<lullabies> keep
Nevermore draws a card
Nevermore draws a card
Nevermore draws a card
<Nevermore> kp
lullabies plays Island from Hand
lullabies plays Mox Sapphire from Hand
<lullabies> End my turn
It is now turn 3 (Nevermore)
It is now the Beginning Phase, Untap Step
It is now the Beginning Phase, Upkeep Step
It is now the Beginning Phase, Draw Step
Nevermore draws a card
It is now the Precombat Main Phase
Nevermore plays Mox Jet from Hand
<Nevermore> Ok?
<lullabies> ...
Nevermore plays Mox Sapphire from Hand
Nevermore plays Island from Hand
Nevermore taps Mox Jet
Nevermore taps Island
Nevermore plays Bitterblossom from Hand
lullabies plays Mana Drain from Hand
<Nevermore> Ok?
lullabies taps Island
lullabies taps Mox Sapphire
Nevermore plays Daze from Hand
Nevermore puts Island to Hand from Play
<lullabies> fucking noobs
Nevermore puts Daze to Graveyard from Play
<System> Player Lost

lol ;/

I love this deck!

However, I was wondering if this deck would benefit from 2 exalted angels for threat density and increasing the clock.
I would think it would help with several matches, or at least be beneficial in the sideboard.

I play chess and IMO the best way to get to a high level game is through doing tactic books which are just positions that you have to solve for a win (or avoid a loss).  It would be very interesting/awesome if someone could put a MtG puzzle 'book' with problems like this and archive a bunch of them (or make them up) with varying difficulties with vary decks.  I have seen a few over the years on this website and everyone seems to enjoy them and its a good way to stay sharp with magic.  I am sure people at all levels have there own favorite problem they have seen.  It could even be done in a MWS format where u can see the hands graveyards and board of each player.  I miss the old duelist problems too!  Would be cool if someone posted a thread full of puzzles like this one, either synthetic ones or actual ones.

In the vintage improvement forum under "fairy shaite" the idea of standstill and spellstutter sprite is discussed if you are interested at taking a look.  The build was blue black though and used bitter blossoms under standstill.  There are also many other good ideas for spellstutter variants that are definetly worth looking at as well.

With gush/fastbond decks showing such strong numbers and results in vintage right now, I am wondering why root maze hasnt made its way to the tier 1 decks.  For 1 mana it poses a large problem for gush decks ability to take off.  Additionally it buys many tempos versus decks that have lots of fetchlands.  Some tier 1 decks run up to 7 right now.  This card just seems very good under these circumstances.

If I were to make a root maze deck, I would think it would either be G/U or G/B.

If it was green and blue, I would want root mazes, maybe curse catcher for tempo, goyf, loam, back to basics, trygon predator etc etc. 
I believe JP Meyer once had a root maze back to basics deck that ran off survival of the fittest for its engine.

If I made a green and black deck, I would want root maze and try to sneak in chains of memph to shut down the draw engines of most decks.  Goyf and dark confidant would be necessary as well.  Im not sure this would stand a chance against deeznaughts, however root maze and CoM seem like a potential set of cards to cause lots of damage to some of the tier one decks right now.

Basically why isn't root maze seen more, and if it would see play, what kinds of decks could it be useful in?

I’m glad you like the standstills, they have been amazing for me, and since I have not been playing much competitive vintage I hope other people take this deck to the true training grounds.  This thread has a lot of good ideas, and my friend and I have come up and playtested a TON online with our version of faeries, and made a ton of tweaks, but there is still room for improvement.  Let me know what you think, here is the build we came up with descriptions.  Our build is a lot different than the other builds I’ve seen which seem a lot slower with less draw engine, but I have not tested the other decks out.

Deck:  Fairy Jutsu: (or as co-creator makes insists I say he calls it Smenemen Stompeh, don’t ask me)

Creatures:
4 Spellstutter Sprite - The deck is built off this guy
4 Cloud of Faeries - This card is ESSENTIAL to the deck.  Play it for free, so you can counter for 2 with spell stutter.  Get it out first turn, and you can use it to activate ninjas.  Also play it then standstill, and you have the advantage, especially because you will eventually draw ninjas
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours - Critical for the draw engine, and more importantly, it recurs your hard counter Spellstutter Sprite and is playable under Standstill
2 Mistblade Shinobi - This card at first looks questionable, but was recommended to me online and it has been amazing.  Originally this slot had Waterfront Bouncer.  However bouncer was always way too slow for me, and very hard to get out.  If someone got early house out, or broke Standstill and still did, I’d be screwed.  This guy is a great answer.  Cloud of Faeries has trumped Darksteel Colossus in many games for me.  Additionally, the ninjutsu ability bounces back Spellstutter Sprites to your hand to recur counters.

Enchantments
3 Bitterblossoms - Although this is the bread and butter of the deck, my co-creator and I debated many times whether its even worth it.  It’s been brought up on this thread by top secret that it might not be worth including.  It sucks vs oath and often flash, however it is amazing versus almost everything else.  It is perms advantage against stax and will block Tarmogoyfs all day.  In the end we tweaked the deck to help include it.  Casting it on turn 2 often seems weak, however with acceleration, this is a house.  It’s also incredibly synergistic with =>
4 Standstill - With Ninjas and Standstill, (and Ancestral Recall later (and Brainstorms)) this deck has a very solid draw engine.  Standstill is easy to get out and great to get out after anything is played, or even to play like Landstill under Mishra’s Factory.

Sorceries:
1 Time Walk - Obvious choice. 

I did not choose to put any Duress or tutors in this deck.  I did not have much free room for Duress, and it doesn’t necessarily help the deck do what it wants to do, especially under Standstill, however I do miss it at times.  This deck has a lot of redundancy so no tutors are included, though I think Kobefan for urbana fish likes including 1 demonic tutor.  It may be a good choice.

Instants-
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
4 Daze - This slot we had trouble coming up with.  I love Misdirection, and Spell Snares, however with Bitterblossoms or casting a spell, with someone then casting oath or flash this deck became too vulnerable.  I was always afraid to tap mana.  With 4 Daze, and Force, it is much safer to tap out turn 1 or 2 to get a bitter or still or any kind of spell without worry.  Daze has won me the game many times, and I think is essential for a deck like this.  It is also good with all the mana denial.  Also, Snare gets shut off by the frequent play of COTV @ 1.  The inclusion of Daze allows the deck to play as aggro unless you are saving 1U for a sprite.
2 Brainstorm - My friend and I always argue about brainstorm.  I don’t like them too much in Standstill decks.  I’d rather have more land or Misdirections, however they do come in handy.  I don’t think 4 is useful in this deck, there is not enough free mana early to be casting it, and it’s also near useless after casting Standstill.  This is debatable though.
Addendum:  Brainstorm is great after your opponent breaks through a Standstill to dig for that extra counter.  This is of course assuming that Spellstutter Sprite will not handle the threat already.  Brainstorm also pitches to force. 

Artifcacts -
3 Chalice of the Void - I liked this in Urbana fish and its amazing for tempo with this deck.  Casted at 1 or 2 it has locked opponents out of games
Addendum:  Usually it is cast at 0 to turn off Moxes (as part of the mana denial strategy) but can be EASILY set at 1 to shut off half the spells in the current meta.
2 Umezawa's Jitte  - We used one for a while but versus most decks, this card is simply too good not to include 2.  With fairies all over the place it will do its share of damage, is great vs the mirror, and if you somehow get it out early it can actually hold flash back by double pinging carrior feeder or slivers.  It also helps ride Mishra’s Factory to the win in the oath matchup (this is very rare though).
4 Mox - This deck needs acceleration early or its sunk.  Although moxes arent too synergistic with Chalice and Standstill, without a fast start you are screwed.  Moxes allow you to first turn cloud of fairy, 2nd turn Standstill or Ninja.  They also allow for first turn Bitterblossom, and also allow for a first turn Daze without setting you back 2 turns worth of mana availability.
1 Lotus Petal - additional acceleration.  This card is debatable for a 5th mox or just land.
Addendum:  colored mana is usually very helpful in a deck that wants to tap out just about every turn.  The lotus petal allows for explosive starts and provides an additional black source under Magus of the Moon.
1 Black lotus

Land -
2 Islands
2 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
3 Mishra's Factory - Mutavault seems natural choice for a fairy deck, however this guy is bigger, and I’m rarely short on fairies and if
I am I can rarely afford the extra mana to activate a Mutavault.  4 Might be too many in this deck

Addendum:  the potential 3/3 body is more of a game-changer than a counter+1 for Spellstutter Sprite, especially because you wind up paying 2U instead of 1U for the counter.  If Aether Vial was being used, the Mutavault might be better.

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void - Flash, Ichroid
4 Spell Snares - Fish, Oath, Flash
1 echoing truth - Empty the warrens, Ichorid, Oath
1 Jitte - random stuff (any form of aggro)
3 Energy Flux - Stax/ MUD
2 Chain of Vapor - Oath, Flash

Cards NOT included
Aether Vial - while amazing synergy with this deck, it was either moxes or this, and moxes seemed better.  I love Vials, I just cannot find a place for them in the deck, if anyone finds a way with moxes let me know!
Vendillion Clique - I feel its too slow
Sower of Temptation - Again too slow, doesnt stop (tyrant) oath
Stifle - I love this card, I just couldn’t find room
Addendum:  horrible synergy with chalice 1
Misdireciton - goes great with the deck, but no room.  I want this in very much.  Great for Thoughtseize
Scion of Oona - very strong card, not sure where to fit in though
Addendum:  horrible synergy with Umezawa’s Jitte
Skullclamp - while this might be amazing, I like my draw engine as is.  Needs more testing.

In my testing this deck has been crushing flash.  It has a very good record.  Lots of counter magic and chalice helps.  Post board is even better!
Oath is incredible right now, I admit I have trouble.  I have beaten it but it is very difficult.  I think most decks have this problem right now
Ichorid - should have enough hate after side board with counter backup
Fish - I have a great time generally with fish, with Jitte and Bitterblossoms.
Aggro - This deck is surpsingly resilient versus aggro and has a good matchup.  Jitte wins
Stax - Whoever go first generally wins ;/

I have tested a lot and this deck is lots of fun to play, I hope people take it seriously.  Please critique, but from my testing this is the most competitive I could make the deck.

Additionally, my friend and I were trying to break these cards to beat oath after seeing success with earwig with the goblines

Using:
4 Bitterblossoms
4 Oona's Blackguard Bad Moon Plus a Hippy for all other fairies!
4 Earwig Squad
4 Frogtosser Banneret
   
We are still fooling around with this.
Thanks.

Has anyone else tested this deck with standstill?  I have found it very powerful in this deck, and I am suprised to see no other mention of it.  I recently came into a cross roads because I feel like moxes or some kind of acceleration is essential to have an early game.  Bitter blossom/ cloud of fairy/ mishra factory and standstill are very powerful.  The mox strategy is good for getting these out early, but I question there synergy of moxes with standstill, it seems poor at best.  I would like to know what other people think about standstill versus acceleration, and perhaps both of them are viable.  Also a lot of people are including 4 vials, however there are only 8 2 mana creatures, and only the spellstutters are worth using with it.  With bitterblossoms, I dont think vial is very good.  I will probably post my current decklist after a little more testing.

Also to Top Secret, I tested 3 bitter blossoms as you had mentioned, and I like them a lot better than 4.  I side them out for flash and oath, but for any other kind deck they have been amazing.

Ive been fooling around with fairies for a while and have had some success.  I am wondering what people think about building the spellstutter deck around standstill, since its a fairly slow deck to play and especially because of cloud of fairies?

Cloud of fairy => standstill

You can either ninja the fairy out or have a spellstutter for 2 coming into play, seems decent to me.  Mutavault/Mishras factories would have to be included obv.

I also have tested bitterblossom for a while and while its won games, I barely can find a turn to play it on, there is always something else more important to play.  I am thinking only 0-2 would be worthwhile to run, if any at all.  Dark confidant may be better, but both arent a good idea.

I also think Jitte>SOFI in this deck, SOFI is tough to get out in this deck.

Oh man I can break out my set of blood pets for culling of the weak combo!

My friend tried for the hardest time to break enchantress / squirrel nest / earthcraft deck.  2 card infinite combo thats is awesome way to win.

I think now that MUD is on the rise, the G/W is definetly a powerful option to consider seriously.

I have been doing some testing online and have had a lot of success, though im constantly trying to tweak the deck.
Note, I feel the bazaar/loam option is too slow, but I honestly havent tested it much.

Creatures:
(19) total

(1) drop
4 Skyshroud elite:  Basically guarenteed 2/3 and much better than any lions.  Very strong right now.
(0-2 Isamaru)??: He didnt make the cut, but 6 1 drop creature might be the right number

(2) drop
3 Gaddok teeg:  A House for many  matchups, mostly non MUD/Stax.  Only 3 bc he is legend and not decent vs most aggro
3 Kataki, War's Wage:  Again only 3 main deck, but he has become very strong again in current meta.  4 might be right number.
4 Tarmogoyf:  The big boy, obviously incredibly good right now.
3 Jotun Grunt:  Another beast, although synergy with goyf is not that good.  However he seemes good enough to play anyway.

(3) drop
2 Avenmindsensor:  Im not sold on him but he can be very good versus non aggo/mud decks.  Seems worthy of 2 slots.

Other considerations:
Im definetly up for suggestions.  Exalted angel seems good in current meta but too slow I think.

Pseudo card advantage (5)
3- keen sense
2- rancor
These have actually been working out very well for me, and they are also enchantments which helps with goyf.  I think keen sense is better than rancor personally but they are both good.  MAybe 4 keen is right.

Disruption: (15)
4 - root maze:  Root maze is incredible right now.  Great vs gat and combo, very good vsartifact based decks and heavy fetch decks.
It works especially well turn 1 root maze, turn 2 one drop, (which is why maybe 2 isamaru needed in addition to sky elite), and turn 3 tons of options. 
4 - swords to plowshares:  4 is the right number, because meta is right now very creature heavy
4- Seal of cleansing:  THese have been incredible and 4 is def the right number.  Kills fastbond, artifacts, feeds goyf, and has never let me down.  Stops oath too
3- damping matrix:  This may sound weird, and null rod might be better, but this stops togs and welders and other random things.  Doesnt interfere with any creatures.  I still have to test it out vs null rod.  The amount of things either matrix or rod includes trisk, SOFI, mindslaver, etc.

Lands: (21)
3 windswept heath: with rootmaze, 4 is questionable but 3 is very good for getting basic and rootmaze doesnt mess it up much
4 landgrant:  been great for me so far, can be countered or sphere of resistanced, but I think its good for thinning deck
2 plains
2 forest  Basics good vs fetch and magus
4 savanna:   no brainer
1 black lotus
1 mox emerald
1 mox pearl
1 strip mine - randomly good
1 - karakas - good for neat tricks protecting the legends, and also you can block with a legend and bounce it back - more of a case for 2 isamaru as well
1 - flagstone of trokair  - seems decent

NOT included
loam/wastes/bazaar/riftstone
I personally am not a fan of that but I understand that combo can be powerful.  However I feel this deck has fast clock and enough disruption and get get started faster without.


General play with this deck is rootmaze first if you can, then a 1 drop, then one of many 2 drops, then you have tons of enchants ments and protection spells to play.  Matrix has won many games for me, but if your not worried about tog or welder, go for null.

I have done very well versus stax, and have decent gat mathcup
Also works well vs random aggro, havent tested much else.

SB I havent thought through nearly as much but
0-4 ray of revelations - helps even more versus oath
4 orim chant - good vs combo
4 pacifisms - very good versus dryads, togs, colossus, and other big creatures
1 kataki
1 gaddok teeg
1 ?  maybe not many rays but have some ichorid defence


Please let me know if any ideas for improvements, and try the deck out, I believe it is very powerful in current meta.

Thanks!

Standstill
Card type: Enchantment
Casting cost: 1U
Oracle text: When a player plays a spell, sacrifice Standstill. If you do, each of that player's opponents draws three cards.

Hi, I have been using standstill for a while but I have some scenarios that have been causing some confusion for me
I looked on SCG judge rulings about standstill and I still dont fully understand how it works.

Take a scenario where standstill is in play by me, player A
Player B plays a spell, standstill triggers, then priority passes to me.
If I play a spell with standstill on the stack, then the other guy gets to draw 3 cards before my spell resolves and I dont get to draw anything.

Can this work, and this is how ive been playing with standstill:
I have standstill in play -
Player B cast a spell, which I want to counter, standstill triggers, priority passes
Can I then do nothing, let standstill resolve, draw 3 cards, then counter the spell, or do I not have oppurtunity to do this because I passed back priority?

Another confusing situation involves stifle and trick bind
Stifle - instant
Casting cost: U
Card text: Counter target activated or triggered ability. (Mana abilities can't be countered.)

Trickbind
Card type: Instant
Casting cost: 1U
Card text: Split second <i>(As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't play spells or activated abilities that aren't mana abilities.)</i><br>Counter target activated or triggered ability. If a permanent's ability is countered this way, activated abilities of that permanent can't be played this turn. <i>(Mana abilities can't be targeted.)</i>

I was playing a game online, and I had standstill in play.
My opponent played a spell, standstill triggered, and the he claimed he is trickbinding/stifle the standstill.  Does that work based on priority, and also because he plays a spell, standstill triggers , he plays trickbind/stifle on the first trigger, but before trickbind/stifle resolves doesnt a second standstill trigger go, and then depending on the answer to my first question I either draw 3 cards or can draw 3 cards and play another spell without fear of standstill? 
Also I have "trickbind/stifle", because I wonder if this will only work with trickbind and not stifle?

I hope this did not get too confusing,
Thanks

Stasis:
1u 1colorless enchantment
oracle text:
Oracle text: Players skip their untap steps.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Stasis unless you pay U.

Stifle: instant
1u
Oracle text: Counter target activated or triggered ability. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)

I was playing a game of magic fooling around with a stasis deck and i was playing against fish.  I had him completely locked out except for one mana, and on his upkeep he says hes stifling the stasis so he can untap.  I didnt think he could do that because there is no trigger, players simply dont untap.  Is that legal?

Another question that I have is can the "sacrifice stasis unless you play u"  be stifled?  Not that it is a useful play, im just curious.

Thanks

I dont think green splash for rootmaze or a stax deck for stasis would be good.  It doesnt stop ichorid or flash creatures.  Orb of dreams is a possibility as mentioned but I think it hurts you too much to play, it would be too difficult to keep stasis going.
I think the mana drain option that was suggested with frozen aether is the key play.  Tormods crypt is a good idea for main decking I think, as I put in my build mentioned before.  Im still not sure about what a good land base is.

 Enchantment   1G 
Whenever a black card is put into one of your opponents' graveyards, you may draw a card

I was browsing through some old cards of mine and I came across compost.  This seems like a great sideboard card now that ichorid is on the rise.  If you can get it out first turn with a mox against ichorid, you are going to have a huge card advantage second turn.  It seems like it may be an excellent option in the sideboard for new GAT decks. 

I havent seen any one mention this card, is it simply too slow in vintage?

I think in order for stasis to be viable it needs to have frozen aether or propaganda to be competitive with ichorid or flash.  Until it can get stasis out, it needs to play like a control deck.  A skeleton for the deck I was considering:

Win:
3x Black vice or chronatog

Core
4x Stasis
4x Frozen Aether
 (Propaganda?)

Draw
1x Ancestral recall
4x Gush
4x Brainstorm
1x Time walk

Protection
4x Force of will
4x Mana drain
4x Daze
2x Misdirection
3x Chain of Vapor
(good for protection and bouncing back stasis)
4x Tormods Crypt

Land
1x mox sapphire
1x black lotus
16x Island
(probably need better land base, too many cards maindecked for more)

SB
4X energy flux
4x arcane lab
2x propaganda
1x feldons kane
4x stifle

The deck can protect itself pretty well and mana drains help accelerate the lock components.