Thanks a21ClownSalute for sharing your list, playing the stock list has been underwhelming at times. I will definitely try out yours with Jace. How has the main deck Ghost Quarter and Gifts helped? Have you missed the 1 Remand maindeck at anytime?
Gixis control seems to be falling on MTGO. Will it fall from tier 1?
Yes. It is not the flavour of the month deck anymore.
You can go to lantern control thread now.
The more people leave for other decks, the better this archetype becomes. The deck has had a bullseye on it for the last few months, and should resume dominance once people start to shift their aim away to other targets.
Edit: Might as well contribute something of substance to the thread. Here, have an updated decklist!
Most of the decks in my local meta are grindy, hence the maindeck Keranos being the hotness. Recent 5k winner Dan Villamizar and his friend (who beat me in the finals of the last PPTQ I played in) both run UW Control, and there are a ton of Jund/Junk and Grixis Mirrors. Being able to Kommand back a Keranos is just bonkers
I think the other thing to take into consideration is how flexible the Grixis shell is. It doesn't take much for someone to change from Grixis control into Delver into Twin into Blue Jund depending on how best to attack the meta. Given that the tier system is based on popularity rather then power this means that there will probably always be a Tier 1 Grixis deck but which flavor of Grixis will probably rotate depending on the meta game.
This is way I like Grixis so much. With basically the same core, you can go from a very aggro list to a grindy one, just swap out about 10 cards. Chapin's Grixis Prowess list, he posted on StarCity, runs 4 Monastery Swiftspear. Grixis Abbot (what I have been playing the last few weeks) has a lot of grindy games.
So is Grixis Control still a Tier 1 deck? Yes, I just think the list are going to have to evolve to stay that way. As the meta changes, we are going to have to change also. The list everyone was running 2-4 months ago and having good success with, may not do as well now. 4 months ago 4 C-Command was the norm. Now it is 1-2. We just need to be able to adapt. Try new cards, attack from different angles. The new Jace is a powerhouse IMO. In the Abbot version, I have started running the new Lilly and have had great results. Some decks, when they sit down and they say 'This is my path to how I win'. These decks don't change much. Affinity still runs the same 73+ cards it did 6 months ago. I can pick up my Naya Burn that I sleeved up a few months back and it is still strong. Ours is more, 'I have a general idea how I am going to win, but it will change with almost every cards that gets played'. We have to be both reactive and proactive at the same time. So our card choices will need to change because of that.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
Just picked up the deck recently and i'm digging it, but what is the plan for zoo company, each time i've played it, it has felt winnable, but i a) don't think i'm siding correctly and b) just seemed to get out grinded once they just start top decking knights and company's. It's almost like each turn i'm just doing my best to stall them out searching for answers while at the same time not really pressuring them too much
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
--> Modern <-- RBUSplinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBU UUUMono U TronUUU GRGGR TronGRG GWURKnight FallGWUR
It's important to make sure you're not oversideboarding. Sometimes sideboarding too many things is detrimental to your game plan, so you'll lose whether sideboard cards or not.
I've found it's best to try and slam an early x/5 and get rid of the bigger problems like Knights, while applying enough pressure to make them chump with the other dudes. EE definitely comes in, and something like Damnation, or Anger of the Gods is also great. Use bolts liberally on Nacatls, but Terminates sparingly.
4 Mana leaks are an interesting choice, I was actually thinking of increasing my count to 3 and keep 1 Remand myself. Thanks for sharing your list!
Don't mention it
I found myself having a very hard time with things like Scapeshift, Liliana of the Veil, large creatures that are resistant to removal like Siege Rhino and Thragtusk, and so I wanted to up the number of 'hard' counters to interact with them while they were on the stack. Remand was also a card that I found myself cutting frequently, since it's really only good against Tron and other blue decks. I'm not fond of the Jace, Vryn's Prodigy builds, so being able to control the stack is important for me.
When I read the spoiler and saw Horribly Awry, I glazed over the 'creatures only' part and thought that the Gods of Grixis had finally delivered us a goodcounterspell. Oh well. 4 Mana Leaks it is :/
Just picked up the deck recently and i'm digging it, but what is the plan for zoo company, each time i've played it, it has felt winnable, but i a) don't think i'm siding correctly and b) just seemed to get out grinded once they just start top decking knights and company's. It's almost like each turn i'm just doing my best to stall them out searching for answers while at the same time not really pressuring them too much
Against a Path to Exile deck like Naya Company, having unconventional threats like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver that dodge their removal is really nice. Dispel is also a card that you should be bringing in to both counter their Companies and protect your threats.
Landing a Keranos is also GG against Naya Company if you have control of the board. If you have a Keranos in the early turns, devote your resources to clearing the board, and slamming the Keranos.
You could also keep them on their toes and side in some Fulminators, and go on the aggressive route.
sweet, ya thanks for all the advice i definitely think due to my inexperience i sided and played the match a bit wrong, where in each game i just seemed to run out of removal and get outvalued by collected companies
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
--> Modern <-- RBUSplinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBU UUUMono U TronUUU GRGGR TronGRG GWURKnight FallGWUR
Just picked up the deck recently and i'm digging it, but what is the plan for zoo company, each time i've played it, it has felt winnable, but i a) don't think i'm siding correctly and b) just seemed to get out grinded once they just start top decking knights and company's. It's almost like each turn i'm just doing my best to stall them out searching for answers while at the same time not really pressuring them too much
Like the others have said your sweepers are great here but you will also want to bring in Dispel. It may seem counter intuitive but it snags their CoCos, Chords and the Paths they have to board in to beat our Tasi/Anglers.
In general I would suggest tracking down one of Chapin's discussions on the deck and sideboard strategies, while the deck has changed a little he is a good source of information. I would suggest the podcast he did the TurnOneThoughtseize guys here. He talks a lot about the design of the deck, and how it handles up in certain match-ups.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In play: Jund Death Shadow, Grixis Control, Eldrazi Stompy, Ponza
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
The sideboard is under costruction but it will include most of the cards usually seen in the previous sideboards.
But I have found the Abzan CoCo matchup completely terrible! I could not manage to win against it!
What do you side in and out against? How do you play this kind of match up!
THanks a lot for the help
Bring in sweepers and Dispel. You'll need to play around Collected Company, as that's the card that really beats you. Anger of the Gods should get the nod in your sideboard over Pyroclasm specifically for this matchup. From your list, Shadow of Doubt, Electrolyze, and Remand will all be particularly weak. Terminate effects are also pretty mediocre, since most of their threats (Kitchen Finks, Voice of Resurgence, etc) are naturally resilient against this type of removal. From there, you can decide what the other cuts are based on the context of their 75 vs your 75.
I don't feel favoured, but it's definitely winnable with tight play and good draws. Since I'm playing Pyromancers, dealing the damage is not too much of a problem, and once I clear islandwalk lords, I'm probably favoured. My main problem is that I take a heap of early damage, and stabilising is really hard. Sideboard makes me a lot happier, where I bring in Anger of the Gods and EE.
Some people have moved a card to the side to include a main board EE or Anger with good results in a more aggressive meta. I favor EE vs Merfolk, Souls and other tokens tho.
Sideboard
1 Keranos
2 Dispel
2 Flashfreeze
1 Slay
1 Negate
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Anger of the Gods
And I am unsure what I want for the last 4 slots. I am thinking a grave titan for super long grindy matchups, and I guess I could use some grave hate. Maybe 2 or 3 spellbombs or Leylines?
Now I have a few questions. Should I run 2 Flooded Strand, 2 Drowned Catacombs or Sulfur falls, or something else?
I really dont want to buy Scalding tarns as I dont think they make 80$ of a difference, and i also kinda want to have slightly less Islands so that Choke/Boil can potentially be beatable one day.
I was trying 2x Drowned on MTGO and basically I never feel like I have enough red sources for what I want to do, but I am not sure what the best choice is to fill those two slots
Also does anybody know cards I can play that will leave me up on cards? Like Mulldrifter either gets me 2 for 1 or 3 for one (If you count the body). In a lot of longer games I wish I had something like sphinx's rev, but of course I dont have white.
Also how do I learn how to play correctly? I am not talking about like rules but making the right choices? Like do I just counter something if I feel like I will die otherwise? Or do I hold counters? How much do I try to get something to resolve in blue mirrors? How agressive should I be (Like should I go for turn 2/3 gurmag/tasigur or should I wait till I can protect it multiple ways?)
Also stuff like this happening, like was I making a mistake, my opponent, or were we actually supposed to fight to the death over a remand on an angler
Btw the stack was
Me: Gurmag Angler
Him: Remand Your Angler
Me: Snare your Remand
Him: It looks like it was Remand His remand, probably to recast it
Me: Leak your Remand targeting your remand
Him: Snare the leak
Me: Dispel the snare.
And I am not sure if it even mattered that much. I guess I denied him a few remand cycles?
@gkourou: Depends on your exact build but I don't think Merfolk is too bad. Sweepers and Olivia can be back breaking out of the board.
@rick90: Electrolyze is weak because killing mana dorks on turn 3 is not were you want to be versus CoCo, especially as the run a lot of their creatures are pretty resistant to Electrolyze.
@jorlee92:
Fighting over Remands was fine there. Remand is pretty much a hard counter vs Angler plus you stopped him get value off it.
If you are looking for some general advice on playing the deck I would look up some of Patrick Chapins articles. I also recommend some of the podcast he has been on where he has talked about the deck here and here.
When it comes to late game card advantage I am a big fan of Gifts Ungiven however Mulldrifter is really good too.
Hard to say whether you are better off with Flooded Strands or check lands. I would probably suggesting testing them in the competitive room and see which feels better.
@ObnixilisNate: I honestly don't think we would have a particularly bad match vs lantern (or if it is ever going to be popular enough to warren card slots for) given one of their worse match-ups are good stuff decks. However I think I would prefer a Mystical Teachings package if I was going to go that route as Mystical Retrieval is pretty bad.
Also, welcome to all the new people who have picked up the deck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In play: Jund Death Shadow, Grixis Control, Eldrazi Stompy, Ponza
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
Hypothetically speaking if Lantern sticks around for a while I'm looking for a trump card now.
(That and I'm salty for losing to it last FNM But it was good experience into knowing the match up.)
Our answers can't readily be relied on if they get 2 or 3 mill over cards on the table. And what do most of our side boards contain for this match up? I'd wager shatterstorm or vandalblast. I don't like Teachings based on finding Instants only when both cards mentioned are sorcery. Secondly, If our sb card gets milled over that hurts.
I recognize that it's pretty narrow. I'm just trying to brainstorm.
It's either this or finding a 0 power creature we can pump. (Which I haven't had time to explore just yet)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan Legacy: RG Lands EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
What do you think of the Merfolk match-up after all?
Most of us say it is terrible, there are some claiming that it is not bad.
Can you answer with solid arguments?
(I have mainboarded a Dismember just for them and Infect)
Preboard I find it even (50/50). The most annoying cards you can face are Spreading Seas taking out your red, and Master of Waves, because you simply can't interact with it. But, it's not that terrible, you can take care of Vial before they get to 4 counters, and you can kill all of their lords with Lightning Bolts and Terminates. The key to the match up is to kill everything they land, no matter what it is. It doesn't matter if they are clogging the board with Cursecatchers and Silvergill Adepts and holding the lords in hand. You just kill everything he drops.
When they know they're playing against Control, most merfolk players will start dropping as much irrelevant creatures as possible and getting damage through if you hold your removal, or force your removal there and move on to Lords. Kolaghan's Commands modes should be 1) Damage/Discard (targeting a folk) if there's no vial, 2) Damage/Destroy if there is vial and merfolks (careful with X/2 and vial in response for a lord), 3) Discard/Destroy if no folks and vial is activated, then 4) Creature/Discard.
Basically, you just trade cards a lot with them and start recycling with Snapcaster Mages. Dropping fatties early helps a lot, as with no Islandwalk they can't even attack. If they have an insane start (Vial, 2 lands, 2 lords, 2 other folks) you can't really deal with them, but on any average keepable hand from them, you will be able to interact nicely. It comes down to you trying to kill all possible threats quickly and attacking him before he gets a Master of Waves and 2+ tokens for the win.
Counters are BAD against merfolk, especially against the lists with 4 Master of Waves and 3 Cavern of Souls. The only one you want to keep is Spell Snare as it takes care of around 18 cards in their deck, including the dreaded Spreading Seas.
With so much removal and sweepers, you get to put them in the awkward situation of +1 your lili all day long, gaining life (they HAVE to kill her) and forcing Vial activations before you tap your mana. Then after a sweeper or a good spot removal sequence, they can't really cast threats as 1 per turn, and you can be safe.
I have played 60 games pre-board and 120 postboard by now, with a friend that plays merfolk. I won 29 pre-board and 87 post board. That's roughly 50% game 1 and 70% games 2/3. Around 85% of the matches I won, I was sitting at 1/4 life, but didn't feel pressured at all. Don't slow your tempo down to 'not hurt yourself' with shocklands. I take 3 and bolt Cursecatchers 100% of all T1 the play is available. Also, when you're on the draw NEVER play a nonbasic, nonfetch land, either Island or a fetch, otherwise Spreading Seas will kill you, trust me.
Piece of advice: kill Cursecatcher on sight, each one of them you see, you focus it with removal (unless lord of course). Otherwise you will end up with a broken back when attempting backbreaking plays (or even not attempting them, and die with your answers in hand because you couldn't pay the extra mana).
Vendilion Clique is also nice in the matchup where Kira pretty much owns. If you have to double bolt her in a low battlefield pressure, just do it without fear. We run a lot of 2-for-1s to recover. The key is to survive until getting to late game, as we usually can afford to have double the lands in play, and allow crazy turn plays with Snapcaster Mage.
I don't Run Jace or Keranos. Maybe I should, but I've been happy with the config, I was playing no lilis no spellskite +1 Dispel +1 V Clique +1 Shatterstorm, but decided to change because lili is such a good card and it's better on our side of the table than any other deck's and spellskite is a really good draw on certain match ups.
I want to swap Clique for a Mulldrifget to test, or maybe some other card, haven't decided yet. Anyone can share they exp with the drifter?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In Lorwyn's brief evenings, the sun pauses at the horizon long enough for a certain species of violet to bloom with the fragrance of mischief.
Hypothetically speaking if Lantern sticks around for a while I'm looking for a trump card now.
(That and I'm salty for losing to it last FNM But it was good experience into knowing the match up.)
Our answers can't readily be relied on if they get 2 or 3 mill over cards on the table. And what do most of our side boards contain for this match up? I'd wager shatterstorm or vandalblast. I don't like Teachings based on finding Instants only when both cards mentioned are sorcery. Secondly, If our sb card gets milled over that hurts.
I recognize that it's pretty narrow. I'm just trying to brainstorm.
It's either this or finding a 0 power creature we can pump. ( Which I haven't had time to explore just yet)
I don't know why, but I thought Shattering Spree was an instant (God I miss Shattering Pulse). However you can tutor for Snapcaster on their endstep to flashback any hate they might have milled and might allow you to set up a Kommand chain. I don't know if that is good enough though. I have considered Annul in the board before depending on the meta, it would do a non-zero amount of work against lantern.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
In play: Jund Death Shadow, Grixis Control, Eldrazi Stompy, Ponza
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
Annul is good against Bogles, Affinity, and lantern. Also works against Twin by countering Skite and Keranos, but since those are more corner cases, it's probably not worth bringing in there.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UWR Control
Legacy: W D&T
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The more people leave for other decks, the better this archetype becomes. The deck has had a bullseye on it for the last few months, and should resume dominance once people start to shift their aim away to other targets.
Edit: Might as well contribute something of substance to the thread. Here, have an updated decklist!
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
1 Keranos, God of Storms
Spells (30)
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
1 Dispel
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Snare
4 Mana Leak
4 Terminate
1 Go for the Throat
3 Kolaghan's Command
2 Cryptic Command
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
3 Dispel
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Bitterblossom
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Negate
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Grave Titan
Most of the decks in my local meta are grindy, hence the maindeck Keranos being the hotness. Recent 5k winner Dan Villamizar and his friend (who beat me in the finals of the last PPTQ I played in) both run UW Control, and there are a ton of Jund/Junk and Grixis Mirrors. Being able to Kommand back a Keranos is just bonkers
This is way I like Grixis so much. With basically the same core, you can go from a very aggro list to a grindy one, just swap out about 10 cards. Chapin's Grixis Prowess list, he posted on StarCity, runs 4 Monastery Swiftspear. Grixis Abbot (what I have been playing the last few weeks) has a lot of grindy games.
So is Grixis Control still a Tier 1 deck? Yes, I just think the list are going to have to evolve to stay that way. As the meta changes, we are going to have to change also. The list everyone was running 2-4 months ago and having good success with, may not do as well now. 4 months ago 4 C-Command was the norm. Now it is 1-2. We just need to be able to adapt. Try new cards, attack from different angles. The new Jace is a powerhouse IMO. In the Abbot version, I have started running the new Lilly and have had great results. Some decks, when they sit down and they say 'This is my path to how I win'. These decks don't change much. Affinity still runs the same 73+ cards it did 6 months ago. I can pick up my Naya Burn that I sleeved up a few months back and it is still strong. Ours is more, 'I have a general idea how I am going to win, but it will change with almost every cards that gets played'. We have to be both reactive and proactive at the same time. So our card choices will need to change because of that.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
RBU
Splinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBUUUUMono U TronUUU
GRGGR TronGRG
GWURKnight FallGWUR
Legacy
GWBDark MaverickGWB
--> EDH <--
BWUErtai, the CorruptedBWU
I've found it's best to try and slam an early x/5 and get rid of the bigger problems like Knights, while applying enough pressure to make them chump with the other dudes. EE definitely comes in, and something like Damnation, or Anger of the Gods is also great. Use bolts liberally on Nacatls, but Terminates sparingly.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Don't mention it
I found myself having a very hard time with things like Scapeshift, Liliana of the Veil, large creatures that are resistant to removal like Siege Rhino and Thragtusk, and so I wanted to up the number of 'hard' counters to interact with them while they were on the stack. Remand was also a card that I found myself cutting frequently, since it's really only good against Tron and other blue decks. I'm not fond of the Jace, Vryn's Prodigy builds, so being able to control the stack is important for me.
When I read the spoiler and saw Horribly Awry, I glazed over the 'creatures only' part and thought that the Gods of Grixis had finally delivered us a good counterspell. Oh well. 4 Mana Leaks it is :/
Against a Path to Exile deck like Naya Company, having unconventional threats like Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver that dodge their removal is really nice. Dispel is also a card that you should be bringing in to both counter their Companies and protect your threats.
You could also keep them on their toes and side in some Fulminators, and go on the aggressive route.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
RBU
Splinter Twin (RIP)/DelverRBUUUUMono U TronUUU
GRGGR TronGRG
GWURKnight FallGWUR
Legacy
GWBDark MaverickGWB
--> EDH <--
BWUErtai, the CorruptedBWU
Like the others have said your sweepers are great here but you will also want to bring in Dispel. It may seem counter intuitive but it snags their CoCos, Chords and the Paths they have to board in to beat our Tasi/Anglers.
In general I would suggest tracking down one of Chapin's discussions on the deck and sideboard strategies, while the deck has changed a little he is a good source of information. I would suggest the podcast he did the TurnOneThoughtseize guys here. He talks a lot about the design of the deck, and how it handles up in certain match-ups.
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
Bring in sweepers and Dispel. You'll need to play around Collected Company, as that's the card that really beats you. Anger of the Gods should get the nod in your sideboard over Pyroclasm specifically for this matchup. From your list, Shadow of Doubt, Electrolyze, and Remand will all be particularly weak. Terminate effects are also pretty mediocre, since most of their threats (Kitchen Finks, Voice of Resurgence, etc) are naturally resilient against this type of removal. From there, you can decide what the other cuts are based on the context of their 75 vs your 75.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
So the current list I am building (And previously tested on MTGO) looks something Like
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
1 Izzet Charm
3 Cryptic Command
3 Kolaghan's Command
3 Terminate
1 Murderous Cut
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
1 Mulldrifter
Lands
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
3 Island
2 More lands
Sideboard
1 Keranos
2 Dispel
2 Flashfreeze
1 Slay
1 Negate
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Anger of the Gods
And I am unsure what I want for the last 4 slots. I am thinking a grave titan for super long grindy matchups, and I guess I could use some grave hate. Maybe 2 or 3 spellbombs or Leylines?
Now I have a few questions. Should I run 2 Flooded Strand, 2 Drowned Catacombs or Sulfur falls, or something else?
I really dont want to buy Scalding tarns as I dont think they make 80$ of a difference, and i also kinda want to have slightly less Islands so that Choke/Boil can potentially be beatable one day.
I was trying 2x Drowned on MTGO and basically I never feel like I have enough red sources for what I want to do, but I am not sure what the best choice is to fill those two slots
Also does anybody know cards I can play that will leave me up on cards? Like Mulldrifter either gets me 2 for 1 or 3 for one (If you count the body). In a lot of longer games I wish I had something like sphinx's rev, but of course I dont have white.
Also how do I learn how to play correctly? I am not talking about like rules but making the right choices? Like do I just counter something if I feel like I will die otherwise? Or do I hold counters? How much do I try to get something to resolve in blue mirrors? How agressive should I be (Like should I go for turn 2/3 gurmag/tasigur or should I wait till I can protect it multiple ways?)
Also stuff like this happening, like was I making a mistake, my opponent, or were we actually supposed to fight to the death over a remand on an angler
Btw the stack was
Me: Gurmag Angler
Him: Remand Your Angler
Me: Snare your Remand
Him: It looks like it was Remand His remand, probably to recast it
Me: Leak your Remand targeting your remand
Him: Snare the leak
Me: Dispel the snare.
And I am not sure if it even mattered that much. I guess I denied him a few remand cycles?
mystic retrieval
To get back vandalblast
Hold up counters for surgical extraction
???
Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan
Legacy: RG Lands
EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
@rick90: Electrolyze is weak because killing mana dorks on turn 3 is not were you want to be versus CoCo, especially as the run a lot of their creatures are pretty resistant to Electrolyze.
@jorlee92:
Also, welcome to all the new people who have picked up the deck.
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
(That and I'm salty for losing to it last FNM But it was good experience into knowing the match up.)
Our answers can't readily be relied on if they get 2 or 3 mill over cards on the table. And what do most of our side boards contain for this match up? I'd wager shatterstorm or vandalblast. I don't like Teachings based on finding Instants only when both cards mentioned are sorcery. Secondly, If our sb card gets milled over that hurts.
I recognize that it's pretty narrow. I'm just trying to brainstorm.
It's either this or finding a 0 power creature we can pump. (Which I haven't had time to explore just yet)
Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan
Legacy: RG Lands
EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
Preboard I find it even (50/50). The most annoying cards you can face are Spreading Seas taking out your red, and Master of Waves, because you simply can't interact with it. But, it's not that terrible, you can take care of Vial before they get to 4 counters, and you can kill all of their lords with Lightning Bolts and Terminates. The key to the match up is to kill everything they land, no matter what it is. It doesn't matter if they are clogging the board with Cursecatchers and Silvergill Adepts and holding the lords in hand. You just kill everything he drops.
When they know they're playing against Control, most merfolk players will start dropping as much irrelevant creatures as possible and getting damage through if you hold your removal, or force your removal there and move on to Lords.
Kolaghan's Commands modes should be 1) Damage/Discard (targeting a folk) if there's no vial, 2) Damage/Destroy if there is vial and merfolks (careful with X/2 and vial in response for a lord), 3) Discard/Destroy if no folks and vial is activated, then 4) Creature/Discard.
Basically, you just trade cards a lot with them and start recycling with Snapcaster Mages. Dropping fatties early helps a lot, as with no Islandwalk they can't even attack. If they have an insane start (Vial, 2 lands, 2 lords, 2 other folks) you can't really deal with them, but on any average keepable hand from them, you will be able to interact nicely. It comes down to you trying to kill all possible threats quickly and attacking him before he gets a Master of Waves and 2+ tokens for the win.
Games 2 and 3 I find myself favored against them, because of my sideboard:
-2x Remand
-2x Mana Leak
-2x Cryptic Command
-1x Dispel
+1 Magma Spray
+1 Pyroclasm
+2 Anger of the Gods
+2 Liliana of the Veil
+1 Damnation
Counters are BAD against merfolk, especially against the lists with 4 Master of Waves and 3 Cavern of Souls. The only one you want to keep is Spell Snare as it takes care of around 18 cards in their deck, including the dreaded Spreading Seas.
With so much removal and sweepers, you get to put them in the awkward situation of +1 your lili all day long, gaining life (they HAVE to kill her) and forcing Vial activations before you tap your mana. Then after a sweeper or a good spot removal sequence, they can't really cast threats as 1 per turn, and you can be safe.
I have played 60 games pre-board and 120 postboard by now, with a friend that plays merfolk. I won 29 pre-board and 87 post board. That's roughly 50% game 1 and 70% games 2/3. Around 85% of the matches I won, I was sitting at 1/4 life, but didn't feel pressured at all. Don't slow your tempo down to 'not hurt yourself' with shocklands. I take 3 and bolt Cursecatchers 100% of all T1 the play is available. Also, when you're on the draw NEVER play a nonbasic, nonfetch land, either Island or a fetch, otherwise Spreading Seas will kill you, trust me.
Piece of advice: kill Cursecatcher on sight, each one of them you see, you focus it with removal (unless lord of course). Otherwise you will end up with a broken back when attempting backbreaking plays (or even not attempting them, and die with your answers in hand because you couldn't pay the extra mana).
Vendilion Clique is also nice in the matchup where Kira pretty much owns. If you have to double bolt her in a low battlefield pressure, just do it without fear. We run a lot of 2-for-1s to recover. The key is to survive until getting to late game, as we usually can afford to have double the lands in play, and allow crazy turn plays with Snapcaster Mage.
I want to swap Clique for a Mulldrifget to test, or maybe some other card, haven't decided yet. Anyone can share they exp with the drifter?
I don't know why, but I thought Shattering Spree was an instant (God I miss Shattering Pulse). However you can tutor for Snapcaster on their endstep to flashback any hate they might have milled and might allow you to set up a Kommand chain. I don't know if that is good enough though. I have considered Annul in the board before depending on the meta, it would do a non-zero amount of work against lantern.
In the yard: RUG Delver, Kiki-Chord, Grixis Twin, Mardu Control, Smallpox, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Delver, Assault Loam, Elves, Deathcloud, Eggs, Storm
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T