BP14/15: Fairy Forest

Introduction

Fairy Forest or Fairies is an aggro-combo Forest deck that looks to close out the game around turn 6 or 7. It realistically always had this role in the meta but a lot of cards in set 13 and 15 have given the deck a lot of flexibility in terms of how to handle the opponent’s board, allowing a more strategic playstyle while playing toward the goal of chucking giant fairies at the opponent.

Here is a sample decklist

Card Choices

In this section I aim to explain what role each card plays. Fairy Forest has a pretty straightforward main plan, but as is typical for Forest decks, mastery of the interlocking pieces can get you better results, so understanding what role each card plays is important to getting a better performance.

I've tagged each card with at least one of 5 categories, and here are their explanations:

• Generator: This card puts or tokens in the EX area. This is particularly important since we have more cards that care about the contents of our EX Area
• Reach: This card does immediate damage to the opponent. As an aggro deck we are always looking for opportunities to get chip damage, but we also have a lot of damage that doesn't require an existing board, and that's what this category means.
• Removal: Cards that are good at getting rid of opposing followers
• Buffer: One of our principal play patterns is to build up gigantic fairies in the EX area to chuck at our opponent. These cards aid this plan by, well, buffing up our tokens.
• Synergy: Kind of a catch-all category. These cards improve the quality of cards that fit into the other categories by repeating effects or pushing damage. Lacking this tag doesn't mean the card isn't synergistic, but rather, having this tag means the card tends to depend on more specific situations.

The Cards In Question:

• - Generator, Reach, Buffer - Amataz is the Fairy deck’s primary win condition. While he does create one fairy token, the rate at which he does it and the premium on his effect makes it painful albeit sometimes necessary to use him just to add a fairy token to the EX area. Keep in mind that he only buffs the EX area, so proper ordering is necessary here.

• - Reach, Removal - Cynthia is our secondary Storm option. She’s quite expensive and hard to combo with fairies in EX, so she’s kind of used as a second push. Cynthia works better with wisps and Intertwined Resolve as setup.

• - Generator, Buffer, Synergy - Aria is probably the most important addition to this deck since its inception in Set 6. Initially, Fairies as a deck was fairly one-dimensional, as you would generally struggle to remove opposing followers while simultaneously pushing damage. Aria helps a lot in this due to her ability to search out some amulets while also giving your Pixie tokens Rush. This Aria is definitely darker and edgier, but putting her in our deck is not just a phase, mom.

• - Buffer, Removal - This amulet, introduced in our original Starter Deck, is generally your primary search target for . Note that Titania’s Sanctuary’s buffing effect is split into two - this means that it interacts well with bounce effects, as if it’s already in play, you can play fairies and then bounce and replay Sanctuary to “double dip” on the effect. While this card comes with the drawback of eating up board space in a strategy with boardlocking issues, the pros heavily outweigh the cons (those cons should be kept in mind, however).

• - Generator - Fairy Circle gives us the most Fairy tokens in EX in a single card. Lack of versatility is a bit of a drawback to this card, and often later on in the game we’ll probably waste some of the fairies created. That said, being able to put 3 Fairy tokens in EX in a single card is extremely valuable for enabling another new card that we’ve gotten.

• - Generator, Buffer - While Spiritshine offers two notable drawbacks compared to Fairy Circle in that it generates one fewer Fairy token and doesn’t have the Pixie trait, the ability to add damage and board presence is a big threat. Still, these tradeoffs are rather significant, and playing this card properly is a pretty big skill tester.

• - Removal , Reach - Set 15 gives us a newer version of Amataz, along with a spell tailored to followers named Amataz. Aria provides us with a way to deal with small boards, but tall or Intimidate followers might still threaten to take our scalp (). Instead of generating and buffing fairies, this Amataz evolves to regrow his hair and, provided your EX area is set up, acts as removal with added burn damage. Along with , this Amataz gives you the ability to keep up with the removal demands in this metagame.

• - Generator - 2-cost Evos are a staple of almost every strategy and Fairy Slugger is a Grand Slam for us. Fairy Wisps are a powerful piece and Slugger is our most consistent way to generate them on-demand. Curving Slugger into Aria is generally how this deck keeps up with aggressive starts from other decks, on top of fueling later turns.

• - Synergy - Intertwined Resolve is a powerful tempo piece throughout the game, and while it doesn’t really serve essential deck functions, it’s important to remember that fundamentally, we are playing a strategy that relies on efficiency, making this card important to sneaking damage or removal while giving other cards the room to push for advantage. Really strong on turn 1, acting as removal with Aria + Sanctuary, or to push 6-8 damage with Cynthia

• - Buffer - BFD has long been a key part of the Fairy strategy and she’s probably not losing her place any time soon. Unique to her is that she has the ability to buff non-token Fairies as well. Combined with Intertwined Resolve, this can put 6/7 worth of stats onto the board in the first two turns, which can be devastating.

