I guess that's not enough of a tempo boost (since they don't have to spend mana again), and it doesn't have the utility of saving our own creatures from removal. That said, I have considered testing Downpour in the sideboard to break open board stalls, because of that budget Merfolk deck that placed well at a recent event (the details escape me, but we did discuss it on the thread).
Having a hard time deciding between 1 Image or 1 Kira MB. My current list looks like this:
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the PT
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill
4x Master of Waves
4x Harbinger
3x Merrow Rejerey
1x Image
19x Lands
4x Aether Vial
3x Dismember
2x Vapor Snag
Right now I have Kira in the SB:
3x Hurkyls Recall
2x Tidebinder
2x Negate
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Kira
2x Gut Shot
2x Echoing Truth
1x Dispel
I kind of want to put Kira in the MB to make room for another Dispel. At the same time, Image can really help give the deck some quick starts. I'll also never forget the time I Imaged my RG Tron opponents Ulamog, exiling his Ulamog and Karn.
You can't copy Ulamog's exile effect; that's on cast, not when entering the battlefield. I'm afraid that the play you cite so fondly was illegal.
As for the Image vs. Kira debate... I think it depends on how much Eldrazi is in your meta, and how much you want to prepare for it, given that it's not that bad a matchup for us. If Eldrazi concerns you, keep the Image. Otherwise, go for the 1-of Kira. I would favor the Kira, but that's my personal preference.
Damn, you're right about Ulamog. I'm surprised the RG Tron player didn't catch that, as I didn't know myself. My meta is currently polluted with Eldrazi, so I guess I will stick with Image for now.
I guess that's not enough of a tempo boost (since they don't have to spend mana again), and it doesn't have the utility of saving our own creatures from removal. That said, I have considered testing Downpour in the sideboard to break open board stalls, because of that budget Merfolk deck that placed well at a recent event (the details escape me, but we did discuss it on the thread).
From what I gather (quick reads) you are already on 4 snag 4 harbinger plan. Why not just add sea's claim instead of downpour? It wont help you survive an attack, but the island breaks board stalls for your side (islandwalk) and works well with the bounce plan. I only run a few snags and harbingers, but I do run full spreading seas + 3 sea's claim and have had lots of times where I bounce a creature and nab the land that would be able to cast it. 7 island-rain effects has worked great to shut down opposing 3 color decks, and sometimes can even keep 2 color decks off of double-colored spells.
I've already tested Sea's Claim in the past few months, and it wasn't quite what I was looking for. It's decent, but as you said, it doesn't have the flexibility to help you survive an attack, and it's an effect that we already have on the board (and I found it depressingly easy to remove via Ratchet Bomb at times). Furthermore, instant vs. sorcery speed matters.
I top 8’d a 32 man GPT with some interesting matches.
I searched for Gut Shots but couldn’t come up with them, so I sleeve a sb a few cards off from what I’d have liked.
Along with the traditional SB guide, I’m going to do a “what I would’ve liked to have.” Hopefully this will cut down on matchups where I have too many or too few cards to bring in.
Round 1: I lose the die roll and mulligan. My opponent keeps and is on affinity. He puts a plating on a vault skirge, and by the time I can start vialing in Harbingers he has BB to move it to a Signal Pest.
Game 2: I present a fast clock and pop a Hurkyl’s Recall during my main phase to play around countermagic. I have a second Hurkyl’s but I kill him with Merrow taps and don’t have to use it.
Sb Draw: -3 Chalice of the Void, -2 Master of Waves +3 Merrow Reejery, +1 Dismember, +1 Vapor Snag.
Game 3: Some interesting plays. He goes turn 1 Blinkmoth, Springleaf Drum, go. I play Island, pass. He plays Signal Pest then casts Mox Opal. With Opal on the stack, I Vapor Snag the Signal Pest. If he had a 0-drop creature he’d have played Signal Pest last turn, so this turns off Mox Opal and means he can’t cast his 2-drop for another turn. Because of that tempo, I pull way ahead in the race until he top decks and plays a Vault Skirge. I swing him down to 7 with an array of Islandwalk. He topdecks a Plating, hits me for 10 lifelink. At that point I need Harbinger to live, or any lord/Hurkyl’s to win. I draw a land and can only swing for 16.
SB Notes: I would have liked 2 Gut Shots. Taking out Vault Skirge and Signal Pest with no tempo loss seems huge.
Round 2: My opponent wins the die roll and elects to draw… okay. I t1 a Cursecatcher, he plays a Mountain. I play a Silvergill, he plays a Forest can casts Plated Geopede. I cast Merrow Reejery and swing, noticeably relaxing. My opponent swings, I don’t block, and he casts Harrow. Due to shock and lack of fear, I let it resolve despite having cursecatcher to counter it, immediately realizing that I’ve missed the blowouts. A Swamp and an Island hit, and my opponent casts Tainted Strike with 1 Forest up. Suddenly Geopede is 8 infect… My opponent casts Mutagenic Growth, but taps his Forest to do so! I mize a win out of having blown it. Turns out my opponent is on a casual Flamekin Harbinger/ Kiln Fiend deck. The 0-1 bracket is just full of surprises. Chalice takes G2.
SB notes: Don’t screw it up.
Round 3: Affinity again. G1 I get helped as my opponent mulls to 5 and I’m on the play. I take an extra turn couple of turns to kill in order to play around a topdeck Plating, something I couldn’t do if he had more pressure. Having both dismember and vapor snag lets me kill an Arcbound and then bounce its Modular target. Them’s the nuts.
SB: +4 Hurkyls, +1 Dismember, +1 Vapor Snag. -2 Spreading Seas, -3 Master of Waves, -1 Merrow Reejery. Turn 1 plays are important on the draw, Chalice is bad.
G2:My opponent gets a plating on a turn 2 Etched Champion and I draw no Mutavault or Hurkyl’s.
G3: Merrow Reejery + Harbinger dominates. I keep him on the back foot and win without needing Hurkyl’s. I dismember a Master of Etherium and Mutavault shuts down a Champion.
Match 4: I lose the roll against GR tron. He has a turn 4 Ugin and I don’t last long.
G2 I have a pretty good clock, though a pyroclasm sets me slightly back. I Seas him a few times and he’s slow to hit Tron. By the time he lands a Karn I’ve got lethal.
-1 Aether Vial +1 Tidebinder (just as a bear)
G3 I have multiple Seas and a Ghost Quarter but not the fastest start. He gets to 5 mana the old fashion way with an Oblivion Stone in play, but I make him crack it and still push damage with Mutavaults. He casts a Wurmcoil, I send it back with Merrow+Harbinger and take the match.
SB notes: I would have liked 1 more sb card as Aether Vial isn’t great, especially on the draw, but I don’t think it’s worth cutting something else for. Tec Edge/Seas Claim/Ghost Quarter would be best.
Round 5. My opponent is playing a URg Prowess Delver deck and has beaten 2 Merfolk players on the day. I don’t remember this match precisely, but I recall Harbinger totally trumping Delver and Kira being great. Chalice in Game 2 shuts him down well, though he almost gets there with Stormchaser Mages + Atarka’s Command.
+3 Chalice, +1 Tidebinder Mage. -3 Merrow Reejery, -1 Aether Vial.
SB notes: Not much to report. I really like Kira main for this kind of bolt matchup and don’t bring in Negate as I don’t expect huge impact spells and I have 2 Kira Relic could come in for Snapcaster, but doesn’t seem needed as this is more tempo based.
Top 8 is 2 GR Tron (my opponent), 1 Affinity (my R1 loss), 1 Esper Control, 1 Grixis Midrange, 1 Kiki Chord, and 1 Jund. Eldrazi was in the room but not in huge numbers. I suspect people are trying to GPT with the decks they’ll bring to LA.
I’m the 4 seed and paired against my friend Travis on Grixis. I’ve beaten him before and am not too frightened by the matchup, but he’s a strong player. He’s always switching his list, but I know he plays Creature Jace, Tasigur (which he cut for g2), Pia and Kirin Nalaar, Snap, and Kalitas.
G1. I roll over him. Just curve out with Kira while he stumbles.
-4 Spreading Seas, -1 Vapor Snag, -1 Aether Vial +2 Relic of Progenitus, + 1 Dismember, +1 Echoing Truth, +2 Negate. I would love to bring in Chalice but I know he plays Kolaghan’s Command so it seems pretty bad.
G2. He gets down a turn 2 Jace and values me out. Bolts, terminates, pyroclasms and K. Commands keep my lords down. Kira gets killed by a Jace +1 and Bolt. Kalitas values me out. He has few ways to kill a Master of Waves, but because I don’t have Spreading Seas I never get much devotion. Maybe leave those in? Hard to say.
G3 is the same as g2. He’s able to 1 for 1, 2 for 1 with K. Commands and Snapcasters, and generally keep me down. I don’t think it always plays out like that, and Silvergill is amazing here and I didn’t draw any, but that’s how it goes.
SB Notes: I would have loved a 3rd Relic, as they are excellent in the matchup and I didn’t draw any early enough to be relevant.
All in all, not a horrible showing. I would add the 4th harbinger in the main, cutting the Vapor Snag or maybe moving a Kira to the board. Next weekend there’s a 1k GPT, and I expect my SB to be 4 Hurkyl’s, 3 Chalice, 3 Relic, 2 Negate, 2 Gut Shot, 1 Echoing Truth.
Keep swimmin’
Realize/PDXMTG
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Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Strong work. Tough luck on the Grixis matchup, though - you are correct in assuming that the way it played out against you isn't how it typically goes (we normally have more creatures than they do removal spells, and can grind them out that way). I had a similar match against Jund where they just had the perfect hand, so I feel your pain (though there was less at stake on my end).
I was actually okay with the loss, which might've been part of my problem. I have 2 byes and was mostly grinding for Planeswalker points to hit the bye threshold for next season. My opponent being a friend and his needing the byes more was perhaps why he was more tuned in.
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YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
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Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
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Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
I cant believe how lucky I am......I was the only merfolk player at my LGS, now theres other 3!!!! Really?? Come on....
Any advices about the mirror match?? I'll post my list later, but its pretty much the basic with 28 creatures, 19 lands ....
You try to play non-islands as best you can so it doesn't turn on their island walk. Remember your lord of atlantis buffs their creatures as well. Otherwise tempo them like other aggro creature decks. Harbinger is quite good as is dismember.
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EDH:ShatterStax, Only The Strong Survive
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Mono-U Control
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sen Triplets
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Derevi Stax
VolThrun
Marchesa, The Black Rose
Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Tribal
I cant believe how lucky I am......I was the only merfolk player at my LGS, now theres other 3!!!! Really?? Come on....
Any advices about the mirror match?? I'll post my list later, but its pretty much the basic with 28 creatures, 19 lands ....
win the die roll
start with aether vial
side in extra lands so you can curve out better than them (ghost quarter is good because it kills mutavault and will likely land an island on the other side)
try to avoid playing islands if possible
save your Lord of Atlantis for the alpha strike
a well timed harbinger can be a total blowout and win the game, usually you will want to hit a lord and take away their islandwalk to block, watch for your opponent to do the same
a lot of people seem to leave spreading seas in for some reason but i think that's a huge mistake
From my understanding, Cavern of Souls should be a 4 off because 1) it stops your opponent's counter spells, but more importantly, it isn't an island so it makes choke slightly worse. Can anyone explain to me why alot of these lists are not running 4 Caverns? (I'm a Blue Control player, I always boardout almost all my counter spells against merfolk. I want to know why these lists are not running what I consider a very problematic card for my deck).
#If you could quote reply, that would be great as I would get a notification
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
From my understanding, Cavern of Souls should be a 4 off because 1) it stops your opponent's counter spells, but more importantly, it isn't an island so it makes choke slightly worse. Can anyone explain to me why alot of these lists are not running 4 Caverns? (I'm a Blue Control player, I always boardout almost all my counter spells against merfolk. I want to know why these lists are not running what I consider a very problematic card for my deck).
