A bunch of interpersonal developments within my meta have made fish a considerably less thorny inclusion. I do miss Earthcraft for its utility options, but I am happy about the fact it became a bit harder to combo. The deck is quite happy to assemble a value engine and toss up a smoke and mirrors board presence, draw some cards, pump the team, thwart attempts to kill the fish off, the regular spiel. What helps get there? Low-cost fish sticks with some trace amount of other utility if needed. So let's go in that direction a bit more.
Empress Galina is a hellishly powerful, but also hellishly dickish option. Theft is probably the most powerful mechanic I have been routinely using throughout my EDH career, but it's quite painful to play against and this list doesn't need to stoop to it to survive. Plus, the bugger costs five mana to field when not being Seahuntered in the end step before your turn to much chagrin. Sylvan Library is a superboss card in most everything Gx, but this deck tends to quite easily set up a pretty decent draw engine that leaves this in the dirt very quickly, making it essentially an early game card. Cold-Eyed Selkie is perfectly fine, but it costs three (butting curve heads with the commander a little) and brings a smidge of draw to the table. If I'm being so critical of high cost and non-commander draw, what about Tatyova, Benthic Druid or Kindred Discovery? The latter draws so many damned cards that it's 100% safe and was one of the motivations for making this decks. The former offers a nice trickle of value independent of the commander or whatever lands other people may be playing. It's fine, and not in danger.
Time to slot in a bunch of low-cost fish! Rootwater Diver has a rather narrow set of fetchables, but it can be a Mistcaller style silver bullet that taps for Kumena stuff 99.9% of the time. If I decide to experiment with more one-drops, the most likely to be included would be Reef Shaman variants. Mess with opponents' mana, grant your dudebros evasion if a Lord of Atlantis variant comes out to roost. Sea Scryer has been unexpectedly amazing, flexibly offering extra mana or a Kumena ability fish stick as needed. Waterfront Bouncer is a less severe Surgespanner, acting as a decent ETB recycler and defensive rattlesnake. And, guess what, when unneeded it also works for Kumena abilities. Who could have foreseen this!
I'm quite happy with this direction for the deck. Eyeing the four drop ETB fish tutors to slightly increase the variance a bit more while potentially dropping the curve further. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully RTRTR set 2 will bring some neato things.
The deck was a smidge too tutor-rich for its own good - there were six creature searchers, which is a bit on the heavy side. I can't really axe the general tutors as the power to fetch an untapper is crucial, and Seahunter's reusability makes him fantastic and right at home. I did state that I'm eyeing the ETB fish tutors for cuts, so time to cut them! They came with the secret perk of single-handedly ensuring three fish for Kumena purposes, which was nice. I also surveyed the playgroup for aspects of the list they dislike (I bought a freaking Tropical Island for this list, I need to keep it in good standings with the meta), and they pointed to Mana Drain and Opposition. The list has never been too permission-heavy, opting for cheese cards like Heroic Intervention instead of more counters, so going down to four spell control options in the list with some potential of re-use should be good enough. Meanwhile, actually looking at Opposition made me realise the thing teeters between do-nothing and winmore. If the board is lean, this card has very negligible impact. If the board is super wide and an untapper is around, it starts mauling mana bases in upkeeps and people get mad. However, if the board is super wide and there's an untapper, the odds of you winning the game are pretty damn high without the Opposition to hold the foes' heads below water and piss them off. The card was included in the list to thrive on a mid-size setup, controlling key swingers in a weird defensive manner, but that very rarely happens. Away it goes! Also, curve thinning means Zendikar Resurgent bids farewell. It's a nice card, the draw was cool, the ramp was commendable, but the seven mana price tag is not where we want to be in the end.
The fish morph into Darting Merfolk and Thrasios, Triton Hero. The former is the embodiment of a nameless fish stick that taps for Kumena abilities, and the self-bounce is occasionally useful (examples include triggering Paradox Engine/Intruder Alarm on the cheap, partaking in Merrow Reejerey + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as a Surgespanner proxy, flying out of the way of a wipe). The latter should have been in here since day one, but I have this thing where I dislike running cards that explicitly interact with the command zone as part of the 99. Thrasios coming down on the cheap and offering a mana sink is very nice for the list. Hey, there's nothing wrong with getting even more cardboard from time to time. The remaining slots went towards ramp, helping sculpt a hard to disrupt mana base in line with the game plan. Exploration is synergistic with the draw life the deck lives, as there's usually extra land in hand. Dowsing Dagger has its drawback nullified out of the command zone, and ends up being a flexibly costed Thran Dynamo in land form after a smack to the face. Harvest Season makes a triumphant return. The lower curve fish sticks make popping this for big gains more convenient, and I've found myself having an easier time not being a greed monster and only pulling the trigger once every last body has made it onto the field.
