That said, if anyone has a pet card or a pet playstyle, I say let them have at it.
I didn't say any different, in fact I explicitly said exactly that.
As for numb nuts above, the insult is 'shove it where the sun don't shine.' Nice pic. Where'd you dig that up?
At our standard event last night I got 100% polished. Our entire shop was either blue tempo, izzet drakes or golgari. Was a disaster. I would have loved a mirror but nope....2 drakes and a golgari.
Finished 0-3
Kruul Harpooner is a pita. Plaguecrafter is a pita too. As fast as I was all about mono-blue, I think I'll shelf it again already. It is real good when people aren't actively hating it but man, every deck strat has solid hate for it.
My deck does better against those decks, but really poorly against Boros aggro and a little worse against mono-red and mono-white. It's more heavily creature-based. Right now I'm trying to find a happy medium between mine and the latest generation that's more non-creature-based and a bit faster.
Naah, no one ever lies on the internet. Give me a break. I'm not stupid, don't treat me like I am. But if you're dead set on proving yourself, PM me with your real name and a site where I can see your placing.
Like I said, go ahead and play how you wantRedacted for Flaming/Trolling
Not going to continue quoting walls of text. You're right. It's not 1 in 9. It's 11.7%. I rounded. And yeah, that's very small. You could aggressively mull for it if you wanted, but I don't find trading cards for scrys a very good strategy either.
You're arguing for tapping out as a strategy? With mono-blue? Sorry, I couldn't stop laughing... But hey, good luck with that, superstar.
Turns 0, 1, or 2? Try turn 0/1, IF you draw it in your opening hand. This is a simple concept.
Btw, I played in '95. And I don't buy your '9th in Worlds' line. Interesting how you picked the place just outside of the top 8, which isn't listed for the '95 Worlds. Nice try, though.
Midnight Sun - No way I have room for a mana-rich beast like Sphinx
It costs ZERO
It has no mana requirement if in first 7 cards
Midnight Sun - 1 in 9 chance of scrying 3
So?
It is a magic card in a standard deck 7/60, which is about 1/9
And yes, it has no effect on games it does not get drawn at all.
By far the best time to draw it is in the opening grip. Obviously
Midnight Sun - only feasibly castable when I have 5 or 6 lands out.
Why?
I have cast Sphinx on turn 4.
This deck can go offence.
Pter is also a large flyer in the late game, with an early game effect as an OK Curious Obsession Holder.
Sphinx also has two modes, and is harder to play.
You are approaching the wrong end of the beast.
You see it as a 4 cost Creature, which it isn't.
It is a zero cost set up cantrip that transforms into that creature.
I actively looked for that 4 cost flyer in the previous standard, it is that random massive bonus that seems OP to me.
That zero cost cantrip is 'scry 3', for free.
When I get them right, Sphinx wins me games.
(edited to only responses to my comments)
Redacted for Flaming/TrollingI developed it independently, with a couple of additions from Ken Yukuhiro and, much later, Nikachu. (Check out my listing for Riptide, which I published two days after Yukuhiro semi'ed in the Japan Nationals, and actually developed mostly before that from my Deep Blue Sea People II deck. Both are in my sig. Look at the earliest dates in my revision histories.) I was one of the originators of this deck. Certainly not the only one, but I did my work on my own. I've played it ever since.
The SCRY has no mana requirement, and it's a 1 in 9 chance to be able to do so. (In case you didn't realize it, that's a very small chance.) The creature still costs 4 mana to cast. That's what UU2 means. Cast it with 4 lands out and your opponent says, "Oh, tapped out? Guess this is a good time to use my removal." Hence the 5 or 6 lands, when you have Spell Pierce (5 lands), most other counters (6 lands), or Wizard's Retort unsupported by a wizard on the board (7 lands). If you want to cast it turn 4, assuming you can, more power to you. If it survives to the next turn, you got lucky, unless against certain very specific decks or some other rare situation like opponent being out of cards by that point, and you still got lucky he didn't topdeck removal. Overall it's a losing tactic.
And Sphinx is most assuredly not a cantrip. A cantrip DRAWS a card. It doesn't transform into anything either, and your opponent knows you have it if you're lucky enough to be able to use it to scry 3. It's a crappier version of Djinn most of the time, and by the time you can actually use the other scry it's generally either too late or you were winning anyway.
Meh...my 75 cards are already overflowing. No way I have room for a mana-rich beast like Sphinx for a 1 in 9 chance of scrying 3 that's only feasibly castable when I have 5 or 6 lands out.
Yeah I've had Field of ruin in before and it performed well for taking out Azcanta.
Or other fliplands, or if opponent is goofy enough to try to enchant one of his nonbasic lands...pop Field in response and suddenly the enchantment has no target.
I prefer Waterknot or Deep Freeze to Slimebind to deal with big threats. They're a little more expensive but closer to a total shutdown. If you hate Niv-Mizzet or Tocatli Honor Guard or some other nasty creature ability, Deep Freeze is for you. Waterknot will neutralize most of the big boys but leave abilities intact. Sentinel Totem can handle reanimator decks, Conjecture, turn III Eldest Reborn, or Mission Briefing, screw Undergrowth, or delay an Azcanta flip if necessary. It all depends on your meta.
Field of Ruin is useful enough to maindeck. I could see sideboarding a Detection Tower if you run into a lot of mono-green or Golgari. (Hi Carny & Ferox.)
Can you post me a list of what you would run right now in a FNM? I'm gonna build it.
I haven't gotten around to updating my mer designs yet; I've been in Arena like a kid in a candy store. I was also highly disappointed in GRN merfolkwise, what with the lack of any Simic cards.
I'll see what I can come up with soon. However, I have been monkeying with Riptide, my mono-blue tempo deck. It's fully updated now, and it's one of the two decks I use regularly on Arena (the other being Golgari midrange, which I've been having a great time with). A link to it is in my siggy. It's a solid budget deck, particularly if you have cards from the Merfolk decks using earlier sets.
Just as a quick take, I'm not a big fan of counter-based decks (+1/+1, not spells). It's too easy for opponent to waste your work when the meta is so full of disruption.
What do you think about Zegana and using climb in the build somewhere with biomancer?
or do you think that version is to slow?
Climb is pretty sick on its own. I haven't messed around yet with Zegana, because I don't have any, but it looks like she could possibly be a good closer, even without the Adapt. I wouldn't run any more than a 2-of, though.
imo merfolk needs to get out of the curious obsession business. Don't get me wrong I like Dive Down but we might as well be mono-u tempo if we try to go that direction.
I do think incubation // incongruity is good idea.
Also, imo Zegana does it's best in a deck focus around counters, seems to be really dangerous in climb decks(temur/simic), but you have to sink a lot of mana into.
I think Quasiduplicate can be a good card in a merfolk deck and that reclamation sage can be a good card in the sideboard.
Merfolk was using Obsession before mono-U Tempo was a thing. It's only just coming into its own compared to the tempo decks, thanks to the new set.
I run Quasi in my version of Tempo. I'd be MUCH happier if it would copy opponent's creatures, but it's still a nasty little surprise. I almost pitied the poor Drakes player whose drake I bounced with Exclusion Mage for four turns running, thanks to Quasi and a top-decked second Mage. (Great way to deal with the Niv monstrosity, too.) Matter of fact, I suggested it to Nikachu for his Arena mono-U build.
Reclamation Sage is substandard. It's weak and nontribal, so it doesn't jackpot Deeproot Waters or Elite or River Sneak, nor is it of use for Kumena. And it's only usable on your turn. I'd rather just run Naturalize.
Curious Obsession/Dive Down is the way Merfolk succeeded before. Before the new set arrived, it was just inferior to mono-blue with a flying X/4 finisher. Breeding Pool helps the UG deck catch up a bit, but for Merfolk to compete in standard, I think you need cards that can effectively deal with things like Phoenix.
I don't know what cards that would be. The gap filler doesn't have to be a Merfolk, it could be any creature type or any non-creature spell. Maybe Incubation // Incongruity? With cards like Kumena on the field, a 3/3 isn't a problem, and in other stages, digging for more merfolk is a fine idea.
Incongruity is good. Until the new set I used Waterknot in SB for pesky resurrecting birds and token-making Angels, among other things.
Have pages on this forum been deleted? I could have sworn we were almost 500 pages, my browser now says only 390...
So it would appear. I keep the latest page of the thread linked in my browser, and it still reads 'page=498' at the end of the link address, though when I click it, it takes me to p. 391.
Nikachu talked about including a playset of Botanical Sanctum for occasional use of the second half of the card. Color me unimpressed with the other Simic cards so far, except, of course, for Breeding Pool.
I didn't say any different, in fact I explicitly said exactly that.
As for numb nuts above, the insult is 'shove it where the sun don't shine.' Nice pic. Where'd you dig that up?
My deck does better against those decks, but really poorly against Boros aggro and a little worse against mono-red and mono-white. It's more heavily creature-based. Right now I'm trying to find a happy medium between mine and the latest generation that's more non-creature-based and a bit faster.
Like I said, go ahead and play how you wantRedacted for Flaming/Trolling
You're arguing for tapping out as a strategy? With mono-blue? Sorry, I couldn't stop laughing... But hey, good luck with that, superstar.
Turns 0, 1, or 2? Try turn 0/1, IF you draw it in your opening hand. This is a simple concept.
Read it for yourself. https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Cantrip I would think such an experienced player would know that. Guess not...
Btw, I played in '95. And I don't buy your '9th in Worlds' line. Interesting how you picked the place just outside of the top 8, which isn't listed for the '95 Worlds. Nice try, though.
(edited to only responses to my comments)
Redacted for Flaming/TrollingI developed it independently, with a couple of additions from Ken Yukuhiro and, much later, Nikachu. (Check out my listing for Riptide, which I published two days after Yukuhiro semi'ed in the Japan Nationals, and actually developed mostly before that from my Deep Blue Sea People II deck. Both are in my sig. Look at the earliest dates in my revision histories.) I was one of the originators of this deck. Certainly not the only one, but I did my work on my own. I've played it ever since.
The SCRY has no mana requirement, and it's a 1 in 9 chance to be able to do so. (In case you didn't realize it, that's a very small chance.) The creature still costs 4 mana to cast. That's what UU2 means. Cast it with 4 lands out and your opponent says, "Oh, tapped out? Guess this is a good time to use my removal." Hence the 5 or 6 lands, when you have Spell Pierce (5 lands), most other counters (6 lands), or Wizard's Retort unsupported by a wizard on the board (7 lands). If you want to cast it turn 4, assuming you can, more power to you. If it survives to the next turn, you got lucky, unless against certain very specific decks or some other rare situation like opponent being out of cards by that point, and you still got lucky he didn't topdeck removal. Overall it's a losing tactic.
And Sphinx is most assuredly not a cantrip. A cantrip DRAWS a card. It doesn't transform into anything either, and your opponent knows you have it if you're lucky enough to be able to use it to scry 3. It's a crappier version of Djinn most of the time, and by the time you can actually use the other scry it's generally either too late or you were winning anyway.
Or other fliplands, or if opponent is goofy enough to try to enchant one of his nonbasic lands...pop Field in response and suddenly the enchantment has no target.
I prefer Waterknot or Deep Freeze to Slimebind to deal with big threats. They're a little more expensive but closer to a total shutdown. If you hate Niv-Mizzet or Tocatli Honor Guard or some other nasty creature ability, Deep Freeze is for you. Waterknot will neutralize most of the big boys but leave abilities intact. Sentinel Totem can handle reanimator decks, Conjecture, turn III Eldest Reborn, or Mission Briefing, screw Undergrowth, or delay an Azcanta flip if necessary. It all depends on your meta.
I haven't gotten around to updating my mer designs yet; I've been in Arena like a kid in a candy store.
I'll see what I can come up with soon. However, I have been monkeying with Riptide, my mono-blue tempo deck. It's fully updated now, and it's one of the two decks I use regularly on Arena (the other being Golgari midrange, which I've been having a great time with). A link to it is in my siggy. It's a solid budget deck, particularly if you have cards from the Merfolk decks using earlier sets.
Just as a quick take, I'm not a big fan of counter-based decks (+1/+1, not spells). It's too easy for opponent to waste your work when the meta is so full of disruption.
Climb is pretty sick on its own. I haven't messed around yet with Zegana, because I don't have any, but it looks like she could possibly be a good closer, even without the Adapt. I wouldn't run any more than a 2-of, though.
Merfolk was using Obsession before mono-U Tempo was a thing. It's only just coming into its own compared to the tempo decks, thanks to the new set.
I run Quasi in my version of Tempo. I'd be MUCH happier if it would copy opponent's creatures, but it's still a nasty little surprise. I almost pitied the poor Drakes player whose drake I bounced with Exclusion Mage for four turns running, thanks to Quasi and a top-decked second Mage. (Great way to deal with the Niv monstrosity, too.) Matter of fact, I suggested it to Nikachu for his Arena mono-U build.
Reclamation Sage is substandard. It's weak and nontribal, so it doesn't jackpot Deeproot Waters or Elite or River Sneak, nor is it of use for Kumena. And it's only usable on your turn. I'd rather just run Naturalize.
Incongruity is good. Until the new set I used Waterknot in SB for pesky resurrecting birds and token-making Angels, among other things.