Exploring Collected Company
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on June 11, 2015, 10:16 p.m. by julianjmoss
Could Collected Company possibly find a home in other decks like merfolks? I feel like the card has some potential but I'm not very familiar with the format. Also in general I feel like coco has a lot more room for exploration
julianjmoss says... #3
I feel like along with vial it could be very explosive and I don't think mana is too bad that it can't splash a little for a second color
June 11, 2015 10:28 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #4
I've seen some fish lists and the feedback I've heard is that it's very hit or miss. You have to dilute your otherwise great mana base, on of the great things about merfolk is the consistency with the land base and it being pain free. AEther Vial comes down t1/t2 most times and it's often just better than company. Most merfolk decks run 23-27 creatures too, the good Collected Company decks hit that critical mass of 28+ creatures, usually 29-30. Merfolk can't hit that many creatures because they still want Spreading Seas, AEther Vial and Vapor Snag in addition to any other counters and utility spells they run. This is going to make whiffs on company more frequent, which is a huge blow to your tempo being 4 mana in a deck that runs 20-21 lands most times.
TL;DR: it's not going to cut it most times. It's better in theory than in execution. AEther Vial is just better.
For reference, I am a fish player. My deck: Swimming in the not so friendly seas
June 11, 2015 10:35 p.m.
Losing out on Mutavault is also a big deal. This is one case where CoCo isn't that great.
June 11, 2015 10:42 p.m.
julianjmoss says... #6
That all makes a lot of sense. I just want to see a coco deck that isn't just a pod deck or an elf deck ya dig?
June 11, 2015 10:48 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #7
Let's just make modern RG goblins a thing. Collected Squee's?!?!?
June 11, 2015 10:51 p.m.
julianjmoss says... #8
It could be played in a combo sliver deck with dormant sliver and frenetic sliver
June 11, 2015 11:05 p.m.
mathimus55 says... #9
True story, that slivers list that top 8'd an SCG event ran 4 of them now that I think about it. Small zoo could probably get a boost from company too, popping out a fully grown Wild Nacatl and a Loxodon Smiter eot could be some big game too
June 11, 2015 11:10 p.m.
As a fish player, I don't think fish can reliably run it just because while it's an aggro deck it's also got a hint of tempo with cards like spreading seas. I'm sure it would end a game instantly but it seems like a win more card.
June 11, 2015 11:53 p.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #11
Coco imo isn't a win more card. It gives a huge tempo swing when it hits. And most likely will. My brother made the deck, and it's stomping decks like amulet bloom, twin/grixis delver, and infect. He took out the more "controlly" cards out like spell snare and spell pierce. His control is remand and vapor snag. With spreading seas among them. If he gets to the four lands an turn 4, he cocos and pretty much wins instantly. If you hit 2 lords/masters off of it, it's a huge boost. And it just make you win. I think it's a great addition
June 12, 2015 2:31 a.m.
I think that some people here are forgetting that a fair number of merfolk decks do not run aether vial, and that merfolk can have a difficult time if it plays out its hand too fast and all its threats are answered.
What Collected Company does is that it allows a player to dig for more threats after their board has been cleared. Ather vial does not do this. Aether vial lets you play cards in hand for free. Collected company lets you essentially restock your hand for free (kind of). There is a MASSIVE difference.
Its nice because it can be a winmore, or it can also be a 'recover from Damnation' type card. And that's useful.
For reference - only one card in three needs to be a cmc1-3 creature to get value from CoCo. Running 25 creatures in a deck that can be played off it is mathematically fine.
Also - been playing CoCo in midrange zoo for a while now (focuses on 3 mana stuff like Woolly Thoctar and Loxodon Smiter instead of 1 mana stuff like Wild Nacatl and Kird Ape) and it's totally legit. So much value, so early.
June 12, 2015 7:24 a.m.
mathimus55 says... #13
Yes, but like you said he had to take out some of his utility cards that fish needs in game 1. It forces you to use such a higher density of creatures than fish normally wants. Even if you play company instead of vial, you need seas for your evasion and just because it's one of the best land destruction spells in the format. Then if you keep the Dismember/Vapor Snag/whatever utility spells you're already down to 28 creatures. I think the fact that collected merfolk not showing up in any tournament worth mentioning shows it's probably better to just run vial and your incredibly consistent and pain free mana base. Plus, your worst matchup is affinity who preys on greedy mana bases so giving them an automatic 3 life in some cases is very worth mentioning. I could be wrong and your brother could be on to something, but until it starts doing some major things I'll stick to my current list.
June 12, 2015 7:31 a.m.
CoCo looks at 6 cards and allows you to play 2 creatures.
2 creatures in 6 = 1 card in 3.
1 card in 3 = 20 out of 60.
Edit: Life loss from lands isn't worth speaking about if youre able to stabilise and win T4/T5. Jund and Abzan regularly take 6+ damage from their manabase. It matters not. The only time its worth mentioning is if you die quicker than you can win. This is NOT the case with merfolk.
June 12, 2015 7:35 a.m. Edited.
The problem I have with CoCo in Merfolk is that the deck revolves around 1-2 cmc and therefore runs around 20 lands. CoCo is 4 mana and warrants 24 lands. This means the deck is liable to flooding which is very, very bad if you have nothing to cast with the extra mana except literally a single playset of one card.
June 12, 2015 7:43 a.m.
mathimus55 says... #16
Well in the case I used against affinity(which merfolk players know how bad the matchup is) yes, the life loss is very worth mentioning. Against your b/g/x decks it is a different story especially when you can punish their greedy land base with Spreading Seas. I know how company works very well, my change of pace deck is podless pod, and I fully understand what nonsense the card is capable of.
Also, where have you seen fish lists that don't use vial? I am yet to see a deck do anything without 3 at the bare minumum and those are very outlier cases.
June 12, 2015 7:49 a.m.
Havent checked on fish for a number of months but previously it was around 70/30 vial/non-vial.
My point was that BGx is a slow, slow deck that spends a lot of time doing very little except hurting itself with its manabase. It can still pull out wins against aggro decks. I would therefore expect a deck that is significantly faster than BG/x AND hurts itself less with the manabase to just be fine.
Life is only a resource and unless you lose it really doesn't matter. Sometimes you'll curse it against burn and affinity but those decks make up less than 15% of the meta. That means 85% of the time in a balanced meta it's not going to be relevant. So whilst it makes some things harder, it doesn't make enough things harder to matter.
June 12, 2015 7:57 a.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #18
Is Merfolk company a legit thing? Anyhow, as I'm sure someone else pointed out, CoCo can be played in Melira Podless Pod, Zoo, Elves... Hell, I could even see goblins.
June 12, 2015 9:08 a.m.
i top 8'd a 64-player pptq last weekend with my d&t build. i've got one company in the main right now, it's been pretty good when drawn but i wouldn't want to start with more than one in my opening hand. though as the game goes longer that's pretty much all i want to draw (and Path to Exile, usually). i'm at 29 creatures right now, and would need to cut creatures for more companies. i could see going up to 2, maaaaaaybe 3.
it could be pretty sweet in merfolk. Hinterland Harbors and Misty Rainforests with a Breeding Pool and maybe 1-2 Flooded Groves wouldn't cause too much life sacrifice while still giving plenty of green (and blue) sources. if that's the only green splash you don't need to have green until t4 anyway.
June 12, 2015 9:49 a.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #20
Collected Merfolk Is my brothers list. The thing you need to realize is that merfolk can win fast, with it without coco. The only card draw fish has, is silver Gill adept. Coco provides the gas fish needs to close out a game. He's already flipped over two lords off of one coco and just won turn 4.
June 12, 2015 10:25 a.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #21
That's not his deck. This is http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/03-06-15-collected-merfolk/
June 12, 2015 10:27 a.m.
BloodoftheBloodMoon says... #22
He was mistakingly running 16 lands with 2 Cold-Eyed Selkies in their place, but he found they were durdly and slow unless they were hit off a company.
JDMCRIB says... #2
Potentially. I've never played Fish or anything, so I don't know how tight mana is in that deck, but using Misty Rainforest and friends to search up Breeding Pool for CoCo doesn't sound all too bad.
June 11, 2015 10:21 p.m.