hey guys I've been testing against affinity and I just seem to be unable to beat the deck. do you guys have any ideas for hate cards in blue and or white I could add to my side board to help me win games two and three?
I played in SCG New Jersey States with Merfolk this past Sunday going undefeated with one intentional draw to get into top eight and finishing in 3/4th. I’m just going to give some highlights of the matches as best as I can recollect on them while they are fresh in my mind. Ill post my deck list below before I break down my matches. On a more positive note two Merfolk players made the top eight and the players were shocked we were doing so well.
Match one (red/ green, genesis wave)
This match up was pretty interesting for me. I hadn’t seen the deck in a while and the second he cast utopia sprawl I knew I needed to win game one because I couldn’t stop a genesis wave main deck without a counter in hand. I ended up using spreading seas on his forests which were enchanted with utopia sprawl and instant killed Garruk Wildspeaker the following turn he came down to avoid a potential blowout. My opponent conceded when he cast genesis wave for 9 and I had revealed the flash freeze I had drawn. Lightning bolt was annoying to play around and so was Eternal witness bringing the burn spell and any fetch lands in graveyard, however with enough pressure his deck folded. 1-0
Match two (red /green tron)
Remember that Grove of the Burnwillows grants you life when he taps it for colors. (this point didn’t matter in my match when I missed two total triggers however it’s a possibility it could have.) After facing this match up multiple times in the past I knew the key cards to counter were Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine and the new addition of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Spreading Seas also came in handy here as well by taking away his tron lands. Game one I bounced his Wurmcoil on turn three and four with two back to back vapor snags. Following the vapor snags I proceeded to set but three lords negating his life gain when he finally could swing for six. He baited me came one and at the end of game two mostly by trying to get my to counter his chromatic sphere and Chromatic Stars but I waited until he cast Karn for the counter spell. Chalice of the Void on two is painful but with an Aether vial in play and the ability to drop lords and copy them I forced my opponent to sacrifice his Oblivion Stone and allow mutavault to still attack for two. I proceed to recast my other Aether Vial, get two counters on it and drop two more lords before remanding his Karn Liberated for game. 2-0
Match three (red white homebrew) Brimaz, King of Oreskos was cast a total of five times that match (due to remand and Vapor Snag. Game one he bolted my silvergill adept after the following turn of attempting to resolve a magma jet targeting my cursecatcher. I proceeded both games by returning brimaz to my hand and using Thassa’s Scry to dig through six cards and build a board state. A couple of remands followed by Thassa, God of the Seas attacking and being unblockable won me my third match. Flash Freeze countered a lighting helix by my opponent to save my devotion and board state as well. 3-0
Match four (burn)
I had burn my following match up. A couple of Goblin Guides followed by lighting bolt, boros charm and lava spikes came at my face. this deck is aggressive and can really hurt us if we don’t prepare for Eidolon of the great revel. (he played two back to back and proceeded to lay a beating on me game two.) Game three went like this. Play a mutavault into aether vial. Monastery Swiftspear came at me. I went to attack with mutaavault then dropped cursecatcher to counter rift bolt. (slow the burn player down) I eventually drew two more mutavaults and chumped them into his swift spear/ goblin guide and swung a huge board of merfolk at him. (to note* this game he was mana screwed to one land until turn 4/5ish) 4-0
Match five (Merfolk)
The mirror match up is very basic with some principles. Both games do not resolve lord of Atlantis until the final turn when you plan on winning if at all possible. Remand his lords when he can’t vial them in because he hasn’t drawn Aether Vial. Thassa’s Scry is a huge help here too. After using vapor snag on his Merrow Reejerey and Remanding it twice he had no board state or life total game one. Game two he went to five verses my keep of one land and vial. He spell pierced my Vial and while that was a good move, two cursecatchers a Vapor Snag and two lords kept him at bay long enough to draw cavern of souls into multvault to win. 5-0
Match six (Merfolk)
This match I could’ve intentional drawn into however, I was paired down. My opponent offered me to ID because he said the match up was a luck of the roll to decide who goes first being a mirror match (he has observed me match 5), however I thought that if I did this and then I proceeded to lose because my next opponent did want to draw I would be mad at myself for not playing this matchup (Especially if I got knocked out of top 8 due to a draw and loss). I decided to play the mirror match again. Twice I bounced master of waves and watched the token disappear because they are 1/0s. I understand it kinda beats burn/red decks. However the value we get out of it is limited because of the formats, Path to exile, Doom blade, Maelstrom pluse, vapor snag. Personally I don’t play the card because if I spend for mana on a creature I would rather it impact my attack step and them path it rather than have them see the opportunity to kill my guy wasting my turn because the mana spent on that guy went right into the graveyard. That being said, game two was much closer of a match but his Lord of Atlantis verses my two master of the pearl tridents were the key to winning. 6-0
Match Seven (Intentional Draw)
This is the player who won the event. He was playing green black rock I believe. 6-0-1
Top 8 (Grixis Delver)
Grixis Delver played both game one and two similarly. Delver of secrets was vapor snagged game one and two on turn one. His lightning bolt killed my Adept, but my lords lived on and killed him shortly. Game two I had used Spellskite to absorb his lightning bolts targeting my creatures and block snapcaster mages the following turn. A Young Pyromancer followed by a Tasigur, the Golden Fang put me on a fast clock but I put the game away with a well timed Aether Vial into a spellskite.
Top 4 (Afinity)
Afinity is a match up I dread. Even with four copies of Hurkyl’s Recall, this match is hard. Game one flew by with the Etched Champions swinging fast and hard combined with Master of Etherium game one and game three two Vault Skirges and a Cranial Plating. Honestly I lost these games because I find it difficult to assemble a board state and win or even slow Affinity down. Their creatures fly and have evasion which is difficult to block to absorb damage.
As a long time merfolk player I have zero doubt that the mono blue list is powerful. I've bee a huge fan of it in legacy and I feel its only slightly better than the blue white lists by default.
Merfolk barely has any playable white or blue/white merfolk creatures which makes us rely on our lords, cursecatcher and our silvergill adept. what if e added another one drop?
I've been thinking a lot about that lately and ive added as a three of tideshaper mystic
Some times we just need islandwalk bad enough and if we draw the aquitects will with even one lord in play, our tideshaper suddenl becomes a two attacker with islandwalk.
I'm more of a fan of Aquitect's Will over spreading seas because of the mana difference.
Its awkward to have a seas in hand when you need to cast it and a lord on turn three.
I'm working on a blue white and I'll post results once I cant take it to my local shops for modern events.
I had a rare opportunity to test my Merfolk build at a new environment lately, we only had eight people but none the less the matches were intense.
round one i faced soul sisters. I'll admit i had no idea what i was doing against this deck because game one he played Martyr of Sands then gained eight life as i cast my Silvergil adapt. turn three he cast Serra Ascendant and squadron hawk. I then cast Master of the pearl trident. With a hand full of Master of the pearl trident and merfolk reejery, i was powerless on the defensive side to handle double path as he beat me down with the Serra Ascendant. game two was much different as he opened up with soul's attendant into soulwarden. i cast Lord of Atlantis and followed with multavault into another LOA. my opponent then cast Ajani's Pridemate and path to exile. i struggled hitting three island in a row after that point but my board state was impressive as i had Aether Vial out on 2 and had four lords in play, two Master of the pearl trident and two Lord of Atlantis. I made my play mistake here because i was hesistant to attack without island walk. His pridemate was a 6/6 my lords were 5/5's and i didnt want to lose one of them with nothing to back them up. i eventually lost when he cast Martyr of sands, then after gaining enough life to put him to 49 i lost to double Serra Ascendant.
game two was short. he cast birds of paradise after a mulligan. i then locked in down with tidebinder mage. he cast abrupt decay and killed my mage. i played silvergil adept and drew a card. i then cast spreading seas to draw again and still didn't see graph diggers cage. when i cast my s.s. though, my opponent responded with a gifts ungiven into unburial rites and elesh norn, grand cenobite. i scooped on the spot with no counter magic/ or cage to respond and keep my in the game.
match three i played just for results because i was already out of the money for packs that night. Ad Nauseam was my final match of the night. my opponent won on turn three while going off. game two was more in my favor as i countered an early artifact drop but my opponent made a play mistake as he cast angel's grace to cover for slaughter pact when he had 5 black sources in play.
game three he again was able to combo at turn three and i lost. turn two was pentad prism into a simian spirit guide for six mana to get the combo going.
"I play 3 Mutavaults and 4 Cavern of Souls and love it. There are a TON of counters in my meta. I also have a lot of 1-for-1 removal in my meta, so I MD'ed Kira a long time ago. Because of all that removal, I've never been impressed with Thassa, so she's been in my binder ever since. Otherwise, I think your list looks pretty good."
I actually just ordered Chalices and hopefully will see them soon. I've considered maining Kira often enough to the point where i almost did, however i came across two master of waves at the time and placed Kira back in the board. Unfortunately for me, Thassa is a god and requires five sources of blue to be active so when my army goes to attack, she becomes an enchantment again once my opponent paths, bolts, abrupt decays, go for the throats, etc etc, kills a single lord.
@Thenarus, said it best in my opinion, and that would be as a one of Thassa is amazing for doing her abilities. Keeps my guys protected from blockers and digging for answers/threats. I've been playing this deck for a while now and I've come to HATE only two cards really. Choke and Ensnaring Bridge, i could always use echoing truth but it doesn't handle it which bothers me. Would anyone suggest using Annul and or echoing truth to handle this problem?
@The Gate Keeper
Yes that is my game plan for affinity. With Boggles i have zero experience in modern.
Will Aitken played against these decks with success against them.
This was posted a while ago and it still serves as a guideline for myself when i need to consider what to do in different match ups.
I do believe page on of the Primer has a video from GP Richmond, Va if your interested to see how the deck played out.
Good luck with that Tournament @The Gate Keeper and if you could post your results when you get back that would be appreciated.
I need suggestions and help with my meta to be honest.
I play against a ton of control in the forms of UWR, Faries, Affinity, Gifts(w/ green), Tron, Twin, Infect, Small Zoo
These deck lists i come across most often and the ones to give me the most trouble are, Tron, Twin, Small Zoo, Faries and Gifts. Especially Gifts.
I've considered hunting down Cavern of souls to help against Faries, Twin and UWR because those counters are deadly. All of the removal for Gifts is what gives me the most trouble. Protecting my board state is my main goal when i play this deck.
I actually don't understand the reasoning for adding Chalice of the Void in against Affinity unless you cast it for zero.
Casting it for one doesn't help our case against Affinity because we want to case Æther Vial, Steel Sabotage, and Vapor Snag. Casting it for two also hits the majority of our deck unless we have a cavern of souls in play. I'm curious as to your use for the card in the match up. Is it really powerful for a turn two Chalice on one while they go and drop a Cranial Plating, Arcbound Ravager?
I'm not usually worried with my build once there threat is gone. i mean look at the deck with out those cards. MemniteVault Skirge, Ornithopter, Etched Champion, Springleaf drum, Mox Opal and with a shorter amount of lands than our own these are played in fours from what i understand of that deck. So you're looking at 24 dead cards with little interaction. The problem is,
A) they ramp in the form of Springleaf drum, Mox Opal
B)Threats come in pairs for that deck sometimes and handling one isnt enough.
C) Affinity plays Thoughtcast and this gives them additional draws when they drop their whole hand on turn one or two.
I'm only slightly confident in the match up because I've tested against it alot and i have board hate to come in and help in that match up.
Metalcraft is really useless for them IF* a threat has been handled. (Two lords and an image make our guys better then theirs.)
*For me the key is to trade one for one if possible to slow them down at a reasonable pace. I wouldn't throw all my lords away but block profitably and keep in mind whats in you hand. Vapor snag is in my opinion the most powerful card in the main deck for us against Affinity. (Granted they havent seen a Arcbound Ravager )
When in comes to the idea of the deck, i love it and the game plan is amazing, but im not that much of a fan of miracles in general let alone bonfire of the damned. (even though i believe its the best one). the only reason i hate on huntmaster of the fells is because he is a transform card and i dislike the mechanic. Without doom blade or go for the throat the next best thing for 1B is ultimate price which cant kill, drogskol reaver, loxodon smiter, armada wurm, olivia voldaren all of which are relevant to my meta. so i added alchemist's refuge to attempt to tap out my opponent on their turn so im free to cast thragtusk on my own. once i was decided to go with that thought process i looked up some different bant ideas for the deck and build what i have posted above.
but back to thundermaw hellkite. its really a shame too because its so good. for me and the aggro meta im in, thundermaw just kills us. it has become that one card you hope your opponent doesnt have left in his hand when the game gets late. but for the reasons you mentioned with Aristocrat i do like him for the deck
Yeah, whether it be UWR control, Jund or Naya, Thundermaw is seeing a lot of play in very competitive decks. It was only a matter of time to be honest.
So, I was surfing around mtgpulse.com and found that a very similar build went X-1 in one of the more recent online standard dailies. The main differences between our builds is that he/she runs Ultimate Price over Selesnya Charm and also chose to stick with Loxodon Smiter. He also runs one Sever the Bloodline (I like this idea).
Anyway, I was contemplating (and testing) Thundermaw vs. Aristocrat for a bit and I again came to the conclusion that I wanted Aristocrat. There are tangibles Aristocrat brings to the deck over Thundermaw.
First, although they are both very aggro minded, Aristocrat has proven to be better in games where my opponent and I are both grinding. She's sacrifices a bit of aggro to be much more resilient. I usually wait until I have dropped a Huntmaster or have established some type of board presence before dropping her, so she is essentially coming down around the same time as I would be dropping Thundermaw but the staying power has proven to be a deal breaker. She can also, in the long run, become bigger than Thundermaw if she eats up Pilgrim/Borderland Ranger/Huntmaster in response to removal but this is admittedly merely a situational bonus.
Yeah, all in all, I found her to be..amazing in this deck.
while i can see your point i have to say that thundermaw is still a choice to have in your seventy five. is it possible to catch your opponent off guard game 2 by adding thundermaw from the board?
does anyone else think this deck would be amazing with a different game plan? Alchemist's Refuge maybe as a slight verison of bant control with unburial rites?
with mana leak is all about timing. its a counter spell after all. but it also depends on its use. out of personal experience, not having any in my 75 is what cost me matches at FNMs. to get around my opponents i play 3 for several reasons.
1) not a single creature in this deck has haste. playing a creature now will only bait a counterspell of kill spell targeting 1 creature already in play. assuming he holds onto the kill spell, he can then let my creature resolve say a hero of bladehold and upon declaring attackers they cast doom blade to kill the hero.
2) by not playing a card main phase one, you leave counter magic open during an attack. that'll stop doom blade or a sac outlet from getting your field.
3) you can always end the turn holding onto mana leak and make them tap out for your next turn and drop either angelic destiny of obilivion ring.
4) during main phase two you can play a creature and have it killed which is ok because at least you got some damage in their. for an aggro deck damage is what matters most of the time.
i'm going to post my current humans build on my page right now. currently i've been in top 8 ten times this season and top 4 three times.
i think that not including hero of bladehold anywhere in your 75 is going to hurt you in the long run. regaurdless of the matchup, there are games that go late sometimes, having that extra creature that goes the distance is important.
i honestly believe that this deck can do very well. but this is a token deck and i feel that it should play more control than anything. i would play the deck like this
everyone's side board is different, i fear giest of saint traft, so i use black to tribute to hunger and geth's verdict. my reasons for splashing black seem reasonable to me. when playing monowhite humans the deck seems to be missing something, getting to draw cards off of tokens i make by white sun or token producers i own. to me the U/W human's deck appears better and more consistant. so with day of judgement, timely and doomed traveler i hope to slow down the deck. control is another issue all it own.
now beating aggro is very easy sometimes, you need to slow down there aggresiveness and surprise them along the way and then throw them something they can't handle. this is quite similar to the style of a tradition green/black rock deck. if you play timely reinforcements you'll gain life and creatures, something an aggro deck of any sort doesn't wish to see.
but why timely reinforcements main? isn't that a sideboard card? yes and no.
our early plays only slow down our opponent, we WILL be taken losses to our life and creature count. doomed traveler turn one nothing else, turn two? alter's reap if doomed is still alive, Intangible Virtue, or a doom blade which i'd prefere to hold onto. turn three? timely reinforcements, oblivion ring, midnight haunting, or fiend hunter as a last resort.
control is fun to play because once your tokens resolve you swing with the virtue and they don't tap. and appart from rachet bomb, there isn't an instant speed board wipe. you should have no problem playing around control.
i'm curious to see how this deck would play out in tournaments and when testing and i'll try and get results up if i every get a free night on friday for a FNM.
ur not running volt charge? i had the deck when the time warps were legal and yes i get that they are missed. but it is what it is. having said that volt charge yes its 3 mana but the cool part is it proliferates afterwords. same idea behind tezzerets gambit kinda.
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 phantasmal image
2 thassa, god of the sea
2 tidebinder mage
4 AEther vial
3 remand
3 vapor snag
3 spreading seas
10 island
4 mutavault
3 cavern of souls
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 flooded strand
4 Hurkyl’s Recall
2 torpor orb
2 spell pierce
2 spellskite
2 flashfreeze
2 swan song
1 tidebinder mage
Match one (red/ green, genesis wave)
This match up was pretty interesting for me. I hadn’t seen the deck in a while and the second he cast utopia sprawl I knew I needed to win game one because I couldn’t stop a genesis wave main deck without a counter in hand. I ended up using spreading seas on his forests which were enchanted with utopia sprawl and instant killed Garruk Wildspeaker the following turn he came down to avoid a potential blowout. My opponent conceded when he cast genesis wave for 9 and I had revealed the flash freeze I had drawn. Lightning bolt was annoying to play around and so was Eternal witness bringing the burn spell and any fetch lands in graveyard, however with enough pressure his deck folded. 1-0
Match two (red /green tron)
Remember that Grove of the Burnwillows grants you life when he taps it for colors. (this point didn’t matter in my match when I missed two total triggers however it’s a possibility it could have.) After facing this match up multiple times in the past I knew the key cards to counter were Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine and the new addition of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Spreading Seas also came in handy here as well by taking away his tron lands. Game one I bounced his Wurmcoil on turn three and four with two back to back vapor snags. Following the vapor snags I proceeded to set but three lords negating his life gain when he finally could swing for six. He baited me came one and at the end of game two mostly by trying to get my to counter his chromatic sphere and Chromatic Stars but I waited until he cast Karn for the counter spell. Chalice of the Void on two is painful but with an Aether vial in play and the ability to drop lords and copy them I forced my opponent to sacrifice his Oblivion Stone and allow mutavault to still attack for two. I proceed to recast my other Aether Vial, get two counters on it and drop two more lords before remanding his Karn Liberated for game. 2-0
Match three (red white homebrew)
Brimaz, King of Oreskos was cast a total of five times that match (due to remand and Vapor Snag. Game one he bolted my silvergill adept after the following turn of attempting to resolve a magma jet targeting my cursecatcher. I proceeded both games by returning brimaz to my hand and using Thassa’s Scry to dig through six cards and build a board state. A couple of remands followed by Thassa, God of the Seas attacking and being unblockable won me my third match. Flash Freeze countered a lighting helix by my opponent to save my devotion and board state as well. 3-0
Match four (burn)
I had burn my following match up. A couple of Goblin Guides followed by lighting bolt, boros charm and lava spikes came at my face. this deck is aggressive and can really hurt us if we don’t prepare for Eidolon of the great revel. (he played two back to back and proceeded to lay a beating on me game two.) Game three went like this. Play a mutavault into aether vial. Monastery Swiftspear came at me. I went to attack with mutaavault then dropped cursecatcher to counter rift bolt. (slow the burn player down) I eventually drew two more mutavaults and chumped them into his swift spear/ goblin guide and swung a huge board of merfolk at him. (to note* this game he was mana screwed to one land until turn 4/5ish) 4-0
Match five (Merfolk)
The mirror match up is very basic with some principles. Both games do not resolve lord of Atlantis until the final turn when you plan on winning if at all possible. Remand his lords when he can’t vial them in because he hasn’t drawn Aether Vial. Thassa’s Scry is a huge help here too. After using vapor snag on his Merrow Reejerey and Remanding it twice he had no board state or life total game one. Game two he went to five verses my keep of one land and vial. He spell pierced my Vial and while that was a good move, two cursecatchers a Vapor Snag and two lords kept him at bay long enough to draw cavern of souls into multvault to win. 5-0
Match six (Merfolk)
This match I could’ve intentional drawn into however, I was paired down. My opponent offered me to ID because he said the match up was a luck of the roll to decide who goes first being a mirror match (he has observed me match 5), however I thought that if I did this and then I proceeded to lose because my next opponent did want to draw I would be mad at myself for not playing this matchup (Especially if I got knocked out of top 8 due to a draw and loss). I decided to play the mirror match again. Twice I bounced master of waves and watched the token disappear because they are 1/0s. I understand it kinda beats burn/red decks. However the value we get out of it is limited because of the formats, Path to exile, Doom blade, Maelstrom pluse, vapor snag. Personally I don’t play the card because if I spend for mana on a creature I would rather it impact my attack step and them path it rather than have them see the opportunity to kill my guy wasting my turn because the mana spent on that guy went right into the graveyard. That being said, game two was much closer of a match but his Lord of Atlantis verses my two master of the pearl tridents were the key to winning. 6-0
Match Seven (Intentional Draw)
This is the player who won the event. He was playing green black rock I believe. 6-0-1
Top 8 (Grixis Delver)
Grixis Delver played both game one and two similarly. Delver of secrets was vapor snagged game one and two on turn one. His lightning bolt killed my Adept, but my lords lived on and killed him shortly. Game two I had used Spellskite to absorb his lightning bolts targeting my creatures and block snapcaster mages the following turn. A Young Pyromancer followed by a Tasigur, the Golden Fang put me on a fast clock but I put the game away with a well timed Aether Vial into a spellskite.
Top 4 (Afinity)
Afinity is a match up I dread. Even with four copies of Hurkyl’s Recall, this match is hard. Game one flew by with the Etched Champions swinging fast and hard combined with Master of Etherium game one and game three two Vault Skirges and a Cranial Plating. Honestly I lost these games because I find it difficult to assemble a board state and win or even slow Affinity down. Their creatures fly and have evasion which is difficult to block to absorb damage.
Merfolk barely has any playable white or blue/white merfolk creatures which makes us rely on our lords, cursecatcher and our silvergill adept. what if e added another one drop?
I've been thinking a lot about that lately and ive added as a three of tideshaper mystic
Some times we just need islandwalk bad enough and if we draw the aquitects will with even one lord in play, our tideshaper suddenl becomes a two attacker with islandwalk.
I'm more of a fan of Aquitect's Will over spreading seas because of the mana difference.
Its awkward to have a seas in hand when you need to cast it and a lord on turn three.
I'm working on a blue white and I'll post results once I cant take it to my local shops for modern events.
round one i faced soul sisters. I'll admit i had no idea what i was doing against this deck because game one he played Martyr of Sands then gained eight life as i cast my Silvergil adapt. turn three he cast Serra Ascendant and squadron hawk. I then cast Master of the pearl trident. With a hand full of Master of the pearl trident and merfolk reejery, i was powerless on the defensive side to handle double path as he beat me down with the Serra Ascendant. game two was much different as he opened up with soul's attendant into soulwarden. i cast Lord of Atlantis and followed with multavault into another LOA. my opponent then cast Ajani's Pridemate and path to exile. i struggled hitting three island in a row after that point but my board state was impressive as i had Aether Vial out on 2 and had four lords in play, two Master of the pearl trident and two Lord of Atlantis. I made my play mistake here because i was hesistant to attack without island walk. His pridemate was a 6/6 my lords were 5/5's and i didnt want to lose one of them with nothing to back them up. i eventually lost when he cast Martyr of sands, then after gaining enough life to put him to 49 i lost to double Serra Ascendant.
match two was gifts ungiven. he won the toss and played birds of paradise into lilana of the veil, i cast spell pierce and followed with Silvergil Adapt and drew a card. He cast lingering souls, into path to exile. i repsonded by casting Master of the pearl trident into Lord of Atlantis. he played doom blade followed by snapcaster mage into path. i ended up top decking back to back master of waves but they did little good to 3 1/1 spirits with flying and an unblockable creaping tar pit.
game two was short. he cast birds of paradise after a mulligan. i then locked in down with tidebinder mage. he cast abrupt decay and killed my mage. i played silvergil adept and drew a card. i then cast spreading seas to draw again and still didn't see graph diggers cage. when i cast my s.s. though, my opponent responded with a gifts ungiven into unburial rites and elesh norn, grand cenobite. i scooped on the spot with no counter magic/ or cage to respond and keep my in the game.
match three i played just for results because i was already out of the money for packs that night.
Ad Nauseam was my final match of the night. my opponent won on turn three while going off. game two was more in my favor as i countered an early artifact drop but my opponent made a play mistake as he cast angel's grace to cover for slaughter pact when he had 5 black sources in play.
game three he again was able to combo at turn three and i lost. turn two was pentad prism into a simian spirit guide for six mana to get the combo going.
"I play 3 Mutavaults and 4 Cavern of Souls and love it. There are a TON of counters in my meta. I also have a lot of 1-for-1 removal in my meta, so I MD'ed Kira a long time ago. Because of all that removal, I've never been impressed with Thassa, so she's been in my binder ever since. Otherwise, I think your list looks pretty good."
I actually just ordered Chalices and hopefully will see them soon. I've considered maining Kira often enough to the point where i almost did, however i came across two master of waves at the time and placed Kira back in the board. Unfortunately for me, Thassa is a god and requires five sources of blue to be active so when my army goes to attack, she becomes an enchantment again once my opponent paths, bolts, abrupt decays, go for the throats, etc etc, kills a single lord.
@Thenarus, said it best in my opinion, and that would be as a one of Thassa is amazing for doing her abilities. Keeps my guys protected from blockers and digging for answers/threats. I've been playing this deck for a while now and I've come to HATE only two cards really. Choke and Ensnaring Bridge, i could always use echoing truth but it doesn't handle it which bothers me. Would anyone suggest using Annul and or echoing truth to handle this problem?
Yes that is my game plan for affinity. With Boggles i have zero experience in modern.
Will Aitken played against these decks with success against them.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/proven-modern/220260-merfolk?page=119#c2991
This was posted a while ago and it still serves as a guideline for myself when i need to consider what to do in different match ups.
I do believe page on of the Primer has a video from GP Richmond, Va if your interested to see how the deck played out.
Good luck with that Tournament @The Gate Keeper and if you could post your results when you get back that would be appreciated.
Here is my deck list for Merfolk, a.k.a. Fish
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merfolk Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Master of Waves
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Tidebinder Mage
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Æther Vial
4 Vapor Snag
4 Spreading Seas
3 Spell Pierce
Lands
16 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Spellskite
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Swan Song
2 Steel Sabotage
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Pithing Needle
I need suggestions and help with my meta to be honest.
I play against a ton of control in the forms of UWR, Faries, Affinity, Gifts(w/ green), Tron, Twin, Infect, Small Zoo
These deck lists i come across most often and the ones to give me the most trouble are, Tron, Twin, Small Zoo, Faries and Gifts. Especially Gifts.
I've considered hunting down Cavern of souls to help against Faries, Twin and UWR because those counters are deadly. All of the removal for Gifts is what gives me the most trouble. Protecting my board state is my main goal when i play this deck.
I actually don't understand the reasoning for adding Chalice of the Void in against Affinity unless you cast it for zero.
Casting it for one doesn't help our case against Affinity because we want to case Æther Vial, Steel Sabotage, and Vapor Snag. Casting it for two also hits the majority of our deck unless we have a cavern of souls in play. I'm curious as to your use for the card in the match up. Is it really powerful for a turn two Chalice on one while they go and drop a Cranial Plating, Arcbound Ravager?
I'm not usually worried with my build once there threat is gone. i mean look at the deck with out those cards. Memnite Vault Skirge, Ornithopter, Etched Champion, Springleaf drum, Mox Opal and with a shorter amount of lands than our own these are played in fours from what i understand of that deck. So you're looking at 24 dead cards with little interaction. The problem is,
A) they ramp in the form of Springleaf drum, Mox Opal
B)Threats come in pairs for that deck sometimes and handling one isnt enough.
C) Affinity plays Thoughtcast and this gives them additional draws when they drop their whole hand on turn one or two.
I'm only slightly confident in the match up because I've tested against it alot and i have board hate to come in and help in that match up.
Metalcraft is really useless for them IF* a threat has been handled. (Two lords and an image make our guys better then theirs.)
*For me the key is to trade one for one if possible to slow them down at a reasonable pace. I wouldn't throw all my lords away but block profitably and keep in mind whats in you hand. Vapor snag is in my opinion the most powerful card in the main deck for us against Affinity. (Granted they havent seen a Arcbound Ravager )
but back to thundermaw hellkite. its really a shame too because its so good. for me and the aggro meta im in, thundermaw just kills us. it has become that one card you hope your opponent doesnt have left in his hand when the game gets late. but for the reasons you mentioned with Aristocrat i do like him for the deck
while i can see your point i have to say that thundermaw is still a choice to have in your seventy five. is it possible to catch your opponent off guard game 2 by adding thundermaw from the board?
1) not a single creature in this deck has haste. playing a creature now will only bait a counterspell of kill spell targeting 1 creature already in play. assuming he holds onto the kill spell, he can then let my creature resolve say a hero of bladehold and upon declaring attackers they cast doom blade to kill the hero.
2) by not playing a card main phase one, you leave counter magic open during an attack. that'll stop doom blade or a sac outlet from getting your field.
3) you can always end the turn holding onto mana leak and make them tap out for your next turn and drop either angelic destiny of obilivion ring.
4) during main phase two you can play a creature and have it killed which is ok because at least you got some damage in their. for an aggro deck damage is what matters most of the time.
i'm going to post my current humans build on my page right now. currently i've been in top 8 ten times this season and top 4 three times.
4 Fiend Hunter
2 Hero of Bladehold
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Day of Judgement
3 White Sun's Zenith
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Midnight Haunting
3 Doom Blade
2 Alter's Reap
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Swamp
2 Ghost Quarter
14 Plains
everyone's side board is different, i fear giest of saint traft, so i use black to tribute to hunger and geth's verdict. my reasons for splashing black seem reasonable to me. when playing monowhite humans the deck seems to be missing something, getting to draw cards off of tokens i make by white sun or token producers i own. to me the U/W human's deck appears better and more consistant. so with day of judgement, timely and doomed traveler i hope to slow down the deck. control is another issue all it own.
now beating aggro is very easy sometimes, you need to slow down there aggresiveness and surprise them along the way and then throw them something they can't handle. this is quite similar to the style of a tradition green/black rock deck. if you play timely reinforcements you'll gain life and creatures, something an aggro deck of any sort doesn't wish to see.
but why timely reinforcements main? isn't that a sideboard card? yes and no.
our early plays only slow down our opponent, we WILL be taken losses to our life and creature count. doomed traveler turn one nothing else, turn two? alter's reap if doomed is still alive, Intangible Virtue, or a doom blade which i'd prefere to hold onto. turn three? timely reinforcements, oblivion ring, midnight haunting, or fiend hunter as a last resort.
control is fun to play because once your tokens resolve you swing with the virtue and they don't tap. and appart from rachet bomb, there isn't an instant speed board wipe. you should have no problem playing around control.
i'm curious to see how this deck would play out in tournaments and when testing and i'll try and get results up if i every get a free night on friday for a FNM.