Smuggler's Copter looks interesting, something like Thassa but cheaper and flies, nice against Affinity, Lingering tokens...
And it loots better than Jace or Merfolk Looter in our deck. It also evades Wraths and pressures walkers.
Not sure that is enough but interesting none the less.
I am not sure what Life FTL, Oath of Nissa, Temur Battle Rage (red mana), Wheel and Deal (not in Modern), Recollect (just a bad card), Bow of Nylea, Tamiyo, Field Researcher (white mana) have to do with playable candidates for UG Merfolk.
All three Selkies are at least a candidate for UG list. That might demand some Noble H. and dropping Mutavaults but we are going deep here.
I tried out Cold-Eyed Selkie for a bit in mono-blue. It was decent against removal heavy decks. They spend most of their resources dealing with your lords so you usually get to draw at least one or two cards off of it. It also has Islandwalk built in so as long as they have at least one Island it's always unblockable.
I can't really justify taking out anything for the card right now though.
Finished local FNM today 3:1, tried the 8 seas version. Totally destroyed burn (2:0) and death shadow zoo (2:0), locking them off mana and loling in my mind as they were totally dependent on the land draw. Lost to scapeshift in the finals.. What do we do against that? It just feels i was always too slow. Loving the 8 seas version btw, didn't think it would be so much fun.
Good to see 8 Seas is getting results. I was the original advocate of the deck and played it on #mtgo with results. At that time I derided for it, but I know everyone eventually comes around.
So a week ago I picked up Merfolks after trading half my binders and buying the leftover cards for it. Too bad too late for the Dutch Open Series we had here but in time for the monthly at a LGS around here with a quite good and diverse meta with quite some skilled players. I went in expecting to at least see Infect, Boggles, Suicide Zoo, Mardu and Bors Nahiri, Grixis delver, Panda Bears (AKA E&T), B/W tokens, CoCo elves, 4c humans, maybe faeries and perhaps an affinity deck depending on who showed up.
I brought with me this list after playing with it mostly against Panda Bears and American Control for 2 days and those were also regrettably the only games I got in before hitting the event.
Expecting quite a bit of use of kill/exile spells and E&T I kept a Kira mainboard and for the agro matchups a Tidebinder mage main.
3 Rounds
Round 1 vs Panda Bears which was also piloted by my friend who I had been playtesting against: Loss
Game 1: I kept a hand without AEther vial since I had a beautiful curve that I knew would out-tempo my friend's deck. Sadly enough he got a better hand than I did and I drew nothing that could save me.
game 2: Same story as game 1
Round 2 vs Mono Green Stompy: Win
Game 1: I flooded out, I played everything and denied him of all his mana. Vialed in Tidebinder when he wanted to attack or simply just send it back to his hand with Harbinger.
Game 2: He didn't draw any of the hate he boarded in. I flooded out and got in a Spreading Seas while he played 3x Avatar of Resolute that I all killed/bounced while countering his only Vines of Vastwood that he tried to use protect his creature from Vapor Snag.
Round 3 vs B/W Tokens: Win
Game 1: I couldn't get in my Kira on time and Liliana of the Veil hit the field while I tapped out the turn before instead of holding up the mana for Remand which was then quickly followed by a Gideon. Lesson learned, should have known better.
Game 2: I destroyed him on the back of 2 AEther vials, Kira vial on his PtE and blocking his Windbrisk Heights which apparently had a Wrath of God under it with a Spreading Seas.
Game 3: This was I think the most exciting game for me of the evening. I mostly kept up my tempo plan of vialing in lords and cursecatchers and going slowly in for damage unless he was tapped out thanks to the Spreading seas I landed turn 3 with Mana left up for Dispel. I drew all the counters including the only Dispel I boarded in and denied his attacks with the only 3 tokens he got to make with a Vapor Snag which I would have boarded out if I had Echoing Truth in the SB or something.
This still got me shared 4th place and a booster so I'm very happy with my results, especially since I only got about 5 games in before hitting FNM. I do notice I have to get in more often with attacks but I think that is mostly from switching from U/B Faeries and Esper to a different style of deck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: WRG Boros/Naya Burn - U Merfolks - WUG GW Valuetown/Bant Knightfall - UR Young Pyromancer Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss Combo - WG Nazhan, Revered Bladesmith Voltron - BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth Stax - UBG Tasigur Elfball - UBR Kess, Dissident Mage Tainted Twin
So a week ago I picked up Merfolks after trading half my binders and buying the leftover cards for it. Too bad too late for the Dutch Open Series we had here but in time for the monthly at a LGS around here with a quite good and diverse meta with quite some skilled players. I went in expecting to at least see Infect, Boggles, Suicide Zoo, Mardu and Bors Nahiri, Grixis delver, Panda Bears (AKA E&T), B/W tokens, CoCo elves, 4c humans, maybe faeries and perhaps an affinity deck depending on who showed up.
I brought with me this list after playing with it mostly against Panda Bears and American Control for 2 days and those were also regrettably the only games I got in before hitting the event.
Expecting quite a bit of use of kill/exile spells and E&T I kept a Kira mainboard and for the agro matchups a Tidebinder mage main.
3 Rounds
Round 1 vs Panda Bears which was also piloted by my friend who I had been playtesting against: Loss
Game 1: I kept a hand without AEther vial since I had a beautiful curve that I knew would out-tempo my friend's deck. Sadly enough he got a better hand than I did and I drew nothing that could save me.
game 2: Same story as game 1
Round 2 vs Mono Green Stompy: Win
Game 1: I flooded out, I played everything and denied him of all his mana. Vialed in Tidebinder when he wanted to attack or simply just send it back to his hand with Harbinger.
Game 2: He didn't draw any of the hate he boarded in. I flooded out and got in a Spreading Seas while he played 3x Avatar of Resolute that I all killed/bounced while countering his only Vines of Vastwood that he tried to use protect his creature from Vapor Snag.
Round 3 vs B/W Tokens: Win
Game 1: I couldn't get in my Kira on time and Liliana of the Veil hit the field while I tapped out the turn before instead of holding up the mana for Remand which was then quickly followed by a Gideon. Lesson learned, should have known better.
Game 2: I destroyed him on the back of 2 AEther vials, Kira vial on his PtE and blocking his Windbrisk Heights which apparently had a Wrath of God under it with a Spreading Seas.
Game 3: This was I think the most exciting game for me of the evening. I mostly kept up my tempo plan of vialing in lords and cursecatchers and going slowly in for damage unless he was tapped out thanks to the Spreading seas I landed turn 3 with Mana left up for Dispel. I drew all the counters including the only Dispel I boarded in and denied his attacks with the only 3 tokens he got to make with a Vapor Snag which I would have boarded out if I had Echoing Truth in the SB or something.
This still got me shared 4th place and a booster so I'm very happy with my results, especially since I only got about 5 games in before hitting FNM. I do notice I have to get in more often with attacks but I think that is mostly from switching from U/B Faeries and Esper to a different style of deck.
Great report, but I think you misplayed in one part. You can't vial in Kira in response to a PTE and have the path he countered. Kira has to already by on the field. So you'd have to have a vial@3, tap it, and if it resolves before he PTEs anything, then Kira can stop future PTEs.
Some people think 4 Master of Waves is too much. This Cocofolk has 6 4-drops and Modern is fast enough that it needs acceleration.
Either Noble or Follower enables third turn Coco/Waves, so if they are interchangeable then Merfolk type gets the nod.
Cocoing Image does not work if there are no creatures prior to it resolving, and Coco doubles on the number of Lords by itself, so Image is not mandatory.
-1 Seas, -2 Image, -1 Reej, +4 Follower would be my choice to speed up. Even then the deck is too clunky for aggressive meta where Infect, Shadow and Affinity are winning tournaments.
Great report, but I think you misplayed in one part. You can't vial in Kira in response to a PTE and have the path he countered. Kira has to already by on the field. So you'd have to have a vial@3, tap it, and if it resolves before he PTEs anything, then Kira can stop future PTEs.
Oh no, I got that out the way with Dispel, he finally went tapped out since he kept representing PtE. So I found that a good point to vial in a Kira into Reej in upkeep with a tick up for Master of Waves next turn. I don't know why I didn't put it like that in my report.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: WRG Boros/Naya Burn - U Merfolks - WUG GW Valuetown/Bant Knightfall - UR Young Pyromancer Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss Combo - WG Nazhan, Revered Bladesmith Voltron - BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth Stax - UBG Tasigur Elfball - UBR Kess, Dissident Mage Tainted Twin
Unfortunately, I lost AGAIN in Top 8 of a PPTQ. Been really frustrating because I've been trying really hard to get that coveted win, but it just hasn't been working out. Here's a quick report:
Been pretty happy with the list. I was a bit upset I lost to Jund twice today and I wasn't really OK with that. This matchup is always really close and I think I just happened to get the short end of the stick twice.
Short Report:
Round 1: Esper Spirits w/ Gifts Package
G1: Crushed him in typical aggressive merfolk fashion.
G2: Kept a creature light hand then drew all lands while he beat me down with Spirits
G3: Kept a fairly shaky hand, but didn't want to mull to 5. He mulled even worse and I got there and he didn't. Worth noting I tried to leave up countermagic when possible for Gifts Ungiven because I was VERY scared of Elesh Norn (this guy goes to my LGS. I know what his deck is about).
1-0
Round 2: Ancient Ziggurat 5C Deck (This deck was on camera at Indy)
G1: We both slammed dudes on the table and it was a board stall. Eventually I won the board stall because Merrow Reejerey tapping triggers to tap enough blockers to get through.
G2: His greedy keep might have gotten there, but I kept missing with his Noble Hierarch by bouncing it etc. In addition, I had made a read on Spell Queller that ended up being correct and I was really able to put in work on him.
2-0
Round 3: Jund
G1: This one was pretty close at first, but he wouldn't stop drawing removal. There was a point I could have double blocked his large Tarmogoyf to kill it, but chumped instead. This was definitely a mistake, but I don't think it ended up mattering because of the sheer amount of removal he had (after sticking Kalitas).
G2: Not sure what happened here, but I kept Island Mutavault and a ton of spells hand. Almost got there, but just didn't. I died to a large Tarmogoyf again after he IoK'd both of my Dismembers. Jeez.
2-1
Round 4: Jund
G1: He has way too much removal and kills all my guys.
G2: I mulliganed to 4. Every hand was either Mutavault and spells or all spells. Unreal. I was extremely tilted after this.
I thought I was out of Top 8, but I decided to play the last round anyway just to see.
2-2
Round 5: Dreaded Mirror
G1: I drew a lot of wrong Lords, but I saw he stumble on land and kept based on having Vial (we knew what we were on beforehand). I eventually pulled teh trigger on playing the lords because I needed him dead and it paid off.
G2: He had Vial I didn't and he got to play more dudes than me.
G3: I had Master of the Pearl Trident and it became multiple after Phantasmal Image. Image looked very good in this game. My clock was just faster than his as a result. I was dead on the swingback.
3-2
I narrowly made 7th. Top 8 time!
Top 8: Thing in the Ice Jeskai Pyromancer Ascension thing that Topped one of the GPs
G1: I discovered once they got Pyromancer's Ascension online you couldn't win because all their Bolts become Double Bolts etc. He did that.
G2: See G1. It was absurd; he had exactly 3 of the same spell to get around my Relic of Progenitus.
Conclusions:
-Maybe I need a better Jund plan. If you don't curve out or they draw too much removal, you get rekt. Any suggestions based on my current list?
-Maybe my list is TOO general? for my area. Can't say. There is a ton of Jund/Abzan and sprinkles of all the other decks (next most being Burn, Infect, Bant Eldrazi, Some Tron; almost 0 affinity; there weren't any in the room today and I played 0 Hurkyl's for that reason)
-Tried 8 Seas at an IQ a few weeks ago, but vs Jund I didn't feel like I even win because of the Seas; dropped a match vs Infect as a result because youre just so much softer to it it feels like with the decreased removals. My Merfolk opponent today had also lost to Jund and Abzan today (he was on 7 Seas) and we were questioning the worth of the Seas effects a little (He didn't think those matchups were bad FTR; we were both 0-4 vs BGx today); he had acknowledged them as not amazing, but that it did something vs everything so kept playing them.
-My deck REALLY hates me
*shrug* What changes could I make for next PPTQ? I'm really tired of losing in Top 8. Jund is popular but I don't know if I want more Seas because I don't like being softer to other decks. Felt accidentally softer to Bant Eldrazi last time I tried it too (Dismember is great in that matchup).
What do I cut for the Tec Edges (and how many?) I usually already take out Vials vs Jund and it feels like I have a ton of cards in my board for the matchup. It might help curve out tho.
Probably I would work towards something like this for a UG deck
2 Mutavault
20 other lands
4 noble Heirarch
4 Cursecatcher
4 lord of Atlantis
4 master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 harbinger of the tides
2 Tidebinder mage
4 collected company
4 tideshaper mystic
4 Silvergill adept
Sideboard
Who knows. Requires playtesting to know where the weaknesses are.
It would require playtesting to know if tideshaper mystic is better than say spreading seas. You can't have too many non creature spells or you screw over your Cocos.
Won against Grixis Delver, Breach Combo and Mardu Goodstuff, then double draw into top8.
Beat Burn in QF and Nykthos Green in SF.
Scooped to a friend in the finals (UW ctrl), I don't feel like going to a Prague again after GP debacle three months ago (it was Legacy, but Merfolk the same).
I have Wmcq next Sunday and I have to think about going to another Pptq the day before.
Did it! 5-0 a league since they started keeping track of 5-0's with "Trophies". Played Nikachu's 8 Seas list from GP Indy.
Beat: Bogles/Boom&Bust/Tron/Burn/Burn
Also, I've been having a hard time with Titanshift ( while playing a regular build) both locally and on MODO. besides Tectonic Edge & Spreading Seas
what do you guys use in the MU? I just think we have to curve into 2/3 lords to even have a chance of getting them.
My usual list in 2nd pic.
ATTACHMENTS
5-0
My Current List
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Evil Beware!....We have waffles.
"In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks." Calvin & Hobbes Quotes
Calvin : You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
Hobbes : What mood is that?
Calvin : Last-minute panic.
Decks I'm playing:
Modern: U Merfolk
Standard: I dislike Standard ATM
I'm fairly new to Fish (about 1 month or so), and I'm loving it so far. But I have a few questions about dealing with Infect.
I played in a 4 round tournament last week at my LGS and faced Infect three times. It did not go well: 0-2, 0-2, and 1-2. I also have trouble when I play against Infect online. Part of it is certainly my relative inexperience with the deck. But my Infect win rate (22%) is well below my overall win rate, excluding Infect, (62%) and below what one would expect in a random match against Infect. Clearly I'm doing something wrong in the matchup.
So I've just got done with building my base merfolk deck and was wondering, what is the purpose of Wanderwine hub? I've got three in the deck because I've seen others using it and assumed it was for white sideboards, but having only three white sources seems too few for that purpose.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I'm fairly new to Fish (about 1 month or so), and I'm loving it so far. But I have a few questions about dealing with Infect.
I played in a 4 round tournament last week at my LGS and faced Infect three times. It did not go well: 0-2, 0-2, and 1-2. I also have trouble when I play against Infect online. Part of it is certainly my relative inexperience with the deck. But my Infect win rate (22%) is well below my overall win rate, excluding Infect, (62%) and below what one would expect in a random match against Infect. Clearly I'm doing something wrong in the matchup.
What do I need to know about playing Infect? How do we beat them?
What do you think of this sideboard strategy?
Should I make changes to my sideboard if I'm expecting an Infect-heavy meta at my LGS?
Thank you!
it is definitely a very tough matchup
it think cutting Vials is a mistake. vialing in a harbinger is one of your strongest plays in this match. plus it's a race, you'll have a hard time getting ahead by casting everything fairly. especially if you are trying to hold up mana for counterspells/removal
i usually cut 4 master of waves, kira, and a land (19 is fine when slimming the curve this much. cut a cavern so you can still cast your counters). putting in 2 tidebinders, 2 negates, 2 dispels
kira's only use in this matchup is blocking inkmoth's. there is an argument for leaving her in but i don't think that's worth 3 mana.
i'm not sure what you trim to add more. i guess maybe a spreading seas or a cursecatcher could come out but they both have uses here.
if you have them, chalice of the void is a huge player here. gut shot or more dismembers is good too.
So I've just got done with building my base merfolk deck and was wondering, what is the purpose of Wanderwine hub? I've got three in the deck because I've seen others using it and assumed it was for white sideboards, but having only three white sources seems too few for that purpose.
To protect against Choke and Boil, and to avoid playing Islands in the mirror match so you don't give your opponent Islandwalk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPzcXT2lOK8
And it loots better than Jace or Merfolk Looter in our deck. It also evades Wraths and pressures walkers.
Not sure that is enough but interesting none the less.
All three Selkies are at least a candidate for UG list. That might demand some Noble H. and dropping Mutavaults but we are going deep here.
I can't really justify taking out anything for the card right now though.
I brought with me this list after playing with it mostly against Panda Bears and American Control for 2 days and those were also regrettably the only games I got in before hitting the event.
1x Cavern of Souls
12x Island
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4x Mutavault
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Creatures- 20
4x Cursecatcher
3x Harbinger of the Tides
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Master of Waves
3x Merrow Reejerey
4x Silvergill Adept
1x Tidebinder Mage
1x Dismember
2x Remand
2x Vapor Snag
Artifacts- 4
4x AEther Vial
2x Chalice of the Void
1x Dismember
3x Dispel
3x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1x Phantasmal Image
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Remand
1x Tidebinder Mage
Expecting quite a bit of use of kill/exile spells and E&T I kept a Kira mainboard and for the agro matchups a Tidebinder mage main.
3 Rounds
Round 1 vs Panda Bears which was also piloted by my friend who I had been playtesting against: Loss
Game 1: I kept a hand without AEther vial since I had a beautiful curve that I knew would out-tempo my friend's deck. Sadly enough he got a better hand than I did and I drew nothing that could save me.
game 2: Same story as game 1
Round 2 vs Mono Green Stompy: Win
Game 1: I flooded out, I played everything and denied him of all his mana. Vialed in Tidebinder when he wanted to attack or simply just send it back to his hand with Harbinger.
Game 2: He didn't draw any of the hate he boarded in. I flooded out and got in a Spreading Seas while he played 3x Avatar of Resolute that I all killed/bounced while countering his only Vines of Vastwood that he tried to use protect his creature from Vapor Snag.
Round 3 vs B/W Tokens: Win
Game 1: I couldn't get in my Kira on time and Liliana of the Veil hit the field while I tapped out the turn before instead of holding up the mana for Remand which was then quickly followed by a Gideon. Lesson learned, should have known better.
Game 2: I destroyed him on the back of 2 AEther vials, Kira vial on his PtE and blocking his Windbrisk Heights which apparently had a Wrath of God under it with a Spreading Seas.
Game 3: This was I think the most exciting game for me of the evening. I mostly kept up my tempo plan of vialing in lords and cursecatchers and going slowly in for damage unless he was tapped out thanks to the Spreading seas I landed turn 3 with Mana left up for Dispel. I drew all the counters including the only Dispel I boarded in and denied his attacks with the only 3 tokens he got to make with a Vapor Snag which I would have boarded out if I had Echoing Truth in the SB or something.
This still got me shared 4th place and a booster so I'm very happy with my results, especially since I only got about 5 games in before hitting FNM. I do notice I have to get in more often with attacks but I think that is mostly from switching from U/B Faeries and Esper to a different style of deck.
WRG Boros/Naya Burn - U Merfolks - WUG GW Valuetown/Bant Knightfall - UR Young Pyromancer
Commander:
R Krenko, Mob Boss Combo - WG Nazhan, Revered Bladesmith Voltron - BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth Stax - UBG Tasigur Elfball - UBR Kess, Dissident Mage Tainted Twin
Great report, but I think you misplayed in one part. You can't vial in Kira in response to a PTE and have the path he countered. Kira has to already by on the field. So you'd have to have a vial@3, tap it, and if it resolves before he PTEs anything, then Kira can stop future PTEs.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/magic-rulings-archives/304065-kira-and-aether-vial
Basilisk Collar? $5.00
Shooting down a baneslayer angel? Priceless
Either Noble or Follower enables third turn Coco/Waves, so if they are interchangeable then Merfolk type gets the nod.
Cocoing Image does not work if there are no creatures prior to it resolving, and Coco doubles on the number of Lords by itself, so Image is not mandatory.
-1 Seas, -2 Image, -1 Reej, +4 Follower would be my choice to speed up. Even then the deck is too clunky for aggressive meta where Infect, Shadow and Affinity are winning tournaments.
Oh no, I got that out the way with Dispel, he finally went tapped out since he kept representing PtE. So I found that a good point to vial in a Kira into Reej in upkeep with a tick up for Master of Waves next turn. I don't know why I didn't put it like that in my report.
WRG Boros/Naya Burn - U Merfolks - WUG GW Valuetown/Bant Knightfall - UR Young Pyromancer
Commander:
R Krenko, Mob Boss Combo - WG Nazhan, Revered Bladesmith Voltron - BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth Stax - UBG Tasigur Elfball - UBR Kess, Dissident Mage Tainted Twin
Decklist:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/merfolk-0911/
Been pretty happy with the list. I was a bit upset I lost to Jund twice today and I wasn't really OK with that. This matchup is always really close and I think I just happened to get the short end of the stick twice.
Short Report:
Round 1: Esper Spirits w/ Gifts Package
G1: Crushed him in typical aggressive merfolk fashion.
G2: Kept a creature light hand then drew all lands while he beat me down with Spirits
G3: Kept a fairly shaky hand, but didn't want to mull to 5. He mulled even worse and I got there and he didn't. Worth noting I tried to leave up countermagic when possible for Gifts Ungiven because I was VERY scared of Elesh Norn (this guy goes to my LGS. I know what his deck is about).
1-0
Round 2: Ancient Ziggurat 5C Deck (This deck was on camera at Indy)
G1: We both slammed dudes on the table and it was a board stall. Eventually I won the board stall because Merrow Reejerey tapping triggers to tap enough blockers to get through.
G2: His greedy keep might have gotten there, but I kept missing with his Noble Hierarch by bouncing it etc. In addition, I had made a read on Spell Queller that ended up being correct and I was really able to put in work on him.
2-0
Round 3: Jund
G1: This one was pretty close at first, but he wouldn't stop drawing removal. There was a point I could have double blocked his large Tarmogoyf to kill it, but chumped instead. This was definitely a mistake, but I don't think it ended up mattering because of the sheer amount of removal he had (after sticking Kalitas).
G2: Not sure what happened here, but I kept Island Mutavault and a ton of spells hand. Almost got there, but just didn't. I died to a large Tarmogoyf again after he IoK'd both of my Dismembers. Jeez.
2-1
Round 4: Jund
G1: He has way too much removal and kills all my guys.
G2: I mulliganed to 4. Every hand was either Mutavault and spells or all spells. Unreal. I was extremely tilted after this.
I thought I was out of Top 8, but I decided to play the last round anyway just to see.
2-2
Round 5: Dreaded Mirror
G1: I drew a lot of wrong Lords, but I saw he stumble on land and kept based on having Vial (we knew what we were on beforehand). I eventually pulled teh trigger on playing the lords because I needed him dead and it paid off.
G2: He had Vial I didn't and he got to play more dudes than me.
G3: I had Master of the Pearl Trident and it became multiple after Phantasmal Image. Image looked very good in this game. My clock was just faster than his as a result. I was dead on the swingback.
3-2
I narrowly made 7th. Top 8 time!
Top 8: Thing in the Ice Jeskai Pyromancer Ascension thing that Topped one of the GPs
G1: I discovered once they got Pyromancer's Ascension online you couldn't win because all their Bolts become Double Bolts etc. He did that.
G2: See G1. It was absurd; he had exactly 3 of the same spell to get around my Relic of Progenitus.
Conclusions:
-Maybe I need a better Jund plan. If you don't curve out or they draw too much removal, you get rekt. Any suggestions based on my current list?
-Maybe my list is TOO general? for my area. Can't say. There is a ton of Jund/Abzan and sprinkles of all the other decks (next most being Burn, Infect, Bant Eldrazi, Some Tron; almost 0 affinity; there weren't any in the room today and I played 0 Hurkyl's for that reason)
-Tried 8 Seas at an IQ a few weeks ago, but vs Jund I didn't feel like I even win because of the Seas; dropped a match vs Infect as a result because youre just so much softer to it it feels like with the decreased removals. My Merfolk opponent today had also lost to Jund and Abzan today (he was on 7 Seas) and we were questioning the worth of the Seas effects a little (He didn't think those matchups were bad FTR; we were both 0-4 vs BGx today); he had acknowledged them as not amazing, but that it did something vs everything so kept playing them.
-My deck REALLY hates me
*shrug* What changes could I make for next PPTQ? I'm really tired of losing in Top 8. Jund is popular but I don't know if I want more Seas because I don't like being softer to other decks. Felt accidentally softer to Bant Eldrazi last time I tried it too (Dismember is great in that matchup).
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
2 Mutavault
20 other lands
4 noble Heirarch
4 Cursecatcher
4 lord of Atlantis
4 master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 harbinger of the tides
2 Tidebinder mage
4 collected company
4 tideshaper mystic
4 Silvergill adept
Sideboard
Who knows. Requires playtesting to know where the weaknesses are.
It would require playtesting to know if tideshaper mystic is better than say spreading seas. You can't have too many non creature spells or you screw over your Cocos.
I took this list:
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Wanderwine Hub
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Tidebinder Mage
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of Waves
4 Spreading Seas
2 Vapor Snag
1 Dismember
2 Gut Shot
1 Tidebinder Mage
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Negate
3 Spell Pierce
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Steel Sabotage
Won against Grixis Delver, Breach Combo and Mardu Goodstuff, then double draw into top8.
Beat Burn in QF and Nykthos Green in SF.
Scooped to a friend in the finals (UW ctrl), I don't feel like going to a Prague again after GP debacle three months ago (it was Legacy, but Merfolk the same).
I have Wmcq next Sunday and I have to think about going to another Pptq the day before.
Beat: Bogles/Boom&Bust/Tron/Burn/Burn
Also, I've been having a hard time with Titanshift ( while playing a regular build) both locally and on MODO. besides Tectonic Edge & Spreading Seas
what do you guys use in the MU? I just think we have to curve into 2/3 lords to even have a chance of getting them.
My usual list in 2nd pic.
Evil Beware!....We have waffles.
"In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks." Calvin & Hobbes Quotes
Calvin : You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
Hobbes : What mood is that?
Calvin : Last-minute panic.
Decks I'm playing:
Modern: U Merfolk
Standard: I dislike Standard ATM
I'm fairly new to Fish (about 1 month or so), and I'm loving it so far. But I have a few questions about dealing with Infect.
I played in a 4 round tournament last week at my LGS and faced Infect three times. It did not go well: 0-2, 0-2, and 1-2. I also have trouble when I play against Infect online. Part of it is certainly my relative inexperience with the deck. But my Infect win rate (22%) is well below my overall win rate, excluding Infect, (62%) and below what one would expect in a random match against Infect. Clearly I'm doing something wrong in the matchup.
I'm currently running Merfolk Joe's list:
8 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Æther Vial
4 Cursecatcher
2 Dismember
1 Echoing Truth
4 Harbinger of the Tides
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Spreading Seas
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Tidebinder Mage
And I usually side as follows:
-4 Æther Vial, -4 Master of Waves
+3 Tidebinder Mage, +3 Dispel, +2 Negate
Here are my questions:
Thank you!
U Merfolk U
WGU Eldrazi WGU
R Goblins R
U Merfolk U
WGU Eldrazi WGU
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
it is definitely a very tough matchup
it think cutting Vials is a mistake. vialing in a harbinger is one of your strongest plays in this match. plus it's a race, you'll have a hard time getting ahead by casting everything fairly. especially if you are trying to hold up mana for counterspells/removal
i usually cut 4 master of waves, kira, and a land (19 is fine when slimming the curve this much. cut a cavern so you can still cast your counters). putting in 2 tidebinders, 2 negates, 2 dispels
kira's only use in this matchup is blocking inkmoth's. there is an argument for leaving her in but i don't think that's worth 3 mana.
i'm not sure what you trim to add more. i guess maybe a spreading seas or a cursecatcher could come out but they both have uses here.
if you have them, chalice of the void is a huge player here. gut shot or more dismembers is good too.
U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
To protect against Choke and Boil, and to avoid playing Islands in the mirror match so you don't give your opponent Islandwalk.
U Merfolk U
WGU Eldrazi WGU
R Goblins R
U Merfolk U
WGU Eldrazi WGU