You can bet it. These 4 + the legendary lands make choke unplayable.
I am still not sold on that list though, and I wonder HOW he managed to get to the TOP8 with a MonoU version. Congrats anyhow.
It would certainly be reasonable to drop kiras for spellskites mainboard. Helps save lords, face, good vs boggles, twin, infect, etc.
No way. In my opinion Kira is far better, protecting everyone, while Spellskite can protect the creatures at most once, in my experience (if they target something they are sure they will kill spellskite after a redirect).
The tournament organizers did a really awful job. There was a 30-40 minutes downtime between every round (no exaggeration), which is not acceptable. The venue was nowhere near Milan, some backdoor village in some woods. Have no idea how they got the GP.
At least I had my Vials and Master of Waves signed, so that's that.
Well, downtimes aside, Malpensa Fiere was the only place in which we could have such spaces in Italy, in a place reasonably near the airport and the railway stations. I am sorry about it, at least Milan was not so far from there and you had free buses bringing you in the center of the city.
Harm's way looks very nice btw! Did you use it often and how was it?
Harm's way was great. With 2 lords and a cursecatcher, I was able to kill a Goyf (4/5) and a Siege Rhino that were attacking losing just 1 lord (and it happened also online yesterday evening).
It kills delver and other otherwise unreachable creatures, I would consider them as path of exile 6-7.
Unfortunately a no go, but not because the deck is bad, I found strange pairings unfortunately that lead me to 4-1-2, so I can consider myself happy, the deck seems solid against the meta.
I cannot give you detailed descriptions of all the matches, it was my first GP.
Round 1
Burn - We were starting the match and the poor guy had to bring one of his friends to the hospital because he was bit by a dog. I think he played in the second tournament in d1 though.
1-0
Round 2
Slivers - It was very random and a pain. I lost g1 to a swarm of slivers generated by the lands + permanents destruction + lifegain
The second match I overrun him quite easily thanks to spreading seas.
The third game was a stall and we ended up drawing (which was almost like a loss in this GP). Later I discovered that he managed to reach Day2.
1-0-1
Round 3
UWG with Goyfs. Nothing much to say, I lost life just because I was playing untapped shockland, he was able to do nothing at all.
2-0-1
Round 4
Martyr Proc. Hard match against an idiot "wannabe pro" player from Naples; if you know their attitude at the game and in life, and I hope not, you can guess it was not a fun game.
The first one he played 3 Ghostly Prisons + Oblivion Rings on my lords and started to combo off with life and I conceded it.
The second match I started with Digger round 1, chalice at 1 round 2 and rest in piece round 3. He was trying to "overrun me" with squadron hawk, rangers of eos and playing wraths of god but I killed him even if he started at 35 life on turn 2. Bonus fact: while attacking with all my creatures, a lord sticked among the creatures that I was tapping. I said promptly: I am not attacking with him. He said "You did it you did it! This is a GP not a FNM! I will call a judge (his friend, obviously)." and he killed the lord like that. *****head.
Round 3 was almost the same, I had chalice at 1 but no Digger or RIP, so he was able to keep gaining life with proclamation of rebirth. At turns, he was like: "CONCEDE IT TO ME. I had 2 byes and it's the second game in a row that I am drawing". I was like: "I won't concede it to you, if you want to make it day 2, win all your other games since it's a GP". He went mad at me and also complained against me with a judge friend of him the following turns, since we were always sitting next to each other.
2-0-2
Round 5
UTron: Lost game 1 due to a stupid error on myself on Mindslaver trigger. I thought he had academy ruins but he didn't and wasted my whole land. Game 2 I was almost losing at 6 life with him at 20 after having attacked with wurmcoil and butterskull. Swing for 20 with 3 lords a mutavault and another merfolk. Game 3 was again easy, he tried to put and activate an oblivion stone but 2 spell pierce made the game. He played even a condecend at 0 in the hope that I would have just put my spell pierce in the yard, but I am not a stupid.
3-0-2
Round 6
UGR Delver Goyf: Lost game 1 due to a bad hand with nothing more than 4 PTE draws, Won the other 2 quite easily. I think the matchup is all but hard with this deck.
4-0-2
Round 7
Ad Nauseam. Lovely player from Germany with the balls for playing this deck. He was on the play, and as soon as I saw the scrying lands I knew I was almost done. Game 1 I lost for just 1 turn to a resolved Unlife, game 2 won overrunning him, game 3 he won by again just 1 turn tapping out for ad nauseam. I had cursecatcher on the field, and sacrificed it to ad nauseam. He had 2 cards. One was simian spirit guide. I played a pierce on ad nauseam but his last card was pact of negation. GG and out of the tournament, but I was happy, since I used to play ad nauseam and he was a smart and friendly player, unlike the Martyr idiot.
Not too shabby, considering that I lost just to Ad Nausaem, too bad because I was not expecting martyr and I could have won against slivers with a bit more of luck.
I don't think there are enough efficient ways to make an opponent shuffle their deck. The looks you would get playing something like....Lantern of Insight?
Been playing this list on cockatrice a lot, and honestly, I feel a lot better about it than I have felt about fish in a while.
PLaying more control-y (even just a bit more) definitely stops us from just getting run over in a lot of matchups.
Major points are 2 skaab vs 2 more sejiri, ive got 2/2 right now, but 4/0 might be better, depending on the meta.
Not sure about the sideboard, specifically the stony silence over kataki/hurkyls, etc.
Tectonic edges usually come in for vials or for removal. You should never cut lands to sideboard in tec edges.
How are the images working out? They seem like a bad card vs delver, storm, etc with all of the targeted spells.
I like this list a lot. I could go as far as playing it at the GP on Saturday
Yes, I am going but I am still not sold on the deck. I think I will rather join the Bogles Dark Side this time. No brainer deck, good against the meta, autopilot for such a demanding event.
Once we have setup our plan, with a couple of lords we can close the game in a couple of turns, while they have to find responses to our strategies. I argue that an old school approach to Merfolks is now needed, bringing back the counters and the control strategy paired with vialed creatures that made this deck great. Delver dies to chalice at 1. Jeskai is a complicated deck on the other had, I think that the only deck able to win easily against it would be Jund, which is nowadays a bad deck against most of the meta that is being developed.
You are not considering the meta. Against less controllish decks like U/R Delver Spear or Burn, at turn 4 we are in severe danger. The meta, at least here in Italy, is tailored against it. Jeskai is everywhere also, by turn 3 you are buried. A single wrong decision at turn 3 can cause you a loss. Typical turns are now:
1) Mutavault, Vial
2) Any blue land, Chalice at 1 or stay open for counter / exile + eot vial in their turn for cursecatcher
3) Land + start to drop something (Possibly adept with vialed lord)
But I can see it is a meta call, nonetheless something I expect in Milan the next week.
You probably mean flooded strand over delta.
I run 1 plains, in case i really need to fetch it and don't want to pay for a shock.
It does not matter, since we need shockland for the UU cost of most of our spells. I will never waste a land drop for a plains, considering that we have mutavaults already to cut us out off blue.
How is negate working for you in the main deck?
I feel unified will is better as a two mana counter, or swan song is better.
Negate mainboard is great, better than swan song since we can target nasty things like planeswalkers. I need to test unified will but I can see a problem with it: once they clear our board, and sooner or later will happen in long rounds that went wrong, is a dead card. We are not scared by creatures that much since we have 4 path to exiles and 2 vapor snag to have the necessary reach. [/quote]
I also feel spellskite and kira main is redundant.
Of course it is. But we need at least one of them on the board with the current meta, otherwise we are screwed. I will go as far as having 4 spellskites main but we need a flyer to block some random inkmoth or delver.
4 chalice main is a must now and the reason why it has spiked so much in price. Yesterday I lost almost all of my games at a crowded FNM: Uwr, RW Burn, Infect, just won against Dredgevine.
Jeskai ascendancy is scary as hell also. After that match my list is the following and I need to tune it for GP Milan.
