[Deck] Merfolk

[FANAttIC]

Played small tournament yesterday, 16 people.

I hate being a dog to elves, goblins, goyf, DRS, KotR and also drawing useless Islands, Vials and other atrocious topdecks (which we have many) later, so I remade the deck to this (not for a faint of heart) :

5 Fetches
3 Island
4 U. Sea
4 Mutavault
4 Wasteland

3 Cursecatcher
4 Adept
4 Master
4 Atlantis
4 Tidebinder
2 Baleful Strix
1 Dark Confidant
3 Reej

2 Brainstorm (no room for more and no room for bigger fetchland support)
4 Vial
3 Daze
2 Dismember
4 Force

Yes, I love Tidebinder Mage and yes, it is not allways great (or good), but so is Cursecatcher vs goblins or Reej vs storm, etc.
This build have 8 maindeck "removal" vs Goyf or Deathrite Shaman and that is a place I want to be (Strix is not for DRS obv).
Standstill is great when you are ahead and worse than blank (other than Force fodder) when not, so i tried other forms of draw.

Sideboard was:

3 Surgical (Punishing Fire, Loam, reanimator, ups all spells, High Tide...)
2 Relic
2 E. Plague
1 Perish
1 Dread of Night (death and taxes deck, Lingering Souls...)
1 Missdirection (Abrupt Decay, Hymn, Burn...)
1 Spell Pierce
3 Chalice of the Void (vs Burn, UR delver, High Tide... I am done losing to Bolts and ReBs and Pyroblasts, but still can not waste slots for Chills)
1 Echoing Truth (this and Relic are ALLWAYS on the bench, everything else is changeable)


R1 vs UR delver
That is my other pet deck, I know everything about this matchup. It is not great but he has Islands so...
He played more controlling version with Spell Pierces main.
I kept a hand with Wasteland, 2 Vials and random dudes. Since UR delver have no Wastelands because of Price of Progress I knew my only land won't be destroyed.
He Forced and Pierced the Vials but had no pressure so I had time. Once the lands kept coming so are dudes. He didn't have enough removal.
Game 2 I wastelanded him 3 times and that was that.

R2 vs Reanimator
He managed to Force through a Griselbrand but I had a Strix
They traded and he played Exhume
He drew half of his deck, Entombed and resurrected Iona (thank Thassa it wasn't Elesh, big mistake).
Thankfully I had Vial, so while Strix was playing with his monsters, other duders was islandwalking him.
Game 2 he Forced my Vial but Relic got through.
I never tapped out, played a creature here and there and amassed a critical amount of counters for Show and Tell.

R3 vs Punishing Fire Jund
When you play a game you know there is a Boss waiting down the line.
In my experience this is the final boss, Bolts are cheaper than lords, P. Fire can't be contained, Decay can't be countered, DRS "destroy" our Dazes, Hymn is brutal, Goyf is humongous, Confidant draws removal after removal, etc.
After sideboard there is Choke, ReB or Pyroblast and Engineered Plague. You can't build more hatefull deck.
Thankfully you can allways try to Wasteland that 3 color manabase into oblivion.
And that was game 1.
Game 2 he killed my lords, Decayed my Relic and his Punishing Fire engine was online. With 1 Goyf.
Game 3 he drew plenty of his one for one removal but I drew Adepts, Strixes and Brainstorms and managed to cross a finish line with few survivors. It was like Ninja Warrior Show.

R4 vs Dark Maverick
He Decayed my Vial and on turn 3 I had 3 lords and 3 Vials in hand (, "My kingdom for Brainstorm") with 3 lands in play. I choose tempo beatdown plan. Didn't get there. He had enough Swords and bigger creatures.
Game two I Wastelanded him into nothing.
Game three he had a Mother and DRS in play and he forgot to protect his Shaman from Tidebinder. That was match loosing mistake.
He resolved Mystic for Bskull, after I attacked with 2 lords and Tidebinder he obv tried to put Bskull in. Returned it with Echoing Truth.
Then I wastelanded his only white source. He didn't have enough blockers.

This win alleviates some of my disappointment in Theros not bringing any great Tritons to party. Only couple of "maybes" in Thassa, Master of Waves and Triton Tactics.

[zulander]

I'm liking this guy as a finisher:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attac...6&d=1378180911

[dwarshaw]

So I just played Merfolk to a T8 finish this past weekend at SCG ATL
I went 7-0-2 in the swiss, so I figured I would share my thoughts on card selection, give a quick tournament report, and provide some suggestions for what I would change.

decklist:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=59103

main deck:
1. my biggest problem with merfolk before was that the list had about 4 free slots that usually ended up as pre-sideboarded slots (jitte, kira, spell pierce, dismember). instead I decided to just run 3 gitaxian probes so you can draw your deck a little faster, are never stuck with dead cards, and get some free information. the 4th slot went to echoing truth which is versatile enough to be in the maindeck.
2. coralhelm commander is now unplayable thanks to abrupt decay. it is a six mana investment that dies way too easily now.
3. phantasmal image is significantly better now with the new legend rules
4. I would consider running 3 FoW main and one in the side if you don't expect a heavy combo meta
5. 1 cavern of souls is like aether vial #5 in some matchups, and was decent for me all day long allowing me to cast my lords without asking for permission. Only one cavern so as not to be vulnerable to wasteland and not make my dazes too much worse.
6. standstill was great for me all day, allowing me to regain some card advantage against the grindier decks, and keep up pressure while digging for FoW against combo. play it early and play it often.

sideboard:
in the games I won I hardly drew any of my sideboard cards so I can't say much other than
1. I wouldn't leave home without at least 3x graveyard hate
2. kira came out in one game vs RUG delver and was pretty good
3. tidebinder mage does not come in vs RUG since it only hits goyf. Submerge would be better in that matchup, but I like tidebinder mage better against all the other deathrite decks which tend to be slightly worse matchups

changes to the sideboard
1. the tormod's crypts should be surgical extractions, since except for manaless dredge, relic would be strictly better, and surgical is a more versatile card vs storm, intuition, loam, punishing fire.
2. the pithing needle is intended for combo pieces like griselbrand, belcher, sneak attack, and grindstone, but in most of these cases spell pierce is almost as good, and has more versatile applications. I can see arguments for going with chalice of the void or flusterstorm as well. Please let me know what you think


the tournament
Round 1 vs Jund Win 2-0
in game two he played choke, and I played back to basics. I ended up drawing lands and aether vial, while he ran out of deathrite shaman fodder
Round 2 vs golbins Win 2-1
game one he got a siege gang commander into play off of a turn one lackey and I scooped
game two I kept vial + 4x lords and smashed away with a pile of 5/5s
game three I attacked for lethal but he vialed in Krenko hoping to block forever with the tokens, fortunately I had echoing truth
Round 3 vs sneak and show Win 2-0
In game one I vialed in cursecatcher to counter his first show and tell and phantasmal image to copy the emrakul off of the 2nd show and tell
Round 4 vs loam pox Win 2-0
In game two I played a standstill with a mutavault and he responds with mishra's factory. several manlands and wastelands later, he cracks the standstill and I proceed to drop 5 fish into play over the course of two turns with the help of reejerey and still have mana for FoW and to pay for tabernacle of pendrell vale
Round 5 vs Grixis delver Win 2-0
he has islands nuff said. despite having more disruption than RUG their threats are smaller so the matchup is easier I think
Round 6 vs RUG delver Win 2-1
Game 1: he keeps a double probe + wasteland hand and fails to find a 2nd land for a few turns. by the time he does it is too late though I did mess up by wasting his only island then attacking into a goyf with my team.
Game 2: I keep a one island hand and fail to find a second one until it is too land and die to two flipped delvers with 2 kiras in hand.
Game 3: I play lords he runs out of removal, and I swim past for the win. he tries to wasteland his only island but it's not enough
Round 7 vs RUG delver Win 2-1
in game 3 he wipes my board with rough//tumble + forked bolt but I rebuild with kira + mutavault + lord and manage to win

Top 8 vs Omnitell Loss 1-2
Game 1: I keep a slow hand with FoW. I play two lords then a standstill, to which he responds with intuition which I force. He goes for the win next turn and I fail to draw anything off of the standstill
Game 2: I mulligan to 5 and keep a no lander with 2 probes. I am rewarded with a land on turn 2 and 3 while he fails to find the combo pieces in time
Game 3: I keep a hand with FoW and standstill. on turn two I play an adept. on turn 3 I draw a mutavault and decide that I can play standstill now and attack for 2. the next turn he passes and I attack for 4. At the end of the turn he goes for intuition. I draw a 2nd FoW off the standstill and counter the intuition. He untaps and goes for the win with pact of negation backup for my FoW. I did put a phantasmal image in off of the show and tell to copy the adept hoping to draw into a counter for enter the infinite

After thinking about it I came up with a few different choices I could've made
1. if he is tutoring for a combo piece then it is probably correct to fight over the intuition, since he cannot use pact of negation. If he uses FoW then he is has to have a spare blue card to pitch and probably cannot defend himself from the 2nd FoW.
2. if he is tutoring for permission it is probably correct to let is resolve. He is only running 3x pact of negations main deck which means either he doesn't have a pact in hand or I can give him a FoW off of the intuition, forcing him to have an additional blue card in order to beat my double FoW hand. In addition to the combo pieces this requires him to have a specific 6 card hand (he only had 6 cards in hand), and given that he hadn't yet missed a land drop this is unlikely
3. alternatively I don't play the standstill and instead play a lord. I end up being able to reduce the clock by one turn. If he decides to go for it on the next turn I can put the standstill into play off of the show and tell and still draw the 2nd FoW to counter enter the infinite except he still wins because he can cast intuition for free in response. If he waits he will probably cast intuition in response to the standstill on the next turn, and we have the choice between 1 & 2 again

What do you think is the correct decision in general?

[beez]

Very good result! Gitixian Probe was a very interesting choice. With the recent high placement of a deck with Repeal instead of Dismember as well, it would seem that what is good enough for the Standstill and Adept is good for the gander. Keeping ahead with some drawing cantrips on useful spells seems to be enhanced as a strategy in the deck. Even siding in Spreading Seas in relevant matchups piles on the CA.

[beez]

I think against a mono blue combo deck Merfolk would have a better matchup with it than most. It sounds like the draws just worked out where you lost the Counter War and failed to slow him another turn or two to hit with the beats. I don't think you can stop the combo, you can just slow it down while your clocks tick.

[thecrav]

2. coralhelm commander is now unplayable thanks to abrupt decay. it is a six mana investment that dies way too easily now.

This is a good point and not something that I'd considered or experienced before. Just this thought will make me consider pulling them out or at least reducing the number.

I'll be very interested to see where this slot goes. Personally, I'd be interested in putting Thasa in there. You mentioned putting in Probe specifically for the card draw. Thassa is a body that, while it doesn't draw, it can certainly smooth out your future draw. Not getting down until turn 3 may be too big a hurdle however for this use.

sideboard:
in the games I won I hardly drew any of my sideboard cards so I can't say much other than
1. I wouldn't leave home without at least 3x graveyard hate
2. kira came out in one game vs RUG delver and was pretty good
3. tidebinder mage does not come in vs RUG since it only hits goyf. Submerge would be better in that matchup, but I like tidebinder mage better against all the other deathrite decks which tend to be slightly worse matchups

changes to the sideboard
1. the tormod's crypts should be surgical extractions, since except for manaless dredge, relic would be strictly better, and surgical is a more versatile card vs storm, intuition, loam, punishing fire.
2. the pithing needle is intended for combo pieces like griselbrand, belcher, sneak attack, and grindstone, but in most of these cases spell pierce is almost as good, and has more versatile applications. I can see arguments for going with chalice of the void or flusterstorm as well. Please let me know what you think

I agree with all your points on the sideboard. Regarding the changes, I would probably run Relic of Progenitus in those spots as it can shrink a Goyf over time while you hold it until you absolutely need it. If the graveyards aren't particularly full yet, it can also severely hurt their DRS plan.

I don't think Challice is the call. Spell pierce is certainly good, but I'd probably rather just draw my Forces and ride to glory on their back.

Needle also seems positive in a lot of other matchups since it can just hit so damn much.

Top 8 vs Omnitell Loss 1-2
Game 1: I keep a slow hand with FoW. I play two lords then a standstill, to which he responds with intuition which I force. He goes for the win next turn and I fail to draw anything off of the standstill
Game 2: I mulligan to 5 and keep a no lander with 2 probes. I am rewarded with a land on turn 2 and 3 while he fails to find the combo pieces in time
Game 3: I keep a hand with FoW and standstill. on turn two I play an adept. on turn 3 I draw a mutavault and decide that I can play standstill now and attack for 2. the next turn he passes and I attack for 4. At the end of the turn he goes for intuition. I draw a 2nd FoW off the standstill and counter the intuition. He untaps and goes for the win with pact of negation backup for my FoW. I did put a phantasmal image in off of the show and tell to copy the adept hoping to draw into a counter for enter the infinite

After thinking about it I came up with a few different choices I could've made
1. if he is tutoring for a combo piece then it is probably correct to fight over the intuition, since he cannot use pact of negation. If he uses FoW then he is has to have a spare blue card to pitch and probably cannot defend himself from the 2nd FoW.
2. if he is tutoring for permission it is probably correct to let is resolve. He is only running 3x pact of negations main deck which means either he doesn't have a pact in hand or I can give him a FoW off of the intuition, forcing him to have an additional blue card in order to beat my double FoW hand. In addition to the combo pieces this requires him to have a specific 6 card hand (he only had 6 cards in hand), and given that he hadn't yet missed a land drop this is unlikely
3. alternatively I don't play the standstill and instead play a lord. I end up being able to reduce the clock by one turn. If he decides to go for it on the next turn I can put the standstill into play off of the show and tell and still draw the 2nd FoW to counter enter the infinite except he still wins because he can cast intuition for free in response. If he waits he will probably cast intuition in response to the standstill on the next turn, and we have the choice between 1 & 2 again

What do you think is the correct decision in general?

After typing arguments an argument and deleting it and then typing an argument the other direction and then deleting it, I can't decide what the right call is here. I think I probably would've forced but in this particular situation, since Standstill didn't draw you any business, the end result is the same.

[KobeBryan]

So I just played Merfolk to a T8 finish this past weekend at SCG ATL
I went 7-0-2 in the swiss, so I figured I would share my thoughts on card selection, give a quick tournament report, and provide some suggestions for what I would change.

decklist:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=59103

main deck:
1. my biggest problem with merfolk before was that the list had about 4 free slots that usually ended up as pre-sideboarded slots (jitte, kira, spell pierce, dismember). instead I decided to just run 3 gitaxian probes so you can draw your deck a little faster, are never stuck with dead cards, and get some free information. the 4th slot went to echoing truth which is versatile enough to be in the maindeck.
2. coralhelm commander is now unplayable thanks to abrupt decay. it is a six mana investment that dies way too easily now.
3. phantasmal image is significantly better now with the new legend rules
4. I would consider running 3 FoW main and one in the side if you don't expect a heavy combo meta
5. 1 cavern of souls is like aether vial #5 in some matchups, and was decent for me all day long allowing me to cast my lords without asking for permission. Only one cavern so as not to be vulnerable to wasteland and not make my dazes too much worse.
6. standstill was great for me all day, allowing me to regain some card advantage against the grindier decks, and keep up pressure while digging for FoW against combo. play it early and play it often.

sideboard:
in the games I won I hardly drew any of my sideboard cards so I can't say much other than
1. I wouldn't leave home without at least 3x graveyard hate
2. kira came out in one game vs RUG delver and was pretty good
3. tidebinder mage does not come in vs RUG since it only hits goyf. Submerge would be better in that matchup, but I like tidebinder mage better against all the other deathrite decks which tend to be slightly worse matchups

changes to the sideboard
1. the tormod's crypts should be surgical extractions, since except for manaless dredge, relic would be strictly better, and surgical is a more versatile card vs storm, intuition, loam, punishing fire.
2. the pithing needle is intended for combo pieces like griselbrand, belcher, sneak attack, and grindstone, but in most of these cases spell pierce is almost as good, and has more versatile applications. I can see arguments for going with chalice of the void or flusterstorm as well. Please let me know what you think


the tournament
Round 1 vs Jund Win 2-0
in game two he played choke, and I played back to basics. I ended up drawing lands and aether vial, while he ran out of deathrite shaman fodder
Round 2 vs golbins Win 2-1
game one he got a siege gang commander into play off of a turn one lackey and I scooped
game two I kept vial + 4x lords and smashed away with a pile of 5/5s
game three I attacked for lethal but he vialed in Krenko hoping to block forever with the tokens, fortunately I had echoing truth
Round 3 vs sneak and show Win 2-0
In game one I vialed in cursecatcher to counter his first show and tell and phantasmal image to copy the emrakul off of the 2nd show and tell
Round 4 vs loam pox Win 2-0
In game two I played a standstill with a mutavault and he responds with mishra's factory. several manlands and wastelands later, he cracks the standstill and I proceed to drop 5 fish into play over the course of two turns with the help of reejerey and still have mana for FoW and to pay for tabernacle of pendrell vale
Round 5 vs Grixis delver Win 2-0
he has islands nuff said. despite having more disruption than RUG their threats are smaller so the matchup is easier I think
Round 6 vs RUG delver Win 2-1
Game 1: he keeps a double probe + wasteland hand and fails to find a 2nd land for a few turns. by the time he does it is too late though I did mess up by wasting his only island then attacking into a goyf with my team.
Game 2: I keep a one island hand and fail to find a second one until it is too land and die to two flipped delvers with 2 kiras in hand.
Game 3: I play lords he runs out of removal, and I swim past for the win. he tries to wasteland his only island but it's not enough
Round 7 vs RUG delver Win 2-1
in game 3 he wipes my board with rough//tumble + forked bolt but I rebuild with kira + mutavault + lord and manage to win

Top 8 vs Omnitell Loss 1-2
Game 1: I keep a slow hand with FoW. I play two lords then a standstill, to which he responds with intuition which I force. He goes for the win next turn and I fail to draw anything off of the standstill
Game 2: I mulligan to 5 and keep a no lander with 2 probes. I am rewarded with a land on turn 2 and 3 while he fails to find the combo pieces in time
Game 3: I keep a hand with FoW and standstill. on turn two I play an adept. on turn 3 I draw a mutavault and decide that I can play standstill now and attack for 2. the next turn he passes and I attack for 4. At the end of the turn he goes for intuition. I draw a 2nd FoW off the standstill and counter the intuition. He untaps and goes for the win with pact of negation backup for my FoW. I did put a phantasmal image in off of the show and tell to copy the adept hoping to draw into a counter for enter the infinite

After thinking about it I came up with a few different choices I could've made
1. if he is tutoring for a combo piece then it is probably correct to fight over the intuition, since he cannot use pact of negation. If he uses FoW then he is has to have a spare blue card to pitch and probably cannot defend himself from the 2nd FoW.
2. if he is tutoring for permission it is probably correct to let is resolve. He is only running 3x pact of negations main deck which means either he doesn't have a pact in hand or I can give him a FoW off of the intuition, forcing him to have an additional blue card in order to beat my double FoW hand. In addition to the combo pieces this requires him to have a specific 6 card hand (he only had 6 cards in hand), and given that he hadn't yet missed a land drop this is unlikely
3. alternatively I don't play the standstill and instead play a lord. I end up being able to reduce the clock by one turn. If he decides to go for it on the next turn I can put the standstill into play off of the show and tell and still draw the 2nd FoW to counter enter the infinite except he still wins because he can cast intuition for free in response. If he waits he will probably cast intuition in response to the standstill on the next turn, and we have the choice between 1 & 2 again

What do you think is the correct decision in general?

Did you miss submerge?

How useful were the jtites when you cannot kill their jittes anymore. I mean taht was the main purpose of it in the first place.

[dwarshaw]

I'll be very interested to see where this slot goes. Personally, I'd be interested in putting Thasa in there. You mentioned putting in Probe specifically for the card draw. Thassa is a body that, while it doesn't draw, it can certainly smooth out your future draw. Not getting down until turn 3 may be too big a hurdle however for this use.



I agree with all your points on the sideboard. Regarding the changes, I would probably run Relic of Progenitus in those spots as it can shrink a Goyf over time while you hold it until you absolutely need it. If the graveyards aren't particularly full yet, it can also severely hurt their DRS plan.

I can see using thassa in some slot. worse than kira against swords to plowshares but better against pretty much anything else. She is also huge, the scry 1 is very relevant and giving unblockable against non-blue decks is a very real upside.

As for relic I see your point and will definitely try it out. being able to pressure DRS is a very real upside and good in the goyf matchups is solid as well

Did you miss submerge?

How useful were the jtites when you cannot kill their jittes anymore. I mean that was the main purpose of it in the first place.

I never drew Jitte, but it was mainly there to beat goblins, elves and burn/delver burn. Those are all decks that don't run Jitte. I don't know if I would bother siding it in vs stoneblade anymore since as you point out it is slightly worse now. Against death and taxes I would still side it in though since I feel the matchup is pretty bad otherwise.

As for submerge, I only missed it vs RUG delver, since I don't bother with tidebinder mage in this matchup since it doesn't hit goyf. The matchup is generally favorable though so it wasn't a big deal. as mentioned above I like the idea of trying relics since these are a huge beating against goyf and goose and give me extra things to side in vs RUG.

[Shough]

@dwarshaw
Did you ever get any good information from the probes or did they just serve as Street Wraith’s?
Where would you fit Thassa in your list?

Congratulations on your finish! I was there too but, did not do very well.

[beez]

Is it possible that if those Probes were a Daze or Spell Pierce you would have won that final counterwar with Omnitell? But I suppose it improves matchups like Jund a bit.

[dwarshaw]

@dwarshaw
Did you ever get any good information from the probes or did they just serve as Street Wraith’s?
Where would you fit Thassa in your list?

the probes weren't amazing in the sense that I got game winning information, but any information is worth while, and they were definitely never bad, and always somewhat better than street wraiths. I did side them out a few times since in essence they are free slots for sideboard cards.

As for Thassa, as awesome as she is she doesn't have quite the explosive immediate board impact of a lord, making her a liability in faster matchups. Therefore I imagine she fits in the sideboard in the slots reserved for the slower grindy matchups (kira, back to basics). I will definitely test her and post how things go.

Is it possible that if those Probes were a Daze or Spell Pierce you would have won that final counterwar with Omnitell? But I suppose it improves matchups like Jund a bit.

actually they tend to come out against jund where the life loss is more of a liability, and I have tons of good cards to side in. Also I think the information is less important since you side out most of your counter magic anyway and cannot react to most of what they have. I think they are best in the combo matchup and let you know how many turns you have until they will go off. This lets you calculate your clock and know when it is safe to tap out.

As for the counter war, he won through double FoW, and had enough mana to play around daze, as omni-tell usually does. I don't remember if spell pierce would've worked but either way I had a sick hand and he earned his win.

[SupREME-10]

Congrats on the excellent placing with said Merfolk.

I like 99% of your deck choice and play; but I think I will stick to Spell Snare instead of the Probe. My meta has too many 2 drops that need to be shut down.

Excellent analogy on Coralhelm in a meta full of A-Decay, same reason I dropped him. And honestly there are a lot of Islands out there so his flying is not that over the top important.

Thanks for the excellent run down on your matches as well, and the sideboard/play options.

Cheers

[Tammit67]

I'm really excited for swan song in Merfolk, probably over the spell pierces main. Having an answer for swords without having to force it is a huge plus to having less soft counters against combo. Not being to answer artifacts/planeswalkers will just put more tax on force/daze which I think is a fine trade. The 2/2 should not be relevant

This might also open up some sideboard slots to better punish equipment.

[KobeBryan]

I'm really excited for swan song in Merfolk, probably over the spell pierces main. Having an answer for swords without having to force it is a huge plus to having less soft counters against combo. Not being to answer artifacts/planeswalkers will just put more tax on force/daze which I think is a fine trade. The 2/2 should not be relevant

This might also open up some sideboard slots to better punish equipment.

Are you going to run swan song over daze?

[Tammit67]

Are you going to run swan song over daze?

I'm really excited for swan song in Merfolk, probably over the spell pierces main.

No, the pierces as I mentioned. Daze is by and far too essential to cut in my opinion.

[KobeBryan]

Played small tournament yesterday, 16 people.

I hate being a dog to elves, goblins, goyf, DRS, KotR and also drawing useless Islands, Vials and other atrocious topdecks (which we have many) later, so I remade the deck to this (not for a faint of heart) :

5 Fetches
3 Island
4 U. Sea
4 Mutavault
4 Wasteland

3 Cursecatcher
4 Adept
4 Master
4 Atlantis
4 Tidebinder
2 Baleful Strix
1 Dark Confidant
3 Reej

2 Brainstorm (no room for more and no room for bigger fetchland support)
4 Vial
3 Daze
2 Dismember
4 Force

Yes, I love Tidebinder Mage and yes, it is not allways great (or good), but so is Cursecatcher vs goblins or Reej vs storm, etc.
This build have 8 maindeck "removal" vs Goyf or Deathrite Shaman and that is a place I want to be (Strix is not for DRS obv).
Standstill is great when you are ahead and worse than blank (other than Force fodder) when not, so i tried other forms of draw.

Sideboard was:

3 Surgical (Punishing Fire, Loam, reanimator, ups all spells, High Tide...)
2 Relic
2 E. Plague
1 Perish
1 Dread of Night (death and taxes deck, Lingering Souls...)
1 Missdirection (Abrupt Decay, Hymn, Burn...)
1 Spell Pierce
3 Chalice of the Void (vs Burn, UR delver, High Tide... I am done losing to Bolts and ReBs and Pyroblasts, but still can not waste slots for Chills)
1 Echoing Truth (this and Relic are ALLWAYS on the bench, everything else is changeable)


R1 vs UR delver
That is my other pet deck, I know everything about this matchup. It is not great but he has Islands so...
He played more controlling version with Spell Pierces main.
I kept a hand with Wasteland, 2 Vials and random dudes. Since UR delver have no Wastelands because of Price of Progress I knew my only land won't be destroyed.
He Forced and Pierced the Vials but had no pressure so I had time. Once the lands kept coming so are dudes. He didn't have enough removal.
Game 2 I wastelanded him 3 times and that was that.

R2 vs Reanimator
He managed to Force through a Griselbrand but I had a Strix
They traded and he played Exhume
He drew half of his deck, Entombed and resurrected Iona (thank Thassa it wasn't Elesh, big mistake).
Thankfully I had Vial, so while Strix was playing with his monsters, other duders was islandwalking him.
Game 2 he Forced my Vial but Relic got through.
I never tapped out, played a creature here and there and amassed a critical amount of counters for Show and Tell.

R3 vs Punishing Fire Jund
When you play a game you know there is a Boss waiting down the line.
In my experience this is the final boss, Bolts are cheaper than lords, P. Fire can't be contained, Decay can't be countered, DRS "destroy" our Dazes, Hymn is brutal, Goyf is humongous, Confidant draws removal after removal, etc.
After sideboard there is Choke, ReB or Pyroblast and Engineered Plague. You can't build more hatefull deck.
Thankfully you can allways try to Wasteland that 3 color manabase into oblivion.
And that was game 1.
Game 2 he killed my lords, Decayed my Relic and his Punishing Fire engine was online. With 1 Goyf.
Game 3 he drew plenty of his one for one removal but I drew Adepts, Strixes and Brainstorms and managed to cross a finish line with few survivors. It was like Ninja Warrior Show.

R4 vs Dark Maverick
He Decayed my Vial and on turn 3 I had 3 lords and 3 Vials in hand (, "My kingdom for Brainstorm") with 3 lands in play. I choose tempo beatdown plan. Didn't get there. He had enough Swords and bigger creatures.
Game two I Wastelanded him into nothing.
Game three he had a Mother and DRS in play and he forgot to protect his Shaman from Tidebinder. That was match loosing mistake.
He resolved Mystic for Bskull, after I attacked with 2 lords and Tidebinder he obv tried to put Bskull in. Returned it with Echoing Truth.
Then I wastelanded his only white source. He didn't have enough blockers.

This win alleviates some of my disappointment in Theros not bringing any great Tritons to party. Only couple of "maybes" in Thassa, Master of Waves and Triton Tactics.

I am also sick of dying to elves, gobs, and maverick.

Some dude playing elves on Cockatrice said my UB merfolk deck sucks cuz he said I ran EP to deal with elves. He said merfolk has a decent matchup against elves with spell pierce. I cannot even imagine how spell pierce works well against elves.

Please advise.

[FANAttIC]

Nothing to say here. You are right, Pierce can only work against Glimpse of Nature (but he is set up with spare mana to play elfs after casting it) or Natural Order (but you don't know if he even plays that version).
Also, it is very hard to have blue open with so many double blue cards we play, considering 8 colorless lands.
In differents points in time, I have dealt with elves with this cards: Dismember, Gut Shot, Submerge, E. Plague, Perish.
Now I have 4 Tidebinders main. The plan is definitely not perfect but it is better than Spell Pierce will ever be.

[fired88]

I'm liking this guy as a finisher:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attac...6&d=1378180911

Just realized this guy pumps mutavaults still! haha

[Tammit67]

Ended 4-2 for 9th place at a local running two swan song main and two board. Didn't cast it once, but it would have protected my lord to ensure victory.

Beat every blue opponent, lost to the non-blue in 3 very close games both times. I hate grim lavamancer.

[KobeBryan]

Ended 4-2 for 9th place at a local running two swan song main and two board. Didn't cast it once, but it would have protected my lord to ensure victory.

Beat every blue opponent, lost to the non-blue in 3 very close games both times. I hate grim lavamancer.

who doesn't hate grim? What did you run swan song in place of? if its spell pierce, that means you do not have removal main.