There is some weirdness in the numbers. None of the choices are bad per se, but it looks inconsistent and odd. Here's my take:
1. The deck can only handle about 4 lands that don't produce U (for Merfolk, anyway). Because of that, Wastelands and Mutavaults compete. I feel like I'd prefer not to split the difference on Wasteland (since their power compounds in multiples), but he clearly wanted to split the difference.
2. He jams more creatures in an odd mix. Running 3x means you're more likely to see one, but not multiples. This makes sense for things like Image or Harbinger. I guess cutting a Lord was a nod to the current prevalence of TNN (no need to speed up the other guy's clock).
3. MoW makes sense as a great haymaker given the current meta: there has been an upswing in the amount of tempo and grindy decks which it can blow out, and it's likely unremovable since it's immune to Bolt, K.Command, and Abrupt Decay, while Chalice shuts off StP and Push.
4. Jitte is nice against all the 1-toughness critters around, and lifegain is handy versus some of the tempo decks.
5. Clique is just always good, and helps shore up the combo-matchups.
Don't ask me about the SB though. Some of those choices are just silly.
i like back to basics still as it can hamper their game plan enough to be worth it since there are so many other juicy abrupt decay targets. also really like relic here just to get some value out of an early play since i side out Vials and Harbingers and usually 1 Copter. My plan is to try and aggro them out while holding up counterspells for Toxic Deluge and backbreaking edict effects.
-2 Harbinger, -1 Copter, -4 Vial +2 Relic, +2 Fluster, +2 Back to Basics, +1 Dismember. I still like cursecatcher a good deal since it can counter heavy sorceries like Hymn and Deluge.
Also, I do not side out any of my 3 Images since it always has a good target here be it Leovold, Strix, islandwalking lord, Adept (actually amazing) or TNN.
Where are we at currently on <c>Merfolk Trickster<c/> and <c>Phantasmal Image</c>? The last list I saw was something like this:
20 regular fish (lords, nemesis, adept and catcher)
20 land (mutavault, cavern, islands)
12 effects (chalice, force, vial)
8 slots that were open but typically included some number of image, harbinger, smugglers copter and/or daze and echoing truth.
Trickster looks like it has a higher floor than harbinger due to being flashy on its own, but doesn't take Marit lage off the board etc.
Scg Atlanta is coming up and my friend is borrowing my merfolk so I wanted to give him the best knowledge the school could offer.
http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD11745W/
Interesting list in the first place. He ditched useless Lords for extreme interaction. When opponent taps mana this deck perks up and thinks how to thwart their plan.
Pretty far from Merfolk in classic sense but it has Adepts and that passes main filter.
Without playing I can't be sure how good it is vs how much opponents were confused every turn, but fun factor is present.
How has Cursecatcher been playing recently? Modern is trying trickster over catcher I'm guessing due to being a more creature/removal heavy format. Given that legacy as I understand it has been shifting this way and storm is being kept in check by delver.....
Is it worth testing?
Something like the regular fair but with 4 trickster, 2 harbinger, 2 image and 3/4 copters?
Or is there a better way to handle the sheer glut of 2 drops in the deck that way?
It's not so much "Modern is trying Trickster over Cursecatcher" as "Trickster being a shoe-in, and Spell Pierce being more relevant than Cursecatcher." Many Modern decks are not so mana-tight as to make Cursecatcher a major tempo play, nor are they playing enough Sorceries or Instants to matter.
Legacy is a different beast, and I think Cursecatcher is far better there, since everyone runs much leaner mana-bases.
Well as far as the recent bannings, I've seen some recently speculation that miracles and reanimator decks were gonna be the next big things. let me know what you guys think about this and how you will think it would affect our SB.
Just play a balanced stock list while you wait for the meta to settle. It's pretty much business as usual for a meta deck like ours. Observe, then adapt.
Brightling itself is really not a big deal for us at all. Serra Avenger is still the most scary of their options for the "straight beater" slot because of the flying. It's not really all that different than batterskull to us, and that is the worst of the 3 options they have to fetch up when a stoneforge resolves. Like, the main reason I'm scared when a DnT player fetches batterskull is not the batterskull itself, but the implication that they already have the sofai and jitte (but especially sofai, since there are some reasons to fetch batterskull second over jitte).
Mistcaller is a trap card. It's too low impact for a sideboard card, particularly when compared directly with Grafdigger's Cage. It also doesn't solve any of the issues the deck faces.
* It's effective against Reanimator, but that matchup is already excellent, probably even too excellent.
* It's bad against Sneak&Show. If they're casting Show into it, they're jamming omniscience and you're still dead. If they're activating sneak, they can just activate sneak against in response to the sac.
* It's bad against DnT. Sac to stuff a single vial activation is not a good trade, generally.
* It doesn't do enough against Elves. Yeah, it counters an NO or a GSZ, but that doesn't go that far. They'll gladly trade a non-committal GSZ for it to set up murdering you with an NO, and it doesn't help at all with getting buried by symbiote+visionary.
Overall, the best secondary one-drop is still Tidal Warrior, as that ability can actually turn the problematic nonblue matchups around in a big way. Even against the blue decks where it's not so good, it still has utility denying certain colors (like R for pyroblast) and can colorfix us in a pinch.
So any news to report on the latest testing in the new meta? How has Merfolk Trickster been, does it do enough? Chalice of the Void still an mvp and the disruption of choice over Daze?
With seemingly more D & T, Stoneblade, etc Manriki-Gusari and Jitte seem back in vogue
Dazes were good, they are probably staying.
Harbingers are to fight Delvers and return them after Chalice, not sure that was enough.
Problem was missing another cantrip like modern Seas, I should have Copter (to ditch useless Chalices and Vials) or even Seas to up the blue cards count and make Lords relevant against nonblue decks.
But I was pleasently surprised by Back to Basics, those alone were ggs in many games.
So 2 of our worst matchups are elves and sneak and show. Wouldn't a few mistcaller off the sb be good there? Granted, not a whole lot of other relevant matchups besides reanimator but I'm always looking for ways not to give those 2 decks free byes against us.
Why do you think Sneak and Show is on that list?
We are loaded with counterspells and even have Images (with Vial) to copy whatever they have.
After sideboard we can have any number of Venser, Flusterstorm, Clique or Spyglass as we need.
Mistcaller is too narrow. If they Show and you sac, they can put Sneak Attack or Omniscience out. If they resolve and activate Sneak and you sac, they can just do another activation in response.
Even Merfolk Trickster is better since it taps Emrakul before attack and taps Grizzly after it drains his master for enough when they counted on lifelink.
"Free bye" could not be further from the truth.
Legacy challenge started half an hour ago, I just beaten Show and Tell
Game 1 he won the die roll and managed to attack me with Grizzly and Emmy before my Vial would go to 2 with Image in hand, so I lost.
Game 2 I filled the board with more than 6 permanents and expected his Emmy trigger, except I had Vial at 2 so my Emmy triggered on my attack.
Game 3 I let his Show resolve (no counterspells) so my Venser returned his Emmy. Meanwhille his Lavamancer were whittling down my forces that charged his every turn (TNN in the side). We had counterwar over Sneak Attack and I lost but he was tapped out. I attacked him to 4 and after attack played 2 Vials to bring my permenent count to 9 (Venser, 2 Mutavaults, 4 lands and 2 Vials) hoping his last card is Emmy. "Luckilly" it was, so after his last ditch effort I was left with Venser, Muta and Island with both of us at 4 life.
Well done on your match! I guess I shouldn't have said "free bye" since in my experience it clearly isn't. It's just one of the combo decks where our chalice plan doesn't line up with their key spells all that well so it's always been a little too 60-40 for me, having to have force + or image and vial on 2. Just always thinking of broad enough angles of attack to shore up weaknesses but as you've enumerated Mistcaller prolly just doesn't actually do enough.
