[Deck] Merfolk

Thanks Fanattic, I've tried to think of the deck as more transformational in the instaces I have Chalice boarded in an feel I have a plan for which situaltions. I have a straight Chalice version too which seems good and those decks, like Donnally's have been winning. But I still have the sense that while I appreciate the Chalice builds straightforward brutality, it seems to have lost a bit in nimbleness too, which for a mono-blue deck is a sin. Times have changed and countering has been neutered somewhat, probably for the best of Magic overall. But like benthetenor said more or less, one shouldn't abdicate what blue is good at. Chalice is powerful and I use it in another deck too, but I think I want to try a more balanced approach first.

Merfolk

3 Tidal Warrior
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 True Name Nemesis
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Merrow Reejery
4 Phantasmal Image

1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Daze
4 Force of Will

3 Aether Vial

4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
11 Island
3 Wasteland

Side
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Dismember
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spell Pierce
2 Swan Song
2 Submerge
1 Echoing Truth
2 Grafdiggers Cage
2 Relic of Progenitus

What do we think about running challice mainboard?

What is SB planfor UR delver and burn?

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Originally Posted by thefreakaccident

What do we think about running challice mainboard?

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Originally Posted by 1esha

What is SB planfor UR delver and burn?

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:wink:

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Originally Posted by 1esha

What is SB planfor UR delver and burn?

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chalice of the void.

With my build of the deck, I didn't find UR Delver or Burn to require too much in terms of sideboarding. I would bring in Rest in Peace to blank their Grim Lavamancers (which will now coincidentally neuter Treasure Cruise if they play it) and then just put them in a position where my soft counters got something and it would be very difficult for them to win. I'd also bring in my 2 Jittes and probably the third True Name Nemesis since connecting even once with Jitte basically ends the game.

Basically, trade Daze and Spell Pierce for a burn spell whenever you can, and if they give you lots of time by playing around your soft permission then you're in a great position to just beat them. If they try to kill one of your creatures, they just took a turn, maybe two, off of their clock, giving you ample time to set up Jitte + TNN. I have never lost to any sort of burn deck in a tournament with this deck (and I've played against many), and I beat UR Delver in three games at SCG St. Louis. The only game I lost there was a turn 1 Delver that I Forced and he Forced back, but I won the match because they can't always have the nuts.

Considering the last top8 looks like this:
http://www.mtgpulse.com/event/17906#253506
6 of 8 decks are embracing their graveyard and other blue decks are starting to incorporate Treasure Cruise just because they can.
My favorite magic card is Relic of Progenitus, so I will think about upgrading Relic's bench warmer status.

Hi all,

I went 6-3 at the last SC Open in NJ with the following list:

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergil Adept
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 True-Name Nemesis

4 Aether Vial
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Dismember

4 Mutavault
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Cavern of Souls
10 Islands

Sideboard:

4 Chalice of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Pithing Needle
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Echoiing Truth
2 Back to Basics
3 Swan Song

I was happy with the 75, even though i'm sure many of you have different lists. I wanted to run Vial and Factory because I expected a lot of Miracles (played it twice indeed). I probably like Dismember more than the average, but they served me well. Added Daze and a 21rst land once I realized the impact of Mishra's factory on how games play out.

I beat all the fair decks I played against (counting a round I lost for accidentally drawing an extra card off Goblin Guide, even though my opponent could not beat the board), and lost to reanimator and infect.

Thanks everyone for keeping the discussion going and all their advice,

I can post more specific match details if anyone is interested.

Reading report would be nice :)

So now that treasure cruise is starting to get very hyped what do you guys think about running 1-2 in merfolk? We're probably not the ideal deck to be running it but in drawn out games it can help out a lot.

A Deck that doesn't play Fetches or Cantrips should absolutely not run TC. Grave is filling WAY too slow, and i think you rather want to see another beater from the top then a cantrip that requires a huge Delve you mostly will not be able to pay. Ponder>TC in Merfolk (if you even want to run this).

http://www.mtgq.it/liste-top16-main-event-legacy/
Not bad.
Thassa would be proud (she was even there :cool: and also had time to help modern deck top8 ).

We had a small legacy tournament the other day (about 10ish people), so probably not the ideal testing grounds. But some legacy is better than no legacy right?

13 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 True-Name Nemesis
3 Merrow Reejary

4 Aether Vial
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
3 Standstill

sideboard:
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 True Name-Nemesis
1 Pithing Needle
2 Dismember
2 Echoing Truth
1 Spell Pierce
1 Llawan Cephalid Empress
2 Kira, Great Glass Spinner

I played against the following:

2 - 1 Elves
2 - 1 High Tide
2 - 0 Goblin Stompy

Hopefully the next local legacy tournament will be a little larger. I would like to do some testing against some of the delver decks. I really liked switching back to the old wasteland/standstill lists, the standstills were helpful in almost every single matchup, same with the wastelands. But I didn't play exactly the most popular of decks aside from elves.

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Originally Posted by FANAttIC

http://www.mtgq.it/liste-top16-main-event-legacy/
Not bad.
Thassa would be proud (she was even there :cool: and also had time to help modern deck top8 ).

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Hi, would you approve playing this deck? Any changes you would have done to it? Cool to see Thassa there too :)

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Originally Posted by starchild

Hi, would you approve playing this deck? Any changes you would have done to it? Cool to see Thassa there too :)

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Hello.
This is final standings:
http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=14818

My deck is built to destroy all those decks in this particular top8, but who knows who he had to beat to get there.
There were 476 players so he obv did something right (and his name sounds familiar so he is probably an excellent player with suboptimal list).
Bottom line is, I am really happy for him and for our archetype, and I would not play his version :)

(my list is still somewhere on this topic, unchanged until I get crushed at important tournament)
Tnx for asking :wink:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FANAttIC

Hello.
This is final standings:
http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=14818

My deck is built to destroy all those decks in this particular top8, but who knows who he had to beat to get there.
There were 476 players so he obv did something right (and his name sounds familiar so he is probably an excellent player with suboptimal list).
Bottom line is, I am really happy for him and for our archetype, and I would not play his version :)

(my list is still somewhere on this topic, unchanged until I get crushed at important tournament)
Tnx for asking :wink:

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Aren't our matchups against the decks in the top 8 already relatively strong? I don't understand why you want to make our strong matchups even stronger. I guess the weakest is probably something like dredge and sometimes deathblade but wastelands are so good in this matchup. This is the correct list you are using right?

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Originally Posted by FANAttIC

12 Island
4 Mutavault
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Wasteland

4 Æther Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte

3 Cursecatcher
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 True-Name Nemesis
2 Vendilion Clique

4 Force of Will
2 Daze
2 Spell Pierce

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Correct.
You are right, but i also believe that Miracles, Blade variations and a few Combos are the best decks in legacy. We are good against them, I want to beat them senseless.
I concede my percentages in other matchups to have a chance in spiking a tournament (if my "end boss" prediction is valid).

Things like Treasure Cruise could change things (even me jumping "ship" to UR Delver since that is my second favorite deck), like Chalice of the Void gaining some ground (burn, delver and elves are good choices at this time).
Those three decks are probable reasons why Miracles is crushing events with stupid Counterbalances and there are no "us" in numbers to punish them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FANAttIC

Hello.
This is final standings:
http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=14818

My deck is built to destroy all those decks in this particular top8, but who knows who he had to beat to get there.
There were 476 players so he obv did something right (and his name sounds familiar so he is probably an excellent player with suboptimal list).
Bottom line is, I am really happy for him and for our archetype, and I would not play his version :)

(my list is still somewhere on this topic, unchanged until I get crushed at important tournament)
Tnx for asking :wink:

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Thank you for your confirmation! Means a lot! Cheers!

Someone botched his last name. It is Romanchuk.
Quick search tells me he top8-ed a legacy GP last year and he plays this deck since 2009.
I knew he sounded familiar.

For a long time, we've been talking about how to solve our card draw woes. Could Treasure Cruise be part of our answer suite?

I'd love to see if a brainy merfolk build running fetches and brainstorm could feed treasure cruise. The main issue I have though is that I literally don't have room for it since my build only has 4 flexi spots and brainstorm would take that up.