I take out Vials because they are neither a dude, nor an answer to a dude.
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I take out Vials because they are neither a dude, nor an answer to a dude.
Adam, I like Vial in the Zoo matchup. It encourages Zoo to play their Pridemages.
Also,Yeah, pretty much this. A draw of two Stifles and a Wasteland can keep you ahead for the match.Quote:
While racing zoo sounds ridiculous, as they can goldfish a turn 3, it is surprisingly easier if you can destroy their manabase.
Stifle/Waste can keep their Nacatls and possible Kird Apes low, can shut off their ability to play multicolored spells like Pridemage early, and can even keep them off playing more than one card a turn. Daze is much more relevant and Firespout is virtually uncastable.
I'm not saying this is easy at all or in our favor, but this is the best I've done without completely overhauling the deck to add white.
Quick question. Since our primary goal is to keep people off their land, especially in matchups like zoo and goblins, would it make any sense to play something like either:
U Seas Claim: Enchanted Land is an island.
U1 Spreading Seas: When spreading seas enters the battlefield, draw a card. Enchanted land is and island.
I realize that these don't, at first glance, sound as good as Tidal Warrior, but the fact is that they aren't as fragile and potentially keep them off red mana even on your turn. SS obviously replaces itself, though it's a turn slower. In the mana denial strategy, might these two work in place of stifle? I realize they're bad against blue decks, but we win against blue decks already... The advantage over stifle is obviously that they hit basic lands, give your opponent an island for LoA, and don't require you to keep mana open.
I'm testing right now with 20 lands and 2 Spell Snares in the slot for Sovereign 3/4. So far it seems all good. Keeps Goyf/Pridemage/Lightning Helix/Jitte/Standstill/Daze/Goyf/Goyf/Goyf off of my ass (man, I hate Goyf when I'm playing Merfolk).
I have to agree that I hate Goyf when im playing Merfolk but I love it when im playing Zoo. :wink:
As for the Sea's Claim, im contemplating on using it because it solves the deck's weakness which is evasion plus it has that draw a card ability which makes it pretty solid. But if really had to choose maybe id rather put in Tidal Warrior because its a beater with the practically the same ability as the Sea's Claim.
Has the River Guide been talked about against Zoo yet?
I think the general consensus was that leaving mana open sucks. Kira does more unless they roll out a Fallout.Quote:
Originally Posted by lorddotm
Absolute Law/Mark of Asylum work better at protecting from burn than SRG or Kira though.
THe thing about Kira is that she cant give protection to block. Also, the Enchantments suck against Pridemages and whatnot
The whatnot would be anything in Zoo that isn't red, like Wild Nacatl, Tarmogoyf, Path to Exile and you already mentioned Qasali Pridemage (some people also use Knight of the Reliquary... only God knows why...). Leaning heavily on anti-red sideboard cards usually doesn't cut it against Zoo. Domain or Naya (incase of Domain you also get Vindicate and Dark Confidant). That's why I don't like Absolute Law, Chill or River Guide, because for the latter you basically need 2-3 open mana to protect 1 creature.
The best way to go against Naya Zoo, is the way Nightmare is tackling it: kill their threats by using white's cheap removal. Protection via Kira is the best you can get in this match-up. Zoo won't run Firespouts, so you're safe enough there.
Against Supreme Blue, you can't play your entire hand because of Firespout. But you still want to apply pressure. The only Merfolk that can apply pressure by himself is Wake Thrasher. That's why I suggest running Wake Thrashers over Merfolk Sovereign.
I was wondering if Finn and Adam could post their lists so the rest of us could compare and contrast them.
This might be off the wall, but if anyone's still playing the green splash for any weird reason, Steely Resolve is a fascinating sideboard card against Zoo.
Pridemage work that card pretty wellQuote:
Originally Posted by Tacosnape
Seems almost strictly worse than Kira, who can be played in mono-blue.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacosnape
Lorddotm, I keep the OP pretty up to date. My list is going to be pretty close to that.
BUT
I feel that these days I like a splash. Phoenix and I (and a few others) have been touting the value of monoblue Merfolk for awhile, and I think it is finally getting to the point that the deck is a victim of its own success in a sense. Monoblue is better against Landstill, storm, Canadian, and the mirror. But the format is changing because both Merfolk and Zoo have both taken a big bite out of a lot of decks that were good for so long, but Zoo beats that Merfolk deck soundly. Unless combo starts to show up in numbers (and it might if Zoo continues to gain popularity), Zoo will continue to chew us up.
Adam says that Zoo, and I gather Goyfsligh, are no longer a problem with his plan. I tried it more than a bit some time ago, but found that I did not want to drop the entire sideboard in because I really did not have room in the main. If that problem is no longer a problem, I can see this being true. But are we really willing to devote the entire sb for aggro?
Can you name a card that's not dead in the face of allegedly numerous burn spells and creatures? You don't just play jitte turn 2, equip it, and then keep equipping it. I don't see how anything short of zoo having a burn for every one of your creatures would stop jitte. (Or more generally a removal for every creature.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Finn
Unless you're playing it wrongly and allowing them to tempo you.
has anyone tried Psionic Blast? It nukes Goyfs and reaches for the win.
This is a list that a friend of mine has been running for a little while now, and he's been pretty happy with it.
lands//18
3 mutavault
3 wasteland
12 island
creatures//20
4 lord of atlantis
4 cursecatcher
4 silvergail adept
4 merrow rejeery
2 merfolk sovereign
2 wake thrasher
spells//22
4 aether vial
4 standstill
4 force of will
4 daze
4 stifle
2 umezawa's jitte
I think it is perfectly described as simple yet effective.
Since zoo has grown on it's popularity i'm currently running this build:
4 Cursecatcher
4 Cosi's Trickster
4 Silvergil Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Merfolk Sovereing
4 Force of Will
4 Aether Vial
4 Daze
4 Standstill
13 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Wasteland
4 Hydroblast
4 Spell Pierce
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Threads of Disloyalty
With this build we have bigger guys than any other tribal in magic. Eight turn 1 dudes that will grow like beasts, wild nacatl are like mouses now. It's my personal answer to Zoo.
I actually imagine Cosi's Trickster growing to 3/3 or 4/4 with all the shuffling effects zoo get from its fetches.
It still puts him within burn range but i would rather have him burned than the lords. I would still think that hes a terrible topdeck late game, but then so does Cursecatcher.
Would a Treads of Disloyalty on main be worth running if my meta is aggro oriented?
I apologize for the very late response, as I just now have gotten internet access again. Many thanks to those that helped with my problems with the Pox (B/r version) match up. However, I feel that his main decked card choices as well as sideboard, felt as if he put it there strictly against me.
One of the regulars also mentioned that sometimes when I am not present the guy talks smack about me. So whenever I play the guy now, I just play him with Ichorid.
But I'll keep playing around with merfolk against everyone else as the deck is very to play with.