Outside of DNT or HateBears I doubt it would even see play anywhere or if it does I doubt they would bring it in since Stony Silence is just a better 2 mana answer in white to vial nonsense.
Congrats for taking value I mostly do the same thing when presented.
Quote from L0rdAceX »
Round 1: Burn (Lost roll) G1: I played vs Burn last week at the other PPTQ round 1 and I grimaced as he goes Mire -> Mountain -> Goblin Guide. My hand was pretty good vs literally anything else (The Dismember and 2 Spreading Seas in my hand were looking pretty awful). This matchup strikes me as 30/70 before board and 60/40 afterward based on the number of times I’ve played it (so I guess 50/50 overall?).
Burn nowdays is up to four colors deck (Atarka's Command, Boros Charm, Bump in the Night, Tasigur, Kolaghan's Command) plus many colored symbols cards like Eidolon, Searings, Revelry... They are not playing many lands in general. While they are cracking and fetching and burning both of us, I am trying to control their mana with Seas. I never side out Spreading Seas against them.
Snag into Seas into Kira (or Skite + Pierce after game 1) into Master is my main plan. With 4 Tidebinder + 4 Waves I don't have 30:70 game 1 against burn. 3 Skite + 4 Pierce after side is even better.
Thanks! It feels good to be in the "I did well with Merfolk at x event" club now hahaha. Good to hear I'm not the only one who would take the money and run
As for Burn, I don't feel safe leaving in Spreading Seas against Burn. I don't feel like you have the time to cast it (it feels bad casting it into an Eidolon too) and its all in vain of they do have more lands in their hand; just not a risk I'm willing to take. IMO, the best way to beat Burn is to interact with it early, stabilize by playing more and more creatures, and then go for the kill. One more thing: Searing Blaze is REALLY pivotal in that matchup for them. If you get hit by a couple of them, its a blow out.
I don't actually own 3 Skite so I never thought to try more than just 1. It was super clutch in that burn matchup though so adding more is something to think about.
Before anyone else posts it, the coco merfolk list is probably the best i've seen but I still don't like it. It just auto loses to some decks from having no control cards, we could get run out of the gate before we ever cast coco (hello infect)
@SilvergillMaster I was just about to inquire about Coco Merfolk haha. I think you're right about the control cards, that seems like it would really hurt.
Congrats also to TopdeckLikeABoss! It seems like we are making enemies at tournaments
Why 4 Dispel in the main? Other than CoCo I don't see other usage.
Round 5: 2-0 against burn. Master of Waves and Tidebinder Mage were all-stars. Opponent did six to themselves each game. I boarded in Mizzium Skin, hilarity ensued.
Vials had to stay, Reej and/or Catcher can go. Vials are great for dumping Lords while keeping mana for Pierce, Skin, Negate, Dispel. Also great when he has Eidolon of the Great Revel plus it makes him play around everything (slows him down so we have time to find and deploy Waves) since he don't know if you can Vial in Spellskite or Lord.
I can understand Meerow Reejerey going, but I have always boarded out my vials against burn and haven't really had a problem. Many of my opponents like to board in Smash to Smithereens and other artifact hate since there is not much else to do against us other than race. I thought I brought in enough counterspells to deal with their stuff. I should have been more clear, it was Naya Burn and they were having mana issues so Curecatcher acting as a Force Spike when needed was a nice fallback. It actually saved me game two, when I was chipped down to 2 life.
Depending on the lists some Merfolk players don't have Spellskite at all, while Chalice is on the downswing.
If I knew that and played Burn, I wouldn't bring in Smashes (at least not more than 1-2) since Vial would be the only target.
Yesterday I had exactly that scenario, I trashed the burn player and he showed me 2 Smash to Smithereens in hand when he died (I was at 2 life).
It was ironic since I had 4 Vials and 3 Skite after sideboard but never drew them.
Wondering what everyone thinks about Hallowed Moonlight, will it be the end of Aether vial?
Why would that be?
@Fanatic:
I have experienced all the counterspells (Snare, dispel, remand, unified will, pierce) and I found out one thing with merfolk, it is that if you were to run a counterspell maindeck, it has to be 1 casting cost. Too many times you are too busy pouring out lords from your hand, activating and swinging with mutavault, that the remand or other 2cc counterspell sits dead in your hand. With a 1cc mana spell, you can use up your mana more efficiently every turn and is much more efficient in allowing you to play multiple spells a turn, which imo, is huge in modern. Also, it is much easier to leave up 1 mana up than passing the turn with 2 mana up.
