Hi, thank you a lot for sharing this! I am just coming back to Magic after a looooong time and I was looking around for a faeries deck after I heard it was a thing a couple of weeks ago. Everything I saw was insanely expensive and this looks interesting while still affordable. Out of curiosity, do you think it would be able to compete with a Challenger deck? I mean, is it at a comparable tier level or does it risk being outclassed? Anyway, thanks, I appreciate M.

Hey, thanks for checking out the deck! If I had to rank this deck in a competitive format, I would say that it's comparable to an Aether Revolt standard deck or slightly better with a few upgrades. I don't know how long you've been away, but Aether Revolt standard was one of the strongest rotations in recent history (with a few turn 4 combo decks, turn 4 aggro decks, and powerful midrange decks) so I believe it would be able to keep up with any recent challenger decks, especially with any upgrades (like Fatal Push, lands, Brazen Borrower).

Always a pleasure to see something new and get to discuss it with the creator ^_^

How long I've been away? Gosh... I started playing Beta and stopped when Pyrexia was repulsed. I'm one of those old grumps that remember seeing Arabian Nights boosters on the shelves!!

Hi, I modified the list a bit (not because I think there's anything wrong with it but simply because the deck is for my 10y.o. daughter to bash my son ^_^ I'm not gonna spend 80/90 bucks for that!) Can I ask you what do you think of it?

• Mainboard
• 4*Changeling Outcast
• 4*Faerie Miscreant
• 4*Nightshade Stinger
• 4*Oona's Blackguard
• 4*Quickling (to recover other creatures with interesting ETB effects)
• 4*Spellstutter Sprite
• 4*Scion of Oona
• 3*Silkbind Faerie (like Pestermite but permanently on the battlefield)
• 4*Stinkdrinker Bandit
• 2*Faerie Tauntings (to go with all those Flash creatures and instants)
• 4*Faerie Trickery
• 2*Faerie Conclave
• 7*Island
• 2*Secluded Glen
• 6*Swamp
• 4*Unclaimed Territory
• Sideboard
• 3*Peppersmoke (against Swarm/Jund/etc.)
• 3*Hypnotic Sprite
• // Mesmeric Glare (protection from Combo or Burn)
• 4*Thieving Sprite (for Control)
• 3*Morsel Theft (to recover from Aggro)
• 2*Notorious Throng (is this worth only in multiplayers?)

Also, what do you think of any of the following? Would they be worth including?

• Faerie Seer or Thieves' Fortune (to manipulate my draw)
• Thornwind Faeries (nice utility ability)
• Latchkey Faerie (I don't know why but I like it, with the cantrip and whatnot)
• Faerie Macabre
• Sower of Temptation (seems interesting with big beasts decks)
• Faerie Formation (to help growing the field) My problem is that I wouldn't know what to sub them for -.-

Anyway, she's so happy to finally have her Faeries that you shouldn't be surprised to receive a parchment starting you received a vote to become the next Arch-Chancellor of the Unseen University ^_~

Sure thing! I'm going to be looking at this from the perspective of someone who wants to make the deck as "competitive" as possible; I won't talk about stuff like flavor and such because then all of my opinions would clash and you'd be confused. >.<

In the main deck:

I like Quickling, but I would change those Silkbind Faeries back to Pestermite, because even though Silkbind is reusable, it uses up mana and takes a turn to get the effect. Pestermite, while only a single-use creature, gives you an immediate effect and has a more flexible ability that can tap opposing lands, untap one of your own lands to play another creature or leave up counterspell mana, untap one of your creatures to block, etc. whereas Silkbind can only tap creatures. I can't tell you how many times I've saved myself from a turn 4 sweeper or other removal spell by flashing in Pestermite on an opponent's upkeep and tapping down one of their splash colors. Also, the difference between a spell that does something on turn 3 and a spell that sits around on turn 3 then takes mana to do something on turn 4 is huge in Modern (I realize your daughter will be playing against Standard Challengers, but there's still a big difference there).

Faerie Trickery: As an aggressive deck, you want to deal with threats for as little mana as possible, even if the effect is only temporary; that way, you can play your offensive spells on top of the removal and continue to push pressure onto your opponent. This is somewhat less of a deal when you have flash creatures (makes threat evaluation a bit easier), but I've found that it still works far better to keep the cmc of removal spells low. So, I suggest you replace Faerie Trickery with Mana Leak. Exile effects won't matter as much when the deck is as proactive as this one is, so it's better to take the lower cmc and easier-to-cast colors of Mana Leak.

As for Faerie Tauntings, I just don't think it's a very good card. Three mana is a lot for a card that doesn't do much the turn it comes into play. In my opinion, it would be better to just play a couple Vapor Snag in its spot, since this deck needs a few creature removal spells to keep up with other aggressive decks. A 4:2 or 3:3 split of Vapor Snag:Mana Leak would be preferable, actually.

In the sideboard:

Peppersmoke: Generally, when building sideboards you want every card to have as much of an affect on a specific matchup as possible. Peppersmoke is just not that type of card, haha. Fun fact: against Jund specifically, Peppersmoke is pretty bad since it counts as two card types in the graveyard for Tarmogoyf, which means the creature is literally unkillable (even if it's a 0/1) and gets a +2/+2 buff if you try to do so! If you want more creature removal, I suggest playing something more powerful, like Echoing Truth (deals with tokens well), Fatal Push if you can spare the money, Victim of Night, Dismember.

Hypnotic Sprite: This is, once again, not a great sideboard card. You do not want to counter Burn spells with a 3 mana counter (3 mana spent vs 1 mana spent = mana lost and a whole turn spent on your part), and the combo decks I know of will either kill before turn 3 (Neoform combo) or have a >3 cmc spell as their most important combo piece (Past in Flames in Storm, Ad Nauseam). These 3 card slots are much better used by Duress, Spell Pierce, Negate, or Dispel since they cover the same matchups and more for a lower cmc.

Thieving Sprite: They're okay, but I wouldn't play more than 2 of them. This is another example of a card whose function can be covered by a lower cmc card (Duress). Also, Earwig Squad is a really good card in the control matchups since you can search their deck to preemptively take out removal or win conditions, and it can't be hit by Fatal Push.

Notorious Throng: To answer your question, no, the card can definitely be worth it in single player formats. Especially if you're pitting this deck up against a Standard deck. In fact, I would totally play three of them in the main if I knew I was playing against a Standard deck. But putting that aside, the card is very good in midrange matchups, like Jund and them. It's very difficult for black-based midrange to deal with tokens because of their reliance on one-for-one removal; a card that makes a bunch of tokens that fly and occasionally force discards is crazy good against them. Not to mention the Prowl ability on it. shiver

As for the other cards in your list, I think Thieves' Fortune, Latchkey Faerie, and Faerie Macabre are the best of the bunch (that's why they're in the original deck, haha). Macabre is a great graveyard hate card, and Latchkey is very good if you want to take the deck along a more aggressive path; creatures that cantrip, like Silvergill Adept and Elvish Visionary, have always been a staple of their respective tribe archetypes. The only thing that makes me particularly hesitant about playing Faerie Seer, Thornwind Faeries, Sower of Temptation, or Faerie Formation is the fact that they don't have the Rogue creature type. Putting them in the deck can lead to inconsistencies, and when two of the three lords only work with Rogues, I would rather not risk it. Of those, I think Sower has the best chance of being a decent sideboard card (because it is one). Don't play Faerie Formation. Its cmc is too high and its ability uses too much mana.

But honestly, if you think any of those cards would be good includes for their competitive value or flavor or whatnot and you think your daughter might think so too, I say just buy them (if possible) so you and your daughter can play around with numbers yourselves. That's what I did when I bought the deck (I have a set of Latchkey and a set of Cloak and Dagger that have fallen to the wayside lol). When you're trying to decide how best to build a deck, a question which has no definitive answer imo, buying cards like that saves a lot of time; the process of optimizing/customizing a deck to be your own is also a fun activity in itself. But if you want to take my opinion one more time, I believe the best way to navigate the details is to ask your daughter which cards she wants to play with herself, since at the end of the day she's the one whose opinion really matters!

Anyways, I'm really glad your daughter's happy! Have fun with the deck!!!