Hi everyone, just wanted to announce that because of the recent changes in the Modern metagame, I'll be overhauling the now rather outdated Matchups and Sideboarding section of the primer. This will take some time, so please be patient, but I hope to have something reasonably comprehensive for you sooner rather than later.
@jokerstyle00: I always keep my deck up to date in the Sample Decklists section of the primer. Here's a link to it on AetherHub as well.
Hi everyone, just wanted to announce that because of the recent changes in the Modern metagame, I'll be overhauling the now rather outdated Matchups and Sideboarding section of the primer. This will take some time, so please be patient, but I hope to have something reasonably comprehensive for you sooner rather than later.
@jokerstyle00: I always keep my deck up to date in the Sample Decklists section of the primer. Here's a link to it on AetherHub as well.
Whoops sorry about that, little bit of a brain dead question haha.
I did okay yesterday with Merfolk. Matchup lottery paired me up with the Rock and Vizier Company on my double tickets event, which did not go well, although I smashed an infect player to pieces (free islandwalk!).
I made it to the semifinals of my Last Chance Trial for the main event today, but lost to my friend running Amulet Titan (curse you matchup lottery!) but I made him work for it, managed to drag it out to a very close game 3. Besides the loss, I won against another Vizier Company deck and a Grixis Shadow player.
This time the Vizier Company only took the first game. Game 2, topdeck Grafdigger's Cage saved me and I managed to tempo him out by continuously bouncing his dorks and turning off Devoted Druid with Merfolk Trickster. Game 3 was probably the funniest game I've played in a long time. He played Choke turn 3, turning off my two Islands but not my Wanderwine Hub. Then I topdecked Oboro, Palace in the Clouds and over the next two turns used Spreading Seas to completely turn off his mana. He choked himself to death, which was hilarious.
Grixis Company took game 1 since I was on the draw and had to mull down to 5, couldn't keep up with his removal. Game 2 went much better despite mulling to 6 on the play, and I managed to chip him down without lords (he got rid of as many as he could cause islandwalk). Game 3, he kept a no land hand and never drew into one. I slammed a Chalice on one and he conceded.
Overall I can't be too salty/mad since I think I did well for my first major GP event. Main event's today so keeping my fingers crossed, although I kind of hope I don't make Day 2 so I can play events for more tickets. I want a free box of Iconic.
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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."
Slightly salty because I didn't get to play a Phoenix deck once (which is a great matchup!!!) and because I lost rounds 4 and 5 back to back to Vizier Company and Amulet Titan. Terrible luck with the matchup lottery. I also lost to Shadow because I didn't get double blue until it was too late both games. I went 2-1 against Gifts Storm and 2-0 against Jeskai Control.
Gifts Storm was funny because on game 3, I put a Chalice on 1 AND 2 out, so he had to sit and wait for me to beat him to death with a 2/2 Mutavault. Feels poetic to make the Storm player have to sit and do nothing.
Jeskai Control, I mulled to 6 first game and got a hand with double Vial, managed to Deprive his Cryptic, allowing me to thrash him with my lords. Game 2, I had a hand with THREE Silvergills and a Vial, so I outvalued him haaaaaard. Also Deprived his Cryptic and his Snapcaster, managed to win despite him Path-ing 3 creatures. I don't know if I'll ever get a hand with that many Silvergills again but it was SO nice.
On a side note, Cosi's Trickster was REALLY nice. Every deck I faced today either searched or fetched so I usually had a 3/3 or 4/4 by the time turn 3 rolled around just from its own counters.
Overall a little disappointed but I've had people tell me I did really well for my first GP, considering I made it to round 5 of 8 before having to drop. Enjoying the weekend as a whole because I've been able to get a boatload of expensive cards for decks I could only fantasize about through trades with vendors, so I finally own my first GBx deck. Highlights included a Spanish Bob going for $35, and 2 Chinese Liliana, the Last Hope, for $10 off market price.
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."
