Why not have an additional piece that can stop the combo though? The very fact that you can threaten it and forces them to potentially play around it is a good enough reason to justify the card. The more ways to interact with them especially game 1, the better it is!
I'm not saying you should cut Harbinger or anything like that. Just that of the ways to beat twin, it's one of the less reliable in the deck.
Quick question guys, I am playing an event tomorrow and I am going to run the Oklamhoma list with 1 tweak. I was just wondering if it is really worthwhile taking remand above negate? I am just thinking negate can help more, but I am sure there is a good reason to go for remand over and over again?
I play exclusively online currently and the deck has been running great, winning a fair number of 8 mans and with my worst result a 1 win 1 loss. I was worried at first that the lack of interaction game one might be a problem for me, but so far I have barely felt the impact; the raw aggression of 31 creatures seems to compensate. I'll discuss a few of my choices:
The Spellskites are a new addition to the board and I have only tested them in one match (TarmoTwin). No idea if it actually did anything or not, but I won pretty easily whilst it was on the board, but would have easily won without it too (I think) since I had Harbinger, 5 mana + vial on 2. I think 2 Kira's is essential MB and would never go with less than 2, there are very few match ups where I draw a Kira and wish it was something else, as a result I went down to 3 Reejery's to fit it one more MB. Phantasmal image has been over-performing and has exceeded all my expectations, but is still the first to be sided out when I need something else - in one particularly amusing game my opponent played a Sun Titan after he had played a Supreme Verdict the previous turn, I vialed in a Phantasmal Image end of his turn, returning a lord, then played a second Phantasmal Image on my turn, returning a second lord, allowing me to swing with two Mutavaults for lethal.
Online I've found Chalice to be great, with some opponents just conceding when it resolves on turn two (especially post-OKC because a lot of people are testing Chapin's decklist). That said, I think if I were to go to a GP with this decklist, the Chalices might be taken out for Tec Edges to strengthen the Tron match ups. But in the online environment, I feel more comfortable playing Chalice (also one very lucky game against an Affinity player - I had turn 1 chalice on 0 and he had kept a hand of 2 land 5 0 drops!).
I'm actually loving 3x Cavern of Souls, but I'm the type of person who hates having their creatures get countered. I'd play with 4 caverns if I could get away with it.
Displacement Wave was an idea from here! So far I like it, it seems more useful than Hurkyll's/Hibernation due to it being more broad. Is it actually better than echoing truth, hurkyll's or hibernation though? I'm still not completely sure. It being a sorcery has being a significant downside in some matches. However, it has proven useful and has won me games I had no business winning, so I'm going to keep testing it for now.
I prefer Negate over Remand, simply because it is a hard counter.
Overall thank you to everyone here, especially Nikachu. I have only been playing the Modern format for a few month (about 6 weeks before Merfolk became tier 1), and reading the posts here has helped me a great deal in getting to know both the format and the deck.
Already won the last gpt here in my store but I'm worried. I dont have Chalices and neither the other 2 hurkyl's recall. But I think pithing needle will do the trick(hoping to dodge bogles and elves.
Echoing Truth is ok, more so with stupid Lantern deck in focus.
But I am not going under 2 Kira. She just does what I want her to do, which is be a great annoyance to my opponent.
Echoing Truth is ok, more so with stupid Lantern deck in focus.
But I am not going under 2 Kira. She just does what I want her to do, which is be a great annoyance to my opponent.
Round 1 vs Lantern Control (2-1)
Game 1: we both mulled to 6 and i kept a 1 lander which was a mistake. pithing needle on my cursecatchers then he started the control immediately and never let me draw a 2nd land. Scoop to ensnaring bridge because i have zero answers main deck.
Game 2: he needled my vial but i had a super aggro hand and killed him in just a couple short turns
Game 3: turn 2 needle on my vial again (maybe they should just come out here) he was milling with a ghoulcallers bell but was too late finding a lantern so he couldn't see what he was doing. ended up drawing a hurkyl's recall and saving it for the alpha strike once i had built my board.
Round 2 vs Kiki Chord (2-1)
Game 1: fish do what fish do and islandwalked for quick lethal
Game 2: he landed a Worship so i was keeping him at 1 but he was looping a lightning helix so i could never finish him off with my vapor snags. died to restoration angels with 3 master of waves and a million tokens on board
Game 3: similar to game 2 but this time I knew he had 2 paths in his hand (from courser of kruphix) holding them to respond to my vapor snags again. kept him at 1 with harbingers in hand to disrupt his combo until i drew my 1 of echoing truth to finally get around the worship
Round 3 vs Grixis Control (2-0)
Game 1: all in aggro + 2 spreading seas to make him mono blue. dismembered a desperation snapcaster that was just trying to get in a block and killed him before he got his feet under him
Game 2: getting ready to play a grindy control style game but drew all the gas again so just went all aggro again. he went turn 1 visions, i went turn 1 aether vial, his turn 2 he thoughtsiezed a silvergill, my turn 2 i top deck a cursecatcher and cast a lord. his turn 3 he goes for the k command blowout targeting my lord and vial thinking the coast is clear but i drop in my new cursecatcher and shattered his dreams. next turn dismembered a tasigur and he really didn't do anything else. Lord after lord to seal the deal
Round 4 vs Esper Gifts (2-0)
Game 1: hand of all lords killed him before he got any traction
Game 2: used spreading seas to keep him off double white so he couldn't cast any wraths and killed him again in just a few turns.
