Fairies

How are fairies doing these days? It's been a while since I played them. If you could be so kind, please post current battlegroups, and even tips would be most appreciated. If they aren't viable these days, what do you think they need in order to be made viable?

 

Simply put they have very hard matchups against melee champions , tanks, etc.

 

Yep, there are so many bad match ups that they are, in my opinion, auto-lose against too many decks. A mixed Fairy/Wizard deck could do better. Full Fairy theme decks can be fun if you don't mind all the losses. Also, shout out to Chopping Block for making sure Fairies aren't a thing.

 

Seconded. I have tried running Prismatic Crystals and Artillery Markers for help with melee but the Nora invested is typically not worth it. Especially with things like Seism out there.

 

Any ideas or plans to make them better? Maybe long-range destruct against the chopping block, or other relics? Make some fairies, or even fairy-friendly units more melee friendly? Would Stall help enough?

 

They have low base hp, low base damage, low base defense, few decent melee champs. They are a gimmicky theme that are mostly pretty expensive for such poor stats, it would be fine if they built up late game but they don't except oracle.

They need more pacifying abilities such as stall, blind, charm, serenade, and maybe some ranged entangle. Right now any rush against them early game results in a loss for people playing fairies.

I toyed around with a fairy bg built around blind and pacifying my opponent for a long time.

 

Yeah, back when the Fae were good they had terrible stats but enough debuffs to last. They were fun that way. Now, they have terrible stats but not enough tricks to survive. An opponent just needs to rush with just about anything to gain an early win. One only has a chance at a decent game if the opponent wants to build up instead of rush the little buggers.

 

Then most times your opponents build up is stronger anyways.

 

Well the cost reduction for fairy flight, then they were deemed too cheap so they were changed up and given abilities and stats to up their cost. The majority of the fairies cost too much and have double the cost Nora wise of their hp.

 

Not really sure what he means by less tricks, they still have the same abilities for the most part but they could use more blind and such.

They all look pretty much the same but for some reason they are super pricey in today's game. Starlight fairy and snare fairy are the only champs I can even justify paying that much Nora for possibly sun blossom.

 

I would if I was near my computer, however one thing is in most other themes they aren't all running around with under 40 hp with few defensive mechanics.

I just have problems with things that have double the Nora cost of their hp, yes they can kinda survive through gimmicks buts it's really risky.

Fairies have a total of 4 champs with higher than 40 hp, two of those are corgi.

Fairies only have 4 champs with 10 or higher damage, one you need to keep alive for boost weak and the other has 38 hp and 0 defense. The other 2 are corgis again, which I find the corgis abilities and cost to be pretty damn good for what they bring to the table.

Their strengths have always been their range and oracle, with the range nerfs, spot removal the costs of the ranged units and the early game rush by any theme like Xirone said is what kills them.

This is just what I think you might see something entirely different.

Themes like fairies are a theme that would benefit from defender or command dodge or command block, yet instead themes like jakei have them when they are all around 50 hp and have some decent defensive abilities.

Just my thoughts, a future fairy leader with those sorta abilities would be nice and help the theme immensely.

 

The last time I'd say the Fae were good, which is what I was referencing, was before the epic revamp. Back then the Fae had plenty of Soothing Serenade, Deflect, Divert, and whatnot. Abilities like Deflect and Divert helped inoculate the champions against their low HP. Of course, the champs back then weren't fully paying for those abilities and so that does need to be mentioned. The Fae did have some success post-revamp when Amareth's Lexicon came out, if I remember correctly.

To be more positive, though, the Corgis helped bring much needed melee prowess to the deck (as well as decent base HP) and the Chained Fae is pretty decent again. They seem close to being okay but it seems like whenever I play them I get rushed by just about any deck and lose quickly. It seems like others have similar results. I'd be interesting in seeing someone like Tiny pick them up and see what they could do.

 

Hyperbole does happen, certainly. It does seem, though, that when I play a full Fairy deck, it gets destroyed by a rush early on. A mixed Fairy/Wizard deck does do much better. It seems like a few Fae, sprinkled in other decks, works well but a deck full of them falters. I would like to be wrong.

 

Fae Oracle was an important champion in the Fae decks of old. The champion always depended on gaining +HP from Adaptive and slowly became a heavy hitter. When Adaptive lost the ability to gain +HP off of cheap spells, the champion didn't fair very well (note the 34 HP and +80 nora cost). Fae Oracle also became pretty expensive for its stats when the revamp happened. Jakei Heretic is a similar champ, is slightly cheaper, has a greater range, +3 DMG, +12 HP, and has the option of having some control elements (though Oracle's control elements are much better). I do think Anthomancy is overcosted, BTW, if Poxbase is correct that it costs 8 Nora.

Conclave Warden is also a champion that seemed to be better before the revamp. Some how the champion played better when it had Deflect on base. That ability is pricey, though, so that would be a double-edged sword. You have tweaked that champion a few times and made it cheaper, which was appreciated. Maybe take Entangle off base and replace it with Deflect and a minor negative ability? Also putting Book Burn in Ignorance's spot might help.

Also, Fae Enchantress was always a costly champion and never really had a "heyday". I'd say Fairy Dust is overcosted on her. I remember coming up with a decent buff suggestion on her a while ago but forgot what it was. Oh well.

Lastly, you have buffed a a few champion and made formerly bad ones better. Again that is appreciated.

Edit: What do you think about Bridge to Nowhere giving something like Dodge 1 to affected Fairies instead of Escape? The AoE could be reduced from 6 to 5, since that change is happening to a lot of relics anyway.

Edit II: Maybe Tower of Amareth could get a discount according to the number of Fae in play?

Edit III: Amareth's Lexicon might need some help after Hunter: Equipped gets nerfed, too.

 

@Xirone I couldn't think of what fae were missing, now I'm remembering deflect and divert was huge in that bg I made with all pacify.

Dropping conclave wardens range to 1-2 or even 1 might get her cost dropped a bit I'm not sure by how much though.

I recall a brief moment where enchantress was really good and then she got nerfed, and nerfed again and then kinda never got anything in return. What's really upping her price is crystals, not sure why the ability is so pricey considering it can be hit from range and it also affects friendly champs that aren't fairies.

 

Oh yeah, there was a time when Enchantress was considered good. I can't remember why, though. I think it had something to do with Soften. I also remember Fairy Dust used to give Wandering for 4 turns.