Possible Answer to Faeries

Orlandu · Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 156

Think of it this way.. R/G Manaramp pre-shadowmoor (don't know what it's like now..) Had an unfavorable matchup against faeries, even with 8 pyroclasm effects, 4 skred, and 4 incinerate. 3x Teferi probably won't matter for the same reason. Faerie's just runs 12 counters, and if you tap 5 lands for a teferi, odds are you're gonna lose that counter war.

Vedrfolner · Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 1118

The problem with removal is that against Faeries, many of them are overkill vs a 1/1 for 3 mana (or whatever). In reality, Piracy Charm/Funeral Charm is enough against them. Then you pay 1 mana to kill a 2 or 3 mana creature, and that often negates Rune Snag as well.

It doesn't deal with Clique and Bitterblossom, though. And overall, I doubt it is worth 4 slots in the sideboard in anything but monoblue. But it is an option I believe should be tested.

skilla420 · Joined: 29 Apr 2008 Posts: 258

What about throwing in pact of negation? I know that faerie decks don't have free counters, or at least the majority don't, and that pulling a trick like that out of your sleeve would probably not be something they would expect.
And though it would basically tap out 5 lands the next turn, if he had out a merrow reejery and a banneret or two, he could possibly play a merfolk or two with reejery's untap ability.
I'm pretty sure that if he would ned to play it at all, it would be later game, so his rune snags would be able to hold him until then.

baz9980 · Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 1

i believe the problem with a teferi suggestion is that it costs too much. i would say the same for the pact of negation. Faeries' strength lies in its ability to reach a very strong position from an early start, via bitterblossom, and sitting back on counters. If i were playing against a deck i thought ran teferi or a pact, i wouldn't bother casting a turn 4 mistbind if i had a decent board position. I might wait until i had a counter in hand and enough mana to do both, or until the player played a spell.
Merfolk does a good job against faeries because it can race well. The islandwalkers beat bitterblossom tokens in a race.
however I've heard that merfolk loses to burn - what do people think of a U/W merfolk that runs some kind of life-gain, be it aven riftwatchers perhaps?

TekNique · Joined: 19 Mar 2008 Posts: 154

only problem seems to be the island part of island walk since everyone runs dual lands or manlands so they have 3-5 islands. This can be solved my Acquitect's will or tideshaper mystic but you would prefer not to put them in and use those spots for better cards. I thought the only reason teferi might work in merfolk is because of stonybroook banneret making it UUU or 1UUU. Also there are variations of merfolk with white, usually splashed for reveillark and riftwatcher/sygg river guide.