I find myself almost universally choosing Khans with Siege, unless my opponent is hampered on mana, I'm playing against Burn or facing down a Liliana.
Khans let's you loot through your deck to find creatures every turn. Casting a new creature every turn is going to be better than taxing their removal because you'll be drawing more action than them.
We don't need more than 4 lands in play to operate unless we have multiple mutavaults, and holding those additional lands allows Siege to turn them into real cards if you draw it.
Dragons is decent, but unless you're killing them the following turn, I think you're better served with the additional cards.
I switched away from Kira because she gets caught up sweepers, but after testing the card engine side of Siege, I can't imagine sacrificing the versatility for a protection effect that is situationally better.
I lost to Affinity round 1 and didn't drop a game through the rest of the swiss vs Twin, Collected Company Combo and Abzan Midrange. I drew into Top 8 and was promptly paired with Affinity, which I lost to for a 5th place finish. The top 8 was pretty hostile, with 5 bad matchups in Storm, 8 Rack and 3 Affinity (UR Delver and Esper Delve rounded out the rest of the field).
I'm very happy with the deck's performance vs the meta in general, but with an uptick in Affinity in my area, I'm retooling for better hate, and probably circling back to splashing white.
Vendillion Clique is great as disruption on a body. I bring it in vs combo and any attrition matchup as an extra threat. I would run 2 if I had access to a second.
Cursecatcher's visible impact on the game is far less than the invisible frustration he causes by disrupting your opponents' curves. Sometimes he just eats a bolt because they need to resolve the rest of their spells on time.
In a topdeck war, he's bad, but Cloudfin would be worse in that situation.
That said, Cloudfin is interesting, although I'm not sure the flying is better than the added P/T of Cosi's Trickster.
Chalice is a terrible idea vs Twin. How are you stopping the combo with it in play? Our best interaction is 1 drops and you can't tap out to put it on 2 without giving them a window.
Swan Song has been amazing for me vs Twin, at both stopping their combo and hitting Keranos out of the board. You also have to value Cursecatchers differently because they can counter a Dispel to effectively push them back another turn.
Cavern cuts both ways vs Twin. Your creatures will resolve, but you're down a blue source, which means you can lose to an end step tapper on your only blue source when all you have is a counter. I find myself bringing in 2 Tectonic Edges vs Twin to make sure I'm not constricted on mana and take out a lighthouse.
The problem with Spellskite vs Scapeshift is that we're often at 20 life, so they're going to 8 lands and getting 2 Valakuts for 36 damage off 12 triggers. You'd need a vial on 2 plus at least 3 islands untapped to survive it at 2. It's still a fine card vs their bolts and electrolyzes, but it's not a complete trump.
Wanderwine Hub might be there to combat the resurgence of Choke. Oboro and Minamo have commonly been included in mono blue lists for that purpose, and Wanderwine Hub could also throw your opponent off during sideboarding and make them think you have access to a color you don't.
I run the white splash for SB options off of 4 Wanderwine Hub and 4 Seachrome Coast. For Stony Silence to matter vs. Affinity, it has to come down early, and 6 white sources won't cut it. 8 sources is still suboptimal, but playing Hallowed Fountain alongside Dismember is worse.
I like the white splash and NO path's (counter intuitive and productive). Is it worth messing up your mana base for 6 sideboard cards? Please let us know!
Wanderwine Hub is basically a free-roll. If you don't have a merfolk in hand, you probably don't need to cast multiple spells. Seachrome Coast can be a little more problematic if you draw one and also have a mutavault in hand, but outside of the 2 MoW, you don't really care if it ETB tapped on turn 4.
You are more exposed to Blood Moon, but you're very resilient to Choke, which I think is more back-breaking.
Quote from SaintA » »
I don't understand Aven Mindcensor at all. Why not in color, cantrip, everyway better Shadow of Doubt??
Mindcensor beats down, can be vialed in as an uncounterable response to pod or fetch, and provides a persistent effect. If you pass with double blue up and cards in hand, most pod players will be cautious. A vial on 3 is less suspicious, especially if you could have attacked with mutavault.
I went 0-3 in Boston but dropped and won a rebound event 4-0.
R1 1-2 to Jund. Close match throughout.
R2 0-2 to Pod. I mulled to 4 (5 lander, 1 lander mutavault, no lander) and had just about the best possible 4 card hand but I was never in the game. Game 2 was close.
R3 0-2 to Burn. I put myself dead to exactly Goblin Bushwhacker + burn spell both games with a win the following turn if he didn't have it. He had it.
In the rebound event, I didn't lose a game, beating Living End, Affinity, a Zombie brew and Junk. These were other 0-3s, so take that for what you will.
Khans let's you loot through your deck to find creatures every turn. Casting a new creature every turn is going to be better than taxing their removal because you'll be drawing more action than them.
We don't need more than 4 lands in play to operate unless we have multiple mutavaults, and holding those additional lands allows Siege to turn them into real cards if you draw it.
Dragons is decent, but unless you're killing them the following turn, I think you're better served with the additional cards.
I switched away from Kira because she gets caught up sweepers, but after testing the card engine side of Siege, I can't imagine sacrificing the versatility for a protection effect that is situationally better.
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
3 Merrow Reejerey
1 Tidebinder Mage
4 Vapor Snag
2 Spell Pierce
4 Spreading Seas
2 Monastery Siege
4 Æther Vial
4 Mutavault
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Dismember
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Swan Song
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spellskite
1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
I lost to Affinity round 1 and didn't drop a game through the rest of the swiss vs Twin, Collected Company Combo and Abzan Midrange. I drew into Top 8 and was promptly paired with Affinity, which I lost to for a 5th place finish. The top 8 was pretty hostile, with 5 bad matchups in Storm, 8 Rack and 3 Affinity (UR Delver and Esper Delve rounded out the rest of the field).
I'm very happy with the deck's performance vs the meta in general, but with an uptick in Affinity in my area, I'm retooling for better hate, and probably circling back to splashing white.
In a topdeck war, he's bad, but Cloudfin would be worse in that situation.
That said, Cloudfin is interesting, although I'm not sure the flying is better than the added P/T of Cosi's Trickster.
Swan Song has been amazing for me vs Twin, at both stopping their combo and hitting Keranos out of the board. You also have to value Cursecatchers differently because they can counter a Dispel to effectively push them back another turn.
Cavern cuts both ways vs Twin. Your creatures will resolve, but you're down a blue source, which means you can lose to an end step tapper on your only blue source when all you have is a counter. I find myself bringing in 2 Tectonic Edges vs Twin to make sure I'm not constricted on mana and take out a lighthouse.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30373_Daily-Digest-Finally-A-Good-Merfolk-Deck.html
I tried him in a UB Merfolk shell but ended up cutting him for more disruption and relying on Bob, Silvergill and Spreading Seas for card advantage.
You are more exposed to Blood Moon, but you're very resilient to Choke, which I think is more back-breaking.
Mindcensor beats down, can be vialed in as an uncounterable response to pod or fetch, and provides a persistent effect. If you pass with double blue up and cards in hand, most pod players will be cautious. A vial on 3 is less suspicious, especially if you could have attacked with mutavault.
I went 0-3 in Boston but dropped and won a rebound event 4-0.
R1 1-2 to Jund. Close match throughout.
R2 0-2 to Pod. I mulled to 4 (5 lander, 1 lander mutavault, no lander) and had just about the best possible 4 card hand but I was never in the game. Game 2 was close.
R3 0-2 to Burn. I put myself dead to exactly Goblin Bushwhacker + burn spell both games with a win the following turn if he didn't have it. He had it.
In the rebound event, I didn't lose a game, beating Living End, Affinity, a Zombie brew and Junk. These were other 0-3s, so take that for what you will.
4x Cursecatcher
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
2x Master of Waves
2x Merrow Reejerey
2x Phantasmal Image
4x Silvergill Adept
1x Thassa, God of the Sea
4x AEther Vial
Land (20)
1x Cavern of Souls
7x Island
4x Mutavault
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Wanderwine Hub
Instant (8)
2x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
4x Vapor Snag
4x Spreading Seas
1x Aven Mindcensor
2x Echoing Truth
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Negate
2x Rest in Peace
2x Spell Snare
2x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence