Report of the Pauper Challenge champion - Hamuda with Dimir Fairies

My deck choice was based on my frustration from last week's Challenge playing with the Dimir Delver deck. Last week I lost to all the bads matchs: decks with Bonder’s Ornament. For this weekend, I decided on the UB Fairies deck that have been having good results against tron. I did not choose to go with Izzet skred, as I think Dimir has a better match against more aggressive decks, besides that, although they are similar decks, each one has its nuances and I am more trained with Dimir. I took the list that Oscar Franco used to win a challenge, and made a small change: +1 Gurmag Angler, +1 dispel -1 weight, -1 Moonblade Shinobi.

Well, this match is basically managing resources, and making your 2-by-1 cards win theirs, like Spellstuter Sprite, yet Frantic Invetory is inevitable, giving slightly an advantage to the Skred deck. Snuff Out by far is your best card in the match, free interaction in a counter war where it almost always involves a Spellstuter, Snuff shines too much. We can say that at least g1 is even, g2 and g3 is more for Izzet Skred, Pyroblast is a very strong card against us.

Game 1

I was on the draw. My opponent in his first 3 turns made 2 islands, and an Terramorphic Expanse as a third land drop. I made two lands tapped, one being Dismal Backwater while in my turn 3 was an island, so I made a Faerie Seer, leaving the fourth land at the top and one counterspell bottom . I had a Thorn, 2 Stutters and a Counterspell in hand. My opponent's turn 4 was what decided the game: he had 3 islands and a mountain, he then started with pondering, I immediately forced a Stutter, because since he already controls a fairy on the field, he wouldn’t have the option to Skre / lightning Bolt my Farie. We forced himself to use a Counterspell, and then he bolted the seer to not go back with a ninja next turn. As he was tapped, I played [[Thorn of the Black Rose] ] on an empty board, and the rest was controlling the table and win with card advantage.

Sideboard

In: +2 Dispel, +1 Blue elemental Blast, +1 Chainer's edict, +2 Stormbound Geist,+1 Suffocating Fumes;

Out: -2 Counterspell, -2 Ponder, -2 Faerie Seer, -1 Echoing Truth.

Well, although I play a lot this match, I still haven't found anything definitive in and out, so each time I try something different. Definitely 2 Suffocating Fumes is a lot, 3 manas to kill a fairy is not worth it. Chainer's is a card that is counter intuitive, because you imagine that your opponent will have a Stormbound Geist to sacrifice, yet it is 2 for 1 in a match where everything that is 2 for 1 can help you a lot. The main factor of Chainers is to kill the Augur of Bolas. Later on against another Izzet Skred I bring the second one and I realize that it was really good! And I decrease the number of counterspells to try to interact with less mana.

Game 2

In the draw, my opponent mulligan to 5, it was a fast game. Basically the opponent had 3 islands, played a Preordain. I played a stutter, he countered it, however, he fought on the 3 islands. I followed my game, managing to fit 2 ninjas, strangely 1 through a Geist and later another through 1 Augur. As he was far behind and had no way to remove both ninjas, he lost the match.

Game 1

I was in the play this time, t2 made my famous Augur sending 3 bottom. My opponent made his Augur, revealing a Frantic Inventory (showing that it is skred). I guaranteed the third land drop, playing a cantrip, and leaving mana open for Stutter or removal. My opponent then lost the land drop and comes the important analysis: he chose to lose land drop since he could have played Frantic to try to find the third land. I thought he had either CounterSpell or Stuter in his hand and so I force a removal, he then spends a CounterSpell so I couldn't guarantee a ninja (that I didn't have) on the return. T4 I played 1 land tapped, and my opponent found a land, a third island. Now comes the luck of the champion, I had 3 Stutter in hand, and I end up drawing the fourth. The guy doesn’t have red mana to stop them. This gives me an absurd advantage over his moves, making me counter the rest of his moves. Eventually I found a ninja, recursing the same stutter guaranteeing me a victory, my opponent found a mountain in the meantime, but it was too late.

Pós side

In: +2 Dispel, +1 Blue elemental Blast, +1 Chainer's edict, +2 Stormbound Geist,+1 Suffocating Fumes;

Out: -2 Counterspell, -2 Ponder, -2 Faerie Seer, -1 Echoing Truth.

Same Sideboard tech as last one.

Game 2

In the draw, the game starts in the third round where my opponent starts by weighting; in response I make a Stutter and he spends an Eletrcickery. I then return from Seer, holding another Stutter in hand. My opponent passes with 4 open hands, I attack (but there was no ninja), strangely my opponent makes a Spellstutter to block showing that he had no more removals. Leaving land for Counterspell standing and that is where lowering the interaction cost shines: I make my Stutter with mana left to Dispel, winning the Counter War, and the game remains like that for another 3-4 rounds. I win a battle, he wins another, but the top deck shines, I have a Gesit standing on the table, I draw a thorn, and the rest is 2 draw per turn until victory.

This game in general is good for fairies, yet not knowing my opponent's decklist made it very difficult for me in swiss. I already played with his list, and ended up basing myself on it, but this time he used some different cards and this is a complex variable. Tron can choose between cards that do practically redundant things, but in different ways so that you can interact in the wrong way, and end up taking it from another angle, and that's exactly what happened.

Game 1

This game was sad. I was on the draw and I had to mulligan to 6. I started with 2 lands having a Seer and 1 Preordain. My opponent starts with Thraben and T2 with another Thraben. I found the third land, but I didn't draw anymore. At one point he had 6 manas at the table, without the tron, and doing nothing but hitting with the thraben. I was just sure, he is not doing anything because he wants me to take the initiative and after that do a Crop Rotation. The 2 thraben were hitting me to a point that I was forced to take the initiative, so he did two crop rotation, and did an absurd turn.

In: +2 Dispel, +2 Blue elemental blast, +1 Thorn of the Black Rose;

Out: -3 Augur of Bolas, -2 Ponder.

I definitely did a wrong sideboard. As I said I thought he would have a list like the one I knew, he should have putted in edict and relic.

Game 2

In play, I was very happy. Cantrip, Seer, but was locked in 3 lands. I couldn't find ninja, nothing, and my opponent does tron ​​naturally. My opponent then makes 3 more land drops and then I find my fourth mana. I draw a Thorn, look at the table, “that game is over”. I play Thorn, he turns around with 14 manas, but only makes bonders and passes, showing that he is loaded with interaction with blue or creature. The problem was, I didn't have a clock, my opponent was just drawing cards, while I was full of removals and counterspell, getting to the point of having to discard good cards, which hurt me later on. He then plays the first creature in the game, a Thraben, I make a Stutter, to lighten the cards in my hand. He makes a Mulldrifter, I counter. Soon after its his turn, I don’t know how many manas he generated and cast Rolling Thunder clearing my board. Since I didn't know he played it, I wouldn't have countered the thraben. The rest of the match was this: him drawing more than me; I not having a clock; and he eventually killing me with Korskyfher and Mulldrifter. Certainly Relic of Progenitus would have helped, because he ended up using the graveyard a lot.

Match particularly easy, as fairies with recurrence via ninja shine a lot in this game. G1 he has some useless cards or if useful I can easily get around / stop. I believe that the black part was only after sideboard, so my creatures hardly leave the table. It is a matter of killing / nullifying the Ephemerate interactions.

Game 1

I was on the draw. I just have the best move of T2 that is a ninja, but I forgot to play the land before attacking. At least I left mana for CounterSpell. Still, my opponent did nothing in the first 3 turns. I do ninja and them Faerie Seer again, he spends Forbid, showing that his hand is very slow. He taps himself up for a Deep Analysis, and my ninja keeps hitting. His game starts the fifth turn with Mulldrifter. He even solves it, exchanges it with my ninja. I manage to make Seer with a Gurmag, and strangely it is late for my opponent, because he came with a heavy cost hand, and ended up being easy for me to interact. I won the game on Gurmag.

In: +2 Dispel, +2 Chainer's edict, +1 Relic of Progenitus, +1 Thorn of the Black Rose;

Out: -3 Augur of Bolas, -1 ponder, -1 Echoing Truth, -1 echoing decay.

So, in this match I decided to take out the Augurs no matter how often it is a 2 for 1, as it does not pass through his creatures, and besides that it can be dangerous for me to tap myself to have to find an interaction. It always ends up lacking mana in a possible Counterwar. Thorn is different because it is a lot of added value in a match where the two can end up zeroing the resources, in addition to killing any junk through combat, the question is to know the time to tap myself.

Game 2

This game was the famous “you shall not pass” . He did Familiar, I answered with Snuffot. He played Familiar again; I answered with Cast Down. He played a Bounce, I took advantage and I did a Stutter, I could play a ninja too. I leave 2 lands standing. He then does Seagate and I Snuff Out with Stutter standing in case he has Ephemerate. So the game goes on, I draw Counterspells and removals on each move. The first ninja even dies for a Cast Down, but the second came for the card advantage to keep loose.

Game 1

Superintense game. Me on the draw, my opponent going out with creatures turn 1,2, and 3 and me too, but both without the removal colors in the first 4 turns. But his ninja entered earlier, consequently he got more value from the cards. Game started leaning slightly in my favor, but I was in a bad way, and at a crucial moment where I should have spent an Echoing Decay on a stutter I ended up using a Agony Warp, which it hurt me in my opponent's last attack, as I had a copy of the same card, which made me lose my creature together when I finally used Echoing Decay. In the next round I didn't have enough blockers, so I gave up, I still don't know if I would have won, but it was a missplay.

In: + 2 stormbound geist, +1 Suffocating Fumes, +2 chainer's edict, +2 dispel, +1 Blue elemental Blast;

Out: - 2 Counterspell, -2 Ponder, -2 Faerie Seer, -1 Echoing Truth, -1 echoing decay.

It was because of this game that I decided to test the second Chainer's since Decay could damage my cards too, and the fact that it was a 2 to 1 card.

Game 2

I muligued to 6 and had the possibility of ninja turn 2, but I thought it would be better to try to give a ninjustu in Auguro of Balls to have more value. It seems clear that the ninja will always die, but my opponent spent the first 2 turns casting cantrip and not finding red mana. Turn 3 I had a ninja and a Faerie Seer putting pressure, my opponent ended up losing land drop t3, and t4 and my board had already hit a snowball. So he conceded.

Game 3

The game took a long time, very similar to the G1, only this time I was putting pressure on my side of the board. He lost land drop t3, and t4, so he managed to protect himself from the initial ninjas by giving him a few more draws: he managed to make 1 Augur per turn. He made 5 augurs in the match, kind made up for some ninja draws, where he added 3 more Frantic Inventory that he managed to use, both of them bought a lot of cards. Fortunately the damage pressure was on my side, to the point that he ended up having to Chumpblock the Stormbound Geist with the fairies in order not to die.

I didn't know his deck very well until I played against it. It was a full control deck that won only with Muldrifter and Evincar's Justice. It reminded me a lot of an Orzhov Pestilence, but with counters and cantrips. The main idea was to keep a monarch at your side and protect the Gurmag as it is a solid source of damage, in addition to an early game with ninja and backup of Dispel / Stutter / Counterspell.

Game 1

I was in the play, with an ok hand. My opponent went out with bounceland, making bonders, so in my fourth land I try a Stutter in the end of turn, he doesn't kill it. I played my ninja, he doesn't kill it. In his main phase, he makes an edict and I Counterspell it. Then he kills with Defigure and passes me with two blue lands standing. On my turn I have the option to do Gurmag and leave 2 mana standing for Stutter or removal or Thorn. I put Gurmag on the battlefield, he doesn't counter. On his turn, he tries another edict, I make a Stutter. He doesn't kill in response or counter it, so I believed he had nothing. Come back to me and that winning monarch comes in. It was a lot of card advantage and I managed to get the second Gurmag which guarantees an absurd clock, which is crucial against this type of deck.

In: +2 Dispel, +1 Thorn of the Black Rose, +1 relic of progenitus, +2 Stormbound Geist, +2 chainer's edict;

Out: -3 Snuff Out, -1 suffocating Fumes, -1 agony warp, -1 Echoing Decay, -1 ponder, -1 echoing truth.

In this match I think the more creatures the better, since the opponent's deck looked like a bunch of removals and lifegain. Another fact, I didn't know what creatures he could have, I figured he would have Gurmag, Thorn and Mulldrifter, but after playing I found out that he only used Mulldrifter and Thorn. So I sure did the wrong sideboard. The biggest threat for me to steal monarchs is Mulldrifter, so Snuff Out as a freespell had to stay.

Game 2

This game I had a very good start, ninja in 3 with a Faerie Seer to take the edict. In addition to having another Ninja, Thorn and Stutter in hand, while my opponent did lands and manarock. But he only had 1 black mana, so I thought he was cool, to the point that he made bonders and in the same turn Evincar cleaning my board. Returning from Thorn, thinking it was going to be the same thing as the G1, he makes a mulldrifter and I had no way of countering or removing it from the board: removal was missing . Monarch was shifting sides all times. His deck had a lot of advantage in that, since he had Mulldrifter and I ended up taking outvalue to Mortuary / Bounceland; he made 4 Mortuary in his Mulldrifter. In the middle of these moves I had the opportunity to blow the relic but I didn't; a crazy missplay. I ended up losing to Evincar and his buyback.

Game 3

I ended up keeping the same sideboard. I play with a beautiful hand of 3 lands standing, two islands and a swamp, with Seer, Augur, removal and Cantrip. I couldn't find ninja and I was locked in 3 lands. However, I bought 3 stutter, my opponent hangs in 4 lands, seeing that he is looking for more lands, I countered a Bounders so he couldn't have his fifth land. I imagined he had 1-2 mulldrifter for doing nothing for about 2 turns. I end up finding the fourth land, and the fifth land before him. I had mana to do Augur, with Stutter standing or even removal for Mulldrifter (if I found the fifth mana). My game ends up working very well, I can get a lot of value from the Stutters, when I even make a monarch and so I guarantee the advantage to enter the top 8.

This match is a ninja rush with or without protection, and you can make a Gurmag or even the monarch to guarantee even more victory. It certainly becomes a difficult match when your opponent closes tron ​​in the first 4 turns plus some mana fixing.

Game 1

I started on the draw, my opponent did on the first two turns land of the tron, and a third Thriving Isle. There came a decision of the game that probably made it an ultra long game, I had 2 options: to do Stutter, and to return with ninja, but I would be tapped; or be safe with Counterspell for Bonders / Crop Rotation. In this case I waited until the fourth turn, being able to stutter in the end of turn with Counterspell up. Probably the right move was to ignore bonders and make my game, because the moment I reconciled ninja with standing manas, he closed Tron and started playing his game. Still, I was fine in the game, it was a change of resources for about 10 minutes of each clock, I was focused on countering bonders and having removal for wall. As it became a very long game, my opponent gradually stabilized. On the turn that he finally gave me a lock he was tapped thinking that he could take my attack with blocks, but I ended up finding two removals with an Augur that I had in my hand, managing to win.

In: +2 Dispel, +2 blue elemental blast, + 2 Relic of Progenitus, +1 Thorn of the Black Rose;

Out: -3 augur of bolas, -1 echoing truth, -1 Ponder, -1 echoing decay, -1 Agony warp.

Game 2

Both muligan to 6. My opponent ended up losing the fourth land drop, and among his 3 initial lands only one piece of Tron. I was feeling very calm in the match, I managed to fit a ninja with backup of Stutter or Counterspell. The ninja's draws turned out to be very good, multiple counters per turn with 1 Relic of Progenitus on the board in case I needed to interact with his graveyard. I ended up winning with Stutters + Ninja, he didn't even have time to close Tron.

Game 1

I muligued to 6, keeping a very "ok" hand. I ended up drawing one Faerie Seer and found a ninja, managing to fit him on the battlefield. My opponent ended up taking 3 turns to find the fifth land while trying to interact with my board through blockers. This made it much easier for me to protect my creatures since my removals were very valuable. The opponent held the game a lot with Stonehorn Dignitary and Moment's Peace. The point was that he did one / two spells per turn, and he only closed Tron on the eighth land, which ended up being too late.

In: + 2 Relic of progenitus, +2 Dispel, +1 Blue Elemental Blast, + 2 Chainer's edict, +1 Thorn of the Black Rose;

Out: - 3 Augur of Bolas, - 1 echoing decay, - 1 echoing truth, -1 agony warp, -2 Ponder.

This time I did it quite differently, it ends up having more creatures than the conventional tron, so I opted for the chainer's which may end up being double removal. As much as thraben may be the chainer's sacrifice, I feel it is better than decay, maybe not that Agony Warp. This time I put Relic of progenitus to prevent Moment's Peace, Mystical Teachings and Pulse of Murasa.

Game 2

I opened my hand thinking, "now the deck has come", 2 Seer, 1 Ninja and a Dispel. My first draw was a Stutter, at Faerie Seer. I found a land for the ninja. My opponent didn't even think, he gave Abrade in Seer. I came back with the second seer, and my opponent chose to play Korskyfisher bouncing back and playing the same land, showing that his game was not very good. This really took several turns, when my opponent had 7 lands (no tron) on the table and I 6, I decided to attack with two fairies. I made a ninja connect which end up finding removal. I manage to counter his cards with Stutter, I do more Ninja in the Stutters generating a lot of value and winning the game.

I think this match is favorable for Dimir, unless your opponent comes with a very explosive hand. This rarely happens with Affinity, as he spends a few turns fixing his mana or drawing. Snuff Out ends up gaining a lot of time; Augur blocks certain creatures and Gurmag is practically a barrier. What wins the game is Thorn on an empty board. Affinity hardly deals with this, he usually has to go to the Atog + Fling plan. It depends on playing correctly so as not to take the combo.

Game 1

In play, keep with: 1 land, 2 Seer, 1 Preordain, and 3 Augur. I felt it was a little slow and maybe risky, since I needed to look for lands. I ended up finding my land in the second round, land in the third and my opponent had only 1 mana during the first 3 rounds. I already had 2 Seers, a Stutter and when I did an Augur revealing a Snuff Out he ended up giving up.

In: +1 Thorn of the Black Rose, +2 chainer's edict, +2 blue elemental blast;

Out: - 2 counterspell, - 1 Echoing Truth, - 1 ponder, -1 faerie seer.

The best card for you to settle for a smooth victory is Thorn. I go for a more removal game plan, and I end up taking counterspell. As much as they have thraben / Frogmite, Chainer's can often be the card that enables a more peaceful monarch on the board. One card I could have putted in was Dispel in place of Faerie Seer.

Game 2

He mulligan to 6. My hand was Thorn, 3 lands, removal. I ended up drawing yet another removal, so I felt very calm for the first few turns, I was focused on playing Thorn. My opponent went to do the first creature in his fourth round, so I removed it and just made a Thorn. That old story: rest of the game had double draw. I was controlling, killing what I needed and even what I didn't need. I had a blocker and that was until my opponent's resources ran out.

For those who prefer audio-visual material, follow the recorded and commented matches on my youtube:

That was it folks with an anticlimactic final. I played several very similar games, especially against the Izzet decks. For those who watched the videos they will see that I comment on some missplays that I made. Overall it is a great choice of deck, maybe it is a little better than Dimir Delver since he can use almost the same cards, and the addition of the ninja is very powerful, I feel he has the power to win more reliably than Delver.