MTG Salvation

DS continues with his rampage:
http://www.mtgpulse.com/event/20853#296468
(I am even more intrigued by a third place list because I love Architect and Engineer, while Familiar and Sage are known legacy powerhouses :))

So it appears that I will be attending another legacy event in a few weeks where a large portion of the local meta is Omni-tell variants. Any tips you guys have for the match up? it isn't one I have too much experience in (in fact it was my only loss in my last tournament run). Any tips would be appreciated. Do we just bring in every counter as possible and just hope its enough? Am I wrong thinking that our vial/jitte/ X# of adepts should be taken out for sideboard counters?

Also, how is Harbinger going for everyone? It seems lack luster to me in main unless there is a large fair deck meta (maybe hes a sideboard card?).

Taking out Adepts is just blasphemy They never get sided out. Jitte and slow creatures like TNN and Reej can go.
Try Venser in the sideboard (in addition to Flusterstorms and other counters). It returns anything if Show resolves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrEb46t0XzQ

Made my first video on Merfolk (on cockatrice) and its vs Miracles. It is Legacy, but I could see myself doing some Modern too. Lemme know if you guys would like to see some more because I had a lot of fun making it. Would also appreciate any constructive criticism on lines I could have made that I may have missed.

There is a Dual land tournament a few hours away on Sunday, which I might go to if I can get a ride.

BIG MAGIC OPEN 4th - Legacy Open
Masatsugu Tatsuya - top 8 (283 players)

I don't have a lot of experience with playing Legacy but Merfolk vs S&T is the matchup I've played the most. I sideboard like FANAttIC said: jam all counters, remove TNN, Jitte and Reej if you have them (I currently have Cliques in that spot and they stay in). Consider Mulliganing hands with no disruption.

What I want to add to this is to highlight the importance of Phantasmal Image. Namely, do not be too hasty in Imaging your own guys. Your best play against a Showed Emrakul is arguably to vial in Phantasmal Image at EOT, copying said Emrakul. I have also won in this scenario without Vial by copying Emrakul on my turn and just by having enough other permanents to soak in the Annihilator 6.

Quote from L0rdAceX »

Would also appreciate any constructive criticism on lines I could have made that I may have missed.

I couldn't concentrate on the plays because of background noise (a lot of it). All of those, just like in a movie theater, were very distracting and I couldn't enjoy myself.
Maybe that's just me.

Quote from FANAttIC »

Quote from L0rdAceX »

Would also appreciate any constructive criticism on lines I could have made that I may have missed.

I couldn't concentrate on the plays because of background noise (a lot of it). All of those, just like in a movie theater, were very distracting and I couldn't enjoy myself.
Maybe that's just me.

I believe the background noise doesn't persist and it is only at the beginning, but I will rewatch to make sure. I appreciate the comment! I will be experimenting with noise gates etc.

Quote from Magicman657 »

I played this list in a small Duel for Duals event on Sunday and walked away with 1st place with this list:

CharlieD's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Artifacts (8) 4 Aether Vial 3 Chalice of the Void 1 Umezawa's Jitte Spells (7) 4 Force of Will 2 Daze 1 Echoing Truth Creatures (25) 4 Cursecatcher 4 Master of the Pearl Trident 4 Lord of Atlantis 4 Silvergill Adept 4 True-Name Nemesis 3 Phantasmal Image 1 Merrow Reejerey 1 Vendilion Clique	Land (20) 4 Mutavault 3 Cavern of Souls 13 Island	Sideboard (15) 1 Chalice of the Void 2 Flusterstorm 2 Swan Song 1 Stifle 2 Submerge 2 Ensnare 1 Echoing Truth 1 Sower of Temptation 3 Faerie Macabre

I lost to Death and Taxes round 1. His game 1 he opened with both Batterskull and Sword of Fire and Ice, then dropped Stoneforge Mystic to find Jitte - not coming back from that Game 2 featured Brimaz beating me down with no TNNs in sight. Round 2 I played Miracles and won pretty easily. Round 3 I played High Tide, and had the absolute nuts on the play for a T4 kill. Game 2 I mulled to 5 but had the Flusterstorm when he went for Time Spiral and proceded to get there with Silvergil + Image. R4 I played my friend who was 3-0 on Miracles; he conceded to me as he was already locked for top 4. (We normally play pretty often and I win probably 70+% of the time; we did play it out for fun and he did manage to win 2-1 solely on the back of a Monastery Mentor while I was on a mull in game 3.) I played Death and Taxes again in top 4, where I was able to beat him (Ensnare and True-Name Nemesis decided to show up in full force). Played against Tendrils Storm in the last round. Maindeck Chalice of the Void turned out to be awesome; I opened with turn 1 Chalice on 0 and turn 2 Chalice on 1. I had a Faerie in hand when he went for Past in Flames (last card in hand) in game 2 with Ponder, Brainstorm, and Infernal Tutor in the yard. I exiled Brainstorm and Ponder, somehow missing the Tutor because I'm stupid apparently. Game 3 I was on the play and had a solid beatdown going, forced him to attempt to combo early with just 5 life left, and once he had to go for Past in Flames again I exiled his only two draw spells in the yard with Faerie for the win.

The only changes I would make now are -1 Merrow Reejerey, +1 Phantasmal Image in the main, and -1 Ensnare, +1 Manriki-Gusari in the side. I'm really liking this deck a lot.

Great job!

Ensnare is so good, I have been playing it in vintage Merfolk! I definitely need to test it out. It also seems insanely good in the mirror as it can shut down Islandwalk.

It took me way too long to work out that a Chalice on 0 against Storm is basically an auto-win.

Alfonso Adame


Hey everyone! This list Top 8'd the tournament in Austin (41 players; cut to top 8 obv) that I couldn't go to today and I wanted to share! I'll be uploading another video on Tuesday. I'll post that here as well.

Not sure Harbinger is worth it in legacy.
And that sideboard screams "FU D&T!"

Quote from FANAttIC »

Not sure Harbinger is worth it in legacy.
And that sideboard screams "FU D&T!"

I'm still testing it. The card has been decent for me. It offers some nice utility.

I think I asked this above (or maybe on the Source), but what are some cases in which you've used it? Exiling Mentor tokens, perhaps? Bouncing Deathrite to disable him for a turn? Making them set up another Delver flip? Making them set up another Delver flip isn't a card advantage play, though it is a good tempo play, and I can see how it can be good against a Delver/tempo deck.

Offering nice utility is a start, but so do Clique, Echoing Truth, etc. Does the fact that he's an on-curve (2 for Vial) Merfolk tip the scales so far in his favor that we can maindeck him?

Quote from Curby »

I think I asked this above (or maybe on the Source), but what are some cases in which you've used it? Exiling Mentor tokens, perhaps? Bouncing Deathrite to disable him for a turn? Making them set up another Delver flip? Making them set up another Delver flip isn't a card advantage play, though it is a good tempo play, and I can see how it can be good against a Delver/tempo deck.

Offering nice utility is a start, but so do Clique, Echoing Truth, etc. Does the fact that he's an on-curve (2 for Vial) Merfolk tip the scales so far in his favor that we can maindeck him?

Nikachu seemed to think so, which is why I decided to try it out in the first place and I want to preface that I've got nothing conclusive because I haven't played that much with it (Working sucks). Once I get some tournaments with it in, I'll be glad to report back. I'll be playing with the card in modern this week though...

You can see Nikachu's reasoning for it here: http://youtu.be/BEkMG0G7tgo

So far, I've bounced an Angel from Entreat, a Monk, and a Deathrite, but I think I've played it for 0 value a few times too. It's usually the biggest creature other than True-Name thanks to Lords, which is a welcome addition to the team. Can other cards do more? Maybe.

In my testing so far him just being a 2/2 for 2 without lords has been great. He is less likely than a lord to get bolted and alongside muta can grow to be our biggest creature.

In terms of bouncing I've bounced a thopter token, a tarmo, and a flipped delver...but most of the decks I've played against have had low creature counts. I would have bounced a Tasigur but my opponent forced the Harbinger

Harbinger is really good in modern but mostly a bear in legacy.
The first problem I have is what to cut. Legacy list is so tight, there is no room. What exactly do people cut for it?

