Note: I'm retiring the good ol' Fae deck for now. The modern meta's been pretty hostile to it for a while, especially with all the graveyard decks minimizing the use of discard spells and Big mana decks destroying us since our clock is so slow. Then Wrenn and Six and Plague Engineer got printed, which are kind of nails in the coffin for the archetype. If something comes along to shake up / revive the deck, I'd love to revisit Faeries in modern, but for now I've ported over to UW control.

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Faeries is a deck that relies on the interaction between Bitterblossom and several Faerie cards from the Lorwyn era to control the battlefield. With a combination of removal, hand disruption, and countermagic, Faeries has abandoned its roots as a tempo deck and nowadays plays like a strange mix of BG Rock and Ux Control. The modern meta has changed a lot in the past few years, and with some helpful new cards and unbannings (Fatal Push, Collective Brutality, Field of Ruin, Jace), Fae has more tools than ever to handle the rest of the field.
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Why play Faeries?

(1) You enjoy this brand of aggro-control playstyle (most of the deck operates at instant speed)
(2) You like disruption and interaction
(3) You want a good Death's Shadow, Control, and Combo matchup
(4) You want a deck that rewards practice and matchup knowledge
(5) You want to play something that isn't Tier 1

Why NOT play Faeries?

(1) You don't like to grind out wins but prefer to go fast and hard
(2) You don't want to eat away at your own life total vs. aggro
(3) Two mana 1/1s suck, even if they have great art
(4) You'd rather rely on individually powerful creatures instead of synergistic ones

The "core" of Faeries is Mutavault, Bitterblossom, Spellstutter Sprite, and Vendilion Clique. Our gameplan is to resolve a Bitterblossom and use the resulting Faerie swarm to answer opponents' threats while growing an advantage.

Decks you are favored/equal against:

- UR Phoenix
- Spirits
- Death's Shadow
- UW Control / Jeskai Control
- Storm
- Affinity
- Counters Company / Bant Company
- Bogles
- "Fair" Midrange Decks
- Spell-based Combo Decks

Decks you are unfavored/scared of:

- Humans
- Tron
- Hardened Scales
- Burn
- Dredge
- Eldrazi Aggro
- Hollow One
- Lantern Control
- Amulet Titan
- Blitz-y Aggro decks (Zoo, 8-whack, etc.)

The rest of this guide will cover the cards in the maindeck and sideboard. Each will have a little explanation for why they're included and their role in the deck.
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Creatures:

Spellstutter Sprite: When BB is in play, this is often a hard counter. Feels bad when you can't use its trigger. (Opponents can use removal on your faeries with the ETB trigger on the stack to nullify it's ability.) Regardless, it's powerful (especially when modern is dominated by cheap spells) and every Fae deck uses them.

Vendilion Clique: Good enough to see play in non-Fae decks, Vendilion does it all. Think of this as an extra Thoughtseize to gain information on opponents' hands and eliminate cards you don't currently have answers for. Additionally, you can target yourself to cycle away dead cards in hand (late discard spells, extra Bitterblossoms, etc.)

Snapcaster Mage: Can't be much of a blue control deck without him. He's gotten much better here since Fatal Push got printed, but there isn't much to say about Snapcaster that already hasn't been said. I'd play more if I had the deck space.
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Instants:

Fatal Push: The most recent heavy-hitter in modern. This card is the 1cmc black removal spell we needed. Eliminates most of the relevant threats in the format, and it works even better in this deck since we often chump block with Faerie tokens (enabling Revolt). This card alone has made our aggro matchups better by several percentage points.

Cast Down: The current best choice for 2cmc black removal (outside of Terminate). This handles larger threats that Fatal Push can't. I'd rather have this instead of Go for the Throat since GftT too weak versus Tron creatures, Affinity, and Hollow One. The only relevant creature that I can't kill between Cast Down and Fatal Push is Tasigur, so this should be the best creature coverage available. And besides, now that Jace is in the deck, I have more options to bounce Tasigur (which is usually the best way to deal with delve threats anyway).