Echoing Truth is ok, more so with stupid Lantern deck in focus.
But I am not going under 2 Kira. She just does what I want her to do, which is be a great annoyance to my opponent.
I feel like if your going down the all out aggro with lords strategy, then Kira becomes less effective as it takes away from other threats, in the main deck atleast. In games 2 and 3 vs grindy decks then by all means bring them in as she becomes much more effective. It could be just me and my experience with Kira so far though. Are you running the full set of Reejerey and Waves main?
BfZ sucks for Merfolk. Disappointing since Zendikar is a Merfolk heavy plane. Not having anything new to put in Modern is probably very common (especially after the last set had a great card), but the set also sucks for pretty much everything else. I was super excited for BfZ but it turns out to be super self-centered and did absolutely nothing I'd hoped it would.
BfZ sucks for Merfolk. Disappointing since Zendikar is a Merfolk heavy plane. Not having anything new to put in Modern is probably very common (especially after the last set had a great card), but the set also sucks for pretty much everything else. I was super excited for BfZ but it turns out to be super self-centered and did absolutely nothing I'd hoped it would.
I think we can cut most of that and just say "BFZ sucks".
It is not just for Merfolk but for the most part of the Modern there isn't anything playable in it. Unfortunately it's just very weak set for Modern in general.
Bring to the light may play in ad nauseam and scapeshift. 1 playable in modern is already fine.
I am still having some trouble with Grixis Control. 1-2 last night against it again. In games 2 and 3, they have so much removal that I can't get my creatures to stick until they get Gurmag Angler and/or Tasigur, the Golden Fang out. I have two Kiras in mb, but I still tend to lose a lot of board power before Kira hits the field. For those of you having more success, are you holding onto your creatures until turn 3 or 4 and dumping as much as possible all at once?
On a side note, Displacement Wave once again did well for me, this time in a match against Bogles. It won me two games off the sideboard in the match after dropping the first game to my opponent.
I'm not saying you should cut Harbinger or anything like that. Just that of the ways to beat twin, it's one of the less reliable in the deck.
https://youtu.be/NauVRB9_Y00
Twitter: @nikachumtg
RWG Burn
GW Abzan Company
4x Mutavault
3x Cavern of Souls
2x Wanderwine Hub
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
9x Island
Creatures (31)
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of Waves
4x Harbinger of the Tides
3x Merrow Reejerey
2x Phantasmal Image
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Aether Vial
4x Spreading Seas
1x Vapor Snag
3x Chalice of the Void
2x Spellskite
2x Spell Pierce
2x Negate
2x Displacement Wave
2x Dismember
2x Relic of Progenitus
I play exclusively online currently and the deck has been running great, winning a fair number of 8 mans and with my worst result a 1 win 1 loss. I was worried at first that the lack of interaction game one might be a problem for me, but so far I have barely felt the impact; the raw aggression of 31 creatures seems to compensate. I'll discuss a few of my choices:
The Spellskites are a new addition to the board and I have only tested them in one match (TarmoTwin). No idea if it actually did anything or not, but I won pretty easily whilst it was on the board, but would have easily won without it too (I think) since I had Harbinger, 5 mana + vial on 2. I think 2 Kira's is essential MB and would never go with less than 2, there are very few match ups where I draw a Kira and wish it was something else, as a result I went down to 3 Reejery's to fit it one more MB. Phantasmal image has been over-performing and has exceeded all my expectations, but is still the first to be sided out when I need something else - in one particularly amusing game my opponent played a Sun Titan after he had played a Supreme Verdict the previous turn, I vialed in a Phantasmal Image end of his turn, returning a lord, then played a second Phantasmal Image on my turn, returning a second lord, allowing me to swing with two Mutavaults for lethal.
Online I've found Chalice to be great, with some opponents just conceding when it resolves on turn two (especially post-OKC because a lot of people are testing Chapin's decklist). That said, I think if I were to go to a GP with this decklist, the Chalices might be taken out for Tec Edges to strengthen the Tron match ups. But in the online environment, I feel more comfortable playing Chalice (also one very lucky game against an Affinity player - I had turn 1 chalice on 0 and he had kept a hand of 2 land 5 0 drops!).
I'm actually loving 3x Cavern of Souls, but I'm the type of person who hates having their creatures get countered. I'd play with 4 caverns if I could get away with it.
Displacement Wave was an idea from here! So far I like it, it seems more useful than Hurkyll's/Hibernation due to it being more broad. Is it actually better than echoing truth, hurkyll's or hibernation though? I'm still not completely sure. It being a sorcery has being a significant downside in some matches. However, it has proven useful and has won me games I had no business winning, so I'm going to keep testing it for now.
I prefer Negate over Remand, simply because it is a hard counter.
Overall thank you to everyone here, especially Nikachu. I have only been playing the Modern format for a few month (about 6 weeks before Merfolk became tier 1), and reading the posts here has helped me a great deal in getting to know both the format and the deck.
4x Mutavault
1x Cavern of Souls
3x Wanderwine Hub
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
10x Island
Creatures (29)
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Lord of Atlantis
3x Master of Waves
4x Harbinger of the Tides
3x Merrow Reejerey
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Aether Vial
4x Spreading Seas
2x Dismember
2x Spell Pierce
3x Tidebinder Mage
3x Pithing Needle
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Echoing Truth
1x Hibernation
1x Dismember
1x Negate
Already won the last gpt here in my store but I'm worried. I dont have Chalices and neither the other 2 hurkyl's recall. But I think pithing needle will do the trick(hoping to dodge bogles and elves.
Rd1: Lanturn control (hurkyl's recall or lose)
Rd2: kiki chord. (Echoing truth on worship ftw game 3)
Rd3: grixis control
Rd4: esper gifts (spreading seas to keep off 2 white)
Ill post the list i played a little later. Might take it to an IQ tomorrow
U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
But I am not going under 2 Kira. She just does what I want her to do, which is be a great annoyance to my opponent.
agree. 2 kira it feel like the "right" spot
edit: It's more just a metacall
here's my list
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of Waves
4 Æther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
2 Vapor Snag
2 Dismember
4 Wanderwine Hub
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Cavern of Souls
9 Island
3 Tidebinder Mage
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Pierce
2 Negate
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Echoing Truth
A little more breakdown of my matches
Round 1 vs Lantern Control (2-1)
Game 1: we both mulled to 6 and i kept a 1 lander which was a mistake. pithing needle on my cursecatchers then he started the control immediately and never let me draw a 2nd land. Scoop to ensnaring bridge because i have zero answers main deck.
Game 2: he needled my vial but i had a super aggro hand and killed him in just a couple short turns
Game 3: turn 2 needle on my vial again (maybe they should just come out here) he was milling with a ghoulcallers bell but was too late finding a lantern so he couldn't see what he was doing. ended up drawing a hurkyl's recall and saving it for the alpha strike once i had built my board.
Round 2 vs Kiki Chord (2-1)
Game 1: fish do what fish do and islandwalked for quick lethal
Game 2: he landed a Worship so i was keeping him at 1 but he was looping a lightning helix so i could never finish him off with my vapor snags. died to restoration angels with 3 master of waves and a million tokens on board
Game 3: similar to game 2 but this time I knew he had 2 paths in his hand (from courser of kruphix) holding them to respond to my vapor snags again. kept him at 1 with harbingers in hand to disrupt his combo until i drew my 1 of echoing truth to finally get around the worship
Round 3 vs Grixis Control (2-0)
Game 1: all in aggro + 2 spreading seas to make him mono blue. dismembered a desperation snapcaster that was just trying to get in a block and killed him before he got his feet under him
Game 2: getting ready to play a grindy control style game but drew all the gas again so just went all aggro again. he went turn 1 visions, i went turn 1 aether vial, his turn 2 he thoughtsiezed a silvergill, my turn 2 i top deck a cursecatcher and cast a lord. his turn 3 he goes for the k command blowout targeting my lord and vial thinking the coast is clear but i drop in my new cursecatcher and shattered his dreams. next turn dismembered a tasigur and he really didn't do anything else. Lord after lord to seal the deal
Round 4 vs Esper Gifts (2-0)
Game 1: hand of all lords killed him before he got any traction
Game 2: used spreading seas to keep him off double white so he couldn't cast any wraths and killed him again in just a few turns.
U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
I feel like if your going down the all out aggro with lords strategy, then Kira becomes less effective as it takes away from other threats, in the main deck atleast. In games 2 and 3 vs grindy decks then by all means bring them in as she becomes much more effective. It could be just me and my experience with Kira so far though. Are you running the full set of Reejerey and Waves main?
I think we can cut most of that and just say "BFZ sucks".
Bring to the light may play in ad nauseam and scapeshift. 1 playable in modern is already fine.
https://youtu.be/GojxdCq7PBM
Its pretty sad that I missed the 5 mana merfolk guy. I think he's a pile of crap anyway.
Wish I could have heard your spoiler alert before I got my hopes up.
As for Kiora, her +1 and -2 are pretty green, plus the Fight ability.
Maybe U/g Merfolk could become a fringe thing, as I've been wanting to tinker with Cold-Eyed Selkie.
On a side note, Displacement Wave once again did well for me, this time in a match against Bogles. It won me two games off the sideboard in the match after dropping the first game to my opponent.
I have a thought for Cursecather 'over' Cosi's Trickster, but don't have reverse one.
But, yeah, it's cheaper, anyway
UMerfolkU
BWBW TokensBW