I think Mana Leak is better 90% of the time. It also punishes us for plays like T1 Vial or getting hit by board wipes.
I agree that Leak is better (more consistent at least) and as much as I don't like Unified Will, I think Will is better because when it's live, it is a hard counter. Will can use Mutavault, Rebuff can use Spreading Seas.
I won't be running either, I don't think they're good enough and I've never liked this sort of card. Also with Rebuff I can't remember it ever being a tournament-playable card, even when Mono-U Devotion was in Standard, which is pretty damning.
Shoal is less of a nonbo than any other counterspell, though, because it will consume 2 cards when cashed in, and it doesn't actually cost mana to cast, so holding it up doesn't prevent you from otherwise advancing your gameplan.
Taking a blue card out of our hand can definitely prevent us from advancing our gameplan though. Merfolk generally needs multiple threats to win.
Non-basic island for choke/boil dodging with no other downside 99% of the time. Also if end up in a situation where you cant get another blue source, you can tap for mana, pay a colorless to return, play the land and tap it again so you end up with double blue.
Yeah. But as Magpie points out, there are only four Island in that list, so it's really soft to Blood Moon, which is more commonly played than Choke or Boil. I would cut the Oboro for a fifth Island at least.
Of course, the traditional mono-blue Merfolk is not concerned about Moon at all and is very concerned about Choke/Boil, so Oboro makes more sense.
I think I agree with you guys regarding Image now. I guess I will leave him sleeved up in Legacy where we copy True-Name Nemesis
Yeah, that's pretty much it. In Legacy you can copy a Nemesis and they can't touch that. In Modern, if you do play Image, your best target is probably Silvergill Adept. Harbinger of the Tides in some situations. Maybe Master of Waves if you can pull that off. Cursecatcher is a bad target, Lords are bad in many cases, and obviously Kira doesn't work at all.
It's not like it can't do some work, but we have enough other options right now which don't have the same weaknesses.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
THIS one might actually make it into my real Merfolk deck. He overperformed BIGTIME. I always thought, that since we are always attacking and never block, he would be dead the moment he became a Planeswalker.
In fact, he rarely became one. Which sounds bad, but wasn't!
I discarded soooooo many Vials, lands and useless Spells for actual good stuff, that he amazed me. The few times he flipped, he immideately handled some fliers/Tokens or 2/2 guys i couldn't block.
To flashback a sideboardcard is awesome btw and the synergy with vial is just the Bonus!
Well, if you mainly just want him for the Merfolk Looter effect, then well, maybe you should try playing actual Merfolk Looter in your Merfolk deck?
(I strongly suspect Merfolk does not want Jace nor Looter, nor any of this random Jeskai stuff. The actual Merfolk deck has a consistent game plan and a lot of redundancy, meaning it's the exact type of deck that does not need a looter. Jeskai Control loves to loot because they can discard the wrong answer for the right answer. In Merfolk, you can discard late Vials, but otherwise, you're doing what? Discard Island for Island? Lord of Atlantis for Master of the Pearl Trident?)
Essence Flux
It was ok! It did what i wanted it to do. The blowouts i expected didn't happen even once. If Snag isn't what you look for, Essence Flux is a great alternative!
I used it mostly to block with an Adept, then Flux it so it didn't die and nets me a card. I played around removal though! Icouldn't play it whenever. I had to wait sometimes.
Second most use was to save a Lord from removal.
Third most use was fluxing MoW for more Token.
I would rather run Vapor Snag, which can do the same thing in addition to its normal role of targetting opposing creatures. Sure, it's worse on your own creatures than Essence Flux for a few reasons, but the versatility makes it a much better choice overall.
How many of you have been tryiing out AV in merfolk? I haven't gotten to it (no clue what I'd cut either) so I'm curious to see if anyone has had any results with them so far
I haven't. I don't think Ancestral Vision is what this deck wants to be doing. It's not an aggro/tempo card. It could be OK on turn 1 if we didn't have Vial, but playing it later than that would be pretty awful for us. The only time I could see wanting Vision is against Jund, after we take out Vial, and I don't think it's even the best thing we could side in for that matchup.
On the other hand, I have played against it, and I'm generally happy to see it on the other side of the table. It means they're running Island, and it means they're slow enough that we can play aggressively and win before they have time to use the extra cards.
I think Kira is a maindeck card right now. There are only a few matchups where I would side her out.
Image, on the other hand, is pretty bad right now and I suggest running zero copies. We are at the point where we have access to many superior options, and we don't need Image any more.
The Eldrazi loss probably came down to bad draws, from the way you describe it.
I think so. I don't know much about the matchup, and I didn't take notes, but Game 1 he had multiple Eldrazi Temples, a Mutavault, and lots of other stuff to go against my two Lord of Atlantis who were actually doing more harm than good. Game 2, he mulled to five, but I also mulled to five, drew too many, and had to take the forced mull to four (this was my only warning of the weekend, for the record). Merfolk doesn't really function on four cards. My guess is that the matchup is not great for Merfolk, but it might be average.
Hi, I'm Jacob, I was the 12th place Merfolk player in the Classic (7-2 record). I also played the Invitational, going 9-7 (5-3 in Modern). So that's 17 rounds of Modern with a 12-5 record. I ran into Choke once in the Invitational, and zero times in the Classic. I also did not play a single game against Affinity the entire weekend. That's lucky, but as far as I can tell nobody was even playing the deck in Columbus. It wasn't at the top tables, and it doesn't seem like it was at the bottom tables either. Odd, but I'm not going to complain about not having to play my worst matchup in 17 rounds.
I had played Modern Merfolk quite a bit a few years ago (made day 2 of GP Richmond), but hadn't played it in quite some time. I haven't really played Modern in any meaningful way over the past year, so I was aware of the meta but not fully knowledgeable about it. Still, I figured the new decks with Ancestral Visions and Thopter Foundry would be reasonable matchups for Merfolk, and it was a deck I knew I could pilot it.
Joshua Everly's list gave me some inspiration. It was similar to what I was running before. I liked the idea of running 3 Caverns (you generally do not want to draw multiple Caverns) and the maindeck Kiras. There were a few things I didn't like, however...
What is the point of the single Dismember, Remand, Vapor Snag in the main? I get that in a new meta it's hard to predict exactly what you'll go up against but I can't imagine a toolbox of singletons that you can't draw reliably main deck being very useful.
...for example, the 3 mainboard Dismember. I recognize the need for Dismember, of course, but 4 life is a big price to pay. So I cut down to one main, one side. Probably should have had a third in the mix somewhere. I added a fourth Merrow Reejerey because I always run four of it, I think the card is great. I also added a single Remand because I didn't have a better idea. Remand was not great for me and I do not think it is a good choice at all. If you're going to run a counterspell in Merfolk, run something that deals with the problem permanently, not just for one turn.
So to answer your question, it wasn't meant to be a toolbox. Dismember and Vapor Snag are there to deal with creatures. Remand is there because I was an idiot.
Another thing I didn't like was Chalice of the Void. In Legacy, I love Chalice and run 4 maindeck. In Modern, I don't think it does enough, at least not in the matchups where I need the help, and it doesn't fit well enough with the overall gameplan of the deck. I think I was correct about this, I didn't miss Chalice in the least, but I wasn't really happy with the cards I added to the sideboard. Echoing Truth was an especially bad choice, I don't even know what the point of that was.
I also didn't like the 3 Master of Waves. Four-drops are too slow for a deck running 20 lands. I cut two Masters for two Phantasmal Image. This was the biggest mistake I made in deckbuilding. Phantasmal Image sucks. It's a fine card in Legacy where there's less removal, you can copy True-Name Nemesis, and the format is generally faster, but in Modern it mainly just makes your Kiras stop working. After the Invitational, I swapped the Images back out for the Masters, and it made the deck considerably better. Master of Waves is MVP against Jund and really isn't bad in any matchup. With 8 cantrips in the deck, the 4th land will show up eventually, and while Master is bad against Path to Exile and Dismember, it dodges Abrupt Decay and a ton of red removal spells.
Speaking of Jund, one of my losses in the Invi was to Jund. I've always struggled with that matchup. In the Classic though, I figured it out in a big way (and I see from the last few pages that many of you have the same ideas!) It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you are the beatdown against Jund. You definitely have to be patient. Lords are vulnerable, but Kira, Master of Waves, and Spreading Seas are all great against Jund. I was 2-0 against Jund in the Classic and I'm now starting to think it's a favorable matchup.
My losses in the Classic were to Elves (I have no experience with this matchup in Modern and haven't figured it out yet), and Eldrazi (Mutavault is pretty good against Lord of Atlantis when you don't have a Seas). Two of my wins were against Jund, I also beat Big Zoo, Valakut Ramp, Grixis Control, R/W Burn, and Infect.
If I play Modern States this weekend, I'll run a similar list with a second Dismember or Vapor Snag instead of Remand, and some changes to the sideboard.
Also, I did get to live the dream with Merrow Reejerey against a Zoo player during the Invitational. Had one on the board, played a fourth land, cast a second Reejerey, untapped a land, then cast five straight two-drops. We are secretly a combo deck! Reejerey followed by Harbinger of the Tides is also pretty sweet.
Disadvantages in a card can always be used as an advantage if you take the time to break it, but it requires actually thinking about it, and not just claiming it's bad because it's not obvious.
Well, no, not always. Sometimes disadvantages are just disadvantages, and trying to break them doesn't actually make up for the downsides of the card. Trust me, I did "actually think about it," and so did many people who tried to make the Dragon a competitive card and failed at it.
It was not a competitive card pre-rotation. If you had some success with it, that's great, but that's grossly outweighed by the complete lack of impact in tournaments over the past year. People tried it in all sorts of decks with all sorts of game plans. They all failed.
It sounds like the Jund deck you ran was successful because of good cards like Thunderbreak Regent, Kolaghan's Command, and Den Protector, and that was enough to outweigh the deficiencies of Avaricious Dragon. You could have replaced the Dragon with something else and your deck could have been better.
I agree that Leak is better (more consistent at least) and as much as I don't like Unified Will, I think Will is better because when it's live, it is a hard counter. Will can use Mutavault, Rebuff can use Spreading Seas.
I won't be running either, I don't think they're good enough and I've never liked this sort of card. Also with Rebuff I can't remember it ever being a tournament-playable card, even when Mono-U Devotion was in Standard, which is pretty damning.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/251939-how-to-become-a-magic-judge
Taking a blue card out of our hand can definitely prevent us from advancing our gameplan though. Merfolk generally needs multiple threats to win.
Yeah. But as Magpie points out, there are only four Island in that list, so it's really soft to Blood Moon, which is more commonly played than Choke or Boil. I would cut the Oboro for a fifth Island at least.
Of course, the traditional mono-blue Merfolk is not concerned about Moon at all and is very concerned about Choke/Boil, so Oboro makes more sense.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. In Legacy you can copy a Nemesis and they can't touch that. In Modern, if you do play Image, your best target is probably Silvergill Adept. Harbinger of the Tides in some situations. Maybe Master of Waves if you can pull that off. Cursecatcher is a bad target, Lords are bad in many cases, and obviously Kira doesn't work at all.
It's not like it can't do some work, but we have enough other options right now which don't have the same weaknesses.
Well, if you mainly just want him for the Merfolk Looter effect, then well, maybe you should try playing actual Merfolk Looter in your Merfolk deck?
(I strongly suspect Merfolk does not want Jace nor Looter, nor any of this random Jeskai stuff. The actual Merfolk deck has a consistent game plan and a lot of redundancy, meaning it's the exact type of deck that does not need a looter. Jeskai Control loves to loot because they can discard the wrong answer for the right answer. In Merfolk, you can discard late Vials, but otherwise, you're doing what? Discard Island for Island? Lord of Atlantis for Master of the Pearl Trident?)
I would rather run Vapor Snag, which can do the same thing in addition to its normal role of targetting opposing creatures. Sure, it's worse on your own creatures than Essence Flux for a few reasons, but the versatility makes it a much better choice overall.
I haven't. I don't think Ancestral Vision is what this deck wants to be doing. It's not an aggro/tempo card. It could be OK on turn 1 if we didn't have Vial, but playing it later than that would be pretty awful for us. The only time I could see wanting Vision is against Jund, after we take out Vial, and I don't think it's even the best thing we could side in for that matchup.
On the other hand, I have played against it, and I'm generally happy to see it on the other side of the table. It means they're running Island, and it means they're slow enough that we can play aggressively and win before they have time to use the extra cards.
Image, on the other hand, is pretty bad right now and I suggest running zero copies. We are at the point where we have access to many superior options, and we don't need Image any more.
I think so. I don't know much about the matchup, and I didn't take notes, but Game 1 he had multiple Eldrazi Temples, a Mutavault, and lots of other stuff to go against my two Lord of Atlantis who were actually doing more harm than good. Game 2, he mulled to five, but I also mulled to five, drew too many, and had to take the forced mull to four (this was my only warning of the weekend, for the record). Merfolk doesn't really function on four cards. My guess is that the matchup is not great for Merfolk, but it might be average.
Hi, I'm Jacob, I was the 12th place Merfolk player in the Classic (7-2 record). I also played the Invitational, going 9-7 (5-3 in Modern). So that's 17 rounds of Modern with a 12-5 record. I ran into Choke once in the Invitational, and zero times in the Classic. I also did not play a single game against Affinity the entire weekend. That's lucky, but as far as I can tell nobody was even playing the deck in Columbus. It wasn't at the top tables, and it doesn't seem like it was at the bottom tables either. Odd, but I'm not going to complain about not having to play my worst matchup in 17 rounds.
I had played Modern Merfolk quite a bit a few years ago (made day 2 of GP Richmond), but hadn't played it in quite some time. I haven't really played Modern in any meaningful way over the past year, so I was aware of the meta but not fully knowledgeable about it. Still, I figured the new decks with Ancestral Visions and Thopter Foundry would be reasonable matchups for Merfolk, and it was a deck I knew I could pilot it.
Joshua Everly's list gave me some inspiration. It was similar to what I was running before. I liked the idea of running 3 Caverns (you generally do not want to draw multiple Caverns) and the maindeck Kiras. There were a few things I didn't like, however...
...for example, the 3 mainboard Dismember. I recognize the need for Dismember, of course, but 4 life is a big price to pay. So I cut down to one main, one side. Probably should have had a third in the mix somewhere. I added a fourth Merrow Reejerey because I always run four of it, I think the card is great. I also added a single Remand because I didn't have a better idea. Remand was not great for me and I do not think it is a good choice at all. If you're going to run a counterspell in Merfolk, run something that deals with the problem permanently, not just for one turn.
So to answer your question, it wasn't meant to be a toolbox. Dismember and Vapor Snag are there to deal with creatures. Remand is there because I was an idiot.
Another thing I didn't like was Chalice of the Void. In Legacy, I love Chalice and run 4 maindeck. In Modern, I don't think it does enough, at least not in the matchups where I need the help, and it doesn't fit well enough with the overall gameplan of the deck. I think I was correct about this, I didn't miss Chalice in the least, but I wasn't really happy with the cards I added to the sideboard. Echoing Truth was an especially bad choice, I don't even know what the point of that was.
I also didn't like the 3 Master of Waves. Four-drops are too slow for a deck running 20 lands. I cut two Masters for two Phantasmal Image. This was the biggest mistake I made in deckbuilding. Phantasmal Image sucks. It's a fine card in Legacy where there's less removal, you can copy True-Name Nemesis, and the format is generally faster, but in Modern it mainly just makes your Kiras stop working. After the Invitational, I swapped the Images back out for the Masters, and it made the deck considerably better. Master of Waves is MVP against Jund and really isn't bad in any matchup. With 8 cantrips in the deck, the 4th land will show up eventually, and while Master is bad against Path to Exile and Dismember, it dodges Abrupt Decay and a ton of red removal spells.
Speaking of Jund, one of my losses in the Invi was to Jund. I've always struggled with that matchup. In the Classic though, I figured it out in a big way (and I see from the last few pages that many of you have the same ideas!) It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you are the beatdown against Jund. You definitely have to be patient. Lords are vulnerable, but Kira, Master of Waves, and Spreading Seas are all great against Jund. I was 2-0 against Jund in the Classic and I'm now starting to think it's a favorable matchup.
My losses in the Classic were to Elves (I have no experience with this matchup in Modern and haven't figured it out yet), and Eldrazi (Mutavault is pretty good against Lord of Atlantis when you don't have a Seas). Two of my wins were against Jund, I also beat Big Zoo, Valakut Ramp, Grixis Control, R/W Burn, and Infect.
If I play Modern States this weekend, I'll run a similar list with a second Dismember or Vapor Snag instead of Remand, and some changes to the sideboard.
Also, I did get to live the dream with Merrow Reejerey against a Zoo player during the Invitational. Had one on the board, played a fourth land, cast a second Reejerey, untapped a land, then cast five straight two-drops. We are secretly a combo deck! Reejerey followed by Harbinger of the Tides is also pretty sweet.
Well, no, not always. Sometimes disadvantages are just disadvantages, and trying to break them doesn't actually make up for the downsides of the card. Trust me, I did "actually think about it," and so did many people who tried to make the Dragon a competitive card and failed at it.
It was not a competitive card pre-rotation. If you had some success with it, that's great, but that's grossly outweighed by the complete lack of impact in tournaments over the past year. People tried it in all sorts of decks with all sorts of game plans. They all failed.
It sounds like the Jund deck you ran was successful because of good cards like Thunderbreak Regent, Kolaghan's Command, and Den Protector, and that was enough to outweigh the deficiencies of Avaricious Dragon. You could have replaced the Dragon with something else and your deck could have been better.