Well technically you could go for a 28 "lords" approach, with the Merfolk 16+4 Automoton + 4 Phyrexian Metamorph and 4 of the 1U Clone creature too. Actually, Adapative Automaton may be just better than Merfolk Sovereign because Sovereign's ability is almost never relevant, while has some random benefits (blocking creatures with Fear, immune to Combust, All is Dust, Gutteral Response and other blue-hating cards).
But with Merfolk, there's a lot of good cards to try and fit in. Wake Thrasher is wonderful because he addresses one of the weakenesses of the deck, which is all your creatures are very weak alone and you need numbers to attack effectively for all the Lord effects to stack up. Kira is similarly awesome, but I'd say more of a SB card against decks with more than 4 targeted removal.
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It's an updated version of Brawl into an epic, new game.
you need kira mainboard, last modern tournament i was ripped appart by junds terminates and smother. i couldn't keep my guys on the board long enough, eventually kitchen finks or a vendilion cligue got the better of me.
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I see a distinct lack of Aether Vial. Why? Stonybrook Banneret is really not needed. There's a reason everyone runs Vials and nobody runs Stonybrook. The Forge Tender is cute but probably needs to be sideboard, if you want something like that mainboard Kira, Great Glass Spinner would be a better choice. Cursecatcher is a badass, he should be at 4. Coralhelm Commander is probably the best creature you could put in this deck, it needs him. A solo O-Ring and Path doesn't seem to do much. Cryptic Command is a great card, but in this build seems to be too mana intensive, plus you seem to be drawing cards already, you have no need for tapping down creatures because you're trying to lean on Islandwalk, and the counter seems to be too slow. Also, you better hope your opponent doesn't play any Blood Moon effects against you, if they do...you have zero access to any white sources. It looks like you're trying to account for too many things. Merfolk have a couple things going for it. 1. They have a ton of lords and the most expensive one is 3. 2. Merfolk are cheap in the CMC department, this makes good times with Vials. 3. They're freakin blue, you have umpteen different counters to choose from. Remand, Mana Leak, Deprive are all better than Sage's Dousing. Not trying to bag on you or anything, but the deck needs a great deal of work. Go compare this deck to almost all of the other decks people have posted. You should see a huge difference.You should go read the beginning of the primer, it says it all about card choice and why those certain cards are needed for the deck...:)
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Currently Playing T2 RRDWR RBDDWRB RWPlaneswalker ControlRW
As far as a SB goes it really depends on what you see alot of. If you see a great deal of red decks, then Witchbane Orb might not be a bad idea. Hurkyll's Recall is great for playing against affinity or artifact based decks. Pithing Needle is great against a great deal of decks. I would actually move your Ghost Quarter to the sideboard in favor of more islands. I personally run with a splash of white for Path to Exile
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I've been meaning to start playing modern for quite a while and I've decided on Merfolk as my first deck for the format.
I've read the primer, but I'm stuck. I currently think that a mono U build will suit me best, seeing as the splashes in both white and black don't really attract me.
Has anyone here who splashes black considered the advantage of Havengul Lich? I saw someone at the card shop team up the Havengul Lich with a Cursecatcher for pretty neat results. Hadn't thought of that, wondering if other folks have.
Most (if not all) Merfolk decks pack 20-22 lands, so I think Havengul Lich is way too high on the curve. It's also hard to sneak that guy in with an Aether Vial.
Greetings friends!
I have just picked up mtg after years of inactivity. I played with the release of 8th edition, then quit when Kamigawa came out.
I have come back home from college and love this new format! So I quickly made an aggro elf deck, and now im ready for a more competitive deck.
So I have looked around at these Fish decks and threw together one that I think would be super fun. It keeps some core cards, loses a couple of more. Its also a red splash!
I am posting my list for some constructive criticism.
So the idea here is that it remains core fish, with good beats, but has table disruption in the form of Lightning Bolt and Grim Lavamancer.
Faithless looting is a cheap draw system that puts a bullet and a half in the chamber of my gun(Lavamancer). So it will likely leave mana open for counterspelling.
The mana base I am not fully confident of. Seems like I could hurt myself quite a bit. At the moment I write this, its not much of a concern considering I do not have the money to complete that just yet lol
The other major difference is that I have swapped out Silvergill Adepts for Merfolk Looters. Assuming a Merfolk Looter stays on the board, then I get more draw out of it and fuel my Grim Lavamancer. Maybe a 3-3 split would be better than a 4-2.
I chose Rune Snag over Mana Leak due to how I envision the draw of this deck will work out. I feel it will be a benefit.
I do have a friend who plays Blazing Shoal infect in our group, obviously not modern, but I feel like this will be a good fight regardless. Consider my stopping power with Cursecatcher, Spell Pierce and Lightning Bolt, thats a 1/5 chance per draw on a 7 card hand that I will be able to stop turn 2 cheese from him.
I haven't fully constructed this deck, so I would love input before I commit.
To be honest, I like the idea of a blue/red merfolk list. However, I think you're missing a primary reason to run it, outside of the obvious lightning bolt. I would run 3 maindeck blood moon. The card just absolutely wrecks in this format with all it's greedy manabases, and it's not hard to find or drop. If you want, you can run magus and vial it in, as well. The removal of lightning bolt with the aggressive tempo package of folk with a bit of control should really make lives miserable.
Beyond that, why the grim lavamancer? What decks do you see in your meta that make it a good choice over your tribal synergies?
I recently purchased the deck to build on. Its mono-blue and solely because my card shop is out of Faithless Lootings. That does not mean I wouldn't like to venture into red.
So the Grim Lavamancer is just a good filler card. It doesn't hurt the curve. It makes use of cards that would be useless without it. By that I mean the cards in the graveyard. It adds a controlling element for any 2 toughness threats. It provides extra power on its own when we need it.
As far as the decks it hinders, that 'legacy' blazing shoal deck that's played casually... yeah I want him to pay for his being cheap. I have many answers for him, and having a Grim Lavamancer is just another one.
I would also take great pleasure in popping an Elvish Archdruid
Lightning Bolt is obviously extremely useful.
Faithless Looting provided simple draw power, and the ability to drop lands when flooded. This is a good source of getting power for the Grim Lavamancer.
Playtesting, the deck seemed to work out really good. Right now though I stuck with mono blue and im enjoying it. Turning an inkmoth nexus into a spreading seas is almost as fun as popping it lol
please don't tell me merfolk is already dead in modern?
Its Not, Its a rogue deck right now. No one really boards for it, and its certainly strong enough.
-I have a lot of faith in Spell Pierce, and Ive tested about every option in Modern counter magic.
-I tried Spell Snare, but felt it was too limited. Its a dead card against 30% of match ups I find.
-I tried Deprive, it was somewhat nice, but Mana Leak could serve it better. You dont have the constraint of UU and you are no longer punished for Having MutaVaults.
-Remand, is busted, but dosent do the job, You want dead-spells. They can just recast Lightning bolt or Goyf etc.
-Dispel is something I would throw into my sideboard next if there was room. That card is very, very good.
-Disrupting Shoal is too awkward to cast for me. Its effect is over the top. But I can't completely justify tossing a card away when I have options that suit just fine.
----
Every sideboard basically NEEDS Spreading Seas, or your games versus RG Tron are almost un-win-able(Other Tron Variants are fine)
They also are good against Jund Mana Bases/Aggro Matchups
The rest of the sideboard is up the player, but SS are too vital against Tron.
-Chalice is fine against RDW Affinity even storm.
-Cage/relic/needle is fine for Loam/Melira/etc
-Negates are actually really good against RG Tron, as their best spells they cast (Mindslaver/Karn/AIDs/Oblivion Stone) can't usually be spell pierce.
---------
I and now Testing out Spellstutter Sprite at the switch of 2 Soveriegns the Tricksters
One of Merfolk's Biggest weakness is Creature removal, even though Typically with Lords you can fight your way through most Creature-Wars. Ive wanted to test U/X Variants, including U/R.
Lightning bolt seems Really really good. That card annoys me that it is use both as Creature Removal and Burst Damage.
