To be honest, if I ever move away from maindeck Masters, I'm increasingly thinking I want mainboard counterspells again. Being cold to all sorts of random stuff because I'm basically just a creature deck is getting a bit tiresome. It feels like I would breeze through so many Game 1s if I just had some maindeck Negates or Unified Wills. I may try that, actually.
TEMUR Merfolk report. I increased the red mana sources to 9. Green sources at 12.
0-2 UW Control - was really hard to play around Verdict and still get in for damage due to Walls and Gideon Trials. Plenty of times id get verdicted with 1 dude on the board anyway. Field of Ruins kept hosing my surviving manlands. Sided most of the bolts out game 2/3. Ive won often on mono-blue before - this version just doesnt have any grind potential..
2-1 Burn - Bolt actually killed Lavamancer and Eidolon at clutch times. I thought the mana base was going to wreck me but my opponent got seas'd in one game and drew too many lands in another.
2-0 Living End - Bolt closed out a game I was prob going to win anyway.
Would have loved to play more creature centric decks (especially Affinity or Humans) - will I play it again? Only at low stakes events. Its far from proof with such a small sample size but it goes to show that pretty much any version of merfolk can potentially win matches..
//Creatures
2 Cursecatcher
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Kumena's Speaker
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merrow Reejerey
0-2 UW Control - was really hard to play around Verdict and still get in for damage due to Walls and Gideon Trials. Plenty of times id get verdicted with 1 dude on the board anyway. Field of Ruins kept hosing my surviving manlands. Sided most of the bolts out game 2/3. Ive won often on mono-blue before - this version just doesnt have any grind potential..
I'm confused by this statement. How a deck playing more card selection/advantage has less grind potential against control?
You can argue that on monoblue you could play a master of waves after a verdict to threaten a lethal attack. In the U/G list you can't recover from a verdict with a single card, you need multiples. Master also deals with Gideon of the Trials very well. That said, I see from your sideboard configuration that you did not take in my advice to play unsubstantiate to combat supreme verdict decks, nor my advice to play pithing needle to deal with planeswalkers. This deck is merfolk, but it has different weaknesses when compared to the monoblue deck because it doesn't play MoW to go wide and recover. You should take that into consideration, and modify your sideboard accordingly.
In any case, a single path to exile can deal with a Master of Waves, or a snap + path, or a d-sphere, so I'm a bit skeptical that the monoU version is better than the U/G version against control, especially because we have more threat redundancy in tropical fish. It is nice to have a report with a different list, but I think you should adapt your sideboard before giving up on the deck because of one bad matchup.
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Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
This was a small event list configured to test a few silly somewhat out of place cards.
Cards like Kira, Kopola, Smugglers Copters (awesome against UW), MoW, plus the full set of Mutavaults would have been great - also Clique out of the sideboard hurts them. Its hard to play these cards in UG (or ridiculous builds like RUG) because you dont have the space with 8 green merfolk taking up slots or bolts as well in this case.
UG doesnt play more card advantage - the card selection off Branchwalker is pretty meh - its far better off Copter. Additionally UG lists dont even bother trying to interact anymore - Mono-U is in a far better position to play a reactive role and defend itself.
If you like copters you can test them in U/G. The card is an artifact, colorless, so it can fit in the build, and I would certainly play it over the phantasmal image that a lot of people enjoy. Kopala/Kira can also be played in U/G, though I particularly don't think they're effective against U/W, especially if your problem is verdict. They can also phase Kira's trigger with an activation of Gideon to follow up with a removal spell on it. Clique can also be played.
All the lands that add green in U/G also add blue, and you still have vials, so every card that you mentioned can be played in a U/G list as maindeck or sideboard options. However, considering all of them, only clique and copter will help against verdict, clique in a more efficient way imo. I would still rather play unsubstantiate, but I'm not opposed to test those cards in the U/G shell. Not sure why you think they're limited to monoblue.
