Reclamation Sage is great, Thorn Liutenant is possibility vs Bomat, Khenra, Burn and somewhat negating Kari Zev, and it can even attack into Gearhulk mana; Mystic Archaeologist is possible against control while holding counterspells, but probably not needed. That is it.
Did I miss something? When did this become a Legacy forum or a Humans primer? As for Humans, the only way I care about it is as an opposing deck. But to respond to your question, what is it going to replace in the 3-slot? Reflector Mage? Mantis Rider?
Doubled lockdown capability or card draw? Extra Lords or hypable unblockables? More +1/+1 counters? All in one card and that can't be removed simply by targeting them? Damn right it'll get used.
You said improved Phantasmal Image, which isn't standard legal, so the door is open.
Except Phantasmal Image is playable while Mirror and Alteration are bulk stuff in any format.
With 19 lands, how do you find Negate over Spell Pierce, Broken Bond sorcery vs Naturalize (can destroy Seal Away targeting Obsessed creature before it exiles him in combat) while having open mana for other interaction and Tempest Callers which are too expensive?
Bloodghast is may, they can just bring him back with next land drop.
Phoenix can also come back later.
Dread Return, Rites and Nahiri are not that common.
It does deals with the rest, but opponent has perfect info as it does not have flash and Vial does not stay at 1 for long.
Good thing about Spyglass is that it also gives us information if Settle or Fumigate is in hand.
Azcanta is not the problem as much as Scarab, Teferi and Ballista.
I would try to be proactive against Azcanta, Curious Obsession is great problem if looked from their perspective.
We had Modern Qualifier tournament today for Invitationals in December, Qualifiers are run with many different formats: Standard, Modern, Legacy, Draft... and only first from each is qualified.
Decklist is unrefined for world stage but perfect for expected local meta.
GP Copenhagen, Rptq in Bologna and Croatian beaches took some regulars so only 21 people showed up, 5 rounds + top8.
After 3 rounds 2 Merfolk decks with 3:0 (1 lost game total) at the top.
I beat UR TiTi (he flipped 3 Things and I almost won but he had Bolt on top, next 2 games Waves cleaned the mess), Jeskai Ctrl (4 Pierce main were clutch for his expensive spells and he stalled on 2 lands game 2) and RG Ponza (Waves is a busted magic card).
2 Fish drew in r4 and we had options for r5 but decided to draw with our opponents because we wanted Ponza and Living End in top8.
Other Fish guy got stopped in QF by Hollow One, which he beat in Swiss, but Inquiry lottery was good for his opponent.
My QF was Jeskai Ctrl. I mulled and drew too many lands in g1. Sided out 19th land against Path deck, put antigrind cards and conservatively won g2 and g3.
SF vs another UR TiTi, I had 2 Vials (2 and 4), Waves, Lord, some tokens and 2 Mutavaults, attacked into 2 Things, he chained some spells and returned everything except my 2 Horrors so I Vialed in the Lord so Mutas can continue being unblockable. 2 flipped Things were blocked by Vialed Waves tokens and with Pierce protection I had lethal counterattack g1. G2 was all this nonsense but without Things so Islandwalk did it's thing with Kira in play.
F vs Living End, look at my decklist, this is pure nightmare for them. He resolved Ends in both games but it weren't close.
Won qualification and Karn for my troubles, while half of entry fees is going for Invitational prizes. Friend just picked up a playset of Deprive and Faerie Conclave at GP Copenhagen, so I have to find spots for them. But I am not in a hurry to change masterpiece of a list
I find Spyglass extremely helpful vs Tron, since there is no guessing or leaving mana open for Rejection and works even if Stone resolves turn 3.
Not to mention other utility like shutting Affinity payoff card, Devoted Druid, Walkers/Azcanta, Ballista, Lantern stuff...
This is yearly League number 3.
In first I was first in swiss but lost in the finals at invitational to Bant Eldrazi.
In the second I also finished first in swiss, but finished eighth in the final tournament while other Merfolk guy won the whole thing over regular Tron.
This year I am tenth at the moment but there are 5 more to go, plus finals.
3 years we are crushing our store and no one is packing Assassins. Yet
Like we didn't get the memo that Merfolk is tier3.
25 people in Modern tournament today, 5 rounds, no top8.
I took 4 Pierce main version, without any Deprives or Conclaves because no one has them to sell.
Beat Coco Spirits (Islandwalk hits harder than his lifegain auras), lost to Burn (lost the die roll, Guide into Eidolon without Vial; Guide into 2 Swiftspear and perfect amount of burn with Vial), beat Ponza (one of easiest matchups), Living End (4 Pierce main, never in any danger of losing) and Eldrazi Tron (Vial on 4 and 3 Waves in hand, even Ulamog wasn't enough, that moment when opp taps 10 mana and slams Ulamog instead of Ballista and you say YES!; Reej got to untap and it wasn't pretty in game 2).
4:1 for me and 5:0 for colleague playing fish.
Our opponents at the end of tournament weren't too happy and they declared more hate cards towards fish for next Sunday
I don't think we have good mu vs Humans. Flyers are a problem, high power pressure like multiple Champions into Liutenants can also outrace us.
The good thing is that by wanting to have good matchups across the board Humans also plays low powered Meddling Mages and Freebooters, so by playing them we have plenty of time to flood the board. And also, Image is easily killed on sight.
Trickster is good news because Mantis can lose flying now and it gives us chance to regain tempo.
But, if we ignore this mu, Trickster is good sign of things to come (Merfolk gaining cheap flash utility dudes is huge when we also play Pierce, Rejection and Deprive), new angle of attack and possible reaching Humans level of disruption in the future brings us optimism.
Champion and Liutenant have broken power level for their mana cost so we are always slower and worse option for taking down tournaments, that means less players will play Fish. It's just we don't care
https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpsao18/8-0-decks-grand-prix-sao-paulo-2018-2018-07-08
Finished 11:4, in 33rd place.
Reclamation Sage is great, Thorn Liutenant is possibility vs Bomat, Khenra, Burn and somewhat negating Kari Zev, and it can even attack into Gearhulk mana; Mystic Archaeologist is possible against control while holding counterspells, but probably not needed. That is it.
You said improved Phantasmal Image, which isn't standard legal, so the door is open.
Except Phantasmal Image is playable while Mirror and Alteration are bulk stuff in any format.
Phoenix can also come back later.
Dread Return, Rites and Nahiri are not that common.
It does deals with the rest, but opponent has perfect info as it does not have flash and Vial does not stay at 1 for long.
Azcanta is not the problem as much as Scarab, Teferi and Ballista.
I would try to be proactive against Azcanta, Curious Obsession is great problem if looked from their perspective.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FishMTG/comments/8rtas2/obsessive_fish_in_standard/?st=jik5k4jb&sh=bb15edaa
Obsession is real.
I took
2 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Merrow Reejerey
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merfolk Trickster
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Aether Vial
4 Spreading Seas
4 Spell Pierce
Land
11 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Echoing Truth
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Tidebinder Mage
1 Dismember
1 Gut Shot
Decklist is unrefined for world stage but perfect for expected local meta.
GP Copenhagen, Rptq in Bologna and Croatian beaches took some regulars so only 21 people showed up, 5 rounds + top8.
After 3 rounds 2 Merfolk decks with 3:0 (1 lost game total) at the top.
I beat UR TiTi (he flipped 3 Things and I almost won but he had Bolt on top, next 2 games Waves cleaned the mess), Jeskai Ctrl (4 Pierce main were clutch for his expensive spells and he stalled on 2 lands game 2) and RG Ponza (Waves is a busted magic card).
2 Fish drew in r4 and we had options for r5 but decided to draw with our opponents because we wanted Ponza and Living End in top8.
Other Fish guy got stopped in QF by Hollow One, which he beat in Swiss, but Inquiry lottery was good for his opponent.
My QF was Jeskai Ctrl. I mulled and drew too many lands in g1. Sided out 19th land against Path deck, put antigrind cards and conservatively won g2 and g3.
SF vs another UR TiTi, I had 2 Vials (2 and 4), Waves, Lord, some tokens and 2 Mutavaults, attacked into 2 Things, he chained some spells and returned everything except my 2 Horrors
F vs Living End, look at my decklist, this is pure nightmare for them. He resolved Ends in both games but it weren't close.
Won qualification and Karn for my troubles, while half of entry fees is going for Invitational prizes. Friend just picked up a playset of Deprive and Faerie Conclave at GP Copenhagen, so I have to find spots for them. But I am not in a hurry to change masterpiece of a list
Not to mention other utility like shutting Affinity payoff card, Devoted Druid, Walkers/Azcanta, Ballista, Lantern stuff...
In first I was first in swiss but lost in the finals at invitational to Bant Eldrazi.
In the second I also finished first in swiss, but finished eighth in the final tournament while other Merfolk guy won the whole thing over regular Tron.
This year I am tenth at the moment but there are 5 more to go, plus finals.
3 years we are crushing our store and no one is packing Assassins. Yet
Like we didn't get the memo that Merfolk is tier3.
I took 4 Pierce main version, without any Deprives or Conclaves because no one has them to sell.
Beat Coco Spirits (Islandwalk hits harder than his lifegain auras), lost to Burn (lost the die roll, Guide into Eidolon without Vial; Guide into 2 Swiftspear and perfect amount of burn with Vial), beat Ponza (one of easiest matchups), Living End (4 Pierce main, never in any danger of losing) and Eldrazi Tron (Vial on 4 and 3 Waves in hand, even Ulamog wasn't enough, that moment when opp taps 10 mana and slams Ulamog instead of Ballista and you say YES!; Reej got to untap and it wasn't pretty in game 2).
4:1 for me and 5:0 for colleague playing fish.
Our opponents at the end of tournament weren't too happy and they declared more hate cards towards fish for next Sunday
BRING IT!
His latest version is slowly approaching towards "standard" list, it seems Coralhelm got the boot.
This is his evolution: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/player/MHayashi
It looks like we are far from uniform deck and this is yet another deck that is starting to shave our worst cards: Lords.
The good thing is that by wanting to have good matchups across the board Humans also plays low powered Meddling Mages and Freebooters, so by playing them we have plenty of time to flood the board. And also, Image is easily killed on sight.
Trickster is good news because Mantis can lose flying now and it gives us chance to regain tempo.
But, if we ignore this mu, Trickster is good sign of things to come (Merfolk gaining cheap flash utility dudes is huge when we also play Pierce, Rejection and Deprive), new angle of attack and possible reaching Humans level of disruption in the future brings us optimism.
Champion and Liutenant have broken power level for their mana cost so we are always slower and worse option for taking down tournaments, that means less players will play Fish. It's just we don't care