Next Level Faeries: First Impressions

Well, I've tested Next Level Faeries a bit today, and I've come to the following conclusion: it is awesome.

I changed the list slightly since yesterday. Here's the list I tested with for all the matches today:

Lands (25)

4 Cascade Bluffs

4 Crumbling Necropolis

3 Island

1 Mountain

4 Reflecting Pool

4 Secluded Glen

4 Sunken Ruins

1 Swamp

Creatures (13)

4 Mistbind Clique

3 Scion of Oona

2 Sower of Temptation

3 Spellstutter Sprite

1 Vendilion Clique

Spells (22)

4 Bitterblossom

3 Broken Ambitions

4 Cryptic Command

3 Firespout

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Terminate

Sideboard (15)

4 Anathemancer

3 Double Negative

2 Glen Elendra Archmage

2 Jace Beleren

2 Sower of Temptation

1 Flashfreeze

1 Puppeteer Clique

We have the decklist, now let's justify it's existence. Into the testing!

Match 1 vs. Elf Combo

He starts out fast and I start out slow. He plays 2 Elvish Visionaries, a Llanowar Elf, and a Devoted Druid. I kill the Devoted Druid with Lightning Bolt and play Bitterblossom. I Spellstutter Sprite a Heritage Druid, and flash in a Scion of Oona so I can block a Visionary with my now 2/2 token. He plays Heritage Druid and Ranger of Eos for 2 Nettle Sentinels and hits me to 11 next turn. I play another Scion of Oona and use my 3/3 army to swing for lethal.

Game 2, I sideboard in a Flashfreeze for a Terminate.

He plays 2 Llanowar Elves and Heritage Druid while I build my manabase. He plays Eos and Nettle Sentinel, and I sprite the Sentinel. After he draws, I Vendilion Clique him, seeing a Mirror Entity, Regal Force, Nettle Sentinel and Dauntless Escort. I toss the Regal Force (normally, I'd toss the Entity, but I have a Sower in hand which at the moment appears my one chance to win the game).

I block Ranger of Eos with the Clique, and he plays out his hand. I use Sower of Temptation to steal Mirror Entity. He plays an Imperious perfect and I take 7. He passes, and so do I. He plays Coat of Arms, setting himself up for a blowout Cryptic Command, which I gratefully take, tapping his guys and countering the trumping artifact.

I pass, and he plays Mirror Entity. I Broken it for 2, forcing him to tap two Llanowar Elves or let it get countered. After a think, he taps the Elves and swings. I flash in a Scion and block the Perfect with a 3/3 Sower, and he sacs the Escort to save it. I untap, activate Mirror Entity for all 6 of my mana, and swing with a 6/6 Scion, 7/7 Sower and 7/7 Sprite to win the game and the match.

1-0.

Match 2 vs. U/B Mill

I mulligan to 5. Not good. He plays a Turn 2 Howling Mine, and I flash in a Spellstutter Sprite. I swing, and pass. He passes, and I flash in a Scion. I swing for 3. He plays Infest. I use Cryptic Command, and he Countersqualls it. I pass. He plays Jace, which I Broken Ambitions, and he uses another Countersquall. He uses it's +2 ability, and I use double Lightning Bolt to kill it. I play Bitterblossom.

He untaps, and plays Time Warp go, Time Warp go, Wall of Frost (keeping in mind he's drawing 2 cards per turn off Howling Mine) and says go. I pass. He plays Mind Funeral, and Twincasts it, leaving me with 27 cards left in my deck. I play Mistbind Clique, which gets Essence Scattered. He passes, and my second Clique also gets Scattered. My Cryptic Command gets Countersqualled, and the same thing happens AGAIN next turn.

He plays Mind Funeral and mills 4 land in a row, but then plays another Mind Funeral dropping me to 6 cards. I play all my Faeries, but am unable to find the last Scion I need to win the game before I run out of cards.

Game 2 I side out my Firespouts, Sowers and Terminates for Glen Elendra Archmage, Double Negative and Anathemancer. He's not running many nonbasics, but it's better than a 4 mana 2/2.

I play a Turn 2 Bitterblossom, which he finds hard to deal with. He plays Howling Mine. I pass, and he goes for a second. I use Spellstutter Sprite, and Bolt him down to 17. I swing, and flash in a Scion. He plays Mind Funeral milling me for about twelve cards, and I swing for 7. Failing to find an answer at 10, facing 9 damage next turn and a Lightning Bolt as soon as I draw it, he concedes.

Game 3

I mulligan to 5 again, but he plays Turn 2 Howling Mine, alleviating my concerns of mana screw. I play Turn 2 Bitterblossom. He plays Turn 3 Howling Mine, and I match it with a second Bitterblossom! I start swinging in earnest, including a Spellstutter Sprite flashed in at EOT. He plays MF + Twincast for 22 cards. I take advantage of his being tapped out and swing with 6 Faeries, flash in a Scion of Oona, and play Lightning Bolt to take out his last 15 life in one hit.

Afterwards he showed me an Infest, and says he knew he should have played it, and that he made a mistake. I agree, tell him he'll get better with more testing, and we part ways.

2-0.

Match 3 vs. B/W Discard

He has an evil little deck with Duress, Thoughtseize and Scepter of Fugue, with Nyxathid and Baneslayer Angel as finishers.

Game 1 he plays Thoughtseize for my Turn 2 play, then Sign in Blood, then Scepter of Fugue, then Duress. I've basically already lost this game. He plays Thoughtseize, which I Broken, then play Bitterblossom. I go for a Mistbind Clique on his upkeep and he Doom Blades it. He takes my last card in hand with Scepter and plays Nyxathid. Next turn he plays Baneslayer Angel. I use Vendilion Clique to reveal 2 Path to Exile and Mind Shatter. I keep playing to find out what else is in his deck, but he plays a second Nyxathid and I scoop.

I sideboard out Firespouts for Anathemancers and something else for Archmages.

Game 2 he plays Scepter of Fugue, and I play Anathemancer Turn 3 and Archmage Turn 4. He plays double Path to Exile, and I play a second Archmage. I play Lightning Bolt, and hit him to 14, then play Jace, last card in hand. He plays Baneslayer Angel a couple of turns later. I use a third -1 to kill my Jace, then play another one from my hand and draw with that. He Paths my Archmage and kills Jace, then plays a second Baneslayer Angel. I play Bitterblossom. He purges it, and that's the game right there.

2-1.

Match 4 vs. Grixis Mannequin

At first I think it's the mirror match Game 1 as we both play identical lands. I play a Jace, which gets Broken Ambitioned, and then he evokes a drifter. I play Jace 2, and he plays Mulldrifter at full price. I Sower it, and use Jace's +2 to go to 3 counters. He evokes Shriekmaw to kill my Sower, and I play end of turn Spellstutter Sprite, which gets through, and end of turn Scion, which gets hit with Double Negative. I use Terminate and Mistbind Clique when he taps out, and he uses Cruel Ultimatum. Ow.

I've never, ever won a game where my opponent has resolved Cruel Ultimatum. Nor have I lost a duel where I resolved it. But I play on anyway. I Mistbind Clique my last guy, and pass. He evokes Shriekmaw to kill it and then plays a full-price Mulldrifter. I use Sower of Temptation, and he uses Bogardan Hellkite to kill Sower and Jace. I draw land, Broken Ambitions, and Bitterblossom and die to the dragon.

Game 2 I sideboard in my Puppeteer Clique and my Flashfreeze for Firespouts. I might have sided in Archmages too. Can't remember.

Game 2 I play Bitterblossom, and he passes for a couple of turns. I start attacking. When he evokes a Mulldrifter, I Spellstutter Sprite it. I Puppeteer Clique his Mulldrifter and swing. He plays a Mulldrifter and I Bolt it, and he concedes, and just like that it's on to Game 3.

Game 3 I play a Bitterblossom, and he uses Broken Ambitions. He gets stuck on 3 mana, and I play Jace. He draws a Crumbling Necropolis as his fourth mana, and I use Jace and pass. He Makeshift Mannequins for a discarded Hellkite, and I Cryptic Command it. He Makeshift Mannequins during his turn for a Hellkite, killing Jace. I Lightning Bolt it, and it dies thanks to the mannequin counter on it. I draw into a second Mistbind Clique with no other Fae, but I've drawn lots of lands with Jace, thinning my deck.

I draw the bomb, playing Puppeteer Clique. By some miracle it resolves, and I aim the Hellkite squarely at his face, knocking off half his life total. Next turn I Terminate my own Clique, stealing his Mulldrifter. I swing, he uses Volcanic Fallout. I CC to bounce my Clique and draw, and he Fallouts in response. Fine by me. He drops to 6, and I play the double Lightning Bolts I'd been saving in my hand for the win.

3-1.

So all in all I'd say that Lightning Bolt is very useful in the Faeries deck, and I would continue to use it if I was a Fae player. I might also consider taking out a Firespout and Terminate for 2 Time Warps, and 2 Double Negatives in the sideboard for Firespouts, which without green mana can't hit any of your guys! I think with tuning and testing, Next Level Faeries is a viable deck for FNM or even a PTQ. I'd love to hear any success you have with the deck, either by Twitter (my username is mtgsalivanth) by blog comment, or by e-mail (at www.salivanth@live.com).

Until next time, may you test before taking my word for it:)

Lessons I've Learnt Today:

It can be very hard to get people to play a match to conclusion in MWS. Especially if it's your last match of the day.

Lightning Bolt is AWESOME. Terminate is less awesome due to the mana, and nonblack is almost never relevant. I would consider replacing it with Doom Blade maindeck.

Grixis Mannequin runs Cruel Ultimatum! Don't tap out against it!

Time Warp + Howling Mine is a powerful tempo boost.

See you tomorrow!