Not to sound a prick, but I am maybe the first one that suggested to use Worship in Merfolk, right here on this forum, with my "Worshipping Tuna" list that you can find in signature; it may be a bit outdated now that twin is not a problem anymore, so I could try some weird new strategy.
I personally know Casati also, he is a very good and smart player, he always plays Merfolk and he is absolutely against any kind of splash for colors. Every time I face him, I lose because I feel the UW version is worse in the mirror.
I literally posted a deck with a white splash for Ghostly Prison and Worship a page or two earlier...
Okay, great.. Your point is..? Should I give credit to you for posting first? In that case, I posted Worship lists as far back as October and earlier, so you should pay fealty to the real Whitefish in the thread!
About your build with Worship in SB.. I found that to be inferior to just running it in the MB, as you dilute your plan very little to include in the MB 2-3 copies of a card that is unbeatable in a ton of matchups. I would also run 3 Path to Exile over 3 Dismember in MB, you are already on the W splash so why not use it? Your Simian Spirit Guide plan seems misguided, if you will.. Is that just to ramp out a t3 worship? You also run 1 Plains coupled with Fetchlands, I would never run a basic Plains in this list when you can run so many UW lands. Painlands are better even, imo, and I'm not sure I would include those right now.
Problem is, this has been just a marketing campaign for their two released sets. They created a new archetipe in B/* Eldrazi and they single handedly killed its worst matchup in Twin by banning the namesake card in order to sell more.
This ban was a true mistake. Twin was a fair and fun deck within the format and one of the few competitive decks to use blue accordingly. Without Twin, I am unfortunately afraid that we will see the raise of even faster or unfair combo decks and wizard has not thought carefully about the delicate role that a deck like twin was posing in the format. Also, gear up against tron and eldrazi, we will need it.
It makes burn a winnable matchup, even considering the chalice of the void that you have in the side. You may or may not struggle against affinity while I have never found Podless Company a real threat.
Wasn't Burn already relatively winnable, with Master of Waves in the main and Tidebinder Mage from the side? So wouldn't it be more correct to say, if anything, that it makes the match-up "more winnable"?
Path to Exile is obviously nicer than Vapor Snag or Dismember, but is it worth giving them an extra land? I can also imagine the Spell Pierce and Chalices working out well for you (both played in U Merfolk). I am missing Kira in your build, though.
How does Sejiri Merfolk fair in this match-up? Would you say he's the MVP, like others have suggested, and despite only playing 2 in your build?
I often find myself playing to get Master of Waves online in this match-up. Is the game-plan similar for you with respect to Worship?
Burn can be easily managed G1 just by landing either Worship, a Sejiri that can attack at least one time to gain life or a Spellskite. Postboard you can put in your chalices to make him stuck as long as you will find any of the other aforementioned sponges. Sejiri usually dies pretty fast, no matter the match up, that is the reason why you have to time his appearance really well. For what concerns PtE you don't have to always use it right away on creatures and that is something that most seem not to understand; you can still get some punch in the face before wasting a PtE too early. It is extremely useful when they land Vexing Devils or an Eidolon when you don't have an active vial.
Master of Waves sometimes is too slow. They will always throw spells at you so you will have a lot of creatures on the board usually. Master of Waves gives him at least one turn more to burn you away. Worship wins the game on the spot.
It makes burn a winnable matchup, even considering the chalice of the void that you have in the side. You may or may not struggle against affinity while I have never found Podless Company a real threat.
I noticed you run only Kataki, no Stony Silence. I assume this is due to it being A)You can Vial it in, and B) it doesn't stop your own vial. Am I correct?.
It is even more important than that: not only you can sneak vial him in, but it is also much more relevant than stony silence after turn 2. Stony silence on an already equipped cranial plating does nothing, while Kataki force the opponent to use heir resources on something or sacrifice their permanent against the affinity setup. Thanks to Path to Exile, Monoblue and/or RG tron is a problem no more.
I really am not sold on playing Worship in the Fish shell. You have to dilute your manabase into white for a clunky 4 mana enchantment.
IMO, Just play the monoblue version, learn its matchups and tweak for your meta, win games.
