I would take out all Cursecatchers vs Zoo. On the play I would keep some number of Standstill in. But it will always be a bad matchup.
Against ANT: If nothing else, Relic cycles vs ANT. At best it keeps them off threshold for Cabal Ritual and it stops most igg plans (if they run igg). And Kira is worse then Sovereign vs ANT, no?
What is worth more in the Zoo matchup (on the draw) - Cursecatcher or Daze?
I was leaning towards Cursecatcher because at least you can block 4 dmg from an Exalted Nacatl or Steppe Lynx. Daze kinda screws your board development.
As far as 2 Dreadnoughts, It's been working out pretty well. I like the number at 2. 3 would be nice but I really like the rest of my list. 11 counters plus 4 stifles mainboard are just awful for people.
If the zoo player makes a t1 Lynx he will wait to see whether you block before he cracks his fetchland. Nonetheless, chumping right away is not a good strategy.Originally Posted by AcidFiend
Guess I need alot of playtesting agains Zoo. Thanks for helping. Probably a metagame call but I feel more comfortable with this deck than Dream Halls even tough the latter one has a much better matchup against Zoo.
I have one more question (sorry for spamming but it is better to ask here than to make mistakes at a big tournament). If you are on the play (or draw) and don't know what the opponent is playing how do you choose between your 1cc?
I would have guessed:
On the play: a) Vial, b) keep mana open for Stifle, c) Cursecatcher.
Do you agree or would you have done different?
On the draw against uncracked fetch = Stifle
On the draw against fetch, dual, Ape, Cat or something: Vial? Stifle? Curse?
I think the decisions depend heavily on the rest of your hand and the situation. Also, dont forget the other "1 drop" wasteland waste.
True. On the draw I guess I never would have played wasteland if he already had a threat in play (Wild Nacatl, Ape etc). But if he played non-blue dual or fetched for a non-blue dual and passed the turn I would always play waste. On the play I don't see a reason to play waste - go if I have either vial, curse, stifle or daze in hand.
Some general feedback: I like your maindeck list a lot actually, but the sideboard seems pretty random.
About the SB: first off I wouldn't run llawan or cold-eyed selkie. If you really expect to see that much of the mirror match and want something in the sideboard for it, I think there are better options. Wake Thrasher is ridonkulous in the mirror, for one thing. Threads of Disloyalty is also pretty damn good. And as much as I don't like to recommend folks to run Jitte in this deck, if you think about it Jitte is much more versatile than Llawan against other matchups(Goblins, for example), while usually still being as much of a game winner in the mirror. But unless the meta you foresee is jusb plagued by Merfolk and Faerie Stompy, Llawan seems pretty sub-par jus because of how limited her use is.
Divert is not worth the space, imho. Even though I own a set I bought just for tgis deck, I haven't found myself using them that much in testing, and other folks generally say the same thing.
Also, I'm not quite sure that two Hydroblast effects in the SB is enough. I'd go up to at least three, possibly four.
It seems like you want to play a pretty diversified sideboard, and I approve of that. But here's my take on the problem: This deck obviously doesn't have enough drawing power to support a "silver bullet sideboard" with a bunch of one and two of's. So the common impulse is to sort of 'split up' sets of three's or four-of's in the sb. For example you've kind of split up 4 hydroblast into 2 divert, 1 beb 1 hydro. But Divert is basically a card that's best in the early game, and you're still only pqcking 2 copies, ie yr unlikely to draw into it early. Meanwhile, there are times when yr going to really wqnt those extra 2 'virtual hydroblasts.'. For example, Goblins is an attrocious matchup that Divert does nothing against.
What I'm trying to get at here is that Merfolk wants a sideboard that is fairly redundant, so you can be more sure to draw into yr hate cards over the course of an average game. We draw extra cards with Standstill (when it works), and with Adept. That's not a whole lot, and also Standstill is good but it's not a terribly reliable draw engine (which I think is something that doesn't get discussed enough, but I digress.). Basically, when you build the sideboard for Merf, you have to be sure that the splits you make give you enough diversity, against a variety of strategies, while maintaining fairly heavy amounts of applicable hate cards for yr worst matchups (ie Zoo, Gobs, Rock, whatever you fear and expect to see.)
Anyhow, I hope these ramblings have helped out. ;)
EDIT: sorry for all the typo's, I'm writing this ona fucking ipod keyboard, qnd I really don't have time to correct them all. Lol
Bless your heart, we must consider Blue/White Tempo's strategy and win percentages in an entirely different deck thread. -4eak
I wanted to echo DDK's sentiments in that you can't go too toolboxy because you'll be hard pressed to draw mull/draw into your SB.
@ Goblins: I've tested BEB & Jitte but they can still overwhelm you plus they pack REB. Every deck has bad matchups and this is one I'm inclined to think is more effort than its worth to improve. Finally, no-one runs it in my Meta anyways. Thus I dropped BEB altogether. If my Meta was infested with Goblins, I'd probably run another deck.
There are a number of players building Merfolk decks however, so I'm going to take Llawan out for dinner and see if she gives it up. While Wake Thrasher is great in this matchup I agree, but when else can you side it in? At least Llawan can help vs. Bant/Faeries/bounce a Progenitus.
Lets discuss this then. Is there a better draw engine that a mono blue list has access to? My initial thoughts are Accumulate Knowledge or AK with Intuition. I don't think most lists have room for Intuition so we would be looking strictly at AK. How bad is it? I'm not saying we would cut Standstill, but run AK in addition to it. Thoughts?
As I was reading this I was wondering if you were trying to be funny on purpose.
-Andrew
I played ANT but I switched to the folk after the rise of combo. Merfolk is a living hell for the ANT player unless they resolve a first turn Xantid Swarm. The merfolk have no answer to a resolved Swarm unless they luck an echoing truth second turn.
Alright, guess the new merfolk has been spoiled, although unconfirmed at this point.
Seijiri merfolk? 1U
Creature - Soldier merfolk
As long as you control a plains, ~ gain firststrike and lifelink
2/1
36/145
Source
Worth trying to squeeze in for white splash? What to take out? Seems more like a white weenie card than merfolk. Reminds me of knights of the meadowgrain.
I played Merfolk but I switched to ANT after the rise of the first.
I can say that you're really overrating Merfolk against combo, because when I face Merfolk with ANT I'm always happy. Only 4 Force of Will and 7-8 Dazes won't do the job, especially because Merfolk does not flter its draws and often opens beatdown hands with light or non existing disruption. If a good Combo player knows what he has to do and to avoid against Merfolk, I'm sure he can pretty much beat the fishes.
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Avatar of kicks_422's creation and property
Not sure about this one. Sure, first strike and lifelink aren't half bad, especially when combined. Not to mention that its body is pretty good too.
But it just feels like this thing goes against what Merfolk was supposed to do in the first place: Be aggro-control, with control coming first. Sure, the white splash makes some matchups better, but also makes some match-ups worse and your manabase becomes that much more vurnerable.
That said, I'm going to test this guy for one reason: it's a nightmare for pretty much any aggro/mirror matchup, given you have at least one lord out.
Also, I'd take out the Sovereigns if I'm going to include this guy.
If you have Vial it's much better tempo to play it before you waste.
DukeDemonKn1ght: Thanks alot for big post, helped me alot, good luck with your ipod. I could go -2 Divert, +1 Submerge, +1 BEB that makes:
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Submerge
3 BEB / Hydroblast
3 Spell Pierce
2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress (+ faeries, progenitus, bant)
1 Cold Eyed-Selkie
If my opponent plays Show and Tell and we put into play a Prog and Llawan Prog will bounce right?
I have also tested a bit Mind Harness on MWS but it's so limited because stealing nacatl, kird ape is only getting me a 1/1. Goyf's are nice to steal tough. And Pridemages if they are tapped out.
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On the 2/1 first strike, lifelink for 1U if you have Tundra in play I like it. I won't include it in my build (monoblue ofcourse) but I guess it would be nice in a deck that allready runs white for swords and has room for it. With a lord in play this takes care for everything zoo have except from Goyf. Not bad :)
Looking a lot better. Please tell me how Llawan tests out for you; it's quite possible that I'm under-rating her. I'd still encourage you to drop Selkie for something else (maybe just a fourth copy of one of your three's-- I vote for Spell Pierce since it's probably the most versatile)... But this might just be my personal vendetta against Selkie. If you go back about a year or so in this thread you'll find me rabidly telling people that Selkie sucks and is ugly and whatnot, lol. But this was back when folks were considering her for the maindeck, and it might just be a knee-jerk reaction I have left over from then.
Anyways, speaking of mono-blue sideboards: Can someone explain to me why no one (and I mean no one) seems to run Pithing Needle anymore??
Bless your heart, we must consider Blue/White Tempo's strategy and win percentages in an entirely different deck thread. -4eak
here is a better '?': can you name 3 major matchups that it helps where other more accepted cards don't?
Do you like drugs?
Do you like sex?
Or maybe, you just like to get down...
To Purple Funky Monkeys!
I also dont get the point in playing needle.
REB > Lavamancer
Jitte > Jitte
Spell Pierce, Stifle > Explosives, Keg, Shackles
...
Probably the only thing:
needle > top
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