Vintage Merfolks (again)

[Bone]

I played Merfolks in Bazaar of Moxen 3 last year and was quite happy with my build:

Merfolks by Bone - Bazaar of Moxen 3 03.05.2009
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Silvergill Adept
2 Sygg, River Cutthroat

1 Brainstorm
3 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Misdirection
4 Null Rod
3 Standstill
3 Stifle

3 Flooded Strands
9 Islands
1 Mutavault
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
3 Curfew
2 Energy Flux
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spell Snare
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Waterfront Bouncer

I am now preparing for the vintage side event at GP Madrid and Bazaar of Moxen 4. I have made some changes to the deck. -2 Sygg (because it wasn't any good). +1 Silvergill Adept (2 for 1), +2 Thada Adel, Adel, Acquisitor (2/2 islandwalking merfolk for 3 that can win games on her own). This up the creature count from 18 to 19, helps Adept. In the spell section I have cut 1 Hurkyl's Recall and 1 Null Rod for 1 Daze. The reason behind it is to improve the matchup against GW Beats, HexmageDepths, Dredge and Fish. I do have a problem with tinkertargets but I guess I just have to counter tinker or bounce everything except Inkwell. In the land section I've cut the fetches to make this deck better against Wasteland, Stifle and moon effects.

The sideboard have also done some major changes to deal with the change in the metagame.

Merfolks by Bone - GP Madrid Vintage Side Event 28.02.2010
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Thada Adel, Acquisitor

1 Brainstorm
4 Daze
1 Echoing Truth
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Null Rod
3 Standstill
3 Stifle

12 Islands
1 Mox Sapphire
3 Mutavault
1 Strip Mine
4 Wasteland

Sideboard:
1 ??? Tech
3 Energy Flux
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Submerge
1 Swords of Fire and Ice
1 Trickbind
2 Umezawa's Jitte

No I need your help... as there are some things I am still not sure about.

#1 - Is 3 Mutavault too much? Should I go -1 Muta +1 Island?

#2 - If I get my hand on Ancestral should I trade it with Brainstorm?

#3 - If I get my hand on Time Walk should I trade it with Standstill?

The deck (MD+SB) has a good matchup against Tezzeret, Stax, Fish and Dredge

#4 Oath (Iona naming blue is a *#¤) how do I deal with the Oath matchup? Any SB changes?

#6 And the same goes for Tendrils, I do have 3 Stifle + 1 single Trickbind in the side, any toughts?

#7 What about Æther Spellbomb, Kira Great Glass-Spinner, Spell Snare and Spell Pierce?

See you in Madrid

[griffin]

In my experience, the spellbombs are poor unless you are somehow making use of their artifactness. In that case they're just mediocre. You wouldn't be using them as artifacts, in fact they would be bad as artifacts because of null rod. The only thing the spellbomb would seem good for is Iona for blue. Although I don't have any suggestions there, I don't think Aether is worth it. If you want to bounce big creatures go with echoing truth.

Without any ways to shuffle your library (correct me if I missed one), ponder might be better than brainstorm. Ancestral certainly would be.

Time walk seems like it would be really good in your deck, so I'd say yes. Although there might be a better choice to take out, someone else probably has a better idea for it than I.

Edit: Time walk, not Time, lol

[honestabe]

You play ancestral AND brainstorm all day

I's splash black for diabolic edict if you're worried about Oath.  Opens up thoughtseize as an option too.

Stanstill is pretty bad vs Storm (at least in my expeirience), because it lets them just sculp the perfect hand, and then when they break it, the 3 cards you draw don't even matter.   But null rod, daze and stifle are all pretty good vs Storm.  It shouldn't be too bad of a matchup.   Also, Thada can stral thier lotus, and memory jar

[Cyberpunker]

Hey Bone,

Both Selkie and Thada are gamewinners vs Tezzeret. On the surface, I would say Thada would be more of a threat. But Selkie has the potential to give you and Ancestral Recall every turn due to the way your deck pumps Merfolk, which makes it an even bigger threat than Thada. Plus Selkie is more useful vs other non artifact combo decks. So I would say go with Selkie.

Maybe you should have Thada sideboard? 4 of would be great vs Tezz. But 2-3 of most likely due to space...

[Bone]

Hey Bone,

Both Selkie and Thada are gamewinners vs Tezzeret. On the surface, I would say Thada would be more of a threat. But Selkie has the potential to give you and Ancestral Recall every turn due to the way your deck pumps Merfolk, which makes it an even bigger threat than Thada. Plus Selkie is more useful vs other non artifact combo decks. So I would say go with Selkie.

Maybe you should have Thada sideboard? 4 of would be great vs Tezz. But 2-3 of most likely due to space...

What about:

MD-Changes: -1 Thada +1 Cold-Eyed Selkie (makes MD = 2 Cold-Eyed Selkie, 1 Thada)
SB-Changes: -1 SoFI -1 ??? Tech +2 Thada (makes SB = 2 Thada)

Other than that I am most like going -1 Mutavault, +1 Island

[Cyberpunker]

That looks good.  I wish I can tell you exactly how to build it but I have not playtested
Thada in Fish...You should know more about the deck than I do at this moment. So I would say go with whatever you feel is good.

[Bone]

That looks good.  I wish I can tell you exactly how to build it but I have not playtested
Thada in Fish...You should know more about the deck than I do at this moment. So I would say go with whatever you feel is good.

Thank you I guess I see you in Madrid?