I had fun with my little Tropical experiment, but the winds of change do not favor it.
That's interesting because -- while Mono-U seems to be better vs. Jund, I would guess the lower to the ground UG deck had a better control (at least non red versions)/JTMS matchup.
MoW seems pretty clunky against Jace.
With the recent unbanning UG gets a ton worse imo.
The default midrange decks will be Bloodbraid Jund/Grixis DS and Jace slots perfectly into Jeskay => Lightning bolt got better and will be again one of the most popular cards => MoW becomes a must.
Against Jace decks there are two paths you can take:
a) Go underneath them, this means frequent T3 and T4 kills
b) Try to grind them out.
UG is clearly not fast enough so Mono U becomes the automatic choice. Mono U with Kira looks like the better choice.
did anyone see that recent MODO list that 5-0? Interesting choices to say the least, mono U, 4 kira, 4 dismember, 4 watertrap.... clearly trying to test some cards out or making a statement?
Anyone else watching the Team Modern Super League right now? Merfolk just destroyed Bant Spirits, and is moving to its next opponent: https://www.twitch.tv/magic
4:1 mtgo competitive league today. Beat 4 Jace decks (Grixis ctrl, 2 4-color (no white) goodstuff (Ancestral, Goyf, Electrolyze, K. Command, BBE, Jace, Bolt...) and Jeskai ctrl), lost to Dredge 1:2 because in two games I had many turns to draw Seas but no cigar.
Since I opened Jace at random in a Chest I HAD to play it
Had dueling Jaces with Grixis, his 2 copies died quickly, mine was holding his Delve creatures in hand so he was shuffling them with Jace. After 3 Damnations my Jace still prevailed by bringing more troops. Beat Jeff Hoogland (one of the 4 color) 2:0, maybe I was in his twitch stream.
I like lack of stupid decks like Elves, Affinity, Lantern; I root for Jace decks to plow their numbers.
So what are we thinking are the best side board options with the new unbans? Supreme Verdict is problematic in UWR control already. Its tough to win turn 4 with no interaction and with bolts and paths flying around, its pretty much impossible. I had some reasonable luck with the 7 seas plan (4 spreading seas main, 3 Seas claim SB) against them since their mana base is a weak spot. I was running Kopola and am thinking Kira would be better. The 2 mana isn't good enough in a longer game. I didn't board in my Chalices tonight, which I think was a bit of a mistake. (I didn't board out the vials either, which was another mistake in that match up I think. Stony silence is a thing...) IDK, but it looks like grindy roads ahead. I still like the 7 seas plan since jund is another problematic mana base you can exploit with it. Chalice is still solid too. My other slots are dedicated to Pithing Needle and Skite. Which also seem reasonable. Currently my plan is swapping out the Kopola for Kira main. SB I'm kinda stuck on though. I know I effed up bad tonight with keeping the vials in game 2 when cavern is a thing. Any ideas? I went 2-0-1 with the draw to UWR Control. Beat a Mardu Tokens deck and the Mono U extra turns combo. In hind sight I would have used Chalice set at 1 in the Mono U mu. I could have hamstrung the gigadrowse if nothing else. Mardu once again is a week mana base and is really weak to the seas plan. Any thoughts would be welcome.
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Negate is my go-to sideboard card, and it's done well so far. I'm surprised to hear you have Needle and Skite and no Relics, though; 4 Relics is damn near mandatory in this meta.
Thinking about selling my foiled out Merfolk deck Somebody talk me off this ledge!!!
Fish is relatively well positioned if Blue Control decks become the dominant player in Modern: having access to counterpells and Aether Vial negates a lot of their power. Also, Jund is moving away from Fatal Push, due to it being a worse hot off a BBE than Lightning Bolt, so Master of Waves should see a resurgence.
An aggressive, go wide deck is exactly what you want right now.
My meta is pretty small and there is currently no major graveyard themed decks in it, though the relics would have been useful against the UWR control. Actually against Mardu tokens too, now that I think about it. Hmmmm...what do you think about pulling needle for Relic? Seems very reasonable. Also, has anyone done a match up sideboard template? What goes in and what comes up in certain MU's That would be super helpful...
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
Affinity Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Played UG in Standard today, 5 rounds + top8. After 3:0 I was double downpaired, lost both, finished ninth and got home early for Mtgo.
After 4:0 in competitive Modern league with mono U I was paired with Grixis Jace Ctrl. I won game 1 with double Waves with him with 11 min on his clock (I had 20).
Then I had nice hate hand but he outgrinded me with endless Snap-Azcanta-K Command for 1:1 and 5 min on his clock.
Then I had another nice hate hand, played Spyglass (seeing Serum, Jace and 4 lands) on Jace, then Spell Pierced his freshly drawn K Command and played second Spyglass (for some reason naming Scalding Tarn because that was the only other thing he could activate...). They played Jace and another Command to free him.
Then Creeping Tar Pit.
After furious 5 min I lost to the unblockable land (and my mistake not naming Jace again with second Spyglass) while drawing blanks, they had 15s left on their clock.
Played in the SCG Indy Open this weekend with mono blue fish and went 6-3, almost making day 2 (needed 7-2). I lost to humans, lantern, and zoo. I beat 3 GDS, 1 grixis control, 1 r/b hollow one, and 1 mardu pyromancer deck. Looking forward to the new meta.
What do you think about playing without Vial?
Vial is the worst topdeck and Merfolk doesnt depend on enter the battlefield effects and shenanigans much, a lot of time we need to just vial in lord before damage
With green splash there are now good 1 drop and 2 drop
Did anyone try it?
Id run 21 lands and think about including some mana sinks (maybe Lumbering Falls as pseudo 1 drop)
The return on Vial is actually even better in Tropical, where it hits almost everything at 2 (in Basic, there's much more at 3-4 mana). While it may not be as good late, the acceleration and ability to flash in creatures is still good. I'd definitely play Vial or CoCo.
Any new merfolk i should be aware of? anything new to include? and finally why splash green?
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From Supernatural:
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
If your meta is on the BBE/Jace train, I wouldn't bother with the green splash. Good old mono-U performs best in that scenario. UG is something you reach for if big mana (Titanshift, Tron, Eldrazi) are the top dogs where you are, because it crushes those decks.
On the subject of new Merfolk, I've been liking Kopala, Warden of Waves of late, since it protects the team and is a threat in its own right. If you have lots of creature mirrors, you may also want to consider Watertrap Weaver. These days, my 60 looks very close to yours, with the exception of that I've recently benched Dismember in favor of Kopala, due to there being tons of removal in the MTGO meta.
With the recent unbanning UG gets a ton worse imo.
The default midrange decks will be Bloodbraid Jund/Grixis DS and Jace slots perfectly into Jeskay => Lightning bolt got better and will be again one of the most popular cards => MoW becomes a must.
Against Jace decks there are two paths you can take:
a) Go underneath them, this means frequent T3 and T4 kills
b) Try to grind them out.
UG is clearly not fast enough so Mono U becomes the automatic choice. Mono U with Kira looks like the better choice.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-modern-constructed-league-2018-02-13
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
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
Since I opened Jace at random in a Chest I HAD to play it
Had dueling Jaces with Grixis, his 2 copies died quickly, mine was holding his Delve creatures in hand so he was shuffling them with Jace. After 3 Damnations my Jace still prevailed by bringing more troops. Beat Jeff Hoogland (one of the 4 color) 2:0, maybe I was in his twitch stream.
I like lack of stupid decks like Elves, Affinity, Lantern; I root for Jace decks to plow their numbers.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Modern
UGWRB Humans
G Mono-Green Tron
UWBR Ad Nauseam
Fish is relatively well positioned if Blue Control decks become the dominant player in Modern: having access to counterpells and Aether Vial negates a lot of their power. Also, Jund is moving away from Fatal Push, due to it being a worse hot off a BBE than Lightning Bolt, so Master of Waves should see a resurgence.
An aggressive, go wide deck is exactly what you want right now.
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Close to bottom, mono blue, nothing much to talk about, which is ok.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
After 4:0 in competitive Modern league with mono U I was paired with Grixis Jace Ctrl. I won game 1 with double Waves with him with 11 min on his clock (I had 20).
Then I had nice hate hand but he outgrinded me with endless Snap-Azcanta-K Command for 1:1 and 5 min on his clock.
Then I had another nice hate hand, played Spyglass (seeing Serum, Jace and 4 lands) on Jace, then Spell Pierced his freshly drawn K Command and played second Spyglass (for some reason naming Scalding Tarn because that was the only other thing he could activate...). They played Jace and another Command to free him.
Then Creeping Tar Pit.
After furious 5 min I lost to the unblockable land (and my mistake not naming Jace again with second Spyglass) while drawing blanks, they had 15s left on their clock.
One of those days...
Vial is the worst topdeck and Merfolk doesnt depend on enter the battlefield effects and shenanigans much, a lot of time we need to just vial in lord before damage
With green splash there are now good 1 drop and 2 drop
Did anyone try it?
Id run 21 lands and think about including some mana sinks (maybe Lumbering Falls as pseudo 1 drop)
4x Cursecatcher
3x Harbinger of the Tides
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4x Kumena's Speaker
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Merfolk Mistbinder
4x Merrow Reejerey
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Botanical Sanctum
2x Breeding Pool
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Island
1x Lumbering Falls
3x Mutavault
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Dismember
1x Mutagenic Growth
1x Spell Pierce
4x Spreading Seas
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!
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
Last i checked merfolk was mono U , none of this green splash nonsense(grumpy old fart voice), so this is the decklist that i have
4 silvergill adept
4 lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the pearl trident
4 harbinger of the tides
4 merrow reejery
4 Master of waves
4 spreading seas
2 spellpierce
2 dismember
2 cavern of souls
4 mutavault
1 oboro palace in the clouds
1 minamo school at the water edge
12 island
Any new merfolk i should be aware of? anything new to include? and finally why splash green?
Sam: a demon summoning spell ? why?
Lucifer: to summon a demon (auto censorship here)
====
The Wizard of Oz: A juvenile delinquent runs away from home, kills the first person she meets in a foreign land, robs her corpse, then promptly forms a gang with three complete strangers in order to kill again.
====
with R i'll burn you and with B youll'be maimed
On the subject of new Merfolk, I've been liking Kopala, Warden of Waves of late, since it protects the team and is a threat in its own right. If you have lots of creature mirrors, you may also want to consider Watertrap Weaver. These days, my 60 looks very close to yours, with the exception of that I've recently benched Dismember in favor of Kopala, due to there being tons of removal in the MTGO meta.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers: