Good video, but I've never found the deck to be clunky. I consistently 4-0 and 3-1 with it at my local events every week (20-30 players).
Phantasmal Image is fantastic. 3 is the perfect number. It shores up matchups like Sneak and Show/Reanimator. Same with Merrow Reejerey, it lets you set up amazing chains that win you the game, and in multiples they are even better. If not, then it is a perfect tempo card to tap blockers and make iffy combat steps very favourable. Last week I used Reejerey to tap two huge blockers in a Nic Fit matchup and win the game.
I have never been a fan of MB Chalice but I have never really given it too much testing. I'll give it a go next time I play an event (should be in two weeks time) and let you know how it goes. I have always found Daze really good but like I said, maybe I don't know any better.
I am a huge fan of 3 Wastelands in the deck, it is just extremely important and can basically be a Time Walk when you have Aether Vial.
I really like Harbinger and I wanna try it out in the sideboard.
edit - If you want to see some videos of me playing the deck very badly there is a bunch of feature matches I did last year on a channel called Fullhouse Games on YouTube. I don't play well on camera
We have 7 Progenituses, they have 4 Stoneforges. They don't always draw one to have 85-15 matchup.
When they do they have to resolve the Mystic and do all other operations to connect.
Even then we are not sitting idly and waiting to be killed. Mutavault can take one for the team if they have ground creature equipped with SoF&I. Well placed Echoing Truth can win us the time. Image can copy Flickerwisp inside combat and remove SoF&I from equation.
All of this is enough distraction to pile up on Lords on the table and do something.
They are also greedy with their monocolor manabase, Ports and Wastes don't help casting stuff and Karakas can be wasted.
This is not comparable to Owling Mine vs Zoo and it will never be.
I treat Image as running half of every creature in our deck because it will only be a specific creature when you need it to be and you won't always have the creature you need it to be. As such, we only have 6 plus the Jitte(s). It isn't just about them having Stoneforge, they have fliers and Jitte and SoFi as relevant threats whereas many of our Merfolk are duds in the face of Mother of Runes. They have more relevant threats than us.
Echoing Truth is also a one-of and we certainly can't rely on it. I didn't draw my copy yesterday but I definitely wish I did. Image can also only copy in Combat if you have a Vial out. This also doesn't factor in their 4 Swords to Plowshares. This matchup is REALLY hard lol
Also you can argue our manabase is somewhat greedy too with all of the Wastelands, Mutavaults, and Caverns.
All this being said, I'm pretty sure its winnable, just very hard and often a toss up (Example being the opponent had Jitte AND Fliers game 3. If he did not, he most certainly WOULD NOT have won).
I am also curious about Standstill in my metagame. Maybe I'll try a list with some of those again next week. I wasn't disappointed with it in the past, but I ultimately took them out for Chalice of the Voids (and the Chalices haven't exactly overperformed in my specific metagame; That being said I'd play Chalice 100% of the time at a bigger event).
D&T is hard, which is why I remember the last three matches against it: the usual legacy tournament at my store, Trials and GP. I won all three (2:1, 2:1 and 2:0 in the 11:3 bracket aka last round). The hard part is them having 4 Stoneforge Mystic, 1 maindeck hate in SoF&I and if they draw their 1 Jitte (not gonna search for it with first Mystic). They hate our TNNs and Jitte(s) while Image is a nice wild card.
I lost the game when he had Thalia equipped with SoF&I AND Jitte and that was with him on three life and me mulling to five. One game he had a creature equipped with SoF&I but he didn't have removal when I had 2 Lords so there was no sniping of my fishes. Overwhelmed him. They don't play many card advantage cards and they are not churning through their library, just like us. They don't always have everything and this is why I can't accept 85:15.
60:40 is the best I would give in their favor and this is without playing Vendillion Clique to snatch ***king SoF&I. The moment that changes I have Cursed Totem for D&T and Elves at the ready, not there yet.
Tnx for shoutout!
I promise to watch all your legacy videos (that have Merfolk in it :p)
Few random thoughts: playing without Daze is great when our opponent doesn't know that (when they became aware it will get worse for us); Image is 3.5 out of playset worthy card in legacy (you will learn that in your testing); I would play 4 Chalice if it was good against 95% of my opponents (but that % is too high unfortunately); Reej will transform into Clique or something else; I was sceptical about 2 Jitte in the main but they overperformed; as a one-of Echoing Truth have won me so many games that there is no chance it leaves main anytime soon; missed 2 Vensers in my sideboard (somehow overlooked them and they would be so good, they are even good against D&T among other things); Cage is also good against Elves and MUD; manabase is actually perfect, there are things to change in the list but I wouldn't recommend changing those exact 21 lands + 4 Vial (this is not my inner child who can't take the critique, actual 7 years of testing and playing, tried 3 Vial and that isn't optimal either); even with Lille set aside I always thought that Merfolk is better positioned in legacy than its counterpart in modern; looking forward to seeing what Harbinger and Zendikar brings to our future.
Holy cow. This list placed 4th at the Chicago IQ. What a weird list. It skimps on lands (0 cavern), maxes Reejerey, and features 0 Chalice between main and side.
@FANAttIC I'm pretty sure the Echoing Truth can be replaced by Harbinger of the Tides. Everything else is up for debate because I am more or less talking out of my ass. I am more and more interested in testing the deck online though.
@L0rdAceX This is the typical stupid build of Merfolk that requires getting lucky to work at all. This guy just ran hot for that weekend.
Out of intrest, it Cosi's Trickster viable at the moment? I've been playing my old build online with 2 Cosi and it keeps becoming a 3/3 for U early on and backed up with Lords.
Played in my second Legacy IQ this past weekend, and made my second top 8 as well. Unlike the first time where I made the finals and lost to Elves, I only made it to the semi-finals and lost to the same player playing Grixis Delver.
My matches:
Round 1 vs Grixis Delver (2-0 win)
Round 2 vs Jeskai Delver (1-2 loss)
Round 3 vs Affinity (2-0 win)
Round 4 vs Sneak and Show (2-1 win)
Round 5 draw into top 8
Round 6 vs Death and Taxes (2-1 win)
Round 7 vs Grixis Delver (0-2 loss)
Some things I took away from the event: playing less than 4 Chalice in the main is wrong, playing less than 4 Cavern of Souls is wrong. Wasteland is good but not as powerful as I had initially thought - it never did anything for me in those matches other than make it more difficult to cast my spells, although I still believe some number of them are correct because of decks like Lands or even some random Cloudpost deck. It can also just give you an easy win - turn 2 Chalice into turn 3 Wasteland their second land will really constrict them in terms of what they can play, and if they're greedy and keep a hand with few hands you can just get an easy win that way. I believe I will keep them in the deck for now, but I'm not sure what type of split I want knowing now that I really want the fourth Cavern.
I never got to see how good Harbinger of the Tides was - it was in my hand against Sneak and Show, but I did not have the means to bounce his Griselbrand at instant speed and I ended up winning without having to cast it. It doesn't bounce Emrakul before the Annihilator trigger goes on the stack, so it's questionable against Sneak and Show. Other than that, I only ever drew it against my D&T opponent and I was never able to use it because of Mother of Runes and Sword of Ice and Fire, and again against my semi-finals Grixis Delver opponent where I actually got to cast it and bounce a flipped Delver. However, I missed my second land drop until turn 4 and I was never able to capitalize on any sort of tempo gains as I was so far behind. I still feel it's worth testing as I don't think my matches gave a fair chance for the card to prove itself.
I might cut down to 3 Phantasmal Image and slip in a second Echoing Truth - my D&T opponent had Sword of Ice and Fire down early each game and I only won due to some lucky draws on my part, but having ET to bounce those hard to deal with permanents feels necessary.
As for the sideboard, I wanted more Relics but couldn't get any in time so I settled on Tormods Crypt. I sided the Relics in against Grixis Delver, but I feel it's not correct - keeping them off Delve is okay but doesn't really progress your game plan, and our deck is equipped to deal with a vanilla 5/5. I do regret not putting my Jitte and or Manriki in the side - I really wanted to Phantasmal Image my Jeskai and D&T opponent's Stoneforge to fetch one or the other up to swing the games back in my favor.
As for the matchups, the worst one felt like Jeskai. He Supreme Verdicted my board twice in one game. Really tough to deal with that plus Batterskulls. Grixis Delver felt winnable, especially with a Chalice on turn 2. D&T is fine as long as I can effectively race them if they get Sword of Fire and Ice out - TNN is definitely the best card in the match up. Against Sneak and Show, I will keep any hand that has some number of Cursecatchers in it - card is the best against them when you can drop it on turn 1. Affinity was easy, even without anything like Hurkyl's Recall - we can race faster and just keep Force up to counter Cranial Plating. Chalice on 0 when on the play helps a lot, and Chalice on 2 pretty much guarantees the win.
and if they're greedy and keep a hand with few hands you can just get an easy win that way.
You'd be surprised how often this wins you games with Wasteland, though, in any matchup. If they go for a brainstorm and you Wasteland them they have generally shipped their lands off Brainstorm + crack fetch and it puts them in a very awkward position.
Also, the Wasteland + Daze trick is super great too (opponent casts spell, Wasteland their fetchland in response, they crack it, then you daze in response and they are left without a mana)
Double supreme verdict is brutal. Have had that happen a few times in UW Stoneblade matchups. The key is just to play conservitavely. They aren't blocking your dudes (as they are generally light on threats, or you have islandwalk) and you generally only need one or two creatures (Mutavault is an all-star) in order to keep bashing at them. I learned the hard way to always play the deck very, very conservitavely.
Out of intrest, it Cosi's Trickster viable at the moment? I've been playing my old build online with 2 Cosi and it keeps becoming a 3/3 for U early on and backed up with Lords.
I think it's okay if you need extra 1 drops, since I think 8 is few in g1, but you have enough when you bring in things like Relics, Cages, Dismembers, etc. But the extre likelihood of pressure against combo is nice.
It's really bad on the draw.
[quote from="Curby »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/legacy-type-1-5/established-legacy/aggro-tempo/179828-deck-merfolk?comment=3775"]Maybe, I'm just unlucky, but my opponents ALWAYS have Mom turn 1 so I'm starting to doubt the effectiveness of Dismember in the board too.
I've frigging hated Dismember, but might not really understand its role. Could someone sell me on Dismember?
Or if I can skip it, what I need in place of it...
*got so excited I forgot to double-check it was the right card. thanks FANAttIC
Omnitell s supposed to be a good matchup, but even with chalice I was getting wished upon and losing to Emmy if I couldn't win the counter war over SnT. Not sure if it was the product of bad draws or what, but how am I supposed to play this match? What type of hands should I be looking for?