I like the idea of the Looter-Lavamancer, Lavamancer is like Merfolk greatest enemy though! That card hurts! Kira's Not even good against that card!
Sideboard, I would honestly take advantage of how much Red HATES artifacts. Shattering Spree seems nasty against Affinity.
Mindbreak Trap is funny versus Storm.(annoying to do online though XD)
Spreading Sea's is a must!
I have yet to try Rune-snag. It seems like a better Mana-leak.
For some reason people miss that you can play Vedalken Shackles in blue decks. Seriously people. Give me a good reason this deck shouldn't have Shackles.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
For some reason people miss that you can play Vedalken Shackles in blue decks. Seriously people. Give me a good reason this deck shouldn't have Shackles.
Its not bad, its just not as good tempo. 3 Mana isnt always a consistant thing in merfolk(at least not on 20-22)(esp without Thought Magic(Ponder/Serum/etc) Land, On top of that, its another 2 to use.
For a deck that would use more land, and has access to more time, like, U Fae, would use it better. Its not bad, theres just better alternatives. From what I've seen/done, Merfolk Kill on turns 4,5,6 On better than decent hands.
Shackles fills more of a Control type deck. Look at Legacy U control.
So Ive played about roughly 10 or so games Online today alone,(2-tix) using the SpellStutter Sprites, and Ive lost 3 matches. Those things are really good in Modern. Kind of like a Spell Snare on a 1/1 Flyer They've been hitting things like Lightning Bolt/Path/Sleight of hand/Goblin Guide/ Almost every deck seems to have something.
Playing a 4 Round Daily right now, currently 3-0
First round, USA Delver/SCM/Giest/Lynx-whatever mess that is.
Second Round, RDW (Chalice of the void at 1 Charge Counter)
Third Round, RDW (chalice of the Void!!)
4-0 Daily Modern Last match against Storm, First Game, Sprite/Spell Pierce were MVP
Second game he took a bad hand, tried to Gitaxian Probe his way out. So I dont consider it a very good match.
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It's really good in Modern Meta. Its basically 1/1 Flyer flash counter target spell with converted mana cost of 1. It was very good against USA(Round 1) (steppe Lynx/Delver/path/Bolt/Spell Snare/Serum Visions
and then RDW (Bolt,Bolt,Bolt,Bolt,Bolt, and Bolt)
And then RDW again (Bolt, Bolt, Bolt and of course Bolt)
And then Storm(Sleight of Hand,Serum Visions,Gitaxian Probe)
Look at the top Meta and see. Usually its difficult to spell pierce 1 Mana Spells. She is effectively more counter magic (Potential with Mutavaults should be noted).
this has been done a few times in legacy merfolk as well, someone will bust out a spellstutter sprite and get some flying action going.
I have wondered if faeries might be decent in modern due to there flash ability.
bigger problem is jund i think. its got several good creatures that don't trade well with merfolk. f.e. kitchen finks and some lightning bolts on top of that.
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Decks: "Name one! I probably got it built In one of these boxes."
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[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
But with Merfolk, there's a lot of good cards to try and fit in. Wake Thrasher is wonderful because he addresses one of the weakenesses of the deck, which is all your creatures are very weak alone and you need numbers to attack effectively for all the Lord effects to stack up. Kira is similarly awesome, but I'd say more of a SB card against decks with more than 4 targeted removal.
It's an updated version of Brawl into an epic, new game.
lightning greaves may also have merit as well.
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Vintage will rise again! Buy a Mox today!
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[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
Currently Playing
T2
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Casual
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Huge Thanks to DarkNightCavalier for the sig
Currently Playing
T2
RRDWR
RBDDWRB
RWPlaneswalker ControlRW
Casual
RWGBoros ZooRWG
BKorlashB
Huge Thanks to DarkNightCavalier for the sig
I've been meaning to start playing modern for quite a while and I've decided on Merfolk as my first deck for the format.
I've read the primer, but I'm stuck. I currently think that a mono U build will suit me best, seeing as the splashes in both white and black don't really attract me.
Is mono U the best option or should I reconsider?
How To Keep Your FOIL Cards From Curling: http://youtu.be/QTmubrS8VnI
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The Best Binders: http://youtu.be/H5IauASYWjk
I usually spam Shriekmaws and Fulminator Mages with the Lich, anyway.
I have just picked up mtg after years of inactivity. I played with the release of 8th edition, then quit when Kamigawa came out.
I have come back home from college and love this new format! So I quickly made an aggro elf deck, and now im ready for a more competitive deck.
So I have looked around at these Fish decks and threw together one that I think would be super fun. It keeps some core cards, loses a couple of more. Its also a red splash!
I am posting my list for some constructive criticism.
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Aether Vial
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
4 Spell Pierce
4 Rune Snag
4 Mutavault
4 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Island
2 Mountain
So the idea here is that it remains core fish, with good beats, but has table disruption in the form of Lightning Bolt and Grim Lavamancer.
Faithless looting is a cheap draw system that puts a bullet and a half in the chamber of my gun(Lavamancer). So it will likely leave mana open for counterspelling.
The mana base I am not fully confident of. Seems like I could hurt myself quite a bit. At the moment I write this, its not much of a concern considering I do not have the money to complete that just yet lol
The other major difference is that I have swapped out Silvergill Adepts for Merfolk Looters. Assuming a Merfolk Looter stays on the board, then I get more draw out of it and fuel my Grim Lavamancer. Maybe a 3-3 split would be better than a 4-2.
I chose Rune Snag over Mana Leak due to how I envision the draw of this deck will work out. I feel it will be a benefit.
I do have a friend who plays Blazing Shoal infect in our group, obviously not modern, but I feel like this will be a good fight regardless. Consider my stopping power with Cursecatcher, Spell Pierce and Lightning Bolt, thats a 1/5 chance per draw on a 7 card hand that I will be able to stop turn 2 cheese from him.
I haven't fully constructed this deck, so I would love input before I commit.
I don't have a sideboard planned yet.
Tormod's Crypt
Evacuation(?)[Slows mass aggro or WoG protection??]
Surgical Extraction
Chandra, the Firebrand X_x??
Smash to Smithereens
Off the top of my head.
Another reason I chose Red/Blue is that I could keep the mana base for other popular modern decks, like Storm or Hive Mind!
Beyond that, why the grim lavamancer? What decks do you see in your meta that make it a good choice over your tribal synergies?
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
So the Grim Lavamancer is just a good filler card. It doesn't hurt the curve. It makes use of cards that would be useless without it. By that I mean the cards in the graveyard. It adds a controlling element for any 2 toughness threats. It provides extra power on its own when we need it.
As far as the decks it hinders, that 'legacy' blazing shoal deck that's played casually... yeah I want him to pay for his being cheap. I have many answers for him, and having a Grim Lavamancer is just another one.
I would also take great pleasure in popping an Elvish Archdruid
Lightning Bolt is obviously extremely useful.
Faithless Looting provided simple draw power, and the ability to drop lands when flooded. This is a good source of getting power for the Grim Lavamancer.
Playtesting, the deck seemed to work out really good. Right now though I stuck with mono blue and im enjoying it. Turning an inkmoth nexus into a spreading seas is almost as fun as popping it lol
Lullmage Mentor is just far too slow. He was only good with casual play(Rite of Replication+Negates)
Its Not, Its a rogue deck right now. No one really boards for it, and its certainly strong enough.
-I have a lot of faith in Spell Pierce, and Ive tested about every option in Modern counter magic.
-I tried Spell Snare, but felt it was too limited. Its a dead card against 30% of match ups I find.
-I tried Deprive, it was somewhat nice, but Mana Leak could serve it better. You dont have the constraint of UU and you are no longer punished for Having MutaVaults.
-Remand, is busted, but dosent do the job, You want dead-spells. They can just recast Lightning bolt or Goyf etc.
-Dispel is something I would throw into my sideboard next if there was room. That card is very, very good.
-Disrupting Shoal is too awkward to cast for me. Its effect is over the top. But I can't completely justify tossing a card away when I have options that suit just fine.
