What were you thinking for the sideboard?

I don't have anything nailed down yet, but probably some Kira, Great Glass-Spinners, a Tidebinder Mage or two, some Sea's Claim, and perhaps Dismember.

I don't have a sideboard listed because I've been focusing on getting the Mainboard how I like it. Once I get all these cards in paper I'll start working on a sideboard.

Thanks for commenting!

Cool! It can be tricky to build sideboards in this format, and especially for a deck like Merfolk. It does need to be tailored to your meta. Let me know when you start on it and I'll try to help!

Yeah, I find Sideboards to be by far the hardest part of building new decks.

Thanks for the help! I'll message you when I need it :)

I'd probably cut the second Kira from your side; right now, one should be sufficient unless your metagame is highly interactive. You can also cut one or two of the Tidebinders unless everyone's on green decks or burn. I'd replace Vapor Snag with Echoing Truth which hits more targets, and probably drop down to a single Dismember; I'm a firm believer in not having more than one, because drawing a second after casting the first usually sucks!

I'd use this space to add more countermagic to your sideboard. Chalice of the Void is amazing against a lot of decks. I run two of them. Dispel, Negate, Remand, and Unified Will are also useful. Which ones you should use depends on your metagame.

Thanks for the tips! I'll look at redoing the Side.

Probably won't include Chalice of the Void right now though, price is off-putting...

Wait for it to drop when something out of Eldrazi very likely gets banned.

It just murders Infect though and is very strong against Burn. With Affinity, if you Recall with a Chalice on 0 it takes them far longer to stabilize.

Annul is sort of a budget option.

Awesome, I might pick it up post-ban assuming Eldrazi gets banned.

I'll do some testing up at the LGS soon to see what I need to focus on.

Let me know what you run into and I'll help how I can.

Will do! Thanks!

why are you running Wanderwine Hub? Islands would do you much better, seeing as how they aren't hit by blood moon and you don't have any white.

Wanderwine Hub is here for Choke and Boil protection. They aren't islands so they aren't affected by those cards.

It also helps during the mirror match; you won't give your opponent Islandwalk for free with them.

ah, like the professor said.

okay.

I am of the mindset that Cursecatcher isn't that good. It's a 1/1 that's literally only good T1. Plus, it's your one-drop, you don't want to waste that slot. I would instead use Cosi's Trickster. This card is sooo good in Modern because of the sheer amount of fetches that are used.

There is no reason whatsoever to run Cosi's Trickster over Cursecatcher. It is only kind of useful, and while Cursecatcher contributes to the deck's overall strategy and can still "get" people later in the game sometimes and needs to be played around, Cosi's Trickster after the very early game is frequently a Fugitive Wizard.

If you're not clear why Cursecatcher should be in every Merfolk list, go watch this.

Thanks a lot for the comment SuperLicorice, but I would like to respectively disagree.

Cursecatcher may not be a flashy or exciting card, but it is still an important part of my creature-base. Basically it delays my opponent's game-plan by one turn, giving me more time to compete with faster decks like Burn or Infect.

Nikachu, a very experience Merfolk player, can probably explain this better than I ever could. I'll link you to a video where he talks about Cursecatcher at length.

Merfolk Primer Ep.3 Cursecatcher (Nikachu)

Thanks again for commenting!

Ha! ComradeJim270, we linked the same video by Nikachu! :D

Well, it's a good video. Your deck is also looking a lot leaner and meaner, by the way! How has it fared so far?

Thanks a lot! I've been doing some tuning and this version is working better than my previous one.

4 Vapor Snags seems to be the way to go, I've sided out my counterspells, I think they're more of a Game 2 thing.

Master of Waves has exceeded all of my expectations. It single-handedly swings the game in my favor or even outright wins it. I decided to go with a full playset, it's great.

I like Sea's Claim, it give me a little bit more consistency with my Sea Effects but doesn't flood me with them. Solid.

I'm not a fan of Phantasmal Image in my testing. Maybe I'm just not playing it right, but I prefer a fourth Master of Waves and one-of Sea's Claim.

All and all this version seems more consistent and powerful, I'm pretry happy with it! The previous version didn't do well in preliminary testing, so I had to go back to the drawing board. This list is still being worked on, so I still might change some things. I'm not totally convinced with a 4-of Harbinger of the Tides...

Tomorrow a buddy is going to help me with some testing. I have a Soul Sister deck and he has a Bogles deck, so I'll probably be playing a lot of those games. I might do a short write-up.

Thanks for your help! If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Four snags is unusual, but you've got a point on countermagic. I play in a metagame with too many game 1 targets to drop mainboard countermagic (I use Spell Pierce) but if you don't, removal is good! You may consider a single Dismember and three snags. Give it a try.

I'd actually advise trying more Harbingers. They're often a much bigger tempo swing than they look on paper because they can be vialed in to blank an opponents attack, they can bounce mana-dorks and they are just generally a massive pain in the ass for opponents who really don't want to see you stabilize. They also make the Affinity matchup winnable, if difficult.

Now that you've tried the deck, what's your impression of your local metagame?

ComradeJim270, I'm sorry it took me so long to reply, I'm writing up an FNM report now, hopefully that will help!

Looking at your match reports; yes, Delver is a very enjoyable matchup. We're favored, but it's not a sure thing and there's a lot of interaction.

I have not played against Bogles with Merfolk, myself. It's not a popular deck at my LGS. I will note that once you get Chalice of the Void it should be easier; they have a hard time against a Chalice on 1. Your third match is just bad luck, it seems. Note that a one-Island hand is entirely playable (or even good) if you have an AEther Vial. If you don't, you can sometimes keep it if you have a Silvergill Adept, but it's a gamble and I'd usually only do it on the draw. Somewhat better if you have some interaction in hand, but risky. It didn't pay off that time.

I find that the first time you play a matchup with fish you often lose. It does require knowledge of the matchup, so as you get in reps against a particular deck you'll learn what your line of play ought to be. Choosing the correct hands to keep is also something that differs based on your opponent's deck.

i think 19 lands is a little low when play testing it

I actually find 19 lands to be the perfect number.

AEther Vial sorta acts as a land, it's great acceleration in this deck.

Some people like 20, personally I prefer 19. I find it prevents flooding and opens up another spell slot.

Could use another Cavern of Souls.