• - Synergy - Archer is our main consistency piece. We are an aggressive strategy that really wants to find a few specific cards, most notably . This means that an aggressive follower who can help curve into Aria is really important to improving our deck’s consistency.

• - Synergy - Summer Spinaria has been a strong card in Forest since her introduction but she’s a little awkward in this strategy. While she offers a variety of advantages it should be noted that our own board spaces are also premium, especially with a Sanctuary on the board, and a 1/3 statline means she can get in the way of our own lethals.

• - Synergy - Generally compared side-by-side with Summer Spinaria, Rejuvenating Resurrection is a much narrower spell, both in terms of options and board space, but with the upside of costing one less. These tradeoffs mean that generally you can opt for a split in these two cards, with each having its own advantages and disadvantages.

• - Synergy - While Guidance is no longer the only way to reuse Amataz, bouncing is still a premium effect for a variety of reasons. As mentioned above, Sanctuary puts pressure on our board space. Our cards are notably not built the same, and there are a number of fanfares worth repeating. Therefore, it’s important to field some number of bounces both to reuse effects and to free up board space for lethal plays. Because of the importance of finding specific cards, Guidance ends up being our best bounce option. Note that it has the Pixie trait for as well.

• - Synergy, Reach, Removal - I’ve arguably saved the second best addition to the deck for last. Piercye is the glue that holds this and other Forest decks together, as she is an insane amount of role compression in a single card. Piercye can fight for tempo while also searching up our Storm options and is indeed why this deck is significantly more consistent than before.

• - Reach - Sukuna at 1 base / 1 evo is pretty core to the strategy for now. She’s a huge beneficiary of Piercye’s addition to the deck as a search target for when you need a little bit of extra damage.

Tech Options and Alternate Card Choices

• - Removal - One weakness the Fairy strategy has is that your first few turns you lack in removal options that don’t require some sort of setup. This means that some other decks can try to take advantage of this window to put you significantly behind. Elf Queen shores up this weakness while having a little bit of synergy with Piercye later in the game. Her statline is a huge drawback though, so keep that in mind.

• - Synergy, Generator - A second amulet in case Sanctuary can’t be searched for one reason or another. While it’s pretty rough to try to aim to evolve Aria twice (especially when you are only running one of her in evo deck), having access to Tree of Wonders is good for refilling your hand while adding to Fairy token count. We don’t have a lot of card draw naturally, so having the ability to dig for Amataz can be valuable at times.

• - Synergy, Generator - I have been espousing the belief that if you are on Fairy Dragon (in the current metagame), you’re behind. Fairy Dragon is a huge win-more card for current Fairy builds, pushing you to make more aggressive mulligans and to play around Cynthia with . The issue here is that Fairy Dragon comes with a few small downsides that add up to be a real risk in the current metagame. Abyss decks can potentially use Fairy Dragon to block us from putting Aria in EX area, while Thief Sword stealing Fairy Dragon as a 0/4 ward (in contrast to Amataz as a 2/2 ward) can significantly hurt our ability to find lethal.

• - Synergy - Wind Fairy is an alternative to that gives you a instead of a card and can act as a follower in a pinch. While this versatility might look good on paper, the core game plan of our best cards is so good that Guidance is often far superior in terms of trying to dig for more options. If you’re on a wisp-heavier option with Cynthia, she gets better.

• - Removal - Some players have gotten good finishes with Cassiopeia in a removal slot and while I think she's an interesting surprise option, I think the cons of playing such an expensive card and hoping she doesn't get removed outweigh the potential pros.

Game Plan

Fairy Forest combines elements of Combo decks and Aggro decks. The core game plan is to build up large tokens in the EX area and push for lethal over 2-3 turns, depending on your hand and how the game develops. The ideal game plan involves getting some chip damage while finding to build a lasting midgame board advantage. You’re going to be aiming to close the game out on turn 6 or 7, depending on how strong your start was. It’s rare for a single play to deal enough damage to win the game on the spot, but the amount of damage that can be done in waves is quite strong.

Here’s a sample of how a game might play out:

1. Make Fairy Tokens
2. Move up 2 fairies /
3. Slugger and Evolve
4. Aria, then Evolve, then retrieve , make EX area space for Aria if necessary
5. Amataz, then BFD, then Wisp + Fairy for 8 damage - at least 2 3/3 fairies in EX area
6. Amataz - Fairy (5) - Fairy (5) - (3) for 5 + 5 + 3 = 13 damage

There are many variations on how this might play out, but you should be adjusting your planning to how the game develops. Since we are primarily an aggressive deck, considering how to win the game is generally more important than how we might lose, unless we have the tools in hand to take the game later (which is possible, but not something to count on).

One thing to consider is to keep weaker Fairy tokens or Resolve available into decks where you anticipate facing smaller wards. Wards with low attack and high defense are notable speed bumps for the deck. For example, is a 2/3 which will eat up a board space for you if your only fairies are 3/3’s. The importance of being able to clear smaller wards depends on game state, but it’s something to think about when sequencing building up your bank of Fairy tokens.

General Mulligan

Generally speaking, is the most important card to find, even at the cost of the rest of the hand being high-cost cards. There is probably no other card more important and I’d probably keep any hand with an Aria, since the rest of the deck is very low to the ground. can be seen as almost an Aria (looking at 3 is pretty good at getting you toward Aria by turn 3 or 4), so I’d also recommend keeping that with a good curve. I would mulligan practically any hand with , even if it contains multiple solid early game cards. Unlike most Forest decks, Aria and Piercye represent multiple shufflers, so putting key cards to the bottom isn’t that devastating.

Matchups

Fairy Forest is an aggressive deck with a combo finish and some strong stalling tools to stay alive until it can win. It’s got an even-to-favored into the entire metagame, with a few weaknesses in decks that can pump out wards while pressuring you.

Fairy Mirror - Even

Look for Aria and build up a bigger board. Whoever can afford to stick damage first has a huge advantage, so it’s important to set up a board to secure your Aria turn. Fairy tokens left on the board can represent a ton of damage potential, so making sure to play it safe to clear wide boards can keep you from losing out of nowhere.

Loot Sword - Even

As an aggressive deck, we present the Loot deck with a lot of problems to answer, but Loot has access to a variety of ways to buy a single critical turn for them to win the game. Fairy enjoys some advantages over other aggressive decks against Loot - we can utilize our cemetery and we don’t fill it very quickly, which can frustrate Loot’s goal of powering out by turn 5. On top of that, we don’t have great options for them to take. Getting your Sanctuary milled does kind of sting, but it’s not the end of the world (and is a reason that it’s nice to play a second amulet).

Festive Sword - Even

In contrast to Loot, Festive is a deck that’s fundamentally trying to race us. The volatility in this matchup comes from . The quality of Jiemon’s flips has a large impact on the game’s outcome, as every bit of damage and healing matters. Generally speaking, is a dead card against us, since we aim to have Assail + Rush available at all times, which can make some hands worse for them. However, not having an out to Jiemon (armored or unarmored) is probably instantly losing, so have a plan for the Thief Lord himself.

Overall, against Sword, just look for Aria. Sure, you can get your amulets milled by Loot, but it’s not something to plan around. Aria + Sanctuary being set up is a huge part of taking an advantage in both Sword matchups.

Kuon/Item Shop Rune - Favored

Rune decks play around a turn 7 win condition, which is the turn by which we’re looking to end the game. Notably, Rune decks go insanely minus to try to clear an Amataz push. I put a higher priority on Amataz in hand in this matchup - any hand with a curve into Amataz is probably keepable into rune. Always pick first if you win the die roll. I’d personally always mulligan for this matchup against rune, unless they picked to go second, in which case, it’s actually a follower-based Rune deck and you should be looking for hands with access to removal.

Handless Abyss - Favored

This matchup might look scary but once again we have the tools to deal with most of their setups. Assail means they can rarely keep standing followers against us and we have access to more consistent storm than they do. However, if they do hit a critical mass of storms, you can still lose, so try to conserve health while building up an advantage. Count their cemetery to see how close they are to Itsurugi advance, because that can tilt a race against you if you play too heavily into their board.

Departed Abyss - Unfavored

I think this is the worst matchup overall in the current metagame, due to their strong long game and ability to spam wards out at you. Early Chris is a nightmare as he can come down on your Aria evolve turn, while a constant stream of is really hard to secure a kill into while they are clearing and trickle-healing. Try to set up over 10 points of burst to avoid playing into healing.

Against Abyss I advocate for a standard mulligan plan.

Wasteland Haven - Slightly Favored

This is a matchup where Elf Queen really shines, as Haven’s early curve tends to plop down a lot of 1-health followers. You need to have a plan to out a standing , as leaving her up is almost certainly losing. Banishes can make it so you don’t reliably have Rush on your fairies. That said, Wasteland Haven can struggle to adequately keep up with our pressure once we get going, so you should be able to deliver more consistent pressure.

Conclusion

While the next set contains a lot of Fairy support, the set 15 metagame might be the best showing for the fair folk since set 6 (including future sets). The Fairy deck sports some high highs and low lows, and while the current build tries to smooth that curve out, there’s no replacement for finding Aria and Amataz. I recommend this deck if you enjoy aggressive decks with a strong burst finish.