I don't see what problems the Image would solve that the other cards can't.
The card is highly situational and only as good as your best (surviving) creature on board.
Right...another Elite, another Mistbinder, another Pioneer, another Sneak, another Adept, another Trickster...situational. The only 'situations' it's not useful in are when there are no merfolk other than tokens on the board, or when there's nothing for Trickster to work on.
Reclamation Sage is great, Thorn Liutenant is possibility vs Bomat, Khenra, Burn and somewhat negating Kari Zev, and it can even attack into Gearhulk mana; Mystic Archaeologist is possible against control while holding counterspells, but probably not needed. That is it.
Those two clone cards are super bad. They will only see play in casual table magic. PI is a power house of a card...As is Kumena. Easily it's drawing cards on turn 3. Jadelight is one of the only ones you mentioned i wouldn't sleeve up at all tho. Doesn't do anything toward your plan, unless the plan is midrange, which i dont think anyone wants to be playing merfolk.
Merfolk was pretty good. Cousin won quite a few FNMs with his go-wide folks until chainwhirler.
I would say you have 0 cards to add from M19, yes.
Those two clone cards are super bad. They will only see play in casual table magic. PI is a power house of a card...As is Kumena. Easily it's drawing cards on turn 3. Jadelight is one of the only ones you mentioned i wouldn't sleeve up at all tho. Doesn't do anything toward your plan, unless the plan is midrange, which i dont think anyone wants to be playing merfolk.
Uh...really? Turn 3? Have you ever actually played Kumena? It's also all well and good to talk about how great PI is, but it's nothing but nostalgia unless and until WotC reprints it.
Midrange is exactly where the tokens deck goes, and it means fewer creatures and more disruption, particularly against sweepers. And even that deck couldn't dream of Kumena drawing cards turn 3.
I mean, Kumena speaker, silver gil or any of the 12 2 drops and then kumena turn 3. I dont see how hard it is.
I dont see it hard to have 3 creatures by turn 3.
I can't tell whether you're trolling or not. Most of the successful merfolk lists have been the gowide variety and not the token ones.
and i agree that PI has no bearing....not sure why YOU initially brought it up...
If you tap yourself out every turn, have the right mana available, and your opponent either has no or chooses to cast no disruption during all that time you're tapped out, all in 6 cards out of 9 (on the play) or 10 (on the draw). Not even close to as common as you portray against competitive decks. And, btw, if it's an aggro deck, why are you tapping three merfolk, including your best defender, on turn 3? For a card? Uh, yeahrite.
Kumena slows an aggro deck down beyond his unblockable ability. Tokens is the only way to get any kind of consistent use of anything else in a competitive matchup unless the board is just clogged. He's still the best defender you've got, though, which makes him playable anyway.
Comparing a card to a similar card in Magic, of whatever set, seems pretty damned logical to me. Maybe I shouldn't have made a comparison?
Well when you are playing competitive magic against red, B/G, mono black, b/w knights or even green....you can't profitably attack into any of those until your team is big enough or can go wide enough. So VERY often you have three creatures. If they want to kill your silver gil or kumena speaker on t1 or t2, then they are prolly gonna die anyways since neither of those are an actual threat. Can argue til youre blue in the face, the previous results have already shown that the token strats are dismal. They dont win, never have. The only succeusful list has been a go wide strat, pumping the team with lords and kumena.
Compare all you want, just dont whine like a b!tch when someone says your comparison is just flat out wrong and misguided....and by someone, i mean 1 of the 3-4 people that already did.
Right...and no one ever thought to put down Kumena himself. Too bad you won't even get a card out of it in response. But hey, tap yourself out all you want. They'll never figure it out, right? Play a few Azcanta decks and tell me how great your aggro deck is. Just hope you brought some graveyard-recycling. I've had more success against them with tokens than I have with weenie. But go ahead, believe what you want.
I play mono-black too. You probably wouldn't even get him to the board; you'd be discarding him, assuming you had him to start with. Then try Humans.
Try not to teach your grandfather to suck eggs, 'cause you suck at it. But troll on, Next Expert. You know it all, right?
Knock it off guys, this flaming each other is not getting us anywhere. I'd like to read your opinions on the use of Kumena, but I can't bear to go through that vitriol, presumably full of illogical mischaracterization of the others' positions to figure out anything.
Knock it off guys, this flaming each other is not getting us anywhere. I'd like to read your opinions on the use of Kumena, but I can't bear to go through that vitriol, presumably full of illogical mischaracterization of the others' positions to figure out anything.
OK, you tell me how realistic or common a turn 3 card draw using Kumena is.
Come to think of it, his scenario couldn't happen anyway. Kumena couldn't tap itself to draw the card turn 3. There's only one that works, where he gets 3 CMC-1 merfolk out the first two turns. So that's 7 of 9 or 10 cards needed for his combo. And he's still tapping out.
Come to think of it, his scenario couldn't happen anyway. Kumena couldn't tap itself to draw the card turn 3. There's only one that works, where he gets 3 CMC-1 merfolk out the first two turns. So that's 7 of 9 or 10 cards needed for his combo. And he's still tapping out.
Kumena works just like Grand Architect, you can use him right away, even with summoning sickness. I am drawing with Kumena, or attacking, or pumping, depending on the board, my hand and my role in the match.
Personally, I'll bemoan the loss of Heroic Intervention. I hope they either reprint it or have another blue or green instant that grants indestructible and isn't priced out of a reasonable mana range.
How? Because every other deck loses cards and this one doesn't. As for Heroic Intervention, Negate does 90% of the work excepting the issue with Chainwhirler.
How? Because every other deck loses cards and this one doesn't. As for Heroic Intervention, Negate does 90% of the work excepting the issue with Chainwhirler.
Not sure what that first part means. Please be more specific.
Actually, it does substantially more work than that, especially in my tokens deck. It's a go-to SB card for me. To quote my description from there:
"Why Heroic Intervention? Why not just add counterspells? Because it can also be used as a mini-turn III Song [of Freyalise]. Got a numerical advantage in creatures but your opponent has a few big blockers? Use Heroic Intervention to do a swarm attack without cost to your board. It can also effectively counter those annoying Cast Out or Ixalan's Binding spells that don't target until after they resolve, possibly even triggering a swarm attack depending on when it's cast in the case of Cast Out. Finally, it can be used as an emergency stopgap if things are getting ugly and you need to chump-block."
Not to mention Botanical Sanctum. I'm REALLY going to miss that.
Before Kaladesh and Aether Revolt but after Dominaria was released I played Fish a ton on Arena to very positive results. It was a fine, competetive tier 2 deck. I suspect it will be perfectly viable if not exactly tier 1. But who knows what rotation will bring? At least 4 sets of powerful cards will rotate out.
Losing Botanical Sanctum is by far the biggest loss imo.
How? Because every other deck loses cards and this one doesn't. As for Heroic Intervention, Negate does 90% of the work excepting the issue with Chainwhirler.
Not sure what that first part means. Please be more specific.
How? Because every other deck loses cards and this one doesn't. As for Heroic Intervention, Negate does 90% of the work excepting the issue with Chainwhirler.
Not sure what that first part means. Please be more specific.
UW control is the least harmed. It loses Disallow, supreme will, fumigate, commit/memory, cast out.
God Pharaoh's Gift loses... itself.
We lose, Blossoming Defense only? Hoping Simic shows up with some Merfolk.
Everybody loses a dual land, but that will be replaced with a different one.
You mean you lose Blossoming Defense only. Whether you like it or not, whether you dismiss it or not, and whether you use it or not, Intervention is an efficiency multiplier for my decks.
Not to mention that you only run 6 defensive spells in your deck. Even if they're all counters, do you seriously think that's enough against control decks? Sweepers aren't going away, nor Ixalan's Binding, nor Cast Down, any number of planeswalkers/legendaries, Contract Killing, Divine Verdict...just off the top of my head and all spells I've dealt with.
I'm really not clear on what your point is. You list a bunch of spells that Negate is good against, and this somehow is an argument for Heroic Intervention?
No, the 6 defensive spells are not enough against control decks. It's not a good matchup main. What's your cure?
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
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The card is highly situational and only as good as your best (surviving) creature on board.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Reclamation Sage is great, Thorn Liutenant is possibility vs Bomat, Khenra, Burn and somewhat negating Kari Zev, and it can even attack into Gearhulk mana; Mystic Archaeologist is possible against control while holding counterspells, but probably not needed. That is it.
Merfolk was pretty good. Cousin won quite a few FNMs with his go-wide folks until chainwhirler.
I would say you have 0 cards to add from M19, yes.
Uh...really? Turn 3? Have you ever actually played Kumena? It's also all well and good to talk about how great PI is, but it's nothing but nostalgia unless and until WotC reprints it.
Midrange is exactly where the tokens deck goes, and it means fewer creatures and more disruption, particularly against sweepers. And even that deck couldn't dream of Kumena drawing cards turn 3.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
I dont see it hard to have 3 creatures by turn 3.
I can't tell whether you're trolling or not. Most of the successful merfolk lists have been the gowide variety and not the token ones.
and i agree that PI has no bearing....not sure why YOU initially brought it up...
If you tap yourself out every turn, have the right mana available, and your opponent either has no or chooses to cast no disruption during all that time you're tapped out, all in 6 cards out of 9 (on the play) or 10 (on the draw). Not even close to as common as you portray against competitive decks. And, btw, if it's an aggro deck, why are you tapping three merfolk, including your best defender, on turn 3? For a card? Uh, yeahrite.
Kumena slows an aggro deck down beyond his unblockable ability. Tokens is the only way to get any kind of consistent use of anything else in a competitive matchup unless the board is just clogged. He's still the best defender you've got, though, which makes him playable anyway.
Comparing a card to a similar card in Magic, of whatever set, seems pretty damned logical to me. Maybe I shouldn't have made a comparison?
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Compare all you want, just dont whine like a b!tch when someone says your comparison is just flat out wrong and misguided....and by someone, i mean 1 of the 3-4 people that already did.
I play mono-black too. You probably wouldn't even get him to the board; you'd be discarding him, assuming you had him to start with. Then try Humans.
Try not to teach your grandfather to suck eggs, 'cause you suck at it. But troll on, Next Expert. You know it all, right?
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
OK, you tell me how realistic or common a turn 3 card draw using Kumena is.
Come to think of it, his scenario couldn't happen anyway. Kumena couldn't tap itself to draw the card turn 3. There's only one that works, where he gets 3 CMC-1 merfolk out the first two turns. So that's 7 of 9 or 10 cards needed for his combo. And he's still tapping out.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
But yes, Kumena is able to tap to this ability immediately after it enters. Your understanding of the rules is incorrect.
Will it? How so?
Personally, I'll bemoan the loss of Heroic Intervention. I hope they either reprint it or have another blue or green instant that grants indestructible and isn't priced out of a reasonable mana range.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Not sure what that first part means. Please be more specific.
Actually, it does substantially more work than that, especially in my tokens deck. It's a go-to SB card for me. To quote my description from there:
"Why Heroic Intervention? Why not just add counterspells? Because it can also be used as a mini-turn III Song [of Freyalise]. Got a numerical advantage in creatures but your opponent has a few big blockers? Use Heroic Intervention to do a swarm attack without cost to your board. It can also effectively counter those annoying Cast Out or Ixalan's Binding spells that don't target until after they resolve, possibly even triggering a swarm attack depending on when it's cast in the case of Cast Out. Finally, it can be used as an emergency stopgap if things are getting ugly and you need to chump-block."
Not to mention Botanical Sanctum. I'm REALLY going to miss that.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
Losing Botanical Sanctum is by far the biggest loss imo.
Red/Black loses Bomat Courier, Soul-Scar, Kari Zev, Scrapheap, Pia, Hazoret, Glorybringer, Chandra, Abrade
Constrictor decks lose Constrictor, energy cards, Gearhulk, Rishkar, Siphoner, Ballista.
UB midrange loses Scarab God, Siphoner, Champion of Wits, Gearhulk, Lilliana, Fatal Push
UW control is the least harmed. It loses Disallow, supreme will, fumigate, commit/memory, cast out.
God Pharaoh's Gift loses... itself.
We lose, Blossoming Defense only? Hoping Simic shows up with some Merfolk.
Everybody loses a dual land, but that will be replaced with a different one.
You mean you lose Blossoming Defense only. Whether you like it or not, whether you dismiss it or not, and whether you use it or not, Intervention is an efficiency multiplier for my decks.
Not to mention that you only run 6 defensive spells in your deck. Even if they're all counters, do you seriously think that's enough against control decks? Sweepers aren't going away, nor Ixalan's Binding, nor Cast Down, any number of planeswalkers/legendaries, Contract Killing, Divine Verdict...just off the top of my head and all spells I've dealt with.
Standard: Fileted By Fish (UG aggro Merfolk), A Fine Kettle of Fish (UG swarm Merfolk), The Deep Blue Sea-People II (Umidrange Merfolk/Wizards),
Greek Fire (UR Wizards), Riptide (U Tempo)
No, the 6 defensive spells are not enough against control decks. It's not a good matchup main. What's your cure?
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!