Alela: Affinity for Faeries

[Hawk]

Hey all! Below is my wife's Alela, Artful Provocateur deck which was designed as a hybrid of Affinity and Faerie tribal.

Alela, Affinity for Faeries

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander: 1

1 Alela, Artful Provocateur

Faeries: 26

1 Faerie Imposter

1 Faerie Squadron

1 Briarberry Cohort

1 Cloud of Faeries

1 Faerie Vandal

1 Spellstutter Sprite

1 Quickling

1 Adaptive Automaton

1 Animating Faerie

1 Faerie Macabre

1 Mirror Entity

1 Pestermite

1 Shinechaser

1 Thieving Sprite

1 Faerie Harbinger

1 Faerie Mechanist

1 Faerie Swarm

1 Glen Elendra Archmage

1 Glen Elendra Liege

1 Glen Elendra Pranksters

1 Mistbind Clique

1 Sower of Temptation

1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale

1 Faerie Formation

1 Puppeteer Clique

1 Oona, Queen of the Fae

Mana Rocks: 14

1 Chrome Mox

1 Lotus Petal

1 Sol Ring

1 Wayfarer's Bauble

1 Renegade Map

1 Azorius Signet

1 Arcane Signet

1 Coldsteel Heart

1 Dimir Signet

1 Everflowing Chalice

1 Fellwar Stone

1 Orzhov Signet

1 Sphere of the Suns

1 Gilded Lotus

STAX-Y Tricks: 5

1 Blind Obedience

1 Ghostly Prison

1 Propaganda

1 Rhystic Study

1 Smothering Tithe

Instant Interaction and Fuel: 9

1 Brainstorm

1 Path to Exile

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Counterspell

1 Negate

1 Faerie Trickery

1 Thirst for Knowledge

1 Cast Out

1 Cyclonic Rift

Permanent Interaction and Fuel: 7

1 Executioner's Capsule

1 Nihil Spellbomb

1 Swiftfoot Boots

1 Detention Sphere

1 Bident of Thassa

1 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Vanquisher's Banner

Endgame Strategies: 4

1 All that Glitters

1 Favorable Winds

1 Crystal Shard

1 Dictate of Heliod

Land: 34

2 Swamp

4 Plains

9 Island

1 Ancient Den

1 Seat of the Synod

1 Darksteel Citadel

1 Vault of Whispers

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Caves of Koilos

1 Underground River

1 Hallowed Fountain

1 Godless Shrine

1 Watery Grave

1 Polluted Delta

1 Glacial Fortress

1 Drowned Catacomb

1 Secluded Glen

1 Irrigated Farmland

1 Sunken Hollow

1 Command Tower

1 Opal Palace

1 Arcane Sanctum

Approximate Total Cost:

The decklist is pretty tight trying to serve two masters, and cheats with a super low land count by running a ton of mana rocks, since those are just 1/1 faeries in disguise once Alela is out. The deck is doing well and is 2-0 so far, but we still need help tuning it up. Specifically...

- the maybeboard is huge but we also just finally acquired Scion of Oona, Faerie Seer, Sprite Noble, Tome Raider, and Etchings of the Chosen and would like to add all five. I'm just struggling to find five cuts; a few vanillas like Briarberry Cohort are easy cuts but I don't know what else.

- My wife also felt like she was holding up mana a lot and not always maximizing its use, so more on-board mana sinks would be a nice addition.

Budget is a concern - I am well aware that Vendilion Clique and Bitterblossom are pretty good cards, so assume anything worth more than $5 not in the deck already isn't an option. Thanks in advance for any advice!

[darrenhabib]

So yeah those five cards are a must.

Now if price wasn't a consideration I'd add these to the deck as well:

• Faerie Artisans
• Metallic Mimic
• Rankle, Master of Pranks
• Coastal Piracy
• Dire Undercurrents
• Kindred Discovery
• Notorious Throng
• Distant Melody

As far as cuts, easy ones are:

• Blind Obedience
• Ghostly Prison
• Propaganda
• All that Glitters
• Crystal Shard
• Dictate of Heliod
• Faerie Squadron
• Briarberry Cohort
• Animating Faerie
• Faerie Swarm

With Alela ability to create 1/1s you don't need defense cards like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda, and her deathtouch will often scare away some of the big beaters.
You have plenty of return creature to hand cards, so Crystal Shard feels like overkill.

With more card draw, then you'll have more spells to cast, meaning you'll have way more options to spend your mana. So this is the mana sink she will be after.

[pokken]

cloudstone curio feels pretty savage to me with Alela as a bounce outlet. Cast an enchantment, bounce spellstutter sprite. Can also chain cheap enchantments/artifact creatures. Kinda surprised I never thought of that before since it probably goes infinite like with god-eternal oketra.

[MeowZeDung]

With Alela ability to create 1/1s you don't need defense cards like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda, and her deathtouch will often scare away some of the big beaters.

This sounds correct on paper, but I've seen it not be the case in practice. At least with the Alela deck I built for my daughter and in our family meta, she is almost always wanting to attack with her evasive faerie tokens that have been anthemed up rather than hold back blockers, and even though Alela has deathtouch A) she only blocks one attacker and B) it really hurts to lose her and build up the commander tax if the gameplan is token swarm (although OP may be more interested in tribal critters than the token trigger). Long story short, the defense cards have been great for her, especially Sphere of Safety since hers is an enchantress build. I've also learned to not underestimate Blind Obedience. I personally would look at cutting a rock or two and maybe Negate before cutting those few enchantments.

[pokken]

With Alela ability to create 1/1s you don't need defense cards like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda, and her deathtouch will often scare away some of the big beaters.

This sounds correct on paper, but I've seen it not be the case in practice.

In my experience:
1) I never want to trade with a random 5/5 with Alela. She's much less desirable when she costs 8.
2) I rarely have enough faeries to trade profitably with larger creatures, and they do not have deathtouch, and do not ignore trample.

So I run propaganda/prison/meekstone/opposition/batterskull/jitte/moat as ways to keep that tamped down.

Creatures have gotten HUGE these days...I got oneshotted by like 15 x 5/5 dragons that just showed up in a turn or two not too long ago

[darrenhabib]

I do have to disagree with all this about playing defensive cards in a deck that CAN protect itself, however poorly that might be.

I'm definitely coming from a more competitive angle. I personally always thought Ghostly Prison/Propaganda effects to be the most overrated cards in commander in general, and have been outspoken about it in the past.
Being "tax" cards, means that they best fit in a deck that taxes opponents. This deck doesn't do that at all.

Sure some of your 1/1 will literally be chump blockers, but it's about survival and setup, not winning fast.
It's not about blocking everything either. Cliché as it is, life is a resource, and taking damage is fine, it's just about not dying, and this deck is perfectly fine at not dying. It's just about producing a creature here or there that can take off the most brutal damage.

I really only think trample is the weak spot for this deck, because you have so many ways to block and return the blocker to hand with the flash creatures. If you are in a game of a big dumb trample creature, then paying 2 isn't going to stop them. So really it's more about go wide strategies, and this deck can certainly go wide.

I have to say coming from the other end of playing against Alela, the deathtouch has been enough keep me from not wanting to trade off.
So I wouldn't underrate this at all. Like I specifically remember the last game I played against her I had a bunch of beefy green creatures, but they all had good abilities. If I attacked I probably could have gotten through not being blocked, but at the same time, I just wasn't prepared to be the player at the table to lose value. A lot of stand-offs happen like this.

[pokken]

Ultimately I think that at the upper power levels you're right, and that's why I don't play those in my stronger decks. My Alela deck is about a 6/10 or so, maybe even 5, and it tends toward much longer games. Longer the game the more the tax is meaningful as there's more room for chip shots and so on. At least in my experience.

My meta has a combination of people really excited to tap out to build their boards and lots of big dumb fatties. The combination of this has lead me to cards like windborn muse in Ephara doing outsized work at preventing attacks.

[Hawk]

Thanks for all the comments!

In our metagame, the tax has been huge and definitely worth keeping around. The cuts ended up being Animating Faerie, Nihil Spellbomb, Faerie Squadron (I hadn't realized it only flies when kicked), Glen Elendra Pranksters, Chrome Mox, and Sphere of the Suns (not to my wife's tastes), and Darksteel Citadel in order to add the five aforementioned cards plus Door of Destinies and Reliquary Tower.

The deck then lost two games, to go 2-2 overall. Turns out the first two wins were more about how powerful turn 3 Rhystic Study is than how good Alela is. The deck really struggles if it ever ends up in topdeck mode. Current plan is to drop Faerie Macabre. Wydwen, the Biting Gale, and a land for Nihil Spellbomb, Ponder (to smooth draws) and Distant Melody as a big draw spell if in "top deck" mode.

[darrenhabib]

Actually I ended up making my own Alela after thinking about cards after posting here. But it isn't Faerie tribal, just a few splashed. I'm going to post my list sometime in the future.

But as far as draw, Skullclamp is a bomb in the deck and you can pick one up for $5.

Military Intelligence has proven to be a solid draw card as well.

Grand Architect is just amaaaazing with Alela. I understand he not a Faerie, but at $5 just such an improvement over
Dictate of Heliod as a buff. He just makes it so you can cast out all your artifacts as well.

Erebos, Bleak-Hearted is around $5 as well, so is another fine draw option, and has removal potential as well.

Again another creature that's not a Faerie, but has proven to be an all-star is Odric, Lunarch Marshal. Giving your creatures lifelink and deathtouch has meant that I can attack without worrying about creatures attacking me as I just gain so much life.
This is the example where a card is so much more effective and proactive than Ghostly Prison/Propaganda as a way to keep yourself from dying.

Also a really great card I've been using is Reconnaissance. What you can do is actually attack with everything and when your creatures have dealt combat damage, you can then "remove them from combat" to get them untapped. So you are still in the combat damage step. It's basically a cheap way of giving them vigilance, but also has the upside that you can remove any creatures that would die to blocking. Seriously love this card.

[ChocoDude]

[mention]darrenhabib[/mention] I'm curious to see your Alela build. I really like the idea of using Odric. Seems fun!!

[ChocoDude]

Also, how about using Concerted Effort either with or without Odric, Lunarch Marshal? You'd get another faerie token with Alela on the board and the effects would last the entire turn. Oh wait, I don't see deathtouch or hexproof in there. Hmmm...well, maybe with Odric? But then, you're losing a slot for something else and increasing your overall CMC.

[darrenhabib]

darrenhabib I'm curious to see your Alela build. I really like the idea of using Odric. Seems fun!!

Hey, I've finally posted my list, you can check it out here => viewtopic.php?f=35&t=23273