All matches are timestamped...my pick of all 10 matches is probably Match #2 in the first league against Hardened Scales Affinity. Honorable mention goes to the Mono-Red Steam Kin match-up, which was surprisingly fast!
4-1 in the first league!
Please don't hesitate to follow me on Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube all @MoonTimeDweller. Thanks for the support folks!
Hey Team,
Can someone help me understand how the interaction between a Mistcaller and an opponent's creature that is being vialed-in works?
Say I have a Mistcaller down. It's my opponent's turn.
My opponent activates Aether Vial to vial-in a creature.
I sac Mistcaller.
Nikachu says at this point the opponent can choose whether or not to play a creature. If they do, it gets exiled. If not, they waste an activation.
I don't see why that is; why does the opponent get to decide whether to put a creature in? I thought if you activate the ability for x you do not get to choose whether x obtains after the activation.
That's because Vial's effect says you may put a creature onto the battlefield. Because of the may language, the Vial's controller can choose whether to use the ability after resolution.
When the ability of Aether Vial resolves, they get to search their hand for a creature that costs X. They do not announce which creature they want to play and they can simply "fail" their search. You can actually bluff by activating the vial and not putting anything in play. It works the same way as fetch lands, except for the hand instead of the library.
Pretty stock list is yours, it's pure gas with a bit of interaction due to Merfolk Trickster and Harbinger of the tides. How is your sideboard? I think in this metagame we're almost never the beatdown deck, so maybe you can find a room for spell pierce or peek which are both great. mistcaller or cursecatcher is a meta call, if you know which decks are at your LGS.
I played with 4x Spell Pierce in main and in some matches was very good. But in late game was really bad draw, and it's also not very nice when you have on board caverns and mutavaults.
My usually cards for sideboard is something like that: 1x Kira, 1x Kopala, 2x Tidebinder Mage, 3x Relics, 2x Echoing Truth, 1x Tectonic Edge, 4x Deprive, 2x Dismember, 2x Ceremonious Rejection, 2x Sea's claim.
Against which decks we are removing Aether Vial(Mardu, GDS is 100% correct choice?)? And why don't we play 4x serum visions, is peek really better?
Think that i will buy 2x Phantasmal Image for now.
For the Peek question, it's instant speed which helps with flexibility, and helps with tempo because it gives us hand information.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
Phantasmal Image and Engineered Explosives
So I learned today that after copying an Awoken Horror the cmc for Phantasmal image is 0. My opponent was playing the new UR Arclight/TITI deck and had his Awoken Horror facing 2 imaged Horrors of my own. He EE for 2 to clear the board so he could follow with Reveler, but he lost his and my imaged ones stayed. So sweet that an image of transformed card only gets the facing card cmc and not cmc of reverse, per the rule changed with Sol.....!
I went to a Modern event at my LGS this past Saturday with this list. There were 5 rounds of swiss with no cut to top 8. I believe there were at least 20-23 people there. I got 2nd place and went 4-1 overall. I wanted to try out Peek too, but I only have 2 copies right now. I also wanted to try some spicy tech in the sideboard in Mind bend.
This was his first Magic tournament. After the match, I gave him some tips as to what cards to look for to build the kind of deck he is looking to build. I basically told him to look for Blue and White control cards because I noticed that he could not interact with me much during these games.
Round 2 - UW Control (2-0)
Game 1: I raced him fairly well and by the time he had a creature on the board, a Celestial Colonnade, I had lethal on the board with Islandwalk.
Game 2: This one was close. I used Peek early on and saw that he had no countermagic in his hand on turn 3. So, I took the opportunity to hit fast and hard. However, he used the two Opts in his hand to draw into some removal and a Supreme Verdict. It came down to him tapping out for a Lyra Dawnbringer and when my turn came around, he Snapcaster + Pathed the only lord I had. Luckily, I topdecked another Lord immediately afterward and won the game. He admitted for going for the flashy play instead of the pragmatic one because he could have played Snap + Supreme Verdict if he had not casted Lyra.
Round 3 - Affinity (2-0)
Game 1: He ran out of gas and couldn't finish me off fast enough before I reached a critical mass of creatures.
Round 4 - Dredge (0-2)...it was bad...it was really bad. lol
Game 1: He won on turn 3. There was nothing I could do.
Game 2: I countered most of his early card draw and discard outlets. However, he used Ghost Quarter on his Dakmoor Salvage and began to accrue more card advantage landing 3 Narcomebas on one hit along with a Bloodghast. It was hard to catch up on board after that.
I definitely learned the importance of having graveyard hate in the sideboard. I had never faced a deck like Dredge at the shop before and I could do nothing to stop it. I traded somebody for 3 Relic of Progenitus immediately after the tournament. lol.
Round 5: Boros Burn (2-1)
Game 1: He opened more burn than I did creatures. It was fast and brutal.
Game 2: I locked him out of most of his lands with Spreading Seas. He could not cast most of his hand.
Game 3: I managed to bait out a lot of his direct damage with early creatures. After landing a few lords and using a Mutavault, I managed to eek out a win.
A couple of takeaways...
1.)Mind Bend did not do much of anything. Granted, in theory, it is an instant speed Sea's Claim that can protect Master of Waves from nonred removal. But, that did not come up enough to use it in anything but a cheeky Seas build. Perhaps in metagames where such situations pop up more it can show some promise, but it wasn't any better than Sea's Claim here.
2.) Next time, there will be Relic of Progenitus'es in my sideboard. Should I run 2 or 3?
3.) I like Peek the most when I have a board and just need to know when I can go in. Do you guys like it better as a playset or as a 2-3? I'm just not sure if I should invest in the other 2.
I had fun though and managed to win 3 Windswept Heaths and a Deck box. Though, the guy in 3rd won a Flooded Strand, but he traded me that and five dollars for 2 of the Heaths I won. It was a charity event too, so all of the proceeds went to the local Children's Hospital. I got to rep fish and donate to a good cause. Feelsgoodman
Hey Team,
I have a quick question about the Trickster-Goyf interaction to make sure that I understand.
If the Goyf comes in all jacked up and Trickster taps and it down and thus weakens the Goyf, because of the "end of turn" phrase on Tricker the weakened Goyf will get its strength and toughness back next turn, yes? I just want to be sure.
Hey team Fish, I wanted to see what everyone thought about an idea I've had regarding Tropical Fish.
Right now, I feel like our deck needs a form of fast disruption on the draw that can slow our opponents down a bit, while advancing our own game plan. To this end I'm thinking that Merfolk Branchwalker might give us enough psuedo-draw power to help make up for the card draw we'd lose by swapping Spreading Seas for Sea's Claim.
I've been testing this theory of mine out online for the last week and I have to say that I think it's been working out just fine. However, I've yet to put it to work in any competitive environs yet. I wanted to see what people thought before I dove in. Here's my list at it stands:
// 60 Maindeck
// 4 Artifact
4 Aether Vial
// 29 Creature
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Kumena's Speaker
3 Merfolk Branchwalker
2 Master of Waves
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Merrow Reejerey
// 4 Enchantment
4 Sea's Claim
// 3 Instant
3 Spell Pierce
// 20 Land
4 Botanical Sanctum
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
3 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Forest
3 Island
3 Mutavault
// 15 Sideboard
// 3 Artifact
3 Relic of Progenitus
I think this list provides some needed action when on the draw. I know that many U/G lists want to run Collected Company (a significant draw indeed), but I just think that MoW is the bomb we want in the current meta.
Anyway, I just wanted to see what people thought.
Thanks
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
No one spoke. There was no need. The threat of the Eldrazi presented a simple choice: lay down your arms and die for nothing, or hold them fast and die for something.
What do you think about this Naban Merfolk Wizard list?
It has still 4 cards too many in the deck. What would you cut / add / change?
This obviously isn't the new standard way to go for Merfolk decks, but maybe it can challenge our way of thinking a little
The sub-goal would be to really annoy our opponents by tapping, bouncing, countering and thus hindering his usual gameplan.
-Don't overextend into Engineered Explosives.
-Pick your battles with Spell Pierce (especially against Storm)
-Hold onto Merfolk Trickster instead of treating them like Grizzly Bears when not useful at the moment.
-Flying in a Merfolk deck is pretty sweet!
-Use one or the other of Dismember/Gut Shot....but not both!
All matches are timestamped...my pick of all 10 matches is probably Match #2 in the first league against Hardened Scales Affinity. Honorable mention goes to the Mono-Red Steam Kin match-up, which was surprisingly fast!
4-1 in the first league!
Please don't hesitate to follow me on Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube all @MoonTimeDweller. Thanks for the support folks!
https://youtu.be/VyokSCGihfI
Twitch Channel - https://www.twitch.tv/moontimedweller
MODERN - Mono-Blue Merfolk & 7-Forest Goblin Charbelcher
LEGACY - Ruby Storm & Burn
PAUPER - Zombies, Bogles, & Burn
Can someone help me understand how the interaction between a Mistcaller and an opponent's creature that is being vialed-in works?
Say I have a Mistcaller down. It's my opponent's turn.
My opponent activates Aether Vial to vial-in a creature.
I sac Mistcaller.
Nikachu says at this point the opponent can choose whether or not to play a creature. If they do, it gets exiled. If not, they waste an activation.
I don't see why that is; why does the opponent get to decide whether to put a creature in? I thought if you activate the ability for x you do not get to choose whether x obtains after the activation.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
In practice, you should generally be saving the Images for a Master rollover.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
For the Peek question, it's instant speed which helps with flexibility, and helps with tempo because it gives us hand information.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
It goes beyond tempo. It often gives you lines of attack that you wouldn't have suspected otherwise.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
So I learned today that after copying an Awoken Horror the cmc for Phantasmal image is 0. My opponent was playing the new UR Arclight/TITI deck and had his Awoken Horror facing 2 imaged Horrors of my own. He EE for 2 to clear the board so he could follow with Reveler, but he lost his and my imaged ones stayed. So sweet that an image of transformed card only gets the facing card cmc and not cmc of reverse, per the rule changed with Sol.....!
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Cursecatcher
4 Master of Waves
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
2 Peek
2 Deprive
Land:
3 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub
2 Hinterland Harbor
11 Island
2 Deprive
4 Gut Shot
2 Echoing Truth
2 Tidebinder Mage
3 Mind Bend
2 Spell Pierce
Round 1 - UW Angels (2-0)
This was his first Magic tournament. After the match, I gave him some tips as to what cards to look for to build the kind of deck he is looking to build. I basically told him to look for Blue and White control cards because I noticed that he could not interact with me much during these games.
Round 2 - UW Control (2-0)
Game 1: I raced him fairly well and by the time he had a creature on the board, a Celestial Colonnade, I had lethal on the board with Islandwalk.
Game 2: This one was close. I used Peek early on and saw that he had no countermagic in his hand on turn 3. So, I took the opportunity to hit fast and hard. However, he used the two Opts in his hand to draw into some removal and a Supreme Verdict. It came down to him tapping out for a Lyra Dawnbringer and when my turn came around, he Snapcaster + Pathed the only lord I had. Luckily, I topdecked another Lord immediately afterward and won the game. He admitted for going for the flashy play instead of the pragmatic one because he could have played Snap + Supreme Verdict if he had not casted Lyra.
Round 3 - Affinity (2-0)
Game 1: He ran out of gas and couldn't finish me off fast enough before I reached a critical mass of creatures.
Game 2: I used Gut Shot to kill his turn 1 Signal Pest I used Echoing Truth to bounce his turn 2 Steel Overseer. I managed to stay ahead on board for the rest of the game.
Round 4 - Dredge (0-2)...it was bad...it was really bad. lol
Game 1: He won on turn 3. There was nothing I could do.
Game 2: I countered most of his early card draw and discard outlets. However, he used Ghost Quarter on his Dakmoor Salvage and began to accrue more card advantage landing 3 Narcomebas on one hit along with a Bloodghast. It was hard to catch up on board after that.
I definitely learned the importance of having graveyard hate in the sideboard. I had never faced a deck like Dredge at the shop before and I could do nothing to stop it. I traded somebody for 3 Relic of Progenitus immediately after the tournament. lol.
Round 5: Boros Burn (2-1)
Game 1: He opened more burn than I did creatures. It was fast and brutal.
Game 2: I locked him out of most of his lands with Spreading Seas. He could not cast most of his hand.
Game 3: I managed to bait out a lot of his direct damage with early creatures. After landing a few lords and using a Mutavault, I managed to eek out a win.
A couple of takeaways...
1.)Mind Bend did not do much of anything. Granted, in theory, it is an instant speed Sea's Claim that can protect Master of Waves from nonred removal. But, that did not come up enough to use it in anything but a cheeky Seas build. Perhaps in metagames where such situations pop up more it can show some promise, but it wasn't any better than Sea's Claim here.
2.) Next time, there will be Relic of Progenitus'es in my sideboard. Should I run 2 or 3?
3.) I like Peek the most when I have a board and just need to know when I can go in. Do you guys like it better as a playset or as a 2-3? I'm just not sure if I should invest in the other 2.
I had fun though and managed to win 3 Windswept Heaths and a Deck box. Though, the guy in 3rd won a Flooded Strand, but he traded me that and five dollars for 2 of the Heaths I won. It was a charity event too, so all of the proceeds went to the local Children's Hospital. I got to rep fish and donate to a good cause. Feelsgoodman
Arena Username: ThunderGunZ1976
Modern:
UMerfolkU
UWGSpiritsUWG
RGoblinsR
Standard:
...whatever I can afford on Arena
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I have a quick question about the Trickster-Goyf interaction to make sure that I understand.
If the Goyf comes in all jacked up and Trickster taps and it down and thus weakens the Goyf, because of the "end of turn" phrase on Tricker the weakened Goyf will get its strength and toughness back next turn, yes? I just want to be sure.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Right now, I feel like our deck needs a form of fast disruption on the draw that can slow our opponents down a bit, while advancing our own game plan. To this end I'm thinking that Merfolk Branchwalker might give us enough psuedo-draw power to help make up for the card draw we'd lose by swapping Spreading Seas for Sea's Claim.
I've been testing this theory of mine out online for the last week and I have to say that I think it's been working out just fine. However, I've yet to put it to work in any competitive environs yet. I wanted to see what people thought before I dove in. Here's my list at it stands:
// 60 Maindeck
// 4 Artifact
4 Aether Vial
// 29 Creature
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Kumena's Speaker
3 Merfolk Branchwalker
2 Master of Waves
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Merrow Reejerey
// 4 Enchantment
4 Sea's Claim
// 3 Instant
3 Spell Pierce
// 20 Land
4 Botanical Sanctum
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
3 Breeding Pool
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Forest
3 Island
3 Mutavault
// 15 Sideboard
// 3 Artifact
3 Relic of Progenitus
// 12 Instant
3 Heroic Intervention
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Negate
3 Natural State
1 Dispel
I think this list provides some needed action when on the draw. I know that many U/G lists want to run Collected Company (a significant draw indeed), but I just think that MoW is the bomb we want in the current meta.
Anyway, I just wanted to see what people thought.
Thanks
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
What do you think about this Naban Merfolk Wizard list?
It has still 4 cards too many in the deck. What would you cut / add / change?
This obviously isn't the new standard way to go for Merfolk decks, but maybe it can challenge our way of thinking a little
The sub-goal would be to really annoy our opponents by tapping, bouncing, countering and thus hindering his usual gameplan.
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Naban, Dean of Iteration
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Watertrap Weaver
4 Master of Waves
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
4 Wizard's Retort
Lands (20)
1 Cavern of Souls
14 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Mistcaller
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Wistful Selkie
1 Naru Meha, Master Wizard
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Very helpful