GPT for Indy on Saturday. Wish me luck. Need dem byes!
2 byes in the bag!
Rd 1 vs Grixis Control. Lost 0-2
Rd 2 vs BW tokens. Won 2-1
Rd 3 vs Burn. Won 2-0
Rd 4 vs Bant midrange/control brew. Won 2-0
Rd 5 vs Esper control. Won 2-1 (mull to 4 in game 2. ugh)
Top 8
Quarter final: rematch vs the grixis control i lost to. Won 2-0
Semi final: vs Grixis Delver Won 2-1
Finals: Opponent conceded the byes to me and we split prizes. Glad he did because he was on Elves and i was pretty scared.
I was feeling bad after my first round loss and barely winning rd 2 but then everything fell into place and i went on a run. Excited for the GP!
Anyone else going to Indianapolis?
As a side note, what's up with GPTs being regular REL now? I thought they were always competetive. My esper opponent missed a monastery mentor trigger and tried to go back. Called a judge and learned that it was regular REL so he was allowed to resolve his trigger. Pretty strange to me.
Quite the varied list of modern opponents, did you feel anything over//underperformed for you during the day?
Kira was insane all day. But that is probably due to the number of grixis and other control i was seeing.
BW tokens player cast 2 infinite obliterations in game 3 removing all 8 lords from the deck. i thought i was screwed but then he punted by tapping wrong and trying to cast a secure the wastes off a plains with a spreading seas on it. barely squeaked that match.
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
Played in a PPTQ today at my local shop, 22 man, 5 round swiss cut to top 8. Felt pretty good about my list, and have been playin fish for about a year and a half now.
R1: Lantern Control 0-2
... Nm to say, put him to one both games before he found bridge off the top..
R2 Burn 2-0
Nm to say
R3 Bogles 2-1
A close friend of mine who I actually traded his deck to him, took game 3 by chalice for 1 on t2 and spellskite on 3 where I was then path proof, he had two paths in hand and conceded to my skite. He Was a really good sport about it though.
R4 Infect 2-1
Played against another close friend whos been on the pro tour before, he was not happy for me to side in 3 chalices and 2 spellskites and to see them games 2 and three.
R5 Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
G1 I just tempoed him out and kept his nahiri dead, spreading seas keeping him off red, G2 I sided in 3 Tectonic Edge and kept him off 4 mana pretty much the whole game and when he got it I spreaded his red sources again so he just couldnt cast the better half of his deck. Didnt hurt that I landed master of waves for 5 or 6 on turn 5.
Top 8
Bogles 1-2
Same friend made it to top 8 with me, couldnt quite make a miracle happen twice in a row. The win was because he kept a Kor spiritdancer only creature hand and I vapor snagged it to kill like 4 enchantments, he never saw another creature. I never saw chalice/skite combo
All in all I think we are pretty well positioned right now as a whole in the meta and I wish all other fishy players good luck in their future events! Go get em guys!
Pretty big PPTQ coming up for me Saturday. All the DFW grinders are going to be there as it's week 2 of Dublin RPTQ invites. I think there is going to be a lot of people on Little Zoo (the "big bad end bossy team" should be playing it) and I'm fairly nervous about that deck because I lost to it at the Open pretty convincingly. The rest should be your standard fare probably with a little more emphasis on Infect than normal. Tidebinders in the main for sure!
To follow up on this I finished 5th. I lost to Kiki Chord (a matchup I consider favorable) in Top 8
moved to tier one per meta update. Please no flaming on this subject, the numbers support the move.
Now you've done it, a ban on Aether Vial will hit next week.
On a more serious question: does that mean we should anticipate a general reshuffling of tiers right now? Because we're the only one that seems to have been adjusted. That seems odd if we're going off the source that gave us these numbers, since that source indicates the entire meta has shifted.
