[Tourney Report] Top 4 Split with Merfolk!

Merfolk is such a dumb deck. Seriously!

Merfolk - Top 4 Games Heaven Legacy Tournament 10th October 2010

Mana (20)
12 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault

Threats (22)
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Merfolk Sovereign

Disruption (12)
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare

Others (6)
4 Aether Vial
2 Psionic Blast

Sideboard (15)
4 Mind Harness
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Hydroblast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
3 Null Rod
2 Annul

I made top-4 in the 19 players 8-proxy legacy tournament this past weekend on 10th October 2010 with this list. And that's relying on 1 evening of testing against Belcher, a few hours of piloting Madness Survival, and my past experiences with Merfolk. Then again, experience matters.

Predicting the Metagame

Since I made top-2 last tourney, I made up my mind to to beat 2 decks in the coming tournament: Belcher and Madness Survival.

Why?

Because humans are lazy!

Deck	Number of Decks
Madness Survival	4
Belcher	3
Counter-top NO Bant	2
Dredge	2
Goblins	2
Zoo	2
Berserk Demon Rock	1
Burn	1
Bw Mystic Confidant	1
Enchantress	1
Merfolk	1
Monoblack Aggro	1
Monoblack Discard	1
Monobrown Stax	1
Rock	1
Sneaky Show	1
Total	26

As you can see here, there were 4 Madness Survival and 3 Belcher decks in the last tournament. Due to reasons like deck familiarity, card availability, or just plain lack of testing, people are inclined to play the deck they're most familiar with. I know cause I played Merfolk as I didn't have much time to test!

That being said, you can't prepare for every deck, so you need to focus on particular ones. How do you do that?

The players.

It's a fact – it's usually the same few players who consistently make top-8. These are the players who you should be prepared for. To be more accurate, you should be prepared for their preferred deck(s) or style.

For example, blu3^Ming (Zhiming) has shown a preference for Belcher. He played and made top-8 with Belcher in the past 2 tournaments, and had even contributing to this here site by writing an introductory article to Belcher. It's not really difficult to predict his deck choice for this tournament. (To Zhiming, you and some others are on my watchlist! Consider that an honor!)

So after some 5 min of consideration, the conclusion is that I must play a deck that can reliably beat both Belcher and Madness Survival to stand a chance of winning. Combine this with the lack of time, I defaulted to Merfolk as my weapon of choice.

A friend said that Merfolk is a dumb deck that only loses to itself. Barring bad draws and play mistakes, Merfolk's consistency makes it a decent choice in a tournament. For those of you unfamiliar with Merfolk, you can learn more here.

Merfolk Card Selection

After I've decided on Merfolk, the process of fine tuning the decklist begins. Some 10 minutes of browsing winning Star City Games decklists taught me that Merfolk with 4 Spell Pierce and 2 Merfolk Sovereign seemed to be doing well. Since Spell Pierce looks good on paper against Belcher, in it goes!

With that choice made, I looked at Madness Survival's decklist and was shocked to find that Spell Pierce counters only Survival of the Fittest but not other enablers and threats like Wild Mongrel, Aquamoeba, and Tarmogoyf! In comes Spell Snare, the catch all to every enabler in Madness Survival and then some. However, its utility against Belcher dips a little as you can't hit the win conditions with them. Thus, I used a 2-2 split between the 2 counterspells.

With the addition of 4 situational counterspells, the number of counters grew to 12. However, Merfolk can still fold to Belcher even with that much permission and a fast clock, due to the presence of Xantid Swarm. I would need to attack the deck at another angle if I really want to crush Belcher.

Enters Null Rod. This vintage staple locks down 12 mana pieces in Belcher, forcing the opponent to rely on his lands. Guess how many lands Belcher has? Land Grant? Now you know which spells to counter!

Unfortunately, Null Rod doesn't even scratch Madness Survival. 4 Mind Harness might help, but against hasty plants, it's not a fail-safe mechanism. This is the part where I messed up, thinking that graveyard hate is good against Madness Survival. In fact, I should have sideboard Hibernation instead (thanks Eugene for the guidance!). I thought Hibernation could only bounce green creatures when it can bounce Survival of the Fittest too. The resulting tempo loss for your opponent should give Merfolk sufficient time to island-walk over for the win.

At least Relic of Progenitus draws you a card when you remove Vengevine and shrink Tarmogoyf...

Tournament Report Proper

Now comes the part you're waiting for...

But first, how right was I about the meta? See it yourself!

Deck	Number of Decks
Merfolk	3
Rock	3
Belcher	2
Madness Survival	2
Blue Chalice Aggro	1
Burn	1
Hyper Show	1
Lands	1
Mystic Bant	1
Reanimator	1
Sneaky Show	1
Team America	1
Trinket Counter-top Goyf	1
Total	19

It might not seem that I was spot on, but considering 1 Belcher and 1 Madness Survival made top-4, that's a hit rate of 50%.

On to the report proper!

Round 1 vs Weili with Rock

In the first tournament I entered, Weili was playing ANT, so I put him on that.

I won the dice roll.

Game 1

My turn 1 Aether Vial was matched by a turn 1 Thoughtseize discarding my Progenitus.

Oh, you're paying attention! I forgot what I discarded as my notes were unclear, but it's probably a Force of Will.

Bayou and Nantuko Shade then landed and a Hymn to Tourach removed my other Force of Will and a Merrow Reejerey. Although I had a Lord of Atlantis on the table, Tombstalker came roaring. A Coralhelm Commander levelled up to attempt to trade with that demon but a Gatekeeper of Malakir sent my Lord of Atlantis beyond the gates. Even though a second Coralhelm Commander and a Silvergill Adept joined the party, the demon killed me before my lords came. And it was so close a match! He was left with just 2 life! If only I drew a Psionic Blast...

Sb: + 2 Mind Harness, - 2 Spell Pierce
Thoughtseize, Nantuko Shade, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Tombstalker, but with Bayou? I guessed that he's using a green splash with 4 Tarmogoyf and some Pernicious Deed. He's bound to add more removal after sideboarding, which didn't bode well for me.

Coincidentally, the pair beside us featured a Merfolk deck being beaten by Engineered Plague. Sad fish...

Game 2

Now this was simple. Turn 1 Cursecatcher, turn 2 and 3 Lord of Atlantis. A Thoughtseize taking a Force of Will on turn 2 made it easier for me. His life points went like this: 20, 18, 16, 10, 9, gg.

Merfolk is dumb, know what I mean?

Game 3

Although Weili started first, I made the first turn Cursecatcher. On the second turn, he ritualed out a Vampire Nighthawk which stopped the assault of my Lord of Atlantis. A Hymn to Tourach destroyed my hand though I plonked down a Merfolk Sovereign in midst of fear of a Pernicious Deed. I figured I might be able to rush him down. Sadly, the Deed really came.

Boom!

My notes were unclear, but there's a moment when he counted the number of cards in his graveyard, then cast Dark Ritual, and I thought he was going to cast Tombstalker. When I sacrificed a Cursecatcher to counter the Ritual, he revealed that I was tricked and that he cast a Hypnotic Specter instead. I was duped!

A Coralhelm Commander I top decked later was dealt with by Diabolic Edict then a Tombstalker ate me for dinner.

W-L-D
0-1-0

First round of the day yet it ended so badly. In retrospect, I didn't had much focus on the game and I deserve to lose. I did not concentrate on the end goals and played in a stimulus-response manner. That can't do! Must. Win. Next. Round!

Round 2 vs Jasmen with Counter-top Goyf

After some small chat, I discovered that this is his first time playing. It's a great thing to hear that more people are lured into the dark world of legacy. Wonderful! Read my blog more!

He won the dice roll.

Game 1

His first play of the game was a Sensei's Divining Top on turn 2, whereas I plopped down an Aether Vial. Guess there's not gonna be any Counterbalance shenanigans. But to ensure that wouldn't happen, I countered his enchantment on turn 3 using a Spell Pierce. Meanwhile, a Coralhelm Commander levelled up to his lord status and was joined by a Merrow Reejerey. His last attempt to resolve a Sower of Temptation did not materialize as I used a free counter.

See, Merfolk is dumb.

Sb: + 4 Mind Harness, - 2 Spell Pierce, - 2 Psionic Blast
As I saw a Tropical Island during the game, Mind Harness comes in to steal his fatty. I kept Spell Snare as it'll hit most things I want to counter except for Swords to Plowshares. Spell Pierce wouldn't be good against that removal in the late game either, so it went out.

With the low creature count I saw, I have more time to amass my horde and a finisher wasn't really needed, so Psionic Blast went out. Mind Harness is better at dealing with 1g 4/5s.

Game 2

Although I managed to Force a Vial through his Daze on turn 2 (stuck on 1 land), a Pithing Needle stopped my instant speed creature plopping machine. He Pondered and had yet another Daze for my Coralhelm Commander. My notes are unclear but I think my Merfolk Sovereign beat him down to 10 life before he sent it farming.

He then cast a Tarmogoyf with 5 cards left in his hand. I tried to Snare it, but he Forced my counterspell. I FoW-ed back, and he FoW-ed again, now down to 1 card. I think he must be quite disappointed when I stole that Tarmogoyf with Mind Harness after I untapped.

W-L-D
1-1-0

I was actually quite surprised that he conceded after Mind Harness resolved. Sure he only had a single card in his hand, but never ever give up! This is what separates players like Kaiser who consistently top 8 and the others. You never know when you'll draw that Plow. Better yet, play to maximize your chances of drawing that removal!

Round 3 vs Kaiser with Madness Survival

Speak of the devil.Like I mentioned, some players don't change their deck choices that often. Going into the tourney, I had a hunch that Kaiser would be playing Madness Survival. He did it last time, he might do it again. Even if he didn't he's likely to play something with blue and green. And I'm prepared.

I won the dice roll

Game 1

This match was close.

A first turn Cursecatcher was matched with a Brainstorm and a turn 2 Wild Mongrel from Kaiser. I Forced a Merrow Reejerey through a Daze on turn 3 but the dog prevented me from attacking profitably. Noble Hierarch landed but Kaiser made the correct decision to stay on defence. Still, Merfolk Sovereign on turn 4 allowed me to tap down his dog, and the attack with 2 lords and a Cursecatcher sent him down to 12.

Unfortunately, I did not have the counter for Intuition which stocked his graveyard with 2 Vengevine. If you've never seen Intuition at work in Madness Survival, read carefully.

I rushed for damage by casting Cursecatcher and tapping Wild Mongrel, sending him all the way down to 1 life. At this point, he did the impossible.

He won.

Kaiser discarded the Vengevine in hand from Intuition, making Wild Mongrel a 3/3. He then Madnessed out Basking Rootwalla, 4/4 dog. Another Noble Hierarch brought the 3 plant monsters back from the grave. 1-mana, 16 points of power, but still not enough to kill me... until he discarded Wonder and 2 Trygon Predator to bring me down from 19 life to 0.

Epic.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's it again:



To all Madness Survival players, please start using Intuition if you haven't.

Sb: + 4 Mind Harness, + 2 Relic of Progenitus, + 2 Tormod's Crypt, - 2 Spell Pierce, - 2 Psionic Blast, - 2 Merfolk Sovereign, - 2 Daze
Madness Survival is my most feared matchup and I might have over-sideboarded in this tournament. However, I figured I just need to slow Kaiser down a turn or 2 for me to win.

Game 2

First turn Relic of Progenitus! Take that! Even though my Aether Vial was Pierced, my turn 3 Coralhelm Commander resolved. Basking Rootwalla did nothing much to stop my turn 4 Merrow Reejerey, but the hasty Vengevine beat back for 4. The game ended when I stole his plant with Mind Harness and levelled up my Coralhelm to a lord.

Game 3

My first turn Vial met Daze but my Cursecatcher resolved. I made a bad play by pointing a Wasteland to the 2nd Tropical Island I saw in this game. Should have just cast Silvergill Adept this turn instead of on turn 4.

Survival of the Fittest could not go through a FoW but the follow up Tarmogoyf did. However, a Lord of Atlantis granted islandwalk to all my lovely fishy and I proceeded to claim my win.

W-L-D
2-1-0

Remember the photograph you saw earlier? Kaiser was a sporting guy and agreed to remake the killing moment for this here blog. Epic moment captured kudos to him!

Round 4 vs Ryan with Hyper Show

Ryan is the silent unassuming kinda person. However, the deck that he played was all Boomz. I remembered that he and his brother Raymond played combo with key pieces Sneak Attack and Show and Tell. After some scouting, I found out that he had Hypergenesis this time round. Chatting helps.

He won the dice roll.

Game 1

Coming into this game, I figured that the only way I can win is with a disruption heavy hand. When the first 7 and 6 did not have any disruption, I gladly kept a hand of 5 with Aether Vial and 2 Wasteland. I only hope that I could survive till Wasteland made their impact.

Turn 1 cip tapped Steam Vents met Aether Vial. Luckily, I wasn't dead yet as he played only a Tendo Ice Bridge. I tried to delay by pointing Wasteland at the Steam Vents, then plopped a Silvergill Adept into play and Wasted the Gemstone Mine. I drew like God and the Lord of Atlantis pretty much sealed the game.

Sb: + 1 Hydroblast, - 1 Blue Elemental Blast, - 2 Spell Snare
So much for trying to meta the tourney. Spell Snare did nothing against this deck and neither does Null Rod! Hopefully, Hydroblast and Blue Elemental Blast can counter something red with cascade to offset some marginal effect.

Game 2

I think I kept a hand with permission. The action started on turn 3 with him (shockingly) flashing in a Vendilion Clique on my turn. Amazingly, he then cast a Simian Spirit Guide?! Aggro combo?!? Luckily, the Hydroblast took care of the “clock” and I managed to get some fish and Mutavault onto the table and attacked with my gang.

Then he cast Volcanic Fallout.

Sadly, the next Ardent Plea manifested into a Hypergenesis that plunked out a Sphinx of the Steel Wind which ended the game pretty quickly.

Game 3

The rubber game.

With the first 2 turns being mine, a turn 1 and 2 Cursecatcher applied some pressure with a Wasteland on his Steam Vents. Turn 3 and 4 Silvergill Adept and I went all out, animating Mutavault and attacked with the team.

Volcanic Fallout. Man don't learn.

Ardent Plea again? Luckily I had the Force for the incoming Hypergenesis.

Violent Outburst? Daze that. You have a mana to pay? Spell Pierce.

By then, I was running out of cards and relied on my top deck skills to bring me the oomph I needed. The Show and Tell next turn gave him an Angel of Despair that destroyed my Merrow Reejerey. Luckily, I played and levelled up Coralhelm no 1, then drew, played, and levelled up Coralhelm no 2 and crashed in with both to finish off the job.

W-L-D
3-1-0

When a man gets lucky, a man gets lucky. After the game, he showed me a hand full of monsters, including the Emrakul that he drew the turn after Show and Tell. Lucky me, getting the best top-deck in Merfolk.

Round 5 vs Angus with Reliquary Rock

With 3 wins, a draw locks me into top-8.

W-L-D
3-1-1

Top 8 vs Eugene with Madness Survival

With the top-4 prizes in sight, I was very motivated to win this match. Losing meant that I'll be getting a miserable 4 packs of Scars of Mirrodin. That's rubbish to a legacy player! I'll take legacy staples any time over packs of artifacts! (unless of course, they have Koth in them :))

I won the dice roll.

Game 1

The game started with a synchronized mulligen to 6.

My Silvergill Adept on turn 2 was beaten by his Survival of the Fittest. As I kept a hand filled with fish, I could only pray that the aggro plan would work.

On turn 3, I played a Lord of Atlantis which he Forced. I proceeded to then place the Lord of Atlantis into my graveyard, after which I realized I had been staring at a Spell Pierce in my hand. When I woke up, I asked if I could respond to the FoW, to which Eugene said yes. This resulted in the Lord of Atlantis resolving. After this, he tapped 2 mana to tutor and dump 1 Vengevine into the graveyerd, leaving another in hand.

The Merrow Reejerey next turn left Eugene at 7 life. This was when he tapped the same 2 forests, dumped the remaining Vengevine in his hand to tutor Basking Rootwalla, Madnessed it out and tutored up Shield Sphere, and brought the 2 shrubbery back to life.

For those of you still using Memnite, please make the switch as the 0/6 is a better defender.

Luckily, a Merfolk Sovereign gave me the turn 5 win. It's just so close!

Sb: + 4 Mind Harness, + 2 Relic of Progenitus, + 2 Tormod's Crypt, - 2 Spell Pierce, - 2 Psionic Blast, - 2 Merfolk Sovereign, - 2 Daze

Game 2

Turn 1 Noble Hierarch met Cursecatcher, turn 2 1/2 Tarmogoyf and another Hierarch met Silvergill Adept. Turn 3 Vengevine crashed in for an Exalted hasty 6 while I Mind Harnessed Tarmo and the tapped Vengevine.

Everything seemed to be on my side, just that I managed to get only 3 lands in play and had to sacrifice 1 of my Mind Harness. At this point, I tried to think which was the better play but the adrenaline and my emotions led me into thinking that the creature enchanted by Mind Harness would go into the graveyard if I couldn't keep the Cumulative Upkeep.

I felt so stupid when I was remined of the actual text. I passed the Tarmogoyf back to him. Now the Tarmogoyf is a 4/5 due to an additional enchantment in the graveyard. The Vengevine I attacked with went back to where it belonged.

At this time, he was left with only 1 card in hand and I thought the Tormod's Crypt I cast would prevent the Vengevine from ever seeing the light of day. However, the 1 card he had was a Spell Pierce which shattered that dream.

Luck came to my rescue again as he couldn't chain 2 creatures together to revive that plant despite playing a Brainstorm. I drew creatures and won with 2 life.

W-L-D
4-1-1

After the game, we had a small conversation in which he educated me on the usefulness of Hibernation against Madness Survival. Thanks Eugene, for this tip!

Top-4

As we all wanted different cards, we split the prize. I walked home with an EX- Tropical Island.

Props
Coralhelm Commander for giving me the win round 4
Lady luck for smiling on me
Friendly players you'll always find in the legacy community

Slops
Me walking into 2 Volcanic Fallout in 2 consecutive games
My bad play in the top-8

What do you think?

I want to hear your views. What do you think of Merfolk? Any better plays I could have made? Do you like this turn by turn style of reporting? Lastly, do you think I deserve to win the top-8 match? If not then what do you think I should do now? Let me know by posting your comments below.

Further Reading

All 19 decklists

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