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http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD44750S/
The list is... I don't know where to start
1. The deck can only handle about 4 lands that don't produce U (for Merfolk, anyway). Because of that, Wastelands and Mutavaults compete. I feel like I'd prefer not to split the difference on Wasteland (since their power compounds in multiples), but he clearly wanted to split the difference.
2. He jams more creatures in an odd mix. Running 3x means you're more likely to see one, but not multiples. This makes sense for things like Image or Harbinger. I guess cutting a Lord was a nod to the current prevalence of TNN (no need to speed up the other guy's clock).
3. MoW makes sense as a great haymaker given the current meta: there has been an upswing in the amount of tempo and grindy decks which it can blow out, and it's likely unremovable since it's immune to Bolt, K.Command, and Abrupt Decay, while Chalice shuts off StP and Push.
4. Jitte is nice against all the 1-toughness critters around, and lifegain is handy versus some of the tempo decks.
5. Clique is just always good, and helps shore up the combo-matchups.
Don't ask me about the SB though. Some of those choices are just silly.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
-2 Harbinger, -1 Copter, -4 Vial +2 Relic, +2 Fluster, +2 Back to Basics, +1 Dismember. I still like cursecatcher a good deal since it can counter heavy sorceries like Hymn and Deluge.
Also, I do not side out any of my 3 Images since it always has a good target here be it Leovold, Strix, islandwalking lord, Adept (actually amazing) or TNN.
I was going to say ask tuxdev as he plays against them a ton on stream then remembered he said this in an earlier thread.
Overall your SB plan isn't all that bad, more so how you play it is what's going to matter most.
Dismember isn't the greatest card to bring in, but a possible option if that's how you want to roll.
Just keep in mind your targets would be: Deathrite Shaman, Baleful Strix, Snapcaster Mage, and Leovold, Emissary of Trest.
20 regular fish (lords, nemesis, adept and catcher)
20 land (mutavault, cavern, islands)
12 effects (chalice, force, vial)
8 slots that were open but typically included some number of image, harbinger, smugglers copter and/or daze and echoing truth.
Trickster looks like it has a higher floor than harbinger due to being flashy on its own, but doesn't take Marit lage off the board etc.
Scg Atlanta is coming up and my friend is borrowing my merfolk so I wanted to give him the best knowledge the school could offer.
Thank you all.
Interesting list in the first place. He ditched useless Lords for extreme interaction. When opponent taps mana this deck perks up and thinks how to thwart their plan.
Pretty far from Merfolk in classic sense but it has Adepts and that passes main filter.
Without playing I can't be sure how good it is vs how much opponents were confused every turn, but fun factor is present.
Twitch channel
It looks like we are far from uniform deck and this is yet another deck that is starting to shave our worst cards: Lords.
Is it worth testing?
Something like the regular fair but with 4 trickster, 2 harbinger, 2 image and 3/4 copters?
Or is there a better way to handle the sheer glut of 2 drops in the deck that way?
Legacy is a different beast, and I think Cursecatcher is far better there, since everyone runs much leaner mana-bases.
Modern: Merfolk UU // Green Devotion GG // SkRed Red RR
Legacy: Death & Taxes WW // Burn RR // Death's Shadow Delver UB
Commander: Brago UW // Karlov WB
Twitch channel
Tip: read the last three or so pages of this thread and take a look at the decklists.
UGTatyova, Benthic DruidUG | RBRakdos the DefilerRB | RNorin the WaryR | BGThelon of HavenwoodBG
I'm honestly shocked no one has said anything in here.
Twitch channel
Mistcaller is a trap card. It's too low impact for a sideboard card, particularly when compared directly with Grafdigger's Cage. It also doesn't solve any of the issues the deck faces.
* It's effective against Reanimator, but that matchup is already excellent, probably even too excellent.
* It's bad against Sneak&Show. If they're casting Show into it, they're jamming omniscience and you're still dead. If they're activating sneak, they can just activate sneak against in response to the sac.
* It's bad against DnT. Sac to stuff a single vial activation is not a good trade, generally.
* It doesn't do enough against Elves. Yeah, it counters an NO or a GSZ, but that doesn't go that far. They'll gladly trade a non-committal GSZ for it to set up murdering you with an NO, and it doesn't help at all with getting buried by symbiote+visionary.
Overall, the best secondary one-drop is still Tidal Warrior, as that ability can actually turn the problematic nonblue matchups around in a big way. Even against the blue decks where it's not so good, it still has utility denying certain colors (like R for pyroblast) and can colorfix us in a pinch.
Twitch channel
With seemingly more D & T, Stoneblade, etc Manriki-Gusari and Jitte seem back in vogue
Tuxdev would definitely have some intel on that, as I know he's used the Trickster a few times.
I personally like both, my deck is posted below to see.
That definitely does seem to be the case.
I also (highly) recommend having at least 1 copy of Echoing Truth.
When I played Fish a ton on untap (online), Death and Taxes was the one deck that beat me the most.
So I ended up buying the cards so I can play against myself and I've noticed that aside from the other great cards to board in:
Dismember
Sorcerous Spyglass
Manriki-Gusari
Echoing Truth, has been up there with Dismember.
Most of the wins against D&T end up being very close (from my personal playing experience)...
And the ability to return an equipment to their hand once they attack can many times be the little extra you need to win.
Plus they never see it coming
Here is what I currently run:
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
4 True-Name Nemesis
2 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force Of Will
3 Aether Vial
3 Chalice Of The Void
3 Smuggler's Copter
12 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
2 Back To Basics
1 Chalice Of The Void
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Relic Of Progenitus
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
Unfortunately no Submerge in the SB at the time, but it seems like it could make an appearance.
And something I have been pondering doing is taking out 1 Daze, 1 Cavern Of Souls, and 1 Mutavault...
And replacing them with 3 Wasteland.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/legacy-challenge-2018-07-23#standings
Missed top8 on tiebreakers, unfortunately.
But I had fun spanking all other Island.decs.
Harbingers are to fight Delvers and return them after Chalice, not sure that was enough.
Problem was missing another cantrip like modern Seas, I should have Copter (to ditch useless Chalices and Vials) or even Seas to up the blue cards count and make Lords relevant against nonblue decks.
But I was pleasently surprised by Back to Basics, those alone were ggs in many games.
We are loaded with counterspells and even have Images (with Vial) to copy whatever they have.
After sideboard we can have any number of Venser, Flusterstorm, Clique or Spyglass as we need.
Mistcaller is too narrow. If they Show and you sac, they can put Sneak Attack or Omniscience out. If they resolve and activate Sneak and you sac, they can just do another activation in response.
Even Merfolk Trickster is better since it taps Emrakul before attack and taps Grizzly after it drains his master for enough when they counted on lifelink.
"Free bye" could not be further from the truth.
Game 1 he won the die roll and managed to attack me with Grizzly and Emmy before my Vial would go to 2 with Image in hand, so I lost.
Game 2 I filled the board with more than 6 permanents and expected his Emmy trigger, except I had Vial at 2 so my Emmy triggered on my attack.
Game 3 I let his Show resolve (no counterspells) so my Venser returned his Emmy. Meanwhille his Lavamancer were whittling down my forces that charged his every turn (TNN in the side). We had counterwar over Sneak Attack and I lost but he was tapped out. I attacked him to 4 and after attack played 2 Vials to bring my permenent count to 9 (Venser, 2 Mutavaults, 4 lands and 2 Vials) hoping his last card is Emmy. "Luckilly" it was, so after his last ditch effort I was left with Venser, Muta and Island with both of us at 4 life.