Now, you may notice I only have 14 cards in the sideboard there. That's because I showed up to the event late and had to register really fast, and in counting my sideboard for some reason I thought I counted 16 cards, so I cut one (there should be a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner). Turns out there were 15 to begin with and I just miscounted, so I played the event a card short in the side. I'm going off of memory for the match report, so it's not super detailed.
Round 1
Affinity
Game one is an auto loss. In my experience, this is pretty much always the case.
Sidebaording:
+ 2 Chalice
+3 Hurkyl's
+2 Dismember
+1 Master of Waves
- 1 Kira
- 4 Cursecatcher
-1 Spreading Seas
-2 Phantasmal Image
So the cuts got tough after the cursecatchers and Kira, but I really wanted the extra dismembers and the master of waves. If I were to do it again I might have swapped one more seas with an image to maintain threat density, but all in all I suppose it doesn't really matter. So game 2 I'm on the play, I drop t1 vial and chalice on 0 with hurkyl's recall sitting in hand. The rest of the game I pretty much just built up board power and let him smash me till I could recall and kill him in 2 turns. Game 3 I got the double reejery set up with 2 lords and a silvergill in hand. Went off the next turn and finished with hurkyl's to win.
match: 2-1
record: 1-0
Round 2
Taking turns (don't know the official name of this deck)
So for those of you who don't know what this deck is (I certainly didn't) it's mono-blue, and basically just runs 4 Dictate of Kruphix and ever extra turn card it can, and just delay with gigadrowse and Cryptic command until they can chain extra turn cards together and either mill you with Jace Beleren or kill you with Thassa, God of the Sea. I'm not going to force you to live through the boringness that was this matchup, but let's just say I got him to 5 or less both games before he went off.
Match: 0-2
record: 1-1
Round 3
Big Zoo (naya beats)
Homebrew deck, pretty much just rolled over this guy. It ran Wild Nacatls, Wooly Thoctars, and Wilt-leaf lieges. Both games islandwalk and dismsmber just rolled him.
sideboarding:
- 2 Spell pierce
- 3 Cursecatcher
+ 2 Dismember
+ 1 Master of Waves
+ 2 Spellskite
the matchup really isn't more interesting than I built up to Master of Waves for 5+ tokens both games and just stomped him.
Match: 2-0
Record: 2-1
Round 4
Slivers
So, this deck is literally just like merfolk but with less interaction (i.e. spell pierces and what not) and not as abusable with vial. game one he started off with the flying sliver and just built up too fast. He finished me of with CoCo (yes he ran CoCo and Vial) into haste sliver and first strike sliver which put the nail in the coffin.
Sideboarding:
- 1 Kira
- 2 Cursecatcher
+ 2 Dismember
+ 1 Master of Waves
Didn't really know what else to sideboard here. I knew he wasn't running removal, his gameplan was very all in. I thought about chalice but I only saw 2 or 3 one drops and figured that probably didn't warrant it over more threats. Game 2 i had the perfect curve from turn 1 vial into lord, lord, master of waves for the win. Game 3 was insane, but I'll speed you up to the crazy finale. he's at 24 and I'm at 4. I've got a couple lords. I play Phantasmal Image as a copy of his lifelink sliver, and swing with mutavault (who is getting the bonus from my two lords plus lifelink now) and a 3/3 cursecatcher to bring him to 17 and me to 8. I did the math, and with the lord I have in hand I have 17 islandwalk damage on board next turn. He plays a couple creatures, one of which is manaweft sliver, and uses his existing slivers to play more slivers. He has one non-sick creature (this will be relevant in a moment.) He also has vial on 4. he passes turn, I untap and play my lord, activate mutavault. So I now have 17 damage on board (2 4/4 lords, a 4/4 cursecatcher, and a 5/5 mutavault) as well as the lord I just played and the 2/2 lifelink sliver that phantasmal image is a copy of. He asks me to wait when I move to combat, and activates vial putting in a sliver (sorry I don't know the names) that has "slivers you control have [T]: tap target creature. So he has one non-sick creature, so he can tap one guy. All he has to do is tap any of the 4 viable attackers I mentioned above and I don't have lethal any longer. Instead, he targets the Image, which I happily sac and swing for the win. He just didn't do the math and didn't realize I had lethal that turn. In fairness, I probably would have one anyway, because by his own admission his next play was CoCo which, after we finished and he was just looking, would have completely whiffed. So, that was an exciting game 3.
Match: 2-1
Record: 3-1
Round 5
Jund
So, here is why I'm not in the top 8. Because Jund is a really good deck. Game one was a typical jund matchup. I made a crucial misplay not countering turn 1 thoughtseize with cursecatcher. My brain just froze and I didn't think of it, which was the beginning of the end of game one, as he took my only lord (I had mulled to a 5 card lord, cursecatcher, 3 land hand.)
Sideboard:
(this is the first match where I really felt not having that second Kira in my sideboard.)
- 4 Vials
- 2 Phantasmal Image
In case this isn't just accepted strategy at this point, I always side out vials versus Jund. I'm not trying to race them, they don't have counterspells, and playing things at instant speed has little benefit short of trying to be tricksy and dodge burn (not to mention, you want to be able to draw basically nothing but gas in this matchup, and the last thing you want to see mid-game when you're trying to apply pressure is a vial topdeck.)
game 2 I dropped a guy here or there and ended up eventually dropping Master of Waves into Master of Waves and that finished him. Game 3 I mulled to 5 and he had the absolute nuts. I think that even if I had kept a 7 card hand I probably wouldn't have beaten his hand. he immediately thoughtseized my spellskite, and then had a turn 2 goyf turn into a 5/6 by turn three that put a clock on me while he had endless removal for my creatures. There was just no winning that.
Match: 1-2
Record: 3-2
Round 6
RUG Delver?
So I actually never saw a delver, but that's the closest thing I can relate this deck to. It ran monastery Swiftspear and snapcaster and burn and probes, but it also had rancor (which was the only green spell I saw). Dismember and islandwalk did work here, as did master of waves.
Sideboarding:
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 2 Phantasmal Image
- 1 cursecatcher
+ 2 Spellskite
+ 2 Spell Pierce
+ 2 Chalice of the Void
+ 1 master of waves
Chalice of the void on 1 pretty much auto-won me game 2.
match: 2-0
record: 4-2
Last Round
Round 7
Affinity
So here was the final match of the night. The guy I was paired up against was pretty cool, we had talked earlier in the day, so he knew I was playing merfolk and I knew he was playing affinity. when I sat down, he kept saying "sorry man. God that sucks" when I asked why, he went on to explain to me how my deck physically cannot beat his deck, how it is just impossible. I told him I won against affinity round one, to which he replied "that guy was probably a bad magic player." That interaction makes the story that follows just SO much sweeter. So, like i said before, game one is an auto loss and this one was no different. But I played it out.
sideboarding:
- 4 Cursecatcher
- 1 Kira
- 2 Spreading Seas
+ 3 Hurkyl's
+ 2 Chalice
+ 2 dismember
holy ***** was this a wild ride. So game 2 was literally identical to game 2 from my round one match. on the play chalice on 0 with hurkyl's back up screwed him. Game three was insane. I mulled to 5 after getting two unkeepable hands (7 was 5 land, 6 was no land) and I kept the following hand on a prayer: Hurkyl's recall, Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Silvergill Adept, Island. I decided to keep because I figured that at worst I might draw the second land in a few turns at which point I can recall and hopefully recover. So I did my mulligan scry to reveal another lord on top which I put to the bottom. He had his usual turn one (something along the lines of land vault skirge, mox opal, go.) I topdecked Vial and played it and passed. he dropped a ton of stuff I can't remember and swung for 1 with skirge. I then topdecked a land and praised whatever deity that had chosen to favor me that day and played silvergill adept, which drew me a dismember. Long story short, through a crazy series of events he gets a ton of ***** out, gets me to 8 poison, folowing which I recall him returning his entire board to his hand and beat him down with my many lords and silvergill. The look on his face was wonderful.