#If you could quote reply, that would be great as I would get a notification
almost no merfolk decks play more than 2 caverns
there are other blue spells you need to be able to cast and too much brown mana is a problem
if 8 of your 19 lands can't cast a spreading seas/vapor snag/kira/phantasmal image/counterspell/echoing truth/etc then you start to stumble too often
having an opening hand like "mutavault, mutavault, cavern of souls, lord, lord, spreading seas, vapor snag" can really suck
a cavern or 2 along with aether vials is a good hedge against counters without messing with your blue mana too much
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
From my understanding, Cavern of Souls should be a 4 off because 1) it stops your opponent's counter spells, but more importantly, it isn't an island so it makes choke slightly worse. Can anyone explain to me why alot of these lists are not running 4 Caverns? (I'm a Blue Control player, I always boardout almost all my counter spells against merfolk. I want to know why these lists are not running what I consider a very problematic card for my deck).
#If you could quote reply, that would be great as I would get a notification
almost no merfolk decks play more than 2 caverns
there are other blue spells you need to be able to cast and too much brown mana is a problem
if 8 of your 19 lands can't cast a spreading seas/vapor snag/kira/phantasmal image/counterspell/echoing truth/etc then you start to stumble too often
having an opening hand like "mutavault, mutavault, cavern of souls, lord, lord, spreading seas, vapor snag" can really suck
a cavern or 2 along with aether vials is a good hedge against counters without messing with your blue mana too much
okay that makes sense. If I'm facing merfolk, I should board out my mana leaks. But are Remands and spell snare weaker or completely unplayable against merfolk?
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Remands literally don't do anything if you aren't trying to draw a bolt or a path off of it. We will just replay our stupid 2 mana dork again no problem, Spell Snare however is a big problem for us if we don't have a vial
From my understanding, Cavern of Souls should be a 4 off because 1) it stops your opponent's counter spells, but more importantly, it isn't an island so it makes choke slightly worse. Can anyone explain to me why alot of these lists are not running 4 Caverns? (I'm a Blue Control player, I always boardout almost all my counter spells against merfolk. I want to know why these lists are not running what I consider a very problematic card for my deck).
#If you could quote reply, that would be great as I would get a notification
almost no merfolk decks play more than 2 caverns
there are other blue spells you need to be able to cast and too much brown mana is a problem
if 8 of your 19 lands can't cast a spreading seas/vapor snag/kira/phantasmal image/counterspell/echoing truth/etc then you start to stumble too often
having an opening hand like "mutavault, mutavault, cavern of souls, lord, lord, spreading seas, vapor snag" can really suck
a cavern or 2 along with aether vials is a good hedge against counters without messing with your blue mana too much
okay that makes sense. If I'm facing merfolk, I should board out my mana leaks. But are Remands and spell snare weaker or completely unplayable against merfolk?
spell snare is pretty good, remand is annoying but really just a tempo play and doesn't have a huge affect against us in a controlly game. playing against blue decks is nice because they turn on islandwalk naturally for us and if you aren't playing white then we don't have to worry about supreme verdict. we also bring counterspells of our own and relics to be a bit more controlling in a matchup like this.
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
From my understanding, Cavern of Souls should be a 4 off because 1) it stops your opponent's counter spells, but more importantly, it isn't an island so it makes choke slightly worse. Can anyone explain to me why alot of these lists are not running 4 Caverns? (I'm a Blue Control player, I always boardout almost all my counter spells against merfolk. I want to know why these lists are not running what I consider a very problematic card for my deck).
#If you could quote reply, that would be great as I would get a notification
almost no merfolk decks play more than 2 caverns
there are other blue spells you need to be able to cast and too much brown mana is a problem
if 8 of your 19 lands can't cast a spreading seas/vapor snag/kira/phantasmal image/counterspell/echoing truth/etc then you start to stumble too often
having an opening hand like "mutavault, mutavault, cavern of souls, lord, lord, spreading seas, vapor snag" can really suck
a cavern or 2 along with aether vials is a good hedge against counters without messing with your blue mana too much
okay that makes sense. If I'm facing merfolk, I should board out my mana leaks. But are Remands and spell snare weaker or completely unplayable against merfolk?
spell snare is pretty good, remand is annoying but really just a tempo play and doesn't have a huge affect against us in a controlly game. playing against blue decks is nice because they turn on islandwalk naturally for us and if you aren't playing white then we don't have to worry about supreme verdict. we also bring counterspells of our own and relics to be a bit more controlling in a matchup like this.
What do you board out? Vapor Snags and Dismembers?
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Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the PT
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill
4x Master of Waves
4x Harbinger
3x Merrow Rejerey
1x Image
19x Lands
4x Aether Vial
3x Dismember
2x Vapor Snag
Right now I have Kira in the SB:
3x Hurkyls Recall
2x Tidebinder
2x Negate
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Kira
2x Gut Shot
2x Echoing Truth
1x Dispel
I kind of want to put Kira in the MB to make room for another Dispel. At the same time, Image can really help give the deck some quick starts. I'll also never forget the time I Imaged my RG Tron opponents Ulamog, exiling his Ulamog and Karn.
What's your opinion?
BGX Midrange
URX Control
As for the Image vs. Kira debate... I think it depends on how much Eldrazi is in your meta, and how much you want to prepare for it, given that it's not that bad a matchup for us. If Eldrazi concerns you, keep the Image. Otherwise, go for the 1-of Kira. I would favor the Kira, but that's my personal preference.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
BGX Midrange
URX Control
From what I gather (quick reads) you are already on 4 snag 4 harbinger plan. Why not just add sea's claim instead of downpour? It wont help you survive an attack, but the island breaks board stalls for your side (islandwalk) and works well with the bounce plan. I only run a few snags and harbingers, but I do run full spreading seas + 3 sea's claim and have had lots of times where I bounce a creature and nab the land that would be able to cast it. 7 island-rain effects has worked great to shut down opposing 3 color decks, and sometimes can even keep 2 color decks off of double-colored spells.
Thirst for Knowledge % to hit artifact
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I searched for Gut Shots but couldn’t come up with them, so I sleeve a sb a few cards off from what I’d have liked.
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Master of Waves
4 Spreading Seas
2 Dismember
1 Vapor Snag
12 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Echoing Truth
1 Dismember
1 Vapor Snag
Along with the traditional SB guide, I’m going to do a “what I would’ve liked to have.” Hopefully this will cut down on matchups where I have too many or too few cards to bring in.
Round 1: I lose the die roll and mulligan. My opponent keeps and is on affinity. He puts a plating on a vault skirge, and by the time I can start vialing in Harbingers he has BB to move it to a Signal Pest.
SB for Play: +4 Hurkyl’s, +3 Chalice (play), +1 Echoing Truth, -2 Spreading Seas, -2 Kira, -1Master of Waves, -3 Merrow Reejery.
Game 2: I present a fast clock and pop a Hurkyl’s Recall during my main phase to play around countermagic. I have a second Hurkyl’s but I kill him with Merrow taps and don’t have to use it.
Sb Draw: -3 Chalice of the Void, -2 Master of Waves +3 Merrow Reejery, +1 Dismember, +1 Vapor Snag.
Game 3: Some interesting plays. He goes turn 1 Blinkmoth, Springleaf Drum, go. I play Island, pass. He plays Signal Pest then casts Mox Opal. With Opal on the stack, I Vapor Snag the Signal Pest. If he had a 0-drop creature he’d have played Signal Pest last turn, so this turns off Mox Opal and means he can’t cast his 2-drop for another turn. Because of that tempo, I pull way ahead in the race until he top decks and plays a Vault Skirge. I swing him down to 7 with an array of Islandwalk. He topdecks a Plating, hits me for 10 lifelink. At that point I need Harbinger to live, or any lord/Hurkyl’s to win. I draw a land and can only swing for 16.
SB Notes: I would have liked 2 Gut Shots. Taking out Vault Skirge and Signal Pest with no tempo loss seems huge.
Round 2: My opponent wins the die roll and elects to draw… okay. I t1 a Cursecatcher, he plays a Mountain. I play a Silvergill, he plays a Forest can casts Plated Geopede. I cast Merrow Reejery and swing, noticeably relaxing. My opponent swings, I don’t block, and he casts Harrow. Due to shock and lack of fear, I let it resolve despite having cursecatcher to counter it, immediately realizing that I’ve missed the blowouts. A Swamp and an Island hit, and my opponent casts Tainted Strike with 1 Forest up. Suddenly Geopede is 8 infect… My opponent casts Mutagenic Growth, but taps his Forest to do so! I mize a win out of having blown it. Turns out my opponent is on a casual Flamekin Harbinger/ Kiln Fiend deck. The 0-1 bracket is just full of surprises. Chalice takes G2.
SB notes: Don’t screw it up.
Round 3: Affinity again. G1 I get helped as my opponent mulls to 5 and I’m on the play. I take an extra turn couple of turns to kill in order to play around a topdeck Plating, something I couldn’t do if he had more pressure. Having both dismember and vapor snag lets me kill an Arcbound and then bounce its Modular target. Them’s the nuts.
SB: +4 Hurkyls, +1 Dismember, +1 Vapor Snag. -2 Spreading Seas, -3 Master of Waves, -1 Merrow Reejery. Turn 1 plays are important on the draw, Chalice is bad.
G2:My opponent gets a plating on a turn 2 Etched Champion and I draw no Mutavault or Hurkyl’s.
G3: Merrow Reejery + Harbinger dominates. I keep him on the back foot and win without needing Hurkyl’s. I dismember a Master of Etherium and Mutavault shuts down a Champion.
Match 4: I lose the roll against GR tron. He has a turn 4 Ugin and I don’t last long.
SB: +2 Negate, +1 Vapor Snag, +1 Echoing Truth. -2 Kira, -2 Dismember.
G2 I have a pretty good clock, though a pyroclasm sets me slightly back. I Seas him a few times and he’s slow to hit Tron. By the time he lands a Karn I’ve got lethal.
-1 Aether Vial +1 Tidebinder (just as a bear)
G3 I have multiple Seas and a Ghost Quarter but not the fastest start. He gets to 5 mana the old fashion way with an Oblivion Stone in play, but I make him crack it and still push damage with Mutavaults. He casts a Wurmcoil, I send it back with Merrow+Harbinger and take the match.
SB notes: I would have liked 1 more sb card as Aether Vial isn’t great, especially on the draw, but I don’t think it’s worth cutting something else for. Tec Edge/Seas Claim/Ghost Quarter would be best.
Round 5. My opponent is playing a URg Prowess Delver deck and has beaten 2 Merfolk players on the day. I don’t remember this match precisely, but I recall Harbinger totally trumping Delver and Kira being great. Chalice in Game 2 shuts him down well, though he almost gets there with Stormchaser Mages + Atarka’s Command.
+3 Chalice, +1 Tidebinder Mage. -3 Merrow Reejery, -1 Aether Vial.
SB notes: Not much to report. I really like Kira main for this kind of bolt matchup and don’t bring in Negate as I don’t expect huge impact spells and I have 2 Kira Relic could come in for Snapcaster, but doesn’t seem needed as this is more tempo based.
Top 8 is 2 GR Tron (my opponent), 1 Affinity (my R1 loss), 1 Esper Control, 1 Grixis Midrange, 1 Kiki Chord, and 1 Jund. Eldrazi was in the room but not in huge numbers. I suspect people are trying to GPT with the decks they’ll bring to LA.
I’m the 4 seed and paired against my friend Travis on Grixis. I’ve beaten him before and am not too frightened by the matchup, but he’s a strong player. He’s always switching his list, but I know he plays Creature Jace, Tasigur (which he cut for g2), Pia and Kirin Nalaar, Snap, and Kalitas.
G1. I roll over him. Just curve out with Kira while he stumbles.
-4 Spreading Seas, -1 Vapor Snag, -1 Aether Vial +2 Relic of Progenitus, + 1 Dismember, +1 Echoing Truth, +2 Negate. I would love to bring in Chalice but I know he plays Kolaghan’s Command so it seems pretty bad.
G2. He gets down a turn 2 Jace and values me out. Bolts, terminates, pyroclasms and K. Commands keep my lords down. Kira gets killed by a Jace +1 and Bolt. Kalitas values me out. He has few ways to kill a Master of Waves, but because I don’t have Spreading Seas I never get much devotion. Maybe leave those in? Hard to say.
G3 is the same as g2. He’s able to 1 for 1, 2 for 1 with K. Commands and Snapcasters, and generally keep me down. I don’t think it always plays out like that, and Silvergill is amazing here and I didn’t draw any, but that’s how it goes.
SB Notes: I would have loved a 3rd Relic, as they are excellent in the matchup and I didn’t draw any early enough to be relevant.
All in all, not a horrible showing. I would add the 4th harbinger in the main, cutting the Vapor Snag or maybe moving a Kira to the board. Next weekend there’s a 1k GPT, and I expect my SB to be 4 Hurkyl’s, 3 Chalice, 3 Relic, 2 Negate, 2 Gut Shot, 1 Echoing Truth.
Keep swimmin’
Realize/PDXMTG
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
Any advices about the mirror match?? I'll post my list later, but its pretty much the basic with 28 creatures, 19 lands ....
You try to play non-islands as best you can so it doesn't turn on their island walk. Remember your lord of atlantis buffs their creatures as well. Otherwise tempo them like other aggro creature decks. Harbinger is quite good as is dismember.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Mono-U Control
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Sen Triplets
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Derevi Stax
VolThrun
Marchesa, The Black Rose
Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Tribal
Modern: Fish, JUND/Junk
--------
RIP Twin
win the die roll
start with aether vial
side in extra lands so you can curve out better than them (ghost quarter is good because it kills mutavault and will likely land an island on the other side)
try to avoid playing islands if possible
save your Lord of Atlantis for the alpha strike
a well timed harbinger can be a total blowout and win the game, usually you will want to hit a lord and take away their islandwalk to block, watch for your opponent to do the same
a lot of people seem to leave spreading seas in for some reason but i think that's a huge mistake
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
I was looking through "http://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=192&meta=51&f=MO" the MTG Top 8 Merfolk list and alot of lists are not running 4 Cavern of Souls. (some of them are running none).
From my understanding, Cavern of Souls should be a 4 off because 1) it stops your opponent's counter spells, but more importantly, it isn't an island so it makes choke slightly worse. Can anyone explain to me why alot of these lists are not running 4 Caverns? (I'm a Blue Control player, I always boardout almost all my counter spells against merfolk. I want to know why these lists are not running what I consider a very problematic card for my deck).
#If you could quote reply, that would be great as I would get a notification
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
almost no merfolk decks play more than 2 caverns
there are other blue spells you need to be able to cast and too much brown mana is a problem
if 8 of your 19 lands can't cast a spreading seas/vapor snag/kira/phantasmal image/counterspell/echoing truth/etc then you start to stumble too often
having an opening hand like "mutavault, mutavault, cavern of souls, lord, lord, spreading seas, vapor snag" can really suck
a cavern or 2 along with aether vials is a good hedge against counters without messing with your blue mana too much
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
okay that makes sense. If I'm facing merfolk, I should board out my mana leaks. But are Remands and spell snare weaker or completely unplayable against merfolk?
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
spell snare is pretty good, remand is annoying but really just a tempo play and doesn't have a huge affect against us in a controlly game. playing against blue decks is nice because they turn on islandwalk naturally for us and if you aren't playing white then we don't have to worry about supreme verdict. we also bring counterspells of our own and relics to be a bit more controlling in a matchup like this.
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
What do you board out? Vapor Snags and Dismembers?
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers: