RIW’s sixth 1K Pauper Championship Qualifier is on August 15 and I plan to play instead of calling the shots in the booth. While I’ve been favoring Jund Wildfire recently I do want to try my hand at another deck that suits my play style- Dimir Faeries.
Today I’m going to share the list I plan to play and walk through my card choices.
Dimir Faeries functions very differently than Mono Blue Faeries; it’s a control deck rather than focusing on tempo.
Pauper is a wide open metagame and I would play Dimir Faeries if I plan to be in tune with the format as opposed to trying to exploit specific matchups. There are many choices each turn and rewards tight play.
It’s impossible to talk about Dimir Faeries without mentioning Barff’s Patreon. He has plenty of online content and plays Dimir Faeries nearly every day. BoshNRoll made top 8 of PauperGenesis with Dimir Faeries and Stratagames made top 16 with plenty of Youtube content, too.
Spellstutter Sprite is the core of the Faeries engine. It’s more likely to counter a spell with a second Faerie on the battlefield so there are times it’s worth flashing out the first for no value. The opponent will fear your ninjutsu capabilities and use a premium removal spell.
Faerie Seer is the glue in the Faeries package. A one-drop enables a ninjutsu on-curve and the scry 2 ensures it happens more often. The Seer also allows an on-curve Spellstutter Sprite to counter a two-drop. It also scales well into the late game because scrying two lands becomes incredibly valuable when searching for a Lorien Revealed or Thorn of the Black Rose.
Brainstorm works well with Faerie Seer as you can enable the “perfect Brainstorm” by scrying two unwanted cards to the bottom. Seer also makes it more likely Augur of Bolas hits an instant or sorcery.
I’m looking to combine Brainstorm/Faerie Seer and Augur of Bolas because there are only 23 instants and sorceries in the deck so it can miss without any library manipulation. A common play pattern is to Brainstorm an instant or sorcery on top as well as an unwanted land to put on the bottom with Augur.
Augur of Bolas can also help fix mana because it can hit Lorien Revealed or Brainstorm.
Ninja of the Deep Hours is the primary ninjutsu creature. It’s a good payoff for removing opposing creatures as it’s essentially Pauper’s Psychic Frog. There are twelve strong creatures to pick up with Ninjutsu: Spellstutter Sprite, Augur of Bolas, and Faerie Seer.
Moon-Circuit Hacker acts as a third Ninja of the Deep Hours, but with a cheaper Ninjutsu cost. Note that the Hacker is an enchantment creature so it can be killed in game one by opposing Masked Vandals.
The Hacker’s cheaper Ninjutsu cost works best with a rare trick: it’s possible to hold priority while using the ninjutsu ability and return multiple creatures to hand. This can be back-breaking in the late game by getting multiple Spellstutter Sprite and Augur of Bolas triggers a second time.
While facing TurboFog decks it’s possible to return the Sprites for additional counters as well as another creature with Ninjutsu to ensure the chain can be repeated for a lock that is difficult to escape.
Ninjutsu costs can be paid at the end of combat in cases where you would deal more damage with the original creature. This is rarely used in Pauper Faeries, but is more common with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.
Once the opponent declares blockers, ninjutsu can also be used to effectively counter a removal spell by bouncing your creature out of harm’s way. It’s also an activated ability that doesn’t put a spell on the stack making the creature effectively uncounterable.
In paper you can also emphasize to the opponent you’re trying to move through blocks to bluff a ninjutsu creature and they may be more likely to fire off a removal spell.There are tons of cool tricks with ninjutsu and it is a rewarding piece of this archetype.
Mukotai Ambusher is a way to gain life in game one against red decks while also being a proactive part of the deck’s primary game plan of countering more spells with Spellstutter Sprite. I’ve tried Murmuring Mystic in place of the second Ambusher, but it doesn’t play as well in game one because tapping four mana for a threat might not be possible.
The Red Madness and Red Rally matchups can be tricky before the pile of Hydroblast effects come in from the sideboard. A 3/2 with lifelink is no joke as landing damage almost completely undoes an alternate cast Snuff Out.
Lifelink is also helpful against Sneaky Snacker as it can create a stalled scenario. The recursive nature of Sneaky Snacker can make games difficult without the perfectly timed Bojuka Bog.
The Ambusher is an artifact creature making it again vulnerable to Masked Vandal in game one. I would expect Vandal opponents to board them out in many cases.
Thorn of the Black Rose is your card advantage engine. It shines against midrange and control decks as it can be difficult to lose control of the monarchy. A ⅓ with deathtouch is very good at keeping the battlefield under control.
Faeries work well with Thorn because even if you are going to lose the monarchy it can be quickly reclaimed. The same is true against opposing Avenging Hunters as you can do plenty with the initiative. Picking up a Thorn with Ninjutsu can also set up a future turn of reclaiming the monarchy.
Dispel is the blue interaction paired with the four Counterspell. Some decks play zero instants making it an easy sideboard target, but scales well into the late game and protects Spellstutter Sprite and Ninja of the Deep Hours.
Spell Pierce is more versatile as it can counter any noncreature spell, but Dimir Faeries plans to take the game late and is a weak reveal from Augur of Bolas.
Agony Warp is the niche removal spell of choice. It plays best against Sneaky Snacker as you can shrink its power and block with a Faerie. Mukotai Ambusher and Ninja of the Deep Hours also demand blocks and can get a big advantage with Agony Warp.
Naya Gates is picking up in popularity and can play both Sneaky Snacker and Guardian of the Guildpact. Agony Warp is one of the few ways to kill Guardian of the Guildpact as it has protection from monocolored.
The Red matchups also need help in game one and Agony Warp is one of the few removal spells that isn’t weak against Red Rally. Shrinking power is also helpful as a way to retain the monarchy against multiple attackers.
I make room for the second Agony Warp by cutting the stock removal spell, Extract a Confession. The sorcery speed of Extract is awkward, but does line up better if you expect Tolarian Terror, Troll of Khazad-Dum, or Bogles.
Extract is able to also remove Guardian of the Guildpact, but not if there’s a Sneaky Snacker on the battlefield because they have the same power.
Suffocating Fumes can kill early Bogles, bird tokens from Battle Screech, and opposing Faeries. It’s a low opportunity cost to maindeck due to the cycling option. Dimir Faeries sees plenty of cards each game because of Brainstorm and Augur of Bolas so it’s valuable to play flex interaction.
Cast Down can kill most creatures in the format, but there are more Universes Beyond legends over time. This is less of a drawback as Leonardo, Big Brother is a primary Snuff Out target.
Snuff Out is essentially the Force of Will of Pauper. There are times I’ll proactively use blue spells to find more cards in case Snuff Out is near the top of the deck. Even if you don’t have Snuff Out, it’s good form to move slower in situations where it makes sense to cast to put the opponent on alert.
1x Bojuka Bog
4 Contaminated Landscape
1 Ice Tunnel
10 Island
1 Seething Landscape
1 Swamp
There are eighteen lands alongside four Lorien Revealed.
A single black source is typically enough making the first Contaminated Aquifer valuable. It also enables the alternate cost of Snuff Out.
Bojuka Bog exiles Sneaky Snacker, but can be an awkward black source as it doesn’t make blue mana and is not a Swamp for Snuff Out. Barff typically plays the second Bojuka Bog, but the drawbacks aren’t worth it to me.
The single Seething Landscape helps with perfect Brainstorms and can find the single Swamp. It can’t cycle in this deck.
I’ve tried Dimir Aqueduct to pick up Bojuka Bog, but it is awkward against Cleansing Wildfire and doesn’t work with Snuff Out.
Four Hydroblast and one Blue Elemental Blast help with the red matchup. Most Dimir Faeries lists play six blasts, but I prefer having cards for more matchups.
Relic of Progenitus gets the nod over Nihil Spellbomb for its recursive exile ability and this version of Dimir Faeries doesn’t use the graveyard at all.
I cut the sixth blast for an Envelop to help the graveyard matchups as well as Elves. I want to have a good counter in matchups where Dispel is bad.
Three Annul is for Affinity, but can also help immensely against Bogles, Tron, and Food Pestilence. Another strong counter to reveal from Augur of Bolas as it scales well into the late game.
Arms of Hadar and Suffocating Fumes are big players against Elves, White Weenie, Faeries, and Red Rally. Most Faerie decks don’t play the second Fumes in the sideboard, but it’s a very powerful effect in these matchups and I expect an uptick in White Weenie after the nearly undefeated run at Paupergeddon.
Okiba-Gang Shinobi is a good value engine against midrange decks alongside the two Thorn of the Black Rose.
Murmuring Mystic is another haymaker that works in matchups where Thorn of the Black Rose may be less effective.
I’m looking forward to getting back to playing RIW’s 1K Pauper Championship qualifiers. Dimir Faeries plays to my strengths. I love a good tricky Dimir deck. The Pauper metagame also continues to be resilient and can pretty much play anything that speaks to you.
I hope to see you at the RIW 1K on August 15; feel free to say hi! If you can’t attend, be sure to watch the action on twitch.tv/riwhobbies where Brian DeMars and Ben Topping will be calling the action.