Pros:
- great against Delver, Angler (Tasigur and Tombstalker are less played) and Marit Lage token
- can bounce Goyf, angel Token
- can bounce KoTR and manlands
- can reset Ooze

Cons:
- bad against Show&Tell/Omnitell (obv bad against Emrakul and lot of it has to happen to be good against Griselbrand)
- bad against equipment (other than Jitte, but Jitte is the last one to be found against us) since it doesn't work against SoF&I and Batterskull
- just a bear most of the time since it doesn't bring pump to everyone, islandwalk, CA or something more useful
- against Elves most targets can untap at will, countering his ability, or don't care for bounce (one mana creatures or Progenitus or Craterhoof)
- D&T and Goblins have many cards that just ignore him: Mother of Runes, Aether Vial tricks, equipment, Lackey, Piledriver
- the rest of legacy dudes are Snapcaster, Vendillion, Shardless, Strix, Mentor, Pyromancer, Stoneforge (those are not hot targets)
- Confidant will probably just stay there and draw all the removal
- probably too slow vs Infect
- if Monastery Mentor is tapped and attacking me, the game is not going too good

What other creatures I forgot... Deathrite and Hierarch (bouncing them is not that important and they can even stay untapped most of the time), Nimble Mongoose (well...), Lavamancer (will stay untapped until needed), Elesh (has vigilance), Iona (only with Vial), Xantid Swarm (already did its thing), Lodestone Golem and Wurmcoil Engine (ok), Forgemaster and Metalworker (if they are tapped something bad already happened), Sundering Titan (blowing one Island in and out is not crippling but if he is attacking that probably means it can come into play again easily)...

Did I forget legacy played creature? Harbinger works against certain creatures and I agree that he brings some nice utility, but nice utility will not buy him a slot in legacy.

* This is pure theory, zero practice with Harbinger. I am not trying to bash it on purpose, this is just what I think of it right now.
There has to be 1 Echoing Truth and 1-2 Venser in my 75 before I would think about adding HotT.

Yeah, just to be clear I'd play it all day if it were an Unsummon on legs. It isn't, and I'm not yet convinced that it deserves slots over more broadly applicable answers. The Legacy build can do MUCH better than a mere 2/2 for 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj1l6Vg3weg

Got another video up! This time it's against Jund. There were a lot of lines and sideboard decisions I'm sure I did wrong. So come watch me suck at Magic! I think I fixed the audio this time. Thanks in advance!

In this particular video, I didn't play Harbinger, but I'm going to record some videos featuring him in the next week or so so that I can have tested him to see whether I would personally include him or not.

Edit: I didn't get to record this, but I got to Vial in a Harbinger vs Reanimator against an Iona on blue

I think for now Harbinger is gonna stay in the side, as FANAttIC said our maindeck is really tight so I just leave that alone. I will side him in when I see he can do work against the mentioned decks and side out cursecatchers, reej, or TNN against different decks depending on what I am playing. With 2 in the sideboard so far I haven't been disappointed and even just him being a bear isn't the worst thing.

The only real card I could see to cut in the main for him would be Reej in which we lose the combo, some number of lords which is a bad idea, or some P. Image which are just extra copies of TNN and lords so I just couldn't do it. He feels great when you vial or flash him in to get maximum value, but he doesn't feel main deck worthy...he replaced Submerge in my sideboard since there are games we don't have islands or the card just is too narrow to get use out of while I feel Harbinger is less narrow. I could be wrong, but in my play testing I like him over Submerge alot...I also main 1 echoing truth

Signifier,

You can read the last 20 pages of discussion but the gist of it is: Chalice of the Void. It is bonkers and Merfolk is the perfect deck for it. Fanattic got 20th place at Lille with a 3x Chalice.dec and some other guy went 9-0 on day 1 also with 3x Chalice.dec. Two 4x Chalice Maverick made top 8 also.

So I'd recommend -2 Spell Pierce, -2 Daze, +4 Chalice.

Chalice is dis-synergistic with Swan Song, so replace with Flusterstorm if you have them.

I personally really like Fannatic's configuration with 1x Echoing Thruth (main) and 2x Wastelands as utility spells. These 3 cards put in so much work it's ridiculous.

Also, Jitte is a good card. Probably find a spot in your 75 for 1. Or 2 if your meta calls for it.

Got 2 more videos up! My uploading schedule will probably be 2 per week. I have 2 scheduled for next week.

Brief discussion of the list I'm using for the Cheerios video and the next 2 videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSweBVWSx5E

Match against Cheerios:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrrljBA93Ik

Why is it "normal" that no one plays Merfolk?
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/3443_day_2_metagame_breakdown.html
How do you explain this?

I would have gone, but I couldn't get a ride

In all seriousness, it could just be that no one day 2'd or they just played a different deck. I don't really have a good answer for you, Merfolk as a legacy deck isn't really talked about much here (in the DC area). It's a pretty strong combo meta

I mean look at that meta. First 5 archetypes are tailored for Merfolk.