Faerie Rogue Tribal

Modern Aggro Budget Primer Tempo UB (Dimir)

hungry000

Creature (35)

• 2x Brazen Borrower
• 4x Changeling Outcast
• 4x Faerie Mastermind
• 4x Faerie Miscreant
• 4x Nightshade Stinger
• 4x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Pestermite
• 4x Scion of Oona
• 4x Spellstutter Sprite
• 4x Stinkdrinker Bandit

Land (21)

• 4x Choked Estuary
• 6x Island
• 4x Secluded Courtyard
• 5x Swamp
• 2x Unclaimed Territory

Instant (4)

• 4x Fatal Push

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Sideboard

Sorcery (7)

• 2x Bloodchief's Thirst
• 2x Duress
• 1x Morsel Theft
• 2x Noggin Whack

Creature (4)

• 2x Earwig Squad
• 2x Faerie Macabre

Artifact (2)

• 2x Nihil Spellbomb

Instant (2)

• 2x Spell Pierce

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Maybeboard

Creature (4)

• 1x Faerie Duelist
• 1x Latchkey Faerie
• 1x Merfolk Windrobber
• 1x Soaring Thought-Thief

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Notorious Throng

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For those of you budget Magic players who want to play U/B Faeries but don't have the dough to get Bitterblossoms, fear not! There are still ways to play! This is a budget U/B tribal aggro deck that uses the Faerie and Rogue Lords along with evasive Faerie Rogues to get the best of both creature types.

This deck is a great alternative for Mono U Faeries players who like multiplayer Magic. Mono U is a tempo deck, but since tempo depends on incremental advantages over a single opponent to win they tend to really suck in games with several players. To remedy that weakness, this deck focuses on aggression by adding Rogues for a higher damage output and uses tempo cards to supplement them. Faerie Rogues has the potential to deal some ridiculous amounts of damage (see section about Notorious Throng below)!

Overall, Faerie Rogue Tribal is a fairly powerful and fun deck to play casually. If you have an itch to play Faeries for cheap, don't want to get stomped in multiplayer games, or just want to play a different take on Faeries or Rogues, this is a solid choice!

Note: List shown above is for a ~$100 budget. Please look in the Alternate Builds section for lower budget versions or peruse the primer to see budget alternates for specific cards.

Creatures

The Foot Soldiers:

Faerie Miscreant - The best one-drop Faerie Rogue available.

Nightshade Stinger - Has a downside, but is still a Faerie Rogue, which is the most important thing.

Changeling Outcast - It's a Nightshade Stinger that's unblockable!

Oona's Prowler - Two mana for a three power flyer is very strong. The second ability is sometimes a downside, but in the grand scheme of things discarding a card to its ability is a 1-for-0, which as you know is not a very good deal for your opponent. Just watch out for Madness, Dredge, or other such decks that can take advantage of it.

Budget Options: Quickling, Faerie Vandal, Surveilling Sprite, Nightveil Sprite.

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Interactive Creatures:

Spellstutter Sprite - This helps protect creatures from removal, counter threats, etc. A timely Spellstutter Sprite can win games if it hits an important spell.

Note: In an interactive meta (ie if you play against removal often) you can cut a Bloodchief's Thirst to go up to 4 Spellstutter Sprite. If budget is an issue, the deck will still function well if you cut them completely.

Pestermite - The ability to tap opposing blockers and lands on the end step, tap attackers, or untap our own lands in order to dump more power on the board is quite useful.

Brazen Borrower - This card is a good beater and a removal spell in one. The Petty Theft adventure on it can be used to bounce a big threat, then when you're out of cards to play it can come back from exile at instant speed to be a threat itself.

Budget Option: Play 2 Pestermite, Latchkey Faerie or Dewdrop Spy instead.

These three creatures allow the deck to play a tempo game while maintaining the same level of aggression, giving it a better edge against interactive decks.

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Lords:

Oona's Blackguard - Blackguard is slower than the other lords, but the discard is very relevant in grindier matchups. It powers up the one-drops significantly, making it less painful to draw them late, and it's nuts with Notorious Throng. It's also a Faerie Rogue itself, which makes it an auto-include.

Scion of Oona - Buffs and gives most of our creatures (the sole exception being Stinkdrinker Bandit) hexproof at instant speed. Two of these on the battlefield lock the opponent out of targeting our Faeries altogether.

Budget Option: You may replace the Scions with Earwig Squad and/or Latchkey Faerie.

Stinkdrinker Bandit - This is what allows the deck to win on turn 4 and burst your opponents down from high life totals. It's an alpha strike with a wide board and it can also be played on turn 2, which is a nice discount for its upgraded power buff.