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Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
Indeed nothing is stopping you from playing more U cards in UG but most ppl dont because they don't have the slots.
It's not just straight UW, UWR is also very popular and so cards like Kira, Kopala, Copters, Clique are all useful against Control lists. But for sure, nothing is stopping ppl playing more cards that aren't out and out beat sticks. If I was to play Merfolk again next week and play UG (the RUG experiment is probably over) - id be tempted to shave down to around 6-7 green merfolk and add in some number of Copters, Kopala and Kira. I also need to fit in some removal - just not sure how it is going to work playing dismember and not suiciding from the combined manabase and taking 4 dmg from a removal spell.
IMO the meta is full of decks that you have to interact with and the 'stock' UG lists are just begging to be rolled by any deck that you have to either interact with or defend yourself against. Merfolk isnt fast enough to blindly ignore the opponent - like Affinity or Elves does - and hope to win consistently.
On a bit of a whim, I decided to test Watertrap Weaver to see if a lower curve combined with more interaction would be a palatable substitute to Master of Waves, and one of my test runs with the deck resulted in a 5-0! Details here, and pasted below for convenience.
Game 1: My opponent starts fast with T1 Avacyn's Pilgrim into T2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar, but a punishing tempo curve of Harbingers and Watertrap Weavers puts them too far behind to withstand the lord-fueled onslaught. His attempt at recovering with a CoCo is thwarted by a Cursecatcher activation, and that's all she wrote.
Game 2: My opponent curves out beautifully with dork into Champion of the Parish + Lieutenant into Collected Company. My mull 6 on the draw without a Vial had no chance.
Game 3: My opponent tries to get cute by naming one of my islandwalk Lords (Master of the Pearl Trident) via Meddling Mage, but unfortunately for them, my hand has 2 Lord of Atlantis instead. Add a couple of Watertrap Weavers to clear the way, and I swiftly run them over.
Game 1: I have a slow start, and my opponent is easily able to assemble Unlife into Ad Nauseam. Not much to say here.
Game 2: I go in hard on the mana denial plan by slinging Ceremonious Rejections at my opponent's Pentad Prism and Lotus Bloom (the latter of which baits a Pact of Negation). In the meantime, my ground squad is steadily chipping away and ensures the W after my opponent runs out of gas.
Game 3: I have a hand packed with countermagic, and that pays off as my opponent sculpted a powerful hand of Spoils of the Vault into Ad Nauseam + double Pact of Negation. I win the ensuing stack war, and thus the match.
Game 1: I mistakenly keep a hand with Cavern + Mutavault, a handful of UU spells, and 3-drops; I never find a third land.
Game 2: I keep a defensive hand including a Vial, a Kopala, and a Harbinger. The combination of these cards plus a T2 Spreading Seas puts the opponent on the back foot, and their attempt to finish me with a Bushwhacker-fueled alpha strike is summarily thwarted by Echoing Truth + the aforementioned Harbinger.
Game 3: My opponent deploys explosively thanks to double Burning-Tree Emissary, but is lacking the Bushwhacker to make the hand truly dangerous. This affords me the time I need to deploy blockers, tap down their attackers with Weaver (at instant speed, thanks to Vial), and turn the corner.
Game 1: An explosive hand featuring Reejerey tricks (on turn 4, I ticked Vial up to 3, Vialed in Reejerey, cast Kopala, untapped Vial with the Reejerey trigger, then tapped Vial to bring in Watertrap Weaver and tap down their only blocker) effectively wraps up the game on turn 4.
Game 2: My opponent is threatening Tron early, but a T2 Seas puts an end to that. In order to keep me from overrunning them as they miss land drops, my opponent is priced into slapping down a Ratchet Bomb and detonating it on 1 to claim my Vial. This proves to not be enough, as my 2nd Reejerey (the first was removed) allows me to deploy explosively and finish the game.
Sideboarding: +3 Ceremonious Rejection, +2 Echoing Truth, -3 Cursecatcher, -2 Kopala, Warden of Waves (still trying to figure out sideboarding in this matchup given the current list - not terribly worried, the maindeck seems very favored)
Match 5: Jeskai Tempo (2-1)
Game 1: I flood out horribly, and my sparse threats are picked off one by one.
Game 2: I employ some Vial tricks with Reejerey to power out a formidable board state (double Reejerey + Kopala), which gets a good swing in before forcing a Verdict. Unfortunately for my opponent, I have one more Lord left, and that + double Mutavault finish the job.
Game 3: My hand is Vial, a nice curve of Lords, and a pile of countermagic that only grows as the game goes on. This allows me to swat away my opponent's attempts at removing my creatures, and a missed land drop seals my opponent's fate.
Sideboarding: +2 Dispel, +4 Negate, +4 Relic of Progenitus, -2 Dismember, -4 Spreading Seas, -4 Watertrap Weaver (not sure if Harbinger or Weaver is weaker in this matchup yet)
Notes and Observations:
I'd say Weaver performed fairly well overall, but it did get sided out in the creature-light matchups. My sample size is also a bit small to definitively say whether the card has outdone the Master just yet, but this was a good start to testing.
I don't really even like Cursecatcher all that much. I've found Spellskite and Smuggler's Copter to be a good replacement despite being one mana more in the main. Albeit, Cursecatcher is still one of the best merfolk cards out there.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
To be honest, if I ever move away from maindeck Masters, I'm increasingly thinking I want mainboard counterspells again. Being cold to all sorts of random stuff because I'm basically just a creature deck is getting a bit tiresome. It feels like I would breeze through so many Game 1s if I just had some maindeck Negates or Unified Wills. I may try that, actually.
Perhaps V. Clique main?
Always a possibility. My last batch of results with it was pretty meh, but the card has a proven track record.
Very nice results with the deck, Rothgar. I'm kinda surprised at just how good Watertrap Weaver turned out to be. One interesting point is that it probably makes a simpler sideboard strategy against creature-light decks when you have more clear-cut things to remove. And having 10 creatures at CMC=3 definitely makes ticking Vial up a lot more feasible.
The biggest hidden benefit has probably been the explosive Vial turns. Reejerey with a hand full of 3-drops and a Vial on Turn 3 pumps out a board state out of nowhere.
I intend to keep testing it going forward, yes. It roughs up other creature decks, and doesn't seem to cost me too much against the control decks. We'll see how it goes.
it increases the consistency of spreading seas effect, to grant islandwalk to the team. (it would be copies 5-6 or 5-7)
Sure, but it's completely redundant if you already have Spreading Seas or if your opponent is already playing an Island (and there is a lot of blue right now).
Also, I've played Spell Pierce in the mainboard recently, and... don't. There are too many matchups right now where it is just not useful.
For creature removal I think is better Dismember, hits you 4 but it's -5/-5 and can be casted from turn 1 onwards or just leaving one mana open (key against Storm). I'm wondering in which scenarios is better to hit this to your opponents' face instead of casting a creature or a tempo move to assemble lethal. Maybe its versatility, but it's 3 cmc.
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Mostly Modern Player RBridgevineB RGR/G EldraziX UBlue MoonR UU/W TronW
I had an interesting judge interaction this weekend in a side event at GP Atlanta.
Was playing against jeskai control. Had 3 creatures in play and 2 mutavaults. My opponent was representing a cryptic command. I animate 1 mutavault and ask to move to combat. My opponent stops me and casts cryptic to tap and draw. I let the cryptic resolve and attempt to animate my other mutavault. Opponent stops me and says i cant do that. I ask for a judge, explain the situation and she agrees with my opponent that we're now in the declare attackers step and i don't get priority back after my opponents spell resolves. I asked for an appeal and ahe says "im filling in for the head judge of this side event so you cant appeal". I was pretty floored. As politely as i could i said "im 100% sure that this ruling is incorrect. I'd appreciate it if you would just ask another judge really quick." She did and eventually came and gave us a correct ruling (although she didnt explain it very well) despite my opponents continued arguing. In my mind this was a pretty standard play-around-cryptic play, but my opponent was pissed and felt that I'd scum bagged him. "If that's the way it works all manlands should triple in price because thats too good".
Please reassure me that i didn't to something wrong (or even that unusual) here.
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Modern UMerfolkU WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
IIRC the confusing bit is that if opponent doesn't do anything (like cast Cryptic) then you can NOT then activate your second 'vault, because you have passed priority in "Beginning of Combat".
IIRC the confusing bit is that if opponent doesn't do anything (like cast Cryptic) then you can NOT then activate your second 'vault, because you have passed priority in "Beginning of Combat".
The rules about that communication have actually changed recently due to the confusion about when you can crew vehicles. So, now when you say "move to combat", you are no longer considered to have passed priority all the way to the declare attackers step and can still act in the "Beginning of Combat" step.
This was the reason she gave my opponent for why i still got priority but my understanding is that even under the old rule, i get priority if my opponent acts during that step.
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Modern UMerfolkU WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
Perhaps V. Clique main?
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
0-2 UW Control - was really hard to play around Verdict and still get in for damage due to Walls and Gideon Trials. Plenty of times id get verdicted with 1 dude on the board anyway. Field of Ruins kept hosing my surviving manlands. Sided most of the bolts out game 2/3. Ive won often on mono-blue before - this version just doesnt have any grind potential..
2-1 Burn - Bolt actually killed Lavamancer and Eidolon at clutch times. I thought the mana base was going to wreck me but my opponent got seas'd in one game and drew too many lands in another.
2-0 Living End - Bolt closed out a game I was prob going to win anyway.
Would have loved to play more creature centric decks (especially Affinity or Humans) - will I play it again? Only at low stakes events. Its far from proof with such a small sample size but it goes to show that pretty much any version of merfolk can potentially win matches..
//Mana
2 Island
4 Botanical Sanctum
1 Spirebluff Canal
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
3 Mutavault
//Creatures
2 Cursecatcher
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Kumena's Speaker
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merrow Reejerey
//Non-creature spells
4 Æther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
4 Lightning Bolt
//Sideboard
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Dispel
SB: 3 Ancient Grudge
SB: 3 Unified Will
SB: 2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
SB: 1 Sea's Claim
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
You can argue that on monoblue you could play a master of waves after a verdict to threaten a lethal attack. In the U/G list you can't recover from a verdict with a single card, you need multiples. Master also deals with Gideon of the Trials very well. That said, I see from your sideboard configuration that you did not take in my advice to play unsubstantiate to combat supreme verdict decks, nor my advice to play pithing needle to deal with planeswalkers. This deck is merfolk, but it has different weaknesses when compared to the monoblue deck because it doesn't play MoW to go wide and recover. You should take that into consideration, and modify your sideboard accordingly.
In any case, a single path to exile can deal with a Master of Waves, or a snap + path, or a d-sphere, so I'm a bit skeptical that the monoU version is better than the U/G version against control, especially because we have more threat redundancy in tropical fish. It is nice to have a report with a different list, but I think you should adapt your sideboard before giving up on the deck because of one bad matchup.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Cards like Kira, Kopola, Smugglers Copters (awesome against UW), MoW, plus the full set of Mutavaults would have been great - also Clique out of the sideboard hurts them. Its hard to play these cards in UG (or ridiculous builds like RUG) because you dont have the space with 8 green merfolk taking up slots or bolts as well in this case.
UG doesnt play more card advantage - the card selection off Branchwalker is pretty meh - its far better off Copter. Additionally UG lists dont even bother trying to interact anymore - Mono-U is in a far better position to play a reactive role and defend itself.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
All the lands that add green in U/G also add blue, and you still have vials, so every card that you mentioned can be played in a U/G list as maindeck or sideboard options. However, considering all of them, only clique and copter will help against verdict, clique in a more efficient way imo. I would still rather play unsubstantiate, but I'm not opposed to test those cards in the U/G shell. Not sure why you think they're limited to monoblue.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
It's not just straight UW, UWR is also very popular and so cards like Kira, Kopala, Copters, Clique are all useful against Control lists. But for sure, nothing is stopping ppl playing more cards that aren't out and out beat sticks. If I was to play Merfolk again next week and play UG (the RUG experiment is probably over) - id be tempted to shave down to around 6-7 green merfolk and add in some number of Copters, Kopala and Kira. I also need to fit in some removal - just not sure how it is going to work playing dismember and not suiciding from the combined manabase and taking 4 dmg from a removal spell.
IMO the meta is full of decks that you have to interact with and the 'stock' UG lists are just begging to be rolled by any deck that you have to either interact with or defend yourself against. Merfolk isnt fast enough to blindly ignore the opponent - like Affinity or Elves does - and hope to win consistently.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
On a bit of a whim, I decided to test Watertrap Weaver to see if a lower curve combined with more interaction would be a palatable substitute to Master of Waves, and one of my test runs with the deck resulted in a 5-0! Details here, and pasted below for convenience.
List here.
Match 1: 5c CoCo Humans (2-1)
Game 1: My opponent starts fast with T1 Avacyn's Pilgrim into T2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar, but a punishing tempo curve of Harbingers and Watertrap Weavers puts them too far behind to withstand the lord-fueled onslaught. His attempt at recovering with a CoCo is thwarted by a Cursecatcher activation, and that's all she wrote.
Game 2: My opponent curves out beautifully with dork into Champion of the Parish + Lieutenant into Collected Company. My mull 6 on the draw without a Vial had no chance.
Game 3: My opponent tries to get cute by naming one of my islandwalk Lords (Master of the Pearl Trident) via Meddling Mage, but unfortunately for them, my hand has 2 Lord of Atlantis instead. Add a couple of Watertrap Weavers to clear the way, and I swiftly run them over.
Sideboarding: +2 Dispel, +2 Echoing Truth, -4 Cursecatcher
Match 2: Ad Nauseam (2-1)
Game 1: I have a slow start, and my opponent is easily able to assemble Unlife into Ad Nauseam. Not much to say here.
Game 2: I go in hard on the mana denial plan by slinging Ceremonious Rejections at my opponent's Pentad Prism and Lotus Bloom (the latter of which baits a Pact of Negation). In the meantime, my ground squad is steadily chipping away and ensures the W after my opponent runs out of gas.
Game 3: I have a hand packed with countermagic, and that pays off as my opponent sculpted a powerful hand of Spoils of the Vault into Ad Nauseam + double Pact of Negation. I win the ensuing stack war, and thus the match.
Sideboarding: +3 Ceremonious Rejection, +2 Dispel, +2 Echoing Truth, +4 Negate, -2 Dismember, -2 Kopala, Warden of Waves, -3 Spreading Seas, -4 Watertrap Weaver
Match 3: Death's Shadow Zoo (2-1)
Game 1: I mistakenly keep a hand with Cavern + Mutavault, a handful of UU spells, and 3-drops; I never find a third land.
Game 2: I keep a defensive hand including a Vial, a Kopala, and a Harbinger. The combination of these cards plus a T2 Spreading Seas puts the opponent on the back foot, and their attempt to finish me with a Bushwhacker-fueled alpha strike is summarily thwarted by Echoing Truth + the aforementioned Harbinger.
Game 3: My opponent deploys explosively thanks to double Burning-Tree Emissary, but is lacking the Bushwhacker to make the hand truly dangerous. This affords me the time I need to deploy blockers, tap down their attackers with Weaver (at instant speed, thanks to Vial), and turn the corner.
