it increases the consistency of spreading seas effect, to grant islandwalk to the team. (it would be copies 5-6 or 5-7)
Sure, but it's completely redundant if you already have Spreading Seas or if your opponent is already playing an Island (and there is a lot of blue right now).
Also, I've played Spell Pierce in the mainboard recently, and... don't. There are too many matchups right now where it is just not useful.
MoW was such a game changer before, but I think he's starting to be a meta call. Any sugestions for testing?
Yeah, I think MoW is just flat-out bad right now. Not to be too obvious, but Phantasmal Image? Maybe with 2x Kopala, since Kopala actually offers some protection for Image, whereas Kira doesn't?
Also, anyone have any thoughts on the Gifts Storm matchup? Clique and GY hate seem really strong against it, and obviously countering Gifts whenever possible.
It's funny, I was just thinking of putting a single Clique in the maindeck, and there it is. Anyone else tried Clique lately? Not the biggest fan of Crudele's list otherwise, but it's clear that Harbinger is a must-have right now.
What are your thoughts on Mizzium Skin as a sideboard option? Gives each creature hexproof and +0/1 to get around some sweepers and bolts.
+0/+1 is rarely ever going to be relevant as a combat trick, so you're almost always going to be using this against a non-creature spell. Maybe an ability, maybe a creature with an ETB, but usually a non-creature spell. So, if the idea here is to counter a spell, why not just go with something more versatile like Negate or Spell Pierce in that slot?
Right, I think the issue with MOW is that it's too slow on offense and doesn't always line up well on defense. I think you generally cut MOW just because you have to cut something, and you need to keep Cursecatcher/Lords to give yourself the chance to curve out. I'd cut maindeck Tidebinders before MOW if you're running those, but otherwise I can't think of anything I'd cut before MOW.
Remember, in that matchup, you are not the beatdown.
I don't entirely agree with this. The problem with the matchup is that we really can't be "control" against them either. We don't have enough answers to deal with their threats, and even when we can buy time against them, the inevitability is on their side of the table. Playing defense often leads to us just losing slower. I think Affinity needs to be approached almost as a "race" matchup, where we have to accept that we are usually slower, but can use what little interaction we have to turn the tide (pun intended) and kill them before they can kill us. That's why Hurkyl's Recall is powerful against them. It's not a permanent answer to anything. But it buys us a turn or two and lets us get our attacks in and become the beatdown. In my experience, the best way to use Recall is usually on our own first main phase when both sides have built up a board presence, then attack with the team, let them spend their turn replaying their board, and hopefully have enough of a board advantage left over to attack again the following turn.
Definitely seems strong in this format. If you have it, it's in your deck, I don't think it would ever get cut from any list. So it should be a high pick. In pack 1, this is a contender for the best non-rare to pick. Once I know for sure which colors I'm in, I might take something like Harnessed Lightning over it.
Remember, don't put too much stock in week one results. It's common for aggro to dominate early on, before people figure out what the answers for it are. A few weeks from now, these archetypes may be long gone.
In some cases this could be better than Cancel, but normally it will be worse. And Cancel wasn't great to begin with. I can't imagine this will be disappearing from packs very early.
Does anyone have a good landbase suggestion for a white splash? I want to try out Authority of the Consuls
I don't think Authority is worth it at all, but if you're looking to splash white, start with Wanderwine Hub, Seachrome Coast, and maybe Hallowed Fountain. Splashing white for creatures is a bit easier because you can use Cavern of Souls, but most of the white stuff we'd want to splash for is spells, since white answers a lot of things that blue has trouble with.
Interesting. I suspect that as a vanilla 3 damage, it's better in Draft than in Sealed, so I would still pick it highly. Of course, if you have multiple artifacts out then it becomes more of a splashable red Murder.
I'm just going to go ahead and post a random Kaladesh card here, because I think it would be cool to discuss some random Kaladesh cards. I can't update the OP or thread title, but oh well.
This would probably be good even if your deck had zero artifacts. It's removal, it's instant, and it's not too expensive. Good common.
Just accept that you can't beat them. Not even the Saito route of 2011 would do work nowadays. Elves just poses too many problems and can attack on too many different axis. You can't race them, because you are rather slow at building up a board and they don't run any islands (and even if they do, they have Quirion to put them back) and you can't counter there shenanigans because they have either too much redundancy or Cavern of Souls. Chalice doesn't work, their spells are quite varied these days and Green Suns + Natural Order give them too many outs. Engineered Plague and others are just too slow, once you get these down they can easily tutor up an answer or they just Decay it and rebuild anyway. Just hope to dodge it. Elves is one of the few decks in Legacy that Merfolk just can't beat.
Eh, it's a bad matchup but I don't think it's THAT bad. You will have some games where you have no chance, but some where you can win and sometimes you can get the match. It's in the 20-30% range at least, I'd say. Chalice won't shut them out of the game, but it can sometimes slow them down enough to allow you to become the beatdown (you cannot be control against them, you have to find a way to get a tempo advantage). Force of Will can be used against a GSZ or Natural Order, and if you can survive long enough to put a Jitte on a True-Name Nemesis, you can win that way. Will that happen every time? No. Will a good/great draw from Elves beat pretty much anything from Merfolk? Probably. But you can definitely win the matchup SOME of the time. That said, if you expect to face Elves multiple times in a tournament, this deck is not going to be the ideal choice.
Sure, but it's completely redundant if you already have Spreading Seas or if your opponent is already playing an Island (and there is a lot of blue right now).
Also, I've played Spell Pierce in the mainboard recently, and... don't. There are too many matchups right now where it is just not useful.
It was a pile even back then, but it was fun. And yeah, Second Chance is still my favorite card, if you hadn't figured that out already.
Yeah, I think MoW is just flat-out bad right now. Not to be too obvious, but Phantasmal Image? Maybe with 2x Kopala, since Kopala actually offers some protection for Image, whereas Kira doesn't?
Also, anyone have any thoughts on the Gifts Storm matchup? Clique and GY hate seem really strong against it, and obviously countering Gifts whenever possible.
It's funny, I was just thinking of putting a single Clique in the maindeck, and there it is. Anyone else tried Clique lately? Not the biggest fan of Crudele's list otherwise, but it's clear that Harbinger is a must-have right now.
+0/+1 is rarely ever going to be relevant as a combat trick, so you're almost always going to be using this against a non-creature spell. Maybe an ability, maybe a creature with an ETB, but usually a non-creature spell. So, if the idea here is to counter a spell, why not just go with something more versatile like Negate or Spell Pierce in that slot?
I don't entirely agree with this. The problem with the matchup is that we really can't be "control" against them either. We don't have enough answers to deal with their threats, and even when we can buy time against them, the inevitability is on their side of the table. Playing defense often leads to us just losing slower. I think Affinity needs to be approached almost as a "race" matchup, where we have to accept that we are usually slower, but can use what little interaction we have to turn the tide (pun intended) and kill them before they can kill us. That's why Hurkyl's Recall is powerful against them. It's not a permanent answer to anything. But it buys us a turn or two and lets us get our attacks in and become the beatdown. In my experience, the best way to use Recall is usually on our own first main phase when both sides have built up a board presence, then attack with the team, let them spend their turn replaying their board, and hopefully have enough of a board advantage left over to attack again the following turn.
I don't think Authority is worth it at all, but if you're looking to splash white, start with Wanderwine Hub, Seachrome Coast, and maybe Hallowed Fountain. Splashing white for creatures is a bit easier because you can use Cavern of Souls, but most of the white stuff we'd want to splash for is spells, since white answers a lot of things that blue has trouble with.
I'm just going to go ahead and post a random Kaladesh card here, because I think it would be cool to discuss some random Kaladesh cards. I can't update the OP or thread title, but oh well.
Your thoughts?
Eh, it's a bad matchup but I don't think it's THAT bad. You will have some games where you have no chance, but some where you can win and sometimes you can get the match. It's in the 20-30% range at least, I'd say. Chalice won't shut them out of the game, but it can sometimes slow them down enough to allow you to become the beatdown (you cannot be control against them, you have to find a way to get a tempo advantage). Force of Will can be used against a GSZ or Natural Order, and if you can survive long enough to put a Jitte on a True-Name Nemesis, you can win that way. Will that happen every time? No. Will a good/great draw from Elves beat pretty much anything from Merfolk? Probably. But you can definitely win the matchup SOME of the time. That said, if you expect to face Elves multiple times in a tournament, this deck is not going to be the ideal choice.