[Tiny Leaders] Kira, Tiny Merfolk

[Davran]

My playgroup heard about this format, and we've decided to give it a shot. For those not in the know, Tiny Leaders is a commander variant where your "tiny leader" and all cards in your deck must have a CMC of 3 or less. It's a singleton format with the exception of basic land, and is based around a 50 card deck (49 + leader). The color identity rules of EDH apply as well.

Not knowing anything about the "meta" I should expect, I decided that control would be a safe bet. Enter the fish:

Commander:
Thassa, God of the Sea

Fish:
Cursecatcher
Coralhelm Commander
Lord of Atlantis
Master of the Pearl Trident
Silvergill Adept
Waterfront Bouncer
Adaptive Automaton
Merfolk Sovereign
Merrow Reejerey
True-name Nemesis

Other Dorks:
Snapcaster Mage
Spellskite
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Instants:
Brainstorm
Repeal
Spell Pierce
Boomerang
Counterspell
Impulse
Mana Leak
Prohibit
Remand
Psionic Blast

Sorcery:
Ponder
Preordain

Artifacts:
Aether Vial
Vedalken Shackles

Enchantments:
Spreading Seas
Standstill
Propaganda

Planeswalker:
Jace Beleren

Lands:
Cavern of Souls
Mutavault
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Tectonic Edge
Wasteland
13 Island

Sideboard:
Tidebinder Mage
Flusterstorm
Hibernation
Relic of Progenitus
Hurkyl's Recall

I'm not entirely sure what the rest of the sideboard looks like yet.

Tidebinder Mage might be good enough for the main deck. I also considered Augur of Bolas, but I'm not sure I run enough instants and sorceries to make it worth including. There's also Sigil Tracer, but as of right now my wizard count is fairly low.

[Aggro_zombies]

I feel like you want more creatures in the main, especially because you're a tribal deck whose general is off-tribe, which makes random lords you draw really bad when you have no other creatures in play. There are some pretty reasonable merfolk you're not running: Rootwater Thief, Waterfront Bouncer, Lullmage Mentor, and Wake Thrasher are all varying degrees of reasonable.

As for cuts you can make: I don't think Flusterstorm is all that good in the main. Disrupting Shoal seems suspect to me, especially when many of your three-drops are creatures you want to keep. Is Encrust really any good? I could see replacing it with Bouncer if you want removal.

EDIT: Oh, I'd imagine you'd want Chill and/or Propaganda in the sideboard. R/x aggro decks will do a number on you otherwise.

[Davran]

I feel like you want more creatures in the main, especially because you're a tribal deck whose general is off-tribe, which makes random lords you draw really bad when you have no other creatures in play. There are some pretty reasonable merfolk you're not running: Rootwater Thief, Waterfront Bouncer, Lullmage Mentor, and Wake Thrasher are all varying degrees of reasonable.

As for cuts you can make: I don't think Flusterstorm is all that good in the main. Disrupting Shoal seems suspect to me, especially when many of your three-drops are creatures you want to keep. Is Encrust really any good? I could see replacing it with Bouncer if you want removal.

EDIT: Oh, I'd imagine you'd want Chill and/or Propaganda in the sideboard. R/x aggro decks will do a number on you otherwise.

Wait, Waterfront Bouncer is a merfolk? I guess I never really looked up his creature type as it's not really relevant in cube. That guy is going in for sure, it's one of my favorite cards.

I'll have to see about picking up a Rootwater Thief too, that guy seems strong. Lullmage Mentor too.

I debated using Sygg, River Guide as the leader for this list, which might actually be better? I started out with Vedalken Shackles which locked me into mono-blue, but given that I'll only ever need Shackles on 3 at most it might be fine anyway. That would bring Harpoon Sniper and Stonybrook Schoolmaster into the pool of possibilities, which may be worth it?

As for cuts, you're probably right about Flusterstorm. I'm not convinced about Shoal either. I was looking for one more counter, so maybe something like Memory Lapse is just better. Encrust is definitely one of the last cards that made the list. Waterfront Bouncer is 100% better than it, so I'll make that swap for sure.

[Aggro_zombies]

I debated using Sygg, River Guide as the leader for this list, which might actually be better? I started out with Vedalken Shackles which locked me into mono-blue, but given that I'll only ever need Shackles on 3 at most it might be fine anyway. That would bring Harpoon Sniper and Stonybrook Schoolmaster into the pool of possibilities, which may be worth it?

To be honest, I think white gives you Judge of Currents as an anti-aggro tech card plus solid non-creature spells. You already have most of a Harpoon Sniper in mono-blue with Silvergill Douser, but I'm not convinced it's all that great since I don't know how many guys you can expect to have in play on average. Schoolmaster can be good if you have a lot of ways to tap and untap him, but so far you have...potentially Lullmage Mentor and attacking.

As for whether Kira of The Stygg is better...well, I guess it depends on what you expect to face. Kira is better versus control and burn-heavy decks while Sygg is better if you want to be blocking a bunch.

[Davran]

To be honest, I think white gives you Judge of Currents as an anti-aggro tech card plus solid non-creature spells. You already have most of a Harpoon Sniper in mono-blue with Silvergill Douser, but I'm not convinced it's all that great since I don't know how many guys you can expect to have in play on average. Schoolmaster can be good if you have a lot of ways to tap and untap him, but so far you have...potentially Lullmage Mentor and attacking.

As for whether Kira of The Stygg is better...well, I guess it depends on what you expect to face. Kira is better versus control and burn-heavy decks while Sygg is better if you want to be blocking a bunch.

Honestly, if I had to guess what I'd be facing off against most it'll probably be storm. I have a Radha, Heir to Keld deck that I also sleeved up and am pretty happy with in goldfishing and playing a couple of super casual games with the Mrs., but I wanted something that could interact on the stack if needed. I'm hoping that the Radha deck will be good enough as it's a blast to play, but I want this as kind of a plan B for my meta.

Maybe fish isn't the right approach to control in the format. I could go with GoST or something and still get the same suite of counters while having a more reliable clock.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Maybe fish isn't the right approach to control in the format. I could go with GoST or something and still get the same suite of counters while having a more reliable clock.

Why not Vendilion Clique and counterspells.dec? Wasn't that what dominated French 1v1 until Edric got printed?

Commander:
Vendilion Clique

Dudes:
Cursecatcher
Snapcaster Mage
True-Name Nemesis
Gilded Drake

Instants:
Memory Lapse
Repeal
Spell Crumple
Into the Roil
Complicate
Condescend
Cyclonic Rift
Daze
Dissipate
Hinder
Mental Misstep
Brainstorm
Flusterstorm
Spell Pierce
Vapor Snag
Counterspell
Disrupting Shoal
Echoing Truth
Mana Leak
Remand
Blue Sun's Zenith
Psionic Blast

Sorcery:
Ancestral Vision
Ponder
Preordain

Artifacts:
Vedalken Shackles

Enchantments:
Standstill

Lands:
Cavern of Souls
Mutavault
Mishra's Factory
Faerie Conclave
Tectonic Edge
Wasteland
12 Island

Sideboard:
Umezawa's Jitte
Chill
Propaganda
Curse of the Swine
Hurkyl's Recall
Relic of Progenitus
Spellskite
Threads of Disloyalty
2 others...

[Aggro_zombies]

No Commander damage means you have to attack two more times with Clique to kill them. It's a bit slow. Also, your mana efficiency isn't going to be great since most of your counters cost two and the average cmc of things you'll be countering is probably going to be 2.5 or so.

It might still be okay, but I'm not sure it's better than a combo-control deck like Ambassador Laquatus. It just...doesn't do anything unfair.

@Davran: GoST is really a Voltron deck. I tried GoST in Shu Yun and a naked Geist is just really, really irrelevant. He's super easy to block, two toughness means he's vulnerable to basically every playable sweeper, and he's also kind of slow. That said, GoST is probably the ideal Stoneforge deck.

[Davran]

No Commander damage means you have to attack two more times with Clique to kill them. It's a bit slow. Also, your mana efficiency isn't going to be great since most of your counters cost two and the average cmc of things you'll be countering is probably going to be 2.5 or so.

It might still be okay, but I'm not sure it's better than a combo-control deck like Ambassador Laquatus. It just...doesn't do anything unfair.

My thoughts exactly. You know...I actually have an Ambassador Laquatus somewhere around here. Somehow I completely forgot that card existed (let's be honest, no surprise there). Seems like an excuse to dust off the Hedron Crab too. I might have to start brewing...

@Davran: GoST is really a Voltron deck. I tried GoST in Shu Yun and a naked Geist is just really, really irrelevant. He's super easy to block, two toughness means he's vulnerable to basically every playable sweeper, and he's also kind of slow. That said, GoST is probably the ideal Stoneforge deck.

Yeah, I sort of figured that would be the case after reading your thread, which is why I didn't go that way right out of the gate. I see a bunch of crap on reddit and elsewhere about GoST being "busted" and "ban worthy", but I just don't see it. Not that anyone anywhere should base their deck construction theories on reddit threads, but still. The best thing you can do with it is Steel of the Godhead, which might get there I guess?

[Aggro_zombies]

Well, if you can dress Geist up he should kill pretty quickly since the main body will be doing some amount of damage and then the Angel is either hitting for an additional four or eating a guy every turn. GoST with SoFI is ten damage per attack, for example, assuming they can't block it (and as a 4/4, it survives a lot of single blockers). I actually suspect Geist is the kind of counter-control deck that Ace was thinking about; you run SFM with 3-5 equipment, then a couple auras that grant evasion, and then fill out the rest of the deck with counters and removal and just go to town on them. Blue-white gives you access to answers for almost everything in this format, with the exception of sweepers - I think you end up having to rely on artifacts and Ghostly Prison/Propaganda/Chill versus R/x aggro decks since otherwise they can race you and mostly don't care about your interaction.

[Davran]

Well, if you can dress Geist up he should kill pretty quickly since the main body will be doing some amount of damage and then the Angel is either hitting for an additional four or eating a guy every turn. GoST with SoFI is ten damage per attack, for example, assuming they can't block it (and as a 4/4, it survives a lot of single blockers). I actually suspect Geist is the kind of counter-control deck that Ace was thinking about; you run SFM with 3-5 equipment, then a couple auras that grant evasion, and then fill out the rest of the deck with counters and removal and just go to town on them. Blue-white gives you access to answers for almost everything in this format, with the exception of sweepers - I think you end up having to rely on artifacts and Ghostly Prison/Propaganda/Chill versus R/x aggro decks since otherwise they can race you and mostly don't care about your interaction.

There's always Engineered Explosives, though I think my anti-aggro tech in the hypothetical Geist deck would be Timely Reinforcements. Kor Firewalker and/or Auriok Champion also seem like they would do a lot of work while also being able to carry a sword or whatever. In terms of equipment, I'd probably run SoFF, SoFI, Runechanter's Pike and Bonesplitter. The aura package would be Steel of the Godhead and maybe a Traveler's Cloak or Unquestioned Authority.

[Davran]

Updated the list in the OP.

I put the deck together, and it's been playing pretty well. I switched the commander to Thassa early on in my testing, and I haven't looked back. I also shifted the spells around some from the original iteration.

I've been disappointed with Prohibit, so I'm looking for a replacement. I find that I rarely want to leave 4 mana open, and surprisingly the "default" version of the spell feels fairly narrow given the constraints of the format. Most things I want to counter seem to cost 3. Memory Lapse is a strong possibility, or maybe Negate. I also considered Forbid, but I'm not sure there's enough cantrips and other draw power to reasonably support the buyback.

I'm also debating finding room for Stifle.

The sideboard still needs some fleshing out, though I'm not sure what to include.

[Unassigned]

Here's the list I've been running and I absolutely love it. Wouldn't mind finding room for Disrupting Shoal, though...

Tiny Leaders General:
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

1 Tidal Warrior
1 Cursecatcher
1 Coralhelm Commander
1 Lord of Atlantis
1 Master of the Pearl Trident
1 Rootwater Thief
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Gilded Drake
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Merfolk Sovereign
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Wake Thrasher
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor

1 Ancestral Vision
1 Spell Pierce
1 Vapor Snag
1 Repeal
1 Spell Snare
1 Counterspell
1 Spreading Seas
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Daze
1 Military Intelligence
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Monastery Siege
1 Equilibrium
1 Hall of Triumph
1 Psionic Blast

1 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Mutavault
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
10 Island


Sideboard:

1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Declaration of Naught
1 Back to Basics
1 Lullmage Mentor
1 Grimoire Thief
1 Hydroblast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Propaganda
1 Glaring Spotlight
1 Capsize

[shaneswa]

Here's the list I've been running and I absolutely love it. Wouldn't mind finding room for Disrupting Shoal, though...

Tiny Leaders General:
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

1 Tidal Warrior
1 Cursecatcher
1 Coralhelm Commander
1 Lord of Atlantis
1 Master of the Pearl Trident
1 Rootwater Thief
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Gilded Drake
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Merfolk Sovereign
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Wake Thrasher
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor

1 Ancestral Vision
1 Spell Pierce
1 Vapor Snag
1 Repeal
1 Spell Snare
1 Counterspell
1 Spreading Seas
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Daze
1 Military Intelligence
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Monastery Siege
1 Equilibrium
1 Hall of Triumph
1 Psionic Blast

1 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Mutavault
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
10 Island


Sideboard:

1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Declaration of Naught
1 Back to Basics
1 Lullmage Mentor
1 Grimoire Thief
1 Hydroblast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Propaganda
1 Glaring Spotlight
1 Capsize

If you are running wake thrasher, you should find room for Mianmo, school at waters edge. It also has synergy in giving your legendary creatures pseudo vigilance.

[Unassigned]

If you are running wake thrasher, you should find room for Mianmo, school at waters edge. It also has synergy in giving your legendary creatures pseudo vigilance.

I'm keeping my non-basic count extremely low, because Back To Basics is a real back breaker in this format. I will look into your suggestion though.