Sideboarding: +2 Dispel, +2 Echoing Truth, -4 Cursecatcher
Match 4: Eldrazi Tron (2-0)
Game 1: An explosive hand featuring Reejerey tricks (on turn 4, I ticked Vial up to 3, Vialed in Reejerey, cast Kopala, untapped Vial with the Reejerey trigger, then tapped Vial to bring in Watertrap Weaver and tap down their only blocker) effectively wraps up the game on turn 4.
Game 2: My opponent is threatening Tron early, but a T2 Seas puts an end to that. In order to keep me from overrunning them as they miss land drops, my opponent is priced into slapping down a Ratchet Bomb and detonating it on 1 to claim my Vial. This proves to not be enough, as my 2nd Reejerey (the first was removed) allows me to deploy explosively and finish the game.
Sideboarding: +3 Ceremonious Rejection, +2 Echoing Truth, -3 Cursecatcher, -2 Kopala, Warden of Waves (still trying to figure out sideboarding in this matchup given the current list - not terribly worried, the maindeck seems very favored)
Match 5: Jeskai Tempo (2-1)
Game 1: I flood out horribly, and my sparse threats are picked off one by one.
Game 2: I employ some Vial tricks with Reejerey to power out a formidable board state (double Reejerey + Kopala), which gets a good swing in before forcing a Verdict. Unfortunately for my opponent, I have one more Lord left, and that + double Mutavault finish the job.
Game 3: My hand is Vial, a nice curve of Lords, and a pile of countermagic that only grows as the game goes on. This allows me to swat away my opponent's attempts at removing my creatures, and a missed land drop seals my opponent's fate.
Sideboarding: +2 Dispel, +4 Negate, +4 Relic of Progenitus, -2 Dismember, -4 Spreading Seas, -4 Watertrap Weaver (not sure if Harbinger or Weaver is weaker in this matchup yet)
Notes and Observations:
I'd say Weaver performed fairly well overall, but it did get sided out in the creature-light matchups. My sample size is also a bit small to definitively say whether the card has outdone the Master just yet, but this was a good start to testing.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Always a possibility. My last batch of results with it was pretty meh, but the card has a proven track record.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
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:
Sure, but it's completely redundant if you already have Spreading Seas or if your opponent is already playing an Island (and there is a lot of blue right now).
Also, I've played Spell Pierce in the mainboard recently, and... don't. There are too many matchups right now where it is just not useful.
RBridgevineB
RGR/G EldraziX
UBlue MoonR
UU/W TronW
Was playing against jeskai control. Had 3 creatures in play and 2 mutavaults. My opponent was representing a cryptic command. I animate 1 mutavault and ask to move to combat. My opponent stops me and casts cryptic to tap and draw. I let the cryptic resolve and attempt to animate my other mutavault. Opponent stops me and says i cant do that. I ask for a judge, explain the situation and she agrees with my opponent that we're now in the declare attackers step and i don't get priority back after my opponents spell resolves. I asked for an appeal and ahe says "im filling in for the head judge of this side event so you cant appeal". I was pretty floored. As politely as i could i said "im 100% sure that this ruling is incorrect. I'd appreciate it if you would just ask another judge really quick." She did and eventually came and gave us a correct ruling (although she didnt explain it very well) despite my opponents continued arguing. In my mind this was a pretty standard play-around-cryptic play, but my opponent was pissed and felt that I'd scum bagged him. "If that's the way it works all manlands should triple in price because thats too good".
Please reassure me that i didn't to something wrong (or even that unusual) here.
U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
The rules about that communication have actually changed recently due to the confusion about when you can crew vehicles. So, now when you say "move to combat", you are no longer considered to have passed priority all the way to the declare attackers step and can still act in the "Beginning of Combat" step.
This was the reason she gave my opponent for why i still got priority but my understanding is that even under the old rule, i get priority if my opponent acts during that step.
U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW