Welcome! The deck seems interesting. Everything is relative to your expectations. Below Gold, you just need to have a winrate over 33 1/3% to advance. My ignorant opinion is that the Phantasms don't have enough surveil support and there isn't enough card advantage to have a very high ceiling.
Since you don't have a sideboard, I'm guessing you are running this on Bo1. I'll move it there. - hoser2
Good! Randomly fulfilling UG spell quests, I retried that budget list from above has been running over 50% and I have been able to run that account from bronze to Silver 1. Since we only have to run over 33% to improve below gold, I am hoping it can carry me to Gold 4 by tomorrow.
Edit: I lied. I was Silver 2 this morning. A 6-0 run just got me to Gold 4.
Further, the reverse applies. If you win game 1 and are effectively sure to lose game 2, but think that the opponent won't have time to actually win the game, you shouldn't concede. Let the opponent durdle and take the 1-0 match win.
Going back to the subject of the thread, I think standard is better for the new Teferi making Reclamation, Absorb, Sinister Sabotage, etc less good. The wins by taking infinite turns or tucking Teferi were miserable experiences. If those are tier 1 decks, I believe it is bad for the growth and success of Magic. Much as I like diversity and am comfortable with decks like these existing in the fringes of the meta, their success would drive players away.
For lists of cards tagged as "Deck," and "Export to Arena" format would be really cool and save a lot of time.
There is actually a built-in deckbuilder for this website (at around the middle of the menubar above). It works quite well and exports to decktags so it formats decklists well for posting. But it would be really nice if it could import from and export to Arena. The following would be the best place to make these suggestions, as the Standard Moderators are not software developers for the site: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/community-forums/community-discussion/forum-software-feedback-and-bug
I took a pretty stock version of Sultai Mid to an MCQ. After starting with a match loss for being late, I went 3-2-1. Deck was fine, but not great. I beat Mono-R Aggro, barely Azorius Aggro and Esper Midrange while losing to Drakes/Phoenixes and Esper Midrange. I drew Simic Mass Manipulation.
I am building 4 Color Command the Dreadhorde, which I intend to post about in this thread.
I really like the new Nissa, but I don't think that merfolk really need it. I think they work best as an aggro deck. I drafted some rares, but here is what I did without spending rare or mythic wildcards (not updated for WAR):
This deck was not great, but I could win about half the time with it at low gold and fulfill quests that involved casting U or G spells.
Raphael Levy (Hall of Famer) took this to the last Standard Mythic Championship and did quite well.
In your shoes I would start with Kumena, Deeproot Elite, however many Breeding Pool, Hinterland Harbor, Unclaimed Territory, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters and Merfolk Mistbinder as you can muster. Add the Skydivers, Jade Bearers and Herald of Secret Streams along with any other merfolk at less than 3 mana that you want to try.
Spend some uncommon wildcards on up to 3 of the good uncommons (Mistbinder, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters, Unclaimed Territory). Maybe throw in a few spells that you like (Contentious Plan?, Incubation, // Incongruity, Spell Pierce, Dive Down, Disperse).
Fill in the lands with some Simic Guildgates and Woodland Stream, Islands and Forests until you have at least 14 G sources and 14 U sources and about 23 lands.
Fill in up to 60 with merfolk around the 1-3 mana cost so that you don't have too many 3 drops.
Test and iterate.
When Dominaria comes round as the draft format (hint: the day after tomorrow) do as many drafts as you can and snag Hinterland Harbors if possible. Likewise Ravnica Allegiance for Breeding Pool and Benthic Biomancer. Ixalan block for lots of cool merfolk of all rarities and Unclaimed Territory.
I hope this helps, but I realize I may have gone far afield from your intention. Please feel invited to correct my misapprehension or post your next iteration.
If you can, the decktags are super-easy and make it easy to mouse over your deck and see what the cards are. They are described here.
I see a lot of cards that do good things, but not necessarily together.
I see parts of a ramp deck with Nissa, multiple parts of a proliferate merfolk deck, parts of a control deck, parts of a planeswalkers monsters deck and parts of a proliferate monsters deck. While there are synergies, I think it would be stronger if it were more focused. So I have questions.
Is this on Arena? Do you have the starter decks available to you?
What is the most important thing you want this deck to do? I want to help you build a merfolk proliferate deck, because I was reasonably successful with a budget merfolk deck on Arena before War of the Spark came out. But that's just me. This is your deck. What is the key combination of effects that you want to win games of magic with?
I have no objective criteria for these tier listings. If anyone wants to propose some, feel free. I am just looking at significant tournament results.
Eyeballing the Syracuse results and MPL decklists, I conclude that Esper Midrange is Proven, Jeskai Superfriends is Established. 4C Dreadhorde could also be Established, but it can be covered by our GBx Midrange thread. Esper Control seems to have fallen to Established. The MPL decklists seem dated.
In the absence of significant disagreement, I will implement this on about Wednesday.
The season continues. You can watch on twitch.tv/magic starting at 3 PM ET (noon PT). More information is on the mothership and the announcement for the previous week.
I really like both cards, but when posting in competitive, I feel the need to honor the constraints of the section. I do believe the common wisdom that a 4-drop creature needs some ETB effect or at least haste to be viable, particularly in a format with a 4-mana wrath in one of the best decks.
Roalesk seems interesting in Vannifar pod chains as it has both an ETB and an upon dying effect, but the threshold for 5 drops is even higher. Storrev produces value with a successful swing along with an above curve body. I cannot honestly recommend either for a competitively-optimized Sultai deck. Please prove me wrong!
Welcome to the Arena Bo1 Standard Metagame Thread!
Arena Bo1 Standard was recently created. It has been hypothesized and perhaps even established that Bo1 Standard differed from Bo3 in that without sideboarding, linear strategies were favored (aggro, combo, control) and midrange was disfavored. Whatever the cause, there is a distinct meta in Bo1 and the tier rankings of Bo1 decks do not match their Bo3 cousins. In addition, there is a card exclusively banned in Bo1: Nexus of Fate which further alters the Bo1 metagame. In the runup to the Mythic Invitational, a number of decklists were proposed, but information has been harder to find since the Release of War of the Spark.
This thread is intended to provide information and host discussion about the Arena Bo1 Standard meta.
Since you don't have a sideboard, I'm guessing you are running this on Bo1. I'll move it there. - hoser2
Edit: I lied. I was Silver 2 this morning. A 6-0 run just got me to Gold 4.
Going back to the subject of the thread, I think standard is better for the new Teferi making Reclamation, Absorb, Sinister Sabotage, etc less good. The wins by taking infinite turns or tucking Teferi were miserable experiences. If those are tier 1 decks, I believe it is bad for the growth and success of Magic. Much as I like diversity and am comfortable with decks like these existing in the fringes of the meta, their success would drive players away.
There is actually a built-in deckbuilder for this website (at around the middle of the menubar above). It works quite well and exports to decktags so it formats decklists well for posting. But it would be really nice if it could import from and export to Arena. The following would be the best place to make these suggestions, as the Standard Moderators are not software developers for the site: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/community-forums/community-discussion/forum-software-feedback-and-bug
I am building 4 Color Command the Dreadhorde, which I intend to post about in this thread.
Arena Events Calendar
Ben Stark refresher guide to drafting Dominaria
Post your merfolk list if you want more feedback.
Good luck!
3 Kumena's Speaker
1 Deeproot Elite
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Merfolk Mistbinder
1 Merfolk Trickster
2 River Sneak
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Jadelight Ranger
1 Jungleborn Pioneer
1 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
2 Watertrap Weaver
1 Seafloor Oracle
1 Tempest Caller
3 Deeproot Waters
1 Sleep
Land
2 Breeding Pool
6 Forest
2 Hinterland Harbor
6 Island
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Woodland Stream
This deck was not great, but I could win about half the time with it at low gold and fulfill quests that involved casting U or G spells.
Raphael Levy (Hall of Famer) took this to the last Standard Mythic Championship and did quite well.
In your shoes I would start with Kumena, Deeproot Elite, however many Breeding Pool, Hinterland Harbor, Unclaimed Territory, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters and Merfolk Mistbinder as you can muster. Add the Skydivers, Jade Bearers and Herald of Secret Streams along with any other merfolk at less than 3 mana that you want to try.
Spend some uncommon wildcards on up to 3 of the good uncommons (Mistbinder, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters, Unclaimed Territory). Maybe throw in a few spells that you like (Contentious Plan?, Incubation, // Incongruity, Spell Pierce, Dive Down, Disperse).
Fill in the lands with some Simic Guildgates and Woodland Stream, Islands and Forests until you have at least 14 G sources and 14 U sources and about 23 lands.
Fill in up to 60 with merfolk around the 1-3 mana cost so that you don't have too many 3 drops.
Test and iterate.
When Dominaria comes round as the draft format (hint: the day after tomorrow) do as many drafts as you can and snag Hinterland Harbors if possible. Likewise Ravnica Allegiance for Breeding Pool and Benthic Biomancer. Ixalan block for lots of cool merfolk of all rarities and Unclaimed Territory.
I hope this helps, but I realize I may have gone far afield from your intention. Please feel invited to correct my misapprehension or post your next iteration.
If you can, the decktags are super-easy and make it easy to mouse over your deck and see what the cards are. They are described here.
I see a lot of cards that do good things, but not necessarily together.
I see parts of a ramp deck with Nissa, multiple parts of a proliferate merfolk deck, parts of a control deck, parts of a planeswalkers monsters deck and parts of a proliferate monsters deck. While there are synergies, I think it would be stronger if it were more focused. So I have questions.
Is this on Arena? Do you have the starter decks available to you?
What is the most important thing you want this deck to do? I want to help you build a merfolk proliferate deck, because I was reasonably successful with a budget merfolk deck on Arena before War of the Spark came out. But that's just me. This is your deck. What is the key combination of effects that you want to win games of magic with?
Eyeballing the Syracuse results and MPL decklists, I conclude that Esper Midrange is Proven, Jeskai Superfriends is Established. 4C Dreadhorde could also be Established, but it can be covered by our GBx Midrange thread. Esper Control seems to have fallen to Established. The MPL decklists seem dated.
In the absence of significant disagreement, I will implement this on about Wednesday.
- hoser2
Roalesk seems interesting in Vannifar pod chains as it has both an ETB and an upon dying effect, but the threshold for 5 drops is even higher. Storrev produces value with a successful swing along with an above curve body. I cannot honestly recommend either for a competitively-optimized Sultai deck. Please prove me wrong!
Arena Bo1 Standard was recently created. It has been hypothesized and perhaps even established that Bo1 Standard differed from Bo3 in that without sideboarding, linear strategies were favored (aggro, combo, control) and midrange was disfavored. Whatever the cause, there is a distinct meta in Bo1 and the tier rankings of Bo1 decks do not match their Bo3 cousins. In addition, there is a card exclusively banned in Bo1: Nexus of Fate which further alters the Bo1 metagame. In the runup to the Mythic Invitational, a number of decklists were proposed, but information has been harder to find since the Release of War of the Spark.
This thread is intended to provide information and host discussion about the Arena Bo1 Standard meta.
A_E_I_Own_U, I think I asked you to start this. If you feel burned, I apologize and welcome any appropriate private feedback.