[Deck] Triton's Minions

[Finn]

Critters
4 Silvergill Adept - thanks, kuja
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Reef Shaman (or Tidal Warrior)
2 Seasinger

Other blue stuff
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Land
4 Rishidan Port
4 Wasteland
6 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand

beginning SB
3 Pongify
3 Propaganda
3 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Rootwater Thief

What it does:
It is more disruptive on mana than Goblins. Add Stifle and Reef Shaman (turn a land into an off color basic on upkeep) to Port and Wasteland, and you have an awful lot of mana disruption. There are 8 creatures that pump everyone. Lord of Atlantis is a Muscle Sliver, only better. Wait until you see how insane Islandwalk is in this meta. And Reejerey is a Warchief, only way, way better. Tap or untap a permanent, are you serious?

Seasinger :)

OK, now include a partial assortment of counterspells, search, and draw. All in one color.

What it does not do:
Well, someone please tell me the downside. I can't see it yet. EDIT: Found it - It sucks against Goblins.

There is just no way I am the only person tooling with this deck. In fact, I will bet that there are people who frequent this website who are playing this and have simply chosen not to post it for secrecy reasons.

Opinions?

[Ophidian]

Thunderbluff v.7.2?

[troopatroop]

Thunderbluff v.7.2?

No, it's Dirt v3.1

[Soto]

Silvergill Adept

[Finn]

Boy, those are some really useful responses. Thanks for the thought-provoking insight.

I think I will laminate this so I can just reveal it to the next genius who thinks he is clever at my expense.

It really does amaze me how certain personalities come out of the woodwork when they smell fresh meat. Ya know, back when I caught hell for reporting on Dirt, a deck that did things like nearly autowin against certain decks such as Threshold, I figured that eventually the folks who "knew" I was making it up would eventually learn the truth. Some people did.

IBA, for example, went through the trouble of messing with BGW control and quickly came out with a deck of his own, some tournament reports, and statements like "Threshold- Autowin. No, seriously. I know I said Train Wreck was a near autowin, but..." and other similar comments. I assumed that anyone who payed attention would soon figure it out for themselves. But amazingly there are ostensibly repected members of this community who still think they are funny when they mock my observations that have been independently corroborated over and over.

Goog God, ppl. Have some self respect.

[etrigan]

How has Seasinger been working out for you? Do you ever wish you had another beater?

[kicks_422]

You're in the Source, dude. Expect stuff like that.

Anyway, I think the deck looks solid on paper. I like the Seasinger, especially in a Thresh-heavy meta. Have you tested this thoroughly? I'm interested in your MU's, though I think you're right - there's no glaring weakness that I can see as of right now.

EDIT: Oh, I think 3 Vials are enough in any deck that doesn't have 30+ creatures in it. Maybe -1 Vial, +1 Jitte?

[Xenocide]

What are the decks match ups like? Both pre- and post- board? What strategy works against the different DTB's and established decks?

I like the deck idea, however in order to avoid negative comments (like the ones above) you should abstain from using broad statements like "I don't see how this deck could be better," etc. and try to keep your opening post as objective as possible.

[Solpugid]

I'm not ready to build the deck (although it's a lot less expensive to build than mot decks) but it does seem to at least have potential. Having played merfolk in draft I can confirm the rediculousness of reejery. Using him to untap port or aether vial just seems...ewwww.

The only thing I see, and maybe this is just my narrow thinking right now, is that I'd love to see back to basics in here. You run so many nonbasics that disrupt without it though, so maybe not.

Reef shaman vs tidal warrior: they have very different uses (lackey blocker vs. better attacker) so maybe this is meta dependent.

Do you really need that many lands