I played tournament this Friday, lost to Legion Loyalist.dec (Bushwhackers, Bolts, Grenades, the stuff of nightmare), nothing can block, I just rolled over.
Then won against Bant Spirits, Devoted Company, Jeskai Ctrl and Mardu Pyro, for second place.
Today I managed to lose to a bye (Living End, has to happen every 2 years) and forgot to attack in the mirror with one creature (I died with him at 1 life).
The mirror opponent then went to finals where everything stopped.
Our country is in the Fifa 2018 World Cup finals and it will start in 20 minutes. We got kicked from the store so people can go and watch
Decks are recorded so that there will be no changes for the finals next week (Merfolk vs Ponza).
Well, at least we played well. Anyway, back to Merfolk.
I have Pptq next Sunday, brainstorming my list for expected 42 people tournament (lgs max).
2 Conclave (not sure what to think of them), 3 Pierce and 3 Dismember version.
Since people from other countries are also coming there is no expected meta.
3 Deprive, 3 Relic, 2 Spyglass, 2 Rejection, 2 Gut Shot, 2 Truth and Tidebinder is my current setup.
What would you do?
I'm similarly conflicted on Conclave. I really want it to be good, but wonder whether my decks will support the activation cost. Mutavault is much easier to justify.
As for the SB, I see little point in a 1-of unless it's a Legendary. I'd drop the Tidebinder for another Truth.
I get Cursecatcher being out of favor, but I am really struggling with the idea of no 1-drop other than Vial. Sure, maybe you counter or kill something. Maybe Conclave enters tapped. But I still hate this feeling that Im starting slow and not advancing my board state.
Burr what's the alternative? 2 Relic maindeck? Serum Visions/Opt? I almost wanna try Halimar Depths in place of Conclave to setup my next few draws, but without fetches no way to shuffle bad cards away. I dunno...
I get Cursecatcher being out of favor, but I am really struggling with the idea of no 1-drop other than Vial. Sure, maybe you counter or kill something. Maybe Conclave enters tapped. But I still hate this feeling that Im starting slow and not advancing my board state.
Burr what's the alternative? 2 Relic maindeck? Serum Visions/Opt? I almost wanna try Halimar Depths in place of Conclave to setup my next few draws, but without fetches no way to shuffle bad cards away. I dunno...
I won't play Conclave because the idea I can't play MoW on time because I topdeck Conclave makes me sad.
Look at it this way...it's a chance to get even more devotion down before the Master calls. I'm not so bothered by that as that it's going to be rare that I have two mana to spare, especially when that mana is putting itself into jeopardy whenever it attacks.
Hey guys. I'm still relatively new to Merfolk and I've really enjoyed the deck so far. My main issue is that the meta at my LGS shifts a lot. I am trying to settle on a good all-comers list. I don't get to go a lot, but every time I do, either people play different decks or different people show up. (learned this the hard way after mainly prepping my mainboard for control matchups and ended up facing a lot of aggro). Here is my list so far...
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
2 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Master of Waves
8 mainboard counterspells definitely feels like you've slanted toward control matchups quite a bit. I would say to swap two Deprive for the two Harbingers in the board, but looking at it, with your full 20 blue sources it might not be as obscenely slow as I'm thinking. How have they been for you in your aggro matchups?
I'd also say you should acquire some Faerie Conclave, 2 copies at minimum. It won't hurt your tempo much if you don't run the full set, but having some amount of creature lands in your list will dramatically improve your resiliency to board wipes and closing power.
You also have very little in creature removal in the 75. If you face much midrange, Dismember is almost an essential card to have somewhere in your list. And it's quite good into an open meta (as opposed to something like Gut Shot that is only good vs a narrower selection of decks). You also might want some number of Echoing Truth for your sideboard. It's your best hope if there's any chance of seeing Ensnaring Bridge, and it's a fine piece of interaction vs aggro decks as well. Since you already have 8 counterspells mainboard, 2 Dispel and 3 Negate in the sideboard feels a little excessive unless you're quite sure you'll face mostly combo and control, I'd look to shave sideboard slots here.
Glad to hear you've been enjoying Merfolk though, and I wish you continued success
He'll be running (I assume) a full playset of Mutavaults, which are MUCH easier to manage than Conclaves. The flying faeries aren't essential with islandwalk and Spreading Seas.
Agreed on Echoing Truth and Dismember...they're vital. 3-ofs work fairly well for me. Rejection is a nice anti-Chalice device, but not much good against Affinity. And Dispel, while similarly cheap, is fairly narrow. Kopala isn't nearly as effective as Kira, either; I'd drop the Kopalas and add another Kira. I find Relic to be almost an essential.
The 8-counter route is definitely viable, especially when you have Deprive to cover for Spell Pierce's weaknesses. You don't need all the extra flavors of counter. My SB (given that MD) would look like this:
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Echoing Truth
3 Dismember
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Harbinger of the Tides
3 Tidebinder Mage
ETA: One other thing: look into getting an Oboro, replacing either an island or the Hinterland Harbor. It's insurance against too many Mutas preventing casting two-blue spells. Minamo, on the other hand, is occasionally handy but more of a luxury, even running Kira and Kopala at once.
It's definitely not an issue to cast Deprive when it's in my hand but against Aggro I still find that I'd rather have a body most of the time. I've either not been able to stabilize properly because I topdeck Deprive instead of Master of Waves for example or I have to hold up Mana for it and then I fall behind on the board to counter something they ended up playing another copy of anyhow. I think it's just a tad too slow.
I've also noticed that I am having a hard time reaching the proper mass of creatures to seal the deal. It's becoming more apparent that 8 counterspells will do that to me. lol.
I already have a couple of Echoing Truths lying around so I'll definitely give those a shot too.
Has anybody tried Skaab Ruinator as an evasive finisher? Likely just a 1 or 2 of, but if vialed in it is a pretty fast clock, and 3 creatures in the yard doesn't seem that big of a deal to get. Maybe sideboard against decks with more evasive threats...
I've just run into the card (wasn't playing Magic during its time and didn't know of its existence!) and wanted to know if anybody had considered it for Merfolk.
PD: We could get our own zombie that smacks that awful zombie fish for once! AND doesn't get bounced by TiTi
It's been tried before as a finisher against grinder strategies. It hasn't been in favor in a very long time, though. It won't really work the way you want it to against most of the faster decks like Hollow One out there because they typically don't run enough removal to kill three creatures that quickly. And if you're chump blocking Gurmag Angler just to fill the graveyard so you can cast a wall, you're already losing (and would do much better with a Watertrap Weaver as your 3 cmc creature in hand, in that case). It's better against control decks and such, but 3 creatures is still hefty enough that you won't be casting it an absurd number of times (much less if your board is hit by Settle the Wreckage). It's not the worst in grindy matchups, but something like Thassa, God of the Sea or Monastery Siege would likely be better if you're looking for a 1 card value engine. Or just good ol' Master of Waves
I think Skaab Ruinator is a perfectly playable card in a metagame filled with black and red grindy decks, like Jund. I wouldn't want it against a deck that can trivially exile it with PtE, nor against a deck where the creatures are likely to survive mostly unmolested most aggro and combo.
2-0 vs. R/W Tempered Steel
Opponent had land issues and fish did fish things.
2-0 vs. Charge Counter Combo
Played through T3 & T4 Sundering Titans thanks to Vial in G1. G2 Rejection kept rampy things off the board.
1-2 vs. Pox
Got locked under Bridge both losses. Kinda frustrating it was only a 2 of in his deck and G3 I saw multiple Spell Pierce, Rejections and an Echoing Truth... but discard picked me a part and 2x Bontu's Last Reckoning and an EE were enough to slow me down long enough for him to find his Bridge. Ah well.
2-0 vs. Mardu Tokens
At one point I cast Trickster 3 turns in a row to lock down Reveler, followed up by MoW with 13 devotion on the board. Won the battle of the token armies lol
2-0 vs. G/W Company
Solid tempo plan, leading into triple MoW did the trick.
Soooo... the 19 Lands was actually an accident lol. I was trying to squeeze in 1x Sea's Claim mostly just because I hate not having a T1 play and I'm kinda a tempo plan. But the games I didn't have a 1 drop didn't really bother me, so it'll come back out.
I have zero hard removal other than Gut Shot for Infect/Affinity/Elves. Based on comments from the community skipping on Dismember sounds bad... but hasn't been a problem for me yet. Will keep testing.
In place of Reej I was trying out 2x Phimage and hoping the 2x Kopala offered some quasi-protection for it. Phimage was fantastic for me and I even liked the Kopala/Spell Pierce combo most of the time. In grindier matches like Mardu Tokens it definitely would have been better to have Kira, but I feel good enough about that matchup I'm not overly concerned.
Master of Waves was the unquestioned superstar, winning me every single game. At one point I was able to Vial in a 2nd MoW and Phimage to surprise kill my opponent with only a handful of Elemental tokens.
The biggest problem for me is obviously the side-board. Going to stick with the tempo plan for now with no hard removal and see where it gets me, but I'm super light on a counterspell package and that feels bad. Probably need to trim 1 Rejection and maybe Clique or something but I'm struggling to decide what to bring in. I'm still not a fan of Deprive, so maybe back to Unified Will for me. I've long been against Remand in Fish decks, but with this ultra creature-tempo build it might be time to give it another shot. I'd also like to find room for 1-2 more ET, but not sure were to fit them in.
Side topic... but do we still need 4x Relic in board?? It's nice in control matchups, but not strictly necessary. In most instances I'm happy staying creature dense and just playing around wraths. Dredge isn't really a thing atm. It's good vs. Hollow One... but bounce effects do the trick. I'm seriously thinking about trimming it back to 2x Relics. Or maybe trying out 2x Relic and 2x Surgicals??
3 Relics in SB has worked out fine for me. With a potential 20 Wizards, Wizard's Retort could be a nice addition to the SB. I prefer the hard counters, even if I have to keep an extra land untapped. (Of course, I have 3 Reejes in MD, so that's a little bit easier for me.) I've never run Gut Shot; I'll trade the extra 2 life for the power of Dismember. I'm guessing from the Rejections that you face a lot of Tron decks. I don't so much...
And I love me some Tempest Caller; I run two of those in place of two of the Harbingers.
You could run 3 Relic if you really felt like making room for some other card, but I have found few cards to be higher impact than the Relic; lots of decks rely on the graveyard quite a bit nowadays, and Relic makes for a very productive hate card in that sort of situation.
As for the Ruinator... it gets brought up every so often. The fact that it's at its best in several matchups where you're looking to cut Vials is less than ideal, and it makes Relic significantly worse. I'm not a fan.
Reporting back on my latest testing... I've had a bit more success with Tropical Fish than mono-U of late. The current MTGO meta is heavy on Humans and big mana decks, and somewhat light on midrange and Blood Moon. That's the precise meta that Tropical thrives in, and if you're going to an open tournament, I'd predict a similar field.
I’m looking to make this better. I’m thr best deck at my locals, but I want to make it better if I go to a bigger tournament. I can’t afford vials. The Jace’s are my personal tech, and Tidebinder is for my locals specially
I know you're not going to want to hear this, and I get it...I'd love to have a Cavern of Souls or two but I'm not going to spend that kind of lucre for a couple of cards. But Vial makes the deck competitive. Personally, in your situation, I'd be looking to trade that CoS toward getting a playset of Vials. One is relatively close to the value of three Vials. Cavern is a luxury, but Vial is pretty much necessary. Nykthos is nice when it appears, but a 1-of isn't going to replace them either.
Hey there folks, I haven't posted here in a while...but, been plugging away with our friendly but fierce underwater sea people. I think I just crossed the five year mark of playing Merfolk regularly in Modern!
Anyway, here is a video from my LIVE Twitch stream TODAY where I achieved the elusive 5-0 in a Modern League with the new M19 Rare...Mistcaller!!
Check it out, like it, give me a subscribe if you'd be so kind. I have several other decks on my channel and plan on doing much more Merfolk content. Hope y'all have a fun rest of the week.
Then won against Bant Spirits, Devoted Company, Jeskai Ctrl and Mardu Pyro, for second place.
Today I managed to lose to a bye (Living End, has to happen every 2 years) and forgot to attack in the mirror with one creature (I died with him at 1 life).
The mirror opponent then went to finals where everything stopped.
Our country is in the Fifa 2018 World Cup finals and it will start in 20 minutes. We got kicked from the store so people can go and watch
Decks are recorded so that there will be no changes for the finals next week (Merfolk vs Ponza).
I have Pptq next Sunday, brainstorming my list for expected 42 people tournament (lgs max).
2 Conclave (not sure what to think of them), 3 Pierce and 3 Dismember version.
Since people from other countries are also coming there is no expected meta.
3 Deprive, 3 Relic, 2 Spyglass, 2 Rejection, 2 Gut Shot, 2 Truth and Tidebinder is my current setup.
What would you do?
As for the SB, I see little point in a 1-of unless it's a Legendary. I'd drop the Tidebinder for another Truth.
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)
Burr what's the alternative? 2 Relic maindeck? Serum Visions/Opt? I almost wanna try Halimar Depths in place of Conclave to setup my next few draws, but without fetches no way to shuffle bad cards away. I dunno...
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
I'm not sure where you'd shoehorn it in, but you could go with Mist-cloaked Herald, Tideshaper Mystic, or Triton Shorestalker, all 1 CMC.
Look at it this way...it's a chance to get even more devotion down before the Master calls. I'm not so bothered by that as that it's going to be rare that I have two mana to spare, especially when that mana is putting itself into jeopardy whenever it attacks.
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)
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
2 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Master of Waves
4 Spell Pierce
4 Deprive
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
15 Islands
4 Wanderwine Hub
1 Hinterland Harbor
Sideboard:
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
2 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Negate
2 Harbinger Of the Tides
3 Tidebinder Mage
My next purchase will be the Mutavaults. Beyond that, I'm not sure.
Arena Username: ThunderGunZ1976
Modern:
UMerfolkU
UWGSpiritsUWG
RGoblinsR
Standard:
...whatever I can afford on Arena
I'd also say you should acquire some Faerie Conclave, 2 copies at minimum. It won't hurt your tempo much if you don't run the full set, but having some amount of creature lands in your list will dramatically improve your resiliency to board wipes and closing power.
You also have very little in creature removal in the 75. If you face much midrange, Dismember is almost an essential card to have somewhere in your list. And it's quite good into an open meta (as opposed to something like Gut Shot that is only good vs a narrower selection of decks). You also might want some number of Echoing Truth for your sideboard. It's your best hope if there's any chance of seeing Ensnaring Bridge, and it's a fine piece of interaction vs aggro decks as well. Since you already have 8 counterspells mainboard, 2 Dispel and 3 Negate in the sideboard feels a little excessive unless you're quite sure you'll face mostly combo and control, I'd look to shave sideboard slots here.
Glad to hear you've been enjoying Merfolk though, and I wish you continued success
Agreed on Echoing Truth and Dismember...they're vital. 3-ofs work fairly well for me. Rejection is a nice anti-Chalice device, but not much good against Affinity. And Dispel, while similarly cheap, is fairly narrow. Kopala isn't nearly as effective as Kira, either; I'd drop the Kopalas and add another Kira. I find Relic to be almost an essential.
The 8-counter route is definitely viable, especially when you have Deprive to cover for Spell Pierce's weaknesses. You don't need all the extra flavors of counter. My SB (given that MD) would look like this:
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Echoing Truth
3 Dismember
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Harbinger of the Tides
3 Tidebinder Mage
ETA: One other thing: look into getting an Oboro, replacing either an island or the Hinterland Harbor. It's insurance against too many Mutas preventing casting two-blue spells. Minamo, on the other hand, is occasionally handy but more of a luxury, even running Kira and Kopala at once.
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)
It's definitely not an issue to cast Deprive when it's in my hand but against Aggro I still find that I'd rather have a body most of the time. I've either not been able to stabilize properly because I topdeck Deprive instead of Master of Waves for example or I have to hold up Mana for it and then I fall behind on the board to counter something they ended up playing another copy of anyhow. I think it's just a tad too slow.
I've also noticed that I am having a hard time reaching the proper mass of creatures to seal the deal. It's becoming more apparent that 8 counterspells will do that to me. lol.
I already have a couple of Echoing Truths lying around so I'll definitely give those a shot too.
Arena Username: ThunderGunZ1976
Modern:
UMerfolkU
UWGSpiritsUWG
RGoblinsR
Standard:
...whatever I can afford on Arena
I've just run into the card (wasn't playing Magic during its time and didn't know of its existence!) and wanted to know if anybody had considered it for Merfolk.
PD: We could get our own zombie that smacks that awful zombie fish for once! AND doesn't get bounced by TiTi
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
2-0 vs. R/W Tempered Steel
Opponent had land issues and fish did fish things.
