Obyra, Dreaming DuelistObyra, Dreaming Duelist | Art by Evyn Fong

This Obyra, Dreaming DuelistObyra, Dreaming Duelist Commander deck tech is going to attempt to bring the Fae back to their halcyon days.

Faerie History

Faeries. Once the boogeyman of Standard, the name still strikes fear into the hearts of those who played competitively during the original Lorwyn. Flashy, evasive, and controlling, Dimir’s prodigal insectoid/humanoids expertly balance aggression and controlling elements to make a truly scary opponent. No Midsummer Night’s Dreams here, these buggers are the stuff of nightmares…for our opponents.

While individual Faeries do predate Lorwyn, and even have an impressive competitive pedigree, they didn’t really have a consistent throughline until the plane was visited. Cloud of FaeriesCloud of Faeries was used as a combo piece, but it was more because the ability to untap lands attached to reasonable effects in Urza’s Legacy was absolutely broken in half. Stapling cycling onto it was just gravy.

The Faeries of Lorwyn, however, proved the creature type wasn’t a flash in the pan. BitterblossomBitterblossom is considered one of the strongest token producers of all time. Spellstutter SpriteSpellstutter Sprite is a Pauper all-star. Even Scion of OonaScion of Oona and Mistbind CliqueMistbind Clique, while they may have fallen by the wayside, were dominant in their day, the former providing the deck’s clock and the latter sealing the game away.

Faeries reached their heyday with Lorwyn and Morningtide, but there have been Fae printed since. Eldraine introduced Fae in blue, black, and green, most notably the planeswalker Oko. This Sultai color identity has continued into Lorwyn Eclipsed, notably with the printing of Maralen, Fae AscendantMaralen, Fae Ascendant. Still, Maralen unites Faeries and Elves, which doesn’t feel like a true expression of either type.

But how do we translate that into Commander success? And can we still honor their playfulness while playing into their competitive pedigree?

What Does Obyra, Dreaming DuelistObyra, Dreaming Duelist Do?

There are a lot of Faerie commanders, but Obyra is the one that gives the clearest lines to victory. A 2/2 flier for Dimir () colors is already decently strong, and flash makes it even better, hearkening back to the days when players could play draw, go and aggro at the same time.

The real show, however, is the triggered ability.

Small fliers can get brick-walled by Dragons and the like, as we saw in articles about Bats and Spirits. So, how do we avoid this? Obyra makes each opponent lose a life whenever a Faerie enters under our control. Notably, this isn’t limited to non-token Fae, so BitterblossomBitterblossom and its new functional reprint, Bitterbloom BearerBitterbloom Bearer, trigger it over and over.

Even if we can’t attack, we can make a ton of blockers while presenting a clock.

And if our opponents don’t have big fliers? That’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Key Cards for Obyra, Dreaming DuelistObyra, Dreaming Duelist

Faeries may have a reputation as little pranksters, but they provide serious threats. Most have flying, while many also have enters-the-battlefield (ETB) effects and/or flash, enabling them to be playful and mess with opponents’ boards and combat math.

They do, however, tend to have small base stats.

Puppeteer CliquePuppeteer Clique is an example of a Faerie with a powerful ETB. It lets us reanimate an opponent’s creature with haste, exiling it at end of turn. It also happens to have persist, which lets it return to the battlefield a bit smaller if it dies, triggering the ETB again.

Faerie VandalFaerie Vandal is an example of a cheap, aggressive beater, flashing in on an opponent’s turn, simulating haste, and then growing whenever we draw multiple cards in the same turn.

And we intend to draw some cards.

Faerie MastermindFaerie Mastermind is an ode to one of the most successful Faerie players of all time, Yuta Takahashi. Nicknamed "King of the Faeries," he won two of his three Grand Prix titles with Faeries decks. His invitational card is a flashy flying card draw engine with an activated ability to make each player draw a card.

Meanwhile, Nightveil SpriteNightveil Sprite is a surveilling engine, triggering each time it attacks. As long as there’s a safe target, life totals will drop as we tear through our library.

But what are we digging for?

One of the reasons I love Obyra so much (I even have a build among my personal decks!) is that the triggered ability works well with bounce spells. Several Faeries have self-bouncing abilities, like Faerie ImpostorFaerie Impostor, which lets us reuse ETBs.

SnapSnap is powerful for much the same reason Cloud of FaeriesCloud of Faeries is: It’s strong enough on its face without untapping lands, but untapping lands in a flash deck is even better.

AetherizeAetherize, on the other hand, is a major tempo card, punishing opponents for overextending. It can even be cast after combat damage but before the second main phase, for a particularly devastating double-whammy when an opponent attacks another opponent.

While many on Lorwyn consider Glen Elendra’s existence a prank perpetrated by the Faeries, its protective magic, bestowed by Oona herself, is no joke. Glen Elendra ArchmageGlen Elendra Archmage has a storied history of sacrificing itself to NegateNegate opposing spells, often in counters decks that can regrow what it loses by persisting.

Glen Elendra GuardianGlen Elendra Guardian follows in its ancestor’s footsteps, entering with a counter that shrinks it, but being able to lose the counter to NegateNegate a spell and draw the spell’s controller a card, getting back some of the goodwill lost by countering the spell.

As a flash deck, we want to be able to leave mana up and sink that mana into spells and abilities at instant speed. Castle VantressCastle Vantress lets us use our excess mana to dig deeper into the deck and set up our draws. Faerie ConclaveFaerie Conclave gives us a secret attacker, letting us beat down after a board wipe while also benefitting from Faerie support, like Scion of OonaScion of Oona.

How Does This Obyra, Dreaming DuelistObyra, Dreaming Duelist Commander Deck Win?

Our primary plan is to beat down aggressively with small, evasive creatures that are aggressively-costed. We want to win through combat, with BitterblossomBitterblossom, Bitterbloom BearerBitterbloom Bearer, and Scion of OonaScion of Oona providing our most intentional forward-moving pieces. These cards swarm the battlefield early and often, and have formed the backbone of Faerie decks for as long as the type has been competitive.

Even in its heyday, however, there were games that a rush of fliers just couldn’t win. Obyra, Dreaming DuelistObyra, Dreaming Duelist gives the type a way to win through board stalls, by bouncing our own creatures and replaying them to lower life totals. It doesn’t target or deal damage, either, which makes counterplay particularly difficult.

There are also board-breaking cards in this deck, some of which have a history with the type, and some of which are newer additions.

Perplexing TestPerplexing Test is one of the few instant-speed mass bounce spells, which works well with our flash ability. It bounces either tokens or nontokens, so we can pick up our nontoken Faeries to replay later, while leaving our BitterblossomBitterblossom tokens out to beat down.

Cryptic CommandCryptic Command is a frequent collaborator with Faeries, often tapping down opposing boards and drawing a card to enable an all-out attack, but it can also bounce a Faerie to re-cast with Obyra out or an opposing threat to split attacks or prevent a counterattack. Even the CounterspellCounterspell ability can be useful to protect our board or prevent a nasty game-winning spell!

Obyra, Dreaming Duelist Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Faeries are a playful creature type that can mean business when it wants to. Its members have ranged from aggressive beaters, to control enablers, to combo pieces, and everything in between. The type is incredibly versatile, embracing a wide variety of playstyles and builds, while testing the skills and rules knowledge of its controllers with the flash ability.

They truly embrace the adage "Easy to play, impossible to master," offering endless replayability with even the most stock of builds.

But how would you build this flexible type? And which version is your favorite?