Can I ask a quick question about your lands, though? Why is it you have a Wanderwine Hub and a Conclave? With respect to the latter, I would think the latter's having an evasive body is the reason, but Merfolk gets evasion from island walk and Seas and Mutavault in being Merfolks gets buffs from Lords (it also cost less to activate). So, why have Conclave? Is it just to have another evasive body? With respect to Wanderwine, after I saw it in there I was expecting a white splash. But I don't see any on your list.
Again, really well done. Congratulations jokester and I'm glad that you're feeling awesome about your results!
Why is it you have a Wanderwine Hub and a Conclave?
Wanderwine is to play around choke.
Conclave is to play around choke and as another evasive man-land
In the last week Ive run into 2 Choke's Online in the new Rock deck, so have a more diverse mana-pool is helpful. However, blood moon is still around, so should not over-commit as well.
Conclave was to test an evasive body, as even with all the islands in the meta, I still wanted some form of evasion in case I couldn't keep a lord alive or no Spreading Seas. Wanderwine and Conclave were both there along with Oboro to avoid Choke, not to mention that Wanderwine and a topdeck Oboro helped me use all my Spreading Seas to turn off a Vizier Company player's mana since he had Choke out.
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."
Hey Meelman,
I'm sorry; I must not have been clear. I understand the desire to play around Choke and that Wanderwine sates this desires. I just wouldn't think it prevalent enough to warrant a play-around and also it's usually the case that many Merfolk deck lists already have Minamo and Oboro to play around Choke (and also Boil, Blood Mood). I also understand that Conclave is an evasive man-land. But again, I was curious as to its inclusion since being evasive is something that the deck achieves by having Islandwalk creatures and Mutavault's, which function as evasive man-lands (just not in virtue of flying) that also get buffed by Lords. So, it's not that I don't understand what the cards are good for. I was more curious why they were included given that avoiding Choke/Boil/Blood Man and having evasive man-lands is something that most iterations of the deck usually accommodate.
Am I to understand your response like this?: "Joker wanted more play arounds for the Chokes/Boils of the world and moreevasive man-lands than the deck currently has?" If so, I apologize for being slow to understand your response.
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."
I played several years merfolk till I sold it... Never someone boiled or choked me ever. Edit: sorry, was a lie... It happened 1 time in a small fnm, I forget it only. He sad he hates blue decks
Hi Shoebaccha, sorry I should have probably elaborated a bit more.
The use of non-basic and man lands has multiple uses.
Wanderwine is not an island, therefore choke/boil resistant, with the bonus that they are also great in the mirror (you dont give island walk) and can open sideboard options (which was not the case here).
Fairy conclave does a similar job (hate and island walk resistant) but is also very good in a control heavy meta-game. Joker pointed out that they are less expensive than Mutavault and can produce B mana instead of colourless. Fairy conclave was popularised by MHayashi who is still using it as a 4 of in his version of Merfolk which plays a different tempo and style and if you look at this MTGO record has had extraordinary results with it.
Both of these lands does a specific job in a specific meta and if you tune your deck around them might give you an edge in a match-up or two. Most Merfolk pilots however prefer to use a more stable manabase (14-15 blue and 4-5 brown sources)that is good against most match-ups.
In my case I do own a full set of Mutas, but I don't have enough money to splurge on a Minamo. In addition to the nice points about Conclave you posted, I also was worried about having a match where I wouldn't be able to turn on Island walk and would have to grind; I was expecting to face more creature based decks instead of the huge number of combo/big mana decks I went up against.
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."
Hi Meelman,
That's an excellent response-thank you so much! I hadn't considered the mirror and completely forgot that Mutavault can suck when you have it and an island and need a second blue source.
Opponent might have "God hand" of Thoughtseize into Goyf into Liliana, so if we played a creature and have Conclave out then Liliana might "Edict" us, but she is going down on our next turn. For me, it is important to always have something to do with my mana or at least not have my opponent be so comfortable to tapout and play planeswalker without fear.
Round 2: Amulet Titan (2-1)
Game 1:
He was able to put down a turn 1 Amulet of Vigor while I had a turn 1 Aether Vial. I played a turn 2 Chalice of the Void on 0 and I used Psionic Blast on his Azusa, Lost but Seeking with the amulet trigger still on the stack to cut off extra land drops. He was able to bounce and replay Kabira Crossroads a few times to get to 24 life. I managed to use multiple Merfolk Trickster to stop his Primeval Titan from attacking. I was able to make an alpha swing for 11 damage coupled with a few earlier chips at his life total to win the game.
Game 2: +2 Tidebinder Mage, +2 Dismember and -2 Phantasmal Image, -2 Spreading Seas
This game was a quick loss. He was able to get 2 Amulet of Vigor down and swing in with 18 damage in one turn.
Game 3: No changes
This game I got an Aether Vial on turn 1 as well as a Chalice of the Void on 0 and he got his Amulet of Vigor. I then played a Chalice of the Void on 1 on turn 2 and then used Echoing truth on the already in play Amulet of Vigor. I want to say that the rest of the match was clinical, but I missed a few chalice triggers causing the game to go a bit longer than I, or everyone watching, expected.
I draw the next 2 rounds and end the swiss with a record of (7-0-2). I finally get something to eat at 1 of 2 available places still open that night and proceed to my quarterfinals match.
Q-Final: UR Phoenix (1-2)
Game 1:
The first game was him just using his draw spells while discarding irrelevant cards. I win with average beats after taking out a Crackling Drake with Psionic Blast and using Echoing Truth on 2 Snapcaster Mage to get in some more non-islandwalk damage before the lethal swing.
Game 2: +1 Surgical Extraction, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Damping Sphere and -4 Spreading Seas, -1 Master of Waves
I realize far too late that I sideboarded wrongly. I'm on the draw against a fast deck, I shouldn't have put in Damping Sphere and maybe should've gone down a few Chalice of the Void. Turn 2 double Arclight Phoenix was enough to whittle my life down to 0.
Game 3: No changes
I don't see any phoenixes but instead I had to face down 2 Thing in the Ice. I get in as much damage as possible using my 2 Aether Vial on 2 and multiple lords then I try to setup a win scenario where I can win on the crackback if he doesn't have any targeted removal. He flips the second Awoken Horror and bounces all my lords back to hand. He attacks with 2 Awoken Horror while I'm at 13 life and I vial in Phantasmal Image to copy it and it dies to a bolt. If he didn't have removal I could've won with my Awoken Horror image and a Mutavault swinging in while he was at 8 life.
That ends my report. There may be a few discrepancies but this should be the gist of the matches as I remember them. I was and still am fairly tired but all in all, I was pretty happy ending the swiss rounds as 1 of 2 undeafeated people in a group of 230+ people.
As a side note, I kind of went crazy with the card code thingy. If I wasn't supposed to do that to ALL the cards I mentioned, let me know and I'll edit it when I can.
Edit: Just adding to a few matches as I recall more from the event.
That was a great report. Regarding the Phoenix matchup... I generally recommend cutting the Images postboard. They are poor against removal, and that deck has a good amount of it plus tons of ways to dig for it. I've had a lot of success against Phoenix decks, and the way I approach the matchup is going all-out to contain the Phoenixes and Things in the Ice.
@jokerstyle00: I always keep my deck up to date in the Sample Decklists section of the primer. Here's a link to it on AetherHub as well.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Whoops sorry about that, little bit of a brain dead question haha.
I did okay yesterday with Merfolk. Matchup lottery paired me up with the Rock and Vizier Company on my double tickets event, which did not go well, although I smashed an infect player to pieces (free islandwalk!).
I made it to the semifinals of my Last Chance Trial for the main event today, but lost to my friend running Amulet Titan (curse you matchup lottery!) but I made him work for it, managed to drag it out to a very close game 3. Besides the loss, I won against another Vizier Company deck and a Grixis Shadow player.
