Pioneer Merfolk is Finally a Real Deck | MTG Gameplay

[@howardgranger1749]

Watching Pioneer is turning me into a better Magic player. Lots of brainpower involved for all the twists and turns.

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Almost no free spells here. Gotta make the best with the mana you have.

[@Memnarch]

I learn more from watching your videos about HOW to play the cards I have, than hours of play testing to figure this stuff out on my own. Thanks for the lessons.👍🏻

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

That's the idea! New Pioneer content will be coming out as I prepare for some open Pioneer events.

[@nickel]

love seeing deeproot in the mix!

[@nickel]

all these cards are in arena too btw (in main deck)

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Yeah, evidently the deck is basically legal in Explorer

[@superand84]

I too have been working on pioneer Merfolk. I aggree with many of your changes since last time. The full 4x Pilgrimage and and Kumena are great! I dropped the spell pierces completely and insted went 4x Trickster. And some other cutting and adding as well :) I even tried Subterranean Schooner over the Copter, but that might have been pushing it :)

[@lolcomment101]

-1 Boseiju -1 Otawara -2 Mystical Dispute +2 Collected Company(Main) +2 Merfolk Trickster (Side) There were people 5-0'ing this last week with collected company and 21 lands, cutting 2 of the mutavaults. Also, they play Merfolk Branchwalker. Looks like a cool way to play merfolk, putting a bigger emphasis on exploring to gain virtual card advantage and helping make up for having 21 lands. (explore is fancy surveil at the end of the day)

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

I've seen the results, but I would not run Coco in this deck. It has too much air. I would be open to going down lands but don't remove a Boseiju as it can destroy Leyline Binding

[@hafizrahman2779]

That's my list, didn't run boseiju due to budget constraints, but people were still going 5-0 with that list 😅. Also only dropped one game entire day at the local RCQ with that list.

[@vanhelsing00000]

Love the pioneer content. List is looking pretty strong now. Ive been using mistway spy as a 1 drop and moved mistcaller to the side. I like having the evasive 1 drop.

[@Gemasted]

My two favorite things in magic, pioneer and nikachu, what more could I wish for? :D

[@LucasVogel]

we played the other day (we learned that grafdiggers cage actually counters cryptic coat lol)

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Oh! LOL, I forgot about that. It must have been 3 weeks or a month ago though, I haven't played Cryptic Coat for a while.

[@Teknomahge]

In round 2, game 3, you drew like Reid Duke

[@chrisstorrer]

Man plays merfolk, man gets my sub.

[@johnmichael784]

You gotta try Explorer on Arena the list is not far off that you have there. No COCO is crazy especially when playing 24 Land.

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Well, there's not enough high quality targets in this deck. Only 14 good creatures and the rest are garbage 1 drops. Plus you need 28 creatures to hit 2 creatures 90% of the time. This specific build doesn't hit any of the requirements to play Coco.

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

btw, what cards are not available on Arena?

[@johnmichael784]

⁠@@nikachuplaysmtgAll of those are available on Arena, it appears you could play this full list in Explorer, well….. providing you have the wildcards 😅

[@jaydenturley3986]

Ah I played against you probably during one of your testing leagues. Was waiting to see if you would put our match up haha #monoblackdiscard

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Yeah, I've been grinding a ton to get the deck to this point. I have no idea which opponent you were because I was up vs a ton of black discard decks :D

[@johnmichael784]

Is glass-pool mimic a consideration over 4x mutavault even one would give you some more options, I’m thinking of your last game on this video.

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Mutavault is much better in this heavy removal metagame. Glasspool Mimic always runs the risk of there being no creatures in play or there's one and the opponent removes it in response. Also, Mutavault is an untapped source; glasspool is very clunky.

[@kingginger3335]

Are you excited to try playing Amphibian Downpour? It's the exact same thing as Eaten by Piranhas, except it has Storm.

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Well you see, Modern Horizons 3, being a Modern + set, won't be legal in Pioneer :P Otherwise I totally would love to play that vs Prowess.

[@smegmalasagna]

41:40 But mistcaller also prevents fable from transforming. Doesn't both of those interactions combined make it fine?

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Like if they play Sorin, they will just tick up and shoot a creature of ours or buff theirs. That's assuming they don't fatal push our Mistcaller if they really want to pull off the -3. If they play Fable, get a goblin that makes treasures, discards their bad cards to draw fresh ones, we are so behind if we sacrifice one of our cards to prevent the Fable from flipping. It's like sacrificing a creature to answer 1/3 of the opponent's card. It's like choosing to lose instead of losing very badly. Would I sac my Mistcaller if I had the option at that point? Sure, but it's not a situation I want to be in the first place, I would prefer to Tidebinder the chapter 3 on Fable and at least have a creature in play to compete with the Goblin they got.

[@xxenergizedxx6695]

Have you considered Nicanzil, Current Conductor?

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Yes, I think it takes too much work to be good. In a format full of removal right now, I want the cards to be pretty good by themselves. I preferred Deeproot Wayfinder as 2/3 2-drop creature, but eventually I cut it to experiment with other cards.

[@LanceAxel]

Kumena is so cool for a card that I have never seen do anything

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

You'll see some action here.

[@chriscrowninshield2641]

no collected company?

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Collected Company is a pretty bad card in the deck. Our best cards are Copter and Pilgrimage. There's about 14 good targets to hit and the rest is basically air. Also you need about 28 creatures to reliably hit 2 creatures, I have 24 which means I'll grab only 1 creature a good chunk of the time. 4 mana for instant speed Cenote Scout isn't worth it.

[@zackpumpkinhead8882]

Somebody call the Prof.

[@bens9893]

Need a nikabro league again asap

[@King_of_the_Shrooms]

Maybe I am missing something…but why does this deck not play Merfolk Mistbinder? It is a 2-Mana-Lord! It does die to shock…but who cares! Is it because it’s green and blue?

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

Watch this at 39 min 20 sec: kzbin.info/www/bejne/noavlZWgfLp0bpIsi=yMq0CfRewUJfiLLK

[@ChrisB-zn3vp]

Go play this in Paper at your LGS??? DO IT!

[@dancing_odie]

You're still pronouncing cenote incorrectly. Its Spanish. The "e" at the end makes an "ay" sound.

[@nikachuplaysmtg]

I fix it halfway through!

[@hellioappollion552]

😂😂😂