Match: 2-1
Final record: 5-2
I love this list. I am noticing that I am often siding in the last master of Waves, so I might end up moving it back to mainboard, perhaps in place of Kira (so I'll just have 2 Kira in the side) let me know what you guys think and let me know if you have any questions for me!
Essentially the list I'm currently playing, except I play Snags over Pierces. (And my side is a little different.)
How are you liking the 2 Images mainboard?
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Modern UMerfolkU Legacy UFishU "I Want To Believe"
Remember relic is probably the most obvious way to combat a flipped jace; once he's flipped chances are you will never be in a position to kill him (unless the flip and negative him on the first go)
Now, you may notice I only have 14 cards in the sideboard there. That's because I showed up to the event late and had to register really fast, and in counting my sideboard for some reason I thought I counted 16 cards, so I cut one (there should be a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner). Turns out there were 15 to begin with and I just miscounted, so I played the event a card short in the side. I'm going off of memory for the match report, so it's not super detailed.
Round 1
Affinity
Game one is an auto loss. In my experience, this is pretty much always the case.
Sidebaording:
+ 2 Chalice
+3 Hurkyl's
+2 Dismember
+1 Master of Waves
- 1 Kira
- 4 Cursecatcher
-1 Spreading Seas
-2 Phantasmal Image
So the cuts got tough after the cursecatchers and Kira, but I really wanted the extra dismembers and the master of waves. If I were to do it again I might have swapped one more seas with an image to maintain threat density, but all in all I suppose it doesn't really matter. So game 2 I'm on the play, I drop t1 vial and chalice on 0 with hurkyl's recall sitting in hand. The rest of the game I pretty much just built up board power and let him smash me till I could recall and kill him in 2 turns. Game 3 I got the double reejery set up with 2 lords and a silvergill in hand. Went off the next turn and finished with hurkyl's to win.
match: 2-1
record: 1-0
Round 2
Taking turns (don't know the official name of this deck)
So for those of you who don't know what this deck is (I certainly didn't) it's mono-blue, and basically just runs 4 Dictate of Kruphix and ever extra turn card it can, and just delay with gigadrowse and Cryptic command until they can chain extra turn cards together and either mill you with Jace Beleren or kill you with Thassa, God of the Sea. I'm not going to force you to live through the boringness that was this matchup, but let's just say I got him to 5 or less both games before he went off.
Match: 0-2
record: 1-1
Round 3
Big Zoo (naya beats)
Homebrew deck, pretty much just rolled over this guy. It ran Wild Nacatls, Wooly Thoctars, and Wilt-leaf lieges. Both games islandwalk and dismsmber just rolled him.
sideboarding:
- 2 Spell pierce
- 3 Cursecatcher
+ 2 Dismember
+ 1 Master of Waves
+ 2 Spellskite
the matchup really isn't more interesting than I built up to Master of Waves for 5+ tokens both games and just stomped him.
Match: 2-0
Record: 2-1
Round 4
Slivers
So, this deck is literally just like merfolk but with less interaction (i.e. spell pierces and what not) and not as abusable with vial. game one he started off with the flying sliver and just built up too fast. He finished me of with CoCo (yes he ran CoCo and Vial) into haste sliver and first strike sliver which put the nail in the coffin.
Sideboarding:
- 1 Kira
- 2 Cursecatcher
+ 2 Dismember
+ 1 Master of Waves
Didn't really know what else to sideboard here. I knew he wasn't running removal, his gameplan was very all in. I thought about chalice but I only saw 2 or 3 one drops and figured that probably didn't warrant it over more threats. Game 2 i had the perfect curve from turn 1 vial into lord, lord, master of waves for the win. Game 3 was insane, but I'll speed you up to the crazy finale. he's at 24 and I'm at 4. I've got a couple lords. I play Phantasmal Image as a copy of his lifelink sliver, and swing with mutavault (who is getting the bonus from my two lords plus lifelink now) and a 3/3 cursecatcher to bring him to 17 and me to 8. I did the math, and with the lord I have in hand I have 17 islandwalk damage on board next turn. He plays a couple creatures, one of which is manaweft sliver, and uses his existing slivers to play more slivers. He has one non-sick creature (this will be relevant in a moment.) He also has vial on 4. he passes turn, I untap and play my lord, activate mutavault. So I now have 17 damage on board (2 4/4 lords, a 4/4 cursecatcher, and a 5/5 mutavault) as well as the lord I just played and the 2/2 lifelink sliver that phantasmal image is a copy of. He asks me to wait when I move to combat, and activates vial putting in a sliver (sorry I don't know the names) that has "slivers you control have [T]: tap target creature. So he has one non-sick creature, so he can tap one guy. All he has to do is tap any of the 4 viable attackers I mentioned above and I don't have lethal any longer. Instead, he targets the Image, which I happily sac and swing for the win. He just didn't do the math and didn't realize I had lethal that turn. In fairness, I probably would have one anyway, because by his own admission his next play was CoCo which, after we finished and he was just looking, would have completely whiffed. So, that was an exciting game 3.
Match: 2-1
Record: 3-1
Round 5
Jund
So, here is why I'm not in the top 8. Because Jund is a really good deck. Game one was a typical jund matchup. I made a crucial misplay not countering turn 1 thoughtseize with cursecatcher. My brain just froze and I didn't think of it, which was the beginning of the end of game one, as he took my only lord (I had mulled to a 5 card lord, cursecatcher, 3 land hand.)
Sideboard:
(this is the first match where I really felt not having that second Kira in my sideboard.)
- 4 Vials
- 2 Phantasmal Image
In case this isn't just accepted strategy at this point, I always side out vials versus Jund. I'm not trying to race them, they don't have counterspells, and playing things at instant speed has little benefit short of trying to be tricksy and dodge burn (not to mention, you want to be able to draw basically nothing but gas in this matchup, and the last thing you want to see mid-game when you're trying to apply pressure is a vial topdeck.)
game 2 I dropped a guy here or there and ended up eventually dropping Master of Waves into Master of Waves and that finished him. Game 3 I mulled to 5 and he had the absolute nuts. I think that even if I had kept a 7 card hand I probably wouldn't have beaten his hand. he immediately thoughtseized my spellskite, and then had a turn 2 goyf turn into a 5/6 by turn three that put a clock on me while he had endless removal for my creatures. There was just no winning that.
Match: 1-2
Record: 3-2
Round 6
RUG Delver?
So I actually never saw a delver, but that's the closest thing I can relate this deck to. It ran monastery Swiftspear and snapcaster and burn and probes, but it also had rancor (which was the only green spell I saw). Dismember and islandwalk did work here, as did master of waves.
Sideboarding:
- 4 Spreading Seas
- 2 Phantasmal Image
- 1 cursecatcher
+ 2 Spellskite
+ 2 Spell Pierce
+ 2 Chalice of the Void
+ 1 master of waves
Chalice of the void on 1 pretty much auto-won me game 2.
match: 2-0
record: 4-2
Last Round
Round 7
Affinity
So here was the final match of the night. The guy I was paired up against was pretty cool, we had talked earlier in the day, so he knew I was playing merfolk and I knew he was playing affinity. when I sat down, he kept saying "sorry man. God that sucks" when I asked why, he went on to explain to me how my deck physically cannot beat his deck, how it is just impossible. I told him I won against affinity round one, to which he replied "that guy was probably a bad magic player." That interaction makes the story that follows just SO much sweeter. So, like i said before, game one is an auto loss and this one was no different. But I played it out.
sideboarding:
- 4 Cursecatcher
- 1 Kira
- 2 Spreading Seas
+ 3 Hurkyl's
+ 2 Chalice
+ 2 dismember
holy ***** was this a wild ride. So game 2 was literally identical to game 2 from my round one match. on the play chalice on 0 with hurkyl's back up screwed him. Game three was insane. I mulled to 5 after getting two unkeepable hands (7 was 5 land, 6 was no land) and I kept the following hand on a prayer: Hurkyl's recall, Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Silvergill Adept, Island. I decided to keep because I figured that at worst I might draw the second land in a few turns at which point I can recall and hopefully recover. So I did my mulligan scry to reveal another lord on top which I put to the bottom. He had his usual turn one (something along the lines of land vault skirge, mox opal, go.) I topdecked Vial and played it and passed. he dropped a ton of stuff I can't remember and swung for 1 with skirge. I then topdecked a land and praised whatever deity that had chosen to favor me that day and played silvergill adept, which drew me a dismember. Long story short, through a crazy series of events he gets a ton of ***** out, gets me to 8 poison, folowing which I recall him returning his entire board to his hand and beat him down with my many lords and silvergill. The look on his face was wonderful.
Match: 2-1
Final record: 5-2
I love this list. I am noticing that I am often siding in the last master of Waves, so I might end up moving it back to mainboard, perhaps in place of Kira (so I'll just have 2 Kira in the side) let me know what you guys think and let me know if you have any questions for me!
Essentially the list I'm currently playing, except I play Snags over Pierces. (And my side is a little different.)
How are you liking the 2 Images mainboard?
I go back and forth to be honest. They do some really great things in the deck.
Pros: They act as 2-drop lords 9 and 10 or 2-drop master of waves but not color heavy. They can come down t4 as a second reejery leaving you with 2 mana to go nuts with (this is probably the biggest benefit), It can copy opponents creatures in certain situations (see: the slivers match up above).
Cons: can't reveal for Silvergill or Wanderwine, useless if you don't have another creature down, doesn't trigger reejery, very fragile.
Mainboard they are basically replacing the fourth master of waves and the fourth harbinger. I'm definitely happy with the one less harbinger, as I really don't think they're good enough to be four ofs, and the image can still be a harbinger but still be good against creature-light decks as something else. I have been thinking recently about taking out one of the images for the last master of waves, because I do seem to be siding it in pretty often. I'm just always afraid of not hitting four and being stuck with more than one master of waves in hand. If I did that it would open up another sideboard slot that I could make use of (maybe the fourth hurkyl's recall since they are just so crucial in the affinity and lantern matchups).
They are blue sources of mana that don't get hosed by choke and boil
AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!!
When will people remember to say this!? Seriously.
Well - the chances of this being relevant are farily low - even if by some small miracle you have an opportunity to not play islands - your opponent will have spreading seas anyway
The key is not whether they have islands. It's who gets to swing with islandwalk and opposing islands first. That tempo difference often determines the winner in the mirror.
also, if my meta is heavy with burn and twin, what would be a good decklist choice for that type of meta?
This from my limited knowledge in Modern Fish:
Burn
For Burn, if you're going mono-U, your best bet is Master of Waves. He has protection from burn and makes many elementals, which means many targets the burn player needs to take care of.
You may also want to side in some Tidebinder Mage if you have them in your sideboard, though his efficacy is disputed since Burn creatures are cheap and things like Goblin Guide don't care to be bounced back when they're coming back to attack you next turn.
Bring in Kira if she's in your sideboard as well, and your counterspell package consisting of Spell Pierce and Swan Song (rather than Remand).
I'd also get rid of the Dismembers and Vapor Snags mainboard, particularly the former since it's rather ineffective in this match-up. Spreading Seas you side out here as well, since it can only be good on the play and it is most effective against multi-coloured decks.
Basically, you want to be as fast as possible, don't be afraid to trade creatures but also don't be afraid to play around Goblin Guide if you think you're in a good position to deal the finishing blow next turn.
Counter the burn spells, and use Harbinger and Tidebinder to bounce things like Eidolon (which you can also counter with Song, btw).
With regards to lands, you may want to cut down on the Caverns (since they can get in the way of letting you play your Pierce/Song/Kira).
Removing 2 Caverns from your maindeck play-set has the added benefit of freeing up slots for Seachrome Coast and Wanderwine Hub. As mentioned before, these help protect against things like Boil.
These lands also open up the possibility of adding Sejiri Merfolk, and by extension Path to Exile and Worship (all of which are effective in the Burn match-up, particularly the latter) in a UW build, should you decide to go down that route.
One final card that I've heard can be pretty amazing against Burn is Monastery Siege (the Dragon part), but I haven't tried it myself, so I can't vouch for it.
I tried Monastery Siege against Burn last Sunday, and it was absolutely perfect. Just a card that shuts the burn deck down completely.
I attended a local modern event, which I knew to be burn heavy, so I put 2 Monastery Siege in the main plus 2 in the sideboard. I played vs 2 burn players in a row that night and it was 2-0, 2-1. The only game that I lost I was manascrewed.
As soon as the Monastery Siege hits the table, the game is almost over. As soon as the second one hits the table (sometimes it happens the next turn), my opponent concedes the game.
As far as Phantasmal Image is concerned, I liked it even in Burn matchups. It can copy your Tidebinder, Silvergill, Lord, or MoW and generate even more tokens (especially when vialed in with Vial on 2 to copy MoW). But on the other hand, if you manage to cast MoW, the game is already pretty much in your favor.
You can probably cut two creatures to mainboard the dismembers (you are heavy on 3-drops). Four Tidebinders seems like it would be overkill but I don't know your meta. Finally, I will always recommend sideboarding at least 3 Tectonic Edges for the matchups where you don't want Aether Vial
Hi! this is what I plan on sleeving up for the RPTQ this weekend. I've been winning a lot with this list and I wrote an extensive SB and card analysis guide that I posted on Reddit. To avoid crossposting I'll just link it here. Feel free to message me or leave questions/suggestions here or there. Thanks!
Edit: Just noticed it's my 4-year cake day. Sweet.
Private Mod Note
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YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
You can probably cut two creatures to mainboard the dismembers (you are heavy on 3-drops). Four Tidebinders seems like it would be overkill but I don't know your meta. Finally, I will always recommend sideboarding at least 3 Tectonic Edges for the matchups where you don't want Aether Vial
Is Tectonic Edge really better than Ghost Quarter for us? I'm thinking the primary matchup I'd want more land hate than Spreading Seas in is Tron, and they can ruin our day with just 3 lands. I see where you're coming from with regards to the land hate, but I don't think being at card parity should matter to us as much as swift disruption.
They are blue sources of mana that don't get hosed by choke and boil
AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!!
When will people remember to say this!? Seriously.
Well - the chances of this being relevant are farily low - even if by some small miracle you have an opportunity to not play islands - your opponent will have spreading seas anyway
This is completely incorrect. Merfolk is now a not-insignificant portion of the metagame and keeping Spreading Seas in against your opponent is a horrible choice post-board.
In addition, there is still no reason why this (relevant) 3rd reason should not be in everyone's mind when spouting off at new players about the odd mana base. I repeat, there is NO REASON not to mention OPPOSING ISLANDWALK.
You can probably cut two creatures to mainboard the dismembers (you are heavy on 3-drops). Four Tidebinders seems like it would be overkill but I don't know your meta. Finally, I will always recommend sideboarding at least 3 Tectonic Edges for the matchups where you don't want Aether Vial
Is Tectonic Edge really better than Ghost Quarter for us? I'm thinking the primary matchup I'd want more land hate than Spreading Seas in is Tron, and they can ruin our day with just 3 lands. I see where you're coming from with regards to the land hate, but I don't think being at card parity should matter to us as much as swift disruption.
Tron is a target, but natural turn 3 Tron is perhaps a risk we must be willing to take so we can use lands that do not net us card DISadvantage. Against decks like 3+ colour control or Jund, allowing them to fetch a basic takes away the likelihood of colour-screwing them.
[quote from="Bearscape »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/tier-1-modern/220260-merfolk?comment=9580"]You can probably cut two creatures to mainboard the dismembers (you are heavy on 3-drops). Four Tidebinders seems like it would be overkill but I don't know your meta. Finally, I will always recommend sideboarding at least 3 Tectonic Edges for the matchups where you don't want Aether Vial
Is Tectonic Edge really better than Ghost Quarter for us? I'm thinking the primary matchup I'd want more land hate than Spreading Seas in is Tron, and they can ruin our day with just 3 lands. I see where you're coming from with regards to the land hate, but I don't think being at card parity should matter to us as much as swift disruption.
Watch Ninkachu's most recent video for a prime example of why tectonic edge is not better than Ghost Quarter against Tron. "Natural Tron" is not all that uncommon. Our gameplan isn't to color screw people in games where they draw 4+ lands, it's to disrupt manlands, enable islandwalk, and get free wins when they're land light.
YMTC: We need a spikey red enchantment. My creations:
RR
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
[quote from="Bearscape »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/tier-1-modern/220260-merfolk?comment=9580"]You can probably cut two creatures to mainboard the dismembers (you are heavy on 3-drops). Four Tidebinders seems like it would be overkill but I don't know your meta. Finally, I will always recommend sideboarding at least 3 Tectonic Edges for the matchups where you don't want Aether Vial
Is Tectonic Edge really better than Ghost Quarter for us? I'm thinking the primary matchup I'd want more land hate than Spreading Seas in is Tron, and they can ruin our day with just 3 lands. I see where you're coming from with regards to the land hate, but I don't think being at card parity should matter to us as much as swift disruption.
Watch Ninkachu's most recent video for a prime example of why tectonic edge is not better than Ghost Quarter against Tron. "Natural Tron" is not all that uncommon. Our gameplan isn't to color screw people in games where they draw 4+ lands, it's to disrupt manlands, enable islandwalk, and get free wins when they're land light.
</blockquote> I would have lost my Jund match in Part 2 if I played with Ghost quarter instead of Tectonic Edge. Color screwing people happens often vs 3 color decks. Vs Tron, Tectonic Edge by itself is not so hot. Tectonic Edge + any supporting disruption is usually quite good. Ghost Quarter is also a playable land but narrow in applications. Basically Tron, Amulet Bloom, Infect, Affinity.
It's also worth noting that if you cut Tron off early with Spreading Seas, they're forced to play more lands to play Magic and this makes Tectonic Edge better. Ghost Quarter is much better if you want to prevent the the t3 Karn/Wurmcoil. I think in general, I like Tectonic Edge "better", but their specific uses are just different.
...the tecs aren't for tron, they're for BGx matchups. Yes they should also be boarded in versus tron, but that's not their primary purspose. We should already have a pretty decent matchup versus tron with mainboard land disruption, a fast clock and countermagic
Yay me! I also just went 4-1 with almost Nikachu's list (1 vapor in place of a tide side, phantasmal and a snag main in place of dismember, note these changes weren't exactly intended...), (after going 2-3 yesterday with my own list =/...). I lost round 3 to elves =/ (he pretty much had the perfect draw both games, it was ugly for the fishies). I had a nail biter of a game round 5 against UW Tron Mindslaver/Platinum Angel. He was taking forever playing my turns, so I took the opportunity to plan to time him out. He was down to just over a minute, and I got him by natural damage game 3, no cheese required!
They are blue sources of mana that don't get hosed by choke and boil
AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!! AND OPPOSING ISLANDWALK!!!
When will people remember to say this!? Seriously.
Well - the chances of this being relevant are farily low - even if by some small miracle you have an opportunity to not play islands - your opponent will have spreading seas anyway
This is completely incorrect. Merfolk is now a not-insignificant portion of the metagame and keeping Spreading Seas in against your opponent is a horrible choice post-board.
In addition, there is still no reason why this (relevant) 3rd reason should not be in everyone's mind when spouting off at new players about the odd mana base. I repeat, there is NO REASON not to mention OPPOSING ISLANDWALK.
Nice cap lock usage Fetchland.
To the contrary it is not completely incorrect to keep spreading sea's in - you seem to have little understanding of the deck. Spreading Sea's is removal for Mutavault's - you may not keep in all 4 - but most lists dont have anything better to side them out for.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
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Essentially the list I'm currently playing, except I play Snags over Pierces. (And my side is a little different.)
How are you liking the 2 Images mainboard?
U Merfolk U
Legacy
U Fish U
"I Want To Believe"
I go back and forth to be honest. They do some really great things in the deck.
Pros: They act as 2-drop lords 9 and 10 or 2-drop master of waves but not color heavy. They can come down t4 as a second reejery leaving you with 2 mana to go nuts with (this is probably the biggest benefit), It can copy opponents creatures in certain situations (see: the slivers match up above).
Cons: can't reveal for Silvergill or Wanderwine, useless if you don't have another creature down, doesn't trigger reejery, very fragile.
Mainboard they are basically replacing the fourth master of waves and the fourth harbinger. I'm definitely happy with the one less harbinger, as I really don't think they're good enough to be four ofs, and the image can still be a harbinger but still be good against creature-light decks as something else. I have been thinking recently about taking out one of the images for the last master of waves, because I do seem to be siding it in pretty often. I'm just always afraid of not hitting four and being stuck with more than one master of waves in hand. If I did that it would open up another sideboard slot that I could make use of (maybe the fourth hurkyl's recall since they are just so crucial in the affinity and lantern matchups).
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I tried Monastery Siege against Burn last Sunday, and it was absolutely perfect. Just a card that shuts the burn deck down completely.
I attended a local modern event, which I knew to be burn heavy, so I put 2 Monastery Siege in the main plus 2 in the sideboard. I played vs 2 burn players in a row that night and it was 2-0, 2-1. The only game that I lost I was manascrewed.
As soon as the Monastery Siege hits the table, the game is almost over. As soon as the second one hits the table (sometimes it happens the next turn), my opponent concedes the game.
As far as Phantasmal Image is concerned, I liked it even in Burn matchups. It can copy your Tidebinder, Silvergill, Lord, or MoW and generate even more tokens (especially when vialed in with Vial on 2 to copy MoW). But on the other hand, if you manage to cast MoW, the game is already pretty much in your favor.
Merfolk in Modern Ep.42 Pt.4 vs RG Tron (Nikachu)
https://youtu.be/lFH4AkUjMPo
https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/3qe4kr/merfolk_for_rptq_75_and_sb_guide_modern/
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of Waves
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
1 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Pierce
Lands
9 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Wanderwine Hub
4 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Dismember
1 Negate
1 Echoing Truth
1 Engineered Explosives
Edit: Just noticed it's my 4-year cake day. Sweet.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
Is Tectonic Edge really better than Ghost Quarter for us? I'm thinking the primary matchup I'd want more land hate than Spreading Seas in is Tron, and they can ruin our day with just 3 lands. I see where you're coming from with regards to the land hate, but I don't think being at card parity should matter to us as much as swift disruption.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
This is completely incorrect. Merfolk is now a not-insignificant portion of the metagame and keeping Spreading Seas in against your opponent is a horrible choice post-board.
In addition, there is still no reason why this (relevant) 3rd reason should not be in everyone's mind when spouting off at new players about the odd mana base. I repeat, there is NO REASON not to mention OPPOSING ISLANDWALK.
Tron is a target, but natural turn 3 Tron is perhaps a risk we must be willing to take so we can use lands that do not net us card DISadvantage. Against decks like 3+ colour control or Jund, allowing them to fetch a basic takes away the likelihood of colour-screwing them.
Watch Ninkachu's most recent video for a prime example of why tectonic edge is not better than Ghost Quarter against Tron. "Natural Tron" is not all that uncommon. Our gameplan isn't to color screw people in games where they draw 4+ lands, it's to disrupt manlands, enable islandwalk, and get free wins when they're land light.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, [Card] deals 2 damage to them.
-or-
R
Whenever a player would gain life, flip a coin. If heads, that player loses that much life instead. If tails sacrifice [card] and that player gains that life as per usual.
Fires Rf Salvation
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
Yay me! I also just went 4-1 with almost Nikachu's list (1 vapor in place of a tide side, phantasmal and a snag main in place of dismember, note these changes weren't exactly intended...), (after going 2-3 yesterday with my own list =/...). I lost round 3 to elves =/ (he pretty much had the perfect draw both games, it was ugly for the fishies). I had a nail biter of a game round 5 against UW Tron Mindslaver/Platinum Angel. He was taking forever playing my turns, so I took the opportunity to plan to time him out. He was down to just over a minute, and I got him by natural damage game 3, no cheese required!
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Nice cap lock usage Fetchland.
To the contrary it is not completely incorrect to keep spreading sea's in - you seem to have little understanding of the deck. Spreading Sea's is removal for Mutavault's - you may not keep in all 4 - but most lists dont have anything better to side them out for.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver