After months of rest, I took my Worshipping Tuna back to a local tourney FNM. There were 25 people and I came out first winning half a box of Origins.
I played against
Azban Liege 2-0
WR Burn Stax 1-1 (This thing was just unpredictable, landing main bloodmoons, lands destruction and the such along with WR Ajani)
RG-Tron 2-0
Grixis Twin 2-0.
The match against grixis twin was extremely funny. After I used PTE on a Pestermite, he had on the field two snapcasters, a Vendilion and an Exarch and he could have attacked for lethal the next turn with just 2 Silvergils in play; he laughed off at me (he offered me to draw the game at the beginning but I would have been out of the top) and said: "Let's see which one is the best blue deck".
I landed a Worship on my turn. He smiled, attacked me on his turn bolting and dismembering my two Silvergils. I activated one of my mutavaults in response to survive at 1. Next turn a Master of waves 5 followed, with a second master of waves for 6 the turn after for the win. He was soo pissed off. The second game he tried to went for twin on pestermite at turn 4 (I left only one white mana on purpose and he tapped out my land with no PTE to follow), but I vialed in a spellskite stealing his twin and it was game. I was so happy to win against such a toxic player.
I still think the deck is well suited for the meta.
I am also not having a lot of time these days to test merfolk. Really liked the idea of including Worship though.
Also would be very interessted in the list, can please someone post it?
Sure thing, even though I will not have that much time during these days. I have still to make that list to myself, but I will provide you with such suggestions in a couple of days.
In the meanwhile, experiment with the deck and see if you like it
@Leyart: Fun list. When do you side out the Worships?
I have yet to find a matchup in which I should side them out. If they cannot destroy them, they are a huge threat on their own, so why side them out? If it lands the battlefield you are relatively safe but you should watch out for two things: Siege Rhinos (life loss and you die) and Cryptic Command (bouncing it).
How are you feeling about the ruinators?
I liked them against junk mostly, but since I usually sided out vials, and they run pathes, skaabs got stuck in my hand too long for me to keep them. Have you had better luck?
Skaabs are in for jund, junk and also azban since they are alwasy threats bigger than theirs. They come in also against burn in place of 2 path to exile to speed up the race at turn 4.
I tend to side them in against decks that run mass removals or can kill my creature easily. You vial them in or you can just hardcast it after a mass removal.
@Leyart
About those 2 Sejiri. Why two? I presume that you are "activating" them every time so it should be 4, or rarely so it should be zero copies?
The number of Sejiri is indeed a bit odd. I used to run 4 but they are the worst 2 drop that you can have, since they are a bit fragile on their own (better to play another lord or a Silvergil).
I found the addition of 2 additional lords in the form of Merrow Reejerey in 2 of their 4 slots to improve not only the usefulness of all the other merfolks but the power of Sejiri overall.
Nevertheless they are useful, once you have a couple of lords landed, to kill almost all ground threats or at least gain a couple of turns more to find proper finishers.
They serve the same role as Master of Waves to me: lategame creatures that I don't like to see too early.
Actually your best allies with Worship are Mutavaults, which can be turned into creatures at will and they could remain safe and protected when you don't need to survive.
Here, take it and go to win big. This is a list it took me 2 years to make and I think it's almost perfect.
Just won 5-0 against Azban, Burn, Burn, Twin, Podless Company. I am crushing nearby LGS, unfortunately there are not big tournaments around in my area these months.
Given the introduction of the new mana pools and mana burn rules,
Braid of Fire is finally getting as broken as it gets.
I think it is time to try to find the best possible strategies to abuse this card. MTG Salvation, I count on you.
LINK TO (BLATANTLY) FAKE ARTICLE AND PHISHING ATTEMPT:
@IslandsAreBroken. I do acknowledge the cost of playing path to exile, but you don't seem to realize that since it will be used lategame anyways, giving them one more land is not that important anymore.
Went 3-1 to a local FNM yesterday evening, beating Soul Sisters Norin, Twinning End, GW Hatebears, losing in topdeck mode to UR Twin.
Stony silence is useless if they have a cranial plating already online and equipped. Kataki screams: kill me or die, and it can also be ninjaed in at the end of our turn; fun will ensue.
With respect to the "Are people forgetting the non-bo's of Path to Exile with Spreading Sea's , Cursecatcher and Spell Pierce - furthermore the W splash is not free despite many people saying so - it clunks up your manabase - otherwise White is a worthy option depending on your local meta." that's completely not true, you just need to know how to play the deck. In Fish, path to exile is a lategame card, to be used when they drop a not-manageable threat or a combo creature. Cursecatcher is our insurance against Hivemind. Spellpierce our safety rope against early sweepers, infect, burn, scapeshift. The fact that they have no synergy does not mean that they could not be played together, and I have been playing fish for almost 2 years now. I won't go back to the MonoU version ever.
@CobTyrannon actually we have mutavaults, that can be turned on at will and dodge common removals. I also run 2 skaab ruinators, that can be vialed in and can return from the gy. I truly need to test Worship but I don't know in which slot to put them in. Currently my (kinda successful) list is the following:
Keep playing the UW version of the deck. Path to exile is fair superior wrt dismember from almost all the points of view.
I am also trying to put a couple of Worship in the main, has anyone ever tried it?
The Rack is certainly an archetype that can compete, with the potential card pool to crush a tournament by surprise. The reason it has often been viewed as a Tier 2 deck is because you cannot control your opponent's top-decks.
This is the real problem, and that's the reason because it is a Tier 3 deck. Although I can give credit to MemoryLapse for putting effort in creating a thread about this deck, the deck is by far not his creation.
We played the deck in legacy since 2010 (proof: http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=5397&iddeck=39048), this "8 rack" is just an adaptation to Modern.
The deck worked in legacy solving two of the main problems that the deck, in modern, has always had: topdecking and managing creatures/damage.
To solve topdecking in legacy, we had Null Brooch, a fantastic artifact that basically locked the opponent out of the game.
To handle creatures and push damage, we had Cursed Scroll. I think that this role can be filled by Mogis, which guarantees a dead creature or 2 damage.
These are the two most important pieces that we are missing right now to make 8rack competitive. In particular, since Mogis may take the role of cursed scroll, we need an effective way to counter spells, no matter the cost.
I played against
Azban Liege 2-0
WR Burn Stax 1-1 (This thing was just unpredictable, landing main bloodmoons, lands destruction and the such along with WR Ajani)
RG-Tron 2-0
Grixis Twin 2-0.
The match against grixis twin was extremely funny. After I used PTE on a Pestermite, he had on the field two snapcasters, a Vendilion and an Exarch and he could have attacked for lethal the next turn with just 2 Silvergils in play; he laughed off at me (he offered me to draw the game at the beginning but I would have been out of the top) and said: "Let's see which one is the best blue deck".
I landed a Worship on my turn. He smiled, attacked me on his turn bolting and dismembering my two Silvergils. I activated one of my mutavaults in response to survive at 1. Next turn a Master of waves 5 followed, with a second master of waves for 6 the turn after for the win. He was soo pissed off. The second game he tried to went for twin on pestermite at turn 4 (I left only one white mana on purpose and he tapped out my land with no PTE to follow), but I vialed in a spellskite stealing his twin and it was game. I was so happy to win against such a toxic player.
I still think the deck is well suited for the meta.
In the meanwhile, experiment with the deck and see if you like it
I have yet to find a matchup in which I should side them out. If they cannot destroy them, they are a huge threat on their own, so why side them out? If it lands the battlefield you are relatively safe but you should watch out for two things: Siege Rhinos (life loss and you die) and Cryptic Command (bouncing it).
Skaabs are in for jund, junk and also azban since they are alwasy threats bigger than theirs. They come in also against burn in place of 2 path to exile to speed up the race at turn 4.
I tend to side them in against decks that run mass removals or can kill my creature easily. You vial them in or you can just hardcast it after a mass removal.
The number of Sejiri is indeed a bit odd. I used to run 4 but they are the worst 2 drop that you can have, since they are a bit fragile on their own (better to play another lord or a Silvergil).
I found the addition of 2 additional lords in the form of Merrow Reejerey in 2 of their 4 slots to improve not only the usefulness of all the other merfolks but the power of Sejiri overall.
Nevertheless they are useful, once you have a couple of lords landed, to kill almost all ground threats or at least gain a couple of turns more to find proper finishers.
They serve the same role as Master of Waves to me: lategame creatures that I don't like to see too early.
Just won 5-0 against Azban, Burn, Burn, Twin, Podless Company. I am crushing nearby LGS, unfortunately there are not big tournaments around in my area these months.
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
3 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Master of Waves
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Spellskite
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
3 Spell Pierce
2 Sejiri Merfolk
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Path to Exile
2 Worship
1 Rest in Peace
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Echoing Truth
2 Skaab Ruinator
Braid of Fire is finally getting as broken as it gets.
I think it is time to try to find the best possible strategies to abuse this card. MTG Salvation, I count on you.
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-ktkenshinx-
Went 3-1 to a local FNM yesterday evening, beating Soul Sisters Norin, Twinning End, GW Hatebears, losing in topdeck mode to UR Twin.
With respect to the "Are people forgetting the non-bo's of Path to Exile with Spreading Sea's , Cursecatcher and Spell Pierce - furthermore the W splash is not free despite many people saying so - it clunks up your manabase - otherwise White is a worthy option depending on your local meta." that's completely not true, you just need to know how to play the deck. In Fish, path to exile is a lategame card, to be used when they drop a not-manageable threat or a combo creature. Cursecatcher is our insurance against Hivemind. Spellpierce our safety rope against early sweepers, infect, burn, scapeshift. The fact that they have no synergy does not mean that they could not be played together, and I have been playing fish for almost 2 years now. I won't go back to the MonoU version ever.
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
3 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
2 Master of Waves
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Skaab Ruinator
2 Spellskite
4 AEther Vial
4 Spreading Seas
3 Spell Pierce
2 Sejiri Merfolk
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Path to Exile
2 Swan Song
1 Rest in Peace
2 Negate
1 Echoing Truth
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Kataki, War's Wage
Infect has never been a problem. Affinity has been a pain in the ass until I put 4 katakis.
I am also trying to put a couple of Worship in the main, has anyone ever tried it?
This is the real problem, and that's the reason because it is a Tier 3 deck. Although I can give credit to MemoryLapse for putting effort in creating a thread about this deck, the deck is by far not his creation.
We played the deck in legacy since 2010 (proof: http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=5397&iddeck=39048), this "8 rack" is just an adaptation to Modern.
The deck worked in legacy solving two of the main problems that the deck, in modern, has always had: topdecking and managing creatures/damage.
To solve topdecking in legacy, we had Null Brooch, a fantastic artifact that basically locked the opponent out of the game.
To handle creatures and push damage, we had Cursed Scroll. I think that this role can be filled by Mogis, which guarantees a dead creature or 2 damage.
These are the two most important pieces that we are missing right now to make 8rack competitive. In particular, since Mogis may take the role of cursed scroll, we need an effective way to counter spells, no matter the cost.