I find Cursecatcher is the best card against the Show and Tell/Sneak and Show type decks. Just from my personal experience, I could be wrong. Chalice is still good but a bit slow, Cursecatcher actively slows them down from turn 1 if it's in your opening hand
Omnitell s supposed to be a good matchup, but even with chalice I was getting wished upon and losing to Emmy if I couldn't win the counter war over SnT. Not sure if it was the product of bad draws or what, but how am I supposed to play this match? What type of hands should I be looking for?
Omnitell is a terrible matchup. It is super hard to win because the deck can frequently just lucksack into a Dig Through Time and just win when you are caught off guard. You need to hope for their bad hands and you need to play tight, only playing cursecatchers and keeping counterspell heavy hands. Side note - I ******* hate playing against Omnitell. It is a garbage deck for jerks.
I've frigging hated Dismember, but might not really understand its role. Could someone sell me on Dismember?
Or if I can skip it, what I need in place of it...
dismember is amazing for the tilt factor. I win 9/10 delver matchups by dismembering a delver turn 1 and they lose their ***** thinking I have a stacked hand and they play VERY badly. Aside from that, it gives amazing value vs. the creature matchups that are generally unwinnable game 1 (I should mention I usually play Dismember MB) and it helps against Reanimator matchups (When you phantasmal an Elesh, you can kill theirs with a Dismember. It also makes Griselbrand hit for either 1 or 2 which is super relevant)
CharlieD, I'm interested to see what your current list looks like.
I'll be playing a Legacy event if all goes well tonight (probably with something close to Nikachu's list) and then I'll change the list accordingly for the GP side event tomorrow (Didn't play the GP even though its right here in Dallas; I don't like sealed that much). I'm pretty excited!
I'll be playing a Legacy event if all goes well tonight and then I'll change the list accordingly for the GP side event tomorrow (I don't like sealed that much). I'm pretty excited!
CharlieD, I'm interested to see what your current list looks like.
I'll be playing a Legacy event if all goes well tonight (probably with something close to Nikachu's list) and then I'll change the list accordingly for the GP side event tomorrow (Didn't play the GP even though its right here in Dallas; I don't like sealed that much). I'm pretty excited!
I don't play Chalices main, haven't had a chance to test them out yet but I am pretty skeptical. I'm sure they are great and I'm just holding onto Daze because I fear change. I would also play Flusterstorm over Spell Pierce.
Went 3-1 last night! I think I'm skipping out on the GP side event though. Upon hearing you are playing for prize wall tickets and the entry fee being 30 dollars, I decided to skip out. Anyway, I played at a different LGS than usual and there was a lot more blue this time around.
Round 1: 12 Post
G1: He seemed mana screwed as the only lands he played were 2 Breeding Pools and some Cloudposts. He died pretty quickly.
G2: Same deal as game 1. I Vial'd in a Venser to counter the random 2 mana flashback Fog effect they play, which was kinda cool.
1-0
Round 2: Miracles
G1: He was playing the Mentor build. Jitte equipped with True Name got there.
G2: This keep was really bad and it was kind of experimental at best. 5 lands, one of which was Cavern, a Lord, and a Force. By the way, I'm not sure if I am supposed to board out Force against this deck, but I think I was inclined on keeping it for Terminus. Thoughts? Anyway, this almost worked out, but he was able to stabilize with Mentor and deal like 14 damage to me at once.
G3: He had a lot of removal in the form of Pyroblasts, Plows, and Termini to keep me off pretty much anything. This one was pretty close too. I really like this matchup in general though, but maybe I won't mess up next time. I also sided out Jittes for god knows what reason. I should have definitely left them in because he was definitely relying on Mentor.
1-1
Round 3: BUG Control/Loam?
G1: Keep a decent hand, but he was able to remove a lot of my threats and win off tempo. He also landed True Name a full turn earlier than me because of DRS. I eventually got 2 True Names out thanks to Vial, but he had the Decay for the Lord so it wasn't lethal anymore and killed me on the swingback. There was a turn where I could have played a Harbinger as a vanilla, but didn't and I think I would have won if I did.
G2: I keep a silly hand of 2 Relics, a Silvergill, and like a Lord or something. It gets there because he has a lot of graveyard interaction. He seemed surprised that I left force in. I think its important to leave in Force vs this deck because of Golgari Charm, Toxic Deluge, and Engineered Plague. I did end up countering a Plague, which was definitely relevant. The Goyf and Deathrite were looking really silly in the face of my Relics, so I was happy with them.
G3: I just had a lot of Lords and he seemed to draw a lot of lands, which obviously doesn't match up very well. He did land an Engineered Plague, but I had 3 lords out and it didn't mean a thing.
2-1
Round 4: 4 Color Mentor (UBGW)
G1: This guy got paired down and if he won, he got nothing whereas if I won, I got 20. He didn't seem intent on giving me the win though, which he has a right to so we played it out. This game, he was playing all sorts of threats like Tasigurs, Deathrites, and Mentors, but it wasn't good enough in the face of Islandwalking Merfolk.
G2: I kept trying to make safe attacks in case he had the Swords to Plowshares or Abrupt Decay. He kept having it (like 3 times over) and I wasn't able to put lethal on him. Finally, mentors got him there. I'm sure I misplayed somewhere here, but I can't remember where. I know I didn't block a Mentor token with Mutavault when I obviously should have, but I don't remember anything else.
