MTG Salvation

Tasigur is the first thing I would add if I played black. I haven't had a chance to try it because my modern community is lackluster.

Dear Leyart, im happy for you that UW merfolk works out for you. I never said that you cant play PtE with said cards - however there is a very real cost - which you dont seem to want to acknowledge. That is totally fine - but incorrect. I also like to mess around with UW merfolk and when affinity rears its ugly head at my LGS - I play it.

I'm liking the really mild black splash of Darkslick Shores and Dismember. Good against Choke, and infect is big in my store.

Any advice on the Burn matchup? Aether Vial is awesome against Eidolon of the Great Revel, but they have cards that are good against Vial. Sort of annoying.

@IslandsAreBroken. I do acknowledge the cost of playing path to exile, but you don't seem to realize that since it will be used lategame anyways, giving them one more land is not that important anymore.

Went 3-1 to a local FNM yesterday evening, beating Soul Sisters Norin, Twinning End, GW Hatebears, losing in topdeck mode to UR Twin.

Monastery Siege completely destroys burn in my experience. They can't even remove it most of the time, due to having to pay 4. Card is great.

What do people think about trying something like 2 sygg, river cuthroat. I've seen him pop up in legacy and I think he is a good way to draw cards and keep the pressure applied. I like that he also adds double blue devotion for master of waves and with one lord out doesn't die to lightning bolt. Also so many fetches in modern now could cosi's trickster be a thing? I like the idea of having a lower curve and having more to do one mana than just cursecatcher and aether vial (proactively). Just some thoughts on new ideas not saying any of them have any real competitive potential but I have seen cosi pop up and be good in some legacy fish decks and I think with alot of the new gifts ungiven decks as well it could be great.

Quote from frodooftheshire »

What do people think about trying something like 2 sygg, river cuthroat.

I used to run 1 Sygg back before KTK came out. I eventually dropped it because it was too low-impact. It should be at its best in a long grindy matchup like BGx, or post-board Twin, but in the actual games, they would just kill everything else and I'd be stuck with a useless 1/3. You get a weird conundrum where he maybe doesn't die to bolt, but the lord dies to bolt, and they'd rather bolt the lord anyway.

Quote from The_AC »

I'm liking the really mild black splash of Darkslick Shores and Dismember. Good against Choke, and infect is big in my store.

I ran Seachrome Coast for the white splash. After two tournaments of not being able to cast Master of Waves on time, or hold up Remand, I swore it off. I think in the long run it's better to just pay the extra 2 life to Dismember than get slowed down.

Quote from bjeece »

Has anyone ever tried out a black splash?

So I had this weird idea that Lingering Souls would be a good sideboard card. It's the nuts vs. Affinity when backed up by early removal (not to mention Stony Silence), and it can come in against Delver, Infect, BGx.

I run a fetch/shock package with 1 Watery Grave supporting the black and it works like 85-90% of the time.

Pure curiosity. Seeing as Merfolk typically dont need more than 3 lands (especially with Aether vial), Why do merfolk decks not run fetch lands? Wouldn't this thin the deck and improve your draws??

Quote from Arkaedrian »

Pure curiosity. Seeing as Merfolk typically dont need more than 3 lands (especially with Aether vial), Why do merfolk decks not run fetch lands? Wouldn't this thin the deck and improve your draws??

Merfolk love 3-4 lands on the field at all times (because of Reejery & Master Waves). Because of this, each fetch thins the deck, limiting the number of chances in getting you to 4 land.

Quote from Arkaedrian »

Pure curiosity. Seeing as Merfolk typically dont need more than 3 lands (especially with Aether vial), Why do merfolk decks not run fetch lands? Wouldn't this thin the deck and improve your draws??

Merfolk has lots of problems with Burn and fast aggro. Unless there's a reason for the fetches, hurting your life total is not worth the deck thinning.

We need about 4, usually 2 mutas and 2 non-muta to activate them to swing. More land is good so you can activate more mutas safely or play 2 Master of Waves in 1 turn with vial on 4.

I went 2-1 at my LGS. Went 1-2 against Living End, went 2-1 against Belcher (yes this is a deck), and 2-1 against American Control.

I lost to living end from bad draws on my part and not Mulligan-ing aggressive enough. Game 1 I got his for 14 with Belcher when he was at 10 and I swung in to kill him. Game 2 he got 14 goblins off of Empty the Warrens so that was a loss. Game 3 I had 2 Hurkyl's Recalls in hand. He gets belcher out turn 3, I play my recall, he plays it again turn 4 and I recall. I slowly kill him because he doesnt get enough rituals and effects to get the belcher back out and use it again so it was all Recall for winning me that. American Control I just kept playing dudes while Kira and Monastery Siege kept him in check.

Deck thinning is not really a thing. Persons more mathematically inclined than I have measured the results and it is marginal at best. Fetches should be used for colour fixing, or library manipulation, nothing more. There are articles online explaining the details if you want to search for them.

Thanks for the replies!

I would run Relic in the main over dismember to maximize on game 1s vs dredge and similar decks, but otherwise it looks really solid.

so i feel I may be alone in this one but has anyone ever tried running only 3 vials. I have recently dropped to only 3 vials, and to be honest I have not really felt like it has hurt my early game too much. Also I like this idea cause it can reduce the chances of pulling a vial late game where they become pretty useless. When I got home, or tomorrow when I have a chance I will post my list up. I have not tuned it too much aside from the vial change, but I am looking to tune it a little more.

Hey everyone, I apologize as this may be a little off topic from this thread but I am really considering building a Merfolk deck in the coming months. I have about ~$400 to play with in terms of picking up cards. I want to get as many of the staples as possible so I can start playing around and testing what works / doesn't work / different sideboarding options.

I'm expecting that current list with all the pieces is ~$350. I want to run a fairly basic list to start with and then begin to actually experiment once I get comfortable playing the deck.



Are there any other playsets worth picking up to play around with? Also anything you would suggest about the list to a relatively new merfolk player ? Just any advice really would help. Thanks!

Quote from joshoohah »

Hey everyone, I apologize as this may be a little off topic from this thread but I am really considering building a Merfolk deck in the coming months. I have about ~$400 to play with in terms of picking up cards. I want to get as many of the staples as possible so I can start playing around and testing what works / doesn't work / different sideboarding options.

I'm expecting that current list with all the pieces is ~$350. I want to run a fairly basic list to start with and then begin to actually experiment once I get comfortable playing the deck.

Brentane's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4x Cursecatcher 2x Thassa, God of the Sea 4x Silvergill Adept 1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 4x Lord of Atlantis 4x Master of the Pearl Trident 3x Master of Waves 3x Merrow Reejerey	4x Aether Vial 4x Spreading Seas 4x Vapor snag 2x Monastery Siege 15x Island 2x Tectonic Edge 4x Mutavault	Sideboard 4x Dismember 4x Spell Pierce 2x Spellskite 3x Steel Sabotage 2x Tidebinder Mage

Are there any other playsets worth picking up to play around with? Also anything you would suggest about the list to a relatively new merfolk player ? Just any advice really would help. Thanks!

A playset of Monastery Siege. The card is bonkers in Modern Merfolk and is only a .50c rare. I expect it to jump up in price in the future.

Quote from Brentane »

A playset of Monastery Siege. The card is bonkers in Modern Merfolk and is only a .50c rare. I expect it to jump up in price in the future.

Will do, yeah the card looked insane. I pulled a foil one at FRF prelease. Definitely hanging onto it!