MTG Salvation

Might have been a purge of inactive users, or something. Either way, it is somewhat odd we lost 100+ pages of discussion.

Quote from rothgar13 »

Might have been a purge of inactive users, or something. Either way, it is somewhat odd we lost 100+ pages of discussion.

EU users who did not opt in during the transition had their user profiles and messages deleted. Merfolk only lost 100 pages, which isn't so bad: the entire Spirits thread is gone!

Details here: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/community-forums/community-discussion/804002-for-my-account-was-just-deleted-users#c1

I've been trying to decide whether or not Benthic Biomancer is a card worthy of our attention. I saw some of the posts here and wrote him off initially. However, MerfolkJoe came out with a video comparing him to Thraben Inspector, a card that actually sees some play in some strategies, and the comparisons seem pretty sound to me. What do you guys think?

MerfolkJoe's video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_BKg3muCKI

I am from EU caller_of_the_claw was my nick. Is it possible to restore posts also or just nickname?

Quote from Justa6|6trampler »

I've been trying to decide whether or not Benthic Biomancer is a card worthy of our attention. I saw some of the posts here and wrote him off initially. However, MerfolkJoe came out with a video comparing him to Thraben Inspector, a card that actually sees some play in some strategies, and the comparisons seem pretty sound to me. What do you guys think?

MerfolkJoe's video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_BKg3muCKI

Wizard's Retort seem interesting too. So many wizards in the deck by now. Between Wizard's Retort, Merfolk Trickster, Benthic Biomancer's activated ability (at least; you could also count Venser, Shaper Savant, Vendilion Clique and Echoing Truth) you already have quite some stuff to do at instant speed..!

Eldrazi was gone away last time I checked forum. I know there was no massages since several weeks.

Quote from user-100011498 »

I am from EU caller_of_the_claw was my nick. Is it possible to restore posts also or just nickname?

This is not the place to ask. Check for the correct threads to ask for information.

Been a bit out of the loop since I was visiting family out of country; any noteworthy new Merfolk from Allegiance worth considering?

We've been testing Benthic Biomancer, and I must say that I'm impressed. I was initially skeptical, but it's nice to have a 1-drop to curve out with again, and the loot has been pretty darn good (turning a topdecked Vial or a late land into a live draw never gets old). It's also freed my curve up to test bigger counterspells like Mana Leak, which has also been impressive. This is the list I've been jamming of late. It's preliminary, but I feel good about it.

Quote from rothgar13 »

We've been testing Benthic Biomancer, and I must say that I'm impressed. I was initially skeptical, but it's nice to have a 1-drop to curve out with again, and the loot has been pretty darn good (turning a topdecked Vial or a late land into a live draw never gets old). It's also freed my curve up to test bigger counterspells like Mana Leak, which has also been impressive. This is the list I've been jamming of late. It's preliminary, but I feel good about it.

8 counter spells?! Thats some serious U player s**t! lol

Hello all! Just recently converted my legacy merfolk deck to modern and having given rothgar13's list a go, went 3-0 last week.
I went 2-1 against jund which, honestly, my one loss was due to a really bad misplay that cost me. Next matchup was 2-1 against mono red goblins which my one loss was just cuz I got outraced quickly. My next game I went 2-0 against some jank mill deck. Anyways excited to continue to play merfolk in modern and testing out the new benthic biomancer should be interesting. What would you take out in place of the one drop though?

Quote from rothgar13 »

We've been testing Benthic Biomancer, and I must say that I'm impressed. I was initially skeptical, but it's nice to have a 1-drop to curve out with again, and the loot has been pretty darn good (turning a topdecked Vial or a late land into a live draw never gets old). It's also freed my curve up to test bigger counterspells like Mana Leak, which has also been impressive. This is the list I've been jamming of late. It's preliminary, but I feel good about it.

Gave a shot at your list yesterday, for a 6th place finish @ 3-1. Only difference is -3 island, +1 Cavern, Minamo and Oboro. Gotta say Benthic Biomancer made a small difference every matches.

Match 1 vs Phoenix in the Ice (2-1) - Basically Tricksters and Harbingers did their job.

Match 2 vs UW control (1-2) - Lost game 3 to Sphinx of the Final Word, pretty much. Managed to pull off a Benthic Bionancer Adapt draw into Clique to block it while threatening lethal, but in the end, had all the (now uncounterable) answers. He got all his fields of ruin to keep mutavaults and cavern in check too.

Match 3 vs BW Eldrazi Aggro (2-0) - 3 spreading seas game 1 (thanks Benthic Biomancer for cycling that extra Vial) and my opponent mana screwing game 2

Match 4 vs 8 Rack (2-1) - Notable moment was when I kept an Island + Cavern + 2 Deprive hand game 2...of course Bridge came out turn 3 with no second island on the board for me. Game 3 Opponent didn't get enough gas to pick all the bounce and counters I had in hand.


Biomancer was a nice addition all around. Enjoying this list quite a bit too. Mana leak never ended up a dead card either, not even cycled to Biomancer once.

I worry; Merfolk is a ca. turn 6 deck. Many archetypes in modern are Turn 3-4 (or quicker). So, surviving the early game is huge for us. But having Ben out and initially getting him a counter via adept to loot takes up early turns that should be spent developing a board or, if not, holding up mana for interaction (or player a lord to help the rest of the critters). It'd be better in the late game to help cycle through cards (which allows us to have counters in the main; if we don't want em, we just use Ben to get rid of them) but Merfolk is favored some in the late game against a lot of archetypes.

I'd rather have a one-drop that interacts, like a better Cursecatcher (maybe with a higher-tax or the same tax with no restrictions on the cards it can be sacced to counter). I also still like Cursecatcher over Ben because I think people abuse the line "the easier a tax is to pay the less value the tax has." I'd rather have Cursecatcher on turn 2 and make burn pay 1 more mana for Bolt (of their 2 available)and make their turn exclusively about paying for Bolt (and (earn tempo that way) then Ben in the same situation. [I feel the same way about Spell Pierce; I always hear "play it early before it's useless". But just because your opponent can pay a tax for a card doesn't mean the card's effect cannot benefit the caster. If your opponent has 6-7 mana up and plays Kolighan's Command, make them pay 2 with Spell Pierce and limit the rest of what s/he can do that turn to what costs 1-2 mana, which is a big tempo gain.]

Not gonna lie, I'm currently testing Cursecatcher again, in part because after a while, I felt the cheap interaction was a bit lacking. Others are still on the Ben train, but I'm currently on the fence, as is Nikachu after he gave them a go.

If I only ever played attrition placed matchups, I'd pick Ben. But I want my one-drop Merfolk to disrupt (like Harbinger, Trickster, Tidebinder) to make the game one turn longer and thus get us to the part of the game where we're favored (in more match ups). I see no convincing reason to switch from Cursecatcher given how fast modern is and what decks are big/will be big in the meta (given the banning on KCI). I think you're right to re-consider Cursecatcher atm.

Quote from rothgar13 »

Not gonna lie, I'm currently testing Cursecatcher again, in part because after a while, I felt the cheap interaction was a bit lacking. Others are still on the Ben train, but I'm currently on the fence, as is Nikachu after he gave them a go.

Any word on CC? I also saw you have 4 conclave, what are your thoughts so far?

Honestly, hard to say. I've been on a bit of a rotten stretch of late, and it makes it hard to evaluate any of the cards when you draw 1 land per game (or 8) with not much in between.

Ok, everyone. I've been fortunate enough to be able to invest more time and money into constructed, and am thinking about picking the deck back up. I have always been fond of our little blue swarm; the benefits of starting at 20 life vs 15, having 70% of a Legacy deck, and quick games are all upsides I really appreciate. I do have some questions though:

1) Is the UG variant dead?
2) How is Master of Waves in the current meta?
3) How are we overall, currently?

I have been debating between Fish, D&T, and UR Phoenix and just want some opinions before I jump back in.

1) UG variant is in bad shape, yes. Our aggro game has been increasingly been less efficient than the competition's, so our ability to play defense with cards like Merfolk Trickster and Harbinger of the Tides has become more important.

2) Connected with the above point, Master of Waves is a fantastic way to turn the corner, and his immunity to red removal has become more important than it has been in a long time. Great card right now, and I gladly run 4.

3) I think we're doing pretty well of late. After shaking off a bit of a rough variance stretch, I've been doing fairly well for myself, and other pilots are experiencing quite a bit of success on Magic Online. A metagame where Phoenix decks, Grixis Shadow, and Burn are popular is very kind to the Fish.