Daze will set you back making it harder to get your 2 drops out and Force of Will is card disadvantage.
It is extremely important to have tempo in your favor with this deck or Standstill becomes a dead card and your underwhelming creatures leave a lot to be desired. The U/W list looks like it would be better off evolving into something along the lines of Esper Stoneblade rather than keeping with the Ninja theme. If you just want card advantage and reusable Spellstutters make a version of Esper Stoneblade that runs Deep Hours. Mistblade and cards like Curfew are necessary to give you tempo and allow you to play Standstill. The way your deck is formed if they drop a Delver/Deathrite on the first turn and a Goyf turn two you will never play Standstill.
If I had the cards the Esper requires, I would build that. I'm trying to build FNS because I have ninjas and faeries, so I'm trying to build a nice UW FaeryNinjaStill that could compete.
I would drop the Standstills and add in more counters and even Brainstorm. You'll want to play a control deck rather than a tempo deck. I feel like Standstill won't do much for you with this build because you won't have any early threats to make it worthwhile and you won't be able to turn the game to your favor through a Standstill without a Mistblade Shinobi.
I think you can make a very competitive deck with the cards you're looking at. It's just going to require a different design philosophy than FNS.
This is my new list and I am really enjoying my games with it so far. I have only been playing against friends, but it has been sneaking up in the "local" rankings lately. I decided to go with a lot of favor in place of total consistency and can't say I miss it too much. I added in Faerie Imposter, swapped out Mutavault for Factories, and decided to use a single Sword of Light and Shadow. Creature recursion is especially useful for keeping up that relentless assault mentality. I love being able to look over into my graveyard with a tiny bit of hope that it's not completely useless. I am also thinking about using one or two copies of Sakashima's Student, however I don't know what I should cut yet.
I completely agree that Black splash is the way to go with this deck and I really like your list, but why no Baleful Strix? That seems like a great way to generate card advantage and deal with threats.
I completely agree that Black splash is the way to go with this deck and I really like your list, but why no Baleful Strix? That seems like a great way to generate card advantage and deal with threats.
I own a set of them, but I'm just not sure if I really want a non Faerie / Ninja two drop in the deck. The deck is reaally skimpy on mana to begin with and the Strix seems like it would sit in my hand more than it should without cascade or vial.
Hey all, I'm on a bit of a budget until I get a more stable income to purchase the more money cards like Force of Will. In the meantime, what should I replace it with in my countersuite? I've got playsets of Daze and Spellstutter Sprite, but what about the remaining 4? I've got a playset of Counterspell, but maybe Familiar's Ruse or Spell Snare would do better? Although, I'd rather not pay for Spell Snare at them moment.
Hey all, I'm on a bit of a budget until I get a more stable income to purchase the more money cards like Force of Will. In the meantime, what should I replace it with in my countersuite? I've got playsets of Daze and Spellstutter Sprite, but what about the remaining 4? I've got a playset of Counterspell, but maybe Familiar's Ruse or Spell Snare would do better? Although, I'd rather not pay for Spell Snare at them moment.
Let me know what you think, thanks!
Well there really is no proper replacement for Force of Will honestly. This deck loves to tap out on it's turn and draw into free counters on their turn, but there are some budget options. Spell Pierce and Counterspell are both great, but if you run Mutavault or Mishra's Factory then Counterspell gets a little worse. There's nothing wrong with Mana Leak or Spell Snare either. My suggestion would be to run a variety of counters and then maybe 1 or 2 copies of Disrupting Shoal. Good luck.
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@Kennen: Yes, you can use V-Clique to target yourself and get rid of a dead card. This gets better if you have something like Riptide Laboratory to re-use the effect.
is your casual group not okay with Counterspell over Mana Leak?
You might want to consider adding Minamo, School at Water's Edge to untap your Higure or Ink-Eyes for blocking and such. Shizo, Death's Storehouse is another great card for you to make your legendaries unblockable. Changelings can be fetched for by Higure so Nameless Inversion can be a sneaky card in the deck for some spot removal. I noticed you don't run Cloud of Faeries which is actually one of the most powerful cards in FNS surprisingly. She smoothes out your turn 2/3 by allowing you to drop two threats in one turn. Adding a single Sakashima's Student could also be nice in case your friends drop something really nasty on the board especially other legendaries.
I feel the deck has received a major boost in power and synergy from the last two sets, actually two cards in particular: Favorable Winds from Avacyn Restored and Faerie Impostor from Return to Ravnica.
On Faerie Impostor: I feel this card is custom made for Ninja-Fae deck. The deck traditionally suffer from inablility to get back the Ninja or Spellstutter once played. The Imposter solves this. Play Impostor post combat, you get to recycle your card draw or counter for next turn at the same time leave a decent evasive body on the battlefield. You can even loop the Ninja/Spellstutter with Impostor turn after turn if you opponent is unable to block flying creatures.
On Favorable Winds: With so many flying 1/1s in this deck, this card is an Honor of the Pure in blue. Here's a situation I had once: Turn 1: Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Faerie Impostor. Turn 2: Favorable Winds, with Daze and Spellstutter Sprite in hand. You get the idea... This card turns Ornithopter which was traditionally just a Ninja feeder into an actual threa (not big threat by itself, but the synergy adds up)
4 Ornithopter
4 Faerie Impostor
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Mistblade Shinobi
4 Daze
3 Spell Pierce
4 Force of Will
Enchantment(6):
4 Standstill
2 Favorable Winds
Lands(20):
4 Mishra Factory
16 Island
3 Pithing Needle
3 Faerie Macabre
4 Mindbreak Trap
2 Chill
2 Hydroblast
1 Umezawa's Jitte
I noticed the discussion lately has been mostly UB build with all the "good stuff", UB build feels more like a control version where I want this deck to be more tempo. Besides the black Ninjas costed too much even at Ninjitsu cost.
Appreciate any constructive advice on this deck.
Legacy:
UR UR Delver
UBR Ad Nauseam Tendril
W Death & Tax
Modern deck:
UW UW control (with Spreading Seas and Wall of Omens)
BRG Vengevine!
The lack of Umezawa's Jitte mainboard slows down your clock considerably. It also takes away your best option at creature control in the deck. The tempo portion of the deck is made up with cards like Stifle, Daze, and the Standstill + Cloud of Faeries combo. I think splashing black for Bitterblossom is the way to go as it also really opens up your sideboard options. I believe your list might be a little more efficient if you take out the Mistblade Shinobi for something a little more threatening. You can have some absolutely filthy starts in the MonoU build, but if you start slow or get derailed that's game most of the time. I think Faerie Impostor and Favorable Winds can have a place in a Faerie deck for sure, but then why even bother with the ninjas?
4 Ornithopter
4 Faerie Impostor
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Mistblade Shinobi
4 Daze
2 Spell Pierce
2 Familiar's Ruse
Enchantment(4):
4 Standstill
Artifacts(1):
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands(19):
2 Faerie Conclave
17 Island
3 Faerie Macabre
4 Echoing Truth
4 Chill
2 Spell Pierce
2 Annul
I plan to run this at a Legacy tournament tonight and then refine it for a larger tournament on Monday. I'll let people know how it goes. So far from testing with my other decks I can say that Goblins and Burn are terrible match-ups (if Piledriver hits the table, you're probably going to lose), but Chill can shut them down in the postboard. I think it's a pretty solid deck and I'll have 2 Force of Wills to add in for Monday (on loan from a friend). Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
Tonight I ran the following list and went 2 and 2 (I borrowed the Forces):
4 Ornithopter
4 Faerie Impostor
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Mistblade Shinobi
3 Daze
3 Force of Will
2 Curfew
Enchantment(4):
4 Standstill
Artifacts(1):
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands(19):
2 Faerie Conclave
17 Island
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Echoing Truth
3 Chill
1 Hydroblast
1 Force of Will
1 Daze
1 Pithing Needle
2 Curfew
My losses were to Ad Naseum Tendrils (which was my fault, first game I forgot to Ninjutsu a Spellstutter Sprite, second game I kept a hand without Force and lost to a turn 1 combo despite using Daze) and some kind of B/G aggro. The B/G aggro was a very unorthodox deck and main-decked creature removal that I couldn't deal with very effectively. I wasn't sure what to sideboard in and the first game dragged to 50 minutes, so I just played game 2 without boarding but looking back I should have used Pithing Needle and 2 more Curfew.
I will say all my losses were my own fault and were winnable games. My biggest victory was over Sneak and Show which was just an exercise in frustration for my opponent thanks to all the bouncing and counterspell recursion.
The best cards in the deck are definitely Spellstutter Sprite and Faerie Impostor. They just go along perfectly with everything the deck is trying to do and Faerie Imposter is a great beater as well. I think the Faerie Conclave's can be useful to ensure you have a beater or extra Faerie, but I'm sure Mutavault is better in most situations. The biggest surprise card is definitely Curfew. This is a great card in my opinion and does a lot of work. It also doesn't target making it great against Mother of Runes and Goblin Piledriver.