G3: This was an interesting game. My keep was this: 2 Islands, True Name, 2 Image, Force. I wasn't sure about this keep at all, but I figured it had a True Name in it and I had like 3 turns to draw any land. I could then keep playing Images and copying True Names and win from there. This happened as planned. He had Zealous Persecution'd me once, but I force'd it. Eventually, I had 3 True Names out and they were threatening lethal. I played an Image over a Lord at that point (which would have also threatened lethal) because he asked me if he could target the Image copying True Name so I assumed he had a Plow. I also had Force backup here so I could just counter any zealous persecution he'd play here. He end of turn Dig Through Times and I'm freaking out. He goes Cabal Therapy and then immediately laments that he ****ed up. He names Force and then concedes. He shows me his hand of Snapcaster Mage. He has 4 Lands in play. What he said he should have done is go for the 5th land off of Dig Through Time, go Therapy to take my force, and then do the Snapcaster into Zealous play to wipe my board. This would have definitely beaten me. Sometimes your opponents mess up I guess. I'll take it.
3-1
Extra notes:
-I definitely didn't like Wasteland very much today. My opponents seemed to have all the mana they needed in general and my Wasteland never mattered. That being said, I'd probably keep them sideboard for stuff like 12 post and Lands.
-I liked 21 lands. I can see myself playing the 4th Cavern over the Wasteland in the maindeck.
-I think I would have liked Clique, but theres no way of knowing.
-Relic was great
-I leave in Force a lot. Maybe I'm not supposed to, but I dunno.
-Do you bring in Relic vs Miracles? I really hate Dig Through Time.
I went 2-4 (would have been 3-3 but i missed a TNN trigger when he was at 4 -_- ) at the Foil Worldwake event
13 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Wasteland
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 True-Name Nemesis
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Force of Will
1 Echoing Truth
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard
1 Mindbreak trap (never came in)
2 spell piece (should be flusterstorms just dont have them)
1 Hydroblast (might be another needle or a 4th chalice)
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Dismember
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Harbinger of the Tide (never mattered much but better than a submerge since it attacks)
1 Cursed Totem
1 Pithing Needle
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Vendilion Clique (gonna swap with the 2nd jitte in the main)
Round 1: U/R delver, just bad draws bad mulligans, my deck just didn't want to work just yet. 0-2
Round 2: Dredge, he just got there game 1, game 2 relic kept him in check while I just blew him out, game 3 i should have mulliganed more aggressively and his dredgese were just insane. I think he t3 killed me. 1-2
Round 3: My opponent didn't show up...free win
Round 4: Lands, game 1 i beat him down with dorks from an explosive hand , game 2 he put down a choke and ported me until he could win with wasteland back up to keep me from doing anything, game 3 was touch and go for a bit but he managed to get the Marit Large for the kill 1-2
Round 5: Grixis Tezerator, game 1 he locked me with bridge from below after a very grindy match up, game 2 i have chalice and good counter magic to shut him out, game 3 his draws were bad...so were mine but i had creatures so I won 2-1
Round 6: DNT, game 1 chalice on 1 with TNN to win the game pretty simple, game 2 he mulls to 3 and draws the actual nuts while i never seen a 3rd land stuck with a waste and an island without being able to cast any of my lords or anything, game 3 i had him literally dead...i cast phantasmal image copy TNN and forget the trigger. He attacks with batterskull, I block with the Image and it dies reminding me i missed the trigger which i realized I had done so he gained out of range and I was just super pissed with myself...because I never miss triggers in Merfolk
I may or may not go to DC in 2 weeks, depends what my ride there says, but in general besides having more wastelands which I don't have...how do we beat lands? Are Chalice good against regular dredge? Can you use Mindbreak Trap to exile an Emrakul if they go cast Show and Tell, put in Omniscience, cast Enter the Infinite, cast Emrakul? I can accept the Delver loss from just bad draws and bad mulligans, not much I can do there...but I'm not all that familiar with the match up for Lands and Dredge in the deck. The DNT loss was completely my fault but I have never beat the deck either from bad luck on my end or great luck on theirs. I haven't seriously played Legacy since the legend rule change and TNN was announced so I'm fairly rusty...The event was good practice, but I don't know the match ups as well as I thought.
I will say I like the dazeless version as there were times I was stuck with muta and caverns while still being able to force stuff.
L0rdAcex, how was Harbinger other than the time you would have wanted to cast it for UU? If only it were Boomerang on legs (or hell, Unsummon on legs), it would be so great (avoiding removal on our Lords, bouncing a SnT Emrakul before he can attack), etc. I have to imagine that in a Omnitell meta, I'd prefer Clique. Bouncing/resetting Delver is a fun trick, but Clique can trade with it at instant speed so it's not a total loss in that comparison.
i cast phantasmal image copy TNN and forget the trigger. He attacks with batterskull, I block with the Image and it dies reminding me i missed the trigger which i realized I had done so he gained out of range and I was just super pissed with myself...because I never miss triggers in Merfolk.
how do we beat lands? Are Chalice good against regular dredge? Can you use Mindbreak Trap to exile an Emrakul if they go cast Show and Tell, put in Omniscience, cast Enter the Infinite, cast Emrakul? I can accept the Delver loss from just bad draws and bad mulligans, not much I can do there...but I'm not all that familiar with the match up for Lands and Dredge in the deck.
TNN does not have a trigger. Trigger has to have words like When, Whenever and At. Your opponent cheated. http://blogs.magicjudges.org/rulestips/2014/07/you-cant-miss-true-name-nemesiss-as-this-enters-ability/
TNN beats Lands, almost nothing else. Pithing Needle, Echoing Truth, Submerge, Venser and Relic are buying time untile you attack him enough times.
Chalice is bad against Dredge.
Yes, Trap works against Emrakul. They will get a Time Walk but that is a lesser concern.
Dredge shouldn't be a bad matchup. Cursecatcher and Image are removing Bridges. Truth is buying time. TNN can block for a while until Jitte gets the first counters. Forcing the first discard outlet is really important. It should be easier after board.
I'm less mad then, I don't think so much he cheated as just he thought it was a trigger but at least I know for the future. Thanks, I should have just called a judge but I went on tilt immediately thinking it was my fault I forgot it...it is a personal point of pride for me that I never miss triggers in the deck.
I had a feeling Dredge was not the deck to use Chalice against, my opponent "suggested" they aren't useless since a chalice on 1 stops faithless looting and careful study but I didn't see that as much of a big deal.
A friend of mine played the same dredge player and agreed he just got really good dredges so it could just be the amount of each card he is running or something, I was sitting right next to him when he played the dredge guy and it didn't look like he was stacking his deck or anything.
I had a feeling Trap would work, but I wanted to ask for before trying it and finding out it didn't work. Thanks again
L0rdAcex, how was Harbinger other than the time you would have wanted to cast it for UU? If only it were Boomerang on legs (or hell, Unsummon on legs), it would be so great (avoiding removal on our Lords, bouncing a SnT Emrakul before he can attack), etc. I have to imagine that in a Omnitell meta, I'd prefer Clique. Bouncing/resetting Delver is a fun trick, but Clique can trade with it at instant speed so it's not a total loss in that comparison.
Harbinger seems better vs fair decks and I was definitely expecting those decks that day (and the LGS I normally go to is chock full of them). I can see myself sideboarding Clique or maybe taking out the second Jitte for a Clique. I did like that Harbinger is consistently the biggest Merfolk you have in play because of Lords. I still have to play with it a little more, but it hasn't been bad so far. Heck I could even see myself dropping one each of Jitte and Harbinger to fit the Cliques back in. Also in testing I vial'd it in to bounce an Iona on blue, which was pretty sweet. I just have to keep testing if I like 2 Jittes too.
Also @ SilvergillMaster, you definitely don't want Chalice against Dredge. While it isn't entirely useless because it hits the cards u mentioned plus Therapy, it doesn't hose the deck like it does to other decks and I'd board it out for sure.
Merfolk Rises in Legacy. An analysis of Merfolk in Legacy
http://youtu.be/BEkMG0G7tgo
Phantasmal Image is fantastic. 3 is the perfect number. It shores up matchups like Sneak and Show/Reanimator. Same with Merrow Reejerey, it lets you set up amazing chains that win you the game, and in multiples they are even better. If not, then it is a perfect tempo card to tap blockers and make iffy combat steps very favourable. Last week I used Reejerey to tap two huge blockers in a Nic Fit matchup and win the game.
I have never been a fan of MB Chalice but I have never really given it too much testing. I'll give it a go next time I play an event (should be in two weeks time) and let you know how it goes. I have always found Daze really good but like I said, maybe I don't know any better.
I am a huge fan of 3 Wastelands in the deck, it is just extremely important and can basically be a Time Walk when you have Aether Vial.
I really like Harbinger and I wanna try it out in the sideboard.
edit - If you want to see some videos of me playing the deck very badly there is a bunch of feature matches I did last year on a channel called Fullhouse Games on YouTube. I don't play well on camera
D&T is hard, which is why I remember the last three matches against it: the usual legacy tournament at my store, Trials and GP. I won all three (2:1, 2:1 and 2:0 in the 11:3 bracket aka last round). The hard part is them having 4 Stoneforge Mystic, 1 maindeck hate in SoF&I and if they draw their 1 Jitte (not gonna search for it with first Mystic). They hate our TNNs and Jitte(s) while Image is a nice wild card.
I lost the game when he had Thalia equipped with SoF&I AND Jitte and that was with him on three life and me mulling to five. One game he had a creature equipped with SoF&I but he didn't have removal when I had 2 Lords so there was no sniping of my fishes. Overwhelmed him. They don't play many card advantage cards and they are not churning through their library, just like us. They don't always have everything and this is why I can't accept 85:15.
60:40 is the best I would give in their favor and this is without playing Vendillion Clique to snatch ***king SoF&I. The moment that changes I have Cursed Totem for D&T and Elves at the ready, not there yet.
Tnx for shoutout!
I promise to watch all your legacy videos (that have Merfolk in it :p)
Few random thoughts: playing without Daze is great when our opponent doesn't know that (when they became aware it will get worse for us); Image is 3.5 out of playset worthy card in legacy (you will learn that in your testing); I would play 4 Chalice if it was good against 95% of my opponents (but that % is too high unfortunately); Reej will transform into Clique or something else; I was sceptical about 2 Jitte in the main but they overperformed; as a one-of Echoing Truth have won me so many games that there is no chance it leaves main anytime soon; missed 2 Vensers in my sideboard (somehow overlooked them and they would be so good, they are even good against D&T among other things); Cage is also good against Elves and MUD; manabase is actually perfect, there are things to change in the list but I wouldn't recommend changing those exact 21 lands + 4 Vial (this is not my inner child who can't take the critique, actual 7 years of testing and playing, tried 3 Vial and that isn't optimal either); even with Lille set aside I always thought that Merfolk is better positioned in legacy than its counterpart in modern; looking forward to seeing what Harbinger and Zendikar brings to our future.
Holy cow. This list placed 4th at the Chicago IQ. What a weird list. It skimps on lands (0 cavern), maxes Reejerey, and features 0 Chalice between main and side.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
@L0rdAceX This is the typical stupid build of Merfolk that requires getting lucky to work at all. This guy just ran hot for that weekend.
My matches:
Round 1 vs Grixis Delver (2-0 win)
Round 2 vs Jeskai Delver (1-2 loss)
Round 3 vs Affinity (2-0 win)
Round 4 vs Sneak and Show (2-1 win)
Round 5 draw into top 8
Round 6 vs Death and Taxes (2-1 win)
Round 7 vs Grixis Delver (0-2 loss)
Here's the list:
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergil Adept
2 Harbinger of the Tides
4 True-Name Nemesis
4 Aether Vial
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Echoing Truth
Lands
3 Wasteland
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Mutavault
12 Island
3 Grafdigger Cage
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Submerge
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Cursed Totem
2 Flusterstorm
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Chalice of the Void
Some things I took away from the event: playing less than 4 Chalice in the main is wrong, playing less than 4 Cavern of Souls is wrong. Wasteland is good but not as powerful as I had initially thought - it never did anything for me in those matches other than make it more difficult to cast my spells, although I still believe some number of them are correct because of decks like Lands or even some random Cloudpost deck. It can also just give you an easy win - turn 2 Chalice into turn 3 Wasteland their second land will really constrict them in terms of what they can play, and if they're greedy and keep a hand with few hands you can just get an easy win that way. I believe I will keep them in the deck for now, but I'm not sure what type of split I want knowing now that I really want the fourth Cavern.
I never got to see how good Harbinger of the Tides was - it was in my hand against Sneak and Show, but I did not have the means to bounce his Griselbrand at instant speed and I ended up winning without having to cast it. It doesn't bounce Emrakul before the Annihilator trigger goes on the stack, so it's questionable against Sneak and Show. Other than that, I only ever drew it against my D&T opponent and I was never able to use it because of Mother of Runes and Sword of Ice and Fire, and again against my semi-finals Grixis Delver opponent where I actually got to cast it and bounce a flipped Delver. However, I missed my second land drop until turn 4 and I was never able to capitalize on any sort of tempo gains as I was so far behind. I still feel it's worth testing as I don't think my matches gave a fair chance for the card to prove itself.
I might cut down to 3 Phantasmal Image and slip in a second Echoing Truth - my D&T opponent had Sword of Ice and Fire down early each game and I only won due to some lucky draws on my part, but having ET to bounce those hard to deal with permanents feels necessary.
As for the sideboard, I wanted more Relics but couldn't get any in time so I settled on Tormods Crypt. I sided the Relics in against Grixis Delver, but I feel it's not correct - keeping them off Delve is okay but doesn't really progress your game plan, and our deck is equipped to deal with a vanilla 5/5. I do regret not putting my Jitte and or Manriki in the side - I really wanted to Phantasmal Image my Jeskai and D&T opponent's Stoneforge to fetch one or the other up to swing the games back in my favor.
As for the matchups, the worst one felt like Jeskai. He Supreme Verdicted my board twice in one game. Really tough to deal with that plus Batterskulls. Grixis Delver felt winnable, especially with a Chalice on turn 2. D&T is fine as long as I can effectively race them if they get Sword of Fire and Ice out - TNN is definitely the best card in the match up. Against Sneak and Show, I will keep any hand that has some number of Cursecatchers in it - card is the best against them when you can drop it on turn 1. Affinity was easy, even without anything like Hurkyl's Recall - we can race faster and just keep Force up to counter Cranial Plating. Chalice on 0 when on the play helps a lot, and Chalice on 2 pretty much guarantees the win.
Looking forward to the Open in DC!
You'd be surprised how often this wins you games with Wasteland, though, in any matchup. If they go for a brainstorm and you Wasteland them they have generally shipped their lands off Brainstorm + crack fetch and it puts them in a very awkward position.
Also, the Wasteland + Daze trick is super great too (opponent casts spell, Wasteland their fetchland in response, they crack it, then you daze in response and they are left without a mana)
Double supreme verdict is brutal. Have had that happen a few times in UW Stoneblade matchups. The key is just to play conservitavely. They aren't blocking your dudes (as they are generally light on threats, or you have islandwalk) and you generally only need one or two creatures (Mutavault is an all-star) in order to keep bashing at them. I learned the hard way to always play the deck very, very conservitavely.
I think it's okay if you need extra 1 drops, since I think 8 is few in g1, but you have enough when you bring in things like Relics, Cages, Dismembers, etc. But the extre likelihood of pressure against combo is nice.
It's really bad on the draw.
Are you now? Time to sleeve up that Llawan, Cephalid Empress*
See you there!
I've frigging hated Dismember, but might not really understand its role.
Could someone sell me on Dismember?
Or if I can skip it, what I need in place of it...
*got so excited I forgot to double-check it was the right card. thanks FANAttIC
You mean Llawan, Cephalid Empress?
