Hey what do you guys think about Skaab Ruinator? I cracked one in a pack and he seems like an awesome 2 of in fish. Essentially a flying Goyf for 3 off of vial. Late game he utilizes your graveyard, which otherwise is never touched in fish. Phantasmal Image can copy him if there's nothing good on the board. Seems awesome to me. Gonna try him out over the next few days, just wanted to see if anyone else had discussed or tried him out.
but ticking vial to 3 seems bad to me as all creature in fish are 2 CMC other than merrow..
And seriously, who said this deck was completely unplayable? I know that one tournament is not a good indicator to whether a deck is stable/tier 1. But really? having u/w stoneblade in top 2 of SCG should make us reconsider this deck again. I for one am encouraged.
question.. how do you guys deal with reanimators other than siding in graveyard hate and stuff? somehow throughout testing i keep having difficulty winning to their turn 1 hand disruption and turn 2 reanimate Iona, Shield of Emeria, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur or Blazing Archon.. =(
I just played a ton of games against Zoo yesterday using the build I posted a page back and crushed every game but one. The one game that I lost was due to play error on my part. (In short, I didn't see his Dryad Arbor, and swung in with a SoFI'd Mishra's which would have put him at 1. I had a Wasteland on the field, he blocked, and the extra turn allowed him to stabilize.)
I think instead of all the theory-crafting and nay-saying, people should take a list and go play some games. The deck is still good.
Path as a 5th Swords is good, miser Wrath is almost always welcome. Jace is still the most versatile permanent in Magic and even if Mystic doesn't stay on the field, tutoring for the correct equipment is still amazing. The deck always ran manlands, but dropping the clunky fairy build let's you go back to Mishra's Factory, which is the original king of manlands.
There is, of course, not enough I can say about Snapcaster. He's just a boss. There was one time where I ended up with three Snapcasters very early, so... I just pitched the extra two to Force and moved on with life. Going Swords, Snapcaster, flashback Swords during their combat is just terribly dirty.
flashback sword???
*re-read snapcaster*
Creature - Human Wizard
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. 2/1
now i see why snapcaster mage is so hype up.. everyone is reading its text wrong.. it clearly stated instant or sorcery.. NOT artifact or equipment or creature..
Looks like your trying to mash UW(x) Stoneblade and Merfolks together. I would suggest to just focus on either one but not both. Not to mention, I am not really a fan of stoneforge mystic in merfolks, I have tried it out before but it just takes up mana and slows down the deck. Which is pretty bad when you want to be on top in the damage race.
yes.. cause i'm getting quite bored of the usual mono blue merfolk and since i have a playset of SFM and JTMS.. i try mixing around with them and they work great for me (which is totally untrue from what a lot of people had said as it's just a awkward merfolk).
Perhaps its playing style, i prefer decks that can give me tons choices and backup plans every single turns..
i know that kira and blade contradict each other big times, but having swords on the table not equipped is already a pressure on my opponent (and most of the times its batterskull you search for not the sword, so there's actually no needs for any equipping effect).
i love Surgical Extraction, some don't. my reason of loving it is really simple: it's free!, it exiles!(not one but all copy), and the most important reason is because it allows me to look at my opponent hand! which is more than enough i can ask for from a single card cause knowing one's hand will allow me to plan out my next few turns and it also puts pressure on my opponent.
It looks like an awkward merfolk deck. I've tried stoneforge in fish time and time again and it never works out very well, the deck is just better with out that stuff.
You could however try out UW tempo which is something I've been looking into lately especially since stifle is that much better now and theeres some awesome cards from the new set for it. I'll pm you a solid list when I'm not on my phone
perhaps its personal preference, it doesn't looks awkward to me.. it may be because of how the way we look at the deck, you might see it as merfolk splash stoneforge while i see it as it's a combine of stoneforge and merfolk complementing each other.
actually i've been thinking, instead of implementing CBT into Stoneblade (turning it into CBTB some called it) with the banning of mental misstep.. why don't we try combining Fish with it's aether vial engine together with the "blade"?
this is something my bro and i come up with and thru some testing against dredge, reanimator, NO RUG and Fish.. it works way better than CBTB..
with aether vial, i can cheat stoneforge into play and stoneforge cheat equipment. early game may be slightly slower than the original fish with the stoneforge in it but it runs better than the original Fish in the mid to late game.
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 AEther Vial
Spells:
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Dismember
Lands:
13 Island
3 Mutavault
4 Wasteland
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Submerge
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
3 Spell Snare
@fistsofthor: i know kira don't work well with equipment. that's why it's in the sideboard..
@Qwerty: my area have lots of goblins, elves, bant, no rug, reanimator, dredge and some rogue decks..
the sfm package acts as my so call flex slot to side out for stp and other stuff..
it works quite well for me so far..
3 Coralhelm Commander
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 AEther Vial
1 Batterskull
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Flooded Strand
7 Island
2 Mutavault
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland
sideboard:
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
3 Meddling Mage
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Submerge
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Swords to Plowshares
i adopted the blade as a tech..
2 mutavault and 3 wasteland only due to the frequent screwed by colorless land..
but ticking vial to 3 seems bad to me as all creature in fish are 2 CMC other than merrow..
top 2? when is that SCG?
i see.. its STP you guys are talking about.. not swords as in sword of x and x.. my apologies..
yes.. but it doesn't exile the card in the graveyard WHICH is the problem.
flashback sword???
*re-read snapcaster*
Creature - Human Wizard
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. 2/1
now i see why snapcaster mage is so hype up.. everyone is reading its text wrong.. it clearly stated instant or sorcery.. NOT artifact or equipment or creature..
yes.. cause i'm getting quite bored of the usual mono blue merfolk and since i have a playset of SFM and JTMS.. i try mixing around with them and they work great for me (which is totally untrue from what a lot of people had said as it's just a awkward merfolk).
Perhaps its playing style, i prefer decks that can give me tons choices and backup plans every single turns..
i know that kira and blade contradict each other big times, but having swords on the table not equipped is already a pressure on my opponent (and most of the times its batterskull you search for not the sword, so there's actually no needs for any equipping effect).
i love Surgical Extraction, some don't. my reason of loving it is really simple: it's free!, it exiles!(not one but all copy), and the most important reason is because it allows me to look at my opponent hand! which is more than enough i can ask for from a single card cause knowing one's hand will allow me to plan out my next few turns and it also puts pressure on my opponent.
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Cursecatcher
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 AEther Vial
1 Batterskull
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Flooded Strand
6 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Plains
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland
SIDEBOARD:
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Meddling Mage
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Submerge
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Wrath of God
perhaps its personal preference, it doesn't looks awkward to me.. it may be because of how the way we look at the deck, you might see it as merfolk splash stoneforge while i see it as it's a combine of stoneforge and merfolk complementing each other.
this is something my bro and i come up with and thru some testing against dredge, reanimator, NO RUG and Fish.. it works way better than CBTB..
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 AEther Vial
1 Batterskull
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
6 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Plains
4 Tundra
3 Wasteland
3 Meddling Mage
2 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Wrath of God
with aether vial, i can cheat stoneforge into play and stoneforge cheat equipment. early game may be slightly slower than the original fish with the stoneforge in it but it runs better than the original Fish in the mid to late game.
and this is my personal version:
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Merfolk Sovereign
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 AEther Vial
1 Batterskull
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Flooded Strand
6 Island
4 Mutavault
1 Plains
4 Tundra
2 Wasteland
3 Meddling Mage
2 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Wrath of God
what do you guys think? and please comment on the deck.