This time the Vizier Company only took the first game. Game 2, topdeck Grafdigger's Cage saved me and I managed to tempo him out by continuously bouncing his dorks and turning off Devoted Druid with Merfolk Trickster. Game 3 was probably the funniest game I've played in a long time. He played Choke turn 3, turning off my two Islands but not my Wanderwine Hub. Then I topdecked Oboro, Palace in the Clouds and over the next two turns used Spreading Seas to completely turn off his mana. He choked himself to death, which was hilarious.
Grixis Company took game 1 since I was on the draw and had to mull down to 5, couldn't keep up with his removal. Game 2 went much better despite mulling to 6 on the play, and I managed to chip him down without lords (he got rid of as many as he could cause islandwalk). Game 3, he kept a no land hand and never drew into one. I slammed a Chalice on one and he conceded.
Overall I can't be too salty/mad since I think I did well for my first major GP event. Main event's today so keeping my fingers crossed, although I kind of hope I don't make Day 2 so I can play events for more tickets. I want a free box of Iconic.
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 absolutely would give us a huge boost. I'd be pretty surprised if they did print it, though.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Played the following list:
4 Cosi's Trickster
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of Waves
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Merfolk Trickster
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
Lands
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Faerie Conclave
11 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2 Wanderwine Hub
4 Aether Vial
4 Deprive
1 Peek
4 Spreading Seas
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Dismember
2 Echoing Truth
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tidebinder Mage
Slightly salty because I didn't get to play a Phoenix deck once (which is a great matchup!!!) and because I lost rounds 4 and 5 back to back to Vizier Company and Amulet Titan. Terrible luck with the matchup lottery. I also lost to Shadow because I didn't get double blue until it was too late both games. I went 2-1 against Gifts Storm and 2-0 against Jeskai Control.
Gifts Storm was funny because on game 3, I put a Chalice on 1 AND 2 out, so he had to sit and wait for me to beat him to death with a 2/2 Mutavault. Feels poetic to make the Storm player have to sit and do nothing.
Jeskai Control, I mulled to 6 first game and got a hand with double Vial, managed to Deprive his Cryptic, allowing me to thrash him with my lords. Game 2, I had a hand with THREE Silvergills and a Vial, so I outvalued him haaaaaard. Also Deprived his Cryptic and his Snapcaster, managed to win despite him Path-ing 3 creatures. I don't know if I'll ever get a hand with that many Silvergills again but it was SO nice.
On a side note, Cosi's Trickster was REALLY nice. Every deck I faced today either searched or fetched so I usually had a 3/3 or 4/4 by the time turn 3 rolled around just from its own counters.
Overall a little disappointed but I've had people tell me I did really well for my first GP, considering I made it to round 5 of 8 before having to drop. Enjoying the weekend as a whole because I've been able to get a boatload of expensive cards for decks I could only fantasize about through trades with vendors, so I finally own my first GBx deck. Highlights included a Spanish Bob going for $35, and 2 Chinese Liliana, the Last Hope, for $10 off market price.
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."
Can I ask a quick question about your lands, though? Why is it you have a Wanderwine Hub and a Conclave? With respect to the latter, I would think the latter's having an evasive body is the reason, but Merfolk gets evasion from island walk and Seas and Mutavault in being Merfolks gets buffs from Lords (it also cost less to activate). So, why have Conclave? Is it just to have another evasive body? With respect to Wanderwine, after I saw it in there I was expecting a white splash. But I don't see any on your list.
Again, really well done. Congratulations jokester and I'm glad that you're feeling awesome about your results!
Wanderwine is to play around choke.
Conclave is to play around choke and as another evasive man-land
In the last week Ive run into 2 Choke's Online in the new Rock deck, so have a more diverse mana-pool is helpful. However, blood moon is still around, so should not over-commit as well.
Conclave was to test an evasive body, as even with all the islands in the meta, I still wanted some form of evasion in case I couldn't keep a lord alive or no Spreading Seas. Wanderwine and Conclave were both there along with Oboro to avoid Choke, not to mention that Wanderwine and a topdeck Oboro helped me use all my Spreading Seas to turn off a Vizier Company player's mana since he had Choke out.
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."
That's really interesting; why not use Minamo instead of the Wanderwine, though?
I'm sorry; I must not have been clear. I understand the desire to play around Choke and that Wanderwine sates this desires. I just wouldn't think it prevalent enough to warrant a play-around and also it's usually the case that many Merfolk deck lists already have Minamo and Oboro to play around Choke (and also Boil, Blood Mood). I also understand that Conclave is an evasive man-land. But again, I was curious as to its inclusion since being evasive is something that the deck achieves by having Islandwalk creatures and Mutavault's, which function as evasive man-lands (just not in virtue of flying) that also get buffed by Lords. So, it's not that I don't understand what the cards are good for. I was more curious why they were included given that avoiding Choke/Boil/Blood Man and having evasive man-lands is something that most iterations of the deck usually accommodate.
Am I to understand your response like this?: "Joker wanted more play arounds for the Chokes/Boils of the world and moreevasive man-lands than the deck currently has?" If so, I apologize for being slow to understand your response.
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."
The use of non-basic and man lands has multiple uses.
Wanderwine is not an island, therefore choke/boil resistant, with the bonus that they are also great in the mirror (you dont give island walk) and can open sideboard options (which was not the case here).
Fairy conclave does a similar job (hate and island walk resistant) but is also very good in a control heavy meta-game. Joker pointed out that they are less expensive than Mutavault and can produce B mana instead of colourless. Fairy conclave was popularised by MHayashi who is still using it as a 4 of in his version of Merfolk which plays a different tempo and style and if you look at this MTGO record has had extraordinary results with it.
Both of these lands does a specific job in a specific meta and if you tune your deck around them might give you an edge in a match-up or two. Most Merfolk pilots however prefer to use a more stable manabase (14-15 blue and 4-5 brown sources)that is good against most match-ups.
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."
That's an excellent response-thank you so much! I hadn't considered the mirror and completely forgot that Mutavault can suck when you have it and an island and need a second blue source.
If you don't mind, could you explain a little more?
I'm just here reporting about the SCG Regionals event I attended yesterday. First off, here's my list:
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
3 Harbinger of the Tides
3 Master of Waves
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Echoing Truth
2 Psionic Blast
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Wanderwine Hub
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Damping Sphere
1 Echoing Truth
4 Deprive
2 Tidebinder Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Dismember
Sadly, I wasn't more thorough with my sideboarding notes or who started on the play/draw so there may be a few things off on those points.
Round 1: Turbo Vizier Combo? (2-0)
Game 1:
This was a weird deck for me to see. The first game started with him putting Hall of the Bandit Lord turn 1, then he gets a Vizier of Remedies down on turn 2. I just slowly whittled away at his life total while he was digging for something with Adventurous Impulse and Oath of Nissa but all he saw were lands.
Game 2: +2 Dismember, +3 Deprive and -3 Master of Waves, -2 Phantasmal Image
This game was more orthodox. I used Psionic Blast to kill his Devoted Druid while swinging in with a Silvergill Adept. At one point he used Postmortem Lunge to bring back the Devoted Druid, which I then used Merfolk Trickster in response to a Vizier of Remedies.
Round 2: Amulet Titan (2-1)
Game 1:
He was able to put down a turn 1 Amulet of Vigor while I had a turn 1 Aether Vial. I played a turn 2 Chalice of the Void on 0 and I used Psionic Blast on his Azusa, Lost but Seeking with the amulet trigger still on the stack to cut off extra land drops. He was able to bounce and replay Kabira Crossroads a few times to get to 24 life. I managed to use multiple Merfolk Trickster to stop his Primeval Titan from attacking. I was able to make an alpha swing for 11 damage coupled with a few earlier chips at his life total to win the game.
Game 2: +2 Tidebinder Mage, +2 Dismember and -2 Phantasmal Image, -2 Spreading Seas
This game was a quick loss. He was able to get 2 Amulet of Vigor down and swing in with 18 damage in one turn.
Game 3: No changes
This game I got an Aether Vial on turn 1 as well as a Chalice of the Void on 0 and he got his Amulet of Vigor. I then played a Chalice of the Void on 1 on turn 2 and then used Echoing truth on the already in play Amulet of Vigor. I want to say that the rest of the match was clinical, but I missed a few chalice triggers causing the game to go a bit longer than I, or everyone watching, expected.
Round 3: Mono-W Prison Control (2-1)
Game 1:
He was on a slow start, only making land drops and passing for his first 4 turns. I attacked in for a bit of damage then made a swing for 18 damage with 9 creatures thanks to Master of Waves only to get Settle the Wreckage. At that moment in time, I forgot that that card existed. Thankfully I still had another Master of Waves and a Phantasmal Image in hand with 2 Spreading Seas on the board for the win on the next turn.
Game 2: +1 Echoing Truth, +2 Deprive, +1 Venser, Shaper Savant and -1 Harbinger of the Tides, -1 Master of Waves, -2 Phantasmal Image
This game wasn't as slow for my opponent with him cycling a Cast Out and using Journey to Nowhere on one of my lords. He then played a Chalice of the Void on 2 and I was mostly locked out without my Cavern of Souls or Aether Vial. He then casts 4-drop Gideon, Ally of Zendikar into 5-drop Gideon Jura and finished it off with an Archangel Avacyn. I thought only the Boros Prison Variant used Chalice but I found out that I was very wrong.
Game 3: +1 Harbinger of the Tides, +1 Master of Waves, +2 Phantasmal Image and -4 Chalice of the Void
This game went better when I was able to use Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce his Chalice of the Void on 2 to then get under with 3 lords on the next turn while holding up vial on 2 for a Phantasmal Image to copy Venser if needed.
Round 4: Dredge (2-1)
Game 1:
The first game went poorly with me on the backfoot almost immediately. I tried to stem the bleeding with Harbinger of the Tides bouncing Prized Amalgam a few times but he was able to put 13 power on the board in a single turn and that was the end.
Game 2: +1 Surgical Extraction +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Deprive and -1 Master of Waves, -2 Chalice of the Void, -2 Spreading Seas
This game was relatively easy because he got stuck on 1 land which I would of course use Spreading Seas on.
Game 3: +2 Deprive and -2 Chalice of the Void
This went pretty fast with a turn 1 Aether Vial and a turn 2 and 3 Relic of Progenitus. Who would've thought 2 relics on the board would do so much damage to an opposing graveyard?
Round 5: Bant Spirits (2-1)
Game 1:
This game ended up as a simple race. Not much interaction from either side but he had 2 Mausoleum Wanderer which gets extra big thanks to its own trigger with their spirit lord that came in after it on each of the turns. I lost to flying hexproof things.
Game 2: +2 Dismember, +2 Deprive and -4 Spreading Seas
Turn 1 Dismember their Noble Hierarch was enough of a tempo swing for me to islandwalk in for the win.
Game 3: +1 Echoing Truth, +2 Deprive, +1 Venser, Shaper Savant and -4 Chalice of the Void
This game was close. Echoing Truth on Drogskol Captain to Harbinger of the Tides bounce the Mausoleum Wanderer just to keep me from pedaling too far into the back. The last turn ended with me drawing a Phantasmal Image with a lord in hand. Phantasmal Image copying Merfolk Trickster to tap their last blocker and Lord of Atlantis to get enough for lethal after he tied down 2 of my Harbinger of the Tides with a Runed Halo.
Round 6: G-Tron (2-1)
Game 1:
This game ended relatively quickly. I got hit twice by a Walking Ballista on 1 and I scoop after a resolved Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. My early turn Spreading Seas on Urza's Power Plant wasn't able to do anything since he had a second copy in hand.
Game 2: +4 Deprive, +2 Damping Sphere and -3 Harbinger of the Tides, -2 Phantasmal Image, -1 Master of Waves
Nature's Claim on my turn 1 Aether Vial in response to a Turn 2 Chalice of the Void on 1 was a decent start to this game. With the opponent locked out of any 1-drops, merfolk easily takes this one.
Game 3: No Changes
Spreading Seas and 2 lords get in for quite a bit of damage but that all ends when an All is Dust is resolved even with a Damping Sphere already in play. I play a Master of the Pearl Trident and pass then he plays an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and upticks to bolt my lord. He's at 6 life, and tapped out. I then proceed to win the game with my Mutavault and a Psionic Blast to the face.
Round 7: BG Rock (2-0)
Game 1:
Turn 1 Thoughtseize gets rid of my Spreading Seas and then he gets a Scavenging Ooze into play. I get a Chalice of the Void on 1 down and I start racing the scooze with a Merfolk Trickster and lords to beef her up. I end up using a Psionic Blast on the Scavenging Ooze before it becomes too big to deal with and another Spreading Seas allowed me to swing in for 8 damage and set up lethal next turn.
Game 2: +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Tidebinder Mage, +4 Deprive and -4 Aether Vial, -4 Chalice of the Void
He starts the game off using Inquisition of Kozilek to take my Silvergill Adept. I start with a Turn 1 Relic of Progenitus off the top of my deck. He gets a Kitchen Finks down and I manage to Tidebinder Mage it down for a while. The beats go back and forth with him resolving 2 Liliana of the Veil and me resolving 2 Master of Waves for 1-2 tokens. Fatal Push was able to deal with most of my board while my Relic of Progenitus and a Mutavault kept his Tarmogoyf in check. I end my turn not attacking into his Dark Confidant and Liliana of the Veil and he flips a Collective Brutality to the trigger while he's at 1 life.
I draw the next 2 rounds and end the swiss with a record of (7-0-2). I finally get something to eat at 1 of 2 available places still open that night and proceed to my quarterfinals match.
Q-Final: UR Phoenix (1-2)
Game 1:
The first game was him just using his draw spells while discarding irrelevant cards. I win with average beats after taking out a Crackling Drake with Psionic Blast and using Echoing Truth on 2 Snapcaster Mage to get in some more non-islandwalk damage before the lethal swing.
Game 2: +1 Surgical Extraction, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Damping Sphere and -4 Spreading Seas, -1 Master of Waves
I realize far too late that I sideboarded wrongly. I'm on the draw against a fast deck, I shouldn't have put in Damping Sphere and maybe should've gone down a few Chalice of the Void. Turn 2 double Arclight Phoenix was enough to whittle my life down to 0.
Game 3: No changes
I don't see any phoenixes but instead I had to face down 2 Thing in the Ice. I get in as much damage as possible using my 2 Aether Vial on 2 and multiple lords then I try to setup a win scenario where I can win on the crackback if he doesn't have any targeted removal. He flips the second Awoken Horror and bounces all my lords back to hand. He attacks with 2 Awoken Horror while I'm at 13 life and I vial in Phantasmal Image to copy it and it dies to a bolt. If he didn't have removal I could've won with my Awoken Horror image and a Mutavault swinging in while he was at 8 life.
That ends my report. There may be a few discrepancies but this should be the gist of the matches as I remember them. I was and still am fairly tired but all in all, I was pretty happy ending the swiss rounds as 1 of 2 undeafeated people in a group of 230+ people.
As a side note, I kind of went crazy with the card code thingy. If I wasn't supposed to do that to ALL the cards I mentioned, let me know and I'll edit it when I can.
Edit: Just adding to a few matches as I recall more from the event.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers: