Wastelands or bust! No sugarcoating it, we need that for legacy.
I wouldn't go that far as I played without them for the longest time its not as needed as something as Force of Will to say Wasteland or bust, bit I'm definitely happier with them than without.
Is it not possible for you to get at least 1 Wasteland so you can tutor for it with Phantasmal Image vs Prime Time? It would also open up lines of play by being able to possibly top deck it.
There is no reason to lose to Chasm, ever. And since Eldrazi are 11% of the meta with Lands winning important tournaments, 2 Wasteland is the right number for the job.
Oh sorry I read your post wrong. I agree though. I had them in the sideboard, but have since somewhat recently put them in the main deck after having put up with annoying lands for the last damn time and when I tried FANATTIC's surprisingly consistent manabase (never looked back).
Hmm? I think I'm missing the joke here. Are you saying that taking the Wastelands out turns it into D&T?
It has no connection to Wasteland. I was referring to usage of max disruption (Force, Daze, Chalice and Wail main and Basics, Totem and Cage in the side) with low creature count. Almost Merfolk Control.
Ah, ok. The defining characteristic of D&T is that it is creature- and land-based control (much of it mana disruption), so I was wondering how removing Wastelands and creatures from Merfolk would make it D&T. I think I like "Merfolk Control" more.
Hahaha. Speaking of "control merfolk" I actually just played against a merfolk deck online with countertop, thassa, jace, cryptic command (!!). Now, I really like my one-of SB jace and having the option to shift towards something *a bit* more controlling.. but.. uh.. the rest of that is waaaay too deep. I've already accepted that my build is not great in the mirror (chalice and wail are absolute blanks) and really expected to lose.. but his build is somehow *even worse* in the mirror.
Hahaha. Speaking of "control merfolk" I actually just played against a merfolk deck online with countertop, thassa, jace, cryptic command (!!). Now, I really like my one-of SB jace and having the option to shift towards something *a bit* more controlling.. but.. uh.. the rest of that is waaaay too deep. I've already accepted that my build is not great in the mirror (chalice and wail are absolute blanks) and really expected to lose.. but his build is somehow *even worse* in the mirror.
Hey, a Nykthos makes Cryptics playable in Merfolk... <.< Not that I've tried it before... v.v
Anyway, like Rothgar, I am currently putting together the pieces for the legacy build of this deck to have both it and the legacy versions on hand whenever the opportunity to play it comes up (like at random GPs I travel to) and I think I am about... 75% there?
I'm only short a True-Name... some Wastelands... a Cavern or two... V-Cliques... Sideboard tech... ok... maybe like 50%.
Anyway, after reading the last few pages (posts starting in 2016), I do have a question: as a budget constraint, if I am doing random 8-mans at GPs and stuff, is there an alternative to Wasteland's? Ghost Quarter? I know it is beyond suboptimal, but after seeing all the talk about land decks and such, I feel I need something besides the Back to Basics I'll have.
I use Mishra's Factory instead of Wasteland online. Wasteland is the better card overall, but Factory is still packs quite the punch. Also, remember, Mutavault is an Assembly-Worker! Ghost Quartet just doesn't have the raw power to compete, it's really only seen in Loam decks so that they can recur it and strip mine their opponents into total oblivion (cause sometimes wastelocking Just Isn't Enough, lol).
I've ended up dropping Back to Basics from my list. They got too awkward with the level of nonbasics I'm currently running. In a more budget list with more Islands, the BtBs do significantly better.
In paper I've been trying a 1-of Chrome Mox and it's been *awesome*. It really supercharges the deck on turn 1 or 2, and just about as equally bad to topdeck as a land or vial. It's only slightly awkward with Rod - if I T1 rod someone in a matchup where that's a relevant thing to do, it's almost certainly going to hurt them a whole lot more than it's hurting me.
This last weekend I went to the fire&dice 1K and went 2-4. Matchups were D&T(won)(yay! my matchup trauma here continues to slowly melt), burn(lost)(oh well), burn(again)(lost)(tilted, where's the BLUE?!), omnitell(lost)(oh, some blue finally, still tilted), reanim(won)(ok sure whatever), storm(lost)(meh whatever). Man, I am SO TERRIBLE at this game. With this event I have realized that I don't have enough fun in mid-to-large events to justify the stress, and I'd much rather tilt in the comfort of home in my PJs. Also in Leagues at least there's a little bit on the line in every match so I don't just give up mentally halfway through the 5 matches.
My D&T matchup trauma is starting to get replaced by Burn matchup trauma.
0-2 vs. Burn? Was this bad beats? I haven't tested extensively vs. Legacy Burn, but I've absolutely steamrolled it when I've been up against it. Why the struggles, tuxdev?
I dunno really. I suspect a big factor is a lack of experience with the matchup. Both locally and on MTGO people like playing brainstorms (or loam) way too much and I rarely play vs. burn. When I actually do play against burn, I often get into these miserable boardstates (largely involving eidolon) where I'm too scared to do anything, which of course ends up not working out so well for me. Maybe I just need to be more aggressive and try to outrace. Or just be better at drawing force/chalice. It's always super close, but I'm just 1 turn too slow.
I did manage to beat burn in our locals tonight, much because I landed a chalice1 on T1 with mox into T2 TNN, effectively stealing his tempo (he was on the play). Yet another mark in the "mox wins games" box. Ended up 3-0 also beating esper stoneblade and D&T.
I almost want to try a second Mox, but ending up with both in the top 10 cards is just so especially miserable I probably can't risk it. Idle thought - Loamfolk with a higher land count and mox diamonds.. that can't possibly be any good, can it?
If you need more Wastelands for your expected meta, turning a Mutavault into a Wasteland seems reasonable. Magicman also turned an Island into a Cavern. Hopefully the consequences of these changes are pretty obvious, so it really depends on what you want to face.
I love sideboarding guides. I don't get a chance to play too often, which means my skills suck. I know a printed guide is a crutch, but it's one I'm happy to use if it means I can spend my meager brainpower on in-game decisions instead of sideboarding poorly.
But ...
Guides are most useful when there's an established baseline list. AFAIK people still disagree on Chalice, Harbinger of the Tides, maindeck equipment, etc., not to mention sideboard cards. Different maindecks play differently enough that sideboarding strategies will differ, and you can't board in cards that you don't run.
In this situation, the best we could do is list the staples that are most useful and least useful in a given matchup. If e.g. Jitte is effectively dead against Storm but Flusterstorm is great, we say so and those running Jittes would take them out, and those running Flusterstorms would put them in. We can never make a pure 1-for-1 exchange guide because everyone's list is different, but we can list candidates for taking out and putting in. (I'd even argue that this is a more productive strategy for a community of pilots, because lists keep changing but general matchup strategies should stay roughly constant.)
Haha so lucky. But hey, that's the risk of playing ad naus. He definitely would have won G2 had he not cracked the second LED as after the ad naus he could dark rit->tutor->crack LED->tendrils.
I would really try to somehow fit 2 null rods in the board somewhere. It's so important in so many of our most difficult matchups (cause well.. "difficult matchup" and "stoneforge mystic" are rough synonyms).
Sooo some notes on storm, particularly sideboard -
Bring in the second Truth, you want both copies to cut off Empty the Warrens.
You want all 4 pieces of grave hate to cut off PiF and to a lesser extent Dark Petition (with relic).
It's important to make both the Empty and the PiF win as difficult as possible to force him onto the Ad Naus win, cause as demonstrated so nicely with that match that's the worst kill option he's got (lol).
Warping Wail is great as it counters all the tutors (also counters duress/cabal therapy if you really need to protect something), but because it costs 2 mana it's only effective later once you have pressure and don't need to play out anything else anymore. Our postboard focus is primarily on stopping them from winning rather than killing them ASAP. We want a little early pressure to force them off the ad naus win, but beyond that there's no need to rush things. With that same philosophy, you should prefer copying Silvergils over lords, as drawing more interaction is usually more important than doing extra damage. The main reason for this shift is because our raw aggro plan is nowhere near fast enough. Preboard we don't have much choice but to either pray for chalice or yolo it and pray they don't get there.
Force is very unreliable as they can take it out of our hand with therapy/duress oh so easily, but it still contributes towards that critical mass of disruption. It's not worthwhile to take extra mulligans to find one.
Wasteland is kinda okayish but probably not really good enough to bring in the extra copies (though, on second thought, having 2 extra lands is actually kinda nice so that you can more reliably have the mana to leave open Wail while advancing the board). The mana disruption isn't totally irrelevant as it delays them the crucial turns you need to set up shop, but the real battle is over the tutors. Usually storm has more than enough mana to overwhelm cursecatcher and wasteland.
Major irritant sideboarding is that we're pretty starved on slots. I usually shave a Lord and a Master to make a bit of extra room, as like TNN, they don't contribute all that much to the Real Game Plan. I'd also shave a vial or 2, as while they're somewhat helpful in the "advance board+keep up disruption" they're not that crucial and drawing more than 2 or any post chalice1 is just miserable.
Yep, it does. Empty, PiF, and Ad Naus all have their pros/cons so every storm deck runs all 3 to make sure they can use the best route for that specific game. I've been gobbo'ed twice by DEAN specifically.
I wouldn't go that far as I played without them for the longest time its not as needed as something as Force of Will to say Wasteland or bust, bit I'm definitely happier with them than without.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
He doesn't have them in the deck I believe.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
This guy obv disagrees since he made Death&Taxes out of Merfolk : http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=12097&d=269398&f=LE
Legacy is fun!
Hmm? I think I'm missing the joke here. Are you saying that taking the Wastelands out turns it into D&T?
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
Twitch channel
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Twitch channel
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
Hey, a Nykthos makes Cryptics playable in Merfolk... <.< Not that I've tried it before... v.v
Anyway, like Rothgar, I am currently putting together the pieces for the legacy build of this deck to have both it and the legacy versions on hand whenever the opportunity to play it comes up (like at random GPs I travel to) and I think I am about... 75% there?
I'm only short a True-Name... some Wastelands... a Cavern or two... V-Cliques... Sideboard tech... ok... maybe like 50%.
Anyway, after reading the last few pages (posts starting in 2016), I do have a question: as a budget constraint, if I am doing random 8-mans at GPs and stuff, is there an alternative to Wasteland's? Ghost Quarter? I know it is beyond suboptimal, but after seeing all the talk about land decks and such, I feel I need something besides the Back to Basics I'll have.
I've ended up dropping Back to Basics from my list. They got too awkward with the level of nonbasics I'm currently running. In a more budget list with more Islands, the BtBs do significantly better.
In paper I've been trying a 1-of Chrome Mox and it's been *awesome*. It really supercharges the deck on turn 1 or 2, and just about as equally bad to topdeck as a land or vial. It's only slightly awkward with Rod - if I T1 rod someone in a matchup where that's a relevant thing to do, it's almost certainly going to hurt them a whole lot more than it's hurting me.
This last weekend I went to the fire&dice 1K and went 2-4. Matchups were D&T(won)(yay! my matchup trauma here continues to slowly melt), burn(lost)(oh well), burn(again)(lost)(tilted, where's the BLUE?!), omnitell(lost)(oh, some blue finally, still tilted), reanim(won)(ok sure whatever), storm(lost)(meh whatever). Man, I am SO TERRIBLE at this game. With this event I have realized that I don't have enough fun in mid-to-large events to justify the stress, and I'd much rather tilt in the comfort of home in my PJs. Also in Leagues at least there's a little bit on the line in every match so I don't just give up mentally halfway through the 5 matches.
My D&T matchup trauma is starting to get replaced by Burn matchup trauma.
Twitch channel
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I did manage to beat burn in our locals tonight, much because I landed a chalice1 on T1 with mox into T2 TNN, effectively stealing his tempo (he was on the play). Yet another mark in the "mox wins games" box. Ended up 3-0 also beating esper stoneblade and D&T.
I almost want to try a second Mox, but ending up with both in the top 10 cards is just so especially miserable I probably can't risk it. Idle thought - Loamfolk with a higher land count and mox diamonds.. that can't possibly be any good, can it?
Twitch channel
Twitch channel
The good ol' Fanattic-style manabase is
4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Wasteland
If you need more Wastelands for your expected meta, turning a Mutavault into a Wasteland seems reasonable. Magicman also turned an Island into a Cavern. Hopefully the consequences of these changes are pretty obvious, so it really depends on what you want to face.
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
But ...
Guides are most useful when there's an established baseline list. AFAIK people still disagree on Chalice, Harbinger of the Tides, maindeck equipment, etc., not to mention sideboard cards. Different maindecks play differently enough that sideboarding strategies will differ, and you can't board in cards that you don't run.
In this situation, the best we could do is list the staples that are most useful and least useful in a given matchup. If e.g. Jitte is effectively dead against Storm but Flusterstorm is great, we say so and those running Jittes would take them out, and those running Flusterstorms would put them in. We can never make a pure 1-for-1 exchange guide because everyone's list is different, but we can list candidates for taking out and putting in. (I'd even argue that this is a more productive strategy for a community of pilots, because lists keep changing but general matchup strategies should stay roughly constant.)
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
https://youtu.be/V4Cj40DaNU8
I would really try to somehow fit 2 null rods in the board somewhere. It's so important in so many of our most difficult matchups (cause well.. "difficult matchup" and "stoneforge mystic" are rough synonyms).
Sooo some notes on storm, particularly sideboard -
Bring in the second Truth, you want both copies to cut off Empty the Warrens.
You want all 4 pieces of grave hate to cut off PiF and to a lesser extent Dark Petition (with relic).
It's important to make both the Empty and the PiF win as difficult as possible to force him onto the Ad Naus win, cause as demonstrated so nicely with that match that's the worst kill option he's got (lol).
Warping Wail is great as it counters all the tutors (also counters duress/cabal therapy if you really need to protect something), but because it costs 2 mana it's only effective later once you have pressure and don't need to play out anything else anymore. Our postboard focus is primarily on stopping them from winning rather than killing them ASAP. We want a little early pressure to force them off the ad naus win, but beyond that there's no need to rush things. With that same philosophy, you should prefer copying Silvergils over lords, as drawing more interaction is usually more important than doing extra damage. The main reason for this shift is because our raw aggro plan is nowhere near fast enough. Preboard we don't have much choice but to either pray for chalice or yolo it and pray they don't get there.
Force is very unreliable as they can take it out of our hand with therapy/duress oh so easily, but it still contributes towards that critical mass of disruption. It's not worthwhile to take extra mulligans to find one.
Wasteland is kinda okayish but probably not really good enough to bring in the extra copies (though, on second thought, having 2 extra lands is actually kinda nice so that you can more reliably have the mana to leave open Wail while advancing the board). The mana disruption isn't totally irrelevant as it delays them the crucial turns you need to set up shop, but the real battle is over the tutors. Usually storm has more than enough mana to overwhelm cursecatcher and wasteland.
Major irritant sideboarding is that we're pretty starved on slots. I usually shave a Lord and a Master to make a bit of extra room, as like TNN, they don't contribute all that much to the Real Game Plan. I'd also shave a vial or 2, as while they're somewhat helpful in the "advance board+keep up disruption" they're not that crucial and drawing more than 2 or any post chalice1 is just miserable.
Twitch channel
https://youtu.be/FPUAt4elbec
Twitch channel