Disagree. The n is still 100, because the card was in the deck. As it turns out, most 1-card adjustments won't truly turn your deck dynamic upside down (because they won't be drawn), and that is to be expected. And his scoring system specifically noted if the Sea Gate Wreckage would have been more productive than a spell or a U source. I think the analysis was pretty comprehensive, and it shows that the 20th land was a small but notable edge.
As far as the issue of screw vs. flood... It's hard to say. Æther Vial protects us from screw, but I've definitely found that I've lost games where I've failed to hit a certain land count. I think that which is worse depends on the matchup.
On an unrelated topic: I'm going to do some upkeep on the Preferred Card Choices section in order to trim cards that were tested by the community and didn't pan out, as well put up the latest batch of attractive testing targets.
That's what I kept saying about Sea Gate Wreckage. It feels like a sideboard all-star. But the conclusion of the video was that a 20th land was more useful to Merfolk_Joe in the main than basically any other card, and that is part of what I am referencing. What his test allowed him to do was clearly notice what land #20 was - if it was another Island/Cavern of Souls, elucidating the impact would have been significantly more difficult.
As for Unsubstantiate... we'll have it up there for the time being, and if it doesn't pan out, I'm more than happy to take it down. But I think we should put it through its paces.
While offering absolutely zero scientific evidence to back this up, when running 19 lands I feel like finding a 2nd blue source is a more frequent problem than simply drawing another land. That is why my 20th is always an Island. If I were to include SGW or any other colorless source I'd be cutting Mutavault and that is not something I want to do. The only time I've deviated from that strategy with moderate success was when running Ghost Quarter and even then I used it on my own land half the time just to find another Island.
As for Unsubstantiate... we'll have it up there for the time being, and if it doesn't pan out, I'm more than happy to take it down. But I think we should put it through its paces.
That's twisted as *****. Why would a card that did not yet proof itself be included in the Primer? It's the other way around! The cards in a primer should need to proof themselves first before claiming a spot in the Primer.[/quote]
While I don't feel the need for an implied expletive, I concur. Guides are there for new players to get their feet wet and grasp the deck without starting from scratch and blundering about playing with marginal or bad options. Encouraging experimenting is good for the deck as a whole, but not for new players. For them, it risks them handicapping themselves with unproven choices, resulting in (a) discouragement from under-performance and (b) learning bad habits or (c) valuing cards for the wrong reasons.
If you want to put a section at the end for "Experimental Cards," that's not a terrible idea. But it needs to be denoted properly so neophytes don't take it for granted as an established choice.
That's what I kept saying about Sea Gate Wreckage. It feels like a sideboard all-star. But the conclusion of the video was that a 20th land was more useful to Merfolk_Joe in the main than basically any other card, and that is part of what I am referencing. What his test allowed him to do was clearly notice what land #20 was - if it was another Island/Cavern of Souls, elucidating the impact would have been significantly more difficult.
As for Unsubstantiate... we'll have it up there for the time being, and if it doesn't pan out, I'm more than happy to take it down. But I think we should put it through its paces.
That's twisted as *****. Why would a card that did not yet proof itself be included in the Primer? It's the other way around! The cards in a primer should need to proof themselves first before claiming a spot in the Primer.
We did it for Essence Flux, and other cards that ended up amounting to nothing. But perhaps we can find the middle way and go for an Experimental Cards section. Disrupting Shoal and Unsubstantiate would certainly be in there. Any other suggestions as to what should make the cut?
How did you fare against Jund without the Seagates? I'm sure the added card draw is useful against attrition... but I think we have worse matchups that I'd prioritize valuable sb slots over. Very meta dependent I suppose, but simply bringing in Tec Edge (which also has game vs. control, Tron etc) feels like it puts us in a pretty decent space.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is certainly a pain, but I haven't seen my Jund winrate dip noticeably because of it. I'm honestly surprised your winrates are so low, and that you have 10% swings for play/draw (that's the case for the field at large, but a deck like Jund that kills slowly and relies on grinding you out of cards isn't hugely advantaged by being on the play). I don't want to discredit your numbers (good on you for keeping track), but I will say your experience differs rather notably from mine.
CoBTyrannon: What is your anti-Jund strategy? I've had good luck ever since people here prevailed on me to run 4x Tec. Edge and 2x RoP. Generally I don't have too much trouble locking out a color, or at least preventing double-black. Relics tend to make 'goyf, Flayer, and/or Lavamancer kinda weak. Others also run Tidebinder, which is good also against 'goyf, Ooze, and Flayer.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is certainly a pain, but I haven't seen my Jund winrate dip noticeably because of it. I'm honestly surprised your winrates are so low, and that you have 10% swings for play/draw (that's the case for the field at large, but a deck like Jund that kills slowly and relies on grinding you out of cards isn't hugely advantaged by being on the play). I don't want to discredit your numbers (good on you for keeping track), but I will say your experience differs rather notably from mine.
I've had experiences on both ends with Kalitas. If the jund player knows how to effectively use it, it is back breaking. If not, then I usually just skirt around it without much trouble.
The biggest thing is whether or not they cast it with removal in hand/LotV, or cast it specifically as a blocker. In my experiences with playing jund, I've always tried to hold kalitas vs merfolk until I have to play it, or I have removal in hand as well.
Actually, since my buddy learned how to play against Merfolk and with the recent Addition of Kalitas i was on a big losing streak against him. I used to stomp him Game1 and be slightly favoured Game2 and Game3. But after those changes, i was just favoured Game1 and usually lost my Postboardgames. Honestly, my winrate was abysmal considering Bo3s.
I have now the oppinion, that IF the Jundplayer actually knows what is important and how to play against Merfolk, we are NOT favoured.
If Kalitas survives even one Turn it's practically over for us. And no, his Sideboard is not purely built against Merfolk!
Now to my friend: When i started playing Merfolk, i met this guy in the Gamestore and because he ran 3 T1-T2 decks i used him for testing my Merfolkbuilds a LOT. On Gamedays he placed usually in the Top16 and that was ok for me. Soon i realized, he was actually playing his Fullpowered decks horribly wrong. All the testing i played against him was pracitcally meaningless. So i taught him what he should discard, taught him how important it is to play around stuff and that he needs to learn the decklists of other decks. What Removals he needs to hold as long as possible.
Now he places in the Top8(out of 50ish people) every single time. And his specialty is .... ******* up MERFOLK.
We had 4 Merfolkplayers in our Store, and the two Affinityplayers and my friend actually made 2 of them change their decks because they couldn't get past those three, that now are pretty much omnipresent in our Top8. They are just really really good Players now.
Sure, my special Meta influences my oppinion on decks here in the forum a lot, and i try to stay as objective as i can be, but that is the reason why i always look out for other cards that might end up in our deck.
My Meta is very Attritionbased with a strange absence of Aggro as you can find Online a lot. Sure there are Aggrodecks, but they are a strange minority.
Sure, there are games you absolutely crush Jund, those games still happen, and when i talk about being favoured, its still not worse than 60%either way. BUT Against him, our statistics look like that:
Game1 on the play: 60% win
Game1 on the draw: 50% win
Game2/3 on the play: 50% win
Game2/3 on the draw: 40% win.
(rounded to full 5% steps)
With a samplesize of 57 bo3s since Kalitas made it into his deck.
So, how did Seagate do? Honestly i don't know yet. Sometimes i draw a card from it, but a lot of the games end with a Fulminator destroying it, before it gets relevant. People might consider this bad, but please remember, every Fullminator not hitting my face OR killing my Mutavault is a BIG win. It pressures him enough to consider it a threat he needs to handle. It is true, that with the remands i run at the moment, that i have problems getting my hand empty, but this is something that is possible to tune and streamline(i think).
Do you find sea gate too slow overall? seems like getting sea gate, and a mutavault/cavern as a 4th can be a little slow as well. I would be interested in hearing your experiences on that.
Also, wondering if you run wanderwine hubs or anything of that nature in MB?
That's what I kept saying about Sea Gate Wreckage. It feels like a sideboard all-star. But the conclusion of the video was that a 20th land was more useful to Merfolk_Joe in the main than basically any other card, and that is part of what I am referencing. What his test allowed him to do was clearly notice what land #20 was - if it was another Island/Cavern of Souls, elucidating the impact would have been significantly more difficult.
As for Unsubstantiate... we'll have it up there for the time being, and if it doesn't pan out, I'm more than happy to take it down. But I think we should put it through its paces.
That's twisted as *****. Why would a card that did not yet proof itself be included in the Primer? It's the other way around! The cards in a primer should need to proof themselves first before claiming a spot in the Primer.
We did it for Essence Flux, and other cards that ended up amounting to nothing. But perhaps we can find the middle way and go for an Experimental Cards section. Disrupting Shoal and Unsubstantiate would certainly be in there. Any other suggestions as to what should make the cut?
My last 2 games against JUND during tournaments was 4-2 for me....winning both games 2-1
What I did that proved to be very usefull against them: 4 seas effects from sideboard (Yes, I run 4 seas claim instead Tectonics), and killing Kalittas the same or next turn he comes into play
@CoBTyrannon Nothing specific to your case, just put my 2 cents about Jund matchs. The players that I played against could be called good players overall, they know what to kill and our weekness too, but messing his mana base with Seas and having an awnser for Kallitas asap proved to be more important than his skill against merfolk.
I've had most of the pieces for this deck for a while but have never pulled the trigger at a tournament because I don't have mutavaults and lack the funds to get them. Does anyone have a suggestion for a way to build the deck without them? I know they definitely lose something in the way of power and sustainability without them, is that something I just have to live with until I get them?
There really isn't a valid substitute for Mutavaults. While not strictly necessary (as in, over 80% of my wins do not involve activating Mutavault's second ability), it does add a fair amount of power but, more importantly, the ability to keep scoring hits after something like Supreme Verdict. You can certainly try without them, but this will hurt you in control-heavy metas.
Round 1 vs. Delver (2-0)
Pretty straight forward rush to victory both games. Had Vial. Had Kira. Had MoW. Didn't draw un-needed Seas. So far so good!
Round 2 vs. Infect (1-2)
I actually pull out game 1 on the draw, only to drop the next 2. +2 Dismember, +1 Dispel, +1 Relic, +2 ET, +2 Negate. -4 Spreading Seas, -4 MoW. Not sure if the Relic made sense or not - my opponent commented that he'd never had somebody play it on him before. I was kinda hoping to take away Become Immense and add an extra cantrip since I dropped the Sea's, but somehow I punted and he got it off anyway. I was in la-la land. Game 3 I again drew Relic and found 1 Dismember but he got multiple creatures in play and I couldn't find another out. I mostly attribute this loss to keeping non-interactive hands. I had 2x Silvergills and the Relic and the temptation was too great - I was foolishly counting on finding answers. I suck.
Round 3 vs. Martyr Life (0-2)
Not a deck I have much experience with and it flat out wrecked me. Gaining 15 life a turn. Preventing all damage. Board wipes. 6/6 flyers. I pretty much just got punched in the junk. Moving on.
Round 4 vs. Abzan Company (2-1)
Game 1 he got the combo off. Game 2 and 3 I was able to keep the pressure on with Relic and Dismember.
Round 5 vs. Tasigur Delver something (0-2)
Game 1 I mulled to 5 and never really stood a chance. Game 2 I mulled to 4 and scooped.
Don't think I won a single die roll the entire day. A few times I probably should have mulled and didn't, but the times I did mull my hands got worse.
For what it's worth the decks that dominated the day were infect (x3), affinity (x3) and martyr life. There were also 2 other Fish players and a few delver decks. I've never run Chalice before and only own 1, but I am seriously considering collecting 2 more for my board.
I'm gonna go cry into my pillow and drink myself to sleep like an adult now.
30 person PPTQ at my LGS yesterday. Went swimginly all the way to 6th place. I know that 6th isn't 1st, but the amount that I get out to play (which is almost never), then 6th place may as well have been the PT title itslef. I got out. I got to play Magic. I got to play Merfolk (Modern is just not a thing here in my city. It's all Standard, nothing else. Ever.). And I did well. Ok, enough of the preamble, let's get to the Merfolk stuff, shall we? Here's my list that I ran yesterday:
Round 1 vs Grixis Delver (Lost the die roll, W 2-0, 1-0)
I love when decks naturally play Islands. Key fun times moment in G2. I have a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Spellskite. Opponent casts k-command choosing to destroy my Relic of Progenitus and deal 2 to me. Activate 'skite, redirecting the destroy target artifact, causing Kira's ability to trigger. Opponent looked shocked at that. I had a hunch, and popped Relic in response to Kira's trigger. Turns out a Tasigur, the Golden Fang in hand. That built up enough momentum to sail to the finish line.
Round 2 vs Jund (Lost the die roll, W 2-1, 2-0) *vs Top 8 competitor
Nothing sticks out as memorable. So for reference, life totals before lethal were 16-9, 7-11, 18-7. Makes me think games 1 & 2 went according to plan
Round 3 vs Abzan Company (Won the die roll, W 2-0, 3-0) *vs Top 8 competitor
This round was against a friend that I've known through Magic for a few years. Back in the day he used to play Birthing Pod and made the transition to Abzan Company seamlessly. During the Pod days, I used to carry Trickbind in the sideboard, as everyone was playing pod. This one card was his trigger. Whenever I played him, keeping up two mana caused severe tilt. Needless to say, sitting down, I asked him to guess how many Trickbinds I was packing today
Game 1 was over before it started, Turn 2 Spreading seas, keeping him off of black, followed with lord after lord, on to Game 2.
Game 2 was tight. He had an early Viscera Seer and enough mana to cast Collected Company. Had to buy my time. He played something, causing him to not hold up Coco mana. At that time, quick Dismember to the Seer. Game went on for a while, we both had a huge board, neither willing to commit to the attack. Finally, after I had a Merrow Reejery in play, I was able to cast a Lord of Atlantis, untap a land, Master of the Pearl Trident , tap your Kitchen Finks, swing and attack for the win. Good match, good opponent.
Round 4 - ID (3-0-1)
This round would have been against the Elves player. I think it was a good call, all 4 of the 3-0 players drew to guarantee a spot in the top 8.
Round 5 - ID (3-0-2)
In hind sight, I wish that I had played this match for seeding. Opponent was on Goryo's Vengeance. We drew. both at 11 pts for the day.
The other two 10 pointers played it out for seeding with Elves beating Burn
Top 8 - Quarter Finals vs...Goryo's Vengeance!!! (L 1-2)
We ended up 4th/5th with me on the play. Had we played Round 5, then there may have been a chance of not playing each other.
Game 1 - He mulled to 4 and I capitalized.
Game 2 - Turn 2 Emrakul will get you every time
Game 3 - This was probably as close as I could have gotten. Turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage, Turn 2 [Relic of Progenitus], lots of Merfolk. Got him down to 8 life, until the turn. I had more than lethal on board so he had to do it. He had 4 lands, 2 cards at Untap. Upkeep. Draw (3 cards now). Exile Simian Spirit Guide, cast Through the Breach, play the flying spaghetti monster herself. If I had a Cursecatcher on board or a Spell Pierce it would have gone a lot better for our plucky hero.
Overall happy with the results. I've played two events this month (one 4 round top 4 FNM and this 5 round PPTQ) with a record of 7-3-2 with a 1st place (FNM) and a 6th place (PPTQ) finish. I'm comfortable with my fish playing skills, and love picking up new pieces from the school here.
Based on the absolute 0 Affinity players in the tournament yesterday, I may now add myself to the school of the best way to beat affinity is to just not play it. Definitey want to up the counter spells in the side board after that loss to combo. Oh well. You live and learn
#Justkeepswimming
I like running the Harbingers because they're good against anything with creatures. Tidebinders are better if those creatures are green or red, Vapor Snag is better if those creatures are getting hit with pump spells. But Harbringer is the safest to play game 1, because at worst it's an in-tribe beater that adds 2 devotion for MoW.
YMMV. A lot of others are quite down on Harbinger.
As far as the issue of screw vs. flood... It's hard to say. Æther Vial protects us from screw, but I've definitely found that I've lost games where I've failed to hit a certain land count. I think that which is worse depends on the matchup.
On an unrelated topic: I'm going to do some upkeep on the Preferred Card Choices section in order to trim cards that were tested by the community and didn't pan out, as well put up the latest batch of attractive testing targets.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
As for Unsubstantiate... we'll have it up there for the time being, and if it doesn't pan out, I'm more than happy to take it down. But I think we should put it through its paces.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
That's twisted as *****. Why would a card that did not yet proof itself be included in the Primer? It's the other way around! The cards in a primer should need to proof themselves first before claiming a spot in the Primer.[/quote]
While I don't feel the need for an implied expletive, I concur. Guides are there for new players to get their feet wet and grasp the deck without starting from scratch and blundering about playing with marginal or bad options. Encouraging experimenting is good for the deck as a whole, but not for new players. For them, it risks them handicapping themselves with unproven choices, resulting in (a) discouragement from under-performance and (b) learning bad habits or (c) valuing cards for the wrong reasons.
If you want to put a section at the end for "Experimental Cards," that's not a terrible idea. But it needs to be denoted properly so neophytes don't take it for granted as an established choice.
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
We did it for Essence Flux, and other cards that ended up amounting to nothing. But perhaps we can find the middle way and go for an Experimental Cards section. Disrupting Shoal and Unsubstantiate would certainly be in there. Any other suggestions as to what should make the cut?
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
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
I've had experiences on both ends with Kalitas. If the jund player knows how to effectively use it, it is back breaking. If not, then I usually just skirt around it without much trouble.
The biggest thing is whether or not they cast it with removal in hand/LotV, or cast it specifically as a blocker. In my experiences with playing jund, I've always tried to hold kalitas vs merfolk until I have to play it, or I have removal in hand as well.
Do you find sea gate too slow overall? seems like getting sea gate, and a mutavault/cavern as a 4th can be a little slow as well. I would be interested in hearing your experiences on that.
Also, wondering if you run wanderwine hubs or anything of that nature in MB?
deprive?
What I did that proved to be very usefull against them: 4 seas effects from sideboard (Yes, I run 4 seas claim instead Tectonics), and killing Kalittas the same or next turn he comes into play
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
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Adept
2x Harbinger of Tides
2x Tidebinder Mage
1x Phantasmal Image
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
3x Merrow Reejery
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3x Master of Waves
4x Aether Vial
4x Spreading Seas
2x Spell Pierce
1x Dismember
Lands (20)
10x Island
2x Wanderwine Hub
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2x Cavern of Souls
4x Mutavault
3x Tectonic Edge
3x Hurkyl's Recall
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Negate
1x Dispel
2x Dismember
2x Echoing Truth
Round 1 vs. Delver (2-0)
Pretty straight forward rush to victory both games. Had Vial. Had Kira. Had MoW. Didn't draw un-needed Seas. So far so good!
Round 2 vs. Infect (1-2)
I actually pull out game 1 on the draw, only to drop the next 2. +2 Dismember, +1 Dispel, +1 Relic, +2 ET, +2 Negate. -4 Spreading Seas, -4 MoW. Not sure if the Relic made sense or not - my opponent commented that he'd never had somebody play it on him before. I was kinda hoping to take away Become Immense and add an extra cantrip since I dropped the Sea's, but somehow I punted and he got it off anyway. I was in la-la land. Game 3 I again drew Relic and found 1 Dismember but he got multiple creatures in play and I couldn't find another out. I mostly attribute this loss to keeping non-interactive hands. I had 2x Silvergills and the Relic and the temptation was too great - I was foolishly counting on finding answers. I suck.
Round 3 vs. Martyr Life (0-2)
Not a deck I have much experience with and it flat out wrecked me. Gaining 15 life a turn. Preventing all damage. Board wipes. 6/6 flyers. I pretty much just got punched in the junk. Moving on.
Round 4 vs. Abzan Company (2-1)
Game 1 he got the combo off. Game 2 and 3 I was able to keep the pressure on with Relic and Dismember.
Round 5 vs. Tasigur Delver something (0-2)
Game 1 I mulled to 5 and never really stood a chance. Game 2 I mulled to 4 and scooped.
Don't think I won a single die roll the entire day. A few times I probably should have mulled and didn't, but the times I did mull my hands got worse.
For what it's worth the decks that dominated the day were infect (x3), affinity (x3) and martyr life. There were also 2 other Fish players and a few delver decks. I've never run Chalice before and only own 1, but I am seriously considering collecting 2 more for my board.
I'm gonna go cry into my pillow and drink myself to sleep like an adult now.
Creatures
4 Cursecatcher
2 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Dismember
1 Vapor Snag
4 Spreading Seas
4 Æther Vial
Lands
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
12 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Hibernation
4 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spellskite
Round 1 vs Grixis Delver (Lost the die roll, W 2-0, 1-0)
I love when decks naturally play Islands. Key fun times moment in G2. I have a Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Spellskite. Opponent casts k-command choosing to destroy my Relic of Progenitus and deal 2 to me. Activate 'skite, redirecting the destroy target artifact, causing Kira's ability to trigger. Opponent looked shocked at that. I had a hunch, and popped Relic in response to Kira's trigger. Turns out a Tasigur, the Golden Fang in hand. That built up enough momentum to sail to the finish line.
Round 2 vs Jund (Lost the die roll, W 2-1, 2-0) *vs Top 8 competitor
Nothing sticks out as memorable. So for reference, life totals before lethal were 16-9, 7-11, 18-7. Makes me think games 1 & 2 went according to plan
Round 3 vs Abzan Company (Won the die roll, W 2-0, 3-0) *vs Top 8 competitor
This round was against a friend that I've known through Magic for a few years. Back in the day he used to play Birthing Pod and made the transition to Abzan Company seamlessly. During the Pod days, I used to carry Trickbind in the sideboard, as everyone was playing pod. This one card was his trigger. Whenever I played him, keeping up two mana caused severe tilt. Needless to say, sitting down, I asked him to guess how many Trickbinds I was packing today
Game 1 was over before it started, Turn 2 Spreading seas, keeping him off of black, followed with lord after lord, on to Game 2.
Game 2 was tight. He had an early Viscera Seer and enough mana to cast Collected Company. Had to buy my time. He played something, causing him to not hold up Coco mana. At that time, quick Dismember to the Seer. Game went on for a while, we both had a huge board, neither willing to commit to the attack. Finally, after I had a Merrow Reejery in play, I was able to cast a Lord of Atlantis, untap a land, Master of the Pearl Trident , tap your Kitchen Finks, swing and attack for the win. Good match, good opponent.
Round 4 - ID (3-0-1)
This round would have been against the Elves player. I think it was a good call, all 4 of the 3-0 players drew to guarantee a spot in the top 8.
Round 5 - ID (3-0-2)
In hind sight, I wish that I had played this match for seeding. Opponent was on Goryo's Vengeance. We drew. both at 11 pts for the day.
The other two 10 pointers played it out for seeding with Elves beating Burn
Top 8 - Quarter Finals vs...Goryo's Vengeance!!! (L 1-2)
We ended up 4th/5th with me on the play. Had we played Round 5, then there may have been a chance of not playing each other.
Game 1 - He mulled to 4 and I capitalized.
Game 2 - Turn 2 Emrakul will get you every time
Game 3 - This was probably as close as I could have gotten. Turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage, Turn 2 [Relic of Progenitus], lots of Merfolk. Got him down to 8 life, until the turn. I had more than lethal on board so he had to do it. He had 4 lands, 2 cards at Untap. Upkeep. Draw (3 cards now). Exile Simian Spirit Guide, cast Through the Breach, play the flying spaghetti monster herself. If I had a Cursecatcher on board or a Spell Pierce it would have gone a lot better for our plucky hero.
Overall happy with the results. I've played two events this month (one 4 round top 4 FNM and this 5 round PPTQ) with a record of 7-3-2 with a 1st place (FNM) and a 6th place (PPTQ) finish. I'm comfortable with my fish playing skills, and love picking up new pieces from the school here.
Based on the absolute 0 Affinity players in the tournament yesterday, I may now add myself to the school of the best way to beat affinity is to just not play it. Definitey want to up the counter spells in the side board after that loss to combo. Oh well. You live and learn
#Justkeepswimming
YMMV. A lot of others are quite down on Harbinger.
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