Spell Pierce is also pretty good against opposing Vial decks.
amen to that. countering a goblin player's vial on turn 1 when the only land in his hand was a badlands felt really good. especially since I had the waste!
I actually find Spell Pierce to be very bad against Goblins. I've tested the matchup quite a lot because for a while my only deck was Merfolk and my friend's only deck was Goblins. Problem is that if they play Lackey instead of Vial, your Spell Pierce is suddenly completely dead. I prefer to have Stifle in that match as it at least has more applications, none of which are as good as countering a Vial, true, but most of the time you miss the opportunity to do so, whether it's because they go first or they lead with Lackey instead or you just draw the Spell Pierce later. At most points, it's the most dead card you have in that matchup.
That being said, it is great in a number of other matchups...
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Legacy Decks I'm Currently Running:
U Merfolk U UGW NO Bant UGW UGWRB Dredge! UGWRB
Other Legacy Decks I Own:
RGW Zoo! RGW BGW Junk BGW RGWB Aggro Loam RGWB BW Deadguy BW W Death & Taxes (almost!) W GW Green & Taxes GW BGW Junk & Taxes BGW
I don't think spell pierce is really worth running mainboard, especially as a simpleton? I do however swear by it as a 3 of in my sideboard. It's just godly against combo decks.
versus combo you always want stifle more than spell pierce. but that's irrelevant since a good combo player will either chant or duress you. or cunning wish for pact of negation.
on my earlier comment: that was game one. his face when the worst card in my deck blew him out.
I don't think spell pierce is really worth running mainboard, especially as a simpleton? I do however swear by it as a 3 of in my sideboard. It's just godly against combo decks.
I love Spell Perice, and it's solid in the sideboard, I just didn't see the strength of running that over a third Kira, second Sower, or third Merfolk Sovereign, especially if Merfolk Sovereign is great at letting you get into attack, your expecting a lot of Eldrazi - Show and Tell, or Zoo...
Seems a little random to me.
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Imperial Painter
That's what I was trying to say lol my phone edited the word singleton. I don't think running one on its own is really worth it, especially when redundancy wins.
Oh and like dyzzy said, spell pierce is the way to go vs combo. Between that, cursecatcher, daze, and fow you just lol at combo bases decks
Except when you're playing against TPS and they start Ritualing, then you Spell Pierce, they pay it, and then they just keep comboing out anyway cause you DIDN'T ACTUALLY COUNTER THEIR SPELL. Seriously, play Stifle.
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Old terminology reference:
Play (noun): Battlefield
Play (verb): Cast/Play
RFG: Exile
CIP: Enters the Battlefield
What's with the terrible advice? Play stifle over spell pierce vs combo? That is just bad and if you think stifle is better vs combo then you are bad.
This is stifle debate has been going on forever, no need to bring it up. If you want to run stifle fine, but that is going against the strategy of the deck. Holding mana open to maybe get a turn 1-10 fetch is terrible.
I also would assume Alex ran the spell pierce as an extra counterspell, looking at it as number 9 instead of a one of. But I also think the biggest reason is to open 1 spot on the sb. I agree with GundamGuy more lords/3rd kira seems better.
I don't understand why Stifle gets trashed on against combo. Sure they can Duress it, but they can do that to any counterspell (except Draining Whelk! sorry, just got done playing EDH). If your relevant spells in hand are FoW, a blue spell to ditch with it or two, and Stifle or Spell Pierce, I'd probably rather have the Stifle if you get Duressed. Otherwise they can take the FoW and play around the Spell Pierce. With Stifle, they are forced to take that and have to play around FoW which is much more difficult than producing two extra mana.
Anyway, I'm willing to drop it as well because it has been discussed, once before after I got here and probably a million times before that as well. Both cards are great against combo, and if you're just going to run one I would go with Spell Pierce over Stifle. But I don't think Stifle is worse against combo (where it's great, but Spell Pierce is pretty good anyways) or Goblins (where it's meh but Spell Pierce is even more meh).
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Legacy Decks I'm Currently Running:
U Merfolk U UGW NO Bant UGW UGWRB Dredge! UGWRB
Other Legacy Decks I Own:
RGW Zoo! RGW BGW Junk BGW RGWB Aggro Loam RGWB BW Deadguy BW W Death & Taxes (almost!) W GW Green & Taxes GW BGW Junk & Taxes BGW
Sorry if it's already been discussed in this thread, but is it the consensus that standstill shouldn't be ran MB anymore? I've seen A LOT of deck lists lately that don't run it.
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Sig courtesy of the wonderful mchief111 over at Rising Studios
I just top 4'd a smallish legacy tournament today with my list on page 1 with a slightly modified sideboard.
Game 1: Affinity, 1-0
Game 2: Spiral Tide, mulligans killed me game 3- 1-1
Game 3: Spiral Tide, blowout with Canonist the third game 2-1
Game 4: Get a concession
Game 5: ID
Top8: BUG, win game 2 due to a misplay on their part.
Top4: Mirror, we both win one, then game three he keeps his 7. I keep my 5. I never get enough gas to get going before my loss. Of course, my next draw was Llawan
So I'd say my list is pretty solid, and I'll be taking it to the GPT next week.
On the sideboard: I cut the Kira and the two Sowers for 2 Relic and a Tormod's Crypt.
So I ran the UW build I've been toying with Saturday for the GP trial and ended up splitting for 1st and getting the 3-round byes. The prize for 1st was 4 wastelands and second got 100$ credit. I only needed 2 more wastelands so it just seemed foolish to try and play it out. I need to make a few changes but I feel like the build turned out really powerful. I went 4-1-1 drawing into top 8 and then beat dredge and the mirror before splitting.
Edit: oh, and I did end up running the stoneforge mystic package mainboard
As a noob to Fish and Legacy, could I get some help with matchups and side boarding... I'm planning to run the Alex Bertoncini list from the recent star city open, or a slight variation of it... this weekend at a GP Trial...
Help a bro out... bro.
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I'd like to get some thoughts on what a good 75 is for an unknown meta. I'd imagine graveyard hate and spell pierces, probably kira somewhere, submerge, and possibly hibernation.
Well the list I ended up running was a really strange homebrew. I ended up at my friends house the night before drinking beers and took a curve away from the really traditional build I was going to run. I'd have to say a lot of people seemed surprised by the cards that were being dropped on them.
And yes, it was 61 cards. I upped the land count to 21 basically because of the swords; i wanted to be able to hardcast / equip when I needed too. The loss of a mutavault didn't affect me to much and so many times I was happy when I saw the island I replaced it for but still... I'd really like to have 4 of them and like 3 tundras. Stifle was one of the cards that I added in last minute, and while it did win me 2 games on its own I don't think it was consistent enough to stay in the final list. Holding back in a deck like this simply goes against the strategy. Finally, Stoneforge mystic and the equipments were my MVPs of the day. People didn't even know how to respond to them for the most part and if they were unable to answer I almost always took the win.
Here were the matchups: *they're somewhat vague I hardly remember the day*
Round 1: Team America (2-0)
I've never played Team America, but I've played with it and instantly knew what he was running. The match up is obviously extremely favorable for me. His bobs did a good deal of the work for me and at worse he would drop a tombstalker which I could tap out or islandwalk by
Round 2: Merfolk (2-1)
I don't know about the specifics of his build but it looked like a pretty standard mono U build. Game 1 he played first and came out fast but I totally shifted the momentum by landing a Jitte and beating in for the win. Game 2 he had the momentum from the start. I had two lord of atlantis in hand I'd been saving for the whole game but he countered the first one when I attempted to play it. I was shy on damage because of it and he got game 2. Game 3 I play first, come out hard and strong with 2 coralhelms and then just outraced him after dropping LoA.
Round 3: Dark Horizons (1-2)
This was by far my most difficult matchup and I really wish I had had a sword of light and shadow for it. Game 1 he hits land after land with a confidant and tears my hand to bits. I'm able to drop a few creatures but he lands and a jitte and thats the game. Game 2 I stifle his first fetchland and it was all uphill from there. He plays around my wasteland and after I submerge a confidant and land a jitte its over. Game 3 he gets the most hand disruption out of all the games. I'm able to get a couple Silvergill's and a sword on the board but everytime I try and equip he has a StP ready. Back to back Hymm's bring me down to no cards and I don't top deck anything relevant. Like I said, sword of light and shadow really could have helped.
Round 4: Merfolk (2-1)
Another MU merfolk deck with the standard build. I believe he played first game 1 and just came out to fast for me to recover. Game 2 I come out pretty fast and get him to 11 while I'm at 18. I drop a LoA and outrace him. Game 3 we both mull down to 6 and keep rather slow hands. Nothing hits the board but aether vials for the first few turns. About turn 4 though I get a silvergill through vial and draw into sword of fire and ice. I play it and FoW his FoW and then proceed next turn to swing for 5 and blow up his Reejerey. I basically win the game at that point.
Round 5: Tez Affinity (2-1)
Game 1 he gets the craziest, fastest hand! Turn 1 goes land, mox, ornithopter. Turn 2 land, frogmite, thoughtcast, thoughcast. No way I was gonna win that one so I scoop it up. Game 2 I board in StP, revoker, and the two kegs. The game gets a little drawn out as he gains really good board advantage then lands cranial plating on an ornithopter and swings for 11. I take it and go to 5. He passes and I blow the keg at 0 hitting all his lands + the thopter then drop revoker naming plating. He was blown away and coralhelm beats in for the win. Game 3 also gets dragged out. He gets pithing needle down naming keg. A few turns later he has an 11/11 master of etherium, ornithopter with plating, and that 4/4 affinity guy out. I've got a jitte with two counters, a coralhelm at level 4, and some chump blockers. He swings all out, I chump two the myr and etherium and go to about 7. I guess he miscalculated my damage but next turn I swing all out for 18... he was at 17 :D.
Round 6: draw into top 8
Top8:
Round 1: Dredge (2-0)
So the week before I actually played dredge for the first time with merfolk and got smoked... but learned how to beat it in the process :p. Game 1 I put the preasure on as hard as I could. He does a bit of dredging but doesn't really find anything good. Next turn he dredges for theshold and is about to go off with collesium but I stifle it! HA! Game 2 I draw relic of progentius in my opening and go about the same way as last game with the max pressure. Turn 1 he therapys himself for gravetroll and passes. Next turn he dredges 6 and plays a collesium than passes the turn. I play relic and pop and he utterly runs out of gas.
Round 2: Merfolk (2-1)
I'm pretty sure he was playing the Bertoncinni (sp?) list, although I never saw the Sower. Game 1 I win the roll, play first, and win. Pretty much as simple as that. Game 2 I keep a hand with Jitte but end up having to legend rule his and my own to the graveyard. That was basically me win con for that game and hes able to swarm harder than myself. Game 3 I get the advantage of both tempo and land. He sits on 3 for most of the game and drops a factory which gets wastelanded. I stay around 5 and I'm able to drop sword of fire and ice, equip, and swing all on the same turn. Uphill for me from there on out and I take the win!
I had no idea what I'd be playing in the final round (combo elves) but it didn't matter because neither of us wanted to risk not getting wastelands.
Overall I def had good matchups (no one ran zoo :D) and in sum I really, really like the SFM + swords package. It just brings so much power to the deck and people never see it coming, especially in game 1. Stifle was also pretty fun to use, but its just not the right card for this deck. I'll probably drop stifle for standstill, or just throw in the 4th coralhelm commander and maybe 2 more sovereign. Mutavault will also be brought up to 4 once I have the the 3rd/4th Tundra. Not sure what to do about the land yet because I really did love seeing an average of 4-5 lands a game. If any one has any critique for the deck definitely give it to me! I'd really like to tone the deck before playing at another GP trial, and eventually the Grand Prix.
So I've been testing out the white build for a while now. I've always thought it warranted more attention than it's had in the past; I used to run Countersliver/ Meat-hooks, and the amount of utility that white added to that deck's SB and main always impressed me. That being the case, I've come up with a strong build that I think warrants some attention:
First off, you'll notice the 3x Mom main. I've been testing out the UW build for some time now, but until recently had not bothered to add any white to the main unless it was for StP, which is narrow enough for me to actually want to leave it in the SB in favor of Spell Pierce for most match-ups. This had the added benefit of my being less vulnerable to Wastelands game 1 (as I'd usually just search for basic Islands with those fetches).
Of course, one of the things that I wanted out of this this white-splash build was for it to be more effective against aggro and more resilient against removal. It seems that, for most people, Kira is the popular choice for accomplishing the latter.
Unfortunately, Kira, while good, is a legend and thus I've been less than enthusiastic about the possibility of running as many as three of them MD (which I would want to do for consistency's sake otherwise). On top of that, while she does fly (important in some match-ups for the evasion and, occasionally, the chump-blocking), she is not a Merfolk, and thus will remain a mere 2/2 indefinitely, which means that, more often than not, you're NOT going to want to block with her. So she just kind of sits there, maybe getting in a few offensive points of damage flying over. In addition to all of this, she also has a CMC of 3, which is at times problematic/ limiting, especially when we want to leave mana open.
That all being said, I realized that, since I was already running white, why bother with Kira? Why not opt for the 1 cmc all-star that is Mom, as so many others seem to be doing these days (D&t, any 'Horizons' deck, etc.)?
She comes in a full two turns earlier and can protect your creatures from all kinds of harm (not just spot-removal; you can save a dude from Firespout, too!). On top of that, while Kira wasn't exactly the best chump-blocker, Mom can block-tap all day, stopping just about anything but colorless creatures right in their tracks (of course, this would leave you dudes open to removal then unless you have another Mom on the board, but at least that's an option with Mom as she's not legendary!). Further, whereas Kira had evasion in the form of flying, Mom can give your biggest dudes protection from the color of your choice to slip in for those final few points on a clogged-up board (regardless of whether or not your opponent controls an Island).
Of course, she's not without her own drawbacks; whereas once Kira resolves she's protecting your dudes from removal right away, Mom comes in with summoning sickness; she also doesn't fly, and, importantly, she requires that sometimes elusive white mana (unless you're fortunate enough to vial her in).
That being said, I've been nothing but impressed with her so far (more so than I ever was with Kira), and am wondering on everyone's thoughts on the matter; would you run Mom MD or SB in the UW build? If so, what other card choices would you choose to complement this choice? Would you run Standstills alongside, or, as I've also considered trying out but haven't gotten to yet, take those out in favor of Kira's ALONGSIDE Mom's?
Edit::facepalm: Indeed, I could see Kira and Mom side-by side as being particularly powerful; Kira protects from the spot-removal, freeing up Mom for all sorts of crazy combat shenanigans (then again, multiple Mom's can also accomplish this, so there's that).
Finally, some thoughts on the SB: Obviously, StP is an auto-include here, and PtE is simply StP #5. Spell Pierce 2 & 3 go here for combo or control, and I'm generally always happy to see them when I board them back in. Jitte's another no-brainier against aggro/ the mirror (I even wish I could fit more in the SB), and Jotun Grunt is another underrated all-star in many a match-up; he comes in for just about any aggro match-up as our own answer to Goyf et al, is super-aggressive, shines in the mirror (he can be played through an Llwan lock, though vialing him in to block an Llwan is also hilarious) and just so happens to also be GY hate with legs, so there's that. That being said, two is still probably the right number as it sucks to draw into multiples of these a lot of the time, especially early on in the game when they can both frequently be dead-draws if you're not lucky.
As for Nul Rod, it's a meta call if you're expecting a lot of artifact combo (including Forgemaster or Thopter combo decks) or Affinity, which both seem to be more and more prevalent these days. Yes, it's usually worth at least trying once or twice to mull to one in these MU's; no, running just two hasn't been that bad for me in terms of consistency; yes, it does suck that it shuts down your Aether Vials/ Jitte, but it's usually still worth it anyway, and if you're feeling particularly ballzy you CAN actually side those out. Pithing Needle used to be here, and is also still a good option. Powder Keg seems like it might also work pretty well against Affinity and has other potential uses as well if you're looking for something less narrow, but for now I'm sticking to Nul Rod for the sheer number of problematic threats it just shuts down cold (including Affinity's lands :xd:).
Lastly, we come to Meddling Mage; an awesome card against many combo decks, and can stop folks from playing all sorts of problematic cards like Natural Order, Show and Tell, Sneak Attack, Cranial Plating/ Tezz, even ELDRAZI, or sweepers like Firespout, P. Deed, E. Explosives, etc, and shines even more when backed-up by a Mom to keep the spot removal off her back. That being said, I'd say that Cannonist is almost as good if not better in this slot for many match-ups (Elf combo, Storm, etc), so those slots can definitely be a meta-call.
In testing this build has struck me as particularly strong as far as the white splash goes, and seems more consistent and less mana-intensive than the versions running the 'swordfish' package (i.e. Stoneforge and Swords), though, again, perhaps there could even be room for both in some builds?
I've even been considering cutting a Coralhelm in favor of Mom #4, as crazy as that sounds. Would it be worth running Sowers main with all that protection? I also REALLY like Standstill in the deck, as it keeps our good MU's very good, and has more utility in some MU's than I think most people realize.
Indeed, I could see Kira and Mom side-by side as being particularly powerful; Kira protects from the spot-removal, freeing up Mom for all sorts of crazy combat shenanigans (then again, multiple Mom's can also accomplish this, so there's that).
This doesn't work, Kira will counter mom's ability.
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:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
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amen to that. countering a goblin player's vial on turn 1 when the only land in his hand was a badlands felt really good. especially since I had the waste!
That being said, it is great in a number of other matchups...
U G W NO Bant U G W
U G W R B Dredge! U G W R B
B G W Junk B G W
R G W B Aggro Loam R G W B
B W Deadguy B W
W Death & Taxes (almost!) W
G W Green & Taxes G W
B G W Junk & Taxes B G W
Momir Vig
Brion Stoutarm
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Arcum Daggson
Retired
Legacy:
GRUB Lands
Modern:
U Tron
RG Tron
RG Ponza
U G W NO Bant U G W
U G W R B Dredge! U G W R B
B G W Junk B G W
R G W B Aggro Loam R G W B
B W Deadguy B W
W Death & Taxes (almost!) W
G W Green & Taxes G W
B G W Junk & Taxes B G W
Momir Vig
Brion Stoutarm
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Arcum Daggson
In this deck? Always.
versus combo you always want stifle more than spell pierce. but that's irrelevant since a good combo player will either chant or duress you. or cunning wish for pact of negation.
on my earlier comment: that was game one. his face when the worst card in my deck blew him out.
No, the way you stop combo is to not let them get to the point where Stifle does anything. And the way to do that is to play Spell Pierce.
ゆっくりしていってね!!!
I love Spell Perice, and it's solid in the sideboard, I just didn't see the strength of running that over a third Kira, second Sower, or third Merfolk Sovereign, especially if Merfolk Sovereign is great at letting you get into attack, your expecting a lot of Eldrazi - Show and Tell, or Zoo...
Seems a little random to me.
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Imperial Painter
Oh and like dyzzy said, spell pierce is the way to go vs combo. Between that, cursecatcher, daze, and fow you just lol at combo bases decks
Retired
Legacy:
GRUB Lands
Modern:
U Tron
RG Tron
RG Ponza
Play (verb): Cast/Play
RFG: Exile
CIP: Enters the Battlefield
Fetchland: Arid Mesa
Shockland: Watery Grave
M10 Dual: Glacial Fortress
This is stifle debate has been going on forever, no need to bring it up. If you want to run stifle fine, but that is going against the strategy of the deck. Holding mana open to maybe get a turn 1-10 fetch is terrible.
I also would assume Alex ran the spell pierce as an extra counterspell, looking at it as number 9 instead of a one of. But I also think the biggest reason is to open 1 spot on the sb. I agree with GundamGuy more lords/3rd kira seems better.
Seriously, don't play stifle. It's bad
Anyway, I'm willing to drop it as well because it has been discussed, once before after I got here and probably a million times before that as well. Both cards are great against combo, and if you're just going to run one I would go with Spell Pierce over Stifle. But I don't think Stifle is worse against combo (where it's great, but Spell Pierce is pretty good anyways) or Goblins (where it's meh but Spell Pierce is even more meh).
U G W NO Bant U G W
U G W R B Dredge! U G W R B
B G W Junk B G W
R G W B Aggro Loam R G W B
B W Deadguy B W
W Death & Taxes (almost!) W
G W Green & Taxes G W
B G W Junk & Taxes B G W
Momir Vig
Brion Stoutarm
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Arcum Daggson
Game 1: Affinity, 1-0
Game 2: Spiral Tide, mulligans killed me game 3- 1-1
Game 3: Spiral Tide, blowout with Canonist the third game 2-1
Game 4: Get a concession
Game 5: ID
Top8: BUG, win game 2 due to a misplay on their part.
Top4: Mirror, we both win one, then game three he keeps his 7. I keep my 5. I never get enough gas to get going before my loss. Of course, my next draw was Llawan
So I'd say my list is pretty solid, and I'll be taking it to the GPT next week.
On the sideboard: I cut the Kira and the two Sowers for 2 Relic and a Tormod's Crypt.
Edit: oh, and I did end up running the stoneforge mystic package mainboard
Retired
Legacy:
GRUB Lands
Modern:
U Tron
RG Tron
RG Ponza
Help a bro out... bro.
[Legacy]
ANT
Imperial Painter
U G W NO Bant U G W
U G W R B Dredge! U G W R B
B G W Junk B G W
R G W B Aggro Loam R G W B
B W Deadguy B W
W Death & Taxes (almost!) W
G W Green & Taxes G W
B G W Junk & Taxes B G W
Momir Vig
Brion Stoutarm
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Arcum Daggson
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Coralhelm Commander
2 Merfolk Sovereign
2 Stoneforge Mystic
Instants:
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Stifle
4 Aether Vial
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Land:
4 Wasteland
3 Mutavault
3 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
5 Island
1 Plains
1 Tundra
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Submerge
1 Hibernation
1 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Spell Pierce
2 Relic of Progentius
4 Swords To Plowshare
2 Powder Keg
And yes, it was 61 cards. I upped the land count to 21 basically because of the swords; i wanted to be able to hardcast / equip when I needed too. The loss of a mutavault didn't affect me to much and so many times I was happy when I saw the island I replaced it for but still... I'd really like to have 4 of them and like 3 tundras. Stifle was one of the cards that I added in last minute, and while it did win me 2 games on its own I don't think it was consistent enough to stay in the final list. Holding back in a deck like this simply goes against the strategy. Finally, Stoneforge mystic and the equipments were my MVPs of the day. People didn't even know how to respond to them for the most part and if they were unable to answer I almost always took the win.
Here were the matchups: *they're somewhat vague I hardly remember the day*
Round 1: Team America (2-0)
I've never played Team America, but I've played with it and instantly knew what he was running. The match up is obviously extremely favorable for me. His bobs did a good deal of the work for me and at worse he would drop a tombstalker which I could tap out or islandwalk by
Round 2: Merfolk (2-1)
I don't know about the specifics of his build but it looked like a pretty standard mono U build. Game 1 he played first and came out fast but I totally shifted the momentum by landing a Jitte and beating in for the win. Game 2 he had the momentum from the start. I had two lord of atlantis in hand I'd been saving for the whole game but he countered the first one when I attempted to play it. I was shy on damage because of it and he got game 2. Game 3 I play first, come out hard and strong with 2 coralhelms and then just outraced him after dropping LoA.
Round 3: Dark Horizons (1-2)
This was by far my most difficult matchup and I really wish I had had a sword of light and shadow for it. Game 1 he hits land after land with a confidant and tears my hand to bits. I'm able to drop a few creatures but he lands and a jitte and thats the game. Game 2 I stifle his first fetchland and it was all uphill from there. He plays around my wasteland and after I submerge a confidant and land a jitte its over. Game 3 he gets the most hand disruption out of all the games. I'm able to get a couple Silvergill's and a sword on the board but everytime I try and equip he has a StP ready. Back to back Hymm's bring me down to no cards and I don't top deck anything relevant. Like I said, sword of light and shadow really could have helped.
Round 4: Merfolk (2-1)
Another MU merfolk deck with the standard build. I believe he played first game 1 and just came out to fast for me to recover. Game 2 I come out pretty fast and get him to 11 while I'm at 18. I drop a LoA and outrace him. Game 3 we both mull down to 6 and keep rather slow hands. Nothing hits the board but aether vials for the first few turns. About turn 4 though I get a silvergill through vial and draw into sword of fire and ice. I play it and FoW his FoW and then proceed next turn to swing for 5 and blow up his Reejerey. I basically win the game at that point.
Round 5: Tez Affinity (2-1)
Game 1 he gets the craziest, fastest hand! Turn 1 goes land, mox, ornithopter. Turn 2 land, frogmite, thoughtcast, thoughcast. No way I was gonna win that one so I scoop it up. Game 2 I board in StP, revoker, and the two kegs. The game gets a little drawn out as he gains really good board advantage then lands cranial plating on an ornithopter and swings for 11. I take it and go to 5. He passes and I blow the keg at 0 hitting all his lands + the thopter then drop revoker naming plating. He was blown away and coralhelm beats in for the win. Game 3 also gets dragged out. He gets pithing needle down naming keg. A few turns later he has an 11/11 master of etherium, ornithopter with plating, and that 4/4 affinity guy out. I've got a jitte with two counters, a coralhelm at level 4, and some chump blockers. He swings all out, I chump two the myr and etherium and go to about 7. I guess he miscalculated my damage but next turn I swing all out for 18... he was at 17 :D.
Round 6: draw into top 8
Top8:
Round 1: Dredge (2-0)
So the week before I actually played dredge for the first time with merfolk and got smoked... but learned how to beat it in the process :p. Game 1 I put the preasure on as hard as I could. He does a bit of dredging but doesn't really find anything good. Next turn he dredges for theshold and is about to go off with collesium but I stifle it! HA! Game 2 I draw relic of progentius in my opening and go about the same way as last game with the max pressure. Turn 1 he therapys himself for gravetroll and passes. Next turn he dredges 6 and plays a collesium than passes the turn. I play relic and pop and he utterly runs out of gas.
Round 2: Merfolk (2-1)
I'm pretty sure he was playing the Bertoncinni (sp?) list, although I never saw the Sower. Game 1 I win the roll, play first, and win. Pretty much as simple as that. Game 2 I keep a hand with Jitte but end up having to legend rule his and my own to the graveyard. That was basically me win con for that game and hes able to swarm harder than myself. Game 3 I get the advantage of both tempo and land. He sits on 3 for most of the game and drops a factory which gets wastelanded. I stay around 5 and I'm able to drop sword of fire and ice, equip, and swing all on the same turn. Uphill for me from there on out and I take the win!
I had no idea what I'd be playing in the final round (combo elves) but it didn't matter because neither of us wanted to risk not getting wastelands.
Overall I def had good matchups (no one ran zoo :D) and in sum I really, really like the SFM + swords package. It just brings so much power to the deck and people never see it coming, especially in game 1. Stifle was also pretty fun to use, but its just not the right card for this deck. I'll probably drop stifle for standstill, or just throw in the 4th coralhelm commander and maybe 2 more sovereign. Mutavault will also be brought up to 4 once I have the the 3rd/4th Tundra. Not sure what to do about the land yet because I really did love seeing an average of 4-5 lands a game. If any one has any critique for the deck definitely give it to me! I'd really like to tone the deck before playing at another GP trial, and eventually the Grand Prix.
Good god that took forever to type
Retired
Legacy:
GRUB Lands
Modern:
U Tron
RG Tron
RG Ponza
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Mother of Runes
Instants:
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
1 Spell Pierce
4 Standstill
4 Aether Vial
Land:
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Flooded Strand
3 Island
3 Tundra
2 Spell Pierce
2 Jotun Grunt
4 Swords To Plowshare
1 Path to Exile
2 Nul Rod
1 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Meddling Mage
First off, you'll notice the 3x Mom main. I've been testing out the UW build for some time now, but until recently had not bothered to add any white to the main unless it was for StP, which is narrow enough for me to actually want to leave it in the SB in favor of Spell Pierce for most match-ups. This had the added benefit of my being less vulnerable to Wastelands game 1 (as I'd usually just search for basic Islands with those fetches).
Of course, one of the things that I wanted out of this this white-splash build was for it to be more effective against aggro and more resilient against removal. It seems that, for most people, Kira is the popular choice for accomplishing the latter.
Unfortunately, Kira, while good, is a legend and thus I've been less than enthusiastic about the possibility of running as many as three of them MD (which I would want to do for consistency's sake otherwise). On top of that, while she does fly (important in some match-ups for the evasion and, occasionally, the chump-blocking), she is not a Merfolk, and thus will remain a mere 2/2 indefinitely, which means that, more often than not, you're NOT going to want to block with her. So she just kind of sits there, maybe getting in a few offensive points of damage flying over. In addition to all of this, she also has a CMC of 3, which is at times problematic/ limiting, especially when we want to leave mana open.
That all being said, I realized that, since I was already running white, why bother with Kira? Why not opt for the 1 cmc all-star that is Mom, as so many others seem to be doing these days (D&t, any 'Horizons' deck, etc.)?
She comes in a full two turns earlier and can protect your creatures from all kinds of harm (not just spot-removal; you can save a dude from Firespout, too!). On top of that, while Kira wasn't exactly the best chump-blocker, Mom can block-tap all day, stopping just about anything but colorless creatures right in their tracks (of course, this would leave you dudes open to removal then unless you have another Mom on the board, but at least that's an option with Mom as she's not legendary!). Further, whereas Kira had evasion in the form of flying, Mom can give your biggest dudes protection from the color of your choice to slip in for those final few points on a clogged-up board (regardless of whether or not your opponent controls an Island).
Of course, she's not without her own drawbacks; whereas once Kira resolves she's protecting your dudes from removal right away, Mom comes in with summoning sickness; she also doesn't fly, and, importantly, she requires that sometimes elusive white mana (unless you're fortunate enough to vial her in).
That being said, I've been nothing but impressed with her so far (more so than I ever was with Kira), and am wondering on everyone's thoughts on the matter; would you run Mom MD or SB in the UW build? If so, what other card choices would you choose to complement this choice? Would you run Standstills alongside
, or, as I've also considered trying out but haven't gotten to yet, take those out in favor of Kira's ALONGSIDE Mom's?Edit::facepalm:
Indeed, I could see Kira and Mom side-by side as being particularly powerful; Kira protects from the spot-removal, freeing up Mom for all sorts of crazy combat shenanigans (then again,multiple Mom's canalsoaccomplish this, so there's that).Finally, some thoughts on the SB: Obviously, StP is an auto-include here, and PtE is simply StP #5. Spell Pierce 2 & 3 go here for combo or control, and I'm generally always happy to see them when I board them back in. Jitte's another no-brainier against aggro/ the mirror (I even wish I could fit more in the SB), and Jotun Grunt is another underrated all-star in many a match-up; he comes in for just about any aggro match-up as our own answer to Goyf et al, is super-aggressive, shines in the mirror (he can be played through an Llwan lock, though vialing him in to block an Llwan is also hilarious) and just so happens to also be GY hate with legs, so there's that. That being said, two is still probably the right number as it sucks to draw into multiples of these a lot of the time, especially early on in the game when they can both frequently be dead-draws if you're not lucky.
As for Nul Rod, it's a meta call if you're expecting a lot of artifact combo (including Forgemaster or Thopter combo decks) or Affinity, which both seem to be more and more prevalent these days. Yes, it's usually worth at least trying once or twice to mull to one in these MU's; no, running just two hasn't been that bad for me in terms of consistency; yes, it does suck that it shuts down your Aether Vials/ Jitte, but it's usually still worth it anyway, and if you're feeling particularly ballzy you CAN actually side those out. Pithing Needle used to be here, and is also still a good option. Powder Keg seems like it might also work pretty well against Affinity and has other potential uses as well if you're looking for something less narrow, but for now I'm sticking to Nul Rod for the sheer number of problematic threats it just shuts down cold (including Affinity's lands :xd:).
Lastly, we come to Meddling Mage; an awesome card against many combo decks, and can stop folks from playing all sorts of problematic cards like Natural Order, Show and Tell, Sneak Attack, Cranial Plating/ Tezz, even ELDRAZI, or sweepers like Firespout, P. Deed, E. Explosives, etc, and shines even more when backed-up by a Mom to keep the spot removal off her back. That being said, I'd say that Cannonist is almost as good if not better in this slot for many match-ups (Elf combo, Storm, etc), so those slots can definitely be a meta-call.
In testing this build has struck me as particularly strong as far as the white splash goes, and seems more consistent and less mana-intensive than the versions running the 'swordfish' package (i.e. Stoneforge and Swords), though, again, perhaps there could even be room for both in some builds?
I've even been considering cutting a Coralhelm in favor of Mom #4, as crazy as that sounds. Would it be worth running Sowers main with all that protection? I also REALLY like Standstill in the deck, as it keeps our good MU's very good, and has more utility in some MU's than I think most people realize.
Anyhow, thoughts? Feedback? Give them to me!
Sig by me!
Currently Playing:
:symr::symg::symb: Living End Modern
:symu:, :symu::symw: Merfolk Fish ("Marine Freaks") Legacy, Modern
Death and Taxes Legacy
RDW/ Burn ("Peking Duck w/ 8 Pancakes") Legacy, Modern
:symu::symb::symr: Worldgorger Dragon Vintage
:symu::symr::symw: Narset EDH
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: Cube
This doesn't work, Kira will counter mom's ability.
T2
:symw::symb::symu:Spirits:symw::symb::symu:
Modern
:symu::symr::symw:Caw:symu::symr::symw:
Gah... I knew that, what was I thinking (it was late :/). You're right, of course.
Well, maybe I'll try out the 4x Mom's for a bit then.
Sig by me!
Currently Playing:
:symr::symg::symb: Living End Modern
:symu:, :symu::symw: Merfolk Fish ("Marine Freaks") Legacy, Modern
Death and Taxes Legacy
RDW/ Burn ("Peking Duck w/ 8 Pancakes") Legacy, Modern
:symu::symb::symr: Worldgorger Dragon Vintage
:symu::symr::symw: Narset EDH
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: Cube