I've just finished a long testing session with Wake Thrasher, and the card is unbelievable. The thing about Merfolk is that it presents tons of fragile must-kill creatures. Sowers are easy to kill but must be killed, lords die to everything but must die, etc.
So the idea is to just run the opponent out of removal (with the help of countermagic), and then win with a big Islandwalking LoA army or simply off Cryptic Command.
Combined with reveillark, that would really make the guy cry. I tried lark the other day MD and it really opened up my possibilities. Chump block some random creature with an adept or let a lord die to removal...bring them back...its quite the pain. Lark would also bring back thrasher and selkie, so again its a great card for this kind of deck.
Still unsure about which card between thrasher and selkie id fit in the deck. Both seem good...though im unsure what to take out for them as well...
Was thinking, wake thrasher vs cold eyed selkie, which would better fit the deck? What would you take out for them? Or are they not that great for the build?
I can see how Thrasher can be a good card but perhaps the problem isnt what to take out of the existing deck but rather how to build around it. It would seem like a good addition to Thrasher would be Mothdust Changeling. I dont see why you wouldnt run it alongside Thrasher, it allows you tap all your creature at end of turn and then be able to untap for a huge boost on your turn. Adding unblockable damage would be nice, so you'd need LoA or Deepchannel Mentor. That last one at 6cc is bit much, im not very fond of it.
Its hard to cut anything out of this deck as it is. Although, if we dont cut anything to add something new, it just seems like the deck isnt getting any better and all other decks like burn and ramp are getting upgrades. Shadowmoor gave us one card, Cursecatcher. I was hoping eventide would give use something to keep this deck at the top.
So, im not sure about Thrasher, it seems good, but maybe unnecessary. Though, if you build around it, it might be good...
Ive been playing without Sygg for quite some time now although i havent really tried running Reuss' PT Hollywood type of list. I find its somewhat mana intensive and im not comfortable with that style of play as much as the non Sygg aggro version. I find that you can win faster without Sygg and with more counters than by trying to use sygg and protection.
Lark in the SB is great, not sure id throw it MD though, kind of the same reason for Sower. Often times its not really necessary to have it, even a hindrance. Though in GB elves matchup, its great but you cant always expect it. I think MDing it would depend on the meta and/or metachanges to come.
I doubt Eventide will bring LoA back or even Shards for that matter. Perhaps there will be some kind of reejerey type +1/+1 merfolk or something, if at all. I cant see them just reprinting LoA, i doubt theres even a context for him in the shadowmoor era.
Unless its like some kind of evil LoA like Sygg, but even then, thats just a dream...
Im guessing the next time we can possibly hope to see LoA is in 11th edition but by that time, it will prolly be too late for merfolk. Merfolk will definetly fall off the tier without him...
The merfolk deck was run by my friend Matt Langford, he was playing 14 maindeck counterspells, including negate which worked really well for him all day!
He also played the deck really well all day, so... his Fae matchup is pretty good, but his kith matchup is about 50-50 so it ended up coming down to playskill.
Do you have the decklist for merfolk?
Im interested in seeing how merfolk handle without LoA. I guess 14 maindeck counterspells does help...
But they won't be leaving Extended, Legacy or Vintage anytime soon. They will likely not drop in price at all. They are played hugely in those formats and that is the main reason for their incredible jump in price this past winter. The players who play those formats, especially Legacy and Vintage, have no qualms about paying really exorbitant prices for cards. Case in point: Trinket Mage, a .50 common from Fifth Dawn that sells for $12.50 or more as a foil, because Eternal Format players love to foil out their decks. That's just crazy for a common, right? I really don't see Goyf, or any other card played in later formats, dropping in price come rotation.
Right, i forgot about how extended, legacy, and vintage people like to trick out their decks. Thus, it makes sense that they wouldnt mind paying for full price goyfs. Though, you'd think they'd lose the demand from the standard players therefor losing a good core of consumers, instead of having the extended crew and the standard crew, now its only the extended. So logically, id figure price would drop. Although, often, theyre one and the same...not much difference...
No drop in price at all eh? Same goes for all the other TS and Coldsnap cards i guess.
Its all about supply and demand. People obviously want mutavault since its a great card.
I noticed the prices of most cards increased right before regionals. Vault, blossom, and the like...they all went up like crazy. I was lucky to get my 3 vaults in boosters and i bought the last one at $20 at a local store (was a steal!) the day before regionals when it was supposed to be at $30. I could have borrowed it but figured getting my own playset for cheap would be good for my playgroup.
Just some random card like magus of the moon shot up tenfold right before regionals as well.
The price of playing standard is getting pretty high. Its too bad because it really does hurt those casual players that may be looking to take magic more seriously but just dont have the ressources and time to get all those rares and participate at weekly events to get them.
Plus those Goyfs are going to drop from the rotation soon enough, standard players are going to try as much as possible to get rid of them and get something in return. So im guessing prices will drop for goyf over the summer.
I was wondering how you fit in all of those other creatures, I think when running sower and venser, though you might have to cut one for banneret, It is best to have banneret instead and for. Banneret can work really well with both sower and venser. It is that great. Another good thing is that he has islandwalk. Banneret can make you win with the amount of tricks you can do with rejerey. I have not tested the deck without banneret in this meta. But in the old lorwyn, pre-morningtide, it was not as fast without banneret.
Banneret really kicked it up a notch. Cheap merfolk? Cheap sage's dousing? Cheap wizards? You play out your entire hand with 2 or 3 lands in play thanks to reejerey...just awesome. It eventually gets pumped up thanks to lords and reej and it starts off with islandwalk so its useful even without LoA in play.
Btw, banneret is female...
I've been checking a lot of the regional coverage and noticed that the top merfolk decks weren't running rune snag and running 3 sage's dousing and usually maindeck sowers.
I was running the snags and the more control version but maybe sower maindeck...maybe they were on to something...
For every time it can be stellar, it loses you two games.
So true.
They can just 2-1 you by killing the creature you are targeting. Advantage goes to your opponent.
Maybe mirrorweave can be good in block, or even multiplayer where its mostly for fun...im still not a huge fan of it. Its a great card that can give you results, but you really dont need it to win the game. If youre banking on it to win the game, youre not playing merfolk correctly i believe. Even in SB, i dont think theres much need for it.
Might as well just throw out more threats and keep mana open for counters.
Nice to see that people are coming around on Consign, that card really does make G/x matchups(and some RDW builds) so, so much better.
I think that it's funny that anyone would consider not running Cursecatcher in this deck, when Cursecatcher is what put the deck into Tier 1 status in the first place.
I really liked consign and i came upon a few matchups at regionals where it would have been great and possibly won me the game. Unfortunately, i didnt put it in. Might have been a noobish decision...i just thought i had too many cards dedicated to green/red and i really didnt know what id take out to throw them in. So i put unsummon instead since it seemed more multi-purpose...although against Garruk, consign just saves you the game.
So, after all, id consider replacing my 3 Unsummon for 3 Consign. For a treetop and garruk, it seems worthwhile.
I also agree that it depends on meta. I ran into so many different decks at regionals, not one of them was the same...basically, it seemed like merfolk, RG ramp, and faeries was all the rage in my meta.
Quote from Vince »
I am considering scrapping the Aqueduct's wills as most of the time I really feel that the Islandwalk isn't really needed vs the non-blue decks. If you spam enough +1/+1 guys with some counterbackup, your opponents will be forced to chump or lose the game as your guys are probably much bigger than theirs (counter/tap down their big creatures). The blue decks are tricky because you might not resolve if the ones you do resolve are unblockable, then that really helps as they can't be killed/you won't be delayed in combat.
I put 2 AW maindeck. It cantrips, gives you free damage each turn...it just seems like its a must to run given that you islandwalk. It ensures that cryptic command will give you the win.
Im looking forward to seeing what Eventide will bring to the merfolk table. Especially considering LoA will be dropped in october. Theres still lots of time before then. Still, LoA is a serious blow to merfolk decks everywhere. I hope something can replace it in the deck...
I was going to try and fit them in my SB but unfortunetly i didnt get them in time so i had to make due without them. Although, sunlance is a sorcey so its not as good as if it was an instant. Well, its not like it matters agaisnt a red deck anyways.
I was thinking about Aven Riftwatcher after the guy sends out his suflur elemental, it becomes a 3/2 that gives you 4 life and does 6 dmg...thats pretty good.
Although sunlance is pretty good as well, riftwatcher seems to make his sulflur elemental a lot more useless.
Quote from Sam111111 »
I was playing Gro and did that once, because I didn't read Reveillark [never mind the fact that I actually owned a playset].
Annnnd it was off to game 2. So if you can trick someone into doing this ... do?
Thats what i did in GB Elves matchup. I had lost the first game so i side in lark and unsummon. I play lark when the guy is in a pretty good position and his jaw drops and yes, it resolves. he attacks on his turn and i unsummon lark and grab his doran with a sower in my GY and return a lord blocking a llanowar elf. At that point, it was pretty much game with the doran as he was tapped out. Game 3, he thoughtseizes me and takes the lark away instead of sower, lord or cryptic command...not bad
Except Unsummondoesn't do what Flashfreeze does, permanantly or temporarily. Why not just reverse the card numbers and run with 4x Flashfreeze and 2x Unsummon, though I would not bother with Unsummon myself. I like the full 8 cards to run against red decks. I also run with the full 4x of Sunlance. Actually, considering your meta, I would have thought you would already have all 4 Flashfreeze in your board (QnT, Doran, Rock...all running significant green spells:rolleyes:).
Yeah, id go for 4x flashfreeze against red and green, its just so much better. If youre running rune snag, like i was, id definetly spring for a 4 of in the SB. I was also running Forge-Tender but in the one red matchup i faced (surprising i thought) the guy put a sulfur elemental on the table and it was quite a hinderance to the forge tender plan. Perhaps i could have used Aven Riftwatcher was what i thought at the time...not sure how good that would have been, but its a 2-3 flyer that gives you 4 life and you get at best 2 attacks with it for 4 dmg vs a red deck that doesnt run flying. Figured it might be worth a shot, especially with lark.
I was actually running 3 unsummon in my SB and they turned out to be pretty useful when used in combination with my lark. It also helped keeping big creatures at bay...although it was a last minute addition that replaced Consign to Dream which i thought was a good card but i had quite a bit of anti red and green stuff that i didnt want all of my SB devoted to it. The unsummon can still be good in other matchups.
I honestly did not see that much fish at any of my tables at chitown regionals. there were only two among the top tables.
Whereever i was playing, i was surrounded by fish. Played mirror game one and then everywhere i went i saw fish and sometimes even schools of fish around me.
It was insane how many there were. I really didnt expect to see that many.
Now, im wondering what will happen with eventide and how it will help merfolk. What will happen in october when LoA will drop? I hope he gets remade but i have a feeling he wont.
Is merfolk block still going to be competitive?
The sideboard was subject of constant debate of whether or not i should run white or just go mono-U. I ended up getting 2 Larks in a couple boosters and I figured I was being pressured to run them. So i did. I was going to play 3 Consign to Dream but 3cc and against red/green matchups, i might as well run unsummon which i can use on lark on some of my lords just in case. It also can get me out of a pinch in a flash. The other choices were discussed on the forum so i figured they were good to go.
ROUND 1 Merfolk mirror...
Of all things, i wasnt expecting to see merfolk so early and in such vast quantities (yes, there were many, quite a few running Sygg as well). Main difference his deck had was maindeck sowers which were vastly efficient against my Adepts and such. I lost the first game in a slugfest when i tapped out to play Cryptic and he followed up with a Sower on an Adept. Second game was much of the same, i didnt SB anything as i was unsure exactly what would be good, i just figured my build could beat his straight up...I was wrong and the 2nd match was much like the first. I went 0-2, for an overall of 0-1.
ROUND 2 Doran
One of few if not only Doran deck i saw today. Merfolk rushed in the early turns combined with counterspells gave me an easy and convincing win. He won game 2 though, colossus and doran for the win, i was stalling with cryptic but didnt fetch much creature spells so I had a very hard time getting damage through. Game 3 i boarded in some sowers for 2 cursecatchers, not sure that was the greatest replacement but he wasnt running much instant so it seemed like a good call at the time. Sowers ended up taking a Doran, Cryptic command, tap all his creatures and draw a card. He slaughter pacts a LoA and forgets to pay it at his upkeep. Although, i had 2 lords in hand in order to beat him anyways so it was a loss for him either way. Odd way to lose the game for him though.
2-1 overall 1-1
ROUND 3 Mono-Green Elf
To sum it up, i couldnt do anything in this matchup, it was really bad considering things usually went well when i played against it. I just stalled but couldnt fetch anything to save me after being forced to use Cryptic commands to save my skin. Really, it was bad, only thing that could have saved me was Teferi's Moat which i wasnt running but he had Krosan Grip ready just in case. I didnt think I'd need Moat in this matchup which is why i didnt add it in...
0-2, overall 1-2
ROUND 4 RG ramp
Played against this deck twice on friday during FNM, thought i had it figured it out. Game one, i scooped with a Cryptic in hand when i let an unblocked colossus through with all my mana untapped. He tapped it making it 16/16, i just automatically scooped and then realized the massive error. I wasnt in a good position though and thats prolly why i kind of subconciously forfeited the game. I won game 2 thanks to flashfreeze sided in. He totally didnt see it coming and it allowed me to get all my merfolk on the board and pound him. Lost game 3 to treetop villages with a hand full of counterspells and he just didnt play any spells. I wasnt drawing creatures, only lands and counters so i was really having a hard time getting anything done. too bad because this is usually a good matchup for merfolk. Im sure an experienced player would have won but i just played really badly,
1-2, overall 1-3...looking bad
ROUND 5 Red Deck Wins Variant
He was running RDW with Harbingers and Rage Forger. It seemed odd but it had a good amount of burn. Game 1 he won a tight one, Rage Forger was pretty efficient combined with burn. I sided in 4 flashfreezes for snags and 4 tenders to cursecatchers. Forge tender didnt do anything the whole game 2 because he played sulfur elemental, i sent out lord after lord tapped all his creatures and had 3 mutuvaults in play so it was a quick victory for me. Game 3 i decided to keep the forgetenders (which when i look back, might have been a bad idea) and didnt side in anything else. The game eventually went down to the wire and he shard volley'd my lord giving him 2 lands left (it was like turn 8 or something too...he had about 5 creatures including rage forger). He kept playing flamekin harbinger which didnt help his mana shortage. Anyways, the game came down to one play where i used cryptic to tap all his creatures...i looked at his lands and thought of my second option. He asked to read the card to see the options and asked me to declare my second. Now, had I not lost a game at FNM thanks to bouncing a land and the player playing edge of autumn to fizzle CC, i might have made that error. Luckily, i figured he had a shard volley and it was worth the risk since id win anyways so i conservatively drew a card, then attacked on my turn and won. A WORD OF ADVICE : when everything is riding on CC resolving, dont do anything cute like trying to bounce a land or some stupid thing, especially if youre able to win the game on your turn. I learned it the hard way at FNM and i was very thankful for it...if it can save you the trouble of having to suffer through it at regionals, i hope you end up reading this. I know that being inexperienced myself, i would have loved that advice.
2-1, overall 2-3
ROUND 6 BG Elves
What a tough matchup. Running a Doran as well iirc, similar to Pro Tour's list i guess for the rest of the deck. He clobbered me the first game and things looked bad. I looked at my SB and took in 2 larks, 2 unsummons for 4 cursecatchers added in 2 sowers for i dont recall what. He thoughtseized my sower on turn 1...i went down to 10 and brought him close to 10 with a lord and some other merfolk as well as vaults. He's tapped out so i play turn 5 or 6 Lark with LoA and Sower in grave. His jaw drops. His friend's jaw drops, the judge's jaw drops...cool. On his turn he attacks with doran and some other elves, nothing fancy sides the doran. I unsummon lark, sower his doran and blocks one of his llanowar elves with a 3/3 lord with a reejery out. Swing for the win with vaults, reejerey, doran on my turn. Game 3 he thoughtseizes a lark from my opening hand, i have 2 lords, 1 Cryptic, another counterspell and a land left. Basically, the game went down to the wire with me pulling 3 Cryptic commands in a row to nail him with 16 damage in 3 turns (he thoughtseized twice) without islandwalk. He had a colossus out, a doran, and a bunch of elves. So i was hardpressed to get that damage in before id get beat. My second command brought me my 3rd when i decided to tap and draw. Just in case, i played ponder on my turn to get a lord and to bluff the CC just in case, i left 4 mana open. He called my bluff and i showed him my win condition. LARK WAS SO GREAT!! It was just so awesome here and im so glad i decided to run it. I am sold on the lark SB
2-1, overall 3-3
ROUND 7 Faeries
Finally, a faeries matchup, been looking forward to this one for a while. He wins game one with 2 BBs with exact damage and 2 life left, he slaughter pact'd my lord in order to survive and not die at his upkeep. Game 2 i added in lark and unsummon against cursecatchers. Didnt end up using them though, which was great for game 3. He had to mulligan in game 2 and didnt have a great hand so it was easy win for me with throwing out creatures and beating face. Game 3 went normally until i throw out lark and his jaw drops (lark has a way of doing that it seems in a merfolk deck). I have a banner and an LoA in grave. It resolves since he's tapped out. On my next turn he tries playing a scion at end of turn and i CC it, counter plus bounce lark, hes tapped out so im expecting either nothing or a slaughter pact. The latter, he pacts the lark and i get my lord and banner out. At this point, hes low on life and im islandwalking him. He plays a mistbind clique noticing im tapped out (1 hub untapped though) tapping out himself. I play sage's dousing for with 2 banners in play. He totally didnt see it coming and it resolves, i draw a card. Islandwalk him for the win on my turn with lords, banners, and vaults.
2-1, overall 4-3
Round 8 Dunno Deck
The guy just left and end of last game and i dont have a playing partner so i win after 10 minutes of waiting. Rather lame. So i hook up with another guy who didnt have a partner who's also 4-3. He plays Lark and needless to say he never got to play anything except lands in both games so its an easy 2-0 win on turn 5.
Given the quickness of the matches, i hook up with one of my friends who plays a GW Wish deck running Glittering Wish for those unfamiliar with it. He hasnt played merfolk all day even though i was surrounded by merfolk everywhere i went. Wish deck has a hard time against merfolk although it does run gaddock teeg which nulls cryptic command. Rather annoying, but i won 2-0 nonetheless. Which makes my 5-3 record somewhat legit even though i did get a freebie at the end.
What is there to learn from this experience?
My playing evaluation:
I played pretty horribly and sloppily in all but the last 3 matchups (excluding the last game freebie of course). I lost against mirror which i dunno what i could have done better, i lost against green elves which resulted in bad luck and perhaps bad decisions, and i lost against Ramp because i was just not thinking or even paying attention. I had so much experience against ramp as well. There was no excuse to lose that one. The last 3 matchups i really played well and i amazed myself at what i thought were good SB decisions and good play decisions leading in comeback wins in each of the 3 games.
Deck choices:
The maindeck i thought was a tight list with nothing left to take out or bring in. I run ponder which is ideal for this deck, it helped me so many times and even saved me from mana shortages when i shuffled the 3 cards with no lands in them when i need a land and drew a land! Awesome, but lucky, ill admit. AV wouldnt have saved me, i need early tempo. Im running 22 lands and i think thats alright, i only got into serious mana troubles once and ponder saved me as i lucked out drawing that land. The other times, i usually have a land in the top 3 and i can just play it. I strongly suggest running ponder instead of AV if you run a build similar to mine. Ponder is just so much better in this deck.
Sideboard choices:
Lark was a godsend. It performed beyond any of my expectations helping me win 2 tough matchups in GB elves and faeries. For the white splash, Lark alone is worth it, its just so good as you can fetch all of your dead merfolks since they're all 2/2 or less. With unsummon, which was a last minute addition with consign to dream going out, it performed well in combo with lark and could save lords if needed or even unsummon an islandwalking colossus in a pinch. Unsummon was a great card, better than what i expected it would be. Id keep it along with lark, but not lark, unsummon might not be as good. I STRONGLY SUGGEST RUNNING REVEILLARK. Yes, i believe its totally worth it. Heck, i could have even thrown it in a bunch more other matchups like ramp and such... Sower of Temptation were good, combined with lark, it was pretty awesome when i took the attacking doran and beat him with it. It was also good when i took a doran in that Doran matchup (saying doran a lot it seems...). They were useful and even when i didnt have them i felt they could change the game for me, taking a colossus or a goyf sure would help me and hinder my opponents' chances of winning. Flashfreeze is just an obvious choice. Red and green are often bad, so it just seems like a shoe in to throw out snags and throw in freezes.
Perhaps the biggest letdown was burrenton forge tender. Sulfur elemental was preventing it from being played and people were obviously expecing it if im to believe what i heard from people running RDW. They were all bragging about tech ideas against forge tender. I was mana screwed too so i didnt play it even once so i couldnt really see if it was any good. On paper, it seems tech, but could dragon's claw be any better? I dunno.
Now, the biggest problem i see is the fact that if i remove Forge-Tender, what other white am i gonna splash? I still think just reveillark is worth the splash, but it would just seem better if i had a little more white in the side to really warrant the splash. Although Burrenton Forge-Tender didnt break the game for me, you still need to consider your best red option. I think i'd have prefered dragon's clawjust for the simple reason that even mana screwed, you can play it...and you dont even have to pain using pain lands. What about Teferi's Moat? In the mirror, it could have been great...if its not countered that is.
Any thoughts, comments or questions are welcome. I think i learned a lot from regionals and became a better player for it. If i can help other merfolk players with my experience, all the better. Good luck to you all.
Yeah, i know it might be a long boring read and given my extreme fatigue, i might have made typos, errors and a bunch of other non user friendly stuff, so please bear with me. I hope it can help people who are still struggling with their builds and havent gone to regionals yet...
Combined with reveillark, that would really make the guy cry. I tried lark the other day MD and it really opened up my possibilities. Chump block some random creature with an adept or let a lord die to removal...bring them back...its quite the pain. Lark would also bring back thrasher and selkie, so again its a great card for this kind of deck.
Still unsure about which card between thrasher and selkie id fit in the deck. Both seem good...though im unsure what to take out for them as well...
Was thinking, wake thrasher vs cold eyed selkie, which would better fit the deck? What would you take out for them? Or are they not that great for the build?
Thoughts?
Its hard to cut anything out of this deck as it is. Although, if we dont cut anything to add something new, it just seems like the deck isnt getting any better and all other decks like burn and ramp are getting upgrades. Shadowmoor gave us one card, Cursecatcher. I was hoping eventide would give use something to keep this deck at the top.
So, im not sure about Thrasher, it seems good, but maybe unnecessary. Though, if you build around it, it might be good...
Lark in the SB is great, not sure id throw it MD though, kind of the same reason for Sower. Often times its not really necessary to have it, even a hindrance. Though in GB elves matchup, its great but you cant always expect it. I think MDing it would depend on the meta and/or metachanges to come.
As it is now, i dont see a need for MD lark.
I doubt Eventide will bring LoA back or even Shards for that matter. Perhaps there will be some kind of reejerey type +1/+1 merfolk or something, if at all. I cant see them just reprinting LoA, i doubt theres even a context for him in the shadowmoor era.
Unless its like some kind of evil LoA like Sygg, but even then, thats just a dream...
Im guessing the next time we can possibly hope to see LoA is in 11th edition but by that time, it will prolly be too late for merfolk. Merfolk will definetly fall off the tier without him...
Do you have the decklist for merfolk?
Im interested in seeing how merfolk handle without LoA. I guess 14 maindeck counterspells does help...
Right, i forgot about how extended, legacy, and vintage people like to trick out their decks. Thus, it makes sense that they wouldnt mind paying for full price goyfs. Though, you'd think they'd lose the demand from the standard players therefor losing a good core of consumers, instead of having the extended crew and the standard crew, now its only the extended. So logically, id figure price would drop. Although, often, theyre one and the same...not much difference...
No drop in price at all eh? Same goes for all the other TS and Coldsnap cards i guess.
I noticed the prices of most cards increased right before regionals. Vault, blossom, and the like...they all went up like crazy. I was lucky to get my 3 vaults in boosters and i bought the last one at $20 at a local store (was a steal!) the day before regionals when it was supposed to be at $30. I could have borrowed it but figured getting my own playset for cheap would be good for my playgroup.
Just some random card like magus of the moon shot up tenfold right before regionals as well.
The price of playing standard is getting pretty high. Its too bad because it really does hurt those casual players that may be looking to take magic more seriously but just dont have the ressources and time to get all those rares and participate at weekly events to get them.
Plus those Goyfs are going to drop from the rotation soon enough, standard players are going to try as much as possible to get rid of them and get something in return. So im guessing prices will drop for goyf over the summer.
Banneret really kicked it up a notch. Cheap merfolk? Cheap sage's dousing? Cheap wizards? You play out your entire hand with 2 or 3 lands in play thanks to reejerey...just awesome. It eventually gets pumped up thanks to lords and reej and it starts off with islandwalk so its useful even without LoA in play.
Btw, banneret is female...
I've been checking a lot of the regional coverage and noticed that the top merfolk decks weren't running rune snag and running 3 sage's dousing and usually maindeck sowers.
I was running the snags and the more control version but maybe sower maindeck...maybe they were on to something...
So true.
They can just 2-1 you by killing the creature you are targeting. Advantage goes to your opponent.
Maybe mirrorweave can be good in block, or even multiplayer where its mostly for fun...im still not a huge fan of it. Its a great card that can give you results, but you really dont need it to win the game. If youre banking on it to win the game, youre not playing merfolk correctly i believe. Even in SB, i dont think theres much need for it.
Might as well just throw out more threats and keep mana open for counters.
I really liked consign and i came upon a few matchups at regionals where it would have been great and possibly won me the game. Unfortunately, i didnt put it in. Might have been a noobish decision...i just thought i had too many cards dedicated to green/red and i really didnt know what id take out to throw them in. So i put unsummon instead since it seemed more multi-purpose...although against Garruk, consign just saves you the game.
So, after all, id consider replacing my 3 Unsummon for 3 Consign. For a treetop and garruk, it seems worthwhile.
I also agree that it depends on meta. I ran into so many different decks at regionals, not one of them was the same...basically, it seemed like merfolk, RG ramp, and faeries was all the rage in my meta.
I put 2 AW maindeck. It cantrips, gives you free damage each turn...it just seems like its a must to run given that you islandwalk. It ensures that cryptic command will give you the win.
Im looking forward to seeing what Eventide will bring to the merfolk table. Especially considering LoA will be dropped in october. Theres still lots of time before then. Still, LoA is a serious blow to merfolk decks everywhere. I hope something can replace it in the deck...
I was going to try and fit them in my SB but unfortunetly i didnt get them in time so i had to make due without them. Although, sunlance is a sorcey so its not as good as if it was an instant. Well, its not like it matters agaisnt a red deck anyways.
I was thinking about Aven Riftwatcher after the guy sends out his suflur elemental, it becomes a 3/2 that gives you 4 life and does 6 dmg...thats pretty good.
Although sunlance is pretty good as well, riftwatcher seems to make his sulflur elemental a lot more useless.
Thats what i did in GB Elves matchup. I had lost the first game so i side in lark and unsummon. I play lark when the guy is in a pretty good position and his jaw drops and yes, it resolves. he attacks on his turn and i unsummon lark and grab his doran with a sower in my GY and return a lord blocking a llanowar elf. At that point, it was pretty much game with the doran as he was tapped out. Game 3, he thoughtseizes me and takes the lark away instead of sower, lord or cryptic command...not bad
Yeah, id go for 4x flashfreeze against red and green, its just so much better. If youre running rune snag, like i was, id definetly spring for a 4 of in the SB. I was also running Forge-Tender but in the one red matchup i faced (surprising i thought) the guy put a sulfur elemental on the table and it was quite a hinderance to the forge tender plan. Perhaps i could have used Aven Riftwatcher was what i thought at the time...not sure how good that would have been, but its a 2-3 flyer that gives you 4 life and you get at best 2 attacks with it for 4 dmg vs a red deck that doesnt run flying. Figured it might be worth a shot, especially with lark.
I was actually running 3 unsummon in my SB and they turned out to be pretty useful when used in combination with my lark. It also helped keeping big creatures at bay...although it was a last minute addition that replaced Consign to Dream which i thought was a good card but i had quite a bit of anti red and green stuff that i didnt want all of my SB devoted to it. The unsummon can still be good in other matchups.
4 Flashfreeze
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Unsummon
2 Reveillark
2 Sower of Temptation
Whereever i was playing, i was surrounded by fish. Played mirror game one and then everywhere i went i saw fish and sometimes even schools of fish around me.
It was insane how many there were. I really didnt expect to see that many.
Now, im wondering what will happen with eventide and how it will help merfolk. What will happen in october when LoA will drop? I hope he gets remade but i have a feeling he wont.
Is merfolk block still going to be competitive?
Here's my list:
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Rune Snag
4 Sage's Dowsing
4 Cryptic Command
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Mutavault
10 Island
4 Flashfreeze
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Reveillark
3 Unsummon
The sideboard was subject of constant debate of whether or not i should run white or just go mono-U. I ended up getting 2 Larks in a couple boosters and I figured I was being pressured to run them. So i did. I was going to play 3 Consign to Dream but 3cc and against red/green matchups, i might as well run unsummon which i can use on lark on some of my lords just in case. It also can get me out of a pinch in a flash. The other choices were discussed on the forum so i figured they were good to go.
ROUND 1
Merfolk mirror...
Of all things, i wasnt expecting to see merfolk so early and in such vast quantities (yes, there were many, quite a few running Sygg as well). Main difference his deck had was maindeck sowers which were vastly efficient against my Adepts and such. I lost the first game in a slugfest when i tapped out to play Cryptic and he followed up with a Sower on an Adept. Second game was much of the same, i didnt SB anything as i was unsure exactly what would be good, i just figured my build could beat his straight up...I was wrong and the 2nd match was much like the first. I went 0-2, for an overall of 0-1.
ROUND 2
Doran
One of few if not only Doran deck i saw today. Merfolk rushed in the early turns combined with counterspells gave me an easy and convincing win. He won game 2 though, colossus and doran for the win, i was stalling with cryptic but didnt fetch much creature spells so I had a very hard time getting damage through. Game 3 i boarded in some sowers for 2 cursecatchers, not sure that was the greatest replacement but he wasnt running much instant so it seemed like a good call at the time. Sowers ended up taking a Doran, Cryptic command, tap all his creatures and draw a card. He slaughter pacts a LoA and forgets to pay it at his upkeep. Although, i had 2 lords in hand in order to beat him anyways so it was a loss for him either way. Odd way to lose the game for him though.
2-1 overall 1-1
ROUND 3
Mono-Green Elf
To sum it up, i couldnt do anything in this matchup, it was really bad considering things usually went well when i played against it. I just stalled but couldnt fetch anything to save me after being forced to use Cryptic commands to save my skin. Really, it was bad, only thing that could have saved me was Teferi's Moat which i wasnt running but he had Krosan Grip ready just in case. I didnt think I'd need Moat in this matchup which is why i didnt add it in...
0-2, overall 1-2
ROUND 4
RG ramp
Played against this deck twice on friday during FNM, thought i had it figured it out. Game one, i scooped with a Cryptic in hand when i let an unblocked colossus through with all my mana untapped. He tapped it making it 16/16, i just automatically scooped and then realized the massive error. I wasnt in a good position though and thats prolly why i kind of subconciously forfeited the game. I won game 2 thanks to flashfreeze sided in. He totally didnt see it coming and it allowed me to get all my merfolk on the board and pound him. Lost game 3 to treetop villages with a hand full of counterspells and he just didnt play any spells. I wasnt drawing creatures, only lands and counters so i was really having a hard time getting anything done. too bad because this is usually a good matchup for merfolk. Im sure an experienced player would have won but i just played really badly,
1-2, overall 1-3...looking bad
ROUND 5
Red Deck Wins Variant
He was running RDW with Harbingers and Rage Forger. It seemed odd but it had a good amount of burn. Game 1 he won a tight one, Rage Forger was pretty efficient combined with burn. I sided in 4 flashfreezes for snags and 4 tenders to cursecatchers. Forge tender didnt do anything the whole game 2 because he played sulfur elemental, i sent out lord after lord tapped all his creatures and had 3 mutuvaults in play so it was a quick victory for me. Game 3 i decided to keep the forgetenders (which when i look back, might have been a bad idea) and didnt side in anything else. The game eventually went down to the wire and he shard volley'd my lord giving him 2 lands left (it was like turn 8 or something too...he had about 5 creatures including rage forger). He kept playing flamekin harbinger which didnt help his mana shortage. Anyways, the game came down to one play where i used cryptic to tap all his creatures...i looked at his lands and thought of my second option. He asked to read the card to see the options and asked me to declare my second. Now, had I not lost a game at FNM thanks to bouncing a land and the player playing edge of autumn to fizzle CC, i might have made that error. Luckily, i figured he had a shard volley and it was worth the risk since id win anyways so i conservatively drew a card, then attacked on my turn and won.
A WORD OF ADVICE : when everything is riding on CC resolving, dont do anything cute like trying to bounce a land or some stupid thing, especially if youre able to win the game on your turn. I learned it the hard way at FNM and i was very thankful for it...if it can save you the trouble of having to suffer through it at regionals, i hope you end up reading this. I know that being inexperienced myself, i would have loved that advice.
2-1, overall 2-3
ROUND 6
BG Elves
What a tough matchup. Running a Doran as well iirc, similar to Pro Tour's list i guess for the rest of the deck. He clobbered me the first game and things looked bad. I looked at my SB and took in 2 larks, 2 unsummons for 4 cursecatchers added in 2 sowers for i dont recall what. He thoughtseized my sower on turn 1...i went down to 10 and brought him close to 10 with a lord and some other merfolk as well as vaults. He's tapped out so i play turn 5 or 6 Lark with LoA and Sower in grave. His jaw drops. His friend's jaw drops, the judge's jaw drops...cool. On his turn he attacks with doran and some other elves, nothing fancy sides the doran. I unsummon lark, sower his doran and blocks one of his llanowar elves with a 3/3 lord with a reejery out. Swing for the win with vaults, reejerey, doran on my turn. Game 3 he thoughtseizes a lark from my opening hand, i have 2 lords, 1 Cryptic, another counterspell and a land left. Basically, the game went down to the wire with me pulling 3 Cryptic commands in a row to nail him with 16 damage in 3 turns (he thoughtseized twice) without islandwalk. He had a colossus out, a doran, and a bunch of elves. So i was hardpressed to get that damage in before id get beat. My second command brought me my 3rd when i decided to tap and draw. Just in case, i played ponder on my turn to get a lord and to bluff the CC just in case, i left 4 mana open. He called my bluff and i showed him my win condition.
LARK WAS SO GREAT!! It was just so awesome here and im so glad i decided to run it. I am sold on the lark SB
2-1, overall 3-3
ROUND 7
Faeries
Finally, a faeries matchup, been looking forward to this one for a while. He wins game one with 2 BBs with exact damage and 2 life left, he slaughter pact'd my lord in order to survive and not die at his upkeep. Game 2 i added in lark and unsummon against cursecatchers. Didnt end up using them though, which was great for game 3. He had to mulligan in game 2 and didnt have a great hand so it was easy win for me with throwing out creatures and beating face. Game 3 went normally until i throw out lark and his jaw drops (lark has a way of doing that it seems in a merfolk deck). I have a banner and an LoA in grave. It resolves since he's tapped out. On my next turn he tries playing a scion at end of turn and i CC it, counter plus bounce lark, hes tapped out so im expecting either nothing or a slaughter pact. The latter, he pacts the lark and i get my lord and banner out. At this point, hes low on life and im islandwalking him. He plays a mistbind clique noticing im tapped out (1 hub untapped though) tapping out himself. I play sage's dousing for with 2 banners in play. He totally didnt see it coming and it resolves, i draw a card. Islandwalk him for the win on my turn with lords, banners, and vaults.
2-1, overall 4-3
Round 8
Dunno Deck
The guy just left and end of last game and i dont have a playing partner so i win after 10 minutes of waiting. Rather lame. So i hook up with another guy who didnt have a partner who's also 4-3. He plays Lark and needless to say he never got to play anything except lands in both games so its an easy 2-0 win on turn 5.
Given the quickness of the matches, i hook up with one of my friends who plays a GW Wish deck running Glittering Wish for those unfamiliar with it. He hasnt played merfolk all day even though i was surrounded by merfolk everywhere i went. Wish deck has a hard time against merfolk although it does run gaddock teeg which nulls cryptic command. Rather annoying, but i won 2-0 nonetheless. Which makes my 5-3 record somewhat legit even though i did get a freebie at the end.
What is there to learn from this experience?
My playing evaluation:
I played pretty horribly and sloppily in all but the last 3 matchups (excluding the last game freebie of course). I lost against mirror which i dunno what i could have done better, i lost against green elves which resulted in bad luck and perhaps bad decisions, and i lost against Ramp because i was just not thinking or even paying attention. I had so much experience against ramp as well. There was no excuse to lose that one. The last 3 matchups i really played well and i amazed myself at what i thought were good SB decisions and good play decisions leading in comeback wins in each of the 3 games.
Deck choices:
The maindeck i thought was a tight list with nothing left to take out or bring in. I run ponder which is ideal for this deck, it helped me so many times and even saved me from mana shortages when i shuffled the 3 cards with no lands in them when i need a land and drew a land! Awesome, but lucky, ill admit. AV wouldnt have saved me, i need early tempo. Im running 22 lands and i think thats alright, i only got into serious mana troubles once and ponder saved me as i lucked out drawing that land. The other times, i usually have a land in the top 3 and i can just play it. I strongly suggest running ponder instead of AV if you run a build similar to mine. Ponder is just so much better in this deck.
Sideboard choices:
Lark was a godsend. It performed beyond any of my expectations helping me win 2 tough matchups in GB elves and faeries. For the white splash, Lark alone is worth it, its just so good as you can fetch all of your dead merfolks since they're all 2/2 or less. With unsummon, which was a last minute addition with consign to dream going out, it performed well in combo with lark and could save lords if needed or even unsummon an islandwalking colossus in a pinch. Unsummon was a great card, better than what i expected it would be. Id keep it along with lark, but not lark, unsummon might not be as good.
I STRONGLY SUGGEST RUNNING REVEILLARK. Yes, i believe its totally worth it. Heck, i could have even thrown it in a bunch more other matchups like ramp and such...
Sower of Temptation were good, combined with lark, it was pretty awesome when i took the attacking doran and beat him with it. It was also good when i took a doran in that Doran matchup (saying doran a lot it seems...). They were useful and even when i didnt have them i felt they could change the game for me, taking a colossus or a goyf sure would help me and hinder my opponents' chances of winning.
Flashfreeze is just an obvious choice. Red and green are often bad, so it just seems like a shoe in to throw out snags and throw in freezes.
Perhaps the biggest letdown was burrenton forge tender. Sulfur elemental was preventing it from being played and people were obviously expecing it if im to believe what i heard from people running RDW. They were all bragging about tech ideas against forge tender. I was mana screwed too so i didnt play it even once so i couldnt really see if it was any good. On paper, it seems tech, but could dragon's claw be any better? I dunno.
Now, the biggest problem i see is the fact that if i remove Forge-Tender, what other white am i gonna splash? I still think just reveillark is worth the splash, but it would just seem better if i had a little more white in the side to really warrant the splash. Although Burrenton Forge-Tender didnt break the game for me, you still need to consider your best red option. I think i'd have prefered dragon's claw just for the simple reason that even mana screwed, you can play it...and you dont even have to pain using pain lands. What about Teferi's Moat? In the mirror, it could have been great...if its not countered that is.
Any thoughts, comments or questions are welcome. I think i learned a lot from regionals and became a better player for it. If i can help other merfolk players with my experience, all the better. Good luck to you all.
Yeah, i know it might be a long boring read and given my extreme fatigue, i might have made typos, errors and a bunch of other non user friendly stuff, so please bear with me. I hope it can help people who are still struggling with their builds and havent gone to regionals yet...