Maindeck differences are -1 Darklisck Shores +1 Island
SB is pretty different. I was just hoping to avoid dredge.
Burn with this maindeck is a little harder than usual, since remand, lotv and AV are not the ideal cards we want to see.
-4 AV, -4 Bitterblossom, -1 Remand
+4 Collective Brutality, +2 Damnation, + 2 EE, + 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Pretty easy with this list. Lotv really shines here.
-3 Inquisition of Kozilek, -3 Cryptic Command
+2 Thoughtseize, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +2 Damnation, + 1 Liliana, the last hope
Same
Literally the only thing he cast first game was a Reality Smasher that I couldn't answer and won alone.
His list wasn't BW Eldrazi & Taxes, it was just eldrazi. So it didn't have Vials or Thalias, so in the other two games I was able to counter the big threats and win with Bitterblossom and manlands.
-4 AV (because of Strangler), -4 Remand, -1 Cryptic
+2 EE (for lingering souls), +2 Damnation, +2 Seize, +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Ceremonious Rejection
Same story of the other ones, but I ended up losing one of the games.
Since I was 5-0 I could ID the 6th and 7th round and still was first in standings (30 boosters yay)
This match is not as easy as I wanted it to be. Counters really shine here, but all the games were super close.
+3 CB, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Liliana, the last hope, +2 Thoughtseize
-4 Fatal Push, -3 IoK
I was so tired that I don't really remember how the games were. I just remember that game 2 I lost to a turn 3 Chandra Torch of Defiance. Games 1 and 3 I managed pretty well with remands and spellstutters.
+2 Seize, +1 Disdainful Stroke
-3 IoK (I think so)
This was a very strange list, with Hazoret, Gideon Ally, Lingering Souls, Bob, Young Pyromancer. Well, obviously it was working pretty good, since he was in the finals.
Anyway, he doesn't have a good way to answer bitterblossom, so first game I just played two and rushed.
The second game was pretty back-forward and we went to top deck mode, but his lands were only basics and shocks and mine were tar pits and mutavaults.
+1 Liliana, the last hope, +2 EE, + 2 Damnation
-4 Liliana of the Veil, -1 IoK
Overall the list felt great. It was more a "test" than anything and I ended up stealing the win, so I'm really happy.
With that many 4-of's it felt very consistent.
Hey guys, playing this deck a lot atm, but not liliana. Is it possible to play it in large events without it?
Yes, of course!
A lot of people still play competitive without her (and not for budget reasons).
It also depends on your meta. LotV is great against Grixis Shadow and Eldrazi, but not that good against Affinity, Burn or Abzan for example.
If you join the discord channel (pm ThatStoryTeller120 for an invite), you will see a lot of different lists.
Hey all, I'm looking for some suggestions on how to handle eldrazi tron. It seems like the games always play out as a run away for me until they find a cavern of souls and then I'm almost 0% to win. Thoughtseize is great, but they have such a high density of must counter threats that once that option is gone it's hard to win. Combine that with fatal push being especially meh that leaves the 'removal plus card advantage' plan less good as well. How do you approach this match up?
I think beside the Ceremonious rejections/Disdainful Strokes, Damnation is probably the best card against them. It also helps against a lot of decks that go wide and are generally a problem for us (Elves, Merfolk, Company decks, etc).
Vendilion is also good, taking a threat from their hand and setting up a clock.
Mistbind is amazing against eldrazi, but most people don't run it anymore.
If you want an aggro synergy deck with control elements have you looked at something like u/w or bant spirits?
Alternatively you could check out u/r fae for a tempo list.
I'm also considering UW spirits. Disruptive flash creatures is the reason why I started with Fae. I started off in modern with a budget UR Delver list and threw in 4 SSS for fun, but ended up enjoying that card the most. I've also been trying to find some resources about UR Fae, but unfortunately most resources are 404'd, inactive, or very very dated. I really want to enjoy UB because it seems like the best version, but it just feels too slow/grindy for my own personal taste.
Maybe you should try UW Spirits, or even Merfolk, since you can play them at instant speed with Vial.
UB Fae is a control deck after all It's meant to be kinda slow.
Speaking for myself, I love faeries and I have the deck almost foiled out. But if it wasn't to play Bitterblossom I wouldnt't bother with faeries at all.
Yeah, what I meant is that you usually have more important stuff to side in, like Damnation and Hurkyl's, and you also don't want to keep a high curve with 3 Kalitas (+ Damnation, + Cryptic Commands) against a deck that can beat you before you can cast the first one.
I bring in both Kalitas and Dispel when they're applicable. Like against Affinity, they don't have many instants, so you don't need Dispel.
I dislike Collective Brutality because all of the effects are weak. The only decks I would actually want to use more than one mode against are Burn and Infect - both matchups that don't really need any help. Otherwise it's a worse Thoughtseize or a more expensive Disfigure. You could pitch lands, but I prefer to play all of my lands so that I can eventually attack with more than one manland.
Thanks a lot for your answers, I really appreciate it!
From your answer I gather you wouldn't bring in dispel versus BGx either, since they like affinity only have around 4 relevant instants (which can be countered / can kill kalitas). But would you bring it in versus Bant Eldrazi with their 6 instants (all of which can kill kalitas)?
I don't think you'd want Kalitas against Affinity. Ground creatures are not very relevant against them.
Regarding Dispel and Bant Eldrazi, you have another revelant spells that you want to counter (Worship, EE, Chalice of the Void), I'd prefer to bring countersquall (and the obvious, Damnation, etc). And probably side out some less relevant counterspells (Mana Leak, Spell Snare).
You really want Dispel against decks that have relevant instant other than Path to Exile. Dispel helps to protect Kalitas, but it can also counter many other relevant instants: Collective Company, Chord of Calling, Ad Nauseam, Summoner's Pact, Cryptic Command...
I used to play 1 Duress and 1 Dispel - they're similar effects against control. Having 2 Dispel against Suicide Zoo makes tapping low much safer. Generally speaking, against decks where you want Kalitas, he does his job by just sitting there rather than making zombies. Dispel allows him to come with protection sooner.
What do you think about Collective Brutality? It's sorcery speed but I guess it works as a Duress and a Disfigure, and allow us to make extra value from Bitterblossoms or seizes stuck in hand.
Right now i'm playing 3 IoK, 2 Seizes, 1 Brutality in MD and 1 more Brutality in the board.
Sure! I overestimated how much free time I'd have to work on primer, so that's not progressing much.
As for the swords, I found myself boarding out mistbind in nearly every matchup - it's tough to set up a clean champion and I didn't like to trade my four mana threat for one/two mana answers against the fair decks. Sometimes a mana short on turn 4 is too late against the fast decks. I preferred to use discard to strip their threats rather than their removal and this made it harder for mistbind to earn it's keep.
Swords and mistbind both need a good window to be effective, so they can both end up being stuck in hand. The difference is how well they follow my game plan. Generally speaking, our creatures suck - they do powerful things when they come into play but that they're pretty weak. When it comes to actually killing your opponent, you've got tokens and random bodies that they dont want to use removal on (sprites/snapcasters) or manlands that you can use when it's safe to do so. Mistbind clique is an attractive target for removal and that's opposite to the rest of our threats. Swords make your random dorks become real threats and tax your opponent to either keep killing bodies that you don't need or be overwhelmed.
Hey, thanks for the insight on the swords!
I have a question about your last lists tho, have you abandoned all grave hate because you think that Dredge is just a really bad match and it's not worth to spend sb slots on them? I know that we have Kalitas, but I guess that's too slow against them?
Sweet list, but sad that he didn't continue with his Faerie tempo list I think..
I am just craaaving Anthony Hunyh's latest list (supposedly without mistbind), please, does anyone have it? Floofalump?
Yeah, I've reached to him to ask a little advice on Faeries a while ago and he said he was more into UB Control and sent me the list. I personally found it pretty nice, I just hadn't the time to test it yet.
I just want to point out this AWESOME esper list from GP Lille (#38) -- I know it has nothing to do with Esper Draw-go style, but I think it's beautiful and should be shared:
I'm really not sure about the 4th kalitas. Wouldn't be better a Tasigur instead? With 4 kalitas I can imagine some very weird hands with 2 kalitas and a Mistbind or something like that.
That being said, my actual list is very similar to this. But I play a Tasigur main and 2 Kalitas on side. I play one copy of the new Liliana too (from my testing, she is really good, tbh. I recommend that everyone give her a chance). So, with that many cards with double black in their costs, I think sunken ruins instead of Drowned Catacomb is probably better.
Actually that's exactly what he did. But now also uses Serum Visions and no discard.
https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/faerie-decklist-by-takahashi-yuuta-730518
I've already posted this in Discord but I'll post here too.
I basically played Yuta's list with a different sideboard:
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
4 Remand
4 Bitterblossom
4 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Flooded Strand
4 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Ceremonious Rejection
4 Collective Brutality
2 Damnation
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Thoughtseize
Maindeck differences are -1 Darklisck Shores +1 Island
SB is pretty different. I was just hoping to avoid dredge.
Burn with this maindeck is a little harder than usual, since remand, lotv and AV are not the ideal cards we want to see.
-4 AV, -4 Bitterblossom, -1 Remand
+4 Collective Brutality, +2 Damnation, + 2 EE, + 1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Pretty easy with this list. Lotv really shines here.
-3 Inquisition of Kozilek, -3 Cryptic Command
+2 Thoughtseize, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +2 Damnation, + 1 Liliana, the last hope
Same
Literally the only thing he cast first game was a Reality Smasher that I couldn't answer and won alone.
His list wasn't BW Eldrazi & Taxes, it was just eldrazi. So it didn't have Vials or Thalias, so in the other two games I was able to counter the big threats and win with Bitterblossom and manlands.
-4 AV (because of Strangler), -4 Remand, -1 Cryptic
+2 EE (for lingering souls), +2 Damnation, +2 Seize, +1 Pithing Needle, +2 Ceremonious Rejection
Same story of the other ones, but I ended up losing one of the games.
Since I was 5-0 I could ID the 6th and 7th round and still was first in standings (30 boosters yay)
This match is not as easy as I wanted it to be. Counters really shine here, but all the games were super close.
+3 CB, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Liliana, the last hope, +2 Thoughtseize
-4 Fatal Push, -3 IoK
I was so tired that I don't really remember how the games were. I just remember that game 2 I lost to a turn 3 Chandra Torch of Defiance. Games 1 and 3 I managed pretty well with remands and spellstutters.
+2 Seize, +1 Disdainful Stroke
-3 IoK (I think so)
This was a very strange list, with Hazoret, Gideon Ally, Lingering Souls, Bob, Young Pyromancer. Well, obviously it was working pretty good, since he was in the finals.
Anyway, he doesn't have a good way to answer bitterblossom, so first game I just played two and rushed.
The second game was pretty back-forward and we went to top deck mode, but his lands were only basics and shocks and mine were tar pits and mutavaults.
+1 Liliana, the last hope, +2 EE, + 2 Damnation
-4 Liliana of the Veil, -1 IoK
Overall the list felt great. It was more a "test" than anything and I ended up stealing the win, so I'm really happy.
With that many 4-of's it felt very consistent.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
Yes, of course!
A lot of people still play competitive without her (and not for budget reasons).
It also depends on your meta. LotV is great against Grixis Shadow and Eldrazi, but not that good against Affinity, Burn or Abzan for example.
If you join the discord channel (pm ThatStoryTeller120 for an invite), you will see a lot of different lists.
I think beside the Ceremonious rejections/Disdainful Strokes, Damnation is probably the best card against them. It also helps against a lot of decks that go wide and are generally a problem for us (Elves, Merfolk, Company decks, etc).
Vendilion is also good, taking a threat from their hand and setting up a clock.
Mistbind is amazing against eldrazi, but most people don't run it anymore.
Maybe you should try UW Spirits, or even Merfolk, since you can play them at instant speed with Vial.
UB Fae is a control deck after all It's meant to be kinda slow.
Speaking for myself, I love faeries and I have the deck almost foiled out. But if it wasn't to play Bitterblossom I wouldnt't bother with faeries at all.
Damnation and EE seems obvious choices, but what would you take out? Counterspells,Discard,Disfigure...?
I don't think you'd want Kalitas against Affinity. Ground creatures are not very relevant against them.
Regarding Dispel and Bant Eldrazi, you have another revelant spells that you want to counter (Worship, EE, Chalice of the Void), I'd prefer to bring countersquall (and the obvious, Damnation, etc). And probably side out some less relevant counterspells (Mana Leak, Spell Snare).
You really want Dispel against decks that have relevant instant other than Path to Exile. Dispel helps to protect Kalitas, but it can also counter many other relevant instants: Collective Company, Chord of Calling, Ad Nauseam, Summoner's Pact, Cryptic Command...
What do you think about Collective Brutality? It's sorcery speed but I guess it works as a Duress and a Disfigure, and allow us to make extra value from Bitterblossoms or seizes stuck in hand.
Right now i'm playing 3 IoK, 2 Seizes, 1 Brutality in MD and 1 more Brutality in the board.
Hey, thanks for the insight on the swords!
I have a question about your last lists tho, have you abandoned all grave hate because you think that Dredge is just a really bad match and it's not worth to spend sb slots on them? I know that we have Kalitas, but I guess that's too slow against them?
Yeah, I've reached to him to ask a little advice on Faeries a while ago and he said he was more into UB Control and sent me the list. I personally found it pretty nice, I just hadn't the time to test it yet.
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Creatures
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Trinket Mage
1 Hangarback Walker
3 Spellskite
Sorceries
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
1 Damnation
Instants
4 Path to Exile
1 Slaughter Pact
Artifacts
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
3 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Marsh Flats
3 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Swamp
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Shambling Vent
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Damnation
2 Negate
3 Meddling Mage
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Painful Truths
2 Detention Sphere
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Succumb to Tempation is nice being instant speed, but 3 in the main seems way too much lifeloss.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/451893#online
I'm really not sure about the 4th kalitas. Wouldn't be better a Tasigur instead? With 4 kalitas I can imagine some very weird hands with 2 kalitas and a Mistbind or something like that.
That being said, my actual list is very similar to this. But I play a Tasigur main and 2 Kalitas on side. I play one copy of the new Liliana too (from my testing, she is really good, tbh. I recommend that everyone give her a chance). So, with that many cards with double black in their costs, I think sunken ruins instead of Drowned Catacomb is probably better.