I'm frankly amazed at the negativity here. You guys have TWELVE 2 cmc lords now and the set is disappointing? I think the 9th to 12th lord alone was enough for celebration. The redundancy is bordering on ridiculous now. Sure, the double greens are a pain in the butt, but between vials, caverns, territory, sanctum and breeding pool, will balancing UU and GG really be that hard?
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The additional 2 mana lord is nice but I think what most people wanted was something to interact woth the opponent spells (something like a Mausoleum Wanderer, Spell Queller, Spellstrutter Sprite just to name a few). Yes we can win faster but the idea behind Merfolk is to play the tempo game, and lets be honest with ourselves, if you play a deck with 12 2cmc lords and Harbinger as your only interaction with the opponent you are a zoo/aggro deck, not a tempo deck. Plus none of the new merfolk help us in the Lantern, Elves, Valakut and Affinity matchup (even wih the niew lord, Affinity and Elves are still a bit faster then us).
I'm frankly amazed at the negativity here. You guys have TWELVE 2 cmc lords now and the set is disappointing? I think the 9th to 12th lord alone was enough for celebration. The redundancy is bordering on ridiculous now. Sure, the double greens are a pain in the butt, but between vials, caverns, territory, sanctum and breeding pool, will balancing UU and GG really be that hard?
Yes. Yes, it will. The fixing for that is untenable. None of the GG cards are making the leap over to Modern.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; what we need are essentially Tribal spells along the lines of what Dragons got in Takir block with Silumgar's Scorn. Cost reducing interaction that doesn't break blue the way things like Treasure Cruise did.
Give me cards similar to...
Stubborn Denial
U: Counter target non-creature spell unless that spells controller pays 1. Counter that spell instead if you reveal a merfolk card from your hand.
Vapor Snag/Repeal
U: Return target creature to it's owners hand. Draw a card if you control a Merfolk.
Serum Visions/Thirst for Knowledge
U: Draw 2 cards then discard a card. Draw 3 cards instead of you control a merfolk or reveal a merfolk from your hand.
Or U: Draw 3 cards then discard 2 cards unless you discard a Merfolk.
Etc. etc. We need more ways to interact cheaply on the aggro plan and/or better ways to refill our hands on the tempo plan. The creature list is already so tight there isn't going to be a ton of room for upgrades outside of a better Cursecatcher (with Flash??). Maybe a replacement for MoW that is better at protecting itself? Or maybe a craterhoof version? Other Merfolk you control get +x/+x until end of turn where x = the number of merfolk you control.
I'd maybe take a Reej/Cold-Eyed Selkie combo; +1/+/1 to other merfolk and whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent draw a card.
This is going to sound dumb... but I'd even be happy if we found a way to move away from Vial. T1 it's great, if a little slow... but later on it's frequently a dead draw and get's boarded out in attrition matchups. Not sure what the alternative would look like though. Cost reducing doesn't really work with all the double blue. If it's a straight mana-dork it probably needs hexproof to protect itself, but a 0/2 hexproof that taps for U would be interesting.
I dunno. But trying to force green is not the answer outside of maybe Standard or EDH.
I'll definitely agree that GG merfolk won't make the jump to modern.
But yeah, the saltiness here is kinda weird. Merfolk Mistbinder is instantly better than Phantasmal Image so I don't really see why everyone is so upset about it.
I also don't understand why people are hooked on this idea that Merfolk has to be a tempo deck. If enough cards are released that make Merfolk a better zoo/aggro deck than it is a tempo deck then what is the problem with it changing? Look at what happened to Delver. It basically turned into Death Shadow and no one had any issues with that.
If Merfolk's ultimate destiny is to become an aggro deck, we're still a ways away from it happening. Pump-stacking is all well and good, but plenty of opponents are faster than that. We're tempo because we generally have to interact in order for our creatures to have enough time to finish the game. Right now, we're too heavy at the 2cmc spot (and more importantly, too light at the 1cmc spot) to be an honest-to-god aggro deck.
I'll definitely agree that GG merfolk won't make the jump to modern.
But yeah, the saltiness here is kinda weird. Merfolk Mistbinder is instantly better than Phantasmal Image so I don't really see why everyone is so upset about it.
I also don't understand why people are hooked on this idea that Merfolk has to be a tempo deck. If enough cards are released that make Merfolk a better zoo/aggro deck than it is a tempo deck then what is the problem with it changing? Look at what happened to Delver. It basically turned into Death Shadow and no one had any issues with that.
As it is today, no one is running Phantasmal Image. But yeah, the new UG lord of course is better then PI. People are not hooked on the idea that merfolk must be a tempo deck, but it is kinda a necessity bucause even with the new lord decks like affinity and elves are still (surely, not as much as before) faster. We need to gain advantage by inetracting with the opponent and none of the new green cratures does. That's the reason people are somewhat annoyed.
The other big difference is that all our other lords, in addition to pump, gave evasion (Reejeray somewhat by giving the ability to tap blockers) where as the new UG one is just pump.
Im still excited for it, but it is admittedly kind of bland.
I'm happier than I was post Ixalan already, and even then we ended up having Kumena's speaker, Branchwalker and Watertrap Weaver all play some relevant role in testing. And Kopala as well! Almost forgot.
I think the UG lord, the 1GG Flash guy and Kumena are all test worthy, and we still have a lot of cards left in the set!
Of the following three spells, which is the best form of interaction for Merfolk and why: Dismember, Spell Pierce, Vapor Sang.
Dismember, for sure. It hits more targets in the current meta, like any creature-based combo deck or just plain aggro. It’s the most decent draw of the three and you can cast it with literally any land that our deck has.
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Mostly Modern Player RBridgevineB RGR/G EldraziX UBlue MoonR UU/W TronW
I would vote for spell pierce. You have tons of tempo based creature interaction with reejerey, harbinger, watertrap weaver, and plenty of evasion. That's just my preference, but I'm sure it can change with the meta. I like having answers main for storm, big mana, and other noncreature things like coco and chord. Yes dismember kills baral, but you have more targets with pierce in the matchup.
This is what I’m going to play when RIX is out.
Looking for feedback. What do you all think?
I always try to make space for at least 2x Relic of Progenitus in the sideboard, card is simply that good. I think only 3 Vapor Snag as interaction is not really enough but I guess this probably depends from the amount of creature decks in your local meta. Otherwise, deck looks solid, only think that I am a bit worried about is that if you fall behind it is going to be hard to catch up, let's hope the deck is fast enough that this doesn't happen
How about this? Would this be better?
Drop 2 branchwalker. I did find branchwalker slows down the deck compared to when I’m playing mono blue. So this should be as fast as when it’s mono blue or even faster since we now have even more lord?
I like having around 14 lords, since the new lord doesn’t give islandwalk, I dropped 1 of it.
7 one drop is good with reej.
I don’t find the deck need relic in the side, it now needs more enchantment destroying now since we go into 2 color, people is going to bring in blood moon and destroy our vial. 3 Pierce and 1 dispel cause of storm?
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Current Deck(s): TappedOut Would love to have more input to improve!
I think this is a great shell to try Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca. I'm not sure how the card will perform, but maybe try cutting Reejerey for 2 Kumena and the 4th Mistbinder.
With so many Merfolk rares spoiled so far we are losing hope for the good stuff.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Yes. Yes, it will. The fixing for that is untenable. None of the GG cards are making the leap over to Modern.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Give me cards similar to...
Stubborn Denial
U: Counter target non-creature spell unless that spells controller pays 1. Counter that spell instead if you reveal a merfolk card from your hand.
Vapor Snag/Repeal
U: Return target creature to it's owners hand. Draw a card if you control a Merfolk.
Serum Visions/Thirst for Knowledge
U: Draw 2 cards then discard a card. Draw 3 cards instead of you control a merfolk or reveal a merfolk from your hand.
Or U: Draw 3 cards then discard 2 cards unless you discard a Merfolk.
Etc. etc. We need more ways to interact cheaply on the aggro plan and/or better ways to refill our hands on the tempo plan. The creature list is already so tight there isn't going to be a ton of room for upgrades outside of a better Cursecatcher (with Flash??). Maybe a replacement for MoW that is better at protecting itself? Or maybe a craterhoof version? Other Merfolk you control get +x/+x until end of turn where x = the number of merfolk you control.
I'd maybe take a Reej/Cold-Eyed Selkie combo; +1/+/1 to other merfolk and whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent draw a card.
This is going to sound dumb... but I'd even be happy if we found a way to move away from Vial. T1 it's great, if a little slow... but later on it's frequently a dead draw and get's boarded out in attrition matchups. Not sure what the alternative would look like though. Cost reducing doesn't really work with all the double blue. If it's a straight mana-dork it probably needs hexproof to protect itself, but a 0/2 hexproof that taps for U would be interesting.
I dunno. But trying to force green is not the answer outside of maybe Standard or EDH.
But yeah, the saltiness here is kinda weird. Merfolk Mistbinder is instantly better than Phantasmal Image so I don't really see why everyone is so upset about it.
I also don't understand why people are hooked on this idea that Merfolk has to be a tempo deck. If enough cards are released that make Merfolk a better zoo/aggro deck than it is a tempo deck then what is the problem with it changing? Look at what happened to Delver. It basically turned into Death Shadow and no one had any issues with that.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
As it is today, no one is running Phantasmal Image. But yeah, the new UG lord of course is better then PI. People are not hooked on the idea that merfolk must be a tempo deck, but it is kinda a necessity bucause even with the new lord decks like affinity and elves are still (surely, not as much as before) faster. We need to gain advantage by inetracting with the opponent and none of the new green cratures does. That's the reason people are somewhat annoyed.
Im still excited for it, but it is admittedly kind of bland.
I think the UG lord, the 1GG Flash guy and Kumena are all test worthy, and we still have a lot of cards left in the set!
Dismember, for sure. It hits more targets in the current meta, like any creature-based combo deck or just plain aggro. It’s the most decent draw of the three and you can cast it with literally any land that our deck has.
RBridgevineB
RGR/G EldraziX
UBlue MoonR
UU/W TronW
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Creature [30]
4x Cursecatcher
3x Kumena's Speaker
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
4x Merfolk Branchwalker
4x Merfolk Mistbinder
3x Merrow Reejerey
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Aether Vial
Enchantment [4]
4x Spreading Seas
Instant [3]
3x Vapor Snag
Land [19]
4x Island
4x Botanical Sanctum
2x Breeding Pool
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Mutavault
1x Unclaimed Territory
2x Harbinger of the Tides
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Dispel
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
2x Natural State
2x Negate
2x Spell Pierce
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
This is what I’m going to play when RIX is out.
Looking for feedback. What do you all think?
TappedOut
Would love to have more input to improve!
I always try to make space for at least 2x Relic of Progenitus in the sideboard, card is simply that good. I think only 3 Vapor Snag as interaction is not really enough but I guess this probably depends from the amount of creature decks in your local meta. Otherwise, deck looks solid, only think that I am a bit worried about is that if you fall behind it is going to be hard to catch up, let's hope the deck is fast enough that this doesn't happen
Creature [30]
4x Cursecatcher
3x Harbinger of the Tides
3x Kumena's Speaker
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
2x Merfolk Branchwalker
3x Merfolk Mistbinder
3x Merrow Reejerey
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Aether Vial
Enchantment [4]
4x Spreading Seas
Instant [3]
3x Vapor Snag
Land [19]
4x Island
4x Botanical Sanctum
2x Breeding Pool
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Mutavault
1x Unclaimed Territory
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Dispel
2x Hurkyl’s Recall
3x Natural State
2x Negate
3x Spell Pierce
2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
How about this? Would this be better?
Drop 2 branchwalker. I did find branchwalker slows down the deck compared to when I’m playing mono blue. So this should be as fast as when it’s mono blue or even faster since we now have even more lord?
I like having around 14 lords, since the new lord doesn’t give islandwalk, I dropped 1 of it.
7 one drop is good with reej.
I don’t find the deck need relic in the side, it now needs more enchantment destroying now since we go into 2 color, people is going to bring in blood moon and destroy our vial. 3 Pierce and 1 dispel cause of storm?
TappedOut
Would love to have more input to improve!
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG