Fact or Fiction deck Idea Help
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on April 8, 2020, 11:24 p.m. by Icbrgr
Intended for Modern/Casual FNM (not too competitive playgroup)
With Modern Horizons Legalizing Fact or Fiction I have been trying to build around it and Im having trouble.
Im currently brewing in Mono- Artifacts with Buried Ruin/Academy Ruins for accessing the graveyard.... mainly because I dont have any Snapcaster Mage.
Sword of the Meek with Myrs like Myr Retriever seem kinda neat with Thirst for Knowledge in the mix... also have been tinkering with Throne of Empires + Scepter of Empires + Crown of Empires.
Another direction ive looked into was with Skaab Ruinator/Misthollow Griffin with Laboratory Maniac.
TL;DR
Can anyone give me a decklist/shell and or other ideas for using FoF without Snapcaster Mage... I seem to be stuck.
Magnanimous says... #3
The benefit of Fact or Fiction is that you don't need to mess around to make it good, just play it when you need some cards. It is not a graveyard filler and you should not think of it as such, it helps GY synergies but that should always be a bonus and not the reason you play it.
I'd play it in a BUG deck similar to the Legacy BUG decks that plays Nimble Mongoose, Tarmogoyf, counters, and the amazing BG removal suite with Fact or Fiction as top-end to search for silver bullets and feed light graveyard synergies.
I do think storm may like it, but then again Gifts Ungiven + Past in Flames is a match made in heaven.
Your Sword of the Meek idea is really cool. I do think it could vastly improve the Thopter/Sword deck and that would be another good starting point.
April 9, 2020 9:27 a.m.
I agree Magnanimous... the more I brew/playtest FoF the more im seeing that the Graveyard is more of a bonus rather than focus (or at least it can be).... I think thats another aspect of the card that further separates it from Gifts Ungiven; because I get to pick what goes in the graveyard rather than the opponent.
@dingusdingo Thank you so much for really going above and beyond with your comment! Very helpful and will check out your lists.... very thought provoking with the concept of using it alongside cards that fuel from the hand/handsize like Psychatog/Sturmgeist.
April 9, 2020 11:04 a.m. Edited.
dingusdingo says... #5
Sturmgeist could certainly be a use for FoF, keeping a full grip and having it by a flying beatstick.
To expand on my earlier statements, FoF requires your opponents to make a choice regarding the piles. What card goes where in what pile. As we've talked about previously, your opponents can only put cards into a 3-2 pile, a 4-1 pile, or (never) a 5-0 pile. This opens a lot of room for error because the opponent doesn't know what cards you already have. If you look at the Heartbeat list I linked, the basic combo is mana doubler (Heartbeat of Spring or Unbound Flourishing) plus an enabler (Early Harvest or Magus of the Candelabra), and finally a payoff card (In this case, Helix Pinnacle, but it could just as easily be Banefire or Torment of Hailfire, etc.). The value of what you need from the FoF piles changes based on what you have. Imagine your opponent makes a 3-2 pile, the 3 pile is Early Harvest + Helix Pinnacle + Forest, the 2 pile is Heartbeat of Spring + Island. Which pile you take depends on your cards in hand. If you already have your payoff + your enabler, then the opponent split the piles well by making the 2 pile your best choice. If you already have the mana doubler, your opponent has made a mistake by putting both pieces of what you need into the 3 pile. When you build with this in mind, it becomes an exploitable part of the card.
We can simplify it further than that though. Imagine a situation where your opponent has a Serra Ascendant on the board, and happens to have just hit 30 life. You cast Fact or Fiction, and one of the cards is Doom Blade. Your opponent really wants to keep their activated Ascendant, so they give you a 4-1 pile, with the Doom Blade as the 1. If you're already holding a piece of removal in hand, your opponent has incorrectly read the situation and given you the luxury of a 4 pile. You don't have to be on a combo deck for opponents to hang themselves with this card, you just need to have a grip of unknown cards.
Having an opponent make incorrect piles can be amplified with certain deckbuilding choices. This is where graveyard synergy and recursion come in. When you see a Regrowth or a Snapcaster Mage or Mission Briefing, it becomes harder to split piles, as the other pile goes to the zone where these cards can interact with them. These cards in hand make it easier to take 4-1 splits, and has been known to tilt opponents. Nostalgic Dreams is the absolute all-star in this regard, and its really a nut card when playing with FoF in your deck, but it is sadly not modern legal.
Another type of cards that make FoF harder for your opponents are tutors. Tutors allow you to exploit the knowledge of your list against what an opponent thinks you are able to tutor. This is once again further complicated by what you are holding in hand. You just have to keep your tutor in mind while building, and layer the deck so that a tutor is a toolbox answer
Magnanimous is correct though that FoF should not be your go-to graveyard filler. Cards like Commune with the Gods and Mulch are going to outperform it in this regard. What makes it so good is that there are so many little exploitable parts to the card, being instant speed, opponent pile creation, and your own pile selection, possible GY synergies and fill, many cards go to hand, always digs 5 deep and lets you take the best card. Its really the combination of all of these elements that make FoF very good. You can use FoF to great effect in decks without considering these exploitable angles, but decks that are able to feed on these synergies and punish bad pile choices make this card great.
I'd recommend looking at Gifts Ungiven heavily too, which also relies on opponent's making piles for you to select. Many of the strategies and synergies that work well with FoF work extremely well with Gifts. I've written about Gifts extensively on this list Enchantress Storm Harvest.
April 9, 2020 10:50 p.m.
lagotripha says... #6
It is worth glancing at the old Mystical Teachings lists for ideas, as it is a similar spell which likes instant speed and minor graveyard synergy.
Between gifts, fof, and mystical you have an incredible set of four mana card advantage tools, which is great for decks that want to trade and go long- so control and combo lists.
The lack of snappy will be awkward for control, but Mission Briefing can work. The big thing with avoiding snappy is that you can't just copy the deck, you need to make lacking that creature worth it; Polymorph combo or similar card type matters effects to give you an edge that more expensive decks would have to 'give up their best cards' for.
Just keep your playgroup in mind and try to maintain interaction on both sides of the table. Landing an unexpected Night of Souls' Betrayal great, or zero fun at all.
April 11, 2020 7:08 a.m.
I'm still brewing on my end.... but I figured I would share my discovery that Rune Snag/Logic Knot are pretty great to include in a shell/spellpackage when working with FoF...Think Twice is also good when pursuing combos.
If anyone is actually looking to be competitive with FoF though This card has potential to be bonkers... I checked/searched MTG Top8 just to see what the spikey players do with it and it seems dingusdingo was on the right track with FoF seeing most play/success in a simic shell with Ice-Fang Coatl, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, and Wilderness Reclamation.... which seems pretty neat with none of them running Snapcaster Mage.
April 11, 2020 11:49 a.m. Edited.
ThisIsMyAccount says... #8
A large reason Fact or Fiction isn't played is because Cryptic Command usually takes up the four mana slot in decks that would want Fact or Fiction. As great and iconic as it is, FoF just isn't what a lot of control decks want.
I believe FoF can still be playable though in decks that play blue that are not focused on control. You can sort of min/max the value of the card by playing it in decks that use the graveyard to some extent. I wondering if like a simic midrange deck that runs cards like Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Tarmogoyf, and Fact or Fiction could be something worth considering.
I made a pretty sweet modern deck that uses FoF in the mainboard: Knightfall - EOTFOFYL
dingusdingo says... #2
Fact or Fiction is a very good card, but is mostly eclipsed by Gifts Ungiven being in the format for the same cost and more recently . Regardless, I am rather knowledgeable on FoF and will aim to enlighten
Looking at FoF
So what benefits do we get from using FoF?
I have taken the liberties of brewing two lists for you. The first adds FoF to a Pyromancer Ascension build, using Underworld Breach as the graveyard fuel and FoF synergy piece. Facts from the Underworld. The second deck plays around with graveyard recursion to use FoF as a big draw card, Fictitious Heartbeat. Happy brewing
April 9, 2020 4:41 a.m.