Having said that, this eliminates my option down to 3 cards (snare, pierce, dispel)as my counterspell of choice. Due to the fact that I do not like having a counterspell that is useless late game or could be played around, I disregarded spell pierce after some testing. My counterspell of choice in this slot used to be spell snare, as I absolutely loathed bolt snap bolt, and countering their snapcaster goes a long way in winning a match versus twin or delver. However, with the sudden surge of collected company decks, I found my spell snare being dead in many situations and ended up siding it out a lot. With creature based decks usually running at least 8 instants nowadays, and all of fairly high impact (Chords/Coco/Path), I feel like this became the go to counterspell of choice. I rarely ever side it out as it is great vs coco based decks, which is huge in my meta, and the blue based decks. Also of note, dispel generates quite a bit of tempo advantage when you get to counter a collected company/chord of calling or a cryptic command with it, which is the type of disruption I'm looking for and fits into the tempo merfolk type of build.
Edit: I also play dispel because I wanted help in the Coco matchup without hurting my matchup vs blue based decks too much. I used to have quite a bit of trouble vs them with my spreading seas all in my SB. In a way, this is a hedge and it works pretty well imo.
I agree wholehartedly with this, even though I run Spell Pierce myself instead of Dispel. Mainboard cmc2 counters have always been awkward and suboptimal to me.
EDIT: Also, I see a lot of people in other threads talk about Hallowed Moonlight as sideboard tech that hates on merfolk, so all keep in mind that if you tap Aether Vial and they cast that in response, you can just not put your creature into play. It does however counter Master of Waves' tokens.
Congrats also to TopdeckLikeABoss! It seems like we are making enemies at tournaments
Why 4 Dispel in the main? Other than CoCo I don't see other usage.
I have experienced all the counterspells (Snare, dispel, remand, unified will, pierce) and I found out one thing with merfolk, it is that if you were to run a counterspell maindeck, it has to be 1 casting cost. Too many times you are too busy pouring out lords from your hand, activating and swinging with mutavault, that the remand or other 2cc counterspell sits dead in your hand. With a 1cc mana spell, you can use up your mana more efficiently every turn and is much more efficient in allowing you to play multiple spells a turn, which imo, is huge in modern. Also, it is much easier to leave up 1 mana up than passing the turn with 2 mana up.
Having said that, this eliminates my option down to 3 cards (snare, pierce, dispel)as my counterspell of choice. Due to the fact that I do not like having a counterspell that is useless late game or could be played around, I disregarded spell pierce after some testing. My counterspell of choice in this slot used to be spell snare, as I absolutely loathed bolt snap bolt, and countering their snapcaster goes a long way in winning a match versus twin or delver. However, with the sudden surge of collected company decks, I found my spell snare being dead in many situations and ended up siding it out a lot. With creature based decks usually running at least 8 instants nowadays, and all of fairly high impact (Chords/Coco/Path), I feel like this became the go to counterspell of choice. I rarely ever side it out as it is great vs coco based decks, which is huge in my meta, and the blue based decks. Also of note, dispel generates quite a bit of tempo advantage when you get to counter a collected company/chord of calling or a cryptic command with it, which is the type of disruption I'm looking for and fits into the tempo merfolk type of build.
Edit: I also play dispel because I wanted help in the Coco matchup without hurting my matchup vs blue based decks too much. I used to have quite a bit of trouble vs them with my spreading seas all in my SB. In a way, this is a hedge and it works pretty well imo.
I am aware it is for the Coco matchup, you mentioned it 6 times
But other than random Cryptic or Bolt it is rather narrow for main play.
I don't play counters in the main at all since they are, more or less, all narrow and it works in my meta.
The closest counter option for me is Spell Pierce, but there is no room for it.
You know what else stops Master of Waves tokens that costs 2 mana? Torpor Orb and Ratchet Bomb I have ZERO fear for Hallowed Moonlight
People are only talking about merfolk cuz we finally won a GP, so they are scared for the first time in their lives over us Honestly I am more worried about seeing Languish since that is a wrath that keeps out Tarmo, Gurmag, Tasigur, Grislebrand, and other fatties we have problems against while almost always killing our entire board as we would need 4 lords out in total to survive that and if we haven't won by then we are in trouble anyway.
They have to have BB for that since Seas always attacks black mana and probably 5 mana if Catcher is in play.
Pierce, Vial and Mutavault also helps. I would rather fight Languish than Supreme Verdict or Oblivion Stone.
The thing with 1cc counters is that they are narrow, which is why they are 1cc in the first place. It is striking a balance i suppose. But truth be told, not many decks nowadays do not run some number of impactful instants.
I was asked to give a short sideboard guide on my Copenhagen list so I might as well post it here as well.
The deck to reference is:
20 lands
10 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Wanderwine Hub
25 creatures
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Tidebinder Mage
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Master of Waves
15 Spells
4 Spreading Seas
4 Aether Vial
3 Dismember
2 Vapor Snag
2 Relic of Progenitus
Burn
+2 Tectonic Edge
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Dispel
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-4 Spreading Seas
-3 Dismember
-2 Relic of Progenitus
Grixis Delver (This plan is certainly up for debate as I don't have a million games without cursecatcher on the draw.)
Play
+2 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Aether Vial
-4 Spreading Seas
-1 Tidebinder Mage
Draw
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Spreading Seas
-4 Cursecatcher (or -3 Tidebinder, -1 Merrow Reejerey)
Grixis Twin
Play
+2 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Aether Vial
-4 Spreading Seas
-3 Tidebinder Mage
-1 Merrow Reejerey
Draw
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Spreading Seas
-3 Tidebinder Mage
-3 Merrow Reejerey
Affinity (This plan changes all the time because I don't know what's best It's hopeless. Now I figure that the only hands I can beat are when they are slow and useless so I should have a lean quick curve.)
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Dismember
+2 Tectonic Edge
-3 Master of Waves
-2 Relic of Progenitus
Elves
+1 Dismember
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dispel (would bring in a 2nd if you have them)
-3 Cursecatcher
Jund (I think threat density is more important than curving out in this match. If there were 8 3cmc spells or less I wouldn't side in Tectonic Edges)
+1 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dismember
-4 Aether Vial
-2 Cursecatcher
Podless Pod
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dispel
+1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-1 Vapor Snag
-4 Cursecatcher
Grixis Control (I feel like I might be siding out too many threats but it worked just fine online and at the GP. You are a control deck here)
+4 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dispel
-4 Master of the Pearl Trident
-3 Merrow Reejerey
-1 Dismember
-2 Vapor Snag
-3 Tidebinder Mage
Infect
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Dismember
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dispel
+2 Tectonic Edge
-3 Merrow Reejerey
-3 Master of Waves
-2 Relic of Progenitus
-2 Master of the Pearl Trident
Nice Sochurek shaming and calling him a traitor
Tell me, what deck are you playing at GP this weekend?
I found someone to go with me but unfortunately his email went straight to my junk mail folder and I have no idea where the message went when he contacted me on Facebook but I didn't get it. Long story short, I don't have anyone to go with anymore and I'm not going
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
Thanks! It feels good to be in the "I did well with Merfolk at x event" club now hahaha. Good to hear I'm not the only one who would take the money and run
As for Burn, I don't feel safe leaving in Spreading Seas against Burn. I don't feel like you have the time to cast it (it feels bad casting it into an Eidolon too) and its all in vain of they do have more lands in their hand; just not a risk I'm willing to take. IMO, the best way to beat Burn is to interact with it early, stabilize by playing more and more creatures, and then go for the kill. One more thing: Searing Blaze is REALLY pivotal in that matchup for them. If you get hit by a couple of them, its a blow out.
I don't actually own 3 Skite so I never thought to try more than just 1. It was super clutch in that burn matchup though so adding more is something to think about.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
Before anyone else posts it, the coco merfolk list is probably the best i've seen but I still don't like it. It just auto loses to some decks from having no control cards, we could get run out of the gate before we ever cast coco (hello infect)
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
@Fanatic:
I have experienced all the counterspells (Snare, dispel, remand, unified will, pierce) and I found out one thing with merfolk, it is that if you were to run a counterspell maindeck, it has to be 1 casting cost. Too many times you are too busy pouring out lords from your hand, activating and swinging with mutavault, that the remand or other 2cc counterspell sits dead in your hand. With a 1cc mana spell, you can use up your mana more efficiently every turn and is much more efficient in allowing you to play multiple spells a turn, which imo, is huge in modern. Also, it is much easier to leave up 1 mana up than passing the turn with 2 mana up.
Having said that, this eliminates my option down to 3 cards (snare, pierce, dispel)as my counterspell of choice. Due to the fact that I do not like having a counterspell that is useless late game or could be played around, I disregarded spell pierce after some testing. My counterspell of choice in this slot used to be spell snare, as I absolutely loathed bolt snap bolt, and countering their snapcaster goes a long way in winning a match versus twin or delver. However, with the sudden surge of collected company decks, I found my spell snare being dead in many situations and ended up siding it out a lot. With creature based decks usually running at least 8 instants nowadays, and all of fairly high impact (Chords/Coco/Path), I feel like this became the go to counterspell of choice. I rarely ever side it out as it is great vs coco based decks, which is huge in my meta, and the blue based decks. Also of note, dispel generates quite a bit of tempo advantage when you get to counter a collected company/chord of calling or a cryptic command with it, which is the type of disruption I'm looking for and fits into the tempo merfolk type of build.
Edit: I also play dispel because I wanted help in the Coco matchup without hurting my matchup vs blue based decks too much. I used to have quite a bit of trouble vs them with my spreading seas all in my SB. In a way, this is a hedge and it works pretty well imo.
EDIT: Also, I see a lot of people in other threads talk about Hallowed Moonlight as sideboard tech that hates on merfolk, so all keep in mind that if you tap Aether Vial and they cast that in response, you can just not put your creature into play. It does however counter Master of Waves' tokens.
I am aware it is for the Coco matchup, you mentioned it 6 times
But other than random Cryptic or Bolt it is rather narrow for main play.
I don't play counters in the main at all since they are, more or less, all narrow and it works in my meta.
The closest counter option for me is Spell Pierce, but there is no room for it.
People are only talking about merfolk cuz we finally won a GP, so they are scared for the first time in their lives over us Honestly I am more worried about seeing Languish since that is a wrath that keeps out Tarmo, Gurmag, Tasigur, Grislebrand, and other fatties we have problems against while almost always killing our entire board as we would need 4 lords out in total to survive that and if we haven't won by then we are in trouble anyway.
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
Pierce, Vial and Mutavault also helps. I would rather fight Languish than Supreme Verdict or Oblivion Stone.
The deck to reference is:
20 lands
10 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Wanderwine Hub
25 creatures
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Tidebinder Mage
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Master of Waves
15 Spells
4 Spreading Seas
4 Aether Vial
3 Dismember
2 Vapor Snag
2 Relic of Progenitus
Sideboard
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
3 Spell Pierce
2 Remand
1 Master of Waves
1 Dismember
1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Dispel
Burn
+2 Tectonic Edge
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Dispel
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-4 Spreading Seas
-3 Dismember
-2 Relic of Progenitus
Grixis Delver (This plan is certainly up for debate as I don't have a million games without cursecatcher on the draw.)
Play
+2 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Aether Vial
-4 Spreading Seas
-1 Tidebinder Mage
Draw
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Spreading Seas
-4 Cursecatcher (or -3 Tidebinder, -1 Merrow Reejerey)
Grixis Twin
Play
+2 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Aether Vial
-4 Spreading Seas
-3 Tidebinder Mage
-1 Merrow Reejerey
Draw
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Dispel
-4 Spreading Seas
-3 Tidebinder Mage
-3 Merrow Reejerey
Affinity (This plan changes all the time because I don't know what's best It's hopeless. Now I figure that the only hands I can beat are when they are slow and useless so I should have a lean quick curve.)
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Dismember
+2 Tectonic Edge
-3 Master of Waves
-2 Relic of Progenitus
Elves
+1 Dismember
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dispel (would bring in a 2nd if you have them)
-3 Cursecatcher
Abzan
+2 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dismember
-4 Aether Vial
-3 Cursecatcher
Jund (I think threat density is more important than curving out in this match. If there were 8 3cmc spells or less I wouldn't side in Tectonic Edges)
+1 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dismember
-4 Aether Vial
-2 Cursecatcher
Podless Pod
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dismember
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dispel
+1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-1 Vapor Snag
-4 Cursecatcher
Grixis Control (I feel like I might be siding out too many threats but it worked just fine online and at the GP. You are a control deck here)
+4 Tectonic Edge
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
+1 Master of Waves
+1 Dispel
-4 Master of the Pearl Trident
-3 Merrow Reejerey
-1 Dismember
-2 Vapor Snag
-3 Tidebinder Mage
Infect
+2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
+3 Spell Pierce
+1 Dismember
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dispel
+2 Tectonic Edge
-3 Merrow Reejerey
-3 Master of Waves
-2 Relic of Progenitus
-2 Master of the Pearl Trident
RG Tron
+4 Tectonic Edge
+3 Spell Pierce
+2 Remand
-3 Tidebinder Mage
-3 Dismember
-2 Relic of Progenitus
-1 Vapor Snag
CoCo Zoo
Play
-4 Aether Vial
+2 Tectonic Edge
+1 Dispel
+1 Tidebinder Mage
Draw
-4 Cursecatcher
+1 Dispel
+1 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Dismember
+1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Call a judge, that is a USC Major and is a match loss for his NEXT match. That is NOT tolerated under ANY circumstance
My local TOS would have kicked him out of the store for that behavior.
Selesnya Collected Company
Modern
Merfolk
Azorious Titan Control
Legacy
Merfolk
Selesnya Collected Company
Modern
Merfolk
Azorious Titan Control
Legacy
Merfolk
https://youtu.be/xRkqNRNfjaU
Tell me, what deck are you playing at GP this weekend?
I found someone to go with me but unfortunately his email went straight to my junk mail folder and I have no idea where the message went when he contacted me on Facebook but I didn't get it. Long story short, I don't have anyone to go with anymore and I'm not going
But if I did go it wouldn't be Merfolk
I'm... trying to disassociate you with Merfolk... in my head.
Nope. Just doesn't work. Sorry.
Merfolk Wizards AKA "Wizards of the Coast"
I know, that's the point of my post