Honestly, I'm truly blessed to have such an amazing LGS. Less blessed that it's mostly control/midrange players, and I've only gotten to practice the Humans matchup twice in the last 3 months. But other than that still pretty lucky
So no one is backing you up and everyone else is wrong?
Just to make it perfectly clear to those who might be confused: When you see me use the term 'grizzly bears,' it is as I previously defined, through long use. I really don't care whether you use a different definition or not, but if you read it in a post of mine, you better know that that's what I mean.
Why do you even bother posting? I can't remember the last time you added anything to the discussion that was constructive in the slightest; you appear to be too busy trying to score 'points.'
After some testing and acquiring new cards, I’ve been working on this all morning. I could use some help. I’ve joined a play test group and I’ll post results as they come since my work schedule is weird. My big thing now is getting my side ready for bigger tournaments, aside from fnm
One suggestion I would make for your sideboard is Gut Shot. It works wonders against tiny creature decks. Glistener Elf, Delver of Secrets, Inkmoth Nexus, Wild Nacatl, Rattlechains, and Champion of the Parish are some important things that it hits off the top of my head. It also helps us trade more profitably with other creatures too and can serve as a last bit of reach to seal the deal. I ran 4 last fnm and did not regret it one bit. Fantastic card, that one.
A minor point, but I'd suggest Oboro, Palace in the Clouds over Minamo, particularly with no legendaries in the deck other than itself, which doesn't work profitably.
What specifically are you looking for? Sideboarding? General playstyle? In case you're wondering, I generally jam Lords before Silvergills unless I'm facing an attrition deck, and that I like a mix of Relic, Shapers', and Deprive (siding out Seas and Tricksters) against control.
Because the UG variant is looking for T4 kills. Those combinations usually requires early Lords. If you're not expecting bunches of removal, gunning for the T4 kill is generally the way to go.
Has anyone ever tried Exhaustion in Merfolk? It is admittedly spending 3 mana to add nothing to the board, but it could be quite a tempo swing, and a Time Walk in ideal circumstances. Opponent swung out knowing they can survive one more attack? Control player tapped mana and was hoping to stabilize with a Wrath next turn? It opens up some silly possibilities with Merrow Reejerey as well if you have mana to cast a merfolk in the same turn, or when you flash in a Merfolk Trickster end of turn the turn before you cast it. Definitely seems situational, but I could see potential as a 2-of. If nothing else I'm sure nobody would see it coming!
Has anyone ever tried Exhaustion in Merfolk? It is admittedly spending 3 mana to add nothing to the board, but it could be quite a tempo swing, and a Time Walk in ideal circumstances. Opponent swung out knowing they can survive one more attack? Control player tapped mana and was hoping to stabilize with a Wrath next turn? It opens up some silly possibilities with Merrow Reejerey as well if you have mana to cast a merfolk in the same turn, or when you flash in a Merfolk Trickster end of turn the turn before you cast it. Definitely seems situational, but I could see potential as a 2-of. If nothing else I'm sure nobody would see it coming!
Not exactly a Time Walk, since opponent still gets his turn to play a land and cast enchantments, sorceries, artifacts, or creatures. And that's in ideal circumstances. I'd rather have Tempest Caller, if anything. Sideboard at best.
How's Merfolk these days? I'm getting back into Modern and trying to use them as one of my three decks. Most of them are still in the mail though, so right now I'm bringing Death & Taxes to my FNM in a hour.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Modern Decks W Death & Taxes // "Tax evasion? You wish." WB Eldrazi & Taxes // "This is the Eldrazi Revenue Service, we have you surrounded!" U Merfolk // "Sushi." B Obliterator Devotion "You're one ugly mofo!"
Former Modern Decks WB BW Tokens // "Bros and bros and ghost bros." BUR Elemental Combo // "What just happened?" WBURG CoCo Slivers // "I'm in love with the CoCo."
Has anyone ever tried Exhaustion in Merfolk? It is admittedly spending 3 mana to add nothing to the board, but it could be quite a tempo swing, and a Time Walk in ideal circumstances. Opponent swung out knowing they can survive one more attack? Control player tapped mana and was hoping to stabilize with a Wrath next turn? It opens up some silly possibilities with Merrow Reejerey as well if you have mana to cast a merfolk in the same turn, or when you flash in a Merfolk Trickster end of turn the turn before you cast it. Definitely seems situational, but I could see potential as a 2-of. If nothing else I'm sure nobody would see it coming!
Not exactly a Time Walk, since opponent still gets his turn to play a land and cast enchantments, sorceries, artifacts, or creatures. And that's in ideal circumstances. I'd rather have Tempest Caller, if anything. Sideboard at best.
Yeah, they get a turn, but in truly ideal circumstances, they will either miss a land drop and do nothing or hit it and get to maybe play something for 1 mana. It's also not exactly a good comparison to make with Tempest Caller. Yeah, they're very similar vs creature decks, but against combo and control, Caller is a very pretty 2/3 for 4 mana. Keeping lands tapped can delay sweepers or combo kills on a vital turn, which is very relevant. I would say, if anything, Exhaustion is somewhere between Caller and Unsubstantiate- you're either using it to delay a team of creatures for a turn, or you're delaying expensive spells (or large groups of cheap spells *cough* Storm *cough*) for a turn. I'm not sure it's necessarily going to work the way I'd hope in practice, but the power ceiling seems high, and it's flexible enough to do something relevant in many diverse matchups, which is valuable in itself (this is why Unsubstantiate is playable despite being generally worse than Vapor Snag and Remand at each mode).
How's Merfolk these days? I'm getting back into Modern and trying to use them as one of my three decks. Most of them are still in the mail though, so right now I'm bringing Death & Taxes to my FNM in a hour.
Still feels good. The recent uptick in Burn pilots is good news for the mono-U build, since it is pretty clearly favored against that deck.
How's Merfolk these days? I'm getting back into Modern and trying to use them as one of my three decks. Most of them are still in the mail though, so right now I'm bringing Death & Taxes to my FNM in a hour.
Still feels good. The recent uptick in Burn pilots is good news for the mono-U build, since it is pretty clearly favored against that deck.
Sweet. I've played CoCo Slivers so hopefully this shouldn't be too hard of a transition. On a random note, why would someone choose Merfolk or Elves? I've heard that Elves play like an aggro-combo deck, and I've read through the very well-written and self-explanatory Merfolk primer (shoutout); I'm just curious. Taking a break from Modern kind of scrambled all my archetype and matchup knowledge. :/
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Modern Decks W Death & Taxes // "Tax evasion? You wish." WB Eldrazi & Taxes // "This is the Eldrazi Revenue Service, we have you surrounded!" U Merfolk // "Sushi." B Obliterator Devotion "You're one ugly mofo!"
Former Modern Decks WB BW Tokens // "Bros and bros and ghost bros." BUR Elemental Combo // "What just happened?" WBURG CoCo Slivers // "I'm in love with the CoCo."
A number of issues: first, your Cavern would need to be set to wizards instead of merfolk, cutting it out of being able to help cast 80% of your merfolk; only six red sources aside from that, OR having to tick up your Vial to 3, effectively turning off your ability to use it for anything cheaper; if not that, you're shutting down your own Caverns and painlands as well as your opponent's. Magus doesn't benefit from the Lords either. Finally, after all that clunk, the second he sees it, the opponent is going to make a note to save a Path or Fatal Push or whatever disruption he has for it, assuming it's not to his advantage to leave it down.
A number of issues: first, your Cavern would need to be set to wizards instead of merfolk, cutting it out of being able to help cast 80% of your merfolk; only six red sources aside from that, OR having to tick up your Vial to 3, effectively turning off your ability to use it for anything cheaper; if not that, you're shutting down your own Caverns and painlands as well as your opponent's. Magus doesn't benefit from the Lords either. Finally, after all that clunk, the second he sees it, the opponent is going to make a note to save a Path or Fatal Push or whatever disruption he has for it, assuming it's not to his advantage to leave it down.
-cavern on wizards is a turn 3 concern. i'm fine w/islands or earlier caverns before then.
-i have 15 sources of blue (10 islands) to cast merfolk before moon hits play.
-6 red sources + 4 caverns = 10 red sources to cast magus. 14 if you include aether vial.
-most fish lists have the problems w/3-4 drops and vial. nothing new here.
-not every creature has to benefit from lords. kira and clique for example.
-if opponents saves removal for magus, my lords will be safer. either way, he plans to kill something.
my brew is just an idea for a variant. there will ofc be pros and cons.
How's Merfolk these days? I'm getting back into Modern and trying to use them as one of my three decks. Most of them are still in the mail though, so right now I'm bringing Death & Taxes to my FNM in a hour.
Still feels good. The recent uptick in Burn pilots is good news for the mono-U build, since it is pretty clearly favored against that deck.
Sweet. I've played CoCo Slivers so hopefully this shouldn't be too hard of a transition. On a random note, why would someone choose Merfolk or Elves? I've heard that Elves play like an aggro-combo deck, and I've read through the very well-written and self-explanatory Merfolk primer (shoutout); I'm just curious. Taking a break from Modern kind of scrambled all my archetype and matchup knowledge. :/
Elves is more of a "gotta go fast" aggro-combo deck that interacts minimally with the opponent. Generally, that means you'll crush decks that are slower than you and can't interact with you properly, but struggle to address sweepers or decks with ways to generate card advantage along with lots of spot removal, and will have to resort to racing combo opponents. Merfolk is much more of a role-shifting aggro-control deck, whose gameplan in any given match is dictated to some degree by the opponent. Against control and midrange, we are the clear aggressor; against aggro and combo, we are generally the control deck. What that generally results in is that your matchup profile is less polarized; most matchups are 50/50 or close, so pilot skill plays a larger role. The downside is that you rarely get one-sided wins, and that even good matchups can be lost by bad draws or bad plays.
