Merfolk is a blue-based tempo deck that focuses on swarming with a bunch of creatures while countering the opponent's plays with either counter magic or denial (such as Spreading Seas and Vapor Snag. Based on the classic legacy Merfolk, modern Merfolk takes some of the key elements of power and brings it into the modern scene. Merfolk was able to survive the shift from legacy to modern because every single one of its core creatures and Aether Vial are legal in modern. Aether Vial is what makes this deck standout from other decks, Aether Vial adds a large amount of tempo to this deck so that you can put creatures into play while keeping mana open to stop an opponent's plays.
History:
Merfolk has been a very competitive deck in legacy for years now. Relying on its fantastic tribe, Aether Vial, and Force of Will to carry it to the top. This tribe has seen play since alpha and has evolved tremendously since then. Recent printings of multiple new lords have increased the power of the deck into an aggro monster being able to thwart sweepers and outrace many other aggro strategies. Recent printings of blue cards in Standard have helped to give the deck late game reach against various other decks that it lacked before to really give it a power spike in modern.
Table of Contents:
1.) Building Merfolk
2.) Matchup Analysis and Sideboard Options
3.) Tournament Results and Decklists
Building Merfolk:
The core of this deck is very similar to its legacy counterpart and basically it comes down to these cards:
There are a few other cards that have really put Merfolk on the boards as of late and this is due to several factors:
1. Modern is a slower format allowing for higher costing creatures.
2. Aggro is popular in Modern and these cards give either evasion or FLOOD the board in your favor.
3. Both are resistant to some of the most popular removal in modern (Lightning Bolt):
This land is amazing and should be in every build. This card a powerful enough to win games on its own, let alone if you have a lord out. This is a true tempo card, being able to both tap for mana and attack when you don't need to cast anything. This card is a great clock against control decks and it is also able to block those pesky Etched Champions.
This card use to be an auto-include 4-of, but as of late he has been dropping in popularity. I think that if you're in a combo heavy (spell combo heavy) meta that he is a fantastic include, but not a necessary part of the deck anymore. If you more often than not see him simply aggroing the whole match as a 1-drop, then Cosi's Trickster may be a better alternative.
While the additional casting cost may seen bad it is not. You have so many other fish that you will rarely be without one to reveal. Being the only draw spell in the average Merfolk deck, this creature really helps you to increase your tempo.
The original lord all the from alpha. This guy is amazing and is still the best lord merfolk has. Costing a mere UU, you are should to get your worth from him and because islands are so common there is a great chance of all your fish becoming unblockable, which could allow you to end the game very quickly.
The final fish in the core. Being that he costs 3 mana he is often not run as a 4-of to make room for other cards. He is very fun when there are multiples on the board because he allows you to play your merfolk for free, or if you want to you could tap your opponent's creatures to swing for game.
This card is just downright insane in this deck. Being able to keep up mana open for counters each turn while playing uncounterable creature is just absurd. And that is not all it does, there are also a lot of tricks you can pull off with one of these. For example, like I mentioned before you can vial-in a Cursecatcher in response to an instant or sorcery spell to counter it, you can also vial-in a lord after blocks are declared, or after an opponent casts a burn spell to nullify it. Generally you want your Aether Vial to have only 2 counters on it. Since the majority of your creatures have a cmc of 2 it is in your best interest to leave it on 2 counter. Also, remember to place your counters on it when you need to, I personally have forgotten to place my counter on my vial so many times and it really hurts, you lose so much of your tempo when you do this. Although you are best with having 2 counters, sometimes it becomes more advantageous to add the 3rd counter. For example, I play with Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, and when I am playing against UW or UR decks that run both removal and counters I like to add a 3rd counter to my vial so I can get her in there uncountered to protect my creatures from removal. To sum this up you MUST play this card.
There are so many things that this card can do for us. It can be vialed in at instant speed, we get a 5/5 wall, we can give our creatures evasion, we can scry EVERY TURN to make sure our draws are consistently business, and we can bait out spells (meaning that I once had 5 devotion on the board, they try to Path to Exile, and I simply bounce one of my lords with Vapor Snag. Boom.) Not great in multiples though so typically this card is run as a 1 or 2 of.
This creature is really the bomb of the deck. He is the late game. He helps recover from board wipes and will put your creature advantage over the top to allow for the win against grindier match ups. He also boosts your [card]Mutavaults that one additional power and toughness which can make the difference. He is resistant to the most popular form of removal that decks run which is also an added bonus. I've seen him run from anywhere between 2-4 copies depending on what you feel you need. Almost never a dead draw
Filling in the Remaining Spots:
Lands:
Note: While legacy Merfolk decks run four Wasteland in every list, there is not a major need for land destruction in this format so playing these lands is optional.
This card is great for hitting those early game urza lands, but other them and manlands this card is just to much tempo-loss to warrant hitting duals. I would see what decks are in your meta before deciding on adding these.
While slower than Ghost Quarter, it makes up for it with not giving your opponent land. Out of the two I prefer this one because you can use it to hit duals.
A fish that has had a lot of discussion lately as a why to lower our curve. She is great when your opponent is running fetches or tutor effects like Gifts Ungiven. I believe she could have some potential in a UW list that runs Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter to maximize the amount of times your opponent is shuffling their library.
Essentially the best protection against your fish. It protects against spot removal and it prevents opponent's hyper aggro decks (Aura's, Infect, Burn, Gruul). I would say almost an auto include in the main deck and would 100% recommend it be included in almost every sideboard if he isn't in your main.
Your opponent plays an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, you proceed to put on your troll face and vial-in a Phantasmal Image. Win. Image is essentially another 2-drop lord, or another Silvergill Adept to draw more cards. A personal favorite of mine and should be highly considered.
This used to be a main deck card for fish, but it has since than lost popularity. It is a great tempo swing and is mainly used for stealing threats like Tarmogoyf.
A great, cheap counter. It is great in the current meta because of all the combo decks and removal. With the current goal of out-aggroing the win conditions of other decks, this is typically the preferred counter of choice.
Considered to be a great card because of the draw, but I prefer to not use it because it just stalls your opponent for a turn and it is better to just get rid of the card.
Modern's “Force of Will,” or so people say. For me this card is just to conditional for my likeing, and a lot of the important spells your need to counter, like Splinter Twin are out of our curve. If you are going to play this you should edit your curve to account for this card.
This is the best removal that mono blue Merfolk has, the only downside is losing 4 life from it so be careful. There should be some somewhere in your 75.
If you are playing white he is a must. Lifelink is insane against aggro decks and first strike is also great when he is getting boosted by all of our lords.
A very expensive card, but it is the best hand disruption in modern.
Doom Blade 1B
If you are going to play black you should run this over Dismember. Since aggro match-ups are hard for fish the life loss is to critical against aggro decks.
Please post your testing results so I can get more accurate win/loss percentages in the Matchup section. If you could please tell me whether your wins/losses were preboard or postboard. The matchup and analysis section is going to require alot of work so any insight you have will be helpful!
If I have any typos, missed anything, or something is wrong please tell me.
Could Vedalken Shackles find its way into the sideboard? Seems like it can be used as removal plus it helps you as well obviously.
Well, I thought I had placed Vedalken Shackles in the sb options in some of the matchup analysis sections, but I guess I missed that. And please don't use my sb as any kind of reference as I most likely will be changing it, I just put something together when I started testing and it still needs to be refined.
I might just have to build this deck... been looking for a deck that abuses aether vial because I feel it's a really strong card that isn't really being exploited as much as it could, this deck look perfect lol.
I really like the list you're running, a couple of questions though, do the 7 colourless sources ever cause problems with coralhelm commander or lord of atlantis, or is the idea that you should be vialing them in anyway?
Most of the lists I've seen doing well in the dailies online have been running either one or the other.
Also how has rune snag been performing for you? I remember playing with it fairly extensively back when it was in standard and always being unimpressed and wishing it was a mana leak.
Reguarding the nonbasics, yes there are times when it hurts me, but usually you should not keep a hand without a vial that will lead you into this situation. I reason I run the Tectonic Egde is because I wanted to increase my chances against Tron mainly, but they also help against enemy manlands, utility lands, or just duals if they are running alot of colors.
Yes I know what you mean with rune snag, but here is how I look at it, I wanted more counters than just Mana Leak and Spell Pierce but I don't really like Remand since it seems like a speed bump to me rather than a counter.
I agree with metatronn. Vedalken shalckes should be in the 75.
Excellent primer.
Also, how about splashing green for tarmogoyf, or red for lavamancer and bolts?
Great point, I shall make sections for splashing each of those colors.
Has anyone tried using psionic blast and snapback for the deck? They seem viable options as creature removal and even for saving your own creature from removal.
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I'm interested in getting into Modern and Fish looks fun. Among the most popular decks, which are good matchups and which are bad?
I see you don't have much on the main post yet, and I'm not looking for detailed analysis. I just want some eyeballing of which matchups are best and worst.
I've personally always loved remand so I'll have to try that out
Have you tried deprive?
maybe as a 1 or 2 of, seems like returning a land wouldn't be too bad a drawback for the deck, especially if your not running cryptic or if you've got a vial out.
Plus it's a guaranteed hard counter and can catch people by surprise when they try and play around leak/pierce.
Good point I really need to try out deprive now, bounceing a land back to my usually is not to bad if I have a vial out, but I might have to edit my mana base I shall see.
Well, I tried this against rogue boros and my geist bant (no tarmogoyfs, but I guess I'd sideboard 3 dismember against them).
I played something like 10 games against boros (I won 7 and I think I lost 2 or 3 matches due to very fast starts and that **** lynx) more or less and only 6 against geist bant (4-2) 'cause it was too late at night but I must say even if the red splash shines against any creatures deck and has lot of potential, the real advantage is in the SB.
I made a couple of notes: Combust: the best SB choice against any tier 1 deck: hits deceiver exarch, tarmogoyf more than once and baneslayer
We have also access to artifact destroy at instant speed with ancient grudge, and brimstone volley is amazing too against ANY creature base decks (I'm looking at you Big zoo / affinity).
Grim lavamancer shines against control decks. And against geist bant it was MVP killing those noble hierarch, BoP, scryb ranger (bye bye protection for blue). But he is not a merfolk.
Mana base looks fine, even if more fetches are need maybe. But I'm happy with it. Lots of merfolk died and became lavamancer food, which is fine 'cause opponents tarmogoyf became smaller.
Lightning bolt is excellent finisher. Against boros I run out of gas when my girlfriend had equipped hawk (lavamancer was awesome against him also...) and she was at 5. I didn't run any spreading seas, so I couldn't obtain benefit from my lord. BUT there was lightning bolt. I killed equipped hawk, swing with cursecatcher for 2 and she was like, hmmmm.... I know the 4th bolt still remains... pass turn and in her eot I bolted her. GG.
Something circumstantial but possible.
Phantasmal image was fine too but I feel this deck can easily beat lot of decks if the SB is well design. Hope to see this tribal deck shine again.
Sorry for english mistakes and thank you for reading this
I really like where your going with the red splash and I really want to test out red now, but how did you like 4 Lavamancers main because I feel like 4 might be to much, but I don't know. Also how are you likeing dispel? I one thing I really disagree with though, is your lack of vials.
I'm interested in getting into Modern and Fish looks fun. Among the most popular decks, which are good matchups and which are bad?
I see you don't have much on the main post yet, and I'm not looking for detailed analysis. I just want some eyeballing of which matchups are best and worst.
From my testing I have found that with mono U fish, aggro, like boros and geist bant, etc are its worst matchups because of blue's lack of good creature removal, dismember usually doesn't cut it because against boros for example you have to pay 4 life to kill one of their creatures and they just drop another and proceed to beatdown some more.
As for good matchups, because of all the counters I have in my main, combo matchups are generally easy to win if I play smart, even without sideing. Living end is also a really easy matchup. Decks that ride on Delver as their main wincondition are generally easy since we have more creatures to swarm.
Tron is still kind of iffy for me, it really depends what version they are running, I have found that the UW lists are much harder to beat because of Wrath and DoJ.
As for Jund I have still yet to test against it. :/
The goal is to do what legacy fish does. keep the game in the early stages of play because fish has a great early game. It does this through resource denial.
leonin arbiter and trickbind are in the deck to punish people who crack their fetches for shocks and play weaker easily disrupt-able mana bases because no one is messing with them, besides the occasional pox list or fulminator mage.
Coralhelm commander was excluded on the simple fact that this deck has no free counters and thus leveling him, or not leveling him is an easy tell to what's in your hand more often than its useful for bluffing purposes.
quite frankly I find it kinda rediculous that no one is playing trickbind in the current modern format... its an uncounterable stifle.... it stops a major component of nearly every deck, not to mention the havoc it can play on stifled fetchlands.
In principle monoblue allows a lot of mana disruption - Boomerang, Spreading Seas, and Shadow of Doubt all seem like they could cripple the many greedy three-color mana bases. Has anyone tried this out?
I've done a little bit of testing and found Jund to be a rough matchup. Due to all their removal Redirect could be a blowout. Has anyone tested this?
What are the best ways to sideboard against aggro to improve the matchup?
What do you guys think of playing Psionic Blast? In terms of raw power it's no Lightning Bolt, of course, but it can go to the face and 4 damage is enough to kill Deceiver Exarch.
Spreading Seas and Path to Exile in the same deck is pretty awkward. Against Jund, for example, I usually find myself cutting them off from a color with SS.
Spreading Seas and Path to Exile in the same deck is pretty awkward. Against Jund, for example, I usually find myself cutting them off from a color with SS.
Spreading Seas and Ghost Quarter can really hurt a land base, but Path to Exile helps them find the lands they need again. On the other hand, Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter both enable Cosi's Trickster to race against many other aggressive 1-drops in the format. The combination of cutting off an opponent from a color while pumping the Trickster is very good.
the idea of spreading seas isn't a bad one. its caused tempo wreckage on non blue decks in extended before. the thing is the decks its been used in before never had a quick and consistent tribe to go along with it in the other formats.
here spreading seas might be quite effective.
If might be even better if we had another effective island walker merfolk to take advantage of it verse just relying on lord of atlantis
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Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
What about equipments? Are they feasible to use for Merfolk?
This, i have various Sword of this and that, sadly i can't get 3 lord of atlantis more (it seems theres none in my country :(), and i use 2 Sovering and 1 phantasmal image, but i have thinking in the equipment alot
Yeah couldnt get hold of any Bob's ended up 37th outta 53 goin 2-4. Deck seriously struggles in the modern format, not haveing access to free counter spells like its legacy cousin hurts the tempo alot.
I lost too affinity, some Dredge combo deck, and U/b Zombies (Standard version LOL im bad) that was the ultimate low point of the day leaving me 0-3 and losing to a standard deck in a modern tournament hurts ok people..anyway i then won vs affinity and Tron(piloted by florian pils a Top german player who's in AUS on holidays) before losing the last round to a Red Burn deck in a nail biting 3rd game which came down to him top decking a burn spell to win, i had him at lethal next turn.
All in all wasnt the worst days magic i think the deck needs alot of work to be competetive in the current modern environment and i probably wouldnt play it again, not saying its a bad deck just think there are better decks around at the moment and merfolk struggles against alot of them.
EDIT: Actually, Deprive would be very strong in the flex slot. With Vial, you don't care as much about hitting your 3rd or 4th land drop. Plus, it's just plain awesome having people wait a few turns to try and play around Remand and Mana Leak by leaving 3+ mana open, then just dropping a 2-mana hard counter.
A.K.A “Fish”
11/18/2015 - Thread has been taken over and updated. you can find it HERE
History:
Table of Contents:
1.) Building Merfolk
2.) Matchup Analysis and Sideboard Options
3.) Tournament Results and Decklists
Building Merfolk:
The core of this deck is very similar to its legacy counterpart and basically it comes down to these cards:
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
There are a few other cards that have really put Merfolk on the boards as of late and this is due to several factors:
1. Modern is a slower format allowing for higher costing creatures.
2. Aggro is popular in Modern and these cards give either evasion or FLOOD the board in your favor.
3. Both are resistant to some of the most popular removal in modern (Lightning Bolt):
Island
Mutavault
Cursecatcher U
Silvergill Adept 1U
Lord of Atlantis UU
Master of the Pearl Trident UU
Merrow Reejerey 2U
Aether Vial 1
Thassa, God of the Sea
Master of Waves
Filling in the Remaining Spots:
Lands:
Ghost Quarter
This card is great for hitting those early game urza lands, but other them and manlands this card is just to much tempo-loss to warrant hitting duals. I would see what decks are in your meta before deciding on adding these.
Tectonic Edge
Misty Rainforest/Scalding Tarn
Creatures:
Fish:
Cosi's Trickster U
Sygg, River Cutthroat :symbu::symbu:
Merfolk Sovereign 1UU
Wake Thrasher 2U
Others:
Spellskite 2
Phantasmal Image 1U
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1UU
Sower of Temptation 2UU
Spells:
Counters:
Spell Snare U
Spell Pierce U
Mana Leak 1U
Remand 1U
Rune Snag 1U
Cryptic Command 1UUU
Disrupting Shoal XUU
Removal:
Vapor Snag U
Dismember 1:sympb::sympb:
Others:
Aquitect's Will U
Spreading Seas 1U
Jace Beleren 1UU
Options for Splashing White:
Hallowed Fountain
Wanderwine Hub
Creatures:
Ethersworn Canonist 1W
Meddling Mage WU
Sejiri Merfolk 1U
Spells:
Angel's Grace W
Path to Exile W
Disenchant 1W
Rule of Law 2W
Sample List:
4 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
3 Sejiri Merfolk
3 Merrow Reejerey
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Spell Pierce
4 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts: 4
4 Aether Vial
Options for Splashing Black:
Darkslick Shores
Watery Grave
Creatures:
Dark Confidant 1B
Spells:
Inquisition of Kozilek B
Thoughtseize B
Doom Blade 1B
Go for the Throat 1B
Sample List
6 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Mutavault
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Watery Grave
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Dark Confidant
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Spell Pierce
4 Mana Leak
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
Artifacts: 4
4 Aether Vial
Sideboard Options: (Under Construction)
Currently a work in progress. Please post with any information you have that can be added. Thanks (:
Affinity:
Sideboard Options:
Aggro Loam:
Sideboard Options:
Birthing Pod:
Sideboard Options:
Blue-Black Delver:
Sideboard Options:
Blue-Black Reanimator:
Sideboard Options:
Blue-Red Tron:
Sideboard Options:
Blue-White Tron:
Sideboard Options:
Boros:
Sideboard Options:
Death and Taxes:
Sideboard Options:
Jund:
Sideboard Options:
Living End:
Sideboard Options:
Martyr–Proc:
Sideboard Options:
RUG Delver:
Sideboard Options:
RDW:
Sideboard Options:
Splinter Twin:
Sideboard Options:
Storm:
Sideboard Options:
Tezzerator:
Sideboard Options:
Tokens:
Sideboard Options:
Zoo:
Sideboard Options:
Video Coverage:
1. GP Richmond Round 11 Undefeated (3:14:09): http://www.twitch.tv/scglive/b/509548409
Tournament Results:
15 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Tectonic Edge
Creatures (32)
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Cursecatcher
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Vapor Snag
1 Dismember
Artifacts (4)
4 Æther Vial
1 Dismember
3 Torpor Orb
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Negate
4 Spellskite
4 Threads of Disloyalty
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=4516&d=226199
18 Island
2 Mutavault
Creautures (24)
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Echoing Truth
4 Spell Snare
Other Spells (8)
4 Spreading Seas
4 Æther Vial
3 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Cryptic Command
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Spellskite
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=4124&d=224157
Interesting Note: No Aether Vial
4 Island
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Misty Rainforest
Creautres (24)
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Path to Exile
3 Spell Pierce
3 Aquitect's Will
2 Spell Snare
2 Dismember
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
3 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Flashfreeze
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Unknown Card
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=3652&d=221925
14 Island
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Mutavault
2 Faerie Conclave
Creatures (24)
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Spell Snare
4 Vapor Snag
1 Deprive
1 Cryptic Command
Others (6)
4 Æther Vial
2 Spreading Seas
3 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spellskite
3 Threads of Disloyalty
3 Unified Will
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Unknown Card
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=3652&d=221967
Undefeated day 1 @ GP Richmond
3 Cavern of Souls
13 Island
4 Mutavault
Creatures (26)
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Master of Waves
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
2 Tidebinder Mage
4 Æther Vial
2 Spell Pierce
4 Spreading Seas
4 Vapor Snag
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Echoing Truth
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Spellskite
2 Steel Sabotage
3 Swan Song
1 Vedalken Shackles
Undefeated Day 1 @ GP Richmond
1 Cavern of Souls
15 Island
4 Mutavault
Creatures (29)
1 Coralhelm Commander
2 Cosi's Trickster
3 Cursecatcher
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
1 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Sower of Temptation
4 Æther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
3 Vapor Snag
1 Cursecatcher
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Merfolk Assassin
2 Mindbreak Trap
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
3 Tidebinder Mage
GP Vienna Side Event Champion
15 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Cavern of souls
Creatures: 25
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the pearl trident
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Cursecatcher
2 Kira, Great-glass spinner
2 Master of waves
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Phantasmal Image
2 coralhelm commander
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
3 Vapor snag
2 Spell pierce
2 Disrupting shoal
3x chalice of the void
2x dismember
1x grafdiggers cage
1x hibernation
3x hurkyl's recall
2x spellskite
2x steel sabotage
1x swan song
~21st at PT BotG
16 Island
4 Mutavault
Creatures (26)
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Cursecatcher
3 Master of Waves
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Merrow Reejerey
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Vapor Snag
2 Remand
Other Spells (8)
4 Spreading Seas
4 Æther Vial
1 Remand
2 Tidebinder Mage
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Swan Song
2 Spell Pierce
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Dismember
2 Threads of Disloyalty
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=6698&d=238478&f=MO
Please post your testing results so I can get more accurate win/loss percentages in the Matchup section. If you could please tell me whether your wins/losses were preboard or postboard. The matchup and analysis section is going to require alot of work so any insight you have will be helpful!
If I have any typos, missed anything, or something is wrong please tell me.
Thanks for reading!
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=348119
(Modern)
WDeath and TaxesW
GBDeath CloudGB
RGShamansesRG
(Legacy)
UWArtifactsUW
Well, I thought I had placed Vedalken Shackles in the sb options in some of the matchup analysis sections, but I guess I missed that. And please don't use my sb as any kind of reference as I most likely will be changing it, I just put something together when I started testing and it still needs to be refined.
Reguarding the nonbasics, yes there are times when it hurts me, but usually you should not keep a hand without a vial that will lead you into this situation. I reason I run the Tectonic Egde is because I wanted to increase my chances against Tron mainly, but they also help against enemy manlands, utility lands, or just duals if they are running alot of colors.
Yes I know what you mean with rune snag, but here is how I look at it, I wanted more counters than just Mana Leak and Spell Pierce but I don't really like Remand since it seems like a speed bump to me rather than a counter.
Great point, I shall make sections for splashing each of those colors.
Has anyone tried using psionic blast and snapback for the deck? They seem viable options as creature removal and even for saving your own creature from removal.
I see you don't have much on the main post yet, and I'm not looking for detailed analysis. I just want some eyeballing of which matchups are best and worst.
Good point I really need to try out deprive now, bounceing a land back to my usually is not to bad if I have a vial out, but I might have to edit my mana base I shall see.
I really like where your going with the red splash and I really want to test out red now, but how did you like 4 Lavamancers main because I feel like 4 might be to much, but I don't know. Also how are you likeing dispel? I one thing I really disagree with though, is your lack of vials.
From my testing I have found that with mono U fish, aggro, like boros and geist bant, etc are its worst matchups because of blue's lack of good creature removal, dismember usually doesn't cut it because against boros for example you have to pay 4 life to kill one of their creatures and they just drop another and proceed to beatdown some more.
As for good matchups, because of all the counters I have in my main, combo matchups are generally easy to win if I play smart, even without sideing. Living end is also a really easy matchup. Decks that ride on Delver as their main wincondition are generally easy since we have more creatures to swarm.
Tron is still kind of iffy for me, it really depends what version they are running, I have found that the UW lists are much harder to beat because of Wrath and DoJ.
As for Jund I have still yet to test against it. :/
Hope this helps.
4x cursecatcher
4x lord of atlantis
4x merrow reejerey
4x silvergill adept
2x leonin arbiter
4x spreading seas
2x mana leak
3x mana tithe
1x spell pierce
4x path to exile
4x trickbind
1x glacial fortress
4x hallowed fountain
4x island
4x mutavault
4x seachrome coast
3x kira, great glass-spinner
2x leonin arbiter
4x leyline of sanctity
2x hurkyl's recall
3x surgical extraction
1x qhost quarter
The goal is to do what legacy fish does. keep the game in the early stages of play because fish has a great early game. It does this through resource denial.
leonin arbiter and trickbind are in the deck to punish people who crack their fetches for shocks and play weaker easily disrupt-able mana bases because no one is messing with them, besides the occasional pox list or fulminator mage.
Coralhelm commander was excluded on the simple fact that this deck has no free counters and thus leveling him, or not leveling him is an easy tell to what's in your hand more often than its useful for bluffing purposes.
quite frankly I find it kinda rediculous that no one is playing trickbind in the current modern format... its an uncounterable stifle.... it stops a major component of nearly every deck, not to mention the havoc it can play on stifled fetchlands.
Gfast animals slow shildrenG
51-18-4 (retired as of 6-4-11)
if you play counter heavy it can give you some good vial tricks
considering alot of our beaters come in on a vial at 2 counters
(lord, coralhelm, silvergil, and phantasmal image if you run it)
I've done a little bit of testing and found Jund to be a rough matchup. Due to all their removal Redirect could be a blowout. Has anyone tested this?
What are the best ways to sideboard against aggro to improve the matchup?
What do you guys think of playing Psionic Blast? In terms of raw power it's no Lightning Bolt, of course, but it can go to the face and 4 damage is enough to kill Deceiver Exarch.
Spreading Seas and Ghost Quarter can really hurt a land base, but Path to Exile helps them find the lands they need again. On the other hand, Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter both enable Cosi's Trickster to race against many other aggressive 1-drops in the format. The combination of cutting off an opponent from a color while pumping the Trickster is very good.
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here spreading seas might be quite effective.
If might be even better if we had another effective island walker merfolk to take advantage of it verse just relying on lord of atlantis
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Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
This, i have various Sword of this and that, sadly i can't get 3 lord of atlantis more (it seems theres none in my country :(), and i use 2 Sovering and 1 phantasmal image, but i have thinking in the equipment alot
8 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Mutavault
4 Darkslick Shores
1 Watery Grave
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merrow Reejerey
1 Merfolk Sovereign
2 Phantasmal Image
1 Kirra, Great Glass spinner
2 Doomblade
3 Inquistion of kozliek
3 Spell Pierce
4 mana Leak
Artifacts: 4
4 Aether Vial
I lost too affinity, some Dredge combo deck, and U/b Zombies (Standard version LOL im bad) that was the ultimate low point of the day leaving me 0-3 and losing to a standard deck in a modern tournament hurts ok people..anyway i then won vs affinity and Tron(piloted by florian pils a Top german player who's in AUS on holidays) before losing the last round to a Red Burn deck in a nail biting 3rd game which came down to him top decking a burn spell to win, i had him at lethal next turn.
All in all wasnt the worst days magic i think the deck needs alot of work to be competetive in the current modern environment and i probably wouldnt play it again, not saying its a bad deck just think there are better decks around at the moment and merfolk struggles against alot of them.
// Lands
4 [CHP] Mutavault
16 [ZEN] Island
// Creatures
4 [M11] Merfolk Sovereign
4 [FNM] Merrow Reejerey
4 [ROE] Coralhelm Commander
4 [6E] Lord of Atlantis
4 [LRW] Silvergill Adept
4 [SHM] Cursecatcher
// Spells
4 ??? (Dismember?)
4 [RAV] Remand
4 [SH] Mana Leak
4 [V10] AEther Vial
EDIT: Actually, Deprive would be very strong in the flex slot. With Vial, you don't care as much about hitting your 3rd or 4th land drop. Plus, it's just plain awesome having people wait a few turns to try and play around Remand and Mana Leak by leaving 3+ mana open, then just dropping a 2-mana hard counter.
It's an updated version of Brawl into an epic, new game.