This deck looks like it's halfway between mono-G Stompy Aggro (a solid deck which doesn't see as much play as it deserves), and a Tooth and Nail combo deck. I think you should decide whether you want to be aggressive early with creatures like Avatar of the Resolute and Strangleroot Geist, of if you want to generate huge amounts of mana with Arbor Elf, Voyaging Satyr, Overgrowth, and Utopia Sprawl (if you do go this route, try Tooth and Nail along Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Xenagos, God of Revels - this ends the game on the spot if it resolves). Right now, you have 2 separate halves of the deck working at cross-purposes from each other, and that's not really conducive to a consistent winning game plan.
Speaking of the mirror, though... I'm thinking I have to prep for that a bit more, given that we're still enjoying an upsurge in popularity. Does anyone have any opinions one way or the other on cutting 4 Tidebinder Mage from the sideboard in favor of 2 Dismember (I don't normally run them) and 2 Hibernation? I'm figuring that Dismember has game against all of the decks oaomcg mentioned, and Hibernation can be impactful enough an effect that it makes up for not bringing a body along with it (the CMC3 worries me a bit, though). Thoughts?
I agree, jamming Twin into a Delver deck seems a bit forced. Grixis Control is a lot better suited to handle that kind of transformative sideboard because of the higher land count. I have found that I only want more than 3 lands in the grindiest sort of games, and even then it's not required. That said, it does feel good to Kolaghan's Command, pick up a Snapcaster Mage that just pulled an Ambush Viper combat trick, then snap back Kommand. Talk about a trip to Value Town.
In any case, I'm surprised that people were not running Young Pyromancer for a while there. I consider it a core component of the deck, which lets us play a more draw-go, traditional control type of game after it's out and still get value (unlike Monastery Swiftspear), not to mention chump-blockers to hold opposing creatures back or mass attackers to go wide with. What was run in its place?
I believe mostly tasigur/angler.
That's a serious question, by the way. If you want Tasigur AND Angler, you can just trim the Young Peezy count. I can't fathom wanting to do away with them altogether.
I agree, jamming Twin into a Delver deck seems a bit forced. Grixis Control is a lot better suited to handle that kind of transformative sideboard because of the higher land count. I have found that I only want more than 3 lands in the grindiest sort of games, and even then it's not required. That said, it does feel good to Kolaghan's Command, pick up a Snapcaster Mage that just pulled an Ambush Viper combat trick, then snap back Kommand. Talk about a trip to Value Town.
In any case, I'm surprised that people were not running Young Pyromancer for a while there. I consider it a core component of the deck, which lets us play a more draw-go, traditional control type of game after it's out and still get value (unlike Monastery Swiftspear), not to mention chump-blockers to hold opposing creatures back or mass attackers to go wide with. What was run in its place?
Yeah, just run Gurmag Angler instead. If Mardu is the name of the game, I'd like to suggest Butcher of the Horde (the Mardu Demon that was alluded to earlier) as a potent (if under-utilized) choice. A bit of a non-bo with Bob (which is why I don't roll with him), but he may be good for you.
I should say that my vitriol for Image is reserved for Modern. It's great in Legacy where you can use it to copy a True-Name Nemesis that your opponent can do next to nothing about. Here in Modern, it gets picked on by BGX, Grixis, and Twin (especially by something like Electrolyze - holy blowout, Batman), and you can't protect it using our traditional package of Kira, Spellskite, and counterspells (heck, you can't even Vapor Snag it back up in case of an emergency). Monastery Siege helps, but given that even something beneficial can down him, it's not unheard of for it to die to some pretty innocuous stuff. I strongly dislike the card in Modern, and I think it should not be played now that Harbinger of the Tides exists to take its place at the "utility 2-drop" spot.
I'm still running Harbinger/Rejeerey/MoW at 3/3/3. I can't seem to bring myself to cut anything to make them 4's and I'm already down to 19 land.
I guess I could look at removing Phantasmal Images, but as it stands I like playing Images as a "Situational Lord" that can also clone anything else on the board if it needs to.
I hate, Hate, HATE Phantasmal Image. So hard to protect, so fragile. I've moved on from him and I'm never looking back. As for the 3-ofs of those cards... It actually makes sense to keep them at 3 with 19 land, but I'd rather run 20 and have them as 4-ofs instead.
I have to say that I was flirting with the possibility of trying out Wild Nacatl in Burn to say if it was living up to the hype, but the discussion here is pretty convincing in that it's not in my interests to do so. I felt that its clunkiness would probably not be worth the potential allure of 3 damage per turn and being able to readily interact with creatures that have pro-red, and this is confirmed by the thread. Thanks, lads.
I do have a question about bringing in Kor Firewalker, though - isn't this card horribly clunky in Burn? Even with 10 fetches, I don't always get 2 Sacred Foundry in early, and that means he'd be sitting in my hand for a couple of turns. Even if I do, chances are I coughed up 6 life to get there, so he's going to have to ward off 3+ damage (and not get me killed) to be valuable. I feel like that's a bit clunky. Can anyone share some experiences on how they prep their main and side to make sure they can cast it to good effect? The consensus around here makes me think that it can be done, but given my relative inexperience with Burn I'm not exactly sure how to pull it off.
I've gone all-in on Master of Waves, and I think he's a must-have in the deck. I'm running 4 in mono-U, and I think WU should run as many as possible. And you already know my thoughts on Reejerey.
Your argument for Sejiri Merfolk over Merrow Reejerey, on the other hand, is unconvincing. Sure, it can be a 2/1 with first strike and lifelink for 1U if you have a Plains out. That's actually not a very good rate. I think Sejiri really needs pump to be good, because there is a WORLD of difference between a 2/1 with first strike and a 3/2 with first strike or bigger. Getting it to 5/4, while difficult, basically means that the only commonly played Modern creature that can beat him 1-on-1 is a Wurmcoil Engine, and that's what you have Path to Exile for (plus they can't even trade him for one of their guys and a Bolt). Because of that, I think you need to be running as many Lords as possible to ensure that you get your card slot's worth out of the guy. That points me toward Reejerey, not away from him. I could see a test run where I'd trim Master of Waves to 2 instead of my customary 4 in WU to test Sejiri Merfolk, but I'm not tossing Lords for him. No sir.
You could talk me into Worship in WU Merfolk, but it's definitely coming in off the sideboard as a silver bullet for a matchup that can't deal with it. I don't know whether it'd be all that good against Burn, because my expectation is that it will eat a Destructive Revelry that they brought in to deal with your Æther Vial, Spellskite, or Spreading Seas. Definitely excellent against Elves or Bogles, though I would use it in addition to Hibernation as opposed to as a substitute.
I'll concede that there may be a bit of a skill gap between me and some of my opponents - though I wasn't a regular on the forums until very recently, I've been playing Merfolk for a long time at this point, and I feel like I have most of my lines of play down, so I'm feeling confident even when staring down Affinity or any other bad matchup (let alone the 50:50 or better ones). I also have rather little control over who I get to play against, given that my MTG experience has been less paper and more online these days.
And you're right - Merfolk is similar to Jund on the matchup perspective in that you have a fighting chance against a lot of other decks, and it's up to you to put the deck over the top. However, I do stand by most of the lines of play I've described, and I also do feel that we are very slightly favored over Burn. One of my best friends is a Burn player, and I feel he's every bit as good a Magic player as I am (if not a bit better). We tested the matchup pretty comprehensively, and both of us were at a consensus that I was winning about 55% of the matches (with sideboarding really turning things my way). Not a huge edge, but an edge.
Ouch. That's a rough draw.
Speaking of the mirror, though... I'm thinking I have to prep for that a bit more, given that we're still enjoying an upsurge in popularity. Does anyone have any opinions one way or the other on cutting 4 Tidebinder Mage from the sideboard in favor of 2 Dismember (I don't normally run them) and 2 Hibernation? I'm figuring that Dismember has game against all of the decks oaomcg mentioned, and Hibernation can be impactful enough an effect that it makes up for not bringing a body along with it (the CMC3 worries me a bit, though). Thoughts?
That's a serious question, by the way. If you want Tasigur AND Angler, you can just trim the Young Peezy count. I can't fathom wanting to do away with them altogether.
In any case, I'm surprised that people were not running Young Pyromancer for a while there. I consider it a core component of the deck, which lets us play a more draw-go, traditional control type of game after it's out and still get value (unlike Monastery Swiftspear), not to mention chump-blockers to hold opposing creatures back or mass attackers to go wide with. What was run in its place?
I hate, Hate, HATE Phantasmal Image. So hard to protect, so fragile. I've moved on from him and I'm never looking back. As for the 3-ofs of those cards... It actually makes sense to keep them at 3 with 19 land, but I'd rather run 20 and have them as 4-ofs instead.
I do have a question about bringing in Kor Firewalker, though - isn't this card horribly clunky in Burn? Even with 10 fetches, I don't always get 2 Sacred Foundry in early, and that means he'd be sitting in my hand for a couple of turns. Even if I do, chances are I coughed up 6 life to get there, so he's going to have to ward off 3+ damage (and not get me killed) to be valuable. I feel like that's a bit clunky. Can anyone share some experiences on how they prep their main and side to make sure they can cast it to good effect? The consensus around here makes me think that it can be done, but given my relative inexperience with Burn I'm not exactly sure how to pull it off.
Your argument for Sejiri Merfolk over Merrow Reejerey, on the other hand, is unconvincing. Sure, it can be a 2/1 with first strike and lifelink for 1U if you have a Plains out. That's actually not a very good rate. I think Sejiri really needs pump to be good, because there is a WORLD of difference between a 2/1 with first strike and a 3/2 with first strike or bigger. Getting it to 5/4, while difficult, basically means that the only commonly played Modern creature that can beat him 1-on-1 is a Wurmcoil Engine, and that's what you have Path to Exile for (plus they can't even trade him for one of their guys and a Bolt). Because of that, I think you need to be running as many Lords as possible to ensure that you get your card slot's worth out of the guy. That points me toward Reejerey, not away from him. I could see a test run where I'd trim Master of Waves to 2 instead of my customary 4 in WU to test Sejiri Merfolk, but I'm not tossing Lords for him. No sir.
And you're right - Merfolk is similar to Jund on the matchup perspective in that you have a fighting chance against a lot of other decks, and it's up to you to put the deck over the top. However, I do stand by most of the lines of play I've described, and I also do feel that we are very slightly favored over Burn. One of my best friends is a Burn player, and I feel he's every bit as good a Magic player as I am (if not a bit better). We tested the matchup pretty comprehensively, and both of us were at a consensus that I was winning about 55% of the matches (with sideboarding really turning things my way). Not a huge edge, but an edge.