Good Game: Is This Horse Dead Yet?
By Andrew Hanson
He needs a new friend.
A new lord. That meant I could play with eight lords in Merfolk again (which increases the decks survivability against Volcanic Fallout by quite a bit). Plus, the new lord would play nicely with Wake Thrasher. Even better than Sygg, River Guide plays with him. So I started putting together a decklist in my head. But you know what? I couldn't wait. So when I went to the Tuesday Night Magic this week at our local shop (like FNM, but unsanctioned), I made a prototype of the new Merfolk deck to run. What did I use to represent the Sovereign, you ask? None other than this piece of trash: Streambed Aquitects.
He was the closest thing in function that I could find to the new lord. With his 2/3 body, he lived through Fallouts (and could even save a Merfolk Reejerey with his first activated ability), and, if the opponent had an Island, he could make Thrasher unblockable. Of course, that's a big "if," which brings me to the other piece of garbage—though it is a card that I deeply love—that made it into the deck: Aquitect's Will.
Here's the decklist I ran on Tuesday night:
It took the path to the sideboard. Yuk yuk.
It's the fact that those bad matchups are also very popular that forces me to put Pollen Lullaby in the board. In the pre-Conflux days, you'd only ever get the Lullaby out of my board by killing me first. I don't know what happened—maybe it was the rise of Boat Brew, which the Lullaby was only so-so against—but that card had worked its way out of my 75. But no more. It'll actually work well against the more popular forms of Tokens (B/W and G/W), and it'll give me the time I need to steal a win with a pumped up Thrasher who is unblockable.
The one card that I didn't include, and it broke my heart, was Sower of Temptation. It's not bad against Tokens, and it's great against so many other decks, but I just couldn't find the room for it. You know, I had to fill my deck with Streambed Aquitects and Aquitect's Will.
Now, you may have noticed another card missing and be wondering about it: Meddling Mage. Forget him. He's not good in a deck like this. The decks that he can actually disable are few and far between, and I have no way of peeking at my opponents hand to make him truly effective. Maybe if I ran Tidehollow Scullers and Vendilion Cliques, and not Merfolk at all, he'd be good. But he's just not good in this format, in this deck. Plus, without him, I get to run some of my old tried-and-true favorites (like Pollen Lullaby).
Match One, vs. Cascade Swans
At first, I was scared to go up against this deck, but then I thought about it more. He can't interact with me until his turn three, probably not until his turn four. Giving Merfolk that kind of breathing room can be lethal. Plus, I had eight counterspells to stop his Seismic Assaults.
Game one, he had to mull to six. Apparently, his first hand was six land and a Bloodbraid Elf. His second hand was five land and a Bloodbraid. He didn't want to risk a five-card hand, and kept. I opened with a turn two Silvergill Adept and then sat on a Sage's Dousing for the next two turns, waiting for an Assault. On his turn four, he played the Elf and got his Assault, but I countered it. Then I dropped a bunch of Merfolk on the board. He drew into a Swans of Brynn Argol, but it didn't matter. I had board advantage (which included a Sygg), and then to make things even easier on me, I drew a Cryptic Command to tap down all his guys and swing for the win.
Game one: win. 1-0
The master of wars of attrition.
Game two, he came out with a turn three Assault. I had a turn two Adept again, though, and a turn three Reejerey. He pitched some land to kill my board, and then missed land drops. In a deck with 41 land, he missed land drops.
Even if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been too worried. Yes, the Assault will be annoying as hell, but eventually, he'll run out of cards. With sixteen spells in my deck that cantrip, I can win by card advantage (maybe a reason to put in a few Reveillarks?). His hand will dry up, and I'll still have some plays to make. Which is kind of what happened. I had a full mit and kept dropping threats. He had spent his land on my creatures, then drew a few five-drops that he couldn't play. That hit to his tempo was all it took.
Game two: win. 2-0
Match Results: 1-0-0
Match Two, vs. Five Color
I won the roll, and we both kept our seven. I opened with a turn two Adept, and tried for the turn three Reejerey, trying to tempt out that Broken Ambitions. He didn't have it. Nor did he have a board sweeper. So I played a few more 'Folk and had a counter for when he tried to get a Mulldrifter on the board. Without a turn three Fallout, Five Color tends to have a very bad matchup against Merfolk.
Game one: win. 1-0
Fallout what now?
I must be blessed, because I got to open with Adept yet again. We both got stuck on three land for a few turns, which let me play a Reejerey and then a Streambed Aquitects. Sadly, that's when he pulled the land he needed for a board sweeper. He played a Fallout, leaving my Aquitects alive. Then he played an Ajani Vengeant next and killed my guy. I dropped some threats and got to kill his Planeswalker on my next turn. He Fallouted yet again. We went back and fourth for a few turns, where I was dropping Adepts and other Merfolk, digging for that fifth land I needed for my Reveillark, and he was killing my guys.
Finally, he had to Wrath, but it happened when I finally had my fifth land so I answered with a Lark. He answered that with a Broodmate Dragon. But, he was only at 8 life by this point, so I used one of the three Cryptic Commands in my hand (!) to tap down his Dragons and drop him to 4. I still had enough lands up to Cryptic again. My plan was to tap down his guys at the end of his turn, which would never resolve but it'd draw out his own counter that I just knew he was holding. Then I could play the third Cryptic on my turn for the win.
But, his play that turn was the one I didn't want him to make: Kitchen Finks. If it resolved, I didn't have the win on my next turn.
I went for the Command, choosing to counter the Finks and tap his guys, but he played his own Cryptic. I knew it. But now he was at 6 life, so I had to develop my board a bit more. I played some men, blocked with my Lark when he attacked, and got enough Merfolk on the board to swing for lethal. He was out of counters and the Cryptic Command in my hand secured the game. Between my Adepts and the Lark, I just had more cards to play with than he did, which is a bad thing for Five Color.
Game two: win. 2-0
Match Results: 2-0-0
Round Three, vs. Bant
This Bant deck varied from others in that it added some more control-ish cards to the mix, including Cryptic Command, Stoic Angel, and the aweful/awesome Cephalid Constable.
I don't even know what to say about game one. I played normally for my deck—you know, a turn two play into a turn three. He played a turn one Noble Heirarch into a turn two Oblivion Ring. Then a turn three Stoic Angel, and a turn four Rafiq of the Many. I had no answers to any of it. Not much to be done against 10 damage flying overhead on turn four.
Game one: loss. 0-1
He's so bad. But this play is why I tried him.
This game went well for me, especially since he didn't have a turn one mana dude. I opened with Adept and beat with that for a while. He had a hand that was pretty much all Bant Charms and Paths (how much removal, indeed), so it was slow going in the beginning, but I had card advantage on my side. Eventually, I had a Thrasher and a Streambed Aquitects down and he was at 11 life. After untapping, the Thrasher became 7/7. I activated the Aquitects, making the Thrasher an 8/8 islandwalker (he had an Island), then played the Reejerey, making my beater 9/9. Then I played another Merfolk, untapping the Aquitects with the Reejerey trigger (10/10), then tapping said Aquitects to pump the Thrasher again (11/11). He didn't have anymore spot removal.
Game two: win. 1-1
I opened this game a little slow. So did he. He didn't do much except play a Constable and then cleared my board. That, of course, is pretty good. It screwed my tempo up a bit. But I got lucky and ripped back to back Adepts to clog up the board. Then we both started making real plays, me dropping Merfolk, him dropping Stoic Angel and Rafiq. But I had removal in hand, so trades went on for a bit on both sides, and the game came to this. I needed a few turns to win, and he had a Rafiq down, as well as a Treetop Village. He animated the Village, leaving him three other lands untapped. I could have played my Cryptic to tap his creatures and bounce his Rafiq, but if he hadn't made a land drop yet, so if he had it, he could just replay the Rafiq.
Whatever, I ain't no wuss. I let him swing with the Village and took the 8 like a champ (that put me at 11 life). He didn't drop a fourth land, and instead tried to play another Cephalid Constable. I played my Cryptic, countering the Constable and bouncing Rafiq. After that, I made sure to keep mana open to counter a Rafiq. He tried to continue the beats with Village, and I took 3 more. I poked him a bit, dropped some more Merfolk so that I had lethal on my next turn, and passed to him. He came in with the village again, and had a Might of Oaks for it. I had a Pollen Lullaby in hand.
Game three: win. 2-1
As much as people rag on that card, it has won me way too many games to call it cute, or corner case. The format right now is dominated by creature decks. Hell, half the time this card feels like a Time Walk to me, and when I do get really lucky, it's like two of them (go go clash). I don't know why I ever took it out.
Match Results: 3-0-0
Match Four, vs. Jund Ramp
Uncounterable spells...
Game one: loss. 0-1
As for boarding, again he didn't run that many creatures out, so I felt safe pulling out the Wills for Larks. I also yanked a Thrasher and two of the Aquitects to put in the Pollen Lullabies, as his clock was usually Broodmate Dragon.
This game looked bad starting off. I had to mull again, but this time to just six. I did have my Silvergill Adept, and I drew into a second one fairly soon. But he had double Finks, as well as a Fallout. But Adepts are sick, and after a few more creature trades, his hand was getting low, mine not as much, and I had a Lark in play, ready to recharge me when it resurrected the two Adepts.
He did have a Broodmate Dragon plus token, though, and tried to bait a block with the Lark so that he could Fallout afterwards. I didn't bite. He was forced to play the Fallout anyway to get rid of the few Merfolk I had down (even just two of them can be dangerous). I then attacked with my Lark (no blocks from him) and played another one on my second main. He came back in with the Dragons, and I blocked. Even if he had another Fallout, I needed more cards in my hand, so the Lark traded and brought back my Adepts. He had the Fallout again.
That sucked, but I kept my cool. My hand had more threats and answers in it now, which included a third Adept. And he only had one card in his hand, which I figured was a Banefire. I figured that because it would be the worst card in his hand for me (I was at 8 life), and also because he was making reckless plays to try and drop my life as much as possible. He was trying to maneuver me into a position where I would get blown out by the Banefire.
I attacked with my Lark, putting him at 12 life, and played out some 'Folk. He drew land, putting him at seven total, and attacked with his remaining Dragon. If I took it, that Banefire would kill me. I Pollen Lullabied, and we both showed land on top for the clash. We also both kept land on top. Yup, he had a Banefire. And my board wasn't strong enough to kill him in my next two swings, so he must have thought he had the time.
Of course, with that land on top being my next draw, I was able to dump my hand of Merfolk on my turn, which included a Reejerey and a Thrasher. I did have to keep my Lark back, though, or he when his Dragon attacked, it would drop me into kill range. He drew his land and played it, then passed turn. I played another Merfolk on my next turn to tap his Dragon with the Reejerey, and swung for the win.
Game two: win. 1-1
I finally got to keep my seven, and it was a decent seven. He played Rampant Growth on turn two, a Wayfinder on turn three, but never drew a Fallout. I had to deal with a couple of Treetop Villages and the Wayfinder through creature trades, which included a Reveillark blocking a Village and ressurecting a lone Adept. But, I had three Mutavaults down, and eventually laid down a Reejerey. He was playing like he had the Fallout though, always keeping the land up for it, which really kept me from going nuts with those vaults.
At the end, he had nine land out and went for a Finks. I played Sage's Dousing, and he paid the three. On my turn, I played a Merfolk and, with the Reejerey trigger, tapped one of his red sources. It was now or never for his Fallout. He didn't add mana with it. No Fallout at all. I activated all my Mutavaults and alpha striked for the win. He was just holding a land in his hand to bluff with. Nice.
Game three: win. 2-1
Match Results: 4-0-0
Do I stay or do I go, now?
Without the Aquitects, will I need the Aquitect's Will, though? I'm not sure. I really like the cantrip, and the fact that is essentially a free spell with a Reejerey in play. And I like that it makes eight of my creatures unblockable (the Stonybrook Bannerets and the Syggs). But I did board it out a lot, and there are higher caliber spells that I could play, too. Like Ponder. And Ponder fills a hole in my deck that needs to be filled, and that's the lack of anything to do on turn one. A turn one Ponder could even turn a hand that looked iffy into a brutal, streamlined masterpiece.
We'll see. My next article will probably be about my Release event experience, but after that, I should be giving you a PTQ report. August 1st, up in Phoenix. Will Merfolk be there? If so, I'll let you know how it did, and what new M10 tech it worked into its 75.
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