Saiba Cryptomancer

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Brawl Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Saiba Cryptomancer

Creature — Moonfolk Ninja

Flash

Backup 1 (When this creature enters the

battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. If that's another creature, it gains the following ability until end of turn.)

Hexproof

K4nkato on Tinkerbell says “No”

3 months ago

Some thoughts:

Moved Foil to one of my flex slots. Faeries is a deck that unique uses hidden information and cards in hand to force opponents to make uninformed decisions. The threat of Mutagenic Growth turns obvious blocks into potential risks. Brinebarrow Intruder and Saiba Cryptomancer make attacks and removal much more difficult for your opponent. Counterspell gatekeeps when your opponent can commit to an action. Foil adds an extra layer of stress by threatening an opponent even when you’re tapped out. The high MV and expensive alternative cost are notable downsides, but Faeries draws more cards than any other deck in the format. 3-for-1 trades are unprofitable for most decks but Faeries is fast enough and disruptive enough to make it work.

I only recommend running one copy of Foil. The card’s value comes from its scarcity. Opponents who play around Foil are intentionally slowing themselves down and making sub-optimal decisions to fight a card you might not have. Opponents who ignore Foil open themselves up to getting caught by it. This adds another layer of decision making for your opponent, increasing their odds of making a mistake. The more opportunities you give your opponent to mess up, the more games you can win to pilot error.

Foil occasionally puts you in a very difficult spot in mana-screwed games. If you have 2 Islands in play and 1 Island in hand + Foil, you have to ask yourself if you should keep the land for a free counterspell or play it for more mana. I welcome the difficult decision, but this opens you up to mistakes as well. It’s worth practicing these corner cases if you want to play Foil, but I think the risk is worth the reward.

Smoke Shroud is a promising card I decided to cut. This aura allows you to turn Ninja of the Deep Hours into the most jacked Delver of Secrets  Flip you could imagine, but there aren’t enough discard outlets for it. You never want to play it & Faeries doesn’t really mill or discard outside of Foil and Moon-Circuit Hacker. 5 situational sources just isn’t enough to enable this card. I’ll say though, if the Faerie mirror ever becomes a matchup in need of breaking, I think this card will do it. It’s very difficult to permanently answer and forces your opponent to block unprofitably.

I’m debating Force Spike over Spell Pierce in my flex slot, but only because I genuinely don’t know how good Force Spike is.

K4nkato on Tinkerbell says “No”

3 months ago

Changelog: Added 1x Saiba Cryptomancer (the nerdiest magic card name ever. Excelsior!)

1x Smoke Shroud

2x Snaremaster Sprite

1x Faerie Seer

Cut

4x Faerie Miscreant

1x Mutagenic Growth

scotchtapedsleeves on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

10 months ago

Me again, dropping a few more cards that I'm currently playtesting.

Dockside Extortionist - Can definitely understand if you're not running it on principal, extremely strong though.

Ledger Shredder - Also very strong, good card selection. I play a bit more recursion than you so I like discarding creatures, but could have a home here.

The new Backup cards are decent. Can mess with your timing a bit as their backup effect only lasts until EOT so you'd have to activate during the end step.

Mirror-Style Master is expensive but the effect is great, especially if you can give her haste and have her backup someone else.

Saiba Cryptomancer - More backup, 2 mana flashed in hexproof. Not fantastic admittedly as it'll generally come back during end steps, but pumping her up with The Ozolith or other sources has worked well for me.

Scorn-Blade Berserker - More backup! 3 mana + a lamb for two cards? Not bad.

Voldaren Thrillseeker - Backup. Deals damage equal to power for 1 mana, not the best backup. I'm taking scorn blade over her

Terror of the Peaks - I get that you're not running flayer etc. But wanted to bring this card to mind anyway. 5 mana 5/4 flying is fine on its own, but couple it with the fact that it deals damage equal to power on ETB? Very good card.

Thundering Raiju - Lots of direct damage here along with a touch of +1/+1 counter distribution.

Lethal Scheme - Free, instant speed removal that distributes counters? Fantastic.

Reins of Power - Haven't had this one pop off in a game yet, but it seems decent. The most efficient mana:creatures stolen ratio I've been able to find. Only downside is Marchesa can't be on.

Aetherworks Marvel - Haven't had a chance to get this one out either, but free cards? For the measly cost of sacrificing creatures? Sounds good to me

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