In fairness, the Rootwater Diver never really did anything. He was cheap, he had a weird silver bullet clause that never came online, he tapped for Kumena fodder. Benthic Biomancer satisfies those requirements, but trades the silver bullet clause for a loot on counter placement. Hey cool, guess what Kumena does when not just straight drawing? It's a minor quality of life upgrade, but it's pretty cool nevertheless.
The deck's in a pretty good place right now. It plays pretty smooth, it doesn't get quite as negative a reception as it did a few iterations ago. Darting Merfolk has superseded Surgespanner as Merrow Reejerey's combo friend, but those are still kept in check by needing multiple pieces to do a thing (although they've come together a bit too often in the last few draws, leading to some grumbling). Some part of me wants to just push the pedal to the metal and put Earthcraft back in, aided with Aluren (which performed disturbingly in goldfishing). However, given the deck's current relative strength, that would make it a heavy persona non grata in my meta. I'm pretty content finding weird ways in which all the pieces value town together in unexpected ways sometimes, e.g. a Seedborn Muse + Paradox Engine + Waterfront Bouncer + Mystic Snake soft counter wall that just assembled itself at some point.
Survival of the Fittest is stupid good, which is a pretty obvious thing to state. The repeatable tutoring grants ridiculous flexibility at any stage of the game, and leads to easy combo setups later on. Defense of the Heart is a one-time burst of value, compensating by cheating mana costs. It tends to get Seedborn Muse plus some sort of situationally appropriate friend most of the time. It's weaker, but makes the deck more appropriate for my meta. I haven't had many complaints since this change went live.
The rest of the changes are shaving more expensive options for low drops, continuing the 1/2 CMC push. Oracle of Mul Daya hasn't been the same since Exploration came to town, and Sigil Tracer/Thada Adel, Acquisitor aren't as impactful as other three-drop fish allowed to stay in the list. Merfolk Skydiver is the least good of the new additions, but maybe sometimes I'll sink mana into its proliferate. Overtaker is an instant speed Threaten on legs, which can be used offensively and defensively. Pretty decent rattlesnake, a bit in spirit with what Opposition was supposed to do. Reef Shaman enables islandwalk and potentially messing with people's lands, or fixing mine.
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
1 Empress Galina
1 Sylvan Library
1 Rootwater Diver
1 Sea Scryer
1 Waterfront Bouncer
Empress Galina is a hellishly powerful, but also hellishly dickish option. Theft is probably the most powerful mechanic I have been routinely using throughout my EDH career, but it's quite painful to play against and this list doesn't need to stoop to it to survive. Plus, the bugger costs five mana to field when not being Seahuntered in the end step before your turn to much chagrin. Sylvan Library is a superboss card in most everything Gx, but this deck tends to quite easily set up a pretty decent draw engine that leaves this in the dirt very quickly, making it essentially an early game card. Cold-Eyed Selkie is perfectly fine, but it costs three (butting curve heads with the commander a little) and brings a smidge of draw to the table. If I'm being so critical of high cost and non-commander draw, what about Tatyova, Benthic Druid or Kindred Discovery? The latter draws so many damned cards that it's 100% safe and was one of the motivations for making this decks. The former offers a nice trickle of value independent of the commander or whatever lands other people may be playing. It's fine, and not in danger.
Time to slot in a bunch of low-cost fish! Rootwater Diver has a rather narrow set of fetchables, but it can be a Mistcaller style silver bullet that taps for Kumena stuff 99.9% of the time. If I decide to experiment with more one-drops, the most likely to be included would be Reef Shaman variants. Mess with opponents' mana, grant your dudebros evasion if a Lord of Atlantis variant comes out to roost. Sea Scryer has been unexpectedly amazing, flexibly offering extra mana or a Kumena ability fish stick as needed. Waterfront Bouncer is a less severe Surgespanner, acting as a decent ETB recycler and defensive rattlesnake. And, guess what, when unneeded it also works for Kumena abilities. Who could have foreseen this!
I'm quite happy with this direction for the deck. Eyeing the four drop ETB fish tutors to slightly increase the variance a bit more while potentially dropping the curve further. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully RTRTR set 2 will bring some neato things.
1 Forerunner of the Heralds
1 Mana Drain
1 Merrow Harbinger
1 Opposition
1 Zendikar Resurgent
1 Darting Merfolk
1 Dowsing Dagger
1 Exploration
1 Harvest Season
1 Thrasios, Triton Hero
The deck was a smidge too tutor-rich for its own good - there were six creature searchers, which is a bit on the heavy side. I can't really axe the general tutors as the power to fetch an untapper is crucial, and Seahunter's reusability makes him fantastic and right at home. I did state that I'm eyeing the ETB fish tutors for cuts, so time to cut them! They came with the secret perk of single-handedly ensuring three fish for Kumena purposes, which was nice. I also surveyed the playgroup for aspects of the list they dislike (I bought a freaking Tropical Island for this list, I need to keep it in good standings with the meta), and they pointed to Mana Drain and Opposition. The list has never been too permission-heavy, opting for cheese cards like Heroic Intervention instead of more counters, so going down to four spell control options in the list with some potential of re-use should be good enough. Meanwhile, actually looking at Opposition made me realise the thing teeters between do-nothing and winmore. If the board is lean, this card has very negligible impact. If the board is super wide and an untapper is around, it starts mauling mana bases in upkeeps and people get mad. However, if the board is super wide and there's an untapper, the odds of you winning the game are pretty damn high without the Opposition to hold the foes' heads below water and piss them off. The card was included in the list to thrive on a mid-size setup, controlling key swingers in a weird defensive manner, but that very rarely happens. Away it goes! Also, curve thinning means Zendikar Resurgent bids farewell. It's a nice card, the draw was cool, the ramp was commendable, but the seven mana price tag is not where we want to be in the end.
The fish morph into Darting Merfolk and Thrasios, Triton Hero. The former is the embodiment of a nameless fish stick that taps for Kumena abilities, and the self-bounce is occasionally useful (examples include triggering Paradox Engine/Intruder Alarm on the cheap, partaking in Merrow Reejerey + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as a Surgespanner proxy, flying out of the way of a wipe). The latter should have been in here since day one, but I have this thing where I dislike running cards that explicitly interact with the command zone as part of the 99. Thrasios coming down on the cheap and offering a mana sink is very nice for the list. Hey, there's nothing wrong with getting even more cardboard from time to time. The remaining slots went towards ramp, helping sculpt a hard to disrupt mana base in line with the game plan. Exploration is synergistic with the draw life the deck lives, as there's usually extra land in hand. Dowsing Dagger has its drawback nullified out of the command zone, and ends up being a flexibly costed Thran Dynamo in land form after a smack to the face. Harvest Season makes a triumphant return. The lower curve fish sticks make popping this for big gains more convenient, and I've found myself having an easier time not being a greed monster and only pulling the trigger once every last body has made it onto the field.
1 Rootwater Diver
1 Benthic Biomancer
In fairness, the Rootwater Diver never really did anything. He was cheap, he had a weird silver bullet clause that never came online, he tapped for Kumena fodder. Benthic Biomancer satisfies those requirements, but trades the silver bullet clause for a loot on counter placement. Hey cool, guess what Kumena does when not just straight drawing? It's a minor quality of life upgrade, but it's pretty cool nevertheless.
The deck's in a pretty good place right now. It plays pretty smooth, it doesn't get quite as negative a reception as it did a few iterations ago. Darting Merfolk has superseded Surgespanner as Merrow Reejerey's combo friend, but those are still kept in check by needing multiple pieces to do a thing (although they've come together a bit too often in the last few draws, leading to some grumbling). Some part of me wants to just push the pedal to the metal and put Earthcraft back in, aided with Aluren (which performed disturbingly in goldfishing). However, given the deck's current relative strength, that would make it a heavy persona non grata in my meta. I'm pretty content finding weird ways in which all the pieces value town together in unexpected ways sometimes, e.g. a Seedborn Muse + Paradox Engine + Waterfront Bouncer + Mystic Snake soft counter wall that just assembled itself at some point.
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Sigil Tracer
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Merfolk Skydiver
1 Overtaker
1 Reef Shaman
Survival of the Fittest is stupid good, which is a pretty obvious thing to state. The repeatable tutoring grants ridiculous flexibility at any stage of the game, and leads to easy combo setups later on. Defense of the Heart is a one-time burst of value, compensating by cheating mana costs. It tends to get Seedborn Muse plus some sort of situationally appropriate friend most of the time. It's weaker, but makes the deck more appropriate for my meta. I haven't had many complaints since this change went live.
The rest of the changes are shaving more expensive options for low drops, continuing the 1/2 CMC push. Oracle of Mul Daya hasn't been the same since Exploration came to town, and Sigil Tracer/Thada Adel, Acquisitor aren't as impactful as other three-drop fish allowed to stay in the list. Merfolk Skydiver is the least good of the new additions, but maybe sometimes I'll sink mana into its proliferate. Overtaker is an instant speed Threaten on legs, which can be used offensively and defensively. Pretty decent rattlesnake, a bit in spirit with what Opposition was supposed to do. Reef Shaman enables islandwalk and potentially messing with people's lands, or fixing mine.