I think the real quandary here is "how the hell is Kumena already priced at almost $20 a piece?!"
The pre-sale supply is somewhat limited due to the smaller orders from the stores. That and it's a good card. Honestly, the real mystery is the Rekindling Phoenix as I've been brewing like nuts and haven't found a good fit for it yet.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
I think the real quandary here is "how the hell is Kumena already priced at almost $20 a piece?!"
The pre-sale supply is somewhat limited due to the smaller orders from the stores. That and it's a good card. Honestly, the real mystery is the Rekindling Phoenix as I've been brewing like nuts and haven't found a good fit for it yet.
Imagine a world where hazoret gets banned (as a preventive measure).
The card is just a solid mid range creature. Look at it like you would with glorybringer. It's a support card and not a build around me card.
"UW Approach/Cycling" seems unaffected and without Ferocidon "Abzan/Esper Tokens" is very well positioned (though Naturalize can slow them down).
There are also decks like: UW Gift, UB Control and Grixis Midrange which might become more dominant.
I've found there are definitely points were you need to get past blockers (Gifted Aetherborn is a huge pain), and was wondering what was best. I was considering Herald of Secret Streams, but Open into Wonder does have some different advantages without needing a counter, and drawing cards.
Vampires is weak. The mana still sucks for the tribes in general but Merfolk might have a chance once streamlined.
Red is still a monster but they've plucked that ridiculous reach with lands out and ferocidon just made sure any slower deck couldn't win.
Dinos will have something with big finishers. God Pharo's should resurge now.
I've found there are definitely points were you need to get past blockers (Gifted Aetherborn is a huge pain), and was wondering what was best. I was considering Herald of Secret Streams, but Open into Wonder does have some different advantages without needing a counter, and drawing cards.
I feel like Tempest Caller is the obvious choice. It seems like, if you're going to alpha strike, you want to do it to win. Going Open into Wonder, swing, don't win means you just lose next turn with a grip full of cards. I'd rather drop a Tempest Caller, swing with everything, then still have A blocker to do something with. Or have won the game.
I feel like Tempest Caller is the obvious choice. It seems like, if you're going to alpha strike, you want to do it to win. Going Open into Wonder, swing, don't win means you just lose next turn with a grip full of cards. I'd rather drop a Tempest Caller, swing with everything, then still have A blocker to do something with. Or have won the game.
Yeah, Tempest Caller seems a better than the Herald. You don't need to necessarily alpha strike using Open into Wonder tough, you can use it to draw 2-3 cards and slip through some damage.
Vampires is weak. The mana still sucks for the tribes in general but Merfolk might have a chance once streamlined.
Red is still a monster but they've plucked that ridiculous reach with lands out and ferocidon just made sure any slower deck couldn't win.
Dinos will have something with big finishers. God Pharo's should resurge now.
The only thing vampires lack are good value creatures, otherwise they work well in less traditional approaches like life drain and probably ascend. WG tokens looks really attractive right now.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Jesus christ RIP energy decks. I feel like this deck can actually be pretty solid in a world without temur energy. UW control will still be tough with all their board wipes, but the field just became wide ******* open.
Honestly, I think this just means UW control is the best deck in the format now. It already has a great ramured matchup and now has an even better one. Meanwhile Temur Energy was a real tough matchup for UW control, especially post-board, and now it seems like that deck is gone.
Merfolk feels more solid as a contender without energy floating around. I'm probably going with Demir control/tempo and fish this standard. Still checking out Abzan tokens as it got new tools to use at the top end.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Fish with Spell Pierce main is pretty consistent game 1. Control can't do much to stop the flood. Looks like there will be lots of viable fish builds based on meta.
Hey all,
With the banning of Attune/Rogue I'm moving into Merfolk because I think it has the most potential going into Rivals. Came across Collins Mullen's deck and article (which can be found here) and I really enjoy the fact that his deck is simple and low to the ground but after reading this primer, there are clearly some issues.
Jade Bearer - Spent some time playtesting the deck and came to the same conclusion that has been reached about Jade Bearer. I like the idea, but hate drawing Jade Bearer and having it be the only one drop in my opening hand, later in the game it's just extra gas.
Land base - I felt like the deck drew too much land, so I toyed around going with 18 lands but have decided against that, and I absolutely feel mana screwed drawing only one color and being stuck without a way to cast other color spells (Unclaimed Territory was very much the reason I had run into this issue), so I pulled those out in favor of Ipnu and Hashep.
Deeproot Waters - I really liked the synergy of this card when running the 12 1 drops (that was including Jade Bearer), I don't know if it still has a place in the deck losing the 4 1 drops, and I always felt like I was wasting a turn putting this on the board. I have left it in, but just don't know if I still like it. May switch out Nissa, Steward of Elements/Hadana's Climb/Blossoming/etc.