Cryptic Command: If you don't love playing this card I don't know what to say. The flexibility is incredible. It takes some intuition to know when to use this as a tempo spell instead of a typical counterspell, but you can get yourself out of some really sticky situations for 1UUU. Take extra consideration with your manabase to make sure it can support UUU by turn 4.
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Sorceries:

Inquisition of Kozilek: The classic discard spell. Not much to say here other than it does its job well, especially as modern is getting faster and decks are lower to the ground. Often times opponents' hands are one card away from being terrible, and this helps us wreck their gameplan.

Serum Visions: I used to use Opt here, but I've taken a note from Jeskai/UW control lists and an trying visions instead. Although Opt being instant speed is nice, Serum digs deeper and filters away more unwanted cards when it matters most. Yuta plays 4, so I'm testing it out.
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Enchantments:

Bitterblossom: The posterchild of the deck - this card is the engine that makes Faeries work. Given enough time, you're getting an army of fliers for only 2 mana.
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Artifacts:

Smuggler's Copter: Currently testing this one out! I've been looking for a card that can help apply more pressure while filtering away late discard spells / Bitterblossoms to make sure I don't run out of gas later on. Copter fills both of those roles nicely, so I'm giving it a shot as a cautious 2-of. Hate to admit it but this is better than Mistbind Clique.
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Planeswalkers:

Liliana of the Veil: Many critics of UB Fae say that Liliana and counterspells don't play well together (and they're mostly right), but there are a few reasons why I use LotV in this deck as a removal slot. First, since managing your life total is so important in this deck, LotV often pulls double duty in that she kills a creature and forces opponents' to finish her off. In doing so, she's taking damage that would otherwise go at us, effectively "gaining" us life. No other modern-playable 3-drop removal spell does that. Second, she works well with Bitterblossom in play. So long as you're generating tokens every turn, it doesn't matter if everyone's hands are destroyed - you'll come out ahead. Third, she serves as a clunky-hand filter like Collective Brutality does by allowing us to pitch extra Bitterblossoms for profit. Besides, the most successful Fae lists (pioneered by Yuta Takahashi) use 3, so that has to say something.

Liliana the Last Hope: A flex slot right now - this used to be many different things. I've settled with her since she is a threat that buys us time against the more aggressive decks in the format.  The +1 can either kill small creatures or prevent a larger one from hitting as hard. It also forces opponents to attack her, conserving our life total for Bitterblossom. The minus ability is fantastic since all of our creatures have swingy ETB effects. Most lists have her in the SB, but I've brought her in so many times that I'm starting with her in the MD now.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Jace is an excellent top end for faeries since his 0 can hide away extra Bitterblossoms or discard spells in our deck. A fetchland or Field of Ruin will then wipe them away for good. He can also buy us some time by bouncing problematic creatures, or bouncing our own Faeries if we desperately need their ETB effects. The trickiest thing about using this card is making sure he doesn't die immediately. We're using 2 since Cryptic is a more impactul 4-drop, and can rebound games where I fall behind.
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(Notable) Lands:

Mutavault: It's a Faerie! You can pull off some tricks like activating it in response to a Spellstutter trigger or championing it with Mistbind Clique. Also applies the beats alongside Creeping Tar Pit when games go long.

River of Tears: Works perfectly in this deck. Usually taps for B on our turn (Thoughtsize, Liliana, etc.) and taps for U on opponents' turns (Vendilion Clique, Cryptic Command, etc.).

Field of Ruin: A land that gives us a fighting chance vs. Cavern of Souls and Tron without taking up valuable deck slots. It shuffles, which is relevant after using Jace's 0 ability. It also enables revolt, which helps ensure Fatal Push can nab larger creatures.
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Sideboard Choices:

**Note, adjust your sideboard for your meta accordingly! Mine is always in flux since we have a fair amount of traffic at the current shop, but it's nice to have a plan for every major archetype. In my case, I've built the maindeck to be slightly more tuned to fight aggro, saving the silver bullets in the SB for graveyard strategies, big mana strategies, and a variety of sweepers as extra aggro insurance.**

Surgical Extraction: Sneaky graveyard hate that also removes specific key cards that decks rely on (Tron lands, Arclight Phoenix, Scapeshift, Snapcaster effects, Dredge, Lingering Souls, Lotus Bloom, Bloodghast, etc.)

Kalitas: Beefy stabilizer that shines in fair matchups. Lifelink helps stave off the damage from Bitterblossom, our removal becomes 2-for-1s by making zombies, and cluttering the board can buy some time for late game. Also incidental graveyard hate, which is always helpful.

Unmoored Ego: Helpful against combo decks or those that rely on key pieces to win. Naming Tron lands proactively or Arclight Phoenix buys us enough time to stabilize.

Ceremonious Rejection: Tron insurance. Good against Hardened Scales, Grixis Whir, Lantern, and Ancient Stirrings decks in general.

Thoughtseize: For when we need to eliminate larger spells from the hand and Vendilion isn't enough. Good against control, big mana decks, and against combo where my life total is largely irrevelant.

Collective Brutality: The card of choice against spell-based aggro and decks with swarms of little creatures. Also a nice filter for clunky hands. Sometimes you draw too many discard spells, extra Bitterblossoms, or have too many 4-drops in hand vs a fast aggro deck. I'd argue that this is one of the best decks for the life drain mode since we need it with Bitterblossom in play. So far I've been very impressed, and it often functions as a miniature black version of Cryptic Command in terns of how well it stabilizes and turns games around. Drastically helps the burn matchup.

Nihil Spellbomb: Extra protection against decks that rely on the graveyard. Can dissuade Snapcasters, hinder Mardu Pyromancer decks, sweep away Delve fuel, eliminates explosive Arclight Phoenix turns, and helps shore up our otherwise miserable Dredge matchup. Worst case scenario, it cycles for (2).

Damnation: A Classic. Sometimes opponents' creatures get too big for Flaying Tendrils or other small sweepers (Bant Spirits, Humans later on, Jund, E-Tron, etc.), and this resets the board.

Engineered Explosives: EE is excellent because it deals with noncreature permanents. Too many times I've sat across from affinity wishing I could kill Cranial Plating instead of creatures, or wishing I could hit Aether Vials against spirits, or crying at a pile of enchantments against bogles. Also does just fine at blowing up creature swarm decks, which tend to have a critical mass of junk at CMC 1 and 2.

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Things to Test:

New Ashiok: I'm pretty sure this card is too slow, but I like the concept. I'm fairly certain Nihil Spellbomb is just better.

Unmoored Ego: Very tempting since there's so much degeneracy running around modern right now where entire decks depends on 4x of some busted card. Not sure what I'd remove from the SB to make room but I'm considering it.
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Why aren't you playing _____?

Ancestral Vision: I think modern has just moved on. It was questionable when it was first unbanned because it was so slow, and it's only gotten worse as the format has sped up. It's literally only fine on Turn 1, and dreadful any time afterwards. Faeries doesn't have issues closing out in the late game - the issue is GETTING to the late game. These kinds of cards just drag the deck down.

Gifted Aetherborn: A lot of Fae pilots like this card, but I think Collective Brutality is miles better. Aetherborn MIGHT gain you life if it doesn't get removed instantly, whereas CB is so much more versatile and guarantees that I gain 2 life.

Scion of Oona: This card would fit nicely in a tempo-oriented build where you try to build a resilient army and forego some of the control elements. I think Faeries is too slow for the tempo plan, and including Scion only creates more opportunities for you to draw the wrong half of your deck. When you don't have a Bitterblossom in play and a 3-mana 1/1 in hand, you tend to lose games.

Mistbind Clique: I used to, and it was painful to finally cut it. It's just too expensive, too conditional (if you don't have a faerie to champion), and often times tapping their lands doesn't do enough. Currently think Smuggler's Copter is the solution since it can provide similar pressure and filter away dead draws later on.
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Sideboard Guide: (In -> Out) [Slightly Outdated, I'll fix this soon]

Vs. Izzet Phoenix:
1x Kalitas -> Liliana, the last hope
1x Languish -> Liliana of the Veil
1x Damping Sphere -> Liliana of the Veil
2x Nihil Spellbomb -> Mistbind Clique, Hero's Downfall

Vs. Burn:
1x Kalitas -> Mistbind Clique
1x EE ->  Thoughtseize
2x Collective Brutality -> 2x Liliana of the Veil

Vs. Death's Shadow:
1x Damnation -> Jace
1x EE -> Hero's Downfall

Vs. Bant Spirits:
1x Damnation -> Jace
1x Languish -> Thoughtseize
1x EE -> Mistbind Clique

Vs. Affinity:
1x Damnation -> Jace
1x EE -> Liliana of the Veil
1x Collective Brutality -> Liliana of the Veil

Vs. Humans:
1x Damnation -> Jace
1x Languish -> Thoughtseize
1x EE -> Spellstutter Sprite

Vs. Jund:
1x Kalitas -> Collective Brutality
1x Thoughtseize -> Liliana of the Last Hope
2x Nihil Spellbomb -> Smuggler's Copter, Jace

Vs. Eldrazi Tron:
1x Damping Sphere -> Spellstutter Sprite
1x Thoughtseize -> Spellstutter Sprite
2x Disdainful Stroke -> 2x Fatal Push
1x Languish -> Spellstutter Sprite
1x Damnation -> Smuggler's Copter
2x Surgical Extraction -> Liliana of the Last Hope, 1x Fatal Push

Vs. Hollow One:
1x Kalitas -> Thoughtseize
2x Surgical Extraction -> Smuggler's Copter, Mistbind Clique
1x Damnation -> Jace
1x Languish -> Hero's Downfall

Vs. Bogles:
1x Damnation -> Liliana the Last Hope
1x EE -> Hero's Downfall
1x Thoughtseize -> Cast Down
2x Surgical Extraction -> Cast Down, Fatal Push

Vs. Tron:
2x Disdainful Stroke -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Surgical Extraction -> 2x Fatal Push
1x Damntaion -> Spellstutter Sprite
2x Thoughtseize -> 2x Spellstutter Sprite
1x Damping Sphere -> Liliana the Last Hope

Vs. UWx Control:
2x Disdainful Stroke -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Collective Brutality -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Thoughtseize -> 2x Cast Down
1x Nihil Spellbomb -> 1x Inquisition of Kozilek

Vs. Lantern Control:
2x Surgical Extraction -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Collective Brutality -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Thoughtseize -> 2x Cast Down
1x EE -> Hero's Downfall
2x Nihil Spellbomb -> 2x Liliana of the Veil

Vs. Dredge:
1x Kalitas -> Spellstutter Sprite
2x Surgical Extraction -> 2x Spellstutter Sprite
1x Damnation -> Hero's Downfall
1x Languish -> Collective Brutality
2x Nihil Spellbomb -> 2x Liliana of the Veil

Vs. Amulet Titan:
2x Disdainful Stroke -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Surgical Extraction -> 2x Fatal Push
2x Thoughtseize -> 2x Spellstutter Sprite
1x Damping Sphere -> Spellstutter Sprite

Vs. Storm:
2x Collective Brutality -> 2x Cast Down
2x Thoughtseize -> Hero's Downfall, Liliana of the Last Hope

Vs. Counters Company
1x Kalitas -> Jace
2x Collective Brutality -> 2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Damnation -> Hero's Downfall
1x Languish -> Cast Down

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Tournament / FNM Results (Since July 2017):

FNM 7/7/17: 3W - 1L
FNM 7/14/17: 2W - 2L
Local Tournament 7/16/17: 3W - 2L
FNM 7/21/17: 3W - 1L
GP Minneapolis 8/6/17: 2W - 2L
Local Tournament 7/25/17: 3W - 1L
FNM 7/27/17: 1W - 3L :(
FNM 10/6/17: 4W - 0L
Local Tournament 5/2/18: 4W - 0L - 1T (KCI, Seismic Swans, Affinity, UW Control, Mardu Pyro)
Local Tournament 5/9/18: 3W - 0L (1 Bye) (Elves, Bogles, Jund)
Local Tournament 5/23/18: 2W - 2L (Win: Burn, Burn) (Loss: Lantern, GB Rock)
Local Tournament 7/5/18: 2W - 2L (Win: GDS, UW Control) (Loss: Lantern, Burn)
Local Tournament 3/15/19: 3W - 1L (Win: UR Phoenix, Counters Company, Burn) (Loss: Dredge)
Local Tournament 4/13/19: 2W - 2L (Win: Burn, UR Phoenix) (Loss: Dredge, E-Tron)

Total Record: 37W - 19L - 1T