Zoo is on the uprise again. NO Rug is widely played, which I believe ain't exactly a great MU. In Europe, GW Maverick is widely played, which is definitely a bad MU.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philipp802
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Zoo is on the uprise again. NO Rug is widely played, which I believe ain't exactly a great MU. In Europe, GW Maverick is widely played, which is definitely a bad MU.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philipp802
Hi,Quote:
Originally Posted by Philipp802
as for the top8 I don't know what to say, I can only suppose that you are referring to SCG open (maybe?). I'm Italian and SCG league don't matter much to me (no offence intended) since here the meta is different. I agree with Maverick being an harsh matchup and that is popular in Europe, but it is still winnable.
Also during summer people usually go to the beach or on vacation, so I wouldn't take too seriously the current top8s.
As for your deck, I think it's quite scholar: you have the "core" (20 merfolks, 4 FoW, 4 Vial, 4 Misstep, 3 Daze) and 2 Sovereing, 2 Dismember and 1 Daze in your flex slots. Given that your meta leans on creatures, the only change I would made is -1 Daze +1 Dismember since I'm not a fun of 2x in this deck (kira and sovereing apart, the former being a legend, the latter being "another lord") because it doesn't have tutors or deck manipulation. If you feel you need Dismember (or standstill, if your meta calls), play at least 3.
Greetings.
@ angel882 - I have been thinking about that guy too, I am playing a power event this saturday and I am gonna play 2 of him. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
how does this board look to you.
The flex slots in the MD are 2x phantasmal image and 2x echoing truths
here's my side
3x dismember
2x kira
2x llawan
2x energy flux
3x chalice of the void
2x spell pierce
1x ratchet bomb
how do you guys feel about this board? I took out all the grave yard hate, thinking that I have enough to counter and stop dredge as well as reanimator. Chalice helps deal with zoo's paths, chain lightning, lightning bolt, red elemental blasts, his 8-10 1 drops. Chalice would also help fight reanimator with the reanimate, careful study, brainstorm, entomb and such.
i know it seems ratchet bomb is out of place, but i can use it to fight dredge. or should i just replace it with another echoing truth. That would be 3 cards to fight dredge.
Leyline of the void kills mana-less dredge outright, and reanimator and normal dredge have a very difficult time removing it against merfolk. Crypt and relic both make it a favorable MU. If you're looking to shore up your matches against the aforementioned decks, I think you would be better off running straight graveyard hate. Echoing truth and ratchet deal with the tokens nicely (and ET has many uses from counterbalance to llawans) but they do not help against an iona in play.Quote:
Originally Posted by Avatar of Shadow
How good is jitte in merfolk? i tried using him and it seems like a mana sink to me. I need mana for the coralhelm commanders and to cast additional merfolks each time. When i have it in my opening hand, i rarely ever want to cast it over the merfolks I keep drawing.
I don't like Jitte in merfolk. Anti-synergistic with Kira, match ups that they actually stick on a folk is just win more (and you're wasting mana in the meanwhile), and match ups where you need the -1/-1 (like in Elves) or the life (maybe burn), removal/combat tricks invalidates it. You have no idea how frustrated I was (trying to) play Jitte vs. Combo Elves.
Actually Jitte works fine in Merfolk. The problem is that its competing against so many other good cards in those flex spots. Jitte is fine in those flex spots if you are expecting a lot of aggro. Then again, if you are expecting a lot of aggro, you should probably pick up a different deck than Merfolk.
Kira and jitte don't work well together; if you're MBing Kira then jitte probably won't work well in the SB.Quote:
Originally Posted by SageShadows
Also, combo elves is well...a combo deck and not an aggro deck (yes, it can often pack an aggro backup plan via archdruid, but that tends to be a poor avenue against merfolk). Personally, I find that combo elves has a difficult time winning without resolving a glimpse. Jitte does provide a bit quicker of a clock, but it is still a matchup that seems to revolve around glimpse, or around them assembling the 3 elf combo.
I do agree with Justin though, the decks jitte (except perhaps the mirror) excels against tend to be poor match-ups. At some level, if don't expect to see much aggro, you shouldn't play jitte. If you expect to see lots of aggro you shouldn't play merfolk.
Since the printing of Mental Misstep, I largely see mono-blue Merfolk like this:
Lands (20/21): Generally 12/13 island, 4 wasteland, and 4 mutavault, although some like to fit in a Mishra's Factory. I prefer 21 lands, personally.
Creatures (20): A set of Cursecatcher, Silvergill, LoA, Coralhelm, and Reejerey.
Non-Creature spells (15/16): Vial, FoW, Daze, and Mental Misstep, although you can probably get away with cutting a counterspell of your choice.
This puts Merfolk at 56/57 core cards and leaves only 3 or 4 flex spots.
Top candidates for flex spots: Standstill, Spell Pierce, Kira, Sower, Dismember, Jitte, or more "lords" (Merfolk Sovereign, Phyrexian Metamorph, Phantasmal Image).
Weaker candidates for flex spots: Echoing Truth, Stifle, Brainstorm (with fetches), Jace TMS.
Upon further reflection, it might not be a bad idea to use those flex spots to give some maindeck help against those tough aggro matches. The deck should still have a positive matchup against combo and control. It's not clear to me what is the best way to go about this against an unknown meta.
I wouldn't say Standstill and pierce are strong contenders for the MD flex slots. Standstill has been cut from fish lists ages ago, and pierce has earned its 3 slots in the board. Kira, Sowers, Dismember, and Clones seem to be the most popular. I like playing Dismember in the flex slot, since the MUs in which removal is good tend to be the ones in which you don't need Spell Pierce, and vice-versa.Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin
The only "combo" decks running about are NO/Prog decks and SnT/Emrakul/Hive Mind decks, and not so much storm combo. You have good tools to fight NO/SnT (up to 19 relevant counterspells), but often this will not be enough as they pack other MD strategies. IMO, Merfolk hasn't changed nearly as much as control decks (Landstill -> Blade Control) or as much as combo decks have shifted (storm combo -> SnT bombs) in the meta. Especially with Zoo and Maverick showing up in large numbers, fish needs more improvement to live up to its reputation before NPH.
.
Did you guys see SCG Boston. there are like 4 NORUG decks out there. How do we fight that deck?Quote:
Originally Posted by randomly.anonymous
There are also loads of Blade decks out there too.
so we will need both hibernation and energy flux in the board now?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avatar of Shadow
No you just switch decks. Unfortunately I'm only half kidding here, I love the fishies(my list is almost full japanese) but right now it is definitely the wrong choice for the meta. NO Rug gives us so many problems due to the red blasts/pyroblasts they run as well lavamancer. Progenitus is not particularly scary for fish but all those removal spells for one certainly are. Blade control is just as bad a match up considering if stoneforge gets through you pretty much lose, and they run more counter back-up then we do. If only one of these two decks were popular that wouldn't be too difficult to sb properly for but on top of that zoo is also on the rise in the states and GW maverick is getting popular over seas with people now pushing for it to get a spot in the american meta too (ari lax's article today).
Fish is a very solid deck but it is also unfortunately one of those decks that can succumb to being metaed out, I'd say at least until either stoneblade or NO rug goes on the decline the little blue men will have a very hard time seeing the top tables.
Rug shouldn't be a problem, hibernation and kira are just good vs them. Stoneforge is the problem, pretty broken card when they keep printing better equipmentQuote:
Originally Posted by Avatar of Shadow
13 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Wasteland
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Cursecatcher
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 phantasmal image
4 Aether Vial
2 Dismember
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
4 Mental Misstep
sideboard
3x chalice of the void
2x kira
2x llawan
1x dismember
2x submerge
2x hibernation
1x spell pierce
2x energy flux
How does this deck look?
I didn't really board for graveyard because cursecatcher, and other counters seems to be enough for dredge and reanimator. The counters i have is also enough.
What do you guys think? Or do you guys think there are too many overlapping cards
No graveyard hate will kill you, especially in Southern California. Cursecatchers can't stop Dredge completely, and Reanimator is horrible to go up against (though I do have an epic 40 turn game to talk about...) Take out the Energy Fluxes and the Llawans- both are far too narrow. What is chalice for? You don't have any sol lands, so it's going to come down late. I'd up the Dismember count. I haven't played with Hibernation yet, but here's my SB.
-2 Phyrexian Metamorph (Kills Jitte and the Legendary creatures, while functioning as a decent SGA or lord)
-2 Cursed Totem (helps with Elves, Grim Lavamancer/Stoneforge type cards)
-2 Spell Pierce (Good combo card)
-2 Submerge (I find that I need more removal against green based decks)
-2 Relic of Progenitus (Varied Grave hate is essential)
-2 Surgical Extraction (Varied Grave hate is essential)
-2 Dismember (I really like the dismembers)
-1 Mind Harness (For the lulz, I might just make this the third Submerge)
Give Hibernation a whirl and let me know how it is. For now, I'd definitely take out the Energy Flux and Chalices and probably take out the Llawans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SageShadows
ok how do you go up against blade decks?
The hope is that Cursed Totem and 4 Dismembers stop the SFM. It's not a good match up.
I just bought all this fish (had wastes and forces earlier) and after some testing this DtB seems pretty...weak.... What do you think guys, is it still competitive? Do you take it on a bigger tournament knowing there might be some Stoneblade?
Greetings