Thanks for sharing - it looks pretty tuned. How are you feeling about no mainboard counterspells at the moment? I've added 2 Spell Pierce in the last month, and they've felt pretty good in this meta full of Jeskai Control and Jund Midrange. That said, other folks have reported success with the 2 Dismember/2 bounce spell lineup, so I'd like to hear about it.
Quick Report. Nothing too exciting.
PPTQ 7/30
Round 1: Jund Grishoalbrand Ft. Gitrog Monster
G1: I have an OK hand after a mulligan but I don't draw much better. He dies a pretty slow painful death. He also fizzled post Goryo's Vengeance that I had no say over.
G2: This one I won much more convincingly. I have a ton of countermagic and just countered everything he played after some beats. He boarded in a lot more removal and "midrange" cards like Abrupt Decay and Pia and Kiran Nalaar, but that's not the kind of game merfolk loses to combo. We lose when you go for a fast kill from underneath me.
1-0
Round 2: Colorless Eldrazi
G1: I stomp him fairly convincingly with a perfect curve out. Vial into Multiple lords into Master of Waves.
G2: This one was a little more of a game. He was stuck on 3 lands though, but I felt my hand was good enough to handle his stuff even if he got stuff going. He just kept playing Endless Ones for 3 and those simply werent good enough.
2-0
Round 3: Infect
G1: I lose on turn 3. He goes Might, Dismembered potential blocking Mutavault, then Become Immense for exactly enough Delve to kill me. Disgusting.
G2: I get a game loss because I forgot to write Wanderwine Hub LOL I usaully fill out my decklists at home before I go to tournaments, but I was out of printer paper so I was kind of in a hurry after I got there to fill one out. Promptly stole some deck sheets for future events.
2-1
Round 4: Infect
This was my friend. I was paired down and he gave me the win because I simply have a better shot. We played it just because though.
G1: I was just able to slow him down with enough Snags. I was also able to Spreading Seas Inkmoth Nexus.
G2: He goes crazy with Thing in the Ice, but I tempo'd him out too hard because my hand was really aggressive. I was able to rebuild after TITI flipped and killed him anyway.
3-1
Round 5: Naya Company
I was supposed to be able to draw in, but he decided to play me for positioning, which I can respect, but he was kind of a jerk about it.
G1: He draws a lot of lands and I'm able to Islandwalk alpha strike after a board stall making sure to play around a Collected Company and/or removal spell blowout.
G2: Another board still happens and I'm able to make some careful attacks to kill him in 2 turns. He has a turn to draw path for Master of Waves (but not have me dead necessarily) to live, but he draws a land instead.
Top 8: Kiki Chord
G1: I mulliganed and kept an acceptable hand, but it wasn't great. I do end up almost getting him, but for some reason he plays the Melira Combo and just has it.
G2: I make a pretty huge mistake. On the second to last turn of the game he has a bunch of creatures: Tapped Kiki, Spellskite, 2 Finks (one finks clone from Kiki), and a tapped Wall of Roots. He's at 14. I Spreading Seas his only untapped white source to see if he had Path. He didn't. I draw Harbinger off the Seas. I forget about Chord of Calling and decide to move in on a lethal Islandwalk attack for exactly 14. He Chords for 2, tapping him out. I know he plays Lone Missionary, but I also know Viscera Seer also takes him out of range (since he sacks a Finks) so I pretty much have to counter this with Cursecatcher, putting him to 2. He untaps, uses the last counter on Wall for Bird, taps Kiki to make a Bird clone, makes White mana and Angels me. Unbelievable.
If I saw he could play Chord for 2, I would have definitely played Harbinger on Kiki instead because there's no way in hell he was recasting Kiki AND Angel with the Mana he had (3 lands, one was Seas'd). I also wasn't dying to Melira combo because he was 2 pieces away from that. My advice to you guys is make sure you count their chords and it's pretty easy to tell if someone is counting Chord (usually, but he in particular wasn't because he was pretty proficient with it). I also confirmed he had Missionary in the deck and he said he was trying to go for that.
I also consider this a good matchup. I've lost to it very few times in testing.
I have another PPTQ in 2 weeks. I want to win this one :')
I'm a legacy fish player, and setting aside my FOWs and Dazes to try the Modern seas. This thread is helpful, and I have a version like these recent posts. Forgive me (since it's surely in some earlier page) but can someone explain Wanderwine Hub x2?
When do we need white mana??
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The Steamflogged
Human Rigger Rebels
Resisting The Tyranny of the Anti-Contraptionists. Viva L'Assemblage!
Modern-- Fish; Jund; Burn; Affinity; Mill Legacy--UGBFood Chain; UFish; UBRG Delver Commander--UB Sygg, River Cutthroat; W Isamaru, H.O.K.WRG Naya grouphug Enchantress 60 Card Singleton -- WB value drain UN- -- W Weenie (Wordmail on Knight of the Hokey Pokey is good beats)
Thanks for sharing - it looks pretty tuned. How are you feeling about no mainboard counterspells at the moment? I've added 2 Spell Pierce in the last month, and they've felt pretty good in this meta full of Jeskai Control and Jund Midrange. That said, other folks have reported success with the 2 Dismember/2 bounce spell lineup, so I'd like to hear about it.
i was testing 2 spell pierce in the main for the last week on mtgo and found them very underwhelming. they just seemed to miss way more than i was comfortable with.
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
I'm a legacy fish player, and setting aside my FOWs and Dazes to try the Modern seas. This thread is helpful, and I have a version like these recent posts. Forgive me (since it's surely in some earlier page) but can someone explain Wanderwine Hub x2?
When do we need white mana??
We don't need W mana
we play them because they dodge choke with very little downside
there are some other minor advantages, the outside possibility of preventing islandwalk in the mirror, or bluffing a path to exile, etc
Huh thanks.
So avoiding choke is the primary reason though...
Okay I'll run them!
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The Steamflogged
Human Rigger Rebels
Resisting The Tyranny of the Anti-Contraptionists. Viva L'Assemblage!
Modern-- Fish; Jund; Burn; Affinity; Mill Legacy--UGBFood Chain; UFish; UBRG Delver Commander--UB Sygg, River Cutthroat; W Isamaru, H.O.K.WRG Naya grouphug Enchantress 60 Card Singleton -- WB value drain UN- -- W Weenie (Wordmail on Knight of the Hokey Pokey is good beats)
Huh thanks.
So avoiding choke is the primary reason though...
Okay I'll run them!
we play oboro and minamo for the same reason
oboro has some other uses such as being able to return to your hand to pitch to a Kolaghan's command or liliana, or being able to make UU with Oboro + Mutavault + land drop
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
Living End is a tricky matchup to learn, but very good once you learn it. Did you bring in your postboard counterspells? And did you play through your Æther Vial? Also, always sacrifice your Cursecatcher in response to Living End, regardless of whether you can counter it or not - you'll get it back, and then you can often transition into Master of Waves and hold them off long enough to set up your islandwalk and finish the job.
Bouncing individual guys is questionable value against Living End, so Harbinger or Vapor Snag don't look as good. Dismember also feels pretty awful. Tidebinder Mage is effectively a 2-for-1 on a post-End board state, and you should try to max out on counterspells to swat away the likes of Beast Within (and maybe Kolaghan's Command). In your case, I'd recommend siding out the Snags instead of the Seas, and bring in the Dispels at the expense of Harbingers.
Affinity seems to be coming back and I think ill reluctantly start playing sb recalls again.
I have a question for those that have played Hurkyl's Recall extensively (my experience is somewhat limited). Do you also bring it in against RG Tron - it seems reasonable in this matchup (mostly to hit Wurm and O Stone)? How many copies is optimal to side in vs RG tron - 4 seems like overkill?
I don't bring in Hurkyl's Recall against Tron, no. If you have some Dismembers to side out (since they are pretty useless in that matchup), you can bring in Recalls in their stead.
In other news, after another hiatus, I got out for some Monday Night Modern. Gory details below:
Match 1: Jund (1-2 games, 0-1 matches)
- G1 (draw) opponent mulls to 6; land 2 Lords on T5 in order to surge ahead; finish game off with Reejerey + Harbinger
- G2 (draw) opponent mulls to 6; Dark Confidant finds 2 Goyfs and my Tidebinders get blown up
- G3 (play) mull to 6; tight game comes down to topdecks, but opponent finds Abrupt Decay to remove Spreading Seas on his Raging Ravine while both players are at 1 life
Match 2: Turns (2-1 games, 1-1 matches)
- G1 (play) opponent combos off while at 2 life; found 0 Lords
- G2 (play) land 2x Cursecatcher backed up by Lords to end game quickly
- G3 (draw) Vial in Spellskite to ward off Gigadrowse; trade counterspells for opponent's disruption in order to swing for lethal
Match 3: Elves (2-0 games, 2-1 matches)
- G1 (draw) mull to 6, but opponent mulls to 5; topdeck a Spreading Seas with 2x Lord + Harbinger out to deal lethal
- G2 (draw) opponent mulls to 6; find 3x Tidebinder Mage and 3x Lord to overcome 3x Dwynen's Elite and assorted mana dorks
Match 4: Burn (2-1 games, 3-1 matches)
- G1 (draw) trade cards for life until I can land 2x Master of Waves and surge ahead
- G2 (draw) opponent lands T1 Nacatl into T2 Eidolon; stabilize with Master of Waves at 2 life, but opponent finishes me off with a topdecked Lava Spike
- G3 (play) land 3x Spreading Seas and 2x Harbinger of the Tides to dismantle 2x Nacatl hand
The deck felt pretty good today; I had a rough start (dropping a winnable match to Jund thanks to some below-average topdecks and a game to a Turns deck that has a horrific Merfolk matchup), but my fortunes turned around big time (2-0ing an Elves deck that would normally be a heck of a tough matchup). Tidebinder Mage came up huge in the sideboard, but so did Harbinger of the Tides in the main; running 4 of each in the 75 is working real well for me, so I will continue to do so. Spell Pierce didn't do much today, but the sample size is small, so I'll continue to monitor it.
2 byes in the bag!
Rd 1 vs Grixis Control. Lost 0-2
Rd 2 vs BW tokens. Won 2-1
Rd 3 vs Burn. Won 2-0
Rd 4 vs Bant midrange/control brew. Won 2-0
Rd 5 vs Esper control. Won 2-1 (mull to 4 in game 2. ugh)
Top 8
Quarter final: rematch vs the grixis control i lost to. Won 2-0
Semi final: vs Grixis Delver Won 2-1
Finals: Opponent conceded the byes to me and we split prizes. Glad he did because he was on Elves and i was pretty scared.
I was feeling bad after my first round loss and barely winning rd 2 but then everything fell into place and i went on a run. Excited for the GP!
Anyone else going to Indianapolis?
As a side note, what's up with GPTs being regular REL now? I thought they were always competetive. My esper opponent missed a monastery mentor trigger and tried to go back. Called a judge and learned that it was regular REL so he was allowed to resolve his trigger. Pretty strange to me.
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
Quite the varied list of modern opponents, did you feel anything over//underperformed for you during the day?
Kira was insane all day. But that is probably due to the number of grixis and other control i was seeing.
BW tokens player cast 2 infinite obliterations in game 3 removing all 8 lords from the deck. i thought i was screwed but then he punted by tapping wrong and trying to cast a secure the wastes off a plains with a spreading seas on it. barely squeaked that match.
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
R1: Lantern Control 0-2
... Nm to say, put him to one both games before he found bridge off the top..
R2 Burn 2-0
Nm to say
R3 Bogles 2-1
A close friend of mine who I actually traded his deck to him, took game 3 by chalice for 1 on t2 and spellskite on 3 where I was then path proof, he had two paths in hand and conceded to my skite. He Was a really good sport about it though.
R4 Infect 2-1
Played against another close friend whos been on the pro tour before, he was not happy for me to side in 3 chalices and 2 spellskites and to see them games 2 and three.
R5 Jeskai Nahiri 2-0
G1 I just tempoed him out and kept his nahiri dead, spreading seas keeping him off red, G2 I sided in 3 Tectonic Edge and kept him off 4 mana pretty much the whole game and when he got it I spreaded his red sources again so he just couldnt cast the better half of his deck. Didnt hurt that I landed master of waves for 5 or 6 on turn 5.
Top 8
Bogles 1-2
Same friend made it to top 8 with me, couldnt quite make a miracle happen twice in a row. The win was because he kept a Kor spiritdancer only creature hand and I vapor snagged it to kill like 4 enchantments, he never saw another creature. I never saw chalice/skite combo
All in all I think we are pretty well positioned right now as a whole in the meta and I wish all other fishy players good luck in their future events! Go get em guys!
Dredge
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
To follow up on this I finished 5th. I lost to Kiki Chord (a matchup I consider favorable) in Top 8
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
Now you've done it, a ban on Aether Vial will hit next week.
On a more serious question: does that mean we should anticipate a general reshuffling of tiers right now? Because we're the only one that seems to have been adjusted. That seems odd if we're going off the source that gave us these numbers, since that source indicates the entire meta has shifted.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
here's the list i played
very likely to be tweaked before the GP
4 silvergill adept
3 harbinger of the tides
4 master of the pearl trident
4 lord of atlantis
4 merrow reejerey
1 kira, great glass-spinner
4 master of waves
4 Æther vial
4 spreading seas
2 dismember
1 vapor snag
1 echoing truth
3 wanderwine hub
2 cavern of souls
1 oboro, palace in the clouds
1 minamo, school at water's edge
9 island
2 relic of progenitus
1 kira, great glass-spinner
2 dispel
2 negate
3 chalice of the void
2 tidebinder mage
3 hurkyl's recall
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
PPTQ 7/30
Round 1: Jund Grishoalbrand Ft. Gitrog Monster
G1: I have an OK hand after a mulligan but I don't draw much better. He dies a pretty slow painful death. He also fizzled post Goryo's Vengeance that I had no say over.
G2: This one I won much more convincingly. I have a ton of countermagic and just countered everything he played after some beats. He boarded in a lot more removal and "midrange" cards like Abrupt Decay and Pia and Kiran Nalaar, but that's not the kind of game merfolk loses to combo. We lose when you go for a fast kill from underneath me.
1-0
Round 2: Colorless Eldrazi
G1: I stomp him fairly convincingly with a perfect curve out. Vial into Multiple lords into Master of Waves.
G2: This one was a little more of a game. He was stuck on 3 lands though, but I felt my hand was good enough to handle his stuff even if he got stuff going. He just kept playing Endless Ones for 3 and those simply werent good enough.
2-0
Round 3: Infect
G1: I lose on turn 3. He goes Might, Dismembered potential blocking Mutavault, then Become Immense for exactly enough Delve to kill me. Disgusting.
G2: I get a game loss because I forgot to write Wanderwine Hub LOL I usaully fill out my decklists at home before I go to tournaments, but I was out of printer paper so I was kind of in a hurry after I got there to fill one out. Promptly stole some deck sheets for future events.
2-1
Round 4: Infect
This was my friend. I was paired down and he gave me the win because I simply have a better shot. We played it just because though.
G1: I was just able to slow him down with enough Snags. I was also able to Spreading Seas Inkmoth Nexus.
G2: He goes crazy with Thing in the Ice, but I tempo'd him out too hard because my hand was really aggressive. I was able to rebuild after TITI flipped and killed him anyway.
3-1
Round 5: Naya Company
I was supposed to be able to draw in, but he decided to play me for positioning, which I can respect, but he was kind of a jerk about it.
G1: He draws a lot of lands and I'm able to Islandwalk alpha strike after a board stall making sure to play around a Collected Company and/or removal spell blowout.
G2: Another board still happens and I'm able to make some careful attacks to kill him in 2 turns. He has a turn to draw path for Master of Waves (but not have me dead necessarily) to live, but he draws a land instead.
Top 8: Kiki Chord
G1: I mulliganed and kept an acceptable hand, but it wasn't great. I do end up almost getting him, but for some reason he plays the Melira Combo and just has it.
G2: I make a pretty huge mistake. On the second to last turn of the game he has a bunch of creatures: Tapped Kiki, Spellskite, 2 Finks (one finks clone from Kiki), and a tapped Wall of Roots. He's at 14. I Spreading Seas his only untapped white source to see if he had Path. He didn't. I draw Harbinger off the Seas. I forget about Chord of Calling and decide to move in on a lethal Islandwalk attack for exactly 14. He Chords for 2, tapping him out. I know he plays Lone Missionary, but I also know Viscera Seer also takes him out of range (since he sacks a Finks) so I pretty much have to counter this with Cursecatcher, putting him to 2. He untaps, uses the last counter on Wall for Bird, taps Kiki to make a Bird clone, makes White mana and Angels me. Unbelievable.
If I saw he could play Chord for 2, I would have definitely played Harbinger on Kiki instead because there's no way in hell he was recasting Kiki AND Angel with the Mana he had (3 lands, one was Seas'd). I also wasn't dying to Melira combo because he was 2 pieces away from that. My advice to you guys is make sure you count their chords and it's pretty easy to tell if someone is counting Chord (usually, but he in particular wasn't because he was pretty proficient with it). I also confirmed he had Missionary in the deck and he said he was trying to go for that.
I also consider this a good matchup. I've lost to it very few times in testing.
I have another PPTQ in 2 weeks. I want to win this one :')
Edit: I'll post my list tomorrow.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
When do we need white mana??
The Steamflogged
Human Rigger Rebels
Resisting The Tyranny of the Anti-Contraptionists.
Viva L'Assemblage!
Legacy--UGBFood Chain; UFish; UBRG Delver
Commander--UB Sygg, River Cutthroat; W Isamaru, H.O.K.WRG Naya grouphug Enchantress
60 Card Singleton -- WB value drain
UN- -- W Weenie (Wordmail on Knight of the Hokey Pokey is good beats)
i was testing 2 spell pierce in the main for the last week on mtgo and found them very underwhelming. they just seemed to miss way more than i was comfortable with.
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
We don't need W mana
we play them because they dodge choke with very little downside
there are some other minor advantages, the outside possibility of preventing islandwalk in the mirror, or bluffing a path to exile, etc
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
So avoiding choke is the primary reason though...
Okay I'll run them!
The Steamflogged
Human Rigger Rebels
Resisting The Tyranny of the Anti-Contraptionists.
Viva L'Assemblage!
Legacy--UGBFood Chain; UFish; UBRG Delver
Commander--UB Sygg, River Cutthroat; W Isamaru, H.O.K.WRG Naya grouphug Enchantress
60 Card Singleton -- WB value drain
UN- -- W Weenie (Wordmail on Knight of the Hokey Pokey is good beats)
we play oboro and minamo for the same reason
oboro has some other uses such as being able to return to your hand to pitch to a Kolaghan's command or liliana, or being able to make UU with Oboro + Mutavault + land drop
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
+2 Dispel
+2 Negate
+2 Relic of Progenitus
+4 Tidebinder Mage
-2 Harbinger of the Tides
-4 Merrow Reejerey
-4 Vapor Snag
Or, if I'm rocking the 2 Spell Pierce/2 Vapor Snag combination over the 4 Vapor Snags:
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-4 Merrow Reejerey
-2 Vapor Snag
Bouncing individual guys is questionable value against Living End, so Harbinger or Vapor Snag don't look as good. Dismember also feels pretty awful. Tidebinder Mage is effectively a 2-for-1 on a post-End board state, and you should try to max out on counterspells to swat away the likes of Beast Within (and maybe Kolaghan's Command). In your case, I'd recommend siding out the Snags instead of the Seas, and bring in the Dispels at the expense of Harbingers.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I have a question for those that have played Hurkyl's Recall extensively (my experience is somewhat limited). Do you also bring it in against RG Tron - it seems reasonable in this matchup (mostly to hit Wurm and O Stone)? How many copies is optimal to side in vs RG tron - 4 seems like overkill?
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
In other news, after another hiatus, I got out for some Monday Night Modern. Gory details below:
4 Æther Vial
Creatures (28)
4 Cursecatcher
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Spreading Seas
Instants (4)
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vapor Snag
Lands (20)
2 Cavern of Souls
8 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Wanderwine Hub
2 Dispel
4 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spellskite
4 Tidebinder Mage
Match 1: Jund (1-2 games, 0-1 matches)
- G1 (draw) opponent mulls to 6; land 2 Lords on T5 in order to surge ahead; finish game off with Reejerey + Harbinger
- G2 (draw) opponent mulls to 6; Dark Confidant finds 2 Goyfs and my Tidebinders get blown up
- G3 (play) mull to 6; tight game comes down to topdecks, but opponent finds Abrupt Decay to remove Spreading Seas on his Raging Ravine while both players are at 1 life
SB:
+2 Relic of Progenitus, +4 Tidebinder Mage
-4 Æther Vial, -2 Vapor Snag
Match 2: Turns (2-1 games, 1-1 matches)
- G1 (play) opponent combos off while at 2 life; found 0 Lords
- G2 (play) land 2x Cursecatcher backed up by Lords to end game quickly
- G3 (draw) Vial in Spellskite to ward off Gigadrowse; trade counterspells for opponent's disruption in order to swing for lethal
SB:
+2 Dispel, +2 Negate, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +1 Spellskite
-1 Master of Waves, -4 Spreading Seas, -2 Vapor Snag
Match 3: Elves (2-0 games, 2-1 matches)
- G1 (draw) mull to 6, but opponent mulls to 5; topdeck a Spreading Seas with 2x Lord + Harbinger out to deal lethal
- G2 (draw) opponent mulls to 6; find 3x Tidebinder Mage and 3x Lord to overcome 3x Dwynen's Elite and assorted mana dorks
SB:
+2 Dispel, +4 Tidebinder Mage
-4 Master of Waves, -2 Spell Pierce
Match 4: Burn (2-1 games, 3-1 matches)
- G1 (draw) trade cards for life until I can land 2x Master of Waves and surge ahead
- G2 (draw) opponent lands T1 Nacatl into T2 Eidolon; stabilize with Master of Waves at 2 life, but opponent finishes me off with a topdecked Lava Spike
- G3 (play) land 3x Spreading Seas and 2x Harbinger of the Tides to dismantle 2x Nacatl hand
SB:
+2 Dispel, +1 Spellskite, +4 Tidebinder Mage
-4 Merrow Reejerey, -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Spreading Seas
The deck felt pretty good today; I had a rough start (dropping a winnable match to Jund thanks to some below-average topdecks and a game to a Turns deck that has a horrific Merfolk matchup), but my fortunes turned around big time (2-0ing an Elves deck that would normally be a heck of a tough matchup). Tidebinder Mage came up huge in the sideboard, but so did Harbinger of the Tides in the main; running 4 of each in the 75 is working real well for me, so I will continue to do so. Spell Pierce didn't do much today, but the sample size is small, so I'll continue to monitor it.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers: