I've fiddled around with energy flux but considering the null rod spike ill probably go back to it, I just never see it in any sideboards so I figured it was sub optimal
I mean, duh having 1 more land is more consistent...that is just how math works, 1/3 of your deck as opposed to less than 1/3. Technically speaking having more than 20 is best, but we have vials so that lets us cheat a little from time to time. You can win a 1 land hand with a vial in it making the 2% difference between 19-20 very very minor. Personal shuffling also takes into account number of lands and mulligans since even if we had 50% lands if we didn't shuffle properly we could still get 1 land hands or even zero land hands. Learning to properly shuffle without stacking your deck takes both practice and good sleeves.
I've been running 19 for awhile now, honestly the difference is negligible. You will still get flooded with 19 or screwed with 20, I just like having that extra Reejerey or Master of Waves in the main in place of a land. I also don't run any lands in the sideboard and probably won't in the new meta unless chalice suddenly falls out of favor against a good chunk of the meta which I don't see happening.
I did some testing with 1 ghost quarter main on and off, I reached the same conclusion as Nikachu. The utility is nice but more often than not you are just targeting your own lands to get blue mana for interaction.
The closest thing I'll be doing towards "getting more control" is maybe replacing my main deck dismember with spell pierce as I took it out since Eldrazi Winter happened and I haven't missed it. Sideboard is the same as I'm still running 3 chalice, sideboard package is 1-2 dispel, 2-3 negate, 0-1 unified will, and swan song is TBD. I typically run 4-5 counters in my sideboard not including Chalice of the Void, with 0 or 2 counters main being spell pierce if that helps any.
Negate, Invasive Surgery, Swan Song, Cryptic Command, Muddle the Mixture, and Remand (lol) all handle Visions pretty well as opposed to relying on Venser or Chalice on 0. Again, Chalice have gone up in price...they might go back down a bit with Eye of Ugin banned, but they could easily be out of the price range for other players trying to deal with that card.
I also agree with Nikachu, Thopher might not even get off the ground since it isn't like Affinity was played any less so all the same decks that had Stony Silence still have it for that deck. It will probably be a fringe deck like soul sisters or ad nauseum, it could take off when it bursts onto the scene but overall there have been more cards printed to stop the combo than cards to help enable it.
Maybe some kind of Modern Legal Shardless BUG will come about using Ardent Plea and other cheap cascade cards to get value out of visions, but it would just be a spell oriented living end deck which also isn't that big of a threat, at least it never is to me.
Also thanks to tuxdev for quoting my "help the school or get expelled", I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it to catch on
The reason I posted a average damage path was just to show how our deck CAN win on turn 4. I did not say it can do it 100% of the time or that what your opponent does never matters. There will always be awkward draws, missing land drops, bad mulligans, so on and so forth that effect the both of us. Infect doesn't always get pump spells and tron doesn't always get all 3 tron pieces by turn 3. People are still afraid of those aspects of the deck and keep them in mind, so we should also keep in mind we can win turn 4.
I will at least concede that Visions could be a sideboard card in the possible future against the slower decks, but at $50 a pop right now I have no plans to give that card a test. I would likely play Redirect over it thought just to troll the Visions decks ;p
Bogles, Storm or Affinity or Infect or Eldrazi (if they dont win by then), Tron or Zoo 50% of the time, and the mirror of course. There are a few decks we can do this against. I'm not saying it happens 100% of the time, but turns 4-6 is very doable even if we recover from removal, take time to play a kira to protect our dudes. I turn 4'd a U/W Eldrazi deck and a bogles deck in the same tournament before. Putting yourself in the late game mindset changes how you play, you take less risks and allow the game to go long. We can very easily shut out a game in that timeframe.
Post board when we bring in the negates and control cards it does become a lot less likely, but that is because we are becoming more of a tempo and control deck. Having a chalice on 1 and then resolving a master of waves on turn 4 has caused a few different decks to just concede to me post board, so it counts
T3 Vial in Lord, play Reejerey. Swing for 7 opponent is at 13.
T4 Vial in Lord, play spreading Seas. Swing for 17 unblockable. Game
It would be even easier if they fetched and shocked. It is very easy to see and play 3 lord by the end of turn 4 in our deck. That isn't even counting any Mutavaults that could be used to pick up the slack if we had to sac cursecatcher or block with an adept. Turn 4 is very feasible.
Thing 1:Legacy merfolk doesn't play Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, Standstill, or Ancestral Visions there and it is 90% of our modern list
Thing 2: We never played with Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, Ponder, or Preordain when they were legal.
Thing 3: Vial lets us empty out our hand. Cursecatcher gives us at least 1 extra turn against decks that need instants and sorceries to win.
Thing 4: Visions puts 3 cards in our hand that we can't cast. Maybe 1 or 2 of them, but by turn 4 we can't cast all of them. We don't need our hand refilled, we need it emptied. We aren't trying to draw permission, combo, or control cards for our deck. We aren't letting Visions resolve, have a grip of 7 cards, and then pass trying to counter something during their turn. We are trying to slam our creatures onto the board and turn them sideways.
Stonybrook Banneret could maybe be a budget option in place of Vial, it is nowhere near as good as vial but still lets us play merfolk a little cheaper, or it would let Clique be a 2 drop if we decided to play that as well. It isn't really optimal but of the options listed it probably has the most potentional.
The problem with Trickster is it can get get pathed or bolted for no value. Cursecatcher eats a spell or timewalks them. Silvergil gives us a card. Lords pump. Harbinger bounces. Kira protects. Master brings friends. All the creatures in our list do something when they come into play or as long as they are in play. trickster is selfish and only helps herself. The same is true for Coralhelm in that he is an investment to make a lord instead of just Merfolk Sovereign who is technically 1 mana cheaper than Coralhelm as a lord.
Stonybrook at least has an impact on the board and helps the rest of our creatures.
P.S coming into play and just dying is also why we don't play wake thrasher, he is selfish too. You either help the school or get expelled
If I can get my hands on one I'm probably gonna test out Westvale Abbey in place of 1 Mutavault, just because flipping it after vialing in a MoW would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO satisfying lol
3 Chalice have never left my sideboard, it helps i don't play online and where I play never got infested with Eldrazi so it is been pretty smooth sailing.
I did some testing with 1 ghost quarter main on and off, I reached the same conclusion as Nikachu. The utility is nice but more often than not you are just targeting your own lands to get blue mana for interaction.
I also agree with Nikachu, Thopher might not even get off the ground since it isn't like Affinity was played any less so all the same decks that had Stony Silence still have it for that deck. It will probably be a fringe deck like soul sisters or ad nauseum, it could take off when it bursts onto the scene but overall there have been more cards printed to stop the combo than cards to help enable it.
Maybe some kind of Modern Legal Shardless BUG will come about using Ardent Plea and other cheap cascade cards to get value out of visions, but it would just be a spell oriented living end deck which also isn't that big of a threat, at least it never is to me.
Also thanks to tuxdev for quoting my "help the school or get expelled", I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it to catch on
I will at least concede that Visions could be a sideboard card in the possible future against the slower decks, but at $50 a pop right now I have no plans to give that card a test. I would likely play Redirect over it thought just to troll the Visions decks ;p
Post board when we bring in the negates and control cards it does become a lot less likely, but that is because we are becoming more of a tempo and control deck. Having a chalice on 1 and then resolving a master of waves on turn 4 has caused a few different decks to just concede to me post board, so it counts
T2 Vial in Cursecatcher, play Silvergil Adept
T3 Vial in Lord, play Reejerey. Swing for 7 opponent is at 13.
T4 Vial in Lord, play spreading Seas. Swing for 17 unblockable. Game
It would be even easier if they fetched and shocked. It is very easy to see and play 3 lord by the end of turn 4 in our deck. That isn't even counting any Mutavaults that could be used to pick up the slack if we had to sac cursecatcher or block with an adept. Turn 4 is very feasible.
Thing 1:Legacy merfolk doesn't play Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm, Standstill, or Ancestral Visions there and it is 90% of our modern list
Thing 2: We never played with Dig Through Time, Treasure Cruise, Ponder, or Preordain when they were legal.
Thing 3: Vial lets us empty out our hand. Cursecatcher gives us at least 1 extra turn against decks that need instants and sorceries to win.
Thing 4: Visions puts 3 cards in our hand that we can't cast. Maybe 1 or 2 of them, but by turn 4 we can't cast all of them. We don't need our hand refilled, we need it emptied. We aren't trying to draw permission, combo, or control cards for our deck. We aren't letting Visions resolve, have a grip of 7 cards, and then pass trying to counter something during their turn. We are trying to slam our creatures onto the board and turn them sideways.
The problem with Trickster is it can get get pathed or bolted for no value. Cursecatcher eats a spell or timewalks them. Silvergil gives us a card. Lords pump. Harbinger bounces. Kira protects. Master brings friends. All the creatures in our list do something when they come into play or as long as they are in play. trickster is selfish and only helps herself. The same is true for Coralhelm in that he is an investment to make a lord instead of just Merfolk Sovereign who is technically 1 mana cheaper than Coralhelm as a lord.
Stonybrook at least has an impact on the board and helps the rest of our creatures.
P.S coming into play and just dying is also why we don't play wake thrasher, he is selfish too. You either help the school or get expelled