Lorwyn Eclipsed received a lot of hype during spoiler season in large part due to its nostalgic feeling and typal focus, and the set did not disappoint. Fans of Faeries or Elves EDH decks were given a boatload of new goodies to work with.
Some of the creature options from this set are so powerful that they’ve given rise to brand-new typal Standard archetypes. Izzet Elementals had a fantastic showing at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, and now, Dimir Faeries is starting to show off its promise. Fresh off a victory at an MTG Store Championship for a $290 Ocelot Pride, Dimir Faeries finally has the pieces necessary to compete in Standard.
Building Around a Faerie Theme
At a baseline, Dimir Faeries is an archetype that’s looking to use tempo to its advantage. The goal is to get on board early with fliers, then utilize interaction to keep the opponent off-balance long enough to cross the finish line.
With this in mind, the majority of creatures in the deck are evasive one-drops. Playsets of both Faerie Dreamthief and Flitterwing Nuisance make an appearance alongside three copies of Sleep-Cursed Faerie. While none of these creatures are overly powerful on the surface, having reliable access to a one-mana Faerie is extremely important.
These Faeries set up your payoff abilities instantly. Faerie Fencing, for example, becomes an unbelievably efficient removal spell. With a single Faerie in play, you can reliably kill many three and four-mana creatures in Standard without investing any additional mana into the X value. Similarly, Ego Drain is as good of a discard spell as you can ask for, but only if you control a Faerie upon resolution. Spell Stutter rounds out this package, capable of stopping a majority of your opponent’s on-curve plays.
Dimir Midrange Overlap
Interestingly, as unique as this archetype is, Dimir Faeries does borrow some strong tools from Dimir Midrange. The strongest of the bunch is undoubtedly Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, which increases your clock dramatically. As a strategy with lots of cheap flying creatures, Kaito is a perfect fit for Dimir Faeries. This deck also features Enduring Curiosity, albeit as a one-of, because it presents similar upside in a deck that can get on board quickly.
Given the similarities between Dimir Faeries and Dimir Midrange, it’s natural to compare the two archetypes and what they each bring to the table. While Dimir Faeries is underexplored, it does have some things going in its favor in the current metagame.
The main advantage to playing Faeries is that the Faeries payoffs are all extremely well-positioned. Against the green creature decks, having a one-mana answer to Ouroboroid in Faerie Fencing is a game-changer. This is a big contrast from other one-mana removal spells like Requiting Hex that are much narrower. Similarly, being able to lean on Ego Drain and Spell Stutter against Dimir Excruciator and Izzet Lessons is huge. All it takes is for Superior Spider-Man or Monument to Endurance to stick, and things can go south fast. In many cases, Dimir Midrange’s traditional Deep-Cavern Bat isn’t a reliable disruptive element against piles of removal. That said, you do lose the opportunity to play powerful off-theme spells like Tishana’s Tidebinder, giving this deck both plusses and minuses.
An Underexplored Angle of Attack
As a whole, recent evolutions in the Standard metagame have started making Dimir Faeries a more interesting deck choice. Despite the fact that Badgermole Cub decks had been dominant leading up to Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, green creature decks had a pretty poor win rate. This is in part because some decks like Izzet Elementals, Temur Harmonizer and Dimir Excruciator emerged that could punish the creature shells that lacked interaction.
Now that these combo-driven decks are on the rise, playing a tempo deck like Dimir Faeries has a lot of appeal. After all, Dimir Faeries is built to apply pressure right out of the gates, and Ego Drain and Spell Stutter serve as perfect follow-ups that break up opposing synergies.
Yet, even with a lower curve, Dimir Faeries still has what it takes to out-grind decks like Jeskai Control. Kaito lines up perfectly against counter magic, and Ego Drain can take away your opponent’s answers to Planeswalkers like Get Lost. In games where you don’t draw Kaito, Flitterwing Nuisance and Soulstone Sanctuary provide additional ways to spend your mana.
This isn’t to say that Dimir Faeries doesn’t have its weaknesses. As a deck with only 17 creatures, you do run the risk of drawing a bunch of copies of Ego Drain and Faerie Fencing without having a Faerie to maximize them. Your clock also isn’t the fastest, so getting overrun by Landfall after a single massive threat sticks is a real possibility. Regardless, Dimir Faeries showcases a lot of strengths, and there’s plenty of room to explore within the archetype moving forward.
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