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
Omnitell is a terrible matchup. It is super hard to win because the deck can frequently just lucksack into a Dig Through Time and just win when you are caught off guard. You need to hope for their bad hands and you need to play tight, only playing cursecatchers and keeping counterspell heavy hands. Side note - I ******* hate playing against Omnitell. It is a garbage deck for jerks.
dismember is amazing for the tilt factor. I win 9/10 delver matchups by dismembering a delver turn 1 and they lose their ***** thinking I have a stacked hand and they play VERY badly. Aside from that, it gives amazing value vs. the creature matchups that are generally unwinnable game 1 (I should mention I usually play Dismember MB) and it helps against Reanimator matchups (When you phantasmal an Elesh, you can kill theirs with a Dismember. It also makes Griselbrand hit for either 1 or 2 which is super relevant)
I'll be playing a Legacy event if all goes well tonight (probably with something close to Nikachu's list) and then I'll change the list accordingly for the GP side event tomorrow (Didn't play the GP even though its right here in Dallas; I don't like sealed that much). I'm pretty excited!
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
Good choice if I may add.
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Wasteland
11 Island
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 True-Name Nemesis
3 Phantasmal Image
3 Merrow Reejerey
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Master of Waves
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Aether Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Echoing Truth
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Misdirection
2 Spell Pierce
2 Dismember
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Monastery Seige
1 Pithing Needle
I don't play Chalices main, haven't had a chance to test them out yet but I am pretty skeptical. I'm sure they are great and I'm just holding onto Daze because I fear change. I would also play Flusterstorm over Spell Pierce.
I played this: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1244771
Note: I would have played Flusterstorm, but my friend who usually lets me borrow them was at the GP; I'll buy my own someday haha.
Round 1: 12 Post
G1: He seemed mana screwed as the only lands he played were 2 Breeding Pools and some Cloudposts. He died pretty quickly.
G2: Same deal as game 1. I Vial'd in a Venser to counter the random 2 mana flashback Fog effect they play, which was kinda cool.
1-0
Round 2: Miracles
G1: He was playing the Mentor build. Jitte equipped with True Name got there.
G2: This keep was really bad and it was kind of experimental at best. 5 lands, one of which was Cavern, a Lord, and a Force. By the way, I'm not sure if I am supposed to board out Force against this deck, but I think I was inclined on keeping it for Terminus. Thoughts? Anyway, this almost worked out, but he was able to stabilize with Mentor and deal like 14 damage to me at once.
G3: He had a lot of removal in the form of Pyroblasts, Plows, and Termini to keep me off pretty much anything. This one was pretty close too. I really like this matchup in general though, but maybe I won't mess up next time. I also sided out Jittes for god knows what reason. I should have definitely left them in because he was definitely relying on Mentor.
1-1
Round 3: BUG Control/Loam?
G1: Keep a decent hand, but he was able to remove a lot of my threats and win off tempo. He also landed True Name a full turn earlier than me because of DRS. I eventually got 2 True Names out thanks to Vial, but he had the Decay for the Lord so it wasn't lethal anymore and killed me on the swingback. There was a turn where I could have played a Harbinger as a vanilla, but didn't and I think I would have won if I did.
G2: I keep a silly hand of 2 Relics, a Silvergill, and like a Lord or something. It gets there because he has a lot of graveyard interaction. He seemed surprised that I left force in. I think its important to leave in Force vs this deck because of Golgari Charm, Toxic Deluge, and Engineered Plague. I did end up countering a Plague, which was definitely relevant. The Goyf and Deathrite were looking really silly in the face of my Relics, so I was happy with them.
G3: I just had a lot of Lords and he seemed to draw a lot of lands, which obviously doesn't match up very well. He did land an Engineered Plague, but I had 3 lords out and it didn't mean a thing.
2-1
Round 4: 4 Color Mentor (UBGW)
G1: This guy got paired down and if he won, he got nothing whereas if I won, I got 20. He didn't seem intent on giving me the win though, which he has a right to so we played it out. This game, he was playing all sorts of threats like Tasigurs, Deathrites, and Mentors, but it wasn't good enough in the face of Islandwalking Merfolk.
G2: I kept trying to make safe attacks in case he had the Swords to Plowshares or Abrupt Decay. He kept having it (like 3 times over) and I wasn't able to put lethal on him. Finally, mentors got him there. I'm sure I misplayed somewhere here, but I can't remember where. I know I didn't block a Mentor token with Mutavault when I obviously should have, but I don't remember anything else.
G3: This was an interesting game. My keep was this: 2 Islands, True Name, 2 Image, Force. I wasn't sure about this keep at all, but I figured it had a True Name in it and I had like 3 turns to draw any land. I could then keep playing Images and copying True Names and win from there. This happened as planned. He had Zealous Persecution'd me once, but I force'd it. Eventually, I had 3 True Names out and they were threatening lethal. I played an Image over a Lord at that point (which would have also threatened lethal) because he asked me if he could target the Image copying True Name so I assumed he had a Plow. I also had Force backup here so I could just counter any zealous persecution he'd play here. He end of turn Dig Through Times and I'm freaking out. He goes Cabal Therapy and then immediately laments that he ****ed up. He names Force and then concedes. He shows me his hand of Snapcaster Mage. He has 4 Lands in play. What he said he should have done is go for the 5th land off of Dig Through Time, go Therapy to take my force, and then do the Snapcaster into Zealous play to wipe my board. This would have definitely beaten me. Sometimes your opponents mess up I guess. I'll take it.
