Re: U/W Merfolk!

aceben3 Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:33 pm

this is the right way actually. also, moats might come in somehow against manaramp. but most siege-gang is the only way you lose usually so i might not want moat. i'm fighting to keep sowers in against ramp. they were gold last night when i drew a bunch of them, but the first couple do die immediately, so maybe they should go. also, i think i'm gonna try martyr of frost somewhere, just in case he's any good.

Faeries
+ 1 Remove Soul
- 1 Sage's Dousing

Elves
+ 4 Reveillark 3 Teferi's Moat
- 2 Remove Soul 3 Sage's Dousing 2 Ponder

Mono Red
+ 4 Dragon's Claw 4 Reveillark 3 Teferi's Moat 3 Flashfreeze
- 2 Remove Soul 4 Lord of Atlantis 4 Sower of Tempation 3 Sage's Dousing 1 Stonybrook Banneret

RG Ramp
+ 4 Reveillark 1 Remove Soul 3 Flashfreeze
- 4 Sower of Temptation 3 Sage's Dousing 1 Stonybrook Banneret

Reveillark
+ 1 Remove Soul
- 1 Ponder

Merfolk
+ 3 Teferi's Moat 1 Remove Soul
- 4 Lord of Atlantis

SilkyJohnson Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:24 pm

We need to get together some day this week and do some testing, i still think that somebody should build dstorm and take it up with them just for shits n giggles. And if anybody would like to take my manaquin deck (i know, its terrible Wink

they're more than welcome to. Chuck's terrible g/b/u deck ftw! cheers

aceben3 Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:26 pm

1. martyr of frost is terrible. you just don't have enough cards often enough, and when you do, one of them is almost always a counterspell anyway.
2. wings of velis vel looks interesting.
3. maybe pithing needle does a good enough job against treetop/garruk/siege-gang to warrant sb space
4. i don't like the 4 reveillarks sb. 3 is probably plenty.
5. i think aven riftwatcher is pretty good and i might even cut dragon's claws for him if i have to.
6. sage's dousing is soooo disappointing.

i'm not super happy with fish right now cuz i've played against a ton of burn decks lately and i don't feel like i'm the favorite in a 3-game set against them. but i think i know the deck well enough that i can tune it for whatever metagame i want, so we'll see.

aceben3 Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:59 pm

I'm going to try something more like this:

Mainboard:
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Sower of Temptation
3 Voidmage Prodigy
4 Cryptic Command
4 Rune Snag
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Wings of Velis Vel
2 Tideshaper Mystic
11 Island
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Mutavault

Sideboard:
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Aven Riftwatcher
4 Flashfreeze
4 Pithing Needle

Voidmage Prodigy, Rune Snag: I think these cards do what Sage's Dousing does, only better. They're still great against control and bad against aggro (Snag is actually ok). They're much less clunky, though you do give up situational card advantage. boo hoo.
Wings of Velis Vel: Saves your guys from Namless Inversion, which is awesome if you save a Sower and get to keep a Goyf or something. Often turns guys into 5/5 flying islandwalkers.
Tideshaper Mystic: This guy is probably better in this slightly more aggressive build, and drawing him is like drawing counterspell if you have a Prodigy in play already.
Pithing Needle: I think this card is going to be a great answer for the manaramp matchup. It turns off Siege-Gang, Garruk and Treetop, which are their three best cards against you. I think if you draw a couple it should be very hard to lose.
Burrenton Forge-Tender, Aven Riftwatcher: I think these are just better than Dragon's Claw and Reveillark against burn. Dragon's Claw is decent but really does nothing if you are behind on board. And I think Reveillark is just too slow, especially since they board in Cryoclasms against you.

aceben3 Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:50 am

haha i should have known lol. from japan champs (states), dunno how i missed this:

Mainboard:
4 Faerie Conclave
1 Forest
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Island
1 Pendelhaven
4 Vivid Creek
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Mirror Entity
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Sygg, River Guide
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Aquitect's Will
4 Delay
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Psionic Blast
3 Thrill of the Hunt
# 60

Sideboard:
2 Dodecapod
3 Flashfreeze
2 Pithing Needle
3 Stonecloaker
2 Unsummon
3 Windborn Muse

This is hilarious. I think I'm going to try it sometime. I'll probably mod it a bit for Morningtide.

Guillaume Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:50 pm

When Merfolk Tarmogoyfs Attack!

Solomon Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:06 pm

@aceben3-See! That's what I'm talking about! We could do the same type of shit if we stuck our heads together and played out ideas. The Japs should not be the only ones coming up with innovative ideas. Granted this one throws in Goyf but look at the Windborn Muse in the SB?! Crazy!

aceben3 Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:15 am

I wrote a 3-page blog about Fish on tcgplayer:
http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_1668/title_everything-you-need-to-know-about-fish/

aceben3 Mon May 26, 2008 1:02 am

Apparently, Merfolk are not dead.

Jan Ruess, 2nd Place, PT Hollywood
4 Adarkar Wastes
1 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
11 Snow-Covered Island
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Stonybrook Banneret
2 Sygg, River Guide
2 Tideshaper Mystic
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 Ancestral Vision
3 Cryptic Command
3 Sage's Dousing

Sideboard
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Cryptic Command
2 Reveillark
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Sower of Temptation
3 Sunlance
2 Unsummon

aceben3 Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:11 pm

I split last night at Todd's with this, just changed a couple of SB cards since then.

// Lands
11 Snow-Covered Island
4 Mutavault
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Adarkar Wastes

// Creatures
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Lord of Atlantis
2 Sygg, River Guide
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Sower of Temptation

// Spells
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Ponder
3 Sage's Dousing
4 Cryptic Command

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Unsummon
SB: 3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
SB: 3 Sunlance
SB: 3 Teferi's Moat
SB: 4 Reveillark

The John Sat Jun 14, 2008 7:31 pm

I didnt see you playing 4 Mutavaults! lol!

Sesshomaru Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:48 pm

looking at your list ben, i'm wondering if i should run sage's dousing myself. but i don't have clue what i would remove. my build looks like this:

4 wanderwine hub
4 adarkar wastes
2 boreal shelf
2 mutavault
11 islands

4 merrow reejerey
4 lord of atlantis
4 shapesharer
4 silvergill adept
4 stoneybrook banneret
2 tideshaper mystic
2 sygg, river guide
1, sygg, river cutthroat

4 aquitect's will
4 ponder
4 cryptic command

(the sideboard sucks, but i'm still working on it)
2 reveillark
2 ajani goldmane
4 cribswap
3 will bender
4 sower of temptation

i've done pretty well on MWS with it, but i'm not sure it'll stand against the other builds out there. what should i remove for what. should i run the sages?

aceben3 Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:47 pm

shapesharer is probably the worst card in your list.

Sesshomaru Sun Jun 15, 2008 6:32 pm

aceben3 wrote:shapesharer is probably the worst card in your list.

really??? i admit mirror weave would work better(if i could get my hands on it), but i didn't think he was that bad. what would work better in his place?

Solomon Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:03 am

I would say just play Conkisstador's version if you want to win consistently but if you insist on your own version then I would cut the Shapesharers and put the Sowers MD where they belong. That alone will make your deck 10x better. Next, cut the Aquatect's Will and replace with Sage's Dousing. Add 2 Mutavaults when you get them because they are busted in Merfolk. I'd just go with Conkisstador's SB because it's tasty.

aceben3 Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:00 am

oops, that list isn't Conkisstador's. I haven't played his lists since I first tried Merfolk with Reveillarks main. If you're looking for suggestions, I suggest you just play my decklist straight up because I think it's the best, which is why I'm playing it. If you don't have all the Mutavaults, you could replace them with up to 1 Pendelhaven, 1 Faerie Conclave, and 2 Islands, or maybe 2 Mystic Gate. You really need 4 Ancestral Visions, Cryptic Commands, and Sowers though, since I think you can't really win without them. Cryptic is probably the most essential of the bunch.

If you can't get Reveillarks for the board, maybe you could play Flashfreezes and Merfolk Assassins or something. Maybe even Dragon's Claws.

Sesshomaru Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:12 pm

Solomon wrote:Next, cut the Aquatect's Will

i'm sure i can get dousing in without removing aquitect's will. it may not seem all that great but it does give me unblocked attackers on decks without islands, and draw for 1. or do you mean to just sideboard it? i think i will replace the shapesharers with the sowers, should've had it that way to start.

Solomon Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:05 am

If you don't have Ancestral Recall then Aquatect's Will is an okay replacement. If you look at Ben's list closely you will notice the following...

4 Silvergill Adept (replacement)

4 Ancestral Visions (the only CA spell)
3 Ponder (card selection/replacement)
4 Cryptic Command (replacement)
3 Sage's Dousing (replacement)

Card replacement and card selection are great but the Ancestral gets you real card advantage. When you combine all 3, you get a very powerful combination. Merfolk can be blazingly fast but sometimes you can get Fire Spouted/Wrathnationed and need to go to plan b which is the mid-to long range route. Fortunetely, with the above selection of spells, you can change gears quickly and effectively. One thing I've learned, albiet slowly, is that very good players often play very good cards for a very good reason. Yeah, once in awhile I'll come up with something new and improved but it is a rare thing. Most of the time I'll take in what advice I've been given and try it out. Also, everyone has preferences and likes certain cards over other cards that may be better. There is nothing wrong with choosing an inferior card but realize that you'll most likely not get the same winning results.

aceben3 Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:53 am

Yeah, Aquitect's Will is really not that good. If you have a Lord stick, there's a good chance you're going to win anyway. And if you need to get guys through, against non-swarm decks you can just take their blockers with Sower or tap them with Reejerey. Against other swarm decks, you can always just Cryptic Command to tap their guys and alpha strike. It's not hard to kill someone in one swing with this deck.

There are some games, especially against decks like monored, where you just draw ~10 cards more than your opponent, and those are really hard to lose. They're also pretty fun. Last week at FNM I ran into a guy who was randomly playing Pyroclasm main. My Visions went off next turn, I played a couple of guys out, and it was like it never happened. I also had enough Counterspells at that point to stop him from doing it again.

aceben3 Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:59 pm

Cedric Phillips won Indiana states with this and Justin George and Adam Prosak top 8ed their states with similar lists:

4 Merfolk Looter
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Merfolk Reejery
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Cryptic Command
3 Sygg, River Guide
3 Sage's Dousing
3 Sower of Temptation
3 Reveillark

5 Island
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Mutavault
4 Mystic Gate
4 Wanderwine Hub
2 Windbrisk Heights
1 Faerie Conclave

Sideboard
4 Wrath of God
3 Runed Halo
3 Wispmare
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Arbiter of Knollridge
1 Reveillark

aceben3 Mon Nov 10, 2008 4:03 pm

Prosak posted this re: sideboarding:

Kithkin/WW: -3 Dousing -4 Reej -4 Banneret -1 Adept +2 Arbiter +2 Condemn +3 Mulldrifter + 1 Revillark + 4 Wrath.

I'm not sure what to do against the backlash deck, but I'm pretty sure you're drawing fairly dead to the actual combo if you just treat them like a normal Kithkin deck. Haven't tested this at all, obv.

WWR: Same as straight Kithkin, just employ different tactics in game, as you can actually get burned out etc etc.

Red: -3 Dousing -4 Reej -4 Banneret -3 Sower +14 Cards except the 4th Wrath. Keep in Sower over Adept if they don't have Magma Spray, but getting your Sower Spray'd is terrible times. Shock isn't nearly as bad, as Lark etc. Feldman suggested siding out Cryptic, which is very interesting to me, and something I hadn't considered. I'm inclined to dismiss it for my current version, as they're almost drawing at certain cards until you have counterspells. I would definitely be willing to cut Cryptics if you had Story Circle.

Elves(and other midrange green decks): -3 Ponder -3 Dousing +1 Reveillark +3 Mulldrifter +2 Condemn

Faeries: -3 Revillark +3 Remove Soul

Just an fyi, Sygg is basically unbeatable, and I generally would rather cast more dudes than hold back counterspells. We should all know what Faeries are capable of by now.

5 color: -3 Sower -1/2 Reejery -0/2 Sygg +3 Mulldrifter +1 Revillark +0/3 Remove Soul. Basically, -3 Sower +3 Drifter +1 Lark, then sideboard to taste.

Tokens: There's no blanket plan, as lists will be largely different. A good place to start would be -3 Sower +4 Wrath, then Sygg, Lark, and Dousing all have variable effectiveness from your main, and Mulldrifter could be solid from the board, in a semi-transform.

This was when he had this SB:
2 Arbiter of Knollridge
2 Condemn
3 Mulldrifter
4 Wrath of God
1 Reveillark
3 Remove Soul
but I thought it might be helpful so you get an idea of when and how to transform.

GerryT Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:33 pm

LSV also t4ed with the same list.

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