Honorable Mentions Show

These are the cards that you might be scratching your head and wondering, "Why aren't they in the main?" about. If you want to see other deck lists that use these cards, check out the Alternate Builds section below!

Latchkey Faerie - Latchkey is a very strong Faerie Rogue just because it's a tribal cantrip creature; as seen in Merfolk with Silvergill Adept, the ability to put a body on the field without loss of card advantage is extremely good. However, it is a really bad topdeck when you can't get in attacks for Prowl.

Earwig Squad - It's a big body with a useful ability, but it's not a Faerie, so it can cause some inconsistencies with the deck's Faerie payoffs. That's not to say it's impossible to play it in the main deck, though.

Faerie Vandal - This card has potential, but is underwhelming compared to the other creatures without more support for its ability.

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Spells

Removal:

Vapor Snag - The best budget one-mana removal spell one can play in these colors. The damage it deals provides extra reach and it can bounce a creature to protect it or reuse its enter the battlefield trigger (ex. Spellstutter Sprite).

Bloodchief's Thirst - This is a newer card from Zendikar Rising. It's a versatile spell that does a fairly good Fatal Push impression, which is perfect for a budget deck like this one.

Upgrade: Fatal Push, more Brazen Borrower.

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Card Advantage:

Thieves' Fortune - A sorcery-speed, 1 mana Impulse. Its card selection and cheap mana cost make it a very powerful cantrip.

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For Multiplayer/Casual play:

Notorious Throng - You won't get to Prowl this card very often given the deck's lower land count; it's mostly used to make chump blockers, get out of stalled board states (when there isn't enough power on board to kill them and their crackback is more than yours), and simply as a way to go wide and confirm the victory. It's most useful in multiplayer where the game goes longer, but it's a decent card in 1v1 as well. If you play kitchen table Magic often, I would recommend playing two copies.

Honorable Mentions Show

Morsel Theft - Morsel Theft is decent but pretty linear in its uses. It is currently in the sideboard because it doesn't impact the board in the early turns (which are generally the most important ones), but if you know you'll be playing against other aggressive decks like Burn you could definitely put some in the main.

Noggin Whack - This card is essentially a Wrench Mind that hits your opponent's 2nd and 3rd worst cards rather than their worst and 2nd worst. That's pretty good, especially against Control and Midrange decks, but the problem is that most of the time you want to be playing a creature on turn 2; having nothing but a Nightshade Stinger on turn 3 makes it a lot harder for this deck to win in a timely manner. So you don't want to play this card early, and unless you're playing against a slower deck, you won't get as much value out of Noggin Whack in subsequent turns.

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Sideboard

The sideboard above is a general list that I created with respect to the current Modern metagame. If you have questions about the sideboard or would like some help tuning your sideboard for your local game store, feel free to ask me! I'll be glad to help.

Duress, Noggin Whack - For control and other interactive decks, which are generally a harder matchup. Noggin Whack is especially good against black-based midrange decks, since they win by trading 1-for-1 then out-valuing you in the mid-game and Whack is an automatic 2-for-1.

Spell Pierce - For extra protection against removal, sweepers, and planeswalkers.

Earwig Squad - For combo, Tron, or just to get rid of any pesky removal spells.

Faerie Macabre, Nihil Spellbomb - For graveyard decks.

Morsel Theft - On-theme lifegain to hedge the aggro matchup.

Ceremonious Rejection - For Tron and Affinity.

Sideboard Upgrades: Show

Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek

Relic of Progenitus/Surgical Extraction

Fatal Push

Collective Brutality

Force of Negation/Flusterstorm

Notorious Throng, 184 dmg on Turn 5

So, you may have noticed some references to Notorious Throng in previous sections. To clear up any potential confusion, the deck list above is what I deem to be the best in 1v1, but in multiplayer games I like to put in 1 or 2 Notorious Throng, which increases the damage ceiling by a lot; in fact, you can kill 10 other players at full health by turn 5 with it! The ideal hand with Notorious Throng goes something like this:

1. 1-drop (e.g. Faerie Miscreant)

2. Prowl out a Stinkdrinker Bandit

3. Prowled Stinkdrinker Bandit, 1-drop

4. Attack for 22 (sending one player to the grave :D), play Notorious Throng and get 22 tokens

5. Play a third Stinkdrinker before combat. Now each 1/1 attacks for 7 and the 2 not-summoning-sick Stinkdrinkers attack for 8, a total of 184 damage! (210-214 if counting previous turns)

Of course, all that is assuming other players don't interact with you at all. Which is unlikely, but possible!

Alternate builds

While the Faerie Rogue creature type doesn't have quite enough relevant cards to make many different decks, you can move the focus of the deck around a bit; for example, you could play more Spellstutter Sprite for a tempo focus, or cut them altogether for an aggro focus. In this section, I'll give you my recommendations for tweaking the deck one way or the other.

Here I'll list the changes for you to make at your own discretion. Scroll to the bottom if you would like to see some of the budgeted lists I cooked up myself. Prices are in gold! (last updated 9/21/21)

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More Aggro, More Rogues

-4 Scion of Oona, +4 Faerie Vandal

-2 Pestermite, -1 Thieves' Fortune, -1 Spellstutter Sprite; +4 Latchkey Faerie

-2 Brazen Borrower, +2 Morsel Theft

-1 Oona's Prowler, +1 Peppersmoke

This build still has access to tempo cards in Spellstutter Sprite, but cuts Scion of Oona and Pestermite in favor of more aggressive Rogues and a lower curve. Latchkey Faerie, Morsel Theft, and Peppersmoke are added to supplement Faerie Vandal's triggered ability.

(-$75 when compared to original list)

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More Tempo, More Faeries

-4 Oona's Blackguard OR Stinkdrinker Bandit; +1 Spellstutter Sprite, +1-2 Mana Leak, +1-2 Faerie Duelist, +1-2 Quickling

-2 Nightshade Stinger, +2 Quickling

-0-2 Pestermite, +0-2 Brazen Borrower

-1 Oona's Prowler, +1 Island

To be honest, the stock list is already leaning towards the tempo side of things, so there's not all that much to change without cutting the Rogue part altogether.

(-$6 or +$40 depending on # of Brazen Borrower)

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More Tempo, More Rogues

-4 Scion of Oona; +4 Soaring Thought-Thief

-4 Nightshade Stinger, +4 Thieves' Guild Enforcer

-4 Faerie Miscreant, +4 Mana Leak

-4 Changeling Outcast, +4 Drown in the Loch

-3 Spellstutter Sprite, +3 Merfolk Windrobber

This version of the deck cuts pretty much all the Faerie cards for counterspells and the Rogue lord from Zendikar Rising, Soaring Thought-Thief. Here's a $20 build: $20 Tempo Rogues

(-$50)

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No Faeries, Just Rogues! (not actually. we're still playing faeries here.)

-4 Nightshade Stinger, -2 Spellstutter Sprite; +4 Faerie Vandal, +2 Vampire Cutthroat

-4 Scion of Oona, +4 Latchkey Faerie

-2 Pestermite, +2 Oona's Prowler

-2 Thieves' Fortune, -1 Spellstutter Sprite; +1-3 Earwig Squad, +0-2 Brazen Borrower

(opt. -2 Vapor Snag, +2 Morsel Theft)

Rather than tribal synergy or tempo, this build focuses on pooping out creatures with a higher than average power:cmc ratio (like a Stompy deck, in a sense). Note that this doesn't completely cut Faeries out of the equation, because then it would just be Rogue tribal, so Spellstutter Sprite can be moved to the sideboard as a tech card.

(-$45 or +$36 depending on # of Brazen Borrower bought)

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No Spells, Just Faerie Rogues!!!

-4 Vapor Snag, +4 Faerie Vandal

-2 Thieves' Fortune, -2 Peppersmoke, -1 Pestermite; +4 Latchkey Faerie, +1 Spellstutter Sprite

-1 Pestermite, -1 Oona's Prowler; +2 Brazen Borrower or Earwig Squad

Basically cut all the noncreature spells to play creatures. I can't speak for the competitivity of this one (removal is pretty important in Modern) but if you want to play literally every good Faerie Rogue this is a good way to do so.

(pretty much same price unless buying more Brazen Borrower)

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ULTRA BUDGET

Scion of Oona --> Latchkey Faerie

Brazen Borrower --> Pestermite or Earwig Squad

Oona's Prowler --> Quickling or Faerie Duelist

This replaces some of the more expensive cards with less expensive cards (wow). The first alternate build is also very budget friendly.

Here's a Rogue deck with a BAD Goblin twist!

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Bad Moon Rogues

Modern hungry000

SCORE: 3 | 872 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS

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And some $15 Budget decks:

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$15 UB Faerie Rogues

Modern hungry000

SCORE: 2 | 222 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS

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$15 Faeries

Modern hungry000

SCORE: 1 | 300 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS

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$15 UB Faeries

Modern hungry000

SCORE: 2 | 161 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS

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$15 Tempo Rogues

Modern hungry000

96 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

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Top Ranked	Achieved #17 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern 4 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	7 months
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 12 - 2 Rares 18 - 4 Uncommons 17 - 9 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.97
Folders	things i like, Want to make, Budget, WOW!!!, Decks, Faeries, My Brews, Budget Tribal, Modern, Budget decks