----
Every sideboard basically NEEDS Spreading Seas, or your games versus RG Tron are almost un-win-able(Other Tron Variants are fine)
They also are good against Jund Mana Bases/Aggro Matchups
The rest of the sideboard is up the player, but SS are too vital against Tron.
-Chalice is fine against RDW Affinity even storm.
-Cage/relic/needle is fine for Loam/Melira/etc
-Negates are actually really good against RG Tron, as their best spells they cast (Mindslaver/Karn/AIDs/Oblivion Stone) can't usually be spell pierce.
---------
I and now Testing out Spellstutter Sprite at the switch of 2 Soveriegns the Tricksters
One of Merfolk's Biggest weakness is Creature removal, even though Typically with Lords you can fight your way through most Creature-Wars. Ive wanted to test U/X Variants, including U/R.
Lightning bolt seems Really really good. That card annoys me that it is use both as Creature Removal and Burst Damage.
I like the idea of the Looter-Lavamancer, Lavamancer is like Merfolk greatest enemy though! That card hurts! Kira's Not even good against that card!
Sideboard, I would honestly take advantage of how much Red HATES artifacts. Shattering Spree seems nasty against Affinity.
Mindbreak Trap is funny versus Storm.(annoying to do online though XD)
Spreading Sea's is a must!
I have yet to try Rune-snag. It seems like a better Mana-leak.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
Its not bad, its just not as good tempo. 3 Mana isnt always a consistant thing in merfolk(at least not on 20-22)(esp without Thought Magic(Ponder/Serum/etc) Land, On top of that, its another 2 to use.
For a deck that would use more land, and has access to more time, like, U Fae, would use it better. Its not bad, theres just better alternatives. From what I've seen/done, Merfolk Kill on turns 4,5,6 On better than decent hands.
Shackles fills more of a Control type deck. Look at Legacy U control.
So Ive played about roughly 10 or so games Online today alone,(2-tix) using the SpellStutter Sprites, and Ive lost 3 matches. Those things are really good in Modern. Kind of like a Spell Snare on a 1/1 Flyer They've been hitting things like Lightning Bolt/Path/Sleight of hand/Goblin Guide/ Almost every deck seems to have something.
Playing a 4 Round Daily right now, currently 3-0
First round, USA Delver/SCM/Giest/Lynx-whatever mess that is.
Second Round, RDW (Chalice of the void at 1 Charge Counter)
Third Round, RDW (chalice of the Void!!)
4-0 Daily Modern Last match against Storm, First Game, Sprite/Spell Pierce were MVP
Second game he took a bad hand, tried to Gitaxian Probe his way out. So I dont consider it a very good match.
HERES THE LINK!
[url]http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg%2Fdigital%2Fmagiconline%2Ftourn%2F3974677[/url
It's really good in Modern Meta. Its basically 1/1 Flyer flash counter target spell with converted mana cost of 1. It was very good against USA(Round 1) (steppe Lynx/Delver/path/Bolt/Spell Snare/Serum Visions
and then RDW (Bolt,Bolt,Bolt,Bolt,Bolt, and Bolt)
And then RDW again (Bolt, Bolt, Bolt and of course Bolt)
And then Storm(Sleight of Hand,Serum Visions,Gitaxian Probe)
Look at the top Meta and see. Usually its difficult to spell pierce 1 Mana Spells. She is effectively more counter magic (Potential with Mutavaults should be noted).
I have wondered if faeries might be decent in modern due to there flash ability.
bigger problem is jund i think. its got several good creatures that don't trade well with merfolk. f.e. kitchen finks and some lightning bolts on top of that.
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Decks: "Name one! I probably got it built In one of these boxes."
---------------------------------------------------
Vintage will rise again! Buy a Mox today!
---------------------------------------------------
[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
5 Island
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Shivan Reef
2 Mutavault
Creatures
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
3 Tideshaper Mystic
2 Wake Thrasher
2 Grim Lavamancer
1 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Mana Leak
3 Spell Pierce
3 Cryptic Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Vapor Snag
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Threads of Disloyalty
Moderm - Mono blue Tron and Eldrazi variants
Legacy - Building Eldrazi Stompy
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