So, here is my present build of this deck, which is trying fairly hard to take away people's mana, because all decks are Stax decks, even Faeries. Anyways, Exhaustion and Mistbind Clique are very good at locking up resources, and a 4/4 that can swing and then block when the combo of Mistbind and Nephalia Smuggler go off. It is open to instant speed interaction, but we've also got a few counters in the deck to try to preserve the combo long enough for a 4/4 to close things. If the deck doesn't assemble a combo, just putting out Mistbinds and casting Exhuastions makes an opponent very frustrated, and the small evasive faeries can add up as long as my counters stop opponents from winning faster. If I can set up a Vendilion Clique under my Mistbind, that can add some spice, but it's usually a 1 drop or a token that gets bounced, though if I am going to combo, I'd just bounce Bitterblossom. I've Mistbinded a Mistbind in testing, and it can be a good play to keep them locked down, hoping to draw into something more relevant while they struggle to cast anything but 1 drops. So, will this fragile and hard to assemble combo do any work, or are my Faeries flying contrary to the winds?
ATM I'm wide open vs creatures, not sure what I'll do about that. Sower of Temptation is a helpful card some games, but I'd hate to run more than 2 in here, and he's about it for dealing with creatures other than making them impossible to actually cast. I might add some Ravenform in here, I don't care much about a 1/1 flyer compared to whatever I exiled, and hitting an artifact can also be relevant.
If it's not clear, this deck's main combo is Mistbind Clique + Nephalia Smuggler
, play Mistbind turn 4, turn 5 use Smuggler to flicker my Mistbind on Opponent's upkeep, preventing them from using existing lands. If you can get an Exhaustion out turn 3, you can truly cripple someone's manabase, where they may have last had access to full mana on turn 2, which sounds super-unpleasant. Because you flicker Mistbind, you can also benefit from another Faerie's ETB, this can be as small as 'draw a card' to adding a Vendilion Clique effect to my repeated Mistbind. Also due to the flicker, you can technically block with Mistbind, a 4/4 is reasonably big, and it's always ready to swing on your turn. The combo doesn't like instants, so I run Spell Pierce and other counters to try to protect it, but if a deck doesn't run instant speed creature hate, it might be in trouble if I can set up.
So, not really sure about the present sideboard, but it's mostly to deal with decks where counters won't cut it. I think I shouldn't need them when the deck is working correctly, but we'll see. I figure on Morsel Theft vs Burn, where I need any edge I can get, including the card, damage and life gain combination for relatively cheap. I assume I'd pull Bitterblossom for it, because paying life is usually a bad idea vs Burn, but if they are more creature based (and lack trample) Faerie Rogues are good chumps.
Burn still feels like it's pretty much a scoop atm, but I do have counters to slow it down a tad, and if they don't draw many instants, Mistbind can prevent them from playing at Sorcery speed. Aggro is an issue if I can't exhaust their resources and they can get a faster clock than a 4/4 out. At least Mistbind is a flyer, and I might have a Bitterblossom to churn out chumps for stuff without trample. If I can stick a Midrange deck on 1 land per turn after turn 2, they are probably not going to win, so I guess I might need to look at making my combo more consistent to improve vs Midrange. Drawing into Exhaustions is usually amazing with this deck after I've got my lock, it not only shaves a mana, it also locks any attackers they have down (if they lack vigilance I guess), potentially speeding up my deck relative to theirs.
