[Trick]

Lee brings a new deck and a short PTQ report, what did you think, did you like the deck? Got any ideas for the sideboard?

-- Trick

[imachampion]

Very cool Lee. I have been working on a similar deck. Mine ramps up to Oversoul of Dusk, Deus of Calamity and Chameleon Colossus. All of which can hit on turn 3...and all of which can cripple your opponent. I agree that Fulminator Mage is gaining ground...no pun intended. The more 5 color decks that come out just make him better and better. With out UUU they seem kind of weak because their control element has been taken away.

Great article. What direction are you looking to push the deck?

[leesteht]

I'm not sure I wanted to say this, but here's the sideboard I used:

3 Makeshift Mannequin
4 Poison the Well
1 Cloudthresher
1 Firespout
2 Oversoul of Dusk
2 Profane Command
2 Incrimental Blight

As you can see, I would almost easily dominate 5cg. One of the reasons why I couldn't come back to beat the Faerie deck was the difficulty in cast two cards a turn (which is a strategy in beating control decks). So, here's what I'm looking for next time (if I don't play faeries):

4 Gutteral Response
1 Firespout
3 Incrimental Blight
4 Poison the Well
3 Makeshift Mannequin

In the Kithkin matchup, Oblivion Ring hurt quite a bit. Faeries hit me with multiple counterspells, I know G. Response only does Blue Instance but maybe that will be enough to help.

I believe that Oversoul and Deus are too expensive to have more than 2 of, while I think Oona is better overall.

Basically, what I'm saying is I'm not sure if there is any better way to go. The deck might be as good as it can get. :(

[Trick]

What does Poison the Well do. Just additional LD against 5cg? Or is there another purpose? Not questioning, just curious.

[leesteht]

It's additional LD also Direct Damage while you build for an Oona.

[esternaefil]

I think the thing about poison the well is that it isn't mwonvuli acid-moss.  Now, that seems pretty stupid to say, but it's true.  Demolish isn't playable, and demolish is arguably infinitely better than Poison the Well...

I think that you might be better off testing with Drain the Well, I think the lifegain would serve you better than the direct-damage.  doing two damage often won't be critical, but gaining two life could very well be.

Destroying their lands while builing to oona is great, but if it doesn't keep you alive long enough to get to oona, or ramp you there faster, I'm not sure what it's really doing.

My real question is why no Spring Cleaning?  I think that it would solve a lot of issues, it destroys bitterblossoms, oblivion rings, and opposing fertile grounds... but most notably it destroys them all.

I would also consider Farhaven Elf over Devoted Druid.  I know it doesn't get you to four on three, but preboard it's just the one card you are pushing to at four mana (colossus), but what farhaven elf does to is find you black mana and provide you with permanent acceleration.  You might hesitate because you'd be afraid of jamming your three too heavy, and that's fair, I just think it might be worth looking at.

I know that DD is getting a lot of speak, but I think that Farhaven elf is getting underrated a fair bit.

[leesteht]

farhaven is 1 turn slower .

DD gives you 5 mana turn 4 for colossus or even oversoul

[esternaefil]

You mean turn three Oversoul/Colossus?  I understand completely, and you are most likely right, but you are referencing cards that either are only 3-ofs in the maindeck or are not present in the maindeck in the first place.

Especially considering in your revised sideboard you removed the Oversouls outright stating that they are too expensive.  I would suggest then that maybe your reasons for devoted druid being so much better than farhaven elf aren't as paramount as it might seem.  Yes, turn three colossus could easily be very important, but it's still competing with turn three kitchen finks, and turn three fulminator mages... Maybe developing towards a bit of a less 'explosive' open looking for more gradual advantage and being able to grind yur opponent better...

I could be wrong, and I think that DD is GREAT!  I'm not suggesting that, I'm just trying to think of new ways to build the deck.  You did go 3-3, which is not to suggest that you did not play correctly.  If you played well, then maybe the problem was the deck.  Just because De Rosa (lol) built it does not imply that the deck is unchangeable.

If you already tested it though, and found that Farhaven is in fact too slow for this metagame (which it might be) then you can disregard this... I'm just trying to think of alternatives to the things that clearly don't work :P

[leesteht]

haha! I loved your feedback.

I'm sure that 3-3 was definitely me. However, I wanted to say that we did test Oona, Oversoul, and Colossus and all of them fit at one time or another. Our 3 ofs were due to me being unsure. However, IF turn 3 was the soonest we could get heavyweight threats such as these down, in addition to fulminator and finks, then we wanted turn 3 to be HUGE. Faeries' key play is t2 (in my opinion) as playing a bitterblossom determines what mode it will go into. Since no other deck in the format can really set it's tone based on turn 2 then obviously turn 3 was the next best thing

As far as the comments on Antonino is concerned, his network expands much further and at a better level than 99% of people in the world (obviously regarding magic). IF he recommends a deck to me I will most certainly listen. However, I am always open to changing (which is what the version you see is a changed version of the original).

I truly believe that the problem with people who want to be competitive at MTG do NOT listen to sound advice enough, because (we being intelligent people) tend to doubt others.