I think there needs to be some removal though to deal with things like Piledriver more effectively. Dismember might be the way to go. Goblins is just a terrible, terrible match though. Between Cavern of Souls and Vial there isn't a whole lot you can do. Hope for a Jitte and hope they don't just Matron for a Tuk Tuk Scrapper.
I may add a second Jitte mainboard because it does work, but it's also not something you want two of.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
3 Ornithopter
3 Faerie Impostor
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
3 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Mistblade Shinobi
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Curfew
1 Spell Pierce
Enchantment(4):
4 Standstill
Artifacts(1):
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands(18):
18 Island
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
1 Sakashima's Student
1 Submerge
1 Misdirection
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Echoing Truth
2 Pithing Needle
There problem decks are Punishing Jund and Esperstoneblade. Seattle has a very well developed meta and as such these two decks are fairly common. Punishing Jund is a problem because it removes faeries all day, but Surgical can sort of deal with it. Stoneblade is a larger problem because between Bitterblossom and Lingering Souls it's hard to keep the air clear. Echoing Truth can help, but between the air threats and Stoneforge bringing down Batterskull there is no end to the threats. Your counters compete with their counter and they have discard on top of it.
Any advice for these matchups? I'm considering Vendalken Shackles to try to steal threats when I can't bounce them, but they have a rather high mana cost.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
Shackles can definitely work especially when combined with something like Back to Basics to combine theft with mana denial. BtB will also help out with the Punishing Fire issue if they're using Grove of the Burnwillows to keep recurring it. I suggest possibly splashing black to open up your card options a bit. Since you are using Faerie Imposter maybe try out Baleful Strix and black also allows you to play your own Bitterblossom. Thethirdbardo posted a nice BtB/Control list somewhere in the 50s in this thread that could give you some ideas. Also, if you can afford it Stifle is a fantastic card for the deck. It allows you to counter fetch lands and also deny Stoneblade their ability to search for an equipment with SFM. Good luck and keep brewing.
based on your sideboard and the problems you need to address.. this should be your card choices.
4 rachet bomb
3 divert
3 blue elemental blast
2 hydro blast
one more thing, you'll need wasteland MB. an opposing manland can be a threat to you.
EDH - UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV
UBW Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Modern - Mono U tron / Polymorph / NFTW (ninja for the win)GR tron GR
Buy All the Dual Lands!!!
Buy All the fetches!
Create tons of EDH Decks!!!
Eat Nothing but Oats!! (LOL, not true)
Train MMA!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
I would love to splash black, but Underground Seas are way out of my price range. I don't want to do a half-assed splash using shocks or Secluded Glen. I'm pretty much stuck with the mono-Blue build at the moment and I think Back to Basics might be helpful in this build. I'm a little concerned about adding too many 3 CMC cards though as I'm running 18 islands at the moment.
The biggest question is what to cut? Ornithopters are too useful due to their cost, ability to block early threats like Goblin Lackey, and being great Ninja enablers. Faerie Imposter is a pretty great creature both due to being a 2/1 for U and bouncing a Ninja/Spellstutter/Clique. Curfew is a great tempo card. Everything else seems essential.
Besides Shackles and Back to Basics as great sideboard options, I've also considered a few more maindeck options. I could add a second Jitte (or a Sword of Fire and Ice), but I'm not sure what to cut for them. Stifle seems like it would be great in either the maindeck or sideboard as well, but I don't own any currently and don't really want to buy them unless it's going to greatly improve the deck.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
Back to Basics is mainly a sideboard card because there are plenty of mono color decks in the format. I would just groan whenever I got matched up with Goblins, Merfolk, or RDW with them mainboard. I think running two Jitte is probably ideal as 3 is the max you can run, but having multiples can get pretty annoying. How is the Judge's Familiar performing? I tried running the card too however I rarely had the chance to sacrifice it to counter something. Most of the time I think I would have preferred running Signal Pest, but I also run Mutavault so I get a little more value out of Pest.
As for the Sword of Fire and Ice, I really like the card but the 3CMC can be a pain with this deck. It actually won me a match against Merfolk in a tournament in conjunction with stealing his Lord of Atlantis with Shackles. I guess maybe cutting a Familiar and Mistblade for a second Jitte and Sword of Fire and Ice could be nice, but I think Sword of Feast and Famine might be better purely for the protection colors.
Judge's Familiar is an all-star for me. There is a lot of combo in my area and you can never have too many counters. I don't see why the colors on Feast and Famine would be that helpful, most of the stuff that's killing my guys is Red (Lightning Bolt, Goblin Sharpshooter, Pyroclasm, and Punishing Fire). I rarely face Black or Green (does it even exist?) targeted destruction. The biggest threat is always Terminus, but nothing except a counterspell will save you from that.
Yeah sideboard seems best for Back to Basics with all the Goblins running around, though I'd love to see their Cavern of Souls remain tapped. Also I can't imagine cutting a Mistblade, he's way too effective to the point where I think he might be the best card in the deck.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
I see, in my meta most people play decks like Maverick, RUG / BUG Delver, and Show and Tell, so being able to get by / block all of those monsters is a really nice bonus. Getting to untap all my lands to look threatening for a counter is always nice too.
EDH - UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV
UBW Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Modern - Mono U tron / Polymorph / NFTW (ninja for the win)GR tron GR
Buy All the Dual Lands!!!
Buy All the fetches!
Create tons of EDH Decks!!!
Eat Nothing but Oats!! (LOL, not true)
Train MMA!!!
Marry My girlfriend!!!
Get her Pregnant only Once!
Teach my Son/Daughter Sports and magic cards!!!
Continue my legacy son!!!/Daughter!!
I would recommend dropping maindeck Pithing Needles in favor of a Force of Will and another Daze (or a Spell Pierce). It's just too hard to know what to name the first game with a Needle if it starts in your hand.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
White can definitely open up some doors to solutions. Swords is of course the all-star allowing you to breath easy if you didn't counter that one creature. It also allows to play something like Rest in Peace and Suppression Field in your sideboard as answers to stuff like Reanimator or Deathrite Shaman. Maybe even playing Geist as a finisher or SFM so you can run single equipments without worrying about finding them.
Hmmm, I'm thinking maybe:
- 2 x Mistblade Shinobi
- 3 x Faerie Impostor
- 2 x Misty Rainforest
- 2 x Island
for
+ 1 x Stoneforge Mystic
+ 1 x Vendilion Clique
+ 3 x Snapcaster Mage
+ 3 x Wasteland
+ 1 x Plains
I like your sideboard though and wouldn't really change much.
EDIT: Maybe -1 Deep Hours for +1 Sakashima's Student
It is extremely important to have tempo in your favor with this deck or Standstill becomes a dead card and your underwhelming creatures leave a lot to be desired. The U/W list looks like it would be better off evolving into something along the lines of Esper Stoneblade rather than keeping with the Ninja theme. If you just want card advantage and reusable Spellstutters make a version of Esper Stoneblade that runs Deep Hours. Mistblade and cards like Curfew are necessary to give you tempo and allow you to play Standstill. The way your deck is formed if they drop a Delver/Deathrite on the first turn and a Goyf turn two you will never play Standstill.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
I would drop the Standstills and add in more counters and even Brainstorm. You'll want to play a control deck rather than a tempo deck. I feel like Standstill won't do much for you with this build because you won't have any early threats to make it worthwhile and you won't be able to turn the game to your favor through a Standstill without a Mistblade Shinobi.
I think you can make a very competitive deck with the cards you're looking at. It's just going to require a different design philosophy than FNS.
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
Creatures - 18
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Cloud of Faeries
3x Faerie Impostor
3x Ninja of the Deep Hours
3x Mistblade Shinobi
1x Vendilion Clique
Enchantments - 6
3x Standstill
3x Bitterblossom
Spells - 15
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
4x Stifle
3x Brainstorm
Artifacts - 3
2x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
Lands - 18
4x Mishra's Factory
4x Polluted Delta
2x Swamp
8x Island
Sideboard - 15
3x Back to Basics
2x Misdirection
1x Divert
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Extirpate
1x Surgical Extraction
2x Perish
2x Spell Pierce
Edit: lol spelling
RGoblinsR
RWerewolf StompyR
URU/R DelverRU
RGBelcherGR
BThe GateB
GBLoam PoxBG
WGBNic FitBGW
UHigh TideU
UMerfolkU
UFaerieNinjaStillU
WBUAffinityUBW
GSquirrelsG
UWGSliversGWU
I own a set of them, but I'm just not sure if I really want a non Faerie / Ninja two drop in the deck. The deck is reaally skimpy on mana to begin with and the Strix seems like it would sit in my hand more than it should without cascade or vial.
Let me know what you think, thanks!
Well there really is no proper replacement for Force of Will honestly. This deck loves to tap out on it's turn and draw into free counters on their turn, but there are some budget options. Spell Pierce and Counterspell are both great, but if you run Mutavault or Mishra's Factory then Counterspell gets a little worse. There's nothing wrong with Mana Leak or Spell Snare either. My suggestion would be to run a variety of counters and then maybe 1 or 2 copies of Disrupting Shoal. Good luck.