How's Merfolk these days? I'm getting back into Modern and trying to use them as one of my three decks. Most of them are still in the mail though, so right now I'm bringing Death & Taxes to my FNM in a hour.
Still feels good. The recent uptick in Burn pilots is good news for the mono-U build, since it is pretty clearly favored against that deck.
Sweet. I've played CoCo Slivers so hopefully this shouldn't be too hard of a transition. On a random note, why would someone choose Merfolk or Elves? I've heard that Elves play like an aggro-combo deck, and I've read through the very well-written and self-explanatory Merfolk primer (shoutout); I'm just curious. Taking a break from Modern kind of scrambled all my archetype and matchup knowledge. :/
Elves is more of a "gotta go fast" aggro-combo deck that interacts minimally with the opponent. Generally, that means you'll crush decks that are slower than you and can't interact with you properly, but struggle to address sweepers or decks with ways to generate card advantage along with lots of spot removal, and will have to resort to racing combo opponents. Merfolk is much more of a role-shifting aggro-control deck, whose gameplan in any given match is dictated to some degree by the opponent. Against control and midrange, we are the clear aggressor; against aggro and combo, we are generally the control deck. What that generally results in is that your matchup profile is less polarized; most matchups are 50/50 or close, so pilot skill plays a larger role. The downside is that you rarely get one-sided wins, and that even good matchups can be lost by bad draws or bad plays.
Ah gotcha. Reminds me a little of piloting Death & Taxes when you put it like that. Match-up dependant and tempo based. I've always gravitated most towards decks that have a general 50/50, even though they take more skill. I like knowing that if I play well, I at least have some chance at winning.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Modern Decks W Death & Taxes // "Tax evasion? You wish." WB Eldrazi & Taxes // "This is the Eldrazi Revenue Service, we have you surrounded!" U Merfolk // "Sushi." B Obliterator Devotion "You're one ugly mofo!"
Former Modern Decks WB BW Tokens // "Bros and bros and ghost bros." BUR Elemental Combo // "What just happened?" WBURG CoCo Slivers // "I'm in love with the CoCo."
Did some 8-Seas testing last night while every town around me is flooded due to Hurricane Florence....what else is one to do but play 8-Seas Merfolk???
Why do you even bother posting? I can't remember the last time you added anything to the discussion that was constructive in the slightest; you appear to be too busy trying to score 'points.'
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
2 Cursecatcher
2 Kumena’s Speaker
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Harbringer of the Tide
4 Merfolk Trickster
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Merfolk Mistbinder
3 Master of Waves
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Spreading Seas
Artifacts: 3
3 Aether Vial
Lands: 20
2 Breeding Pool
2 Mutavault
4 Unclaimed Territory
3 Hinterland Harbor
5 Island
2 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
4 Deprive
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Field of Ruin
2 Spell Pierce
2 Mistcaller
Arena Username: ThunderGunZ1976
Modern:
UMerfolkU
UWGSpiritsUWG
RGoblinsR
Standard:
...whatever I can afford on Arena
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
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
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
W Death & Taxes // "Tax evasion? You wish."
WB Eldrazi & Taxes // "This is the Eldrazi Revenue Service, we have you surrounded!"
U Merfolk // "Sushi."
B Obliterator Devotion "You're one ugly mofo!"
Former Modern Decks
WB BW Tokens // "Bros and bros and ghost bros."
BUR Elemental Combo // "What just happened?"
WBURG CoCo Slivers // "I'm in love with the CoCo."
Yeah, they get a turn, but in truly ideal circumstances, they will either miss a land drop and do nothing or hit it and get to maybe play something for 1 mana. It's also not exactly a good comparison to make with Tempest Caller. Yeah, they're very similar vs creature decks, but against combo and control, Caller is a very pretty 2/3 for 4 mana. Keeping lands tapped can delay sweepers or combo kills on a vital turn, which is very relevant. I would say, if anything, Exhaustion is somewhere between Caller and Unsubstantiate- you're either using it to delay a team of creatures for a turn, or you're delaying expensive spells (or large groups of cheap spells *cough* Storm *cough*) for a turn. I'm not sure it's necessarily going to work the way I'd hope in practice, but the power ceiling seems high, and it's flexible enough to do something relevant in many diverse matchups, which is valuable in itself (this is why Unsubstantiate is playable despite being generally worse than Vapor Snag and Remand at each mode).
Still feels good. The recent uptick in Burn pilots is good news for the mono-U build, since it is pretty clearly favored against that deck.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Sweet. I've played CoCo Slivers so hopefully this shouldn't be too hard of a transition. On a random note, why would someone choose Merfolk or Elves? I've heard that Elves play like an aggro-combo deck, and I've read through the very well-written and self-explanatory Merfolk primer (shoutout); I'm just curious. Taking a break from Modern kind of scrambled all my archetype and matchup knowledge. :/
W Death & Taxes // "Tax evasion? You wish."
WB Eldrazi & Taxes // "This is the Eldrazi Revenue Service, we have you surrounded!"
U Merfolk // "Sushi."
B Obliterator Devotion "You're one ugly mofo!"
Former Modern Decks
WB BW Tokens // "Bros and bros and ghost bros."
BUR Elemental Combo // "What just happened?"
WBURG CoCo Slivers // "I'm in love with the CoCo."
10 island
4 cavern of souls
4 scalding tarn
1 mountain
1 steam vents
(4) 1cc
4 aether vial
(28) 2cc
4 echoing truth
4 harbinger of the tides
4 lord of atlantis
4 master of the pearl trident
4 merfolk trickster
4 phantasmal image
4 silvergil adept
4 magus of the moon (cast via Cavern)
4 merrow reejerey
4 ceremonial rejection
4 gut shot
4 relic of progenitus
3 deprive
limited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfx2kA8gok&feature=emb_logo
limited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3RYiZJFCK0
limited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j18HlKybrm8&feature=emb_logo
standard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiAEzfAgpbI&t=1s
standard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vNr_4ubfMg&t=1s
standard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJcwpxraL-g&t=1s
modern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8MyVNLVYNw&t=1s
modern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-M5ffoArnY&t=1s
modern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_yQEBOPi_w&feature=emb_logo
extended - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLpUB9zpyr4&feature=emb_logo
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
-cavern on wizards is a turn 3 concern. i'm fine w/islands or earlier caverns before then.
-i have 15 sources of blue (10 islands) to cast merfolk before moon hits play.
-6 red sources + 4 caverns = 10 red sources to cast magus. 14 if you include aether vial.
-most fish lists have the problems w/3-4 drops and vial. nothing new here.
-not every creature has to benefit from lords. kira and clique for example.
-if opponents saves removal for magus, my lords will be safer. either way, he plans to kill something.
my brew is just an idea for a variant. there will ofc be pros and cons.
limited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfx2kA8gok&feature=emb_logo
limited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3RYiZJFCK0
limited - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j18HlKybrm8&feature=emb_logo
standard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiAEzfAgpbI&t=1s
standard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vNr_4ubfMg&t=1s
standard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJcwpxraL-g&t=1s
modern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8MyVNLVYNw&t=1s
modern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-M5ffoArnY&t=1s
modern - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_yQEBOPi_w&feature=emb_logo
extended - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLpUB9zpyr4&feature=emb_logo
Elves is more of a "gotta go fast" aggro-combo deck that interacts minimally with the opponent. Generally, that means you'll crush decks that are slower than you and can't interact with you properly, but struggle to address sweepers or decks with ways to generate card advantage along with lots of spot removal, and will have to resort to racing combo opponents. Merfolk is much more of a role-shifting aggro-control deck, whose gameplan in any given match is dictated to some degree by the opponent. Against control and midrange, we are the clear aggressor; against aggro and combo, we are generally the control deck. What that generally results in is that your matchup profile is less polarized; most matchups are 50/50 or close, so pilot skill plays a larger role. The downside is that you rarely get one-sided wins, and that even good matchups can be lost by bad draws or bad plays.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Ah gotcha. Reminds me a little of piloting Death & Taxes when you put it like that. Match-up dependant and tempo based. I've always gravitated most towards decks that have a general 50/50, even though they take more skill. I like knowing that if I play well, I at least have some chance at winning.
W Death & Taxes // "Tax evasion? You wish."
WB Eldrazi & Taxes // "This is the Eldrazi Revenue Service, we have you surrounded!"
U Merfolk // "Sushi."
B Obliterator Devotion "You're one ugly mofo!"
Former Modern Decks
WB BW Tokens // "Bros and bros and ghost bros."
BUR Elemental Combo // "What just happened?"
WBURG CoCo Slivers // "I'm in love with the CoCo."
https://youtu.be/HShwzWC_cS8
Twitch Channel - https://www.twitch.tv/moontimedweller
MODERN - Mono-Blue Merfolk & 7-Forest Goblin Charbelcher
LEGACY - Ruby Storm & Burn
PAUPER - Zombies, Bogles, & Burn