Faeries, and other comparable instant-speed strategies, are among my favorite to watch in action. There’s so much play on both sides of the table as to what you want to play around or play into, what you need to represent and when you pull the trigger on various effects. People have written entire articles on how to time cards like Mistbind Clique and Vendilion Clique. These are among the decks that generate the most off-board interaction, since there’s so much posturing and representation going on both sides of the table. Given how interesting I think these decks are, you can imagine my excitement when I saw this list from HJ_KAISER:
Sultai Faeries ? Legacy | HJ_KAISER, 5-0 Legacy League
- Creatures (18)
- 1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
- 1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
- 1 Mistbind Clique
- 1 Quickling
- 1 Reclamation Sage
- 1 Sower of Temptation
- 2 Scryb Ranger
- 2 Vendilion Clique
- 4 Deathrite Shaman
- 4 Spellstutter Sprite
- Instants (14)
- 1 Dimir Charm
- 2 Spell Pierce
- 3 Abrupt Decay
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Force of Will
- Sorceries (3)
- 3 Green Sun's Zenith
- Enchantments (3)
- 3 Bitterblossom
- Artifacts (1)
- 1 Umezawa's Jitte
- Lands (21)
- 1 Forest
- 1 Island
- 1 Dryad Arbor
- 1 Verdant Catacombs
- 2 Bayou
- 2 Underground Sea
- 3 Mutavault
- 3 Polluted Delta
- 3 Tropical Island
- 4 Misty Rainforest
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Engineered Explosives
- 1 Umezawa's Jitte
- 2 Engineered Plague
- 2 Flusterstorm
- 3 Fatal Push
- 3 Invasive Surgery
- 3 Surgical Extraction
This deck is trying to be a great many things. First, it’s trying to be a Faeries deck, with Bitterblossoms to provide constant pressure and blockers, backed by Spellstutter Sprite, Vendilion Clique, and Mistbind Clique to apply real pressure and represent even more tricks.
It’s also trying to be a Green Sun's Zenith deck, featuring Dryad Arbor, Deathrite Shaman, and Leovold, Emissary of Trest as primary targets, though Edric, Spymaster of Trest is a fantastic card to pair with Bitterblossom and Scryb Ranger is a good way to trick opponents into losing fights over Deathrite Shaman or attacking into your larger creatures. You can even do cute tricks with Dryad Arbor, using it as a blocker and using Scryb Ranger to safely return Dryad Arbor to your hand to block again next turn. This trick is particularly pertinent against opposing Umezawa's Jittes, which can otherwise get out of hand and shut down this deck.
One of the most important things to note about this deck is the power of Spellstutter Sprite in Legacy. You still have to be a little careful, as cards like Swords to Plowshares in response to the trigger can take you off the requisite number of Faeries to counter the spell you targeted, but you gain immunity to effects like Flusterstorm and Spell Pierce, which can be an important trump in matchups where counterspells are particularly prevalent. On top of that, the ability to leave up Spellstutter Sprite and then flash in something like Scryb Ranger or Vendilion Clique instead is a huge part of how this deck keeps opponents guessing and gets them to play into your strong tempo game.