I really like the concept of this deck, it's really well thought!

I have a couple of suggestions: first, have you tried Dispel? It can really work wonders.

A good creature to try could be Glen Elendra Archmage, which would translate in "infinite Negates" as well, since you can keep bouncing it.

As for your sideboard, you should run Hurkyl's Recall for Affinity, and Shadow of Doubt against Tron and other tutor-ish stuff (nice against fetchlands too).

An expensive addition could be Sower of Temptation/Vedalken Shackles.

Thanks for the reply.

The sideboard is actually constructed for my casual play group and is definitely sub-optimal for a tournament. Dispel is a great card to win a counter war, or when you are really only worried about instant speed removal (E.g. Path), but is a dead card in a lot of games around my kitchen table, and is only a marginally better upgrade over the Pierce main when it would normally excel. As such, it's not going into my sideboard right now, but it's on the maybe list for the future if the meta changes. I would never main deck it though.

I had considered the archmage, but it didn't make the deck on three counts:

• It costs $8/card, and so is difficult for me to acquire in multiples right now. This might change in the future if I enjoy playing with the deck.
• She costs 4 mana and is only really useful when you have 5+ out.
• She's an inefficient beater for the mana cost.

They are each relatively minor points, and she would do better in the deck than Higher certainly, but I think if I were to throw more money at the deck, either another Vendilion Clique or a Mistbind Clique would work out better. Mistbind plus bounce is nasty and has a similar mana cost.

Recall is a fantastic card against affinity and I would probably run two copies in the sideboard if it were cheaper. As it is, I left it out due to budget constraints. If assembling this to take to your own FNM, I would certainly run it - but don't swap out the Annul - Annul is good vs. Twin as well as affinity and so ouht to stay in the sideboard. I am not so certain about Shadow of Doubt however. If we don't have a counter in hand, we want to be applying pressure to the board, and it is best used reactively during the early game. Unless you already have a counter in-hand, it is not fantastic ven in matchups like Tron because it is much less broad an answer. If Tron and Scapeshift start to make up a larger portion of your meta than I gave them credit for then consider running it, otherwise I would not include it in the side.

Sower would be the card to run over Shackles, because of the synergy with Spellstutter Sprite, and it hits large creatures with ETB effects like Thragtusk and Siege Rhino that you don't want to answer and haven't the mana to use the shackles on (a common occurrence). Shackles is good against Twin and decks that run Bolt plus counter backup (otherwise we would need to play counters to defeat it). Stealing cards like Tasigur is possible with Sower, but less so with Shackles.

Overall though, great suggestions if I had a larger budget to build with. They might make their way into the deck over time.

I'm also considering cutting an Aqueous Form for a Sword of Fire and Ice, as I have a single copy, and it would work well with the Faeries rather than the Ninjas.

I agree with your point on almost everything (except Annul, I'm really not a fan. :P) Glad my suggestions were appreciated anyway!

By the way, I'm not sure if it could work in your deck, but what do you think about 1-2 Declaration of Naught in your sideboard?

The other problem with Glen Elendra Archmage that I forgot to mention before is that any bouncing I do (e.g. from Familiar's Ruse or from a Ninja of the Deep Hours) would then mean replaying it.

That means hypothetically we have:

Turn 7: Cast Archmage. Use its ability (now a 1/1)Turn 8: Use Ninja, return archmage, recast it with mana ready to use its ability (7 mana required).

That means if we return it using Familiar's Ruse, we're "losing" out on another return (card draw, most likely from either Faerie Miscreant or the Ninja of the Deep Hours), or card replacement (the Clique), but gaining the use of a counterspell. Only now that counterspell has cost us an additional 5 mana. It means it's an incredibly late-game play for a deck that wants to be playing multiple small threats and protecting them with countermagic.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great card and actually has synergy with the deck, but if I could I think I would rather run Faerie Miscreant #8's 5-8 rather than Archmage 1-4.

