Faeries & Standard

Faeries is a silly deck. My record with it in FNM/City Champ paper events is 11-1 (8k events really suck 9-0 at FNM and it has gained me 30ish ratings points and only that many because my rating sucks). Sadly it seems R&D is sick of blue being the best color in Magic. Shadowmoor added a land to Faeries and that is pretty much it. Personally I think Faeries might still be a good deck call as it is still the most powerful deck in the format and beats any deck not preparing for the matchup. I expect Vexing Shusher to see tons of play for the next month or so. I think people will take decks that loose to Faeries, add 4x Shusher and call it a good matchup.

I'm okay with that my current Faerie list:

4 River of Tears
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glenn
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
2 Sunken Ruins
1 Pendelhaven
3 Island
4 Bitterblossom
4 Scion of Oona
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Thoughtseize


Sideboard:
4 Bottle Gnomes
3 Terror
3 Flashfreeze
3 Peppersmoke
2 Sower of Temptation

As I've played the deck I've cut more and more Faeries from it. First went the 2x Oona's Blackguards, then the Pestermites, then the Sower of Temptations, and finally the Vendillion Cliques. I would love to cut a Mistbind Clique or two but they are very important in many matchups. Being able to play a Bitterblossom, get a token or two and then RFG the blossom is a key strategy in beating Red Decks. At this point I'd like to add more creature removal to the maindeck but I'm not sure how I can make room.

It is possible that the format will become to hostile to counterspells and Rune Snag will too often be a dead card. In that case it will come out. The addional creature removal spells are up in the air. Terror and Eyeblight's Ending seem the best options but I don't want dead maindeck cards which both of them can be. Terror might get the nod if for no other reason because it kills Mutavault and Vexing Shusher. Slaugter Pact seemed like a nice idea but tapping mana on your own upkeep seems awful. What would make this deck unbeatable again is an instant-speed edict. Cruel Edict might be playable but the sorcery speed aspect really blows.

Oona, Queen of the Fae is a card I was not very excited about early on but seems really good to me now. If the Rune Snags come out I could see this as a random 1x or possibly sideboard material. A 5/5 that makes tons of 1/1s seems very good versus the red or green decks running around.

The card that scares me the most in Shadowmoor as a Faeries player is not Vexing Shusher but Guttural Response. You know when the Shusher is coming, you can play around it. The Response shuts down Crpytic Command. No longer can you plan on casting it unimpeded turn four as the opponent could cast a three-drop and have mana to kill your Command. I think at first the Shusher will see much more play than Response so this is a more long-term issue.

Despite the additional weaknesses created by the new set I think Faeries will still be the best deck. I think the number of people playing it will be lower than pre-Shadowmoor so that the mirror is less important. I still think Peppersmoke is worth the sideboard place due to the number of x/1s in the format. I plan in playing in the trials next Friday for SCG's 5k Standard event. If I win some byes I'll play Standard on Saturday, Vintage Sunday. If no byes I will probably play Vintage both days.