I'm sure someone has probably mentioned this, but, has anyone noticed how on certain printings of Lord of Atlantis is says "All Merfolk" and on others it says "Other Merfolk"??? This is a pretty big difference. Can anyone help me out with this? I know my 7th edition Lord of Atlantis' use the word "All" which would make him a 3/3, correct?
The reason why older printings of Lord of Atlantis have "All Merfolk" instead of "Other Merfolk" is because they were not Merfolk themselves. If you look at the creature type, it's Lord. However, all copies (regardless of the text written on the physical card) of Lord of Atlantis use the Oracle text rules as specified by Wizards of the Coast. Try the Gatherer search engine online if you're unsure of how any given card plays.
I think our best shot at a LoA reprint with a fancy new art would be something like Conspiracy 2.0 where they have Merfolk tribal. Sadly any new merfolk in the set wouldn't be Modern playable but I want new Lord art damn it!
Ok so looking at modernnexus, the tier1 decks as of now are:
-affinity
-GRtron
-Jund
-Abzan
-Burn
These will probably maintain in popularity for the largest part, with possibly an increase in GRtron and a decrease in BGx decks.
Next to that I'm keeping an eye on these tier2 decks:
-Infect
-Scapeshift
-Collected Company-based decks
-All that Eldrazi yank
Infect will definitely rise as it is an incredibly proactive deck in a yet unknown meta. Scapeshift is getting a lot of hype, CoCo (and in a similar vein Chord of Calling)-based decks are all over the place but in totality fill a large part of the meta, and function in a similar way for us matchup-wise. Eldrazi is a thing that is happening and I'm not sure if it's here to stay
Taking away from that I'd say:
-Definitely trying out Phantasmal Image again, most likely two main
-Tidebinder is really good now, I'm going to try to fit the entire playset in the 75
-Kira doesn't seem that necessary at the moment
-Spell Pierce seems rather weak right now, I'll be taking it out of the mainboard
-sideboard wise I prefer Dispel over Spell Pierce as it is better against CoCo and Scapeshift
-As said before being proactive is the correct plan right now, so I'll be running all 12 lords + 2 images
Regrettably cutting Chalice as I think it doesn't fit in such an aggressive build. 2 Dispel and an extra Tidebinder do help a lot versus infect instead of it.
Are there any negative aspects to play it? Apart from being unable to cast Cursecatcher turn1?
On a side note this land...counting as tri-land will allow us (with a decent amount of cavern/tec.edge/4muta etc.) to play Warping Wail if we want to improve a bit affinity matchup for example...
Because even if you play it as a 1-of in your lists, you are in serious trouble in you draw it and any of the other <> producing lands in the deck.
You can't even cast a Silvergill Adept with a Mystic Gate and a Mutavault in your hand, let alone a Lord, Harbinger, Tidebinder, Kira, etc.
If it made U or W on it's own, then it would be fine. But with Mutavaults and Caverns most lists run as tight as they can already
Maybe I am biased, but I see NO reason this could not have been a Merfolk Wizard instead of a Human one. Merfolk (though it seems like only 3 of them!), exist on Zendikar, there is no flavour text or storyline reason for it to NEED to be a Human. Stupid WotC.
The only thing I can think of is that they did not want to print a 2/3 Merfolk creature, but if their statements are true about ignoring the eternal formats when designing cards then that doesn't really make sense either.
OH! And another set with Kiora in the storyline but no new version, let alone a mono-blue one.
This ability on Harbinger of the Tides would have been spectacular, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have gotten the 2/2 base body (which is relevant at times) or the ability to flash it in. That said, while Harbinger has its warts (the creature having to be tapped makes the timing annoying), it's still a pretty good deal for UU.
You got a bit lucky in Game 2 there, Nikachu_; usually, failing to put down the 2nd Lord in time to dodge the Drown in Sorrow/Flaying Tendrils is a recipe for disaster. If your 1st Lord sticks, it means they don't have spot removal, and you should immediately follow it up with a 2nd.
Yeah, did you miss Kiora, Master of the Depths? It's useless for us, but we frankly shouldn't expect any Kiora to be useful for us. She seems to be aimed at the "summon big bad creatures" Timmy-esque approach, which is the polar opposite to the one we're going for.
I really don't feel like the Affinity matchup is that bad. I play 3 Recalls, 3 Chalices, and 2 Negates in the sideboard. I take out 2 Vapor Snag, 2 Spell Pierce, and 4 creatures (usually MoW) and I've been doing well (luck?). I've been able to Chalice on 0, cast recall and often Negate a cranial plating. I think you have to know when to trade and just mulligan aggressively. I'm only running 2 Harbingers, and they tend to bounce Overseer or Skirge.
I think that wasabizod's approach to attacking Affinity is a good one (though I would suggest having 4 Harbinger of the Tides if at all possible). If you can make room for Chalice of the Void and Hurkyl's Recall (and in most cases, you should), your Affinity matchup will be very reasonable post-board.
I'm looking to be really quick out the gates with this build, keeping in Spell Pierce and Vapor Snag for Tempo plays when needed. I was looking heavily at Dismember but I feel that the way this format is going with Tron and Eldrazi gaining popularity that Dismember will become less effective as a late-game draw, whereas Vapor Snag /could/ buy us a turn.
Echoing Truth is replaceable but I'm not sure what else to really put in currently. Remands I may possibly switch to Negate.
Anyway, yeah, please discuss and help me bring the GPT crown home to Atlantis! (:
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern UMerfolkU Legacy UFishU "I Want To Believe"
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Which is why we need a LoA reprint.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
http://client-cdn.crystalcommerce.com/photo/alterealitygames/file/ac87ca30266911e5aad36f212e545ce2/large/MTG GP Stockholm 2014 Playmat.png
I made my own custom from inked gaming using this image:
http://miriadna.com/desctopwalls/images/max/Dewy-wave.jpg
-affinity
-GRtron
-Jund
-Abzan
-Burn
These will probably maintain in popularity for the largest part, with possibly an increase in GRtron and a decrease in BGx decks.
Next to that I'm keeping an eye on these tier2 decks:
-Infect
-Scapeshift
-Collected Company-based decks
-All that Eldrazi yank
Infect will definitely rise as it is an incredibly proactive deck in a yet unknown meta. Scapeshift is getting a lot of hype, CoCo (and in a similar vein Chord of Calling)-based decks are all over the place but in totality fill a large part of the meta, and function in a similar way for us matchup-wise. Eldrazi is a thing that is happening and I'm not sure if it's here to stay
Taking away from that I'd say:
-Definitely trying out Phantasmal Image again, most likely two main
-Tidebinder is really good now, I'm going to try to fit the entire playset in the 75
-Kira doesn't seem that necessary at the moment
-Spell Pierce seems rather weak right now, I'll be taking it out of the mainboard
-sideboard wise I prefer Dispel over Spell Pierce as it is better against CoCo and Scapeshift
-As said before being proactive is the correct plan right now, so I'll be running all 12 lords + 2 images
So my resulting (WIP) list is
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Harbinger of the Tides
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Master of Waves
Spells (12)
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
2 Dismember
2 Vapor Snag
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Wanderwine Hub
4 Mutavault
9 Island
2 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Tidebinder Mage
3 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Dispel
Regrettably cutting Chalice as I think it doesn't fit in such an aggressive build. 2 Dispel and an extra Tidebinder do help a lot versus infect instead of it.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Because even if you play it as a 1-of in your lists, you are in serious trouble in you draw it and any of the other <> producing lands in the deck.
You can't even cast a Silvergill Adept with a Mystic Gate and a Mutavault in your hand, let alone a Lord, Harbinger, Tidebinder, Kira, etc.
If it made U or W on it's own, then it would be fine. But with Mutavaults and Caverns most lists run as tight as they can already
Maybe I am biased, but I see NO reason this could not have been a Merfolk Wizard instead of a Human one. Merfolk (though it seems like only 3 of them!), exist on Zendikar, there is no flavour text or storyline reason for it to NEED to be a Human. Stupid WotC.
The only thing I can think of is that they did not want to print a 2/3 Merfolk creature, but if their statements are true about ignoring the eternal formats when designing cards then that doesn't really make sense either.
OH! And another set with Kiora in the storyline but no new version, let alone a mono-blue one.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Grand Prix Montréal's Playmat is Kiora's Follower:
http://archive.wizards.com/magic/tcg/events.aspx?x=mtg/event/grandprix/montreal14
They JUST printed a Kiora...
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Just to be clear, Cavern of Souls does NOT work with Mystic Gate...
Also now twin is banned Warping Wail isn't really worth it anymore anyways
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Looking for thoughts as I'm preparing for a GPT that's coming up but don't have an amazing amount of testing time so could do with advice/discussion.
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Master of Waves
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Spreading Seas
2 Spell Pierce
2 Vapor Snag
10 Island
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Tidebinder Mage
2 Hibernation
2 Remand
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Echoing Truth
I'm looking to be really quick out the gates with this build, keeping in Spell Pierce and Vapor Snag for Tempo plays when needed. I was looking heavily at Dismember but I feel that the way this format is going with Tron and Eldrazi gaining popularity that Dismember will become less effective as a late-game draw, whereas Vapor Snag /could/ buy us a turn.
Echoing Truth is replaceable but I'm not sure what else to really put in currently. Remands I may possibly switch to Negate.
Anyway, yeah, please discuss and help me bring the GPT crown home to Atlantis! (:
U Merfolk U
Legacy
U Fish U
"I Want To Believe"