Herald of Secret Streams and Hadana's Climb - Again, another set of cards I don't really know how I feel about, honestly I would love to take out the Herald and Hadana and go with Tempest Caller, but I feel the curve gets too high then. Maybe a late game win-more?
Curious Obsession - I saw this card on a different Merfolk list and really liked the early game draw it provides, and obviously helps get more damage across with something like Mist-Cloaked Herald or Kumena's Speaker. This is the card that typically I would find frustration in being able to cast when running Unclaimed Territory hence the switch from those to the Deserts.
Appeal//Authority - From Collins list, I really thought this was a great add to the deck, one drop sorcery that gives you so much pump, it's why I've been reluctant to pull out the Deeproot Waters, but feel it might be better served with Blossoming Defense?
So I made the following changes and want to get a feel for what others think. Hoping to take this deck into side events coming up for GP Houston so also sideboard recommendations are always a plus.
I have been out of the game for a few years, and im building this. Is Kumemna, tyrant that necessary for the deck? Im trying to build a budget version for now. Do you think it will be the most expensive card in the set or is it just prerelease prices?
I have been out of the game for a few years, and im building this. Is Kumemna, tyrant that necessary for the deck? Im trying to build a budget version for now. Do you think it will be the most expensive card in the set or is it just prerelease prices?
He's a necessity in the deck for a few reasons. The first being that he draws cards with only having three merfolk in play, so by using him with Jungle Pioneer it can help keep the gas going in the mid-game match ups. He also has built in unblockable, has a really good body that can block even a Hazoret with little work, and later can pump the entire team, though mode 3 is probably the least used of them. In essence, it's like a planeswalker that depends on having a go-wide approach to function.
The big weakness the deck has is to removal and "big stompy" creatures that are just good value from the get go. If someone came at the typical fish build right now with a dinosaur deck, the dinosaurs would flat out win since the merfolk can't trade well and often a 4/5 to 7/7 threat is pretty common, so the blocking is far from optional. The only thing with hexproof on their side of the field are 1/1 tokens as well so to protect the other merfolk you really need to use the Blossoming defense wisely.
Given the weakness to big stompy things I've been pondering including Kefnet's Last word, Vizier of Many Faces, or some kind of similar option that just takes their best thing or copies it. I like the latter more since at worse it can copy a merfolk on our side of the field.
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!
This is the budget version I plan on running for the time being. Cheap fixes are appreciated and as a must for me is running Jace due to its my own tech.
The big weakness the deck has is to removal and "big stompy" creatures that are just good value from the get go. If someone came at the typical fish build right now with a dinosaur deck, the dinosaurs would flat out win since the merfolk can't trade well and often a 4/5 to 7/7 threat is pretty common, so the blocking is far from optional. The only thing with hexproof on their side of the field are 1/1 tokens as well so to protect the other merfolk you really need to use the Blossoming defense wisely.
Given the weakness to big stompy things I've been pondering including Kefnet's Last word, Vizier of Many Faces, or some kind of similar option that just takes their best thing or copies it. I like the latter more since at worse it can copy a merfolk on our side of the field.
I think that going under the big creatures shouldn't be a problem as they are usually slower and there is Unsummon to bounce the big (non-hexproof) creatures to get in damage and tempo-out decks like Dinosaurs.
I have been out of the game for a few years, and im building this. Is Kumemna, tyrant that necessary for the deck? Im trying to build a budget version for now. Do you think it will be the most expensive card in the set or is it just prerelease prices?
Others pointed out previously that it's likely due to only being available via prerelease stuff. Price should go down when it becomes more widely available. I'd guess $12-15 is the low point. Re: is it worth it - definitely. She does all the stuff you want a lord to do in this deck. I'd say she's one of the reasons it will work, if it does.
Also, I really wish people would stop running Deeproot waters. It's outclassed by Jungleborn Pioneer in so many ways that it just isn't worth the slots in the deck. It's better as top deck, it gives immediate value, and it works with Unclaimed Territory. Also, I'm on the fence with Blossoming Defense in this deck. After having tried to build it a few times this deck wants as many creatures as possible and I've basically canned even my pet favorite card of the set to make room. Unsummon is absolutely necessary in the deck. The sideboard is a mess right now, though. I've gone to Strictly better MTGs channel to see what he ended up with and his sideboard is almost the same as mine. Aethersphere Harvester sounds like a good plan since it stops Glorybringer all day.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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!
Also, I really wish people would stop running Deeproot waters. It's outclassed by Jungleborn Pioneer in so many ways that it just isn't worth the slots in the deck. It's better as top deck, it gives immediate value, and it works with Unclaimed Territory. Also, I'm on the fence with Blossoming Defense in this deck. After having tried to build it a few times this deck wants as many creatures as possible and I've basically canned even my pet favorite card of the set to make room. Unsummon is absolutely necessary in the deck. The sideboard is a mess right now, though. I've gone to Strictly better MTGs channel to see what he ended up with and his sideboard is almost the same as mine. Aethersphere Harvester sounds like a good plan since it stops Glorybringer all day.
What do they have in the Sideboard? Or can you link the relevant video?
Also, I really wish people would stop running Deeproot waters. It's outclassed by Jungleborn Pioneer in so many ways that it just isn't worth the slots in the deck. It's better as top deck, it gives immediate value, and it works with Unclaimed Territory. Also, I'm on the fence with Blossoming Defense in this deck. After having tried to build it a few times this deck wants as many creatures as possible and I've basically canned even my pet favorite card of the set to make room. Unsummon is absolutely necessary in the deck. The sideboard is a mess right now, though. I've gone to Strictly better MTGs channel to see what he ended up with and his sideboard is almost the same as mine. Aethersphere Harvester sounds like a good plan since it stops Glorybringer all day.
What do they have in the Sideboard? Or can you link the relevant video?
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!
I am wondering if Lifecrafter's Bestiary might be better than Nissa, given the numbers of creatures in the deck? Every mid to late game creature replaces itself, and can't be killed by creatures.
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The pre-sale supply is somewhat limited due to the smaller orders from the stores. That and it's a good card. Honestly, the real mystery is the Rekindling Phoenix as I've been brewing like nuts and haven't found a good fit for it yet.
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!
Imagine a world where hazoret gets banned (as a preventive measure).
The card is just a solid mid range creature. Look at it like you would with glorybringer. It's a support card and not a build around me card.
Do we start preparing for WB Vampires, or is something else new king on the block?
There are also decks like: UW Gift, UB Control and Grixis Midrange which might become more dominant.
WB Vampires isn't really a thing yet.
30 tix online is amusing. Although this should plummet as the week goes on and more and more drafts are done.
I've found there are definitely points were you need to get past blockers (Gifted Aetherborn is a huge pain), and was wondering what was best. I was considering Herald of Secret Streams, but Open into Wonder does have some different advantages without needing a counter, and drawing cards.
Red is still a monster but they've plucked that ridiculous reach with lands out and ferocidon just made sure any slower deck couldn't win.
Dinos will have something with big finishers. God Pharo's should resurge now.
I feel like Tempest Caller is the obvious choice. It seems like, if you're going to alpha strike, you want to do it to win. Going Open into Wonder, swing, don't win means you just lose next turn with a grip full of cards. I'd rather drop a Tempest Caller, swing with everything, then still have A blocker to do something with. Or have won the game.
Yeah, Tempest Caller seems a better than the Herald. You don't need to necessarily alpha strike using Open into Wonder tough, you can use it to draw 2-3 cards and slip through some damage.
The only thing vampires lack are good value creatures, otherwise they work well in less traditional approaches like life drain and probably ascend. WG tokens looks really attractive right now.
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!
Honestly, I think this just means UW control is the best deck in the format now. It already has a great ramured matchup and now has an even better one. Meanwhile Temur Energy was a real tough matchup for UW control, especially post-board, and now it seems like that deck is gone.
Creature (32)
4x Deeproot Elite
2x Herald of Secret Streams
2x Jadelight Ranger
2x Kopala, Warden of Waves
2x Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
4x Merfolk Mistbinder
4x Mist-Cloaked Herald
4x River Sneak
4x Seafloor Oracle
4x Silvergill Adept
Land (18)
4x Botanical Sanctum
5x Forest
5x Island
4x Unclaimed Territory
Instant (8)
4x Blossoming Defense
4x Spell Pierce
Sorcery (2)
2x Chart a Course
sb is
4 kumena's speaker
4 tempest caller
2 deeproot waters
2 naturalize
2 negate
1 river's rebuke
won 1 game so far against sultai pirates with the prey dinosaur...
seems good. kumena comes in for pierce or defense if im on the play.
18x lands doesn't seem like nearly enough, especially with 3-drops and 4-drops in your deck.
I'd add at least 3-4x more lands and Kumena's Speaker + Merfolk Branchwalker and remove the 4-drops and some of the 3-drops (besides Kumena).
River Sneak is probably one of the weaker 2-drop options in the deck as well, Metallic Mimic would be better imho.
Please use deck tags.
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!
With the banning of Attune/Rogue I'm moving into Merfolk because I think it has the most potential going into Rivals. Came across Collins Mullen's deck and article (which can be found here) and I really enjoy the fact that his deck is simple and low to the ground but after reading this primer, there are clearly some issues.
Jade Bearer - Spent some time playtesting the deck and came to the same conclusion that has been reached about Jade Bearer. I like the idea, but hate drawing Jade Bearer and having it be the only one drop in my opening hand, later in the game it's just extra gas.
Land base - I felt like the deck drew too much land, so I toyed around going with 18 lands but have decided against that, and I absolutely feel mana screwed drawing only one color and being stuck without a way to cast other color spells (Unclaimed Territory was very much the reason I had run into this issue), so I pulled those out in favor of Ipnu and Hashep.
Deeproot Waters - I really liked the synergy of this card when running the 12 1 drops (that was including Jade Bearer), I don't know if it still has a place in the deck losing the 4 1 drops, and I always felt like I was wasting a turn putting this on the board. I have left it in, but just don't know if I still like it. May switch out Nissa, Steward of Elements/Hadana's Climb/Blossoming/etc.
Herald of Secret Streams and Hadana's Climb - Again, another set of cards I don't really know how I feel about, honestly I would love to take out the Herald and Hadana and go with Tempest Caller, but I feel the curve gets too high then. Maybe a late game win-more?
Curious Obsession - I saw this card on a different Merfolk list and really liked the early game draw it provides, and obviously helps get more damage across with something like Mist-Cloaked Herald or Kumena's Speaker. This is the card that typically I would find frustration in being able to cast when running Unclaimed Territory hence the switch from those to the Deserts.
Appeal//Authority - From Collins list, I really thought this was a great add to the deck, one drop sorcery that gives you so much pump, it's why I've been reluctant to pull out the Deeproot Waters, but feel it might be better served with Blossoming Defense?
So I made the following changes and want to get a feel for what others think. Hoping to take this deck into side events coming up for GP Houston so also sideboard recommendations are always a plus.
4x Botanical Sanctum
2x Ipnu Rivulet
2x Hashep Oasis
6x Island
6x Forest
Enchantment
3x Curious Obsession
2x Hadana's Climb
2x Deeproot Waters
1x Herald of Secret Streams
3x Metallic Mimic
4x Merfolk Branchwalker
4x Deeproot Elite
4x Mist-Cloacked Herald (I despise that this is spelled wrong for the tag)
3x Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
4x Kumena's Speaker
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Merfolk Mistbinder
2x Appeal // Authority
He's a necessity in the deck for a few reasons. The first being that he draws cards with only having three merfolk in play, so by using him with Jungle Pioneer it can help keep the gas going in the mid-game match ups. He also has built in unblockable, has a really good body that can block even a Hazoret with little work, and later can pump the entire team, though mode 3 is probably the least used of them. In essence, it's like a planeswalker that depends on having a go-wide approach to function.
The big weakness the deck has is to removal and "big stompy" creatures that are just good value from the get go. If someone came at the typical fish build right now with a dinosaur deck, the dinosaurs would flat out win since the merfolk can't trade well and often a 4/5 to 7/7 threat is pretty common, so the blocking is far from optional. The only thing with hexproof on their side of the field are 1/1 tokens as well so to protect the other merfolk you really need to use the Blossoming defense wisely.
Given the weakness to big stompy things I've been pondering including Kefnet's Last word, Vizier of Many Faces, or some kind of similar option that just takes their best thing or copies it. I like the latter more since at worse it can copy a merfolk on our side of the field.
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!
4 Kumena's Speaker
4 Jade Bearer
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Merfolk Mindbinder
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Vineshaper Mystic
3 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
3 Jungleborn Pioneer
2 Herald of secret Streams
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
2 Jace, Cunning Castaway
(10)
2 Deeproot Waters
4 Unsummon
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Woodland Stream
11 Forest
7 Island
Still working on side
I think that going under the big creatures shouldn't be a problem as they are usually slower and there is Unsummon to bounce the big (non-hexproof) creatures to get in damage and tempo-out decks like Dinosaurs.
Watertrap Weaver is another tool to deal with bigger creatures, like a bad Reflector Mage/Harbinger of the Tides impression.
Others pointed out previously that it's likely due to only being available via prerelease stuff. Price should go down when it becomes more widely available. I'd guess $12-15 is the low point. Re: is it worth it - definitely. She does all the stuff you want a lord to do in this deck. I'd say she's one of the reasons it will work, if it does.
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!
What do they have in the Sideboard? Or can you link the relevant video?
Here is SBMTGs video on the deck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liz4yoVdq84&t=0s. I actually don't even use Nissa in my own sideboard.
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!
I am wondering if Lifecrafter's Bestiary might be better than Nissa, given the numbers of creatures in the deck? Every mid to late game creature replaces itself, and can't be killed by creatures.