I'm pretty tired of this answer because it can mislead the questioner to think they don't need to buy these lands because it has fringe utility. While this is true of Minamo, School at Water's Edge it is NOT true of Oboro, Palace in the Clouds. Oboro allows you to filter the brown mana from mutavault into blue mana to help cast lords, Tidebinder Mage or any UU spell. Some hands with Island Mutavault are not keepable but plenty keepable with Oboro + Mutavault.
My Merfolk have done very well for me lately. Good job, fishies!
My latest list I'm pretty sold on and likely to remain unchanged for the upcoming Grand Prix(s) unless something drastic happens to the metagame.
11 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 Wanderwine Hub
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Master of Waves
4 Aether Vial
2 Vapor Snag
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Dismember
4 Spreading Seas
Sideboard
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
3 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
1 Master of Waves
Hey fellow fish players, anybody here going to GP Charlotte? It's my first GP, so I'm trying to get my list as close to ready as I can. I expect a good amount of burn since it's a big tournament and I'm sure a lot of people will be playing the cheapest tier one deck.
I didn't write the games down but a few pointers:
-I think ignoring the affinity matchup is a mistake. I played against it twice during the GP and won both times, although I do have to say that one of the players wasn't very good at the deck and made a lot of mistakes.
-Chalice of the Void is still really good and saved me twice from grixis and once from bogles, of which the latter I'd say is an even worse matchup than affinity. Still lost once to bogles with chalice on the field, when my opponent went Spirit Mantle into double Daybreak Coronet. Wasn't pretty.
-Collected Company is a real thing and that is bad news for us. The matchup is pretty much "Spreading Seas or bust". Merrow Reejerey works amazing here though, making you able to overrun them or tapping down a blocker.
-In all the games I played I didn't see Tidebinder Mage once, but I very rarely wanted to side it out.
-I sided out Master of Waves very often and it might be a good idea to move at least one to the side.
-Opposite to that, I sided in Relic of Progenitus almost every game, and playing them mainboard seems like a good plan. I wouldn't want to go below 26 creatures however, and you need all 4 Spreading Seas.
-Surprisingly I didn't play against burn once, even though I saw it next to me a few times.
The lamentations of a Seased Jund players is music to my ears, even if it comes from a generally good guy.
„I hate losing to Merfolk“ and „Merfolk ought to be a very, very good matchup with Abzan but this deck gets Bolt, Mancer and everything like that...“ will not get any sympathy points for the loser
Played my first paper event yesterday(mostly play MTGO) coming 2nd out of 20 going 4-1. Had no clue what to expect going into it and I meant to make some changes before going to the event but figured I'd just play with whatever was already in my deckbox.
Nothing too notable about any of the games other than the fact that Unified Will definitely swung the game in my favor 2/3 games I drew it.
2-1 Storm
2-1 Bloom
1-2 Jund
2-0 Bloom
2-1 Grixis Delve (the one with Gurmag Angler)
After looking around the store looks like it's not very aggro heavy it had
A couple Jund/Junk
Both G/R and U Tron
Up to 3 Bloom players
2-4 random combo brews
A bit of burn but was told the players aren't very experienced
With that being said I will probably make the following changes next week:
Main:
-1 Spell Pierce
-1 Vapor Snag
-1 Merrow Reejerey
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Unified Will - I think it's only bad against burn in the group of decks I saw
Thinking about Phantasmal Image as I can get away with it against most of these decks
Side:
-2 Monastery Siege
-1 Tidebinder Mage
-1 Chalice of the Void
-2 Spell Snare
+2 Spellskite (my prize from the event I played)
This gives me 4 cards to play with for my sideboard for next week. Any suggestions? Something catch all for Combo decks, particularly bloom? Thinking maybe,
Hey fellow fish players, anybody here going to GP Charlotte? It's my first GP, so I'm trying to get my list as close to ready as I can. I expect a good amount of burn since it's a big tournament and I'm sure a lot of people will be playing the cheapest tier one deck.
I'll be there, I'm working on firming up the list and sideboard I want to run for the actual event. I'm also curious how much actual metagame intelligence once can expect to gather from playing Friday modern events before the main.
@Nikachu
Am i right to assume, WanderwineHubs are vs. the rising Choke popularity?
How did you decide on the 2Snag2Dismembersplit?
Is Chalice still worth the Sideboardslot?
Did you try out Worship? How was it going?
Yeah, a lot of choke running around these days. They were probably always playable in the main to reduce your island count vs choke and maybe opposing Merfolk decks but I never bothered to buy them until recently.
The 2 Snag 2 Dismember split is just a default for me. It feel fine and I don't have any metagame reason to change it.
Not 100% sure about Chalice but Burn is still scary and I would like that edge against it. Chalice still has utility against a lot of decks so it's not a waste of space at all.
I haven't tried Worship. It looks really good on paper but my gut instinct is telling me that it might be overrated.
My latest list I'm pretty sold on and likely to remain unchanged for the upcoming Grand Prix(s) unless something drastic happens to the metagame.
You're writing off the Affinity matchup then? Or just hoping the Chalice and Dismember can carry it?
I don't really like Dismember in the Affinity match Yeah I'm writing it off as usual. I have for forever. I should make a video why so people stop asking me why I have no Affinity hate The only real way to beat affinity is to hope the player is awful AND they draw a bad hand. All the Hurkyl's Recalls in the world won't beat a great Affinity hand.
Lastly regarding Podless Company decks, I have been smashing them. I sideboard as follows:
-4 Cursecatcher
-1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Dismember
+1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Master of Waves
+2 Tidebinder Mage
Attack their Mana dorks as much as possible with Vapor Snags, Dismembers, and Tidebinder Mage. Then overwhelm them with the rest of our creatures. I think Relic deserves a slot in the deck to deal with the combo plus Eternal Witness getting value but I don't really want to cut anything from my deck. If you have open slots Relic can certainly fill them.
-I sided out Master of Waves very often and it might be a good idea to move at least one to the side.
I've honestly stopped running him altogether. Where speed is needed I always have to drop him way too late. I focus more on getting the smaller growers out first then backing them up with some cheap/light control to stall out the opponent.
Dismember is a tough one to use because it's always gonna cost 4 life and that's pretty killer in the Jund, Junk, any heavy aggro match-up. I opt to not use it at all and just go for a set of Vapor Snag with 2x Echoing Truth in the side for planeswalkers and stuff.
For Affinity, I'm the same way...I have a bout a 30/70 win-loss record with it, but have found great success in using cheap counters like Annul and Swan Song instead of Steel Sabotage (which is just fine too!). I find Annul to be better for a wide range of decks like Bogle, Burn (for Eidolon of the Great Revel) and Junk (or anything with Courser of Kruphix). Negate has a special place in my sideboard and it works well against Affinity too for Cranial Plating and the like. Spreading Seas is usually MVP for me against Affinity though. Because it first shuts down a Blinkmoth Nexus or whatever man land they have out and makes your team unblockable and able to cut through their life total like a hot knife through butter!!
-I sided out Master of Waves very often and it might be a good idea to move at least one to the side.
I've honestly stopped running him altogether. Where speed is needed I always have to drop him way too late. I focus more on getting the smaller growers out first then backing them up with some cheap/light control to stall out the opponent.
I only have to get them to zero
Master of Waves is the best card against the following Tier 1 decks:
Twin
Jund
Abzan
Delver
Podless Company
UWx Control
While it is a bit clunky it is also powerful (at least as 2x) against:
Burn
Small Zoo
And is still plenty playable against all sorts of other decks. People willing to remove it from the deck entirely are crazy. If you want to win a big tournament you have to expect to play vs the Tier 1 decks and you'll want that extra power. Going to 2x in the 75 imo has to be a metagame decision for your local meta (or you play the white splash where Seachrome Coast makes it awkward to reliably cast Master of Waves by turn 4).
Dismember is a tough one to use because it's always gonna cost 4 life and that's pretty killer in the Jund, Junk, any heavy aggro match-up.
Its decks like Jund and Junk that i continue to use Dismember. The life loss hurts but Tarmogoyf beating down on you every turn hurts more. Vapor Snag is okay but I don't want to be at card disadvantage against a deck trying to trade 1 for 1.
Annul is pretty terrible vs Burn and any Courser deck (assuming BGx). Like against Burn you're holding up mana to counter 1 of 4 cards in their deck. So you slow yourself down and they might not even have Eidolon in their hand and you lose to the other 95% of their deck. Plus they can just play it turn 2 when you probably tapped out for a creature or Vial...
Now against BGx decks I cannot stress enough how BAD counterspells are. When they Inquisition or Thoughtsieze you they will take the counterspell if it's a real problem but likely let you keep it because they will play around it the rest of the game. Essentially a 2 for 1. Also you are way best served tapping out and putting pressure on a BGx deck than to play it slower holding up mana. Annul especially is so situational in this case you are starting the game with a dead card.
The only playable counter against BGx imo is Remand (thought not great by any means, just playable). The only optimal way the opponent can play around that is to not play anything at all (which might be fine if they are ahead on board).
I'll be there, I'm working on firming up the list and sideboard I want to run for the actual event. I'm also curious how much actual metagame intelligence once can expect to gather from playing Friday modern events before the main.
My opinion is that Friday events are going to help you familiarize yourself with the venue, tables, environment and provide additional practice with your deck more than give meta projections.
You should lock in to your 75 cards days before the event and have a sideboard plan for major decks.
People with 2-3 byes won't be there and you will not have a clear picture.
Losing at random against some brew at LCQ will just skew your vision and make you do last minute changes.
If you want to win a big tournament you have to expect to play vs the Tier 1 decks and you'll want that extra power.
Not if it's unnecessary. Too many times have I sat on 3 lands with a Master of Waves in hand with card draw still not getting me to number 4. So many times it's been much more efficient and consistent to go with the two-power lords + Aether Vial at 2. This is what wins my games, allowing me to protect my threats with some cheap control. I'm not arguing against the card in general, but half the time my opponent is dead or done by turn 4 anyways.
The only playable counter against BGx imo is Remand (thought not great by any means, just playable). The only optimal way the opponent can play around that is to not play anything at all (which might be fine if they are ahead on board).
Spell Snare has merit, however. Something that acts as a great response to most of their threats. I don't care if a jund player plays around it, I can win that race so easy.
Spell Snare has merit, however. Something that acts as a great response to most of their threats. I don't care if a jund player plays around it, I can win that race so easy.
I'm going to reiterate again, there are no good counters for BGx. If spell snare is a problem, they will take it with thoughtsieze, otherwise they will let you keep it. I would rather have dismember which kills most of whatever you wanted to spell snare away anyway while also targeting Siege Rhino, Olivia, Huntmaster, Courser, etc.
The BGx match up is very delicate but I think it can be won easily if none of the slots in the 75 are wasted.
Lastly topdecking a counter in this sort of match up is very brutal.
Regarding Master of Waves, I always have utility lands to side in post board to help cast him. If you don't have extra lands in the sideboard I can understand not wanting the full 4x.
They EOT burn one of my lord and wipe my board even if I have a cursecatcher or two.
15 Island
4 Mutavault
Creatures
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Merrow Reejerey
2 Coralhelm Commander
2 Phantasmal Image
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
4 Remand
4 Vapor Snag
3 Spell Pierce
4 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Spell Pierce
4 Spell Snare
3 Tidebinder Mage
3 Spellskite
Honestly Fish decks always have the worst matchups against really fast decks be it combo or aggro.
Defense against Choke, mainly.
I'm pretty tired of this answer because it can mislead the questioner to think they don't need to buy these lands because it has fringe utility. While this is true of Minamo, School at Water's Edge it is NOT true of Oboro, Palace in the Clouds. Oboro allows you to filter the brown mana from mutavault into blue mana to help cast lords, Tidebinder Mage or any UU spell. Some hands with Island Mutavault are not keepable but plenty keepable with Oboro + Mutavault.
My latest list I'm pretty sold on and likely to remain unchanged for the upcoming Grand Prix(s) unless something drastic happens to the metagame.
11 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 Wanderwine Hub
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Master of Waves
4 Aether Vial
2 Vapor Snag
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Dismember
4 Spreading Seas
Sideboard
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
3 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
1 Master of Waves
You're writing off the Affinity matchup then? Or just hoping the Chalice and Dismember can carry it?
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Tidebinder Mage
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Master of Waves
4 Aether Vial
3 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Pierce
4 Spreading Seas
lands
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Mutavault
12 Island
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Negate
2 Dismember
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Tectonic Edge
I didn't write the games down but a few pointers:
-I think ignoring the affinity matchup is a mistake. I played against it twice during the GP and won both times, although I do have to say that one of the players wasn't very good at the deck and made a lot of mistakes.
-Chalice of the Void is still really good and saved me twice from grixis and once from bogles, of which the latter I'd say is an even worse matchup than affinity. Still lost once to bogles with chalice on the field, when my opponent went Spirit Mantle into double Daybreak Coronet. Wasn't pretty.
-Collected Company is a real thing and that is bad news for us. The matchup is pretty much "Spreading Seas or bust". Merrow Reejerey works amazing here though, making you able to overrun them or tapping down a blocker.
-In all the games I played I didn't see Tidebinder Mage once, but I very rarely wanted to side it out.
-I sided out Master of Waves very often and it might be a good idea to move at least one to the side.
-Opposite to that, I sided in Relic of Progenitus almost every game, and playing them mainboard seems like a good plan. I wouldn't want to go below 26 creatures however, and you need all 4 Spreading Seas.
-Surprisingly I didn't play against burn once, even though I saw it next to me a few times.
The lamentations of a Seased Jund players is music to my ears, even if it comes from a generally good guy.
„I hate losing to Merfolk“ and „Merfolk ought to be a very, very good matchup with Abzan but this deck gets Bolt, Mancer and everything like that...“ will not get any sympathy points for the loser
I ran:
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Adept
3x Merrow Reejerey
3x Master of Waves
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1x Phantasmal Image
1x Unified Will
2x Spell Pierce
2x Vapor Snag
2x Dismember
4x Spreading Seas
4x Aether Vial
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4x Mutavault
14x Island
1x Dismember
3x Chalice of the Void
2x Monastery Siege
2x Tectonic Edge
2x Spell Snare
3x Tidebinder Mage
2x Relic of Progenitus
Nothing too notable about any of the games other than the fact that Unified Will definitely swung the game in my favor 2/3 games I drew it.
2-1 Storm
2-1 Bloom
1-2 Jund
2-0 Bloom
2-1 Grixis Delve (the one with Gurmag Angler)
After looking around the store looks like it's not very aggro heavy it had
With that being said I will probably make the following changes next week:
Main:
Side:
I'd appreciate any feedback. Still new to Fish.
I'll be there, I'm working on firming up the list and sideboard I want to run for the actual event. I'm also curious how much actual metagame intelligence once can expect to gather from playing Friday modern events before the main.
Yeah, a lot of choke running around these days. They were probably always playable in the main to reduce your island count vs choke and maybe opposing Merfolk decks but I never bothered to buy them until recently.
The 2 Snag 2 Dismember split is just a default for me. It feel fine and I don't have any metagame reason to change it.
Not 100% sure about Chalice but Burn is still scary and I would like that edge against it. Chalice still has utility against a lot of decks so it's not a waste of space at all.
I haven't tried Worship. It looks really good on paper but my gut instinct is telling me that it might be overrated.
I don't really like Dismember in the Affinity match
Lastly regarding Podless Company decks, I have been smashing them. I sideboard as follows:
-4 Cursecatcher
-1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Dismember
+1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Master of Waves
+2 Tidebinder Mage
Attack their Mana dorks as much as possible with Vapor Snags, Dismembers, and Tidebinder Mage. Then overwhelm them with the rest of our creatures. I think Relic deserves a slot in the deck to deal with the combo plus Eternal Witness getting value but I don't really want to cut anything from my deck. If you have open slots Relic can certainly fill them.
I've honestly stopped running him altogether. Where speed is needed I always have to drop him way too late. I focus more on getting the smaller growers out first then backing them up with some cheap/light control to stall out the opponent.
I only have to get them to zero
For Affinity, I'm the same way...I have a bout a 30/70 win-loss record with it, but have found great success in using cheap counters like Annul and Swan Song instead of Steel Sabotage (which is just fine too!). I find Annul to be better for a wide range of decks like Bogle, Burn (for Eidolon of the Great Revel) and Junk (or anything with Courser of Kruphix). Negate has a special place in my sideboard and it works well against Affinity too for Cranial Plating and the like. Spreading Seas is usually MVP for me against Affinity though. Because it first shuts down a Blinkmoth Nexus or whatever man land they have out and makes your team unblockable and able to cut through their life total like a hot knife through butter!!
Twitch Channel - https://www.twitch.tv/moontimedweller
MODERN - Mono-Blue Merfolk & 7-Forest Goblin Charbelcher
LEGACY - Ruby Storm & Burn
PAUPER - Zombies, Bogles, & Burn
Master of Waves is the best card against the following Tier 1 decks:
Twin
Jund
Abzan
Delver
Podless Company
UWx Control
While it is a bit clunky it is also powerful (at least as 2x) against:
Burn
Small Zoo
And is still plenty playable against all sorts of other decks. People willing to remove it from the deck entirely are crazy. If you want to win a big tournament you have to expect to play vs the Tier 1 decks and you'll want that extra power. Going to 2x in the 75 imo has to be a metagame decision for your local meta (or you play the white splash where Seachrome Coast makes it awkward to reliably cast Master of Waves by turn 4).
Its decks like Jund and Junk that i continue to use Dismember. The life loss hurts but Tarmogoyf beating down on you every turn hurts more. Vapor Snag is okay but I don't want to be at card disadvantage against a deck trying to trade 1 for 1.
Annul is pretty terrible vs Burn and any Courser deck (assuming BGx). Like against Burn you're holding up mana to counter 1 of 4 cards in their deck. So you slow yourself down and they might not even have Eidolon in their hand and you lose to the other 95% of their deck. Plus they can just play it turn 2 when you probably tapped out for a creature or Vial...
Now against BGx decks I cannot stress enough how BAD counterspells are. When they Inquisition or Thoughtsieze you they will take the counterspell if it's a real problem but likely let you keep it because they will play around it the rest of the game. Essentially a 2 for 1. Also you are way best served tapping out and putting pressure on a BGx deck than to play it slower holding up mana. Annul especially is so situational in this case you are starting the game with a dead card.
The only playable counter against BGx imo is Remand (thought not great by any means, just playable). The only optimal way the opponent can play around that is to not play anything at all (which might be fine if they are ahead on board).
My opinion is that Friday events are going to help you familiarize yourself with the venue, tables, environment and provide additional practice with your deck more than give meta projections.
You should lock in to your 75 cards days before the event and have a sideboard plan for major decks.
People with 2-3 byes won't be there and you will not have a clear picture.
Losing at random against some brew at LCQ will just skew your vision and make you do last minute changes.
Not if it's unnecessary. Too many times have I sat on 3 lands with a Master of Waves in hand with card draw still not getting me to number 4. So many times it's been much more efficient and consistent to go with the two-power lords + Aether Vial at 2. This is what wins my games, allowing me to protect my threats with some cheap control. I'm not arguing against the card in general, but half the time my opponent is dead or done by turn 4 anyways.
Spell Snare has merit, however. Something that acts as a great response to most of their threats. I don't care if a jund player plays around it, I can win that race so easy.
I'm going to reiterate again, there are no good counters for BGx. If spell snare is a problem, they will take it with thoughtsieze, otherwise they will let you keep it. I would rather have dismember which kills most of whatever you wanted to spell snare away anyway while also targeting Siege Rhino, Olivia, Huntmaster, Courser, etc.
The BGx match up is very delicate but I think it can be won easily if none of the slots in the 75 are wasted.
Lastly topdecking a counter in this sort of match up is very brutal.
Regarding Master of Waves, I always have utility lands to side in post board to help cast him. If you don't have extra lands in the sideboard I can understand not wanting the full 4x.
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Mutavault
4 Flooded Strand
4 Breeding Pool
8 Island
1 Flooded Grove
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Collected Company
1 Monastery Siege
4 Deprive
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