yeah, i've been trying to run the magus for a while now, and it does get explosive if he lasts long, but i have not yet been able to keep him in play for more than a turn, which isn't usually enough time to play anything off the deck, what with him costing 5 mana and all
because people do play a lot of planeswalkers, plus o ring can also get rid of any pesky enchantments and other permanents that pop up, too
crib swap is good, though, i have it in my sideboard as well
yeah, the judges alone are worth playing white for, but summon is also really good, plus the schoolmaster, and o. ring, and it's a lot easier to board in moats or any good white protection cards
well, maybe with summon you'd have enough, but he didn't run any, so hmm
i can see putting ink dissolvers in aggro, because there isn't already something milling for 20, plus he's a 2/1 for 2
well, you can still block and then mill
the summon is another enabler, it taps stuff, too
also, if you really want to gain life with it, you can respond to tapping stuff by activating its ability multiple times to tap all your creatures
dousing is good even if they can pay for it because it draws you a card and takes out 3 more of their mana, which is pretty good against RG, because it means they have to make a choice between letting their speell through or playing something else, which is why mana leak was good, and it didn't even cantrip
i don't really like the changelings, i would rather tap the creatures for something to assist the deck, instead of just tapping them for nothing
i would say drop them for more bannerets and reejereys, which are both 4-ofs in my opinion
also, i run 2 harbingers, and 2 surgespanners, but i'm thinking of dropping one of them, the UU in the cost is a bit intrusive
also, i still think the deck needs a few vedalken aethermages, they let you get your drowners and judges, or even the dousing
oh yeah, i keep forgetting that sigil tracer copies any instant or sorcery, not just yours
anyways, commerces do stack, but they don't help with playing summon, but they do let you mill multiple times
it's still kind of mana heavy, the deck should be able to run off 3 lands
i don't see why not play nimbus mazes, they're good because they fix your mana, if you can't draw one type of land, it adds that color (which is pretty nice)
ornithopters are my choice for anti-rogue, because they can block both of the first turn evasion creatures (it's an artifact creature with flying) and stops them from prowling on turn 2 (and survives)
some other anti-rogue: luminesce, hail of arrows, pollen lullaby
RG, you pretty much need to get lucky, it poops on this deck (luminesce is pretty much the only thing that helps)
i would say you definitely need drowners, in the same way that any combo deck should run 4 of any of its key pieces, barring any strange circumstances (i.e. wishes)
my main problem with story circles and mystic spec is that they aren't merfolk, and can be a bit expensive
sage's dousing is at least a wizard, and still gets reduced by the bannerets
i would say go with luminesce over story circle, unless you're in a green-heavy environment, then i don't know what (maybe surgespanner, but they can be a bit expensive
i still really don't believe that witsnipers and ink dissolvers are really needed in the deck, they just don't affect the deck enough on their own to matter. on turn 2, i'd rather drop a banneret to allow me to empty my hand on turn 3 or 4 and mill for an assload or a judge to allow me to gain more life than they can deal, than a card that might mill a measly 3 cards a turn
also, drop the sigil tracer entirely, they're fun for cute little tricks, but are entirely unnecessary in a primarily creature-based deck
also, your land is a bit odd and i'm guessing is based on supply
you definitely need 4 hubs and i would try to get 4 nimbus mazes if i were you (i also can't find any, and it's making me angry)
summon is definitely in the deck, it's really useful when you can't find the drowner and you have thieves and judges in play and no way to tap them, plus it gives you blockers out the ass
eh, didn't do too well tonite, but i've had about 8 hours of sleep in the last 3 days and made quite a few player errors (DO NOT ATTEMPT!)
won against another millfolk, that had a bit more aggro (and no aethermages) than I
lost to R/W burn with a buttload of spot removal, and lost to dragonstorm on a topdeck (it was down to turns in game 3 and i would have topdecked winning cards on my turn, but he topdecked exactly enough burn to kill me)
and i drew with B/U fairies (which ended up winning)
2) How can you say Ink Dissolver serves no purpose. Any card that will mill the top three cards off the opponent's library serves triple duty. If you have a Drowner in play, that means 4 cards potentially milled from the use of only one card....and, you don't have to do anything but see what is on top of your library! How is that bad or useless?
it's not necessarily useless, but there just isn't room for it in mine. (i tend to exaggerate) the summons maindeck would be more useful, i would rather have out 2 more tokens every turn that i can mill with than one guy who might mill for an extra 3
Personally, as a former UW Merfolk (aggro/control version) player, I just don't see how this or any other Merfolk deck can survive against today's aggro decks. Yeah, they can run a few answers, but Red, Black and White all have mass removal spells that just rape Merfolk. If you don't have a counter in hand... you are screwed!
it's not hard to come back from a wrath, i do it constantly
i personally haven't had that much of a problem with aggro, usually i can get early blockers in, because quite a few of the earlier merfolk drops have high toughnesses, then later i can gain enough life to not care and create enough tokens to chump block anything
i have to say, remove the project, it takes the focus off too much, definitely put reejereys in main deck, and almost definitely summon the school, it's a great tap outlet if you can't get drowners and need to gain life
also, you can easily chump block any big aggro stuff (excepting tramplers)
also, i don't see why people are putting mothdust in mill, it's useless
i agree with weatherguy on the sage's dousing, they are about the best counterspell this deck could posssibly have (unless they printed it as a hard counter)
if you have at least one banneret, it's a mana leak with cantrip
i don't, however, agree with the ink dissolver. i ran them at first, but they just don't serve any purpose. milling 3 cards every few turns means nothing when you can easily mill 25 every turn
i'm still liking my tech of magus of the future, but it's such an odd choice i can see why someone wouldn't want to run it
I really think that millfolk is better than aggro or normal control
the only decks i've really had a problem with are rogues and faries, and even then it's sometimes fast enough
it's not uncommon to have 3-4 merfolk in play by turn 3-4, and milling away
the judge is pretty much the best card in the deck, as it easily keeps you out of range of all but the fastest aggro decks, and lets you stay alive long enough to quickly mill them out
the magus is in there mostly for fun, but can be deadly if it comes into play with a banneret and a reejerey or two, because you can pretty much put your entire deck into play in one turn, and mill their entire deck then and there
the aethermages are mostly to find the drowners or other wizards, or in a pinch, bounce some deadly slivers
the sideboard is kind of odd, my sideboards are constantly changing as i come up with different anti cards, it needs a few cards maybe (maybe some tormod's crypts or pithing needles)
also, i'm thinking of taking out the fallowsages for ancestral visions
it's sad, but i think i have (at least) half your comments (more sad for me, really, i need to get a life)
maybe people just like to listen (i'm usually one of those people)
you should definitely blame dell, even for things they didn't do, like global warming or the war in iraq (ok, only give part of the blame for that to them, bush doesn't get off that easy)
)
crib swap is good, though, i have it in my sideboard as well
i can see putting ink dissolvers in aggro, because there isn't already something milling for 20, plus he's a 2/1 for 2
we need a 17th level caster for true resurrection
that's what i was referring to
the summon is another enabler, it taps stuff, too
also, if you really want to gain life with it, you can respond to tapping stuff by activating its ability multiple times to tap all your creatures
dousing is good even if they can pay for it because it draws you a card and takes out 3 more of their mana, which is pretty good against RG, because it means they have to make a choice between letting their speell through or playing something else, which is why mana leak was good, and it didn't even cantrip
i would say drop them for more bannerets and reejereys, which are both 4-ofs in my opinion
also, i run 2 harbingers, and 2 surgespanners, but i'm thinking of dropping one of them, the UU in the cost is a bit intrusive
also, i still think the deck needs a few vedalken aethermages, they let you get your drowners and judges, or even the dousing
anyways, commerces do stack, but they don't help with playing summon, but they do let you mill multiple times
it's still kind of mana heavy, the deck should be able to run off 3 lands
i don't see why not play nimbus mazes, they're good because they fix your mana, if you can't draw one type of land, it adds that color (which is pretty nice)
ornithopters are my choice for anti-rogue, because they can block both of the first turn evasion creatures (it's an artifact creature with flying) and stops them from prowling on turn 2 (and survives)
some other anti-rogue: luminesce, hail of arrows, pollen lullaby
RG, you pretty much need to get lucky, it poops on this deck (luminesce is pretty much the only thing that helps)
my main problem with story circles and mystic spec is that they aren't merfolk, and can be a bit expensive
sage's dousing is at least a wizard, and still gets reduced by the bannerets
i would say go with luminesce over story circle, unless you're in a green-heavy environment, then i don't know what (maybe surgespanner, but they can be a bit expensive
i still really don't believe that witsnipers and ink dissolvers are really needed in the deck, they just don't affect the deck enough on their own to matter. on turn 2, i'd rather drop a banneret to allow me to empty my hand on turn 3 or 4 and mill for an assload or a judge to allow me to gain more life than they can deal, than a card that might mill a measly 3 cards a turn
also, drop the sigil tracer entirely, they're fun for cute little tricks, but are entirely unnecessary in a primarily creature-based deck
also, your land is a bit odd and i'm guessing is based on supply
you definitely need 4 hubs and i would try to get 4 nimbus mazes if i were you (i also can't find any, and it's making me angry)
summon is definitely in the deck, it's really useful when you can't find the drowner and you have thieves and judges in play and no way to tap them, plus it gives you blockers out the ass
won against another millfolk, that had a bit more aggro (and no aethermages) than I
lost to R/W burn with a buttload of spot removal, and lost to dragonstorm on a topdeck (it was down to turns in game 3 and i would have topdecked winning cards on my turn, but he topdecked exactly enough burn to kill me)
and i drew with B/U fairies (which ended up winning)
it's not necessarily useless, but there just isn't room for it in mine. (i tend to exaggerate) the summons maindeck would be more useful, i would rather have out 2 more tokens every turn that i can mill with than one guy who might mill for an extra 3
it's not hard to come back from a wrath, i do it constantly
i personally haven't had that much of a problem with aggro, usually i can get early blockers in, because quite a few of the earlier merfolk drops have high toughnesses, then later i can gain enough life to not care and create enough tokens to chump block anything
also, you can easily chump block any big aggro stuff (excepting tramplers)
also, i don't see why people are putting mothdust in mill, it's useless
i agree with weatherguy on the sage's dousing, they are about the best counterspell this deck could posssibly have (unless they printed it as a hard counter)
if you have at least one banneret, it's a mana leak with cantrip
i don't, however, agree with the ink dissolver. i ran them at first, but they just don't serve any purpose. milling 3 cards every few turns means nothing when you can easily mill 25 every turn
i'm still liking my tech of magus of the future, but it's such an odd choice i can see why someone wouldn't want to run it
the only decks i've really had a problem with are rogues and faries, and even then it's sometimes fast enough
4 Drowner of secrets
4 stonybrook banneret
4 merrow reejerey
3 grimoire thief
2 surgespanner
3 stonybrook schoolmaster
2 fallowsage
2 merrow harbinger
4 judge of currents
2 vedalken aethermage
1 magus of the future
4 merrow commerce
4 summon the school
2 sage's dousing
Land
4 wanderwine hub
4 nimbus maze
10 Island
3 Plains
2 oblivion ring
2 ornithopter
2 wanderwin prophets
2 pollen lullaby
2 hail of arrows
2 patrician's scorn
1 surgespanner
1 austere command
1 luminesce
it's not uncommon to have 3-4 merfolk in play by turn 3-4, and milling away
the judge is pretty much the best card in the deck, as it easily keeps you out of range of all but the fastest aggro decks, and lets you stay alive long enough to quickly mill them out
the magus is in there mostly for fun, but can be deadly if it comes into play with a banneret and a reejerey or two, because you can pretty much put your entire deck into play in one turn, and mill their entire deck then and there
the aethermages are mostly to find the drowners or other wizards, or in a pinch, bounce some deadly slivers
the sideboard is kind of odd, my sideboards are constantly changing as i come up with different anti cards, it needs a few cards maybe (maybe some tormod's crypts or pithing needles)
also, i'm thinking of taking out the fallowsages for ancestral visions