How many Jittes do you like? One in main and one in board? 2 or 3 Chalice?
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How many Jittes do you like? One in main and one in board? 2 or 3 Chalice?
I personally have 1 Jitte main, just to have something to search for against Blade decks. There is no room for two.
There is one Jitte in the side if I predict a need for it, but mostly just one in 75.
3 Chalice in the main since I believe legacy is centered around one mana cost spells.
So, I have a question. Why isn't this deck running fetches and brainstorms? I only ask because I have a big problem with drawing lands, vials and other junk late game. I feel like adding brainstorm, the most powerful card in legacy, mitigates this problem quite a bit while giving it consistency. We still play mono colored, making us much more resistant to wasteland, just add fetches and brainstorm. Am I missing something?
Because it makes the deck worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeshimoji
More helpfully, Brainstorm is used to search for specific answers (Miracles) or combo pieces (TES) or to help fix multicolored mana needs (Delver Tempo) or to build the yard (Goyf/Deathrite/Dig through Time) or to build Storm count (combo). We're not doing any of those, because Merfolk generally runs full playsets of generally-applicable cards. Merfolk do damage, counterspells counter spells. You don't need Brainstorm to give you consistency when you start off consistent to begin with.
Sure you could add Brainstorm, but you're spending a mana to see the same fish you would have seen anyway. Sure you could add fetches, but you're just opening yourself up to Stifles, nonbasic hate, and extra damage from fetching.
Much more helpful, informative and well thought out. I see and do agree. I was just seeing benefit of being able to ship away un-needed chafe like dazes, forces and lands late game for the few fishes we need. I guess, that is too small of a benefit for the cost.Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbysdl
I ran Brainstorms for a very long time. I don't think that it actively makes the deck worse, and there are a few situations (particularly post-board or dependent upon how you build your deck and sideboard) where Brainstorm is a really strong card even here, but I stopped running them mostly because I'd rather run an extra Spell Pierce, an extra creature, an extra Standstill, etc. You can still run the same virtual numbers of those cards with Brainstorm, but I've just found over many hundreds of test games and tournament games that sometimes you just need to have a third Spell Pierce, for example.
I will say that I will probably never run Merfolk without fetchlands. It gives me the ability to run 21 lands to make opening hands more keepable and consistent and to more consistently hit UU, but to also reduce the average number of lands drawn later in the game. Well worth 2-3 life a game in a deck that otherwise doesn't care about it's life total. This is not theory, and it's not my feelings on the matter. It has been proven over two years of consistent testing and tournament experience. It was easy to justify when running Brainstorm, but without, the only reasonable way to justify that is to run a splash. But then I've also almost always found a splash color that solves an issue with the metagame. Right now I'm on two Volcanic Island for Electrickery out of the sideboard, which solves Elves and Death and Taxes, two traditionally very difficult matchups.
I would not say that Brainstorm isn't worth running or experimenting with, it just ultimately dilutes the deck a little bit, which usually means a poorer sideboard. But it absolutely does provide even more consistency, and I found over two years of running it that the best thing it does is exchange dead cards for Lord of Atlantis to give you enough punch to finish some games. But if, for example, you find yourself leaning hard on a card post-board in a matchup (or better yet, a few different cards in a few different matchups) and you don't have the sideboard space or have other considerations for not playing it as a 2-4 of (which is often the case in Legacy), then Brainstorm is a great card to help you see those cards more often over the course of a tournament.
With the red splash for electrickery out of the board, have you found any room for any lightning bolts main?
The room is there, the issue is that most of the situations where you'd want a Lightning Bolt is against a deck that has Wastelands, so I just run Vapor Snag which could be wrong. Fetching out a non-basic isn't a huge deal but it's kind of silly to fetch non-basics against a deck with Wastelands when you can get a lot of the same functionality out of a blue card.
My splash red choices, based on theory or practice, are blanket effects like Electrikery, Sulfur Elemental, Sudden Demise, Pyroclasm, Blood Moon and utility Izzet Charm (depends if I am playing legacy or modern).
Lightning Bolt was never in it. Great spell of course, but not something this deck needs.
Merfolk just top8-ed Scandinavian Open #5.
I don't have more information than that.
http://www.svmtv.org/
I would argue that there are a lot of instances where Lighting Bolt would be great. It's a winner against Elves, and is very strong against Mother of Runes if the timing is correct. It kills Delver of Secrets and Stoneforge Mystic, both creatures that often require an immediate answer. It picks off utility guys like Dark Confidant and Deathrite Shaman which will take over the game if left unmolested. Kills Grim Lavamancer, kills Infect creatures (with proper timing, of course), kills Plainswalkers. There's really not much it can't do, and for a single mana it's a tremendous utility spell, and it can't even be red-blasted. The only issue with is is whether or not you'd be comfortable fetching out non-basics against every deck in the format, which is largely a personal choice. I usually find Mutavault to be the prime target for Wasteland, so a heavy splash has, in practice, been no less stable than a light one.
If I were playing a heavier red splash, I'd have 4 Volcanic Island, 2 Island, 7 Fetches (which is the reverse of what I'm playing now) and I'd have 3-4 Lightning Bolt main and Shattering Spree in the sideboard, along with some other stuff. And that very well could still be correct, I'm just trying to see if Vapor Snag is good enough in most situations, which also gives me the utility to answer a Batterskull token, Tarmogoyf, a Dark Depths token, and Knight of the Reliquary. It's terrible against Elves, but against pretty much everything else it seems to be a solid answer that buys me 1-2 turns to beat them.
Hello everyone! After reading this forum for a few months I finally have something to post. So this is my first post.
A little bit of background information. I was playing MtG in the glorious 90s - started from the Fifth Edition in 1997 and completely stopped playing with Odyssey in 2001. The epic story about Urza and Mishra was over and I also had some changes in my life, so I sold out all my cards and forgot about MtG. However, a couple of years ago, out of nostalgia, I started buying some old cards. And to make a long story short, a couple of months ago I started playing MtG again. Legacy basically was the only reasonable option for me. I’m still adjusting to the new rules and environment, miss “damage into the stack” and “mana burn”, but c’est la vie.
Why Merfolks. When I was researching the current metagame and decks available I had two constraints. First, I always played mostly mono-blue control or combo decks, so I decided to stick to my old habits and stays with Blue. Second, I didn’t want to spend much money and specifically on the duals. I know, it sounds funny, because “blue” and “cheap” are basically antonyms in MtG. Nevertheless, I found this thread and built a decent deck:
//Main
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Tru-Name Nemesis
4 Phantasmal Image
4 AEther Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Stifle
1 Echoing Truth
//Lands
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Mutavault
13 Island
//Sideboard
SB: 3 Cursed Totem
SB: 3 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Chalice of the Void
I am not the best player and am still learning, but definitely think that the deck is not a real blue deck. It reminds me more slivers (limited to only a few of them), than a real blue control deck. Nevertheless, it plays and sometimes plays well.
I attended a local Legacy event today with 15 players and in spite of some bad luck with mana, felt pretty comfortable with the deck.
Round 1: Draw 1-1 vs Some crazy deck with artifacts only and no colored spells
Game 1 – early in the game I was silly enough to let him play Metalworker even though I had Daze and he didn’t have any mana. After that it was very fast– two Wurmcoil Engine against my two True-Name Nemesis, but after he casted Ugin, the Spirit Dragon the game was over for me.
Game 2 – he mulliganed three times and didn’t have enough mana from the beginning. T1 I started from Mutavault and Aether Vial and he copied my Mutavault with his Vesuva. T2 I played Silvergill Adept to get more cards (especially something added from the sideboard), and he played Phyrexian Revoker naming Umezawa's Jitte, which was the least of my worries. However, he helped me greatly with Revoker and T3 I casted Phantasmal Image, copied his Revoker and named Metalworker. It was easy to win after that. And we were out of time for the third game.
Round 2: Lost 1-2 vs Elves
Game 1 – I mulliganed two times to have just some lands to start from. I was going second, and with only one Island in my hand I lost quickly in T2.
Game 2 – I sided in Cursed Totem and Chalice of the Void. T1 – Island and Vial. T2 – another land and Chalice for 1. Won shortly after that.
Game 3 – Had problems with mana again. He casted Thoughtseize in T1 and T2 to get rid of my Force of Will and Stifle. However, during the next several turns I was able to cast Chalice for one and some fellows, including True-Name Nemesis. He got rid of my Chalice quickly by casting some elf and shortly after that he went off and the game was over.
Round 3: Won 2-0 vs Miracles
Game 1 – I had a strong start put Island, played Vial, passed Daze’d his Sensei's Divining Top. Later I Stifle’d his fetch he cracked in response to me playing Lord of Atlantis and was attacking him aggressively with Merfolks and Mutavaults. There were Swords to Plowshares, two Counterbalance on the table, even Terminus in the middle of the game. However, a Mutavault with Jitte finished the game.
Game 2 – I sided in Pithing Needle and Chalice of the Void and casted the first in T1 on Sensei's Divining Top and the last in T2. So it was easy after that. He casted Snapcaster Mage and then another one next turn and I returned both of them to his hand with help of Echoing Truth. We were done shortly after that.
Round 4 – I just dropped because it was too late to stay.
Several thought about the deck and some cards:
Phantasmal Image – very versatile creature and helped me on occasions by copying 20/20 indestructible token and other nasty or utility creatures, not to mention my own True-Name Nemesis.
Mutavault – another star in the deck and helped on many occasions against Mother of Runes or Terminus.
Cursed Totem – extremely strong card against many creature based decks. Love it.
Chalice of the Void – perhaps, I will try to run it in the main deck, but there is no synergy with Aether Vial, the engine of the deck, Cursecatcher, and Stifle, so I am not convinced.
Augur of Bolas – I tried this fellow and had mixed results. On the one hand, I was able to get FoW when I needed it. On the other hand, there were plenty situations where a so needed land or another Merfolk were put on the bottom of the library. Not sure.
In general, there is no much space in the deck to add anything.
Questions.
Mana: I was without mana so many times today, so am thinking about adding one more Island. What is your experience with the mana base in the deck?
Card drawing: If anyone tried Augur of Bolas, what were your results?
I really would like to add some card drawing mechanics into the deck. Standstill feels like a deadweight. I tried Cold-Eyed Selkie, a significantly better version of Ophidian, but it is too expensive. For CMC3 I prefer the value that True-Name Nemesis adds to the deck.
Try Sygg, River Cutthroat instead of selkie. I like to play Vendilion Clique in 3cc slot along with TNN. I have never considered Augur. We don't have many instant / sorcery cards. Additionally Augur does not give us a tempo.
Try adding 2 Wastelands instead of 2 Stifle. 19 lands is never enough.
I would play Augur if we had 20 targets, but most merfolk lists have 10 max, so he is out.
Do you use Sygg, River Cutthroat instead of Silvergill Adept? Taking into account how many decks use fetch lands, Sygg can work pretty well. Sygg also works well with Torpor Orb.Quote:
Originally Posted by kubalonek
How many Vendilion Clique's are in our deck?
So it looks like I can chance my deck:
-4 Silvergill Adept
-3 Stifle
-1 Echoing Truth
+4 Sygg, River Cutthroat
+2 Wasteland
+2 Vendilion Clique
However, with less countermagic and no bounce spells, it can be tough in some matchups.
I've been wanting to run 1-2 Syggs, but wouldn't run 4. Silvergill's still awesome. Consider a 2-2 split, or dropping a copy of other spells. Some folks are dropping Vials and Dazes, for example. Clique helps ensure that you need fewer counters, and both Clique and TNN help proc Sygg.
Silvergill Adept is the only reason this deck exists.
Some things in life are a sure thing: death, taxes and merfolk decklists with "4* Silvergill Adept" line on them.
Who's dropping vials? :confused: It seems silly to run a number other than 4 or 0 vials when talking about most vial decks in legacy.Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbysdl
I'm not saying I agree with it, but it's been proposed to go to 3 in the MTGSalvation thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by CptHaddock
Guys, just try Whirlpool Rider - you will become less frustrated with additional Vials, lands, Dazes and other garbage.
Also, I would like to point out, that suggestions like removing some Adepts or vials turn the deck into a bad Bant. Want to maximize Nemesis profit? Add dorks and SFM, also pair him with Traft and make big beats starting from the third turn.
Merfolks were always about tempo, and now it's more like midrange. But in midrange, for example, Catchers are bad as we give plenty of time to an opponent to play around it effectively. By turn four real merfolks should be in a winning position, not making first attack with Nemesis.
Hi.
What you guys target with dismember? I'm using 1 Jitte and have 1 sided disember. Sometimes I just feel I have not enough removal.
Goyfs? Knights? DRS? I'm forcing lot of BGx and tier 2 decks. Any advices?
There's been some discussion of Dismember and Gut Shot at MTGSalvation, so I'd recommend looking there if you aren't already.
Clique can rip threats before they land, which can be effective, and can also help with Miracle cards and other problems. Maindeck Chalices also help against some of those matchups (e.g. BUG with high numbers of 1-drops). TNN can block opposing fatties like Goyf and Knight.
Goyfs, Knights and DRS are easily dealt with Relic of Progenitus.
You even draw a card instead of losing 4 life.
Hey guys I top 8 at 40 player tournament with Merfolk!
Here is the list :
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 True-Name Nemesis
4 Force of Will
3 Standstill
12 Island
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Mutavault
4 AEther Vial
2 Spell Pierce
1 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1 Cursed Totem
SB: 2 Sower of Temptation
SB: 1 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 Vapor Snag
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
SB: 2 Spell Snare
SB: 1 Divert
SB: 1 Dismember
This was my first real tournament with the Folk. At the start of tournament I set my Goal to go 3/3 or better!
First game VS. BURG
I am not realy sure how I kicked him out but it was relay fast 2-0 for me.
I boarded 1xDismember 1xDivert 2xSpell Snare 1x Vapor and Kira.
Next match vs BUG.
Ohh shit I hate bug and the player seems to know what he is doing in both matches I just got rekt....
I really hate the bug metchup I boarded ealy sure how I kicked him out but it was really fast 2-0 for me.
I boarded 1xDismember 1xDivert 2xSpell Snare 1x Vapor and Kira.
Match 3 Vs Grixis
He is on the play.
In the first match I let him resolve YP and and in the next round he striped me 4 card out of my Hand with Cabal Therapy (In one fucking round !) luckily I had one Loard on the board. After this I copied his TNN with an Image and the top deck God gave me a second loard from the top. After this I just beat him down with the FOLK !
I am not really sure how the second round was but it felt like the match vs Burg I just over run him with a bunch of loards.
Match 4 vs Jeskai..
Ok this game was just weird..
First game he wins the dices roll.
First hand 2 man lands an no other land or vial.. Ok mull.
He mulled with me.
Second hand 1 man land and no vial again.. Ok mull.
Look over to him he looks unpleasant and mulls to.
Third hand just saw Vial+man land I bust out KEEP ! After looking i saw a lord, Tnn and a SP
Mulled two extra time until he was on 3.
This game was really fast diced for me.
Second Game I kept my 7 and he mulled on 5.
Killed him really fast again with a bunch of lords.
Match 5 vs Sneak Show !
I know what he was playing. He played next to me in round 3 and I admired his sweet guru lands.
My and was not really Creature heavy hand 2 factory's, Image Standstill,Island ,Silvergill Adept and I think a SP.
Keep it and he his 7 to.
Btw he won the dice roll (I didn't won a single roll now)
I had my strict game plan try to stick my land close it with Standstill an beat him super fast down!
This plan was relay good until he went on 4 live playing his Show ,cracking my Standstill I found no other counters in the still. I try to SP his S&T he FOW it . Ok I look at my hand thinking what I can do. I wasn't sure what he is playing Sneak show or Omni.. In the end I sicked with the plan put the Adept in try to find a counter for his next spell when he puts in Omni. SNT reosolve he resolves a Grissel and i my Adept (drew a Island with him). He passes the turn.
I think what I can with an Grissle. My factory's can't run him donw... Looking at his live ohhh he is just at 3Hp. Play a lord in giving my guy island walk and just kill him. This was easier than I thought.
I board in Needle, Sower of Temptation, Echoing and Divert.
Draw my 7 and see a God hand 2 Forces a vial manland and some folks..
He starts with Ancient tomb + Petal = Vedalken Shackles. I fow.
I play vial + man land giving him the turn.
He plays a Ponder and after this a Needle... STOP FOW time.. at this point he was really pissed how its possible that i have such a good and so on.
After this vialed in a curse catcher and loard and killed him prety fast in the next 3 rounds.
I am standing 4-1 that's pretty good for the first time folks checking my possible enemy's: My friend Max with BUG ( I really hope I wont get paired vs him. He rely knows how to play this deck). A guy with ANT (he gave my firend with BUG the first lost and he know what he is doing to) but i am ok with the MU and a guy with Miracles ( i am fine with the MU too)... Checking the parings fuck it I have to play VS Max with BUG :cry:...
I win the dice roll for the first time !!
I keep my 7 but it was not a super good and but i dont want to mull.
I don't know how but he destroys me fast.
Ok Game 2.
Keeping a Hand with Vial man land a bunch of folks.
Playing vial go
He plays a land into somthing( I think it was Delver) and says go.
Drawing another vial play it and passing the turn.
After the second vial draw I know the game sould be won.
I just flood him with folks and kill him.
I made my first mistake in this game.
He plays Disfigure on my Image I react with SP.. He sits there with a big evil grin on his face saying OK i put the sp in the grave he his Disfigure.. I say go.. he is looking at me and asking: "you dont want to put he Image in the grave to?" In this moment i realize how stupid I was :cool: !
In the third game he just rekt me...
Going out with 4-2 placing in the top 8.
I think I really have to improve the SB. Mostly vs BUG losing both games vs it
I think about:
- Tormod's Crypt
- Cursed Totem
- 2 spell Snare
- Vapor Snag
+ Relic of Progenitus
+ Back to Basic
+ 2 Submerge
+Dismember
thanks for the report, congrats on the top 8
I personally find BUG to be a very good matchup overall (haven't lost a match in a sanctioned event against it for over a year). I have always at least 3 dismember in the 75, and that is very good here. Save for the turn 1 delver (which I like to FOW when I have it), it's really hard for them to pressure you. Their removal suite is somewhat conditional, and their answers don't always line up well with your threats. In post-board games, I recommend playing around disfigure with Image by copying either TNN or adept if you can afford it. If you think they have decay, copying a manland could also be good (and remember that factories protect mutavault from disfigure). Try to keep your manlands around until they play liliana: they are good at killing her on the turn they play it and can save a TNN from her -2 if needed. In post board games, try to play around Golgari charm when possible.
Do others have the same experience than me?
Also, when you rather have vapor snag over dismember in your board? Beyond Griselbrand and burn, what is it better against?
I was not sure about Sygg, River Cutthroat at first, but now I think that he works well with the opponent's fetches if he comes early in the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by kubalonek
Vendilion Clique is a cool flyer and protects us from Miracles (the major reason I have several Stifle). But it's pricey.
Augur of Bolas did not work well for me for the reason you mentioned - there are a few targets for him and he was giving me counters a few time, and the rest of the times he was taking away from me three good cards.
I a, still adjusting to Merfolk and part of the problem is that I am playing the deck as it were a control deck rather than aggro one. Sometimes I have a feeling that I could play it without any counter spells and, perhaps, even with better results.
Whirlpool Rider is an interesting idea. What is your experience using him?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dziga Murnau
Can you please expand on this a bit? It is not clear for me what you were trying to say. Perhaps, because I don't understand what you meant by "dorks" (there is only one blue merfolk with mana ability - Sea Scryer) and "Traft".Quote:
Originally Posted by Dziga Murnau
The Augur math seems pretty easy to me. My sig demands a sacrifice, yet he's inferior to Silvergill Adept and there isn't enough room for both.
And you're right, most times you'll be the beatdown. If you want to play control with 20+ creatures, take a look at Death and Taxes. :tongue:
EDIT: Pretty sure I'd sooner run Waterfront Bouncer than Whirlpool Rider. And he's suggesting that you might as well play another deck altogether if you're moving in that direction (of fewer vials etc). That said, not sure I'd agree that Merfolk are about tempo in the current sense of the tempo archetype. Tempo decks land an efficient threat and protect it to victory. We're like Meathooks: swarm-based aggro-control.
Very interesting build. Several questions about your choices.Quote:
Originally Posted by RiverCake
Merrow Reejerey - does it work well for you? I found him rather CMC-wise expensive and his second ability doesn't help much since ideally we should use Vials to bring more folks. So I took Reejerey completely off my deck.
Standstill - I'm still unsure about this card. Basically, instead of moving forward, it can hamper us. Especially when we don't have any Vials on the table and the opponent plays some slow combo. Have you tried Saprazzan Heir? I understand that she is easily killable and doesn't provide an immediate result, but can serve as an unblocable runner for a while.
Mishra's Factory - very interesting idea. This land looks very powerful and works well together with Mutavault. Perhaps, will try 4 of these in my deck to be more aggressive and improve mana base. I currently run 19 lands with 4 Mutavaults and 2 Caverns of Souls and this is not enough. Cavern of Souls are not very helpful and I was thinking about adding Wasteland, but Factories look like a better option for an aggressive deck.
When I was playing 15 years ago, I usually played mono-blue decks with a few or no creatures. It was easy back then with Nevinyrral's Disk and Rainbow Efreet, or later with Powder Keg and mr. Morphling. So I know Blue color in Magic better than other colors and will stick to it for a while. And if I try something else, most likely it will be Black or Red :).Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbysdl
Bouncer looks like a good fit, though my limited experience tells me that this are not creatures that I usually would like to bounce, but things like Ensnaring Bridge or Moat. And creatures like Griselbrand should not be allowed on the table at the first place. That is why I still like Vials, Cursecatchers, and Dazes. My ideal first hand should have all of them and Island.Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbysdl
However, if we want to be more agressive, I found an interesting guy Cosi's Trickster. Trickster is a good alternative to Cursecatcher in more controlling environments where you always have less counterspells and they always have some extra mana. So you can just drop Trickster and let them to grow it with their fetches and other deck manipulations.
Whirlpool Rider is ours Ancestral Recall. Just don't cast unneeded things like second Vial, Catchers when they can't catch anything, dead Dazes and lands beyond the first three. Of course you sometimes draw the same blanks but that's not too often.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chronatog
I meant don't play Merfolks to power out Nemesis, play Bant with Noble Hierarchs, Stoneforge Mystics and Geists of Saint Traft)))
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chronatog
The Meerow Reejerey are fine but they are the first guys I would cut out whene I have to :)
Some time a 13-14 lord are pretty nice. Yeah and the second ability is not very often useful.
I think Standstill is pretty powerful in this deck. They give you the extra card draw you often need. And so many opponents don't really know how to play vs it. The often waste to much time.
The Factory's are good to but I would only play a playset with the standstill build.
@Dziga Murnau What does your list with Whirlpool Rider look like? The thought of pairing it with the more conditional and polarizing Merfolk cards like Standstill is kind of interesting.
http://deckbox.org/sets/962489Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott
Sorry, just link, posting from the phone. Made for a friend of mine who shares my views on the archetype. Myself has little testing beyond cocatrice, so need someone who can really try that.
Thanks for the list.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dziga Murnau
After some discussion with the friend decided to put the second black mana source in main and remove Swamp from side. Second thing - +2 Virtue's Ruin in side against DnT and Miracles (just clears path to the victory).Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott
He said, main chalices destroys Brainstorm lovers completely and after counter war for it you are free to flood the board with Merfs.
Tests continue.
I think you've got a lot of really interesting things going on in that list, but I'm not sure that Baleful Strix is much better than just having more True-Name Nemesis. I recognize that they're not really doing exactly the same thing but 9 times out of 10 (basically, except for Delver of Secrets) TNN is going to do everything Strix will do, while also being a Merfolk and also just being extremely difficult to lose with while it's in play. I also don't think you can afford to have a non-Island basic land in Merfolk anywhere when many, many of your best openings include dropping multiple UU creatures over multiple turns, and also think you're going to want many more black sources if you're expecting to cast a sorcery-speed black card in the Death and Taxes matchup. I'd run 4 Underground Sea, 2 Island and 7 fetchlands and trim a Cavern of Souls to make room for fully 20 lands, which I think is the absolute least number of lands you can run when 4 of your lands are actually spells (Wasteland).Quote:
Originally Posted by Dziga Murnau
Also, if you're looking for a card to dismantle Death and Taxes in particular, Dread of Night is much, much better than Virtue's Ruin. The reason is because a 3-mana sorcery is very difficult to cast on-time against Thalia, Wasteland and Rishadan Port, and because it gets all of the cards you really care about. Their creatures are all terrible against an army of 3/3s and 4/4s when they can't have Mother of Runes, and you also get to take out all of the Thalias and Flickerwisps. The Miracles matchup is like 90/10 in Merfolk's favor (an exaggeration, but not much of one), so I don't think that's a reason to go with Virtue's Ruin over something more targeted against Miracles.
Thank you for the critics, it is very much appreciated, as I build and test decks in the abscence of any dialogue with other players.Quote:
Originally Posted by benthetenor
I was really worried about basic Swamp in main, but it works exactly like Mutavault you do not animate and attack with, so it's just a 5th "colorless" land in the build. 4 Seas is really interesting, how do you feel yourself opposing wastelands?
I think, I will remove beloved Strixes from main as 2-mana slot is too clogged. Snuff Outs/Dismembers instead (though they are open to Pierces). It's just too much card advantage for the format where card quality is so much important than card quality)
Dread of Night is considered and currently in test.
I can see that with the Swamp, and it was my first thought when I realized that you didn't have any colorless lands in the deck aside from Wasteland. The thing that I've noticed about fighting against opposing Wastelands is that the card is so powerful that it can color-screw you even if you're fetching basics. Meaning that fetching basics can still lead to a sub-optimal set of lands that can heavily prevent you from casting your cards on time. I prefer blue duals when splashing with Merfolk simply because it gives you perfect mana when they don't have Wasteland, and when they do, it's really not that bad given that we have Aether Vial, etc. In my build with Mutavaults, Wastelands almost never target the dual lands, which is different from yours, but also there are a lot of times when I actively WANT them to use their Wastelands against me since I have Daze and Cursecatcher and Spell Pierce. Them choosing to Wasteland me effectively turns my non-basics into up to 4 more Wastelands, greatly amplifying the power of my soft-counters. It's also pretty bad for them to use Wasteland against us after we've resolved an Aether Vial. I don't hate the basic Swamp in a list without many colorless lands, though I think I'd try other things myself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dziga Murnau
I would do my best to include a 20th land, though, as unexciting as that is. In fact in builds with fetchlands and a splash, I usually try to have 21 lands, as it is slightly more likely that Wasteland will be effective against us, and as the thinning from the fetchlands will help reduce the odds of flood. I've found that 21 lands with 7 fetchlands and 6 fetchable lands lets me draw, on average, the perfect number of lands throughout a game, but that's obviously a feel thing and something that's difficult to prove. Having Mutavault in the deck also works as a mana-sink to turn extra lands drawn into damage.