Since your running stifle and somewhat of a mana denial package, I would play 4 wastelands and 3 mutavaultsQuote:
Originally Posted by schniggaz
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Since your running stifle and somewhat of a mana denial package, I would play 4 wastelands and 3 mutavaultsQuote:
Originally Posted by schniggaz
From playing the deck. The lord draw is one of the faster ways to win the game. If you have a few lords out, and keep vialing them out, your probably going to win.Quote:
Originally Posted by pi4meterftw
Empyrial Archangel and Inkwell Leviathan are immune, and Iona is somewhat resistant (Vial notwithstanding). Also, it's not unlikely that your opponent will have seen your hand, so he won't stumble into Blazing Archon or or Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Drake could be a good surprise, but there's also a lot it can't touch. It's a great EDH card.Quote:
it seems to me like Gilded Drake might be worth reevaluating, especially in versions of the deck that run a few bounce spells somewhere in their 75. Thoughts?
If you want to beat reanimator for sure, play 4 Faerie Macabre is sb.
However, Gilded Drake is something, that can improve games with zoo. For a long period I was playing mono-U faeries build, that included 2 GD + 3 Snap package (with 1 more GD in sideboard). Combined with Submerges, that was quite a beating for zoo after side. This could be something to consider for merfolk decks in creature-heavy metagame.
Reanimator is a problem. I usually lose a counter war because they won't try to reanimate unless they have stuff to back it up. I think the best mono-blue answer for it is chalice on 1. They would have to stifle the chalice to get entomb off. Then you just save your counterspells for when they get Show and Tell.
Relic, Crypt, Macabre, and Leyline would work too I guess
With Chalice at 1 they're clearly not going to be casting Stifle on the Chalice trigger. :smile:Quote:
Originally Posted by Bahamut056
If Reanimator resolves Show and Tell, or Exhume, or Reanimate, Merfolk is just dead if Reanimator has any kind of life total left. The good news is, they only get a couple chances to wind it up. Spell Pierce and Faerie Macabre supplement your native disruption package of Cursecatcher/Daze/Force of Will. You can take out things like Jitte, Echoing Truth, and Standstill.
Faerie Macabre rocks because of the theoretically-possible Vial, and the immunity to Duress.
Call me a huge noob, but what are the reasons why we dont run brainstorm if we splash green for goyf?
"Brainstorm with Fetches" is associated with control-style decks that need to dig for silver bullets. Merfolk is relatively homogeneous, so Brainstorm doesn't add tons of value.Quote:
Originally Posted by Svenanole
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by chysn
And also, playing a Tarmogoyf and following it with a Standstill has a lot more sex appeal than most any play you can make with Goyf + Brainstorm. And since enchantments are harder to get into the graveyard than instants, 'Still has a higher likelihood of pumping Goyf than 'Storm does.
Having said all that, I still think there are more reasons to splash white than green.
Agreed. I think Merfolk has more to gain by splashing a color that gives it access to solid removal, than it has to gain by splashing a color that gives it another beater. I could even see splashing black for removal + confidant.Quote:
Originally Posted by DukeDemonKn1ght
That said, staying with monoblue, have you guys given any thought to Ovinize as removal against creature heavy decks like Zoo. They attack or block with a 4/5 goyf, 5/4 Thoctor, or a 5/5 tombstalker or 12/12 dreadnought or whatever, you Ovinize and block it with Cursecatcher. I'm curious, is it possible to sometimes use Ovinize to save your own creatures from removal as well?
Anyone find they have a hard time with Preacher?
I could definitely see him being a problem. However, you could always try to save a counter for that ish. Or splash white for removal. (although I tend to answer a lot of questions by suggesting that.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Oceanus
@Jon Stewart: Ovinize would definitely be better than Snakeform in this deck actually. Because the 1 power can kill a good bit of our creatures sometimes, and two mana is easier to get than three in a deck that runs 20 lands. It seems decent, but I'm not entirely sure. Against Zoo or something like that, I'd rather hit it with Threads of Disloyalty or Mind Harness. And it doesn't work against a lot of the big baddies that Reanimator would drop against us, which is really too bad just because of how fucking hilarious that would be. I think it was suggested a long time ago, but I don't recall hearing anyone actually testing it.
K its official, I tried to give some of you guys the benefit of the doubt.... I ran some tests with the new commander and he is horrible. If you are running him you are just bad, he is way to slow. You tempo yourself right out of the game. I really hope all my local Merfolk players read this thread and take out their sovereigns for this guy. Can't wait for them to level up 4 times at sorcery speed so I can swords him.
I also hope they run the full set of stifles and spell pierce so I can drop lords and swing for the win. Along with serji Merfolk (sp) and all the other jank people are suggesting in this thread
Mike if I see that card in your deck we are not friends... :0)
So, I'm about to switch from Reanimator due to being unable to finish Reanimator. I used to play it a few months ago. So, this is the current list that I am planning on running.
Creatures
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergil Adept
2 Merfolk Soverign
2 Wake Thrasher
Spells
4 Force of Will
4 Standstill
4 Daze
2 Echoing Truth
Artifacts
4 AEther Vial
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands
12 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
Sideboard
3 Hydroblast
3 Spell Pierce
3 Submerge
2 Threads of Disloyalty
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
Two questions:
For the mana base, I know that most builds try to run 13 Island. Do you suggest 3 Waste and 4 Mutavault or 3 Mutavualt and 4 Waste?
Not many lists currently run Spell Snare. Would you suggest running it as a 3-of and do a bit more tweaking?
I've found him promising so far. However: if you level him up when you could otherwise do something else (e.g., drop another creature), then you will tempo yourself right out of the game. The key is to treat him like a 2/2 and level him when you literally can't do anything else with the mana. Run some more tests playing him like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by SlopeeJ
I have only tested about 4-5 games against Zoo but Coralhelm Commander has been really good for me so far. He regularly gets in for 10-15 damage just by himself. But like I said, this is from a really small sample size so I have no idea if this is normal.
At the very least, he eats removal for a lord. And yeah, never level him up in lieu of whatever else you were gonna do. But most of the time, if I'm leveling him up then I was really just gonna use vial to drop another dude and not actually use the mana anyway.
But I'm not sure if I like the fact that he doesn't get along well with Jitte and Spellstutter Sprite (although Sprite can just use vial I guess). (Yes I really like Sprite that much, it's gonna be hard to convince me to stop running it.)
My current list if anyone cares:
Land (20):
11x Island
4x Mutavault
3x Wasteland
2x Riptide Laboratory
Creature (24):
4x Cursecatcher
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Spellstutter Sprite
4x Merrow Reejerey
2x Merfolk Sovereign
2x Coralhelm Commander
Spells (16):
4x Aether Vial
4x Daze
4x Standstill
4x Force of Will
SB:
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Relic of Progenitus
3x Hydroblast
3x Spell Snare
2x Echoing Truth
3x Submerge
I've been thinking about adding in Seal of Removal somewhere in the list, either cutting a couple of things MD or replacing Submerge in the side (since Seal fulfills the same purpose). Also thinking of cutting 1 Sprite for either another Island or another Coralhelm.
I agree with chysn. If you only level when there is nothing else to spend the mana on, he is fine. Mid/late-game he's the guy I want to draw the most, as I might have 5 land sitting there being useless, and 4 mana (or 2 + vial @ 2) for a 3/3 (more with lords) flying merfolk is good.
I don't run Spellstutter Sprite, but I do run Jitte; and Coralhelm Commander gets along just swell with Jitte. Others have mentioned this, but I don't see where the conflict is. Is it the crushing choice of having two things with activation costs? Given the choice, you usually equip. In most circumstances, you only level Commander when you have nothing else to do with the mana.Quote:
Originally Posted by dyzzy
Coralhelm seems solid IMO. By himself he's a threat, with evasion. Someone mentioned that having flying is stupid when you have islandwalk; well, not all decks have islands my man. Also, you can't always rely on LoA to be in play considering he has the biggest target on his back of any creature in the deck.
Late game, a 4/4 flier can get there, especially since he's out of bolt range and pumps your Mutavaults. He's def worth a test.
And Ovinize won't save you from removal. Their P/T change, not the actual card so it wont fizzle.
Edit: and the fact that his level up cost is colorless is epic; makes Muatavault and Wasteland very happy.
I've tested Sejiri, while it's not THAT good in a lot of situation, it's pretty nice versus goblins, merfolk and kitchen finks. I've only played it because of my metagames contains a lot of merfolks.Quote:
Originally Posted by SlopeeJ
Personally, for merfolks, I'm leaning toward Crippled Fishes, which seems in a LOT of playtest the best version avalaible pour most of regular match ups. 4xSpellstuter Sprite, 2x Vendillion Clique and 1 Riptide laboratory is pretty good.
im going to be playing in an unknown meta in a couple of weeks, any suggestions on what i should run for my list?
bring stuff for reanimator
would you suggest going all out and having 3 farie macabre in the board along with relics and crypts?
there is no unknown meta. You should have at least 4-6 cards for graveyard with 2-3 of those being echoing truth. You will need to fight zoo, counter/top, goblins, and maybe some combo, dredge, lands, reanimator. Goyf hate and bounce are important. Merfolk has a pretty good match main vs a lot of decks.
Hello,Quote:
Originally Posted by Svenanole
If your running a mono blue list your sb should look something like this.
3 relic of progenitus
1 tormod's crypt
2 spell pierce
4 hydroblast
2 ecohing truth
2 umezawa's jitte or 2 stifle
1 ?? or 1 stife
Hi, I'm new in this forum and just starting with my merfolk deck (played in 2 tournaments). Before merfolk I played Goblin (and still palying) so the tribal decks are familiar to me :smile: Okey I have played this deck with Tarmos and I think it's been great. It gives you more tempo against controls and more control against aggro. Only minus is that it don't have islandwalk :frown: situations I like it most is when you have Tarmo, FoW and one Fish in your hand. You can safely remove the fish for FoW and still you have Tarmo in your hand, which get along by oneself. I have noticed that you always need two fish if you want to something.
StoP is the only reason I have considered palying white plash. Sejiri is worse than Tarmo.
I palyed two tournaments without Brainstorm but now I have added to my list and it seems pretty good (need more testing).
What do you think about the Green plash?? My current list
Creatures
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord Of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Aether Vial
3 Standstill
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force Of Will
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Island
6 Fetch
4 Mutavault
3 Tropical Island
4 Wasteland
SB:
1 Relic Of Progenitus
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
3 Spell Pierce
4 Submerge
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Llawan
considering but Faerie Macabre in my SB.
@angel882
hello,
Splashing green for tarmo is nice but im not a fan of UG merfs, im not saying its weak or anything. I don't know whats the reason for you not to like Sejiri Merfolk in the white splash, 2/1 1st strike lifelink with the possibility of islandwalk if there is 1 loa in play and your upagainst island users.
Sejiri is nice agaisnt aggro race and at times are a must kill by your opponents because of lifelink.
Tarmo is tarmo and is a very solid creature for 2cc. At the end of day it all depends on your game play and preference.
I'm not saying I don't like Sejiri. But I think if it's compared to Tarmo, Tarmo will be better, or like you said more solid. Sejiri is nice and I would like to play it (maybe in the future) because I play Jitte. Tarmo is more permanent and hard to remove. For example in last turnament I was playing against Landstill and my opponent played Firespout which resolved and wiped my whole taple except Tamo :smile: I think it's partly a metachoice if you are playing UG or UW. UG is better against Zoo. If there are lot of Fish and Bant in your meta I would go with UW. On the other hand Tarmo is a good blocker against another Tarmo. I have noticed that when I'm playing Fish I don't want to block with Fish because usually if one is down they all get smaller :/ But I'm going to test Sejiri because it seems nice :smile:
Quote:
Originally Posted by angel882
The question is not whether Sejiri is better than Tarmogoyf, because it's rather obvious. The question is whether Sejiri and Swords is better than Tarmogoyf. All you get from the green splash is a big dude and the (shitty) sideboard card Krosan Grip.Quote:
StoP is the only reason I have considered palying white plash. Sejiri is worse than Tarmo.
Never forget amongst your card evaluations that Merfolk is a tempo deck. For this reason, cards like StP and PtE are counter to your main strategy. The new level-up lord is extremely counter to your strategy. Late-game considerations don't really make sense for this deck, as nothing you choose to include is going to beat decks that actually have real plans for that stage of the game.
In my UW merfs i run 3 stp 1 pte and 2 echoing truths.Quote:
Originally Posted by Malakai
I know stp and pte are bad at times but removal is removal and there are times in which a permanent solution is better over a temporary one.
That's true. But in my SB Grip has been good. I have sided it in mirror, because of Vial and Jitte and it has been great. You can break the Vial during combat when your opponent is trying to vial in some reinforcement. It helps you with enchantress which is pretty bad MU for Merfolk (I played against enchantress in last tournament and I lost, even I had Grips and Spell Pierces). I'm not saying that it is the best SB card, but for me it has worked well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Purgatory
Just a note on the g vs w splash : O-ring worked wonder for me in the sideboard.
Ugh, Oblivion Ring is awful! No, no. If you are going to splash, do yourself a favor and just stick to the basics.
Just wanted to say, that Coralhelm Commander has been AWESOME. It's much better than anything I could run in the flex slots, and has been winning games on its own.
How do you handle the fact that the leveling is sorcery speed? Wouldn't that cause issues with wanting to hold Stifles in hand?Quote:
Originally Posted by kicks_422
Other than that, he seems very good for merfolk and is ridiculous the longer the game drags on. A 4/4 flying Lord is stupid good for Merfolk (as if they didn't have enough Lords as it is).
I don't run Stifles. I play the deck very aggressively. The sorcery speed has never been an issue since the deck really doesn't need to cast anything on instant speed, aside from the countermagic which is free anyway.
So I drop Catchers and Adepts, they get swept away, but a lone Commander finishes the job for the team. The 16 (!) lords give the deck a lot of punch. Also, level up has good synergy with Standstill.
16 Lords now? No wonder this deck continues to be a tier 1 deck: it hoses FoW decks, it's got counters for combo and has Sliver like pump effects.
God damn fish.
So, how many Commanders should be in the deck? Would 3/3 split with Sovereign good?
My list in post 3501 is still what I run. 4 of everything.