What does "dilute" manabase means? You are not diluting your manabase in any way. Every single card you are using in place of an island has blue in itself. Wanderwine even saves you against chokes. The advantage of using UW instead of monoblue are:
1) Not losing 4 lifes by using dismember
2) Being able to manage the mirror much better
3) Using PtE on *****ty things like Wurmcoil (that has always been a huge problem to deal with for me with MonoU merfolks), while being able to kill also bigger threats.
A landed worship may gain you a dozen of turns if the opponent is not able to counteract it in a proper way, which is not something to underestimate if the match went in a wrong direction. (e.g. damnation, oblivion stones, engineered explosives...)
This list has been tuned for two years and has won me several tournaments at our local stores and even bigger events. You can always try it instead of just complaining with statements like "MonoU is just better".
I have been playing fish for 6 years now.
You are welcome. This list is the ***** right now, Worship is winning me games in which I would be screwed otherwise, PtE is still a great choice against almost anything, you have enough counters and also some trick in your sleeve for the sideboard. It is a bit tricky to play the list correctly but trust me when I say it is worth it.
Try the list I have in my signature. So far I have received almost zero feedback but trust me, this list has true potential, too bad I cannot play Magic as much as I would like to.
1 City of Brass
4 Cephalid Coliseum
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Mana Confluence
1 Putrid Imp
2 Prized Amalgam
3 Ichorid
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Golgari Thug
4 Narcomoeba
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Bridge from Below
1 Firestorm
4 Breakthrough
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Careful Study
4 Faithless Looting
SB: 1 Blightsteel Colossus
SB: 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
SB: 2 Dread Return
SB: 2 Firestorm
SB: 1 Ashen Rider
SB: 4 Serenity
SB: 4 Force of Will
Thank you in advance,
Ley
http://www.ovinotournament.com/modern-main-event-ovinospring/
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Cursecatcher
4 Master of Waves
4 Handbringer of the Tides
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Phantasmal Image
2 Kira, the Great Glass Spinner
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
4 Mutavault
9 Island
1 Minamo School of Water’s Edge
1 Oboro Palace of Clouds
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Winderwine Hub
1 Negate
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Dismember
2 Echoing Truth
4 Hurkyll’s Recall
2 Unified Will
And that's exactly why it was banned. To push eldrazi and boost sales.
I personally know Casati also, he is a very good and smart player, he always plays Merfolk and he is absolutely against any kind of splash for colors. Every time I face him, I lose because I feel the UW version is worse in the mirror.
Burn can be easily managed G1 just by landing either Worship, a Sejiri that can attack at least one time to gain life or a Spellskite. Postboard you can put in your chalices to make him stuck as long as you will find any of the other aforementioned sponges. Sejiri usually dies pretty fast, no matter the match up, that is the reason why you have to time his appearance really well. For what concerns PtE you don't have to always use it right away on creatures and that is something that most seem not to understand; you can still get some punch in the face before wasting a PtE too early. It is extremely useful when they land Vexing Devils or an Eidolon when you don't have an active vial.
Master of Waves sometimes is too slow. They will always throw spells at you so you will have a lot of creatures on the board usually. Master of Waves gives him at least one turn more to burn you away. Worship wins the game on the spot.
It is even more important than that: not only you can sneak vial him in, but it is also much more relevant than stony silence after turn 2. Stony silence on an already equipped cranial plating does nothing, while Kataki force the opponent to use heir resources on something or sacrifice their permanent against the affinity setup. Thanks to Path to Exile, Monoblue and/or RG tron is a problem no more.
What does "dilute" manabase means? You are not diluting your manabase in any way. Every single card you are using in place of an island has blue in itself. Wanderwine even saves you against chokes. The advantage of using UW instead of monoblue are:
1) Not losing 4 lifes by using dismember
2) Being able to manage the mirror much better
3) Using PtE on *****ty things like Wurmcoil (that has always been a huge problem to deal with for me with MonoU merfolks), while being able to kill also bigger threats.
A landed worship may gain you a dozen of turns if the opponent is not able to counteract it in a proper way, which is not something to underestimate if the match went in a wrong direction. (e.g. damnation, oblivion stones, engineered explosives...)
This list has been tuned for two years and has won me several tournaments at our local stores and even bigger events. You can always try it instead of just complaining with statements like "MonoU is just better".
I have been playing fish for 6 years now.