MTG Salvation

Hi All, this Fish list seems to be gaining traction. It took down a 200+ modern tourney in Italy (or somewhere similar) a couple of weeks back and took 6th on the weekend at an SCG Modern IQ. It's really the SB that stands out - MD is pretty normal.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=84961

SB
4 Spellskite (Not losing to Twin, Infect, Burn, Boggles!?)
3 Dismember (Hedge against beefy creature decks)
4 Hurkyl's Recall (Ive never played with 4, currently play with 0 - does this make Affinity 50-50?! - Im not convinced)
4 Spell Pierce (Hedge against sweepers, PW's, Splinter Twin)

Aquitect's Will might be a recommendation if you insist on playing with Sea's Claim.

If you are purely trying to screw over their mana base and keep them off non-blue colors than Sea's Claim is technically better. Tectonic Edge, Ghost Quarter, and Blood moon all do the same thing and we already run Tec Edge in some of our lists.

Aquitect's Will has its own advantages if you are just trying to make sure your guys are unblockable. The land in question cannot be Abrupt Decay'd or disenchanted in anyway like Spreading Seas and Sea's Claim can be before blockers, it replaces itself as long as you have any other merfolk. It will trigger Merrow Reejerey's effect upon being cast. Tideshaper Mystic is a much worse version of Aquitect's Will if you are just on the unblockable plan.

Neither card is better than just running Spreading Seas, but if your plan is to play more versions of Spreading Seas think about exactly why you are doing that.

So I placed 25th at my Modern Premier IQ today (finished in the money I guess). I went x-2 after losing round 1 to a fast Infect kill and round 7 to Todd Anderson with Jund (8 rounds), who knocked me out of contention for Top 8

This was my list:
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1237282

I played vs Infect, Little Kid Abzan, Amulet Bloom, Little Kid Abzan, Bogles, Gruul Humans, Jund, and Affinity (in that order). I can write a report tomorrow if people are interested in reading one.

I was fairly impressed with the deck and played fairly tightly despite only finishing 25th (the Infect game felt super not in my control and I will explain the Jund loss in my report).

Huh, it would be great to have Tidebinders in the main against all those opponents (other than affinity obv).

Quote from FANAttIC »

Huh, it would be great to have Tidebinders in the main against all those opponents (other than affinity obv).

I sided all 3 of them in a lot, but I didn't draw any all tournament long, which was interesting.

Also, the only change I am considering to the main is adding the 3rd Dismember and cutting a Spreading Seas.

Aquitect's will doesn't take them off of their colors nor does it turn off abilities the said land has. Tec edge, G Quarter and Moon don't enable your guys island walk. I like that it enables Rejereey but what it does vs what it doesn't is a pretty large gap.

Think of it like this, how many lands do a good number of competitive decks see through the course of a game? I haven't done any surveys but I would wager its not much more than 5 per game. And if they see more, well with Fish you have probably lost already. Now select two of those lands and make them blue. Remember you get to pick. Burn needs multiple red lands to run optimally. It also needs green, white or both with some of the more recent incarnations. Junk needs three colors. Take a black away and LotV sits in their hand. Remove white, no rhino. Of course they can AD the enchantment but all that means is one less removal spell to hit our team. Twin needs double red to combo off. Its not hard to give yourself another turn by making that dual land an island.

Now I'm talking about this primarily as a game 1 strategy. I don't run outright removal MD simply because my primary strategy is race and disrupt. I'm not interested in one for oneing my opponent. Too many decks out there are better at that than we can be. Having Dismember in the board is a good idea but if you hit with your land disruption you shouldn't need it. What they can't cast you don't need to kill.

I just think its a very under utilized strategy, especially with how delicate competitive mana bases are.

Yes that is why I separated it between keeping them off a color or giving islandwalk.

A game 1 strategy boils down to, get 4-5 lands by the time you win, get a vial within the first two turns while curving out with Silvergill Adepts and at least 1 Spreading Seas. Even if we come across no Spreading Seas we are getting lords and other fish that help us go wide to win. Not many decks have alot of disruption game one and playing blind I would say most people are unlikely to mull a hand that is 3 islands, a vial, a silvergill, and 2 lords. Even if you see no disruption that hand can win on its own.

So then you are running Sea's Claim over Vapor Snags and the like? I suppose it depends on the meta, but then if that is your plan would you mull the hand I described just to get a SS or SC?

Multiple Spreading Seas game 1 tend to just get us one card deeper while maybe, maybe timewalking our opponent. If they put down a t1 goblin guide or a swiftspear I wouldn't want Sea's Claim in my hand, I would want actual removal because they can race me easily. You can't play Sea's Claim or Spreading Seas as an instant while most good non-blue spells are instants. Groundswell, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Abrupt Decay, etc...so they are still getting that 1 use out of their mana. A spell pierce or a vapor snag lets you react to their plays instead of sitting there hoping they brick every draw.

Quote from SilvergillMaster »

Yes that is why I separated it between keeping them off a color or giving islandwalk.

A game 1 strategy boils down to, get 4-5 lands by the time you win, get a vial within the first two turns while curving out with Silvergill Adepts and at least 1 Spreading Seas. Even if we come across no Spreading Seas we are getting lords and other fish that help us go wide to win. Not many decks have alot of disruption game one and playing blind I would say most people are unlikely to mull a hand that is 3 islands, a vial, a silvergill, and 2 lords. Even if you see no disruption that hand can win on its own.

So then you are running Sea's Claim over Vapor Snags and the like? I suppose it depends on the meta, but then if that is your plan would you mull the hand I described just to get a SS or SC?

Multiple Spreading Seas game 1 tend to just get us one card deeper while maybe, maybe timewalking our opponent. If they put down a t1 goblin guide or a swiftspear I wouldn't want Sea's Claim in my hand, I would want actual removal because they can race me easily. You can't play Sea's Claim or Spreading Seas as an instant while most good non-blue spells are instants. Groundswell, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Abrupt Decay, etc...so they are still getting that 1 use out of their mana. A spell pierce or a vapor snag lets you react to their plays instead of sitting there hoping they brick every draw.

Here's my list:
Lord of Atlantis X4
Master of the Pearl Trident x4
Merrow Reejerey x4
Silvergill Adept x4
Phantasmal Image X4
Master of Waves x3
Spell Pierce x4
Mana Leak X3
Spreading Seas x4
Seas Claim x3
Aether vial x4
Island x15
Mutavault x4

I honestly don't care what they do turn 1. Its not that relevant. But if I mess up their turn 2 through 4 plays while still making hay for myself, well that's gravy. Disrupting their mana base almost always takes an opponent off of their game. That kind of disruption is rare in modern and having access to it turns 1 and 2 is rarer still. It makes your opponent think about things they weren't prepared to think about. Claim also gives us another turn 1 play, which is I think is a weakness to our deck. We really can't curve out that often, although Cursecatcher is another possible option to fatten our 1 slot.(Though Cursecatcher is much better in Legacy.)

Anyone play with UG Collected Merfolk?

Im playing a 60 player local tournament this saturday, and im taking my weapon of choice, merfolk. Im expecting a wide field with some known decks, like burn, jund, and twin. This is my sideboard, i have 1 tidebinder in my main, 2 remands, and 2 spell pierce in the main:



The standout cards are the pithing needles, which i think will be very useful against affinity, and the rising in popularity, elves and abzan company. Any suggestions?

Really quick event recap for those that are interested:

Took the below list to a top 8 finish at a PPTQ this last weekend. Overall pretty comfortable with the main, and was happy with how it performed. I beat 2 Twin decks, Living End and Podless Pod in the Swiss, while losing to Scapeshift then drawing into top 8. In top 8 I lost to Podless Pod.



All stars for the tournament were Sygg, River Guide, Harm's Way & Tidebinder Mage. If I were to play another tournament tomorrow, I would leave the main as is, but would tweak the sideboard slightly. Specifically, I think I want some number of pithing needles (1-2).

@Max315 - I love the double Sygg in your list, it almost always overperforms for me. Maybe cut one stony for the pithing needle? What are you including it for? Tron?

@Niallplaysmagic - The Stony Silence are there for Affinity, but I also bring them in against Tron. If I resolve it turn 2 on the play, I find it hard to lose to affinity.

And yes, I love Sygg too. There's almost no match ups I don't want to see him.

I know what the stonys are there for ;), what is the needle going in for?

Ah! My bad. Miss read your post

I was mostly considering it for Elves (which seems to be getting popular). But the number would depend on how many other matchups I would bring them in against.

What would you name against Elves?

Ezuri is the main target.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader, maybe Scavenging Ooze?

If you are using the white splash, Suppression Field does a lot of work against all the activated abilities.