Brewing with Selkie has to start on healthy grounds, and ditching Silvergills and few Mutavaults for UUU creature is not recommended.
Selkie could be at home in Noble Hierarch/CoCo build but even that is optimistic.
UU1, actually. Or, to be more specific, (U/G)(U/G)1. And who said anything about pulling mutas?
I mixed Wistful Selkie with Cold-Eyed Selkie, but point stands anyway, Adept is not a flex slot by being the best card we have.
That would be Catcher, or possibly Trickster in a couple of days. Adept isn't even in the top 5.
Silvergill is the glue that keeps this deck together. To say otherwise betrays a lack of understanding of the deck. Without cards like Silvergill, Merfolk isn't a thing. The only cards I'd consider more integral to the fabric of the deck are the islandwalk Lords.
Silvergill is the glue that keeps this deck together. To say otherwise betrays a lack of understanding of the deck. Without cards like Silvergill, Merfolk isn't a thing. The only cards I'd consider more integral to the fabric of the deck are the islandwalk Lords.
Really? Try it without Vial. CoS you can do without, although it's handy. Lord or Master is obvious. Spreading Seas is vital, unless you're playing against mono-U, and possibly even then. Even Catcher.
My variant will run Anticipate and Dream's Grip, the latter having a cute little synergy with Vial which duplicates Reejerey's with greater flexibility. I understand the deck. I think mine does it better. Having said all that, I axed MoW from MD, not Adepts.
Silvergill is the glue that keeps this deck together. To say otherwise betrays a lack of understanding of the deck. Without cards like Silvergill, Merfolk isn't a thing. The only cards I'd consider more integral to the fabric of the deck are the islandwalk Lords.
Really? Try it without Vial. CoS you can do without, although it's handy. Lord or Master is obvious. Spreading Seas is vital, unless you're playing against mono-U, and possibly even then. Even Catcher.
My variant will run Anticipate and Dream's Grip, the latter having a cute little synergy with Vial which duplicates Reejerey's with greater flexibility. I understand the deck. I think mine does it better. Having said all that, I axed MoW from MD, not Adepts.
Vial is actively sided out in matchups like Jund and Mardu Pyromancer. The deck can and does function just fine without it. We are perhaps the least Vial-reliant of the decks that use it.
The cards that you suggest as substitutes are honestly not very good. Anticipate isn’t good enough for dedicated durdlemonsters like blue control decks; what makes you think it’ll do well in a deck that needs to continually add to the board? And Dream’s Grip is not even worthy of consideration as a pure tempo card that has such a minor effect. You can test these cards, but the theory behind their inclusion is not sound. I don’t think those are currently Modern-caliber cards, especially for a deck like Merfolk.
Is Watertrap Weaver not good enough? For those 2 brief months, I found tapping down a creature for 2 turns was really good, and sometimes prefer it over Harbringer. Think it's worth cutting Master of Waves for 2 or 3 of?
Weaver was fine for its time, but Trickster is pretty much better in every way that matters. I don't see a point in playing the card now that we have Trickster. I experimented with Weaver over Master in the past, and it only works in a specific sort of metagame. This is far from it.
Speaking of Trickster... just wanted to report some success stories with the card. Since its release, we've racked up not 1, not 2, but 3 5-0s in the MTGO friendly league (evidence below)! This card is going to be great for you.
When I need slots, maybe I have too much stuff against Lantern like Rejections, Relics, Negates, Pierces, or in Legacy against Reanimator (Cages, Relics, Flusters, Vensers, Truths...), and random Lord is not relevant there.
Most notably re. main deck - there are zero Cursecatchers and the list has 4x Spell Pierce and 3x Dismember.
The SB has 4x Deprive. I'm personally not a fan of deprive and would rather play Unified Will or Negate. Why do ppl seem to steer clear of Unified Will - I guess its bad against decks with Sweepers and decks that clog the board..
Having tested Unified Will and Deprive rather extensively, Deprive has performed better. My latest run of 3 5-0s has been with Deprives in the board, and being able to bring them in against decks like Elves and Company (where U-Will is dead) is quite valuable.
Having tested Unified Will and Deprive rather extensively, Deprive has performed better. My latest run of 3 5-0s has been with Deprives in the board, and being able to bring them in against decks like Elves and Company (where U-Will is dead) is quite valuable.
The list looks interesting... but the lack of Ceremonious Rejection (or Dampening Sphere) concerns me. Are we hoping Tron is hated out by everybody else packing new tech?
I have 3 Damping Spheres in my 75. I can't speak for anyone else. That said... Tron has been pretty dead at the moment. I haven't brought them in much.
If I'm switching to Deprive, I'm also dropping Caverns. Countermagic is less prevalent anyway, and getting true-U seems important.
Semi-relatedly, I'm swapping out Harbinger and Reejerey for Ballista and Architect. It's a bit less quick, but the synergies of Architect with Master of Waves or Ballista adds serious finishing power and solves some problems rather convincingly.
Even discounting Ballista, I find its combination with Master of Waves relevant. It gives two devotion, and also adds another +1/+1 to the elemental tokens, which means more punch and that they are not trivially answered by killing MoW. This must be compared to whatever it replaces. In my case, that is Reejerey: Architect buffs Elemental tokens, gives more devotion, and casts big Ballistas. while Reejerey buffs Mutavault, receives buffs, and has a useful triggered ability. I feel like that is a power-versus-speed question, more than anything else.
Regardless, Cavern does not belong in a list that wants to cast Deprive before turn 5. You ideally want close to 17 blue sources, and with the Mutavault we have to settle for 16 plus cantrips. 14 is dangerous.
thanks for the feedback. Another thing i had in mind was running Oboro, palace in the clouds in order to abuse the quicksilver fountain effect. It's slower but locks the opponent down, slowly but surely in the folowing turns.
BTW, the choke was first used to counter all the blue deck in the format, and obviously with a 8-seas approache i can be more liberal about trying to take away colors from the opponent (e.g. red in Grixis Death's Shadow)
Sorry, didn't mean to talk about you in the third person...I conflated your and HugeCanoe's posts.
That would be Catcher, or possibly Trickster in a couple of days. Adept isn't even in the top 5.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Really? Try it without Vial. CoS you can do without, although it's handy. Lord or Master is obvious. Spreading Seas is vital, unless you're playing against mono-U, and possibly even then. Even Catcher.
My variant will run Anticipate and Dream's Grip, the latter having a cute little synergy with Vial which duplicates Reejerey's with greater flexibility. I understand the deck. I think mine does it better. Having said all that, I axed MoW from MD, not Adepts.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
We are trying to have competitive conversation on this subforum, casual cards like Anticipate or Grip are not helping win tournaments.
Vial is actively sided out in matchups like Jund and Mardu Pyromancer. The deck can and does function just fine without it. We are perhaps the least Vial-reliant of the decks that use it.
The cards that you suggest as substitutes are honestly not very good. Anticipate isn’t good enough for dedicated durdlemonsters like blue control decks; what makes you think it’ll do well in a deck that needs to continually add to the board? And Dream’s Grip is not even worthy of consideration as a pure tempo card that has such a minor effect. You can test these cards, but the theory behind their inclusion is not sound. I don’t think those are currently Modern-caliber cards, especially for a deck like Merfolk.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Modern Tallowisp Spirits - A Modern Tallowisp Deck UW
Eldrazi Ninjas - Summoning Octopus Jutsu YYYYAAAHHHH!
STANDARD
Naban Wizards
Speaking of Trickster... just wanted to report some success stories with the card. Since its release, we've racked up not 1, not 2, but 3 5-0s in the MTGO friendly league (evidence below)! This card is going to be great for you.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I'd possibly side out Lords against another merfolk deck. What other scenarios did you have in mind?
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1056649#paper
Most notably re. main deck - there are zero Cursecatchers and the list has 4x Spell Pierce and 3x Dismember.
The SB has 4x Deprive. I'm personally not a fan of deprive and would rather play Unified Will or Negate. Why do ppl seem to steer clear of Unified Will - I guess its bad against decks with Sweepers and decks that clog the board..
What do others think of this list?
UWx control/midrange
Bant Eldrazi
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Semi-relatedly, I'm swapping out Harbinger and Reejerey for Ballista and Architect. It's a bit less quick, but the synergies of Architect with Master of Waves or Ballista adds serious finishing power and solves some problems rather convincingly.
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
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Regardless, Cavern does not belong in a list that wants to cast Deprive before turn 5. You ideally want close to 17 blue sources, and with the Mutavault we have to settle for 16 plus cantrips. 14 is dangerous.
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
Sorry, didn't mean to talk about you in the third person...I conflated your and HugeCanoe's posts.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)