Rationale: spreading seas are now a dead card. Most of the decks runs blue and for the ones that does not we can simply swap chalice out and bring them in.
Phantasmal images are dead on arrival as soon as they reach the board, with electrolyze and other similar effects. Burn is everywhere and so are creatures that trades for life points (Finks, Baloths, Rhinos), we cannot simply race them but we need to survive and Sejiris are our only option.
The white splash is a must. Good luck winning with Merfolks against a resolved Wurmcoil otherwise.
The only hard part here is to play around our own chalice to survive.
The side allows us to go more aggro side, tailored to fight against multiple enemies and deadly against our worst matchup, affinity.
You can bet it. These 4 + the legendary lands make choke unplayable.
I am still not sold on that list though, and I wonder HOW he managed to get to the TOP8 with a MonoU version. Congrats anyhow.
No way. In my opinion Kira is far better, protecting everyone, while Spellskite can protect the creatures at most once, in my experience (if they target something they are sure they will kill spellskite after a redirect).
Kira flies and blocks inkmoths / blinkmoths.
Well, downtimes aside, Malpensa Fiere was the only place in which we could have such spaces in Italy, in a place reasonably near the airport and the railway stations. I am sorry about it, at least Milan was not so far from there and you had free buses bringing you in the center of the city.
Harm's way was great. With 2 lords and a cursecatcher, I was able to kill a Goyf (4/5) and a Siege Rhino that were attacking losing just 1 lord (and it happened also online yesterday evening).
It kills delver and other otherwise unreachable creatures, I would consider them as path of exile 6-7.
2 kira, great glass-spinner
4 lord of atlantis
4 master of the pearl trident
1 master of waves
2 sejiri merfolk
4 silvergill adept
2 skaab ruinator
4 aether vial
2 spreading seas
2 echoing truth
2 harm's way
4 path to exile
4 spell pierce
4 hallowed fountain
4 island
4 mutavault
4 wanderwine hub
3 chalice of the void
1 grafdigger's cage
1 rest in peace
2 stony silence
2 spellskite
3 hurky'ls recall
2 negate
1 swan song
Unfortunately a no go, but not because the deck is bad, I found strange pairings unfortunately that lead me to 4-1-2, so I can consider myself happy, the deck seems solid against the meta.
I cannot give you detailed descriptions of all the matches, it was my first GP.
Round 1
Burn - We were starting the match and the poor guy had to bring one of his friends to the hospital because he was bit by a dog. I think he played in the second tournament in d1 though.
1-0
Round 2
Slivers - It was very random and a pain. I lost g1 to a swarm of slivers generated by the lands + permanents destruction + lifegain
The second match I overrun him quite easily thanks to spreading seas.
The third game was a stall and we ended up drawing (which was almost like a loss in this GP). Later I discovered that he managed to reach Day2.
1-0-1
Round 3
UWG with Goyfs. Nothing much to say, I lost life just because I was playing untapped shockland, he was able to do nothing at all.
2-0-1
Round 4
Martyr Proc. Hard match against an idiot "wannabe pro" player from Naples; if you know their attitude at the game and in life, and I hope not, you can guess it was not a fun game.
The first one he played 3 Ghostly Prisons + Oblivion Rings on my lords and started to combo off with life and I conceded it.
The second match I started with Digger round 1, chalice at 1 round 2 and rest in piece round 3. He was trying to "overrun me" with squadron hawk, rangers of eos and playing wraths of god but I killed him even if he started at 35 life on turn 2. Bonus fact: while attacking with all my creatures, a lord sticked among the creatures that I was tapping. I said promptly: I am not attacking with him. He said "You did it you did it! This is a GP not a FNM! I will call a judge (his friend, obviously)." and he killed the lord like that. *****head.
Round 3 was almost the same, I had chalice at 1 but no Digger or RIP, so he was able to keep gaining life with proclamation of rebirth. At turns, he was like: "CONCEDE IT TO ME. I had 2 byes and it's the second game in a row that I am drawing". I was like: "I won't concede it to you, if you want to make it day 2, win all your other games since it's a GP". He went mad at me and also complained against me with a judge friend of him the following turns, since we were always sitting next to each other.
2-0-2
Round 5
UTron: Lost game 1 due to a stupid error on myself on Mindslaver trigger. I thought he had academy ruins but he didn't and wasted my whole land. Game 2 I was almost losing at 6 life with him at 20 after having attacked with wurmcoil and butterskull. Swing for 20 with 3 lords a mutavault and another merfolk. Game 3 was again easy, he tried to put and activate an oblivion stone but 2 spell pierce made the game. He played even a condecend at 0 in the hope that I would have just put my spell pierce in the yard, but I am not a stupid.
3-0-2
Round 6
UGR Delver Goyf: Lost game 1 due to a bad hand with nothing more than 4 PTE draws, Won the other 2 quite easily. I think the matchup is all but hard with this deck.
4-0-2
Round 7
Ad Nauseam. Lovely player from Germany with the balls for playing this deck. He was on the play, and as soon as I saw the scrying lands I knew I was almost done. Game 1 I lost for just 1 turn to a resolved Unlife, game 2 won overrunning him, game 3 he won by again just 1 turn tapping out for ad nauseam. I had cursecatcher on the field, and sacrificed it to ad nauseam. He had 2 cards. One was simian spirit guide. I played a pierce on ad nauseam but his last card was pact of negation. GG and out of the tournament, but I was happy, since I used to play ad nauseam and he was a smart and friendly player, unlike the Martyr idiot.
Not too shabby, considering that I lost just to Ad Nausaem, too bad because I was not expecting martyr and I could have won against slivers with a bit more of luck.
Last thoughts: play this deck, is amazing.
Psychogenic Probe + suspended greater gargadon + cast bitter ordeal by sacrificing everything but the probes to terastodon. gg
I like this list a lot. I could go as far as playing it at the GP on Saturday
1) Mutavault, Vial
2) Any blue land, Chalice at 1 or stay open for counter / exile + eot vial in their turn for cursecatcher
3) Land + start to drop something (Possibly adept with vialed lord)
But I can see it is a meta call, nonetheless something I expect in Milan the next week.
It does not matter, since we need shockland for the UU cost of most of our spells. I will never waste a land drop for a plains, considering that we have mutavaults already to cut us out off blue.
Negate mainboard is great, better than swan song since we can target nasty things like planeswalkers. I need to test unified will but I can see a problem with it: once they clear our board, and sooner or later will happen in long rounds that went wrong, is a dead card. We are not scared by creatures that much since we have 4 path to exiles and 2 vapor snag to have the necessary reach. [/quote]
By turn 4, nowadays, we are already dead. If we are stalling it means that we won't have enough devotion to have MoW make a difference.
Of course it is. But we need at least one of them on the board with the current meta, otherwise we are screwed. I will go as far as having 4 spellskites main but we need a flyer to block some random inkmoth or delver.
Jeskai ascendancy is scary as hell also. After that match my list is the following and I need to tune it for GP Milan.
Rationale: spreading seas are now a dead card. Most of the decks runs blue and for the ones that does not we can simply swap chalice out and bring them in.
Phantasmal images are dead on arrival as soon as they reach the board, with electrolyze and other similar effects. Burn is everywhere and so are creatures that trades for life points (Finks, Baloths, Rhinos), we cannot simply race them but we need to survive and Sejiris are our only option.
The white splash is a must. Good luck winning with Merfolks against a resolved Wurmcoil otherwise.
The only hard part here is to play around our own chalice to survive.
The side allows us to go more aggro side, tailored to fight against multiple enemies and deadly against our worst matchup, affinity.
4 Polluted Delta
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Mutavault
4 Aether Vial
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Cursecatcher
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergil Adept
4 Sejiri Merfolk
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
2 Spellskite
2 Negate
2 Vapor Snag
4 Path to Exile
2 Phantasmal Image
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Swan Song
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Stony Silence
1 Master of Waves
Sure but I have seen Jesaki players dumb enough to pass on a resolved glittering wish on Jeskai