You don't have any space for the swords (feast/famine, fire/ice, light/shadow are probably the big ones).
Glen elendra archmage could also make the list. Not as good anymore, but it used be a big one, and it could definitely come back.
Batterskull (I'd lump it in with the creatures) should also be on there.
Delve threats (tasigur or gurmag mainly, but tombstalker too) have popped up in sideboards from time to time.
I'd also consider a note for kill spells. Cards like dismember, disfigure, go for the throat, etc, that, while mainboardable, often find their way into sideboards.
Spreading seas, fulminator mage, and rain of tears are definitely important.
Someone on the previous page had a big game hunter in their board.
Liliana's defeat has been kind of quiet after release, but its definitely playable.
On that note, ratchet bomb should get a note along side EE.
I'd recommend putting ancestral visions in there too, as its potentially a worthwhile sideboard card.
You have no room for lands either. Cavern of souls, tect edge/ghost quarter, and others may all be worth including.
I'm not sure if you're willing to consider splashes (as it would be a lot more content to add) but theres plenty of things in other colors that would obviously make the list.
I'm not home currently but these are all great suggestions. Really what I've gone off of is stuff I actively use and have used. I'll go through your list and try and add them as soon as I can, but without a computer on hand right now it's a bit awkward to do it from mobile.
Funny that you would ask this, I'm actually in the process of creating a guide for Faeries sideboard so that people can look through potential cards to use and what would work best against certain decks. Here's a link: Faeries Sideboard Guide
If you have anything you would like me to test or add, like it says, please let me know. I do my research a lot when it comes to this deck and I am willing to test play a lot of things to ensure that people get access to ideal lists.
edit:
As of 9/6 I have enabled comments on the page. It's my mistake that I didn't turn these on to begin with.
Congrats on the finish. My list is pretty similar to yours with a few slight changes. I'm wondering why you like languish over a second damnation. Do you think it is worth having your tasigur survive? Also, I've also considered the new Jace. He is very different from Jace Beleren. People tend to be very slow on trying new things. I think this Jace can be more useful for the reasons you pointed out.
I like to have Languish over the second damnation because there are times when it matters against things like Selfless Spirit. I have the availability to play 2 if I wanted because of card availability, but there aren't a ton of Eldrazi decks running around my meta that would prompt me to change over to a second damnation just yet.
On the subject of having Tasigur survive, it's just an added bonus. The deck really doesn't have too many threats that can kill the opponent so keeping an extra one in play is always nice.
I know people are hesitant to try JCC, but I think he's got potential and at his mana cost he warrants testing. I know people were hesitant at first when LtLH came around, but I slotted it in nearly immediately, whether it be side or mainboard, and never took it out of the 75. There have been a few cards like that recently that just take time to kinda get acknowledgment from multiple people, but I'm sure once the time comes around JCC will have some sort of showing, whether it be good or bad. I think a planeswalker that fits our deck style, can get rid of excess bitterblossoms/lands, and build towards delve cards in the deck provides something that at least my version of the deck has been looking for. Not to mention it also provides threats in its illusions, which are even better than normal illusions as they don't sacrifice to abilities, only to spells. I think it's nice that we see this change and in the end, they're burning a card on something that's not our face, an important spellstutter, or something of that sort. At worst we get more blockers that we can use to clog up the ground and trade with pesky x/2 creatures.
Played at a PPTQ in Southern California today, went 4-2 and got 11th place overall out of approx 37 people, my only losses to the 1 and 2 seed going into the top 8.
I went in expecting to play against a lot of red/green and artifact/colorless decks, which I, unfortunately, didn't face in any way.
My matchups were as follows:
Round 1 - 0-2 LOSS BR Goodstuff
Game 1 he starts off on a few Gifted Aetherborn which I never draw removal for, which was a super frustrating game to play. I don't have many things that can trade with it, and by the time I threw something in front of it, he had removal for all of my stuff.
Side:
-1 LtLH -1 Cryptic Command -1 Bitterblossom
+1 Hero's Downfall +1 Damnation +1 Engineered Explosives (I really wasn't sure what he was playing so this seemed to be the fairest trades given I only saw 2 drop creatures and removal)
Game 2 I draw absolutely nothing for the second time and just lose due to having no removal. This game was seriously frustrating for me, as it felt like an easily winnable matchup that just didn't pan out well because my deck didn't want to work for me.
Round 2 - 2-0 WIN Esper Mill
Game one I beat down with man lands because he couldn't mill me quickly enough. I ended up taking away his best cards (ensnaring bridge) with early game discard and kept them off the table to ensure the win.
Side:
-1 LtLH -2 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Echoing Truth +1 Negate +1 Dispel
Round 2 I get an early Liliana and they struggle to establish a board. I eventually get a ton of lands in play, ult Liliana giving them a choice of their lands or their Bridges, which they chose bridges. I top deck Echoing Truth and win.
Round 3 - 2-1 WIN Abzan Red
Game one I ended up getting a game loss due to a deck registration issue, so we went straight into game 2.
Game two I had a hand that was just a bunch of value cards, and they didn't play anything out very quickly. I answered things when needed and Liliana plus man lands eventually got me a win.
Side:
-2 Thoughtseize -2 Inquisition of Kozilek -1 LtLH
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils (He was playing Bobs and lingering souls, which Liliana could have also taken care of in hindsight) +1 Hero's Downfall
Game three I keep a hand with doubles in it for being semi thoughseize proof, and then my opponent got stuck on two lands after I resolved a liliana of the veil. I got there again by just beating down with manlands as per usual.
Round 4 - 0-2 LOSS 4 Color Humans
Let me preface this by saying this matchup is abysmal and I was not prepared to go against it in the slightest.
Game one I keep a removal light hand, and they end up running out creatures very quick. I end up getting stuck on 2 lands and lose pretty easily.
Side:
-1 Remand -1 Bitterblossom -1 Tasigur
+1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils +1 Hero's Downfall
Game two I get stuck on lands again, and he plays Xathrid Necromancer into a board with already 2 creatures. I draw a wrath and manage to get rid of the creatures which leave behind zombies, only to get blown out by not drawing anything to remove them with after that point.
Round 5 - 2-0 WIN Abzan
Game one I expect to lose pretty quickly to Lingering Souls but didn't see any. I stabilize off of Bitterblossom and win quickly.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -2 Thoughseize
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Hero's Downfall
He sides into Leyline which is laughable as I got rid of all of my targetted discard, which is pretty nice. At this point, I just take over the game quickly using a tasigur which I protect through what felt like a million Path to Exiles, and got there.
At this point, we find out that there is little chance that an X-2 makes it into the top, but due to me losing to the top seeds and the rest of the people I played doing halfway decent, I decided I would stick around and try and win my last game.
Round 6 - 2-0 WIN UW Control
Game 1 I won from Bitterblossom. They didn't have much going on at all the entire game and most of their win conditions rely on resolving a planeswalker or just beating in with manlands which I didn't let them do.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -1 LtLH
+1 Dispel +1 Negate +1 Hero's Downfall
Game 2 took a while, but I eventually got there with man lands. I was glad I left in Thoughseize because I ended up remanding an Ojutai at one point which I thoughseized out of their hand, only to find out they had no removal at instant speed, so I beat in with manlands for the rest of the game.
I feel really indifferent because overall I feel like I did well but missing the top 8 was disappointing.
I was upset I didnt get any use out of Flashfreeze as well because the night before at FNM it actually was pretty great, but everyone seemed to audible to different things locally. I think the best thing I could do at this point is switch out LtLH in the main for something else, and move her to the sideboard in Flashfreeze's place. Everything else seems to be the right numbers, but sweepers will probably go back to 1 Languish 1 Damnation.
As per usual, if you guys have any questions always feel free to ask me anything. I'm in the discord as well so if you want to reach me there you always can.
Coming up soon I would also like to test out Jace, Cunning Castaway just as a little bit of spice. I had someone tell me today when I brought it up that I should just be playing Jace Beleren but I think since this Jace can still make dudes to close out games, I would like to test him a little bit before completely throwing the idea out the window. I think everything else in the deck is consistent enough to where I probably wouldn't change it too much.
Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoy hearing about my tournament.
1 Big Game Hunter
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Countersquall
2 Damnation
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Go for the Throat
1 Pithing Needle
2 Tectonic Edge
This mainboard is really close to what I'm running right now except for the Perilous Research, and I run Tasigur instead of Vendilion Clique.
I'm just wondering what made the thought of Perilous Research come up. It seems good with Bitterblossom tokens and can actually let you sacrifice your BB in a tough spot for some card advantage, but I would still be worried about setting yourself behind too much if you sacrifice the wrong thing, or it's just dead in your hand.
Sideboard not so much, but it seems really good. Not sure how I feel about tectonic edge vs ghost quarters, but I can understand long game wanting to take away some lands if the time comes for it. Big Game Hunter seems pretty unique, don't think I've seen it outside of a few chord lists recently.
I'm fairly interested in playing this deck but I have a question about some of the lists ive been seeing.
Most of them tend to run 3 Chalice of the Void out of the side, is that 100% necessary? Is there something else you would put in its place that also could work? I don't own any and I have friends who do, but I would prefer to not be borrowing cards from them all of the time.
I'm more interested in the UW list than the mono blue or UB version, Since having access to the White Leyline or Runed Halo seems very good in my meta which has a lot of discard/targetted kills with titanshift style decks.
If you all could give me any pointers, that would be awesome. Thank you!
I'm curious as to why Mistbind Clique is seeing a trend upward. Is there a deck it's being used in outside of niche UB Faeries? I play faeries regularly and most people in our forum would agree that Mistbind isn't great right now.
Daut, congratulations! I really like those 2 Kalitas in the main!
I'm noticing a lot of Creeping Tar Pits in decklists lately. Personally, I'm not a fan of 'come into play tapped' lands. How relevant are these things for you guys?
I'm asking because I don't own any and have no intention of buying them anytime soon, since Faeries isn't my main deck, but I still want to keep it in playable condition.
Thanks! Kalitas is a powerhouse, it's hard to not want to include him
I run 4x Tar Pit in my list, and although it's a comes into play tapped land, depending on my opening hand it usually is pretty decent still.
I think Tar Pit being unblockable wins me a TON of games, so if i can make any kind of recommendation towards purchasing some for any deck that plays black and blue, I would. They're very useful and have a unique ability that if gone unchecked will win you the game.
What do you feel like your flex slots are for Liliana?
Most likely spell snare and a removal spell.
We have spoken about this in the discord, but snare is worse in an eldrazi meta and a removal spell most likely is doing the same thing Liliana will be.
Congrats on the finish! Just a few card choice questions. How is being only 2 fatal push. I'm on 4 push myself and think it's great. Also, wondering if you were considering Liliana of the Veil as a mainboard option that you could side out in favor of Liliana, the Last hope. How did Ancestral Vision hold up as a 3 of in the main? Would you have rather it been Serum visions? Again, great finish and report! Excited to hear about future tournament finishes with faeries!
I found myself commonly sideboarding in the 3rd copy from my sideboard, but usually it was pretty good at 2 with the rest of my removal suite.
I don't own LotV, but after my recent tournament success I will be testing her as a two of since I've been wanting some copies for some time.
AV as a 3 of feels just right. I don't normally run this and have been testing it the past 3 weeks or so and they were insane. They're also easy to side out in the 2nd and third games, and great to discard for extra modes on collective brutality. The card advantage of AV over serum Visions is too drastic. I'd be running AV over Serum Visions for sure in my meta, but as most would say, play the deck to where it feels right for you. If Serum Visions is stronger in your meta (maybe in a more control heavy meta) then play that for sure.
I see a Lost Legacy in your sideboard, what is that for? and aren't there any better cards in modern than this? I allways feel like LL is a bad card, even I know what it does.
This is for all the problematic decks that we could go up against. As an example, it's very good to take out copies of scapeshift, it can remove 4 karns, it can keep your opponent from ever playing a blood moon, ad nauseum will hate you if you steal their ad naus, etc.
Basically against any deck where there's a problematic card or a combo card that they are entirely reliant on, this gets them off of it. I run it as a one of as I didn't have another really useful sideboard slot since I didn't have a second damnation, and I consider it a catch-all against most combo decks and useful in general against decks where you don't want them getting a card in play too quickly.
If you want a better card that isn't limited in choices, go for Memoricide, but ive always enjoyed it as a one of sideboard slot as it saves me against blood moons pretty often.
Thanks very much for your tournament report Daut! Your list looks nice and I'm tempted to try it at the next chance I get
Only question I have is for evaluation purposes: Have you ever tried playing Gifted Aetherborn?
For sure! This has always been my favorite deck to olay, so finally putting a great tournament record behind it feels great.
To answer your question about aetherborn, yes, I have. He is VERY good depending on your meta. My hometown meta is a lot of burn (there were approximately 11 burn-style decks [including 2 skred decks] at this tournament) so the extra 1 toughness is a huge difference. I don't think there were any matches where I said "man, if this was an aetherborn instead of kalitas" because Kalitas just makes such a huge impact on the game.
If I wasn't in the meta I was in, I'd be running aetherborn. But I think Kalitas is significantly better from a wide-range standpoint (being able to hit multiple decks like dredge, burn, company) and you can see from my tournament report that he won me a lot of my games. If you're in a meta with an oversaturated amount of delve creatures (Tasigur and the like) then I'd recommend the aetherborn every time.
Round 1 Burn 2-0
Kept hands in both games with Kalitas and Collective Brutality which essentially is an instant win.
Sideboarded in 2 Dispel 1 Negate taking out all AV
Round 2 BG Infect 2-1
Game 1 was heavily in my favor due to having a lot of removal, and I eventually won with manlands.
Sideboarded in 2 dispel 1 Fatal Push
Game 2 I had lethal on board, but he topdecked like a boss and got this game from me.
Game 3 was essentially game 1 with better cards because I actually had a sideboard. Extra fatal push came in clutch here.
Round 3 Dredge 2-1
Game 1 was heavily in his favor as this was the only game I mulliganed super hard. I went down to 4, he started off insanely aggresively, and after showing him 2 lands and a removal spell, I scooped to go to the next game.
Sideboarded in 2 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Damnation 1 Surgical
Game 2 was heavily in my favor as I started off with a cage, countered early faithless lootings, and took the game over with kalitas.
Game 3 essentially had the same thing happen, with the exception of keeping a sketchy hand but it had cage and damnation. Started off with only two lands, watched the guy overcommit, wrathed the board, and then slammed Kalitas to win again.
Round 4 Collected Company 2-1
Game 1 was in my favor tremendously as he mulled to 6, kept a 4 land two spell hand, and I kept a discard heavy hand which he could never recover from.
Sideboarded 1 Fatal Push 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Damnation
Game 2 was heavily in his favor as he started off fast and I got mana screwed with damnation in hand.
Game 3 was a flashback to game 1 a bit, but I was low on threats and he eventually got around to playing some stuff, which I had the removal for. Man lands won me the game in the end.
I was a lock at this point even with a loss and a tie, but got paired down against a 3-1 so I had to play him.
Round 5 Skred Red 2-1
Game 1 I make him discard a blood moon on turn 1, and he can't fight through the removal plus kalitas and bitterblossom.
Sideboarded in 2 Dispel 1 Lost Legacy 1 Negate
Game 2 I did my best to keep him off of moon, but he ended up topdecking one on his 4th turn after I tore his hand apart. He proceeded to beat my face as I had only one basic island in play with a lot of black cards in hand.
Game 3 I clique on his turn 3 and tuck a blood moon, even though I had two islands in play already. I needed the black as the rest of his hand was weak to removal, which I took full advantage of and eventually slammed Kalitas for the win.
Round 6 ID to top8
Before it's posted for the world to see, our top8 was awesome. This is what it ended up looking like before we started top8:
1st - UB Faeries
2nd - Mono Green Tooth and Nail
3rd - Skred Red (Different guy than the one I played)
4th - BW 8 Rack
5th - Jund
6th - Jund
7th - Bant Spirits
8th - Bant Spirits
Round 7 Bant Spirits 2-1 (FIRST ROUND OF TOP8)
Game 1 was back and forth, but I eventually got there between Brutality and Snapcaster-ing Fatal Pushes.
Sideboarded in 1 Fatal Push 1 Damnation 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Game 2 was in his favor as he just tempoed me with quellers and I wasn't able to recover quickly.
Game 3 I tore his hand apart and noticed he wasn't drawing colors well, so after making him discard his only mana fixer (hierarch) I ghost quartered him and he had to choose a plains to keep himself in the game. He didn't draw much of anything from there and I took the game away quickly.
Round 8 Bant Spirits (Again) 0-2 (SEMIS)
Game 1 I kept a sketchy mull to 5 and got stomped super quickly.
Sideboarded in basically the same as the last match.
Game 2 I attempted to come out strong with AV's and a lot of removal, but I got quellered 3 times in a row and I wasn't able to recover from it at all.
This deck is amazing. I had compliments from tons of people who said that my deck was definitely the talk of the tournament, as it was the only copy of Faeries there and I was doing incredibly well with it.
If you guys want more detailed things or have questions about anything please feel free to message me or quote me on this post. I'd be glad to answer any questions you guys might have.
I got 3rd at TCGPlayer states California playing UB Faeries and will post an updated list with details tomorrow. I went undefeated until the semis where I picked up my only loss which knocked me out.
This deck is good. Im very happy with its results as of late and this performance was the icing on the cake.
Expect some small writeups and sideboard strats when I get the chance tomorrow.
For the record: WOTC refuses to enter another Faerie heavy meta ever again. That's why Spirits were printed instead of Faeries this past Standard cycle. The synergy of the cards locks out opponents from playing the game and that is dangerous for the health of the game. NEVER: expect a good Faerie card to ever be printed again! The 4 Spellstutter Sprite, 4 Bitterblossom, 2-3 Vendilion Clique, and 2-3 Mistbind Clique is the Faerie shell. We must face this fact and play around it and sideboard effectively. With that said, true card value will be made up in non-faerie spells like counter, discard, and removal. Fatal Push is a blessing to the arch-type and catapults Fae to T2 IMO. Playing 3-4 Fatal Push is lights out to any T1 or T2 aggro decks. In testing, I'm beating Affinity without Hykrul's Recall, which is unheard of pre-Aether Revolt. I'm ahead of GB-x decks. Linear aggro is controllable now. The only real threat is combo and big mana decks. Sideboarding 2 Rain of Tears and 2 Ceremonious Rejection stops Tron, Eldrazi, lantern control, and affinity. Add 3 Snapcaster Mage and it's lockdown control and opponents are pissed off. I have the screenshots to prove this.
If you are playing 4 Ancestral Vision, then Snapcaster Mage is more of a dead card to you. AV belongs in the sideboard IMO, but if you are gonna force it then play 4 Fatal Push with it to counter the odds of super slow starts.
I cant say I completely agree with you, as most of these appear as player preference and personal experience points, to me anyway, but your closing point seems very accurate with the findings I have come across. I am curious to see what your list has progressed to though.
Flashing back a Rain of Tears is an interesting play but why not just run 2 Fulminator Mages instead. That way it can be a beatdown with the added value of blowing up a land at instant speed when the time is right.
Fulminator Mage is a one time use ONLY and usually will be used against Tron as an instant sac to keep them off of tron, while rain of tears is a cast once and you can Snapcaster Mage it. In some situations playing a snapcaster at sorcery speed feels weird, but if you are tempoing out your Tron opponent, I'm pretty confident you want to just get rid of the lands as fast as you can even if it is at sorcery speed.
I'm not home currently but these are all great suggestions. Really what I've gone off of is stuff I actively use and have used. I'll go through your list and try and add them as soon as I can, but without a computer on hand right now it's a bit awkward to do it from mobile.
Funny that you would ask this, I'm actually in the process of creating a guide for Faeries sideboard so that people can look through potential cards to use and what would work best against certain decks. Here's a link:
Faeries Sideboard Guide
If you have anything you would like me to test or add, like it says, please let me know. I do my research a lot when it comes to this deck and I am willing to test play a lot of things to ensure that people get access to ideal lists.
edit:
As of 9/6 I have enabled comments on the page. It's my mistake that I didn't turn these on to begin with.
I like to have Languish over the second damnation because there are times when it matters against things like Selfless Spirit. I have the availability to play 2 if I wanted because of card availability, but there aren't a ton of Eldrazi decks running around my meta that would prompt me to change over to a second damnation just yet.
On the subject of having Tasigur survive, it's just an added bonus. The deck really doesn't have too many threats that can kill the opponent so keeping an extra one in play is always nice.
I know people are hesitant to try JCC, but I think he's got potential and at his mana cost he warrants testing. I know people were hesitant at first when LtLH came around, but I slotted it in nearly immediately, whether it be side or mainboard, and never took it out of the 75. There have been a few cards like that recently that just take time to kinda get acknowledgment from multiple people, but I'm sure once the time comes around JCC will have some sort of showing, whether it be good or bad. I think a planeswalker that fits our deck style, can get rid of excess bitterblossoms/lands, and build towards delve cards in the deck provides something that at least my version of the deck has been looking for. Not to mention it also provides threats in its illusions, which are even better than normal illusions as they don't sacrifice to abilities, only to spells. I think it's nice that we see this change and in the end, they're burning a card on something that's not our face, an important spellstutter, or something of that sort. At worst we get more blockers that we can use to clog up the ground and trade with pesky x/2 creatures.
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Fatal Push
1 Go for the Throat
1 Murderous Cut
3 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Bitterblossom
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
4 Island
1 Swamp
1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
3 Darkslick Shores
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Echoing Truth
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Dispel
1 Flashfreeze
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Flaying Tendrils
I went in expecting to play against a lot of red/green and artifact/colorless decks, which I, unfortunately, didn't face in any way.
My matchups were as follows:
Round 1 - 0-2 LOSS BR Goodstuff
Side:
-1 LtLH -1 Cryptic Command -1 Bitterblossom
+1 Hero's Downfall +1 Damnation +1 Engineered Explosives (I really wasn't sure what he was playing so this seemed to be the fairest trades given I only saw 2 drop creatures and removal)
Game 2 I draw absolutely nothing for the second time and just lose due to having no removal. This game was seriously frustrating for me, as it felt like an easily winnable matchup that just didn't pan out well because my deck didn't want to work for me.
Side:
-1 LtLH -2 Inquisition of Kozilek
+1 Echoing Truth +1 Negate +1 Dispel
Round 2 I get an early Liliana and they struggle to establish a board. I eventually get a ton of lands in play, ult Liliana giving them a choice of their lands or their Bridges, which they chose bridges. I top deck Echoing Truth and win.
Game two I had a hand that was just a bunch of value cards, and they didn't play anything out very quickly. I answered things when needed and Liliana plus man lands eventually got me a win.
Side:
-2 Thoughtseize -2 Inquisition of Kozilek -1 LtLH
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils (He was playing Bobs and lingering souls, which Liliana could have also taken care of in hindsight) +1 Hero's Downfall
Game three I keep a hand with doubles in it for being semi thoughseize proof, and then my opponent got stuck on two lands after I resolved a liliana of the veil. I got there again by just beating down with manlands as per usual.
Game one I keep a removal light hand, and they end up running out creatures very quick. I end up getting stuck on 2 lands and lose pretty easily.
Side:
-1 Remand -1 Bitterblossom -1 Tasigur
+1 Damnation +1 Flaying Tendrils +1 Hero's Downfall
Game two I get stuck on lands again, and he plays Xathrid Necromancer into a board with already 2 creatures. I draw a wrath and manage to get rid of the creatures which leave behind zombies, only to get blown out by not drawing anything to remove them with after that point.
Side:
-2 Inquisition -2 Thoughseize
+2 Engineered Explosives +1 Damnation +1 Hero's Downfall
He sides into Leyline which is laughable as I got rid of all of my targetted discard, which is pretty nice. At this point, I just take over the game quickly using a tasigur which I protect through what felt like a million Path to Exiles, and got there.
Round 6 - 2-0 WIN UW Control
Side:
-2 Inquisition -1 LtLH
+1 Dispel +1 Negate +1 Hero's Downfall
Game 2 took a while, but I eventually got there with man lands. I was glad I left in Thoughseize because I ended up remanding an Ojutai at one point which I thoughseized out of their hand, only to find out they had no removal at instant speed, so I beat in with manlands for the rest of the game.
I feel really indifferent because overall I feel like I did well but missing the top 8 was disappointing.
I was upset I didnt get any use out of Flashfreeze as well because the night before at FNM it actually was pretty great, but everyone seemed to audible to different things locally. I think the best thing I could do at this point is switch out LtLH in the main for something else, and move her to the sideboard in Flashfreeze's place. Everything else seems to be the right numbers, but sweepers will probably go back to 1 Languish 1 Damnation.
As per usual, if you guys have any questions always feel free to ask me anything. I'm in the discord as well so if you want to reach me there you always can.
Coming up soon I would also like to test out Jace, Cunning Castaway just as a little bit of spice. I had someone tell me today when I brought it up that I should just be playing Jace Beleren but I think since this Jace can still make dudes to close out games, I would like to test him a little bit before completely throwing the idea out the window. I think everything else in the deck is consistent enough to where I probably wouldn't change it too much.
Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you guys enjoy hearing about my tournament.
This mainboard is really close to what I'm running right now except for the Perilous Research, and I run Tasigur instead of Vendilion Clique.
I'm just wondering what made the thought of Perilous Research come up. It seems good with Bitterblossom tokens and can actually let you sacrifice your BB in a tough spot for some card advantage, but I would still be worried about setting yourself behind too much if you sacrifice the wrong thing, or it's just dead in your hand.
Sideboard not so much, but it seems really good. Not sure how I feel about tectonic edge vs ghost quarters, but I can understand long game wanting to take away some lands if the time comes for it. Big Game Hunter seems pretty unique, don't think I've seen it outside of a few chord lists recently.
Most of them tend to run 3 Chalice of the Void out of the side, is that 100% necessary? Is there something else you would put in its place that also could work? I don't own any and I have friends who do, but I would prefer to not be borrowing cards from them all of the time.
I'm more interested in the UW list than the mono blue or UB version, Since having access to the White Leyline or Runed Halo seems very good in my meta which has a lot of discard/targetted kills with titanshift style decks.
If you all could give me any pointers, that would be awesome. Thank you!
Thanks! Kalitas is a powerhouse, it's hard to not want to include him
I run 4x Tar Pit in my list, and although it's a comes into play tapped land, depending on my opening hand it usually is pretty decent still.
I think Tar Pit being unblockable wins me a TON of games, so if i can make any kind of recommendation towards purchasing some for any deck that plays black and blue, I would. They're very useful and have a unique ability that if gone unchecked will win you the game.
Most likely spell snare and a removal spell.
We have spoken about this in the discord, but snare is worse in an eldrazi meta and a removal spell most likely is doing the same thing Liliana will be.
I found myself commonly sideboarding in the 3rd copy from my sideboard, but usually it was pretty good at 2 with the rest of my removal suite.
I don't own LotV, but after my recent tournament success I will be testing her as a two of since I've been wanting some copies for some time.
AV as a 3 of feels just right. I don't normally run this and have been testing it the past 3 weeks or so and they were insane. They're also easy to side out in the 2nd and third games, and great to discard for extra modes on collective brutality. The card advantage of AV over serum Visions is too drastic. I'd be running AV over Serum Visions for sure in my meta, but as most would say, play the deck to where it feels right for you. If Serum Visions is stronger in your meta (maybe in a more control heavy meta) then play that for sure.
This is for all the problematic decks that we could go up against. As an example, it's very good to take out copies of scapeshift, it can remove 4 karns, it can keep your opponent from ever playing a blood moon, ad nauseum will hate you if you steal their ad naus, etc.
Basically against any deck where there's a problematic card or a combo card that they are entirely reliant on, this gets them off of it. I run it as a one of as I didn't have another really useful sideboard slot since I didn't have a second damnation, and I consider it a catch-all against most combo decks and useful in general against decks where you don't want them getting a card in play too quickly.
If you want a better card that isn't limited in choices, go for Memoricide, but ive always enjoyed it as a one of sideboard slot as it saves me against blood moons pretty often.
For sure! This has always been my favorite deck to olay, so finally putting a great tournament record behind it feels great.
To answer your question about aetherborn, yes, I have. He is VERY good depending on your meta. My hometown meta is a lot of burn (there were approximately 11 burn-style decks [including 2 skred decks] at this tournament) so the extra 1 toughness is a huge difference. I don't think there were any matches where I said "man, if this was an aetherborn instead of kalitas" because Kalitas just makes such a huge impact on the game.
If I wasn't in the meta I was in, I'd be running aetherborn. But I think Kalitas is significantly better from a wide-range standpoint (being able to hit multiple decks like dredge, burn, company) and you can see from my tournament report that he won me a lot of my games. If you're in a meta with an oversaturated amount of delve creatures (Tasigur and the like) then I'd recommend the aetherborn every time.
Overall Record: 6-1-1 3rd/61
Maindeck:
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Fatal Push
2 Collective Brutality
2 Go for the Throat
1 Murderous Cut
3 Ancestral Vision
1 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
3 Cryptic Command
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
4 Island
1 Swamp
1 Drowned Catacomb
4 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
3 Darkslick Shores
1 Ghost Quarter
Sideboard:
2 Negate
1 Lost Legacy
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Dispel
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Fatal Push
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Surgical Extraction
Round 1 Burn 2-0
Kept hands in both games with Kalitas and Collective Brutality which essentially is an instant win.
Sideboarded in 2 Dispel 1 Negate taking out all AV
Round 2 BG Infect 2-1
Game 1 was heavily in my favor due to having a lot of removal, and I eventually won with manlands.
Sideboarded in 2 dispel 1 Fatal Push
Game 2 I had lethal on board, but he topdecked like a boss and got this game from me.
Game 3 was essentially game 1 with better cards because I actually had a sideboard. Extra fatal push came in clutch here.
Round 3 Dredge 2-1
Game 1 was heavily in his favor as this was the only game I mulliganed super hard. I went down to 4, he started off insanely aggresively, and after showing him 2 lands and a removal spell, I scooped to go to the next game.
Sideboarded in 2 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Damnation 1 Surgical
Game 2 was heavily in my favor as I started off with a cage, countered early faithless lootings, and took the game over with kalitas.
Game 3 essentially had the same thing happen, with the exception of keeping a sketchy hand but it had cage and damnation. Started off with only two lands, watched the guy overcommit, wrathed the board, and then slammed Kalitas to win again.
Round 4 Collected Company 2-1
Game 1 was in my favor tremendously as he mulled to 6, kept a 4 land two spell hand, and I kept a discard heavy hand which he could never recover from.
Sideboarded 1 Fatal Push 1 Engineered Explosives 1 Damnation
Game 2 was heavily in his favor as he started off fast and I got mana screwed with damnation in hand.
Game 3 was a flashback to game 1 a bit, but I was low on threats and he eventually got around to playing some stuff, which I had the removal for. Man lands won me the game in the end.
I was a lock at this point even with a loss and a tie, but got paired down against a 3-1 so I had to play him.
Round 5 Skred Red 2-1
Game 1 I make him discard a blood moon on turn 1, and he can't fight through the removal plus kalitas and bitterblossom.
Sideboarded in 2 Dispel 1 Lost Legacy 1 Negate
Game 2 I did my best to keep him off of moon, but he ended up topdecking one on his 4th turn after I tore his hand apart. He proceeded to beat my face as I had only one basic island in play with a lot of black cards in hand.
Game 3 I clique on his turn 3 and tuck a blood moon, even though I had two islands in play already. I needed the black as the rest of his hand was weak to removal, which I took full advantage of and eventually slammed Kalitas for the win.
Round 6 ID to top8
Before it's posted for the world to see, our top8 was awesome. This is what it ended up looking like before we started top8:
1st - UB Faeries
2nd - Mono Green Tooth and Nail
3rd - Skred Red (Different guy than the one I played)
4th - BW 8 Rack
5th - Jund
6th - Jund
7th - Bant Spirits
8th - Bant Spirits
Round 7 Bant Spirits 2-1 (FIRST ROUND OF TOP8)
Game 1 was back and forth, but I eventually got there between Brutality and Snapcaster-ing Fatal Pushes.
Sideboarded in 1 Fatal Push 1 Damnation 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Game 2 was in his favor as he just tempoed me with quellers and I wasn't able to recover quickly.
Game 3 I tore his hand apart and noticed he wasn't drawing colors well, so after making him discard his only mana fixer (hierarch) I ghost quartered him and he had to choose a plains to keep himself in the game. He didn't draw much of anything from there and I took the game away quickly.
Round 8 Bant Spirits (Again) 0-2 (SEMIS)
Game 1 I kept a sketchy mull to 5 and got stomped super quickly.
Sideboarded in basically the same as the last match.
Game 2 I attempted to come out strong with AV's and a lot of removal, but I got quellered 3 times in a row and I wasn't able to recover from it at all.
This deck is amazing. I had compliments from tons of people who said that my deck was definitely the talk of the tournament, as it was the only copy of Faeries there and I was doing incredibly well with it.
If you guys want more detailed things or have questions about anything please feel free to message me or quote me on this post. I'd be glad to answer any questions you guys might have.
This deck is good. Im very happy with its results as of late and this performance was the icing on the cake.
Expect some small writeups and sideboard strats when I get the chance tomorrow.
Fulminator Mage is a one time use ONLY and usually will be used against Tron as an instant sac to keep them off of tron, while rain of tears is a cast once and you can Snapcaster Mage it. In some situations playing a snapcaster at sorcery speed feels weird, but if you are tempoing out your Tron opponent, I'm pretty confident you want to just get rid of the lands as fast as you can even if it is at sorcery speed.