Declaration of Naught is actually a card I had forgotten about entirely. It's good and works well against decks like Twin, Tron, and even helps shore up problem matchups in interesting ways (letting you cheaply say "No" to token producers in token decks, etc).

The thing about the Declaration is that it costs 2 mana to cast, and is pro-actively good against certain things, while prompting you to keep mana open... and is vulnerable to removal such as Dromoka's Command and Abrupt Decay which are often run maindeck. I've not tried to size it up properly (I'll have to give the different matchups more thought), but I think that it might be worthy of inclusion if you are worried about Living End and Twin, but we are already relatively strong in those matchups (cheap unconditional counters, and even cheaper counters that hit both "combo" pieces).

If I wanted to hit Tron planeswalkers (the main worry), I'd run Pithing Needle in the sideboard instead. If we ran Gitaxian Probe, then the declaration might be stronger, but as it is, we don't know if they'll ever draw it, and the necessity of keeping one mana open as well makes it an iffy inclusion against all of the non-combo matchups. It's an interesting card, and I think I'll mull it over some more before dismissing it completely.

You're right, but if you side it in just when you're against a combo deck, you should not have removal problems. I don't recall right now a combo deck (Twin, Ad Nauseam, Living End, etc.) which runs those things. As you said, it's worth a try! :)

Love the deck but I'm not sure exactly why you're using faeries. I don't think that spellstutter sprite is a good enough reason to run cards such as zephyr sprite as a four-of. I would for sure add some lords. Definitely Scion of Oona, maybe Mistbind Clique. I really like familiar's ruse, an underrated card.

The rationale goes something like this:

The ideal game opening (in an aggressive matchup with little interaction and where bounce is useful) with us on the play goes:

• T1: Faerie.
• T2: Ninja of the Deep Hours, Draw a card.
• T3: Faerie, possibility of counter.

Obviously, you don't always want that up. Other times, the "ideal" situation when you need to be controlling would be:

• T1: Faerie
• T2: Do nothing. React with Spellstutter, counter any spell they play.
• T3: Mistblade the spellstutter. Repeat.

It makes Familiar's Ruse better, strengthens our equipment (by making it easier to cast + equip on the same turn), and so on.

The end result is that Zephyr Sprite ends up fighting with cards like Hypnotic Siren, Ornithopter, Gudul Lurker and Signal Pest, and Zephyr Sprite with its synergy with Spellstutter (a single one being able to be used 2-3 times in a single game, due to Ninja or Ruse interactions) is a stronger option than any of the other 1- or 0- drops.

I'm thinking of putting in my copy of Sword of Fire and Ice instead of Aqueous Form to improve their late-game utility, but I think we need at least 6, and preferably 8 1-drops. It also helps keep counter mana open.

As an aggro-control deck, keeping mana open while playing threats is very difficult, and without cantrips like Remand leading into Cryptic Command, the only real source of early card advantage if we end up without Ninja of the Deep Hours or multiple Faerie Miscreants is re-using the Spellstutter, so that's definitely plan B.

I'm waiting for most of the cards to arrive still, so I'll tell you how it plays out shortly.

Makes total sense, but I would definitely recommend going up to 4 familiar's ruse and adding faerie lords. I think the card it is really battling with is phantasmal bear, which is definitely better in a vaccuum. I like where you're going with the faerie tribal, but to make it more consistent without the sprites, I'd for sure add some mistbind cliques, which go with your gameplan anyway, since you want to play stuff on their turn. I also think you could definitely not have Higure in your deck, since you have to tap out to ninjutsu and I would probably rather draw an extra card than a ninja, especially if you add cryptic command, which is not budget but very very good. I really think a monoblue faeries with ninjutsu could be great in modern. I would keep in the aqueous forms and find something else to replace with sofi, since only one ninjutsu hit isn't really that powerful. You either get a vapor snag or a worse electrolyze if you can't continue to capitalize on your ninjas. SoFI is definitely a good addition though.

I've dropped a single Zephyr Sprite and a single Aqueous Form for Familiar's Ruse #4 and a single Sword of Fire and Ice.

I don't have the money to invest in Cryptic Commands right now, and probably won't until/if they see a big reprint.

Higure, the Still Wind would almost certainly be better as a Mistbind Clique, but I don't have one to slot in right now. Perhaps at some point in the future.

I agree that a single Ninjitsu hit doesn't sound great on its own, so I'm a little split over which plan is better. I'll experiment with both and work it out. The plan at the moment is to try and land a ninja, bounce a blocker using a Vapor Snag, then counter threats as they play them to keep hitting. If that fails, you can Familiar's Ruse the Ninja back to your hand, or simply play another one.

The hope is after an extra draw or two, you'll end up with enough answers to their threats to run their hand out. On the draw, you start to play control (if you have the hand to) until you can land and protect a threat. This is why Spell Pierce is so essential - it stops cards like Liliana of the Veil and lets you protect multiple faeries against cards like Pyroclasm or Anger of the Gods. Spellstutter Sprite is much worse on the draw than the play, meaning that you're really looking to get the most out of a Ninja more than a Sprite, and so more power like Cryptics would help. Still... This is all theory until I can put it together to test it.

Sounds like a really good plan. I'd load up the deck you would get once you squire the cash and playtest it by yourself on tappedout. It's a really synergistic strategy, I like it. Your gameplay idea seems really solid.

Hey saw your list registered on mtgtop8. Is this you? http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10545&d=260339&f=MO

It is not me, however Ninja/Faeries is an archetype that has existed in some form or another for a fair while. I commented on the MTG Salvation thread saying that I didn't like the mana base and the sideboard, and had some questions about the Faerie emphasis.

Cool, never knew the deck existed, but it's cool to see a brew doing well (I'm probably the most brew-ey deck builder ever). I'm wondering, how does this deck play? Is it an aggresive deck that aims to win turn four or more of a tempo deck? Also, how about cryptic and disrupting shoal?

I'm still putting it together, so take this with a grain of salt, but...

Cryptic is too expensive for my budget at the moment. If they ever drop to Remand-level prices, I might end up picking some up, but sadly I have to play without them at the moment.

Cryptic is good, but loading up on them has the potential of throwing off your early game, which is the most important part of the game in most matchups. Against decks like Jund and even Tron, it comes online too late to stop them from getting match dominance, meaning running a full 4 would be a bad idea. I would think 1-2 in the main (possibly one replacing the Deprive, unsure on the other) would be good and improve the deck.

Shoal is the opposite of Cryptic - it's good at securing the early game, but bad at securing the late game, as it's a worse Logic Knot. I also considered it, but factoring in price, I did not consider it too heavily.

If I were going to, I would suggest that in almost every case when you counter a card, a slower line of play keeping up 1 or 2 mana for one of the other counterspells would usually be better.

The deck is so focused on its 1 and 2 mana blue cards that the only 3's and 4's are the single Vendilion Clique, and the two Ninjas - Ninja of the Deep Hours and Mistblade Shinobi.

We're not aggressive enough to gain advantage from the short-term benefit of countering a 1 or 2 cmc spell, and unlike Force of Will, it gives us almost no ability to stop an early combo. As such, I think it's sub-par without changing the deck around it. Adding in some 3 cmc cards like Scion of Oona and another few 4 cmc cards (Cryptic Command, Mistbind Clique) would probably work to allow you to slot in 2-3 Disrupting Shoal, but instead of running the fourth, I would consider Logic Knot, which will almost always be better than the second Shoal.

... but what do you swap them for? The bread and butter of this deck is Spellstutter Sprite, Faerie Miscreant and Familiar's Ruse, so you swap out the Zephyr Sprites, the Deprive, a singleton Vapor Snag, and possibly moving a Spell Pierce to the sideboard.

The "problem" again is that the Zephyr sprites help secure your early game. I don't know how big of a problem that would be just yet because I've not finished putting the deck together in its final form. It's been a lot of fun in every other iteration I've tried, but before this it has not been all that competitive. This was my attempt to change that.

How has this done at your FNM? It looks very well done!

How has this done at your FNM? It looks awesome!

Sorry for asking twice. It glitched out I guess...

I missed Modern night to go to a birthday, so I'm going to take it again next month.

It got banned from our casual table after a few games, so it ought to be at least slightly competitive, but I can't say just how much yet.

I might try and put it together and test it out in MtGO, but I'm not a big fan of the client.

It was very enjoyable in semi-casual play.

Do you think that I could replace the Vendilion Clique with anything? I currently don't have one and don't plan on spending money on it.

Consider a Mistbind Clique or a Scion of Oona as your first choices. After that you're looking at the following:

• Glen Elendra Archmage
• Sower of Temptation
• Zephyr Sprite #4

Any of them would work fairly well. The worry with Scion is that it turns off your ability to self-bounce with Vapor Snag and your ability to equip the Sword of Fire and Ice - which is the main reason it's included in the deck (to buff faeries), meaning that the Mistbind Clique is probably the strongest choice as a replacement. It also gets to be played safely against a lot of decks earlier because of the ETB effect, meaning you won't need to hold up as much mana to counter possible plays.

If you end up putting the deck together, tell me how it goes for you?

Sure thing! Thanks for the advice!

The other card that might be worth considering in its place is Cryptic Command if you have any. If you also swap the Deprive out for two copies, it would be reliable enough to run in the main deck. I didn't think to recommend it before because of the budgetary concerns associated with the Clique, but if you happen to have a copy or two lying around, it would also sit quite well in the deck.

Ok. I just proxied up the deck, and I'm having some problems:

1. I'm either getting mana flooded or short on mana.
2. I never seem to get creatures. Mabye it's my shuffling, but I can't get anything.

Also, I just realized: how do you play the deck? Is it a tempo deck with creatures and counters, or purely control? I'd appreciate it if you responded asap. Thank you for looking at my problems. I want this deck to do well, as I love rouge decks, but I just wanted to post questions that I had.(btw I totally forgot to +1 this ;) )

I've not had the mana problems you describe, but if you really struggle, try adding in some more man-lands. In rough order of preference (but you need to be careful of colourless lands - balance them by removing ghost quarters):

• Blinkmoth Nexus
• Mutavault
• Faerie Conclave

Secondly, you have to be prepared to mulligan quite aggressively if you don't start with a playable hand. I'm not 100% set on the counter suite, as it's fantastic when it plays well, but is also a cause of mulligans.

It depends on the deck you are playing against and the state that you expect the board to be in over the next few turns. It is never a pure control deck (it doesn't have inevitability), but you will often be forced to play control until you draw into a decent threat that you can keep around.

You should only rush when you're out of answers for the opponent's threats. That means once you have your threat landed, you want to focus on defending it rather than landing more threats - the deck does not have creature parity vs. most other decks - even Dark Confidant and Snapcaster Mage will trade with our Ninjas.

It plays similarly to a more typical Faeries deck. Spellstutter Sprite can be run out as a 1/1 flyer at the end of their turn if you're confident that they don't have removal for it and/or you have another answer in hand.

In its current form, the deck is 1/3 creatures - you ought to draw roughly the same number of creatures as lands. Factoring in the two man-lands, you should always have something on the board, as we're basically at a 20/20/20 split of creatures/lands/spells.

If you continue to have problems (I had a few test games today, and everything went relatively well), consider swapping a Scion of Oona for a Familiar's Ruse. It's narrower and is something of a nombo with a few of our cards, but it's also a threat, increases your clock, and even counters "uncounterable" removal (e.g. Abrupt Decay).

I think the deck could do with a second sword in place of a Warclub, but I've not managed to test enough myself to be certain.