2-0 vs. Charge Counter Combo
Played through T3 & T4 Sundering Titans thanks to Vial in G1. G2 Rejection kept rampy things off the board.
1-2 vs. Pox
Got locked under Bridge both losses. Kinda frustrating it was only a 2 of in his deck and G3 I saw multiple Spell Pierce, Rejections and an Echoing Truth... but discard picked me a part and 2x Bontu's Last Reckoning and an EE were enough to slow me down long enough for him to find his Bridge. Ah well.
2-0 vs. Mardu Tokens
At one point I cast Trickster 3 turns in a row to lock down Reveler, followed up by MoW with 13 devotion on the board. Won the battle of the token armies lol
2-0 vs. G/W Company
Solid tempo plan, leading into triple MoW did the trick.
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Kopala, Warden of Waves
4 Master of Waves
13 Spells
4 Aether Vial
1 Sea's Claim
4 Spreading Seas
4 Spell Pierce
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Waters Edge
11 Island
2 Gut Shot
2 Echoing Truth
2 Dispel
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Ceremonious Rejection
4 Relic of Projenitus
Soooo... the 19 Lands was actually an accident lol. I was trying to squeeze in 1x Sea's Claim mostly just because I hate not having a T1 play and I'm kinda a tempo plan. But the games I didn't have a 1 drop didn't really bother me, so it'll come back out.
I have zero hard removal other than Gut Shot for Infect/Affinity/Elves. Based on comments from the community skipping on Dismember sounds bad... but hasn't been a problem for me yet. Will keep testing.
In place of Reej I was trying out 2x Phimage and hoping the 2x Kopala offered some quasi-protection for it. Phimage was fantastic for me and I even liked the Kopala/Spell Pierce combo most of the time. In grindier matches like Mardu Tokens it definitely would have been better to have Kira, but I feel good enough about that matchup I'm not overly concerned.
Master of Waves was the unquestioned superstar, winning me every single game. At one point I was able to Vial in a 2nd MoW and Phimage to surprise kill my opponent with only a handful of Elemental tokens.
The biggest problem for me is obviously the side-board. Going to stick with the tempo plan for now with no hard removal and see where it gets me, but I'm super light on a counterspell package and that feels bad. Probably need to trim 1 Rejection and maybe Clique or something but I'm struggling to decide what to bring in. I'm still not a fan of Deprive, so maybe back to Unified Will for me. I've long been against Remand in Fish decks, but with this ultra creature-tempo build it might be time to give it another shot. I'd also like to find room for 1-2 more ET, but not sure were to fit them in.
And I love me some Tempest Caller; I run two of those in place of two of the Harbingers.
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)
As for the Ruinator... it gets brought up every so often. The fact that it's at its best in several matchups where you're looking to cut Vials is less than ideal, and it makes Relic significantly worse. I'm not a fan.
Reporting back on my latest testing... I've had a bit more success with Tropical Fish than mono-U of late. The current MTGO meta is heavy on Humans and big mana decks, and somewhat light on midrange and Blood Moon. That's the precise meta that Tropical thrives in, and if you're going to an open tournament, I'd predict a similar field.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
4 Cursecatcher
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Master of Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Harbringer of the Tides
4 Silversgil Adept
4 Master of Waves
2 Merrow Reejeerey
2 Dismember
Artifacts: 2
2 Smuggler’s Copter
Enchantments: 4
4 Spreading Seas
Planeswalker: 1
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
Lands: 21
17 Island
2 Mutavault
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Tectonic Edge
3 Deprive
3 Echoing Truth
2 Tidebinder Mage
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Just my two copper pieces...
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)
Anyway, here is a video from my LIVE Twitch stream TODAY where I achieved the elusive 5-0 in a Modern League with the new M19 Rare...Mistcaller!!
Check it out, like it, give me a subscribe if you'd be so kind. I have several other decks on my channel and plan on doing much more Merfolk content. Hope y'all have a fun rest of the week.
5-0 League: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYohJqHJyc
Follow-up League (later in the night): https://youtu.be/skLEeNBeBYA
Twitch Channel - https://www.twitch.tv/moontimedweller
MODERN - Mono-Blue Merfolk & 7-Forest Goblin Charbelcher
LEGACY - Ruby Storm & Burn
PAUPER - Zombies, Bogles, & Burn