[Tourney Report] Merfolk Mistakes

Despite the immense luck I had on 24th July, I played sub-optimally and ended up taking 12th in the tournament. Prior to the tourney, I've been messing around with a Counter-top Thopters list that was powerful, defeating Kaiser's Counter-top Goyf in 3 pre-sideboard friendly games at the M11 pre-release. However, I felt uneasy piloting the deck, and switched to my tried and tested Merfolk list.

Merfolk

Mana (21)
13 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault

Beats (26)
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Others (13)
4 Aether Vial
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Psionic Blast

Sideboard (15)
4 Mind Harness
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Hydroblast
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Spell Pierce
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River

I made a few changes from the list last tourney, taking out Stifle and switching to the 16-lord build. This move was motivated as testing revealed that the 16-lord build can race Zoo and Goblins. This, plus the Lord of Atlantis trump against blue decks made the list seemed like a steady one. The additional double-blue requirements of Merfolk Sovereign warrants the additional Island, and Psionic Blast was a nod to Rhox War Monk, provides reach, and can knock off a Tarmogoyf if you're lucky.

I arrived at the tourney with my sideboard still in a flux. The only cards I'm certain I want are 4 Mind Harness, 2 each of the blue blasts, and the 3 graveyard hate. Initially, I had 2 Seasinger and 1 Llawan for blue matchups, and I considered other alternatives such as Hibernation and Submerge for the green decks, bounce and Annul for the Humility/Counterbalance/Top/Enchantress/Chalice decks, and Dispel for Swords to Plowshares. After some persuasion by a friend, my sideboard was set to be the above, which proved to be rather underwhelming.

After some scouting and trading, we started the tourney with 18 players.

Round 1 vs Angus with NO Pro Aggro Bant

Game 1

This is Angus' first attempt at organising a legacy tourney and here's a big THANK YOU to you! Although I lost the dice roll, he started off with a mulligan to 6. Lucky! This luck continued as after I dazed a turn 2 Rhox War Monk, a lucky top-decked Force of Will countered Natural Order. However, a Plow and a Path sent my 2 Lord of Atlantis farming, while Tarmo and Knight of the Reliquary beat face. That double plow was deadly... Plus, I did not add a counter to my Vial the first time. And I used a Wasteland on his dual to grow his 4/4 Knight of the Reliquary to a 5/5, out of trading range. Wonderful.

Sb: +4 Mind Harness, -1 Psionic Blast, -2 Merfolk Sovereign, -1 Coralhelm Commander
In retrospect, I might have better results if I sideboard out the 8 counterspells for 4 threats (Mind Harness) and if I had them, 2 Hibernation and 2 Seasinger. Natural Order is the only spell I want to counter, but that is usually sided out.

Game 2

He mulligans to 6 again. Merfolk does its job as it faced few plow effects.

Game 3

He mulligans to 6 yet again. I must be lucky! Vial matched Hierarch while he Pathed my Coralhelm. He landed 2 tarmos but my army threatened to alpha strike with an active vial and lord in hand. Everything seemed to be going my way when I Mind Harness-ed one of the tarmos, looking to attack for the win next turn. However, I was stunned when he cast Natural Order, the only card that matters, and the very card that he's supposed to side out!

Facing down a Tarmo and a Progenitus with a Cursecatcher, Sovereign, Reejerey, and a stolen Tarmo, I could only knock him down to 3 life from 12 via a Reejerey tapping Tarmo when I cast Coralhelm at 10 life. At this point in time, I thought that he had the win and conceded, which shocked him. I realised why when I saw his scribble of me at 14 life on his notepad – he had missed recording down a tarmo attack the previous turn. Moral dilemma time... I could have gotten away with a cheap win by acting as if he was right. Even I would not believe myself if I said that I wasn't tempted. However, I do not want to be a jerk and the angelic side of me won, while I lost.

It turns out that Angus went on and split in the top 2 for a Force of Will and a Wasteland. The 8 plow aggro bant list seems solid and seems like a better fit in a world lacking combo.

W-L-D
0-1-0

Round 2 vs Kenneth with UW Tempo

From some small talk, Kenneth revealed that he participated in this tourney as his friend couldn't come and didn't want to waste the organizer's efforts. When I know that he had just gotten the deck a day before, I was relieved, to say the minimum.

Game 1

He wins the dice roll but mulligans to 6. Lucky! He landed a vial and we fought a counter-war over my vial, to which he won with a Spell Pierce. Main deck Spell Pierce.... Interesting... I finally realized his deck choice when he vialed in a Weathered Wayfarer. Monoblue ain't scared of no Wastelands! As long as he doesn't stick Serra Avenger and Jotun Grunt, I'm safe. And that's how I won.

Sb: +3 Spell Pierce, +1 Echoing Truth, - 4 Daze
Daze on the draw isn't quite as good as Spell Pierce. If I had Dispel, I would have sided them instead. Protecting my lords is important.

Game 2

I had amazingly luck as my opponents managed the 5th mulligan to 6. Despite me misplaying again by attacking my Merfolk into an active Vial at 2, the single Jotun Grunt and the later Serra Avenger couldn't stop my gang.

W-L-D
1-1-0

Round 3 vs Zhi sin with Uwbg Landstill

His deck must be quite expensive, with foiled dci Pernicious Deed, foil Fact or Fiction, everything except duals. We both shiver slightly as we're limited to sitting in the direct path of the air conditioning system.

Game 1

I won the dice roll. A loooooooonnnnnngggg drawn out game that stretches to perhaps 40 minutes. I had an army of Mutavault, Kira, and a fish going when he landed Humility on the 4th turn, reducing my clock to a crawl. He then landed a Engineered Explosives at 0, to which I was surprised. My friend made the same mistake of trying to blow up a manland with a EE! Like a pro, I did not tell him that after 3 Swords, 2 Fact or Fiction, 1 Pernicious Deed, and 4 Counterspell later, after he attacked with a Nantuko Monastery and I topdecked a Wasteland for his Mishra's Factory under a Standstill. Mutavault and a random 1/1 crashed in and he couldn't destroy my manland with the explosives, so he had to break his Standstill with a Plow instead. Sadly, I didn't draw a Force, Wasteland, or Psionic Blast that can nail me the win. Neither did I manage to Jedi mind trick him to break a fetch at 1 life.

Sb: I don't remember, but would Annul make a good candidate? 2 Humility, 3 Pernicious Deed, 2 Engineered Explosives, 4 Standstill, and 1 Crucible of Worlds.

Game 2

Merfolk wins with a Wasteland on his 3 mana. If my notes are correct, he used a Wasteland on my Mutavault, which contributed to his demise. I still stand by my opinion that traditional UW control is superior to 4-c landstill with Wasteland.

Game 3

There was only time left to cook Maggi Mee and there was no lunch break, so we drew. We still couldn't get Maggi Mee.

W-L-D
1-1-1

Round 4 vs Deliang with Mystic Bant

Daren was a standard player but he finally succumbed to the dark side and this is his first legacy tournament. Since it's his first tourney, it's understandable that he thought out a lot and played quite slowly. His decisions were firm though, and he did not make mistakes like not floating mana before casting Daze.

Game 1

I won the dice roll again and crashed out with vial and fishies. The crucial point in this game was when he cast a Umezawa's Jitte with a Tarmo in play. The two cards I had were a Force and Kira, and I could have countered it if I wanted. However, I went with the experiment of Vial-ing in Kira in response to him removing a counter to save my Merfolk. Unfortunately, Kira doesn't trump Jitte and he won.

Sb: +4 Mind Harness, -1 Psionic Blast, -2 Merfolk Sovereign, -1 Coralhelm Commander

Game 2

He did make a mistake this game as he chose to sacrifice Qasali Pridemage when I had 2 Vials in play. If he chose to trade with my Sovereign, I might not have won as I had only an Island in hand.

Game 3

We were both out of contention and so we drew and played a friendly game. Since we kept loose hands, Merfolk's higher threat density won rather easily. We got 2 packs of M11 each for making 11th and 12th.

W-L-D
1-1-2

Post Tourney Thoughts

The Deck and its Sideboard

With 11 out of 18 decks packing blue and almost half (8) packing green, Seasinger and cards like Hibernation seem warranted in my sideboard over jank like Spell Pierce that are ok against Combo. In these matchups, I would rather steal or evacuate their threats than counter spells.

Stifle

It was not sorely missed. 16-lords packs more punch and Sovereign's ability is useful to push in some damage.

Psionic Blast

I didn't draw it enough to see it in use. The only game I wanted to see it badly was in the Landstill match to push damage over a Humility. It would also lead to a match win in the first match against Aggro Bant even though he resolved Natural Order. I will probably up this to 2 or 3, over Kira or Daze.

Now... If only I can figure out a deck that does well against blue and green...

You can find the rest of the 18 decklists here.

Props:
Getting to know more like minded players
Having fun in the game the right way
Being lucky in the tourney
Receiving encouragement that fuelled a new found motivation for my job search

Slops:
Drawing due to time restriction
Misplays again...
Must all legacy tourneys be in the east?
My whining
Setting off with the intention to make Top 4, but freaking out at the start of the tourney

I'm reading: [Tourney Report] Merfolk Mistakes Tweet this!