3-1
Extra notes:
-I definitely didn't like Wasteland very much today. My opponents seemed to have all the mana they needed in general and my Wasteland never mattered. That being said, I'd probably keep them sideboard for stuff like 12 post and Lands.
-I liked 21 lands. I can see myself playing the 4th Cavern over the Wasteland in the maindeck.
-I think I would have liked Clique, but theres no way of knowing.
-Relic was great
-I leave in Force a lot. Maybe I'm not supposed to, but I dunno.
-Do you bring in Relic vs Miracles? I really hate Dig Through Time.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX
13 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Wasteland
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 True-Name Nemesis
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Force of Will
1 Echoing Truth
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Sideboard
1 Mindbreak trap (never came in)
2 spell piece (should be flusterstorms just dont have them)
1 Hydroblast (might be another needle or a 4th chalice)
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Dismember
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Harbinger of the Tide (never mattered much but better than a submerge since it attacks)
1 Cursed Totem
1 Pithing Needle
1 Manriki-Gusari
1 Vendilion Clique (gonna swap with the 2nd jitte in the main)
Round 1: U/R delver, just bad draws bad mulligans, my deck just didn't want to work just yet. 0-2
Round 2: Dredge, he just got there game 1, game 2 relic kept him in check while I just blew him out, game 3 i should have mulliganed more aggressively and his dredgese were just insane. I think he t3 killed me. 1-2
Round 3: My opponent didn't show up...free win
Round 4: Lands, game 1 i beat him down with dorks from an explosive hand , game 2 he put down a choke and ported me until he could win with wasteland back up to keep me from doing anything, game 3 was touch and go for a bit but he managed to get the Marit Large for the kill 1-2
Round 5: Grixis Tezerator, game 1 he locked me with bridge from below after a very grindy match up, game 2 i have chalice and good counter magic to shut him out, game 3 his draws were bad...so were mine but i had creatures so I won 2-1
Round 6: DNT, game 1 chalice on 1 with TNN to win the game pretty simple, game 2 he mulls to 3 and draws the actual nuts while i never seen a 3rd land stuck with a waste and an island without being able to cast any of my lords or anything, game 3 i had him literally dead...i cast phantasmal image copy TNN and forget the trigger. He attacks with batterskull, I block with the Image and it dies reminding me i missed the trigger which i realized I had done so he gained out of range and I was just super pissed with myself...because I never miss triggers in Merfolk
I may or may not go to DC in 2 weeks, depends what my ride there says, but in general besides having more wastelands which I don't have...how do we beat lands? Are Chalice good against regular dredge? Can you use Mindbreak Trap to exile an Emrakul if they go cast Show and Tell, put in Omniscience, cast Enter the Infinite, cast Emrakul? I can accept the Delver loss from just bad draws and bad mulligans, not much I can do there...but I'm not all that familiar with the match up for Lands and Dredge in the deck. The DNT loss was completely my fault but I have never beat the deck either from bad luck on my end or great luck on theirs. I haven't seriously played Legacy since the legend rule change and TNN was announced so I'm fairly rusty...The event was good practice, but I don't know the match ups as well as I thought.
I will say I like the dazeless version as there were times I was stuck with muta and caverns while still being able to force stuff.
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
2) Use the right number of each card.
3) Know your probabilities.
4) Print your deck lists; make yourself and your judges happier.
TNN does not have a trigger. Trigger has to have words like When, Whenever and At. Your opponent cheated.
http://blogs.magicjudges.org/rulestips/2014/07/you-cant-miss-true-name-nemesiss-as-this-enters-ability/
TNN beats Lands, almost nothing else. Pithing Needle, Echoing Truth, Submerge, Venser and Relic are buying time untile you attack him enough times.
Chalice is bad against Dredge.
Yes, Trap works against Emrakul. They will get a Time Walk but that is a lesser concern.
Dredge shouldn't be a bad matchup. Cursecatcher and Image are removing Bridges. Truth is buying time. TNN can block for a while until Jitte gets the first counters. Forcing the first discard outlet is really important. It should be easier after board.
I had a feeling Dredge was not the deck to use Chalice against, my opponent "suggested" they aren't useless since a chalice on 1 stops faithless looting and careful study but I didn't see that as much of a big deal.
A friend of mine played the same dredge player and agreed he just got really good dredges so it could just be the amount of each card he is running or something, I was sitting right next to him when he played the dredge guy and it didn't look like he was stacking his deck or anything.
I had a feeling Trap would work, but I wanted to ask for before trying it and finding out it didn't work. Thanks again
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
Harbinger seems better vs fair decks and I was definitely expecting those decks that day (and the LGS I normally go to is chock full of them). I can see myself sideboarding Clique or maybe taking out the second Jitte for a Clique. I did like that Harbinger is consistently the biggest Merfolk you have in play because of Lords. I still have to play with it a little more, but it hasn't been bad so far. Heck I could even see myself dropping one each of Jitte and Harbinger to fit the Cliques back in. Also in testing I vial'd it in to bounce an Iona on blue, which was pretty sweet. I just have to keep testing if I like 2 Jittes too.
Also @ SilvergillMaster, you definitely don't want Chalice against Dredge. While it isn't entirely useless because it hits the cards u mentioned plus Therapy, it doesn't hose the deck like it does to other decks and I'd board it out for sure.
Modern UMerfolkU
Legacy UMerfolkU
Standard XWhatever's GoodX