My other modern deck is Merfolk. Everyone at my LGS gives me crap about Merfolk and Elves being the same deck because you're turning creatures sideways, but I think they play out quite differently.
Same here! I play Elves and Merfolk primarily, but also Eldrazi Tron. Some people tell me that they're all just tribal decks, and I partially agree...I really enjoy tribal decks! But they each play very differently and give me a nice variety of playstyles to pick from when I'm heading off to the card shop.
Thanks for the report, and it's too bad that you got those rough beats (especially Game 2 against Jund), and that you got paired against Lantern, which is increasingly fringe. In general, I've found Storm to demand a large amount of sideboard hate - my most successful configuration against it had 2 Dispel, 4 Negate, 4 Relic, and 2 Echoing Truth. I don't think you can really get away with that sort of thing in the current meta in terms of sideboarding, but you can mainboard more Spell Pierces to more consistently punish them if they try to go off with tight mana margins. I'd also give Tidebinder Mage a look, since that's been doing well for me (and others) of late.
Thanks for the insight, Rothgar! Much appreciated! The Lantern match was funny because I had watched Nikachu's recent video vs another Lantern player just a few hours before. So I had a pretty good idea of how to play it. Unfortunately, it just didn't go my way. I feel like I did about as good as I could against Storm without having an all-in anti-Storm sideboard. Even then, it would depend on if I had the right cards at the right time. Oh well. The Jund match just definitely felt like a bad beat. It happens, and I wouldn't have felt too bad about it if it hadn't come straight off of losses to Storm and Lantern. I'll definitely take a look at Tidebinder Mage. I have them available in my collection, just haven't pulled them in yet. But with BBE pushing Jund and other BBE decks back to popularity, it might be worth a look. Thanks!
I haven’t had a chance to play much lately, but had some free time this weekend. I decided to run out my current version of Mono Blue Merfolk in a MTGO Friendly League. Things started off pretty well, but quickly went south. It was a (mostly) fun learning experience though, so that’s good. I’m not very good at taking match notes, but here’s basically how it all went down.
Oh, and here’s the decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/modern-u-merfolk-1/
I don’t have Caverns, but that seems to be ok since I’m running Deprive in the sideboard so I need as many U sources as posssible.
**Match 1: 2-1 vs 8 Whack**
Game 1 - On the draw, I keep a 1 land + Aether Vial hand. Ended up taking some early damage from multiple Goblin Guides, but was able to take my opponent off of red mana with 2x Spreading Seas, and Vial in Harbingers to put Guides back in their hand while blocking smaller goblins. With Vial at 3, I put in Merrow Reejerey EoT, then ticked up Vial to 4 and hardcast Master of Waves getting 9 Elemental tokens and the instant concession. Had a second MoW in hand, ready to Vial in if backup was needed
Game 2 - Opponent did usual 8 Whack things faster than I could set up my board. I was able to Echoing Truth a couple of Guides back to his hand, but they came right back out attacking on the next turn.
Game 3 - They whittled my life down to 12 with Guides and other hastey goblins, but I was able to set up a wall and block with a couple of Lords pumping each other as well as a Cursecatcher. That lasted long enough for me to land a couple of Reejereys, start tapping & untapping things, and sneak my other fish through for 15pts of damage. Opponent waited through 1 more draw step before conceding.
**Match 2: 2-1 vs Jeskai Control?**
Game 1 - I didn’t take a lot of notes during this one. Sorry about that. It was a difficult matchup for me. I’m still getting used to playing against control, and trying to hold things down with my own tempo spells. On the play, I was able to get around most of his tricks and push through big Islandwalking damage in the end.
Game 2 - I kept yet ANOTHER 1 land hand and this time is really bit me. I have to stop doing that. I had tons of gas in hand, but went until T4 before drawing my 2nd land. By then, my opponent had set up everything he needed. I sided in Deprives and that seemed to slow him down, and would have helped more if I could have played them earlier. He eventually landed a Jace and it was all over from there.
Game 3 - I had Vial on T1 and rolled with our usual plan. Deprive was great as it countered a Path aimed at one of my Lords during a big attack. I was able to get in 10pts of damage on that attack (2 Lords and a Mutavault) instead of just 5pts. On the next turn, I ticked Vial up to 3 with a Reejerey in hand and went into full attack mode again, this time with 2 Mutavaults and the 2 Lords. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting that Clique can take a creature out of your hand after Vial activation. He stripped my Reejery, bolted one of my Lords and was able to block the other with the Clique, but it was all for show as the 2 ‘vaults were enough to kill him. Lucky!
I really need to learn how to play against control decks properly. I got caught by Clique, Cryptic Command, and others way too often for my liking. I guess I just need more reps against them so I can more easily predict what they might be holding up for.
**Match 3: 1-2 vs Storm**
Game 1 - They did Storm things.
Game 2 - I was able to hold my own off of attacks by 2 Mutavaults and eventually sneak in enough damage for the win.
Game 3 - They did Storm things.
I really hate Storm. It’s just miserable to play against. I had 2x Witchbane Orb in the sideboard previously for decks like Storm and Burn. I might go back to that. Anyone else have some sneaky good tech to use against them?
**Match 4: 1-2 vs Lantern Control**
Game 1 - They did Lantern things.
Game 2 - I snuck in a win when they couldn’t lock things down.
Game 3 - Had E.Truth in my opening hand which immediately got Thoughtseized away. Was able to set up tons of creatures, but they had Ensnaring Bridge. By the time I found another E.Truth, they were able to C.Shredder it away. After the last of them were in the grave, I conceded.
Just another miserable matchup. It’s really not fun sitting around, digging through your deck, hoping to eventually find an out before they can dump it in the trash. I might need to take a break from MTGO for a while and hope that some of these decks get less popular.
**Match 5: 0-2 vs Jund**
Game 1 - On the draw, had a nice looking opening hand. But my opponent just ripped it apart with 3 consecutive Thoughtseize / Inquisition plays. Was never really able to get back on my feet after that.
Game 2 - Kept another nice looking opening hand, but only an Island and Mutavault for lands. I had Cursecatcher for a T1 play and Silvergill for T2, so I was hopeful that I’d draw into the 2nd U source. Never happened and I was pretty much toast after a few turns.
So that was that. Finished at 2-3 and got enough Play Points back to put with my other leftover points and play again in the future. Was hoping to at least finish with a positive record, but oh well. I probably won’t get to play again for a few weeks. Hopefully the meta will shake out a bit more by then and I’ll be able to sideboard better for expected matchups. I hope everyone else had a better weekend than me!
Isn't it too risky running Gemstone Caverns with 19 lands only?
Yeah, probably! LOL! I just got my copy in the mail a few days ago, so I dropped it in my list, but haven't played with it yet. Should likely take that out while I test other things.
I posted this in the Merfolk subreddit, but I know not everyone visits both places, so I thought I'd post it here too. I'd love to hear any thoughts and ideas, thanks!
I came away from last night's Ixalan pre-release with 2x Kopala (https://m.imgur.com/h3liXqy), so I'm going to start testing it in my Modern Merfolk deck. I know that most have already judged it to be unworthy, but I'm curious so I'm going to give it a shot. I was wondering if anyone else was going to do any testing, and if so what kind of list you're planning to try. Here's what I've been thinking so far...
I know it's blasphemous to cut Master of Waves and relegate him to only 2x in the sideboard, but at least in my local meta, he hasn't been able to stick on the board for quite a while now. With the introduction of Fatal Push, and the move away from Bolt as one of the most relied upon forms of spot removal, he seems to get taken out the minute he lands in many games. I know how strong he can be, so I want to have the option to bring him in after sideboarding, but while I test Kopala I'm going to demote him.
Cutting the powerful 4 drop streamlines the deck and lets me run 19 lands more comfortably. I've replaced the playset of MoW with 2x Copter and 2x Kopala which keeps the Game 1 curve topper at 3cmc. This should also make managing Aether Vials more straightforward, as you'll really only want to tick it up to 2 or 3 depending on cards in hand.
I'm not set on the sideboard, so this could be adjusted a good bit, but the current list feels like it handles most of the decks I see regularly. I'm tempted to drop 1x Echoing Truth to the side to allow me to run the full playset of Merrow Reejerey, and also up my creature count to 28 for Vial targets. I could also drop both ETs to the sideboard and bump up to the more standard 20 lands if that seems more worthwhile.
The inclusion of Kopala gives additional protection on top of Kira, while also keeping the Merfolk count high for the various tribal tricks of the deck. Many have said that Kopala isn't better than Kira and should not replace her, but running him alongside her could create a difficult puzzle for opponents to solve. At least in my own local meta where seemingly every deck runs some combination of Path, Push, Dismember, and still occasionally Bolt, forcing them to use a second spell to get around Kira or make their very efficient removal much less so with Kopala seems like a good idea going forward.
Anyway, I'm not trying to say this plan is the wave of the future, but just something I want to give a shot. If you're planning to test Kopala, how are you going to go about it? Any thoughts on how I could adjust or modify the deck would be appreciated. Or if you think it's just a bad plan, that's fine too. Thanks!
I posted this over in r/FishMTG but wasn't sure how much overlap there is between here and the Reddit group. Figured I'd post here as well just to get the opinions of as many people as possible! I decided to compile my entire modern + legacy Merfolk toolbox in one list so I could keep track of what I have and what I need to pick up. I feel like it's at a fairly good place, but I wanted to check and see what others think would be worth adding.
So far, I've added several Redditor recommendation to my wantlist, but there's probably more that still hasn't been mentioned. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Also, if any of you have a toolbox list posted somewhere, I'd love to check it out! Thanks!
Same here! I play Elves and Merfolk primarily, but also Eldrazi Tron. Some people tell me that they're all just tribal decks, and I partially agree...I really enjoy tribal decks! But they each play very differently and give me a nice variety of playstyles to pick from when I'm heading off to the card shop.
Thanks for the insight, Rothgar! Much appreciated! The Lantern match was funny because I had watched Nikachu's recent video vs another Lantern player just a few hours before. So I had a pretty good idea of how to play it. Unfortunately, it just didn't go my way. I feel like I did about as good as I could against Storm without having an all-in anti-Storm sideboard. Even then, it would depend on if I had the right cards at the right time. Oh well. The Jund match just definitely felt like a bad beat. It happens, and I wouldn't have felt too bad about it if it hadn't come straight off of losses to Storm and Lantern. I'll definitely take a look at Tidebinder Mage. I have them available in my collection, just haven't pulled them in yet. But with BBE pushing Jund and other BBE decks back to popularity, it might be worth a look. Thanks!
Oh, and here’s the decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/modern-u-merfolk-1/
I don’t have Caverns, but that seems to be ok since I’m running Deprive in the sideboard so I need as many U sources as posssible.
**Match 1: 2-1 vs 8 Whack**
Game 1 - On the draw, I keep a 1 land + Aether Vial hand. Ended up taking some early damage from multiple Goblin Guides, but was able to take my opponent off of red mana with 2x Spreading Seas, and Vial in Harbingers to put Guides back in their hand while blocking smaller goblins. With Vial at 3, I put in Merrow Reejerey EoT, then ticked up Vial to 4 and hardcast Master of Waves getting 9 Elemental tokens and the instant concession. Had a second MoW in hand, ready to Vial in if backup was needed
Game 2 - Opponent did usual 8 Whack things faster than I could set up my board. I was able to Echoing Truth a couple of Guides back to his hand, but they came right back out attacking on the next turn.
Game 3 - They whittled my life down to 12 with Guides and other hastey goblins, but I was able to set up a wall and block with a couple of Lords pumping each other as well as a Cursecatcher. That lasted long enough for me to land a couple of Reejereys, start tapping & untapping things, and sneak my other fish through for 15pts of damage. Opponent waited through 1 more draw step before conceding.
**Match 2: 2-1 vs Jeskai Control?**
Game 1 - I didn’t take a lot of notes during this one. Sorry about that. It was a difficult matchup for me. I’m still getting used to playing against control, and trying to hold things down with my own tempo spells. On the play, I was able to get around most of his tricks and push through big Islandwalking damage in the end.
Game 2 - I kept yet ANOTHER 1 land hand and this time is really bit me. I have to stop doing that. I had tons of gas in hand, but went until T4 before drawing my 2nd land. By then, my opponent had set up everything he needed. I sided in Deprives and that seemed to slow him down, and would have helped more if I could have played them earlier. He eventually landed a Jace and it was all over from there.
Game 3 - I had Vial on T1 and rolled with our usual plan. Deprive was great as it countered a Path aimed at one of my Lords during a big attack. I was able to get in 10pts of damage on that attack (2 Lords and a Mutavault) instead of just 5pts. On the next turn, I ticked Vial up to 3 with a Reejerey in hand and went into full attack mode again, this time with 2 Mutavaults and the 2 Lords. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting that Clique can take a creature out of your hand after Vial activation. He stripped my Reejery, bolted one of my Lords and was able to block the other with the Clique, but it was all for show as the 2 ‘vaults were enough to kill him. Lucky!
I really need to learn how to play against control decks properly. I got caught by Clique, Cryptic Command, and others way too often for my liking. I guess I just need more reps against them so I can more easily predict what they might be holding up for.
**Match 3: 1-2 vs Storm**
Game 1 - They did Storm things.
Game 2 - I was able to hold my own off of attacks by 2 Mutavaults and eventually sneak in enough damage for the win.
Game 3 - They did Storm things.
I really hate Storm. It’s just miserable to play against. I had 2x Witchbane Orb in the sideboard previously for decks like Storm and Burn. I might go back to that. Anyone else have some sneaky good tech to use against them?
**Match 4: 1-2 vs Lantern Control**
Game 1 - They did Lantern things.
Game 2 - I snuck in a win when they couldn’t lock things down.
Game 3 - Had E.Truth in my opening hand which immediately got Thoughtseized away. Was able to set up tons of creatures, but they had Ensnaring Bridge. By the time I found another E.Truth, they were able to C.Shredder it away. After the last of them were in the grave, I conceded.
Just another miserable matchup. It’s really not fun sitting around, digging through your deck, hoping to eventually find an out before they can dump it in the trash. I might need to take a break from MTGO for a while and hope that some of these decks get less popular.
**Match 5: 0-2 vs Jund**
Game 1 - On the draw, had a nice looking opening hand. But my opponent just ripped it apart with 3 consecutive Thoughtseize / Inquisition plays. Was never really able to get back on my feet after that.
Game 2 - Kept another nice looking opening hand, but only an Island and Mutavault for lands. I had Cursecatcher for a T1 play and Silvergill for T2, so I was hopeful that I’d draw into the 2nd U source. Never happened and I was pretty much toast after a few turns.
So that was that. Finished at 2-3 and got enough Play Points back to put with my other leftover points and play again in the future. Was hoping to at least finish with a positive record, but oh well. I probably won’t get to play again for a few weeks. Hopefully the meta will shake out a bit more by then and I’ll be able to sideboard better for expected matchups. I hope everyone else had a better weekend than me!
Yeah, probably! LOL! I just got my copy in the mail a few days ago, so I dropped it in my list, but haven't played with it yet. Should likely take that out while I test other things.
I came away from last night's Ixalan pre-release with 2x Kopala (https://m.imgur.com/h3liXqy), so I'm going to start testing it in my Modern Merfolk deck. I know that most have already judged it to be unworthy, but I'm curious so I'm going to give it a shot. I was wondering if anyone else was going to do any testing, and if so what kind of list you're planning to try. Here's what I've been thinking so far...
4x Cursecatcher
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Harbinger of the Tides
4x Silvergill Adept
3x Merrow Reejerey
2x Kopala, Warden of Waves
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Spells (14)
4x Aether Vial
4x Spreading Seas
2x Smuggler's Copter
2x Dismember
2x Echoing Truth
11x Island
4x Mutavault
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1x Wanderwine Hub
1x Gemstone Caverns
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Dispel
2x Gut Shot
2x Disdainful Stroke
3x Relic of Progenitus
2x Sea's Claim
2x Master of Waves
I know it's blasphemous to cut Master of Waves and relegate him to only 2x in the sideboard, but at least in my local meta, he hasn't been able to stick on the board for quite a while now. With the introduction of Fatal Push, and the move away from Bolt as one of the most relied upon forms of spot removal, he seems to get taken out the minute he lands in many games. I know how strong he can be, so I want to have the option to bring him in after sideboarding, but while I test Kopala I'm going to demote him.
Cutting the powerful 4 drop streamlines the deck and lets me run 19 lands more comfortably. I've replaced the playset of MoW with 2x Copter and 2x Kopala which keeps the Game 1 curve topper at 3cmc. This should also make managing Aether Vials more straightforward, as you'll really only want to tick it up to 2 or 3 depending on cards in hand.
I'm not set on the sideboard, so this could be adjusted a good bit, but the current list feels like it handles most of the decks I see regularly. I'm tempted to drop 1x Echoing Truth to the side to allow me to run the full playset of Merrow Reejerey, and also up my creature count to 28 for Vial targets. I could also drop both ETs to the sideboard and bump up to the more standard 20 lands if that seems more worthwhile.
The inclusion of Kopala gives additional protection on top of Kira, while also keeping the Merfolk count high for the various tribal tricks of the deck. Many have said that Kopala isn't better than Kira and should not replace her, but running him alongside her could create a difficult puzzle for opponents to solve. At least in my own local meta where seemingly every deck runs some combination of Path, Push, Dismember, and still occasionally Bolt, forcing them to use a second spell to get around Kira or make their very efficient removal much less so with Kopala seems like a good idea going forward.
Anyway, I'm not trying to say this plan is the wave of the future, but just something I want to give a shot. If you're planning to test Kopala, how are you going to go about it? Any thoughts on how I could adjust or modify the deck would be appreciated. Or if you think it's just a bad plan, that's fine too. Thanks!
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/merfolk-toolbox-modern-legacy/
So far, I've added several Redditor recommendation to my wantlist, but there's probably more that still hasn't been mentioned. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Also, if any of you have a toolbox list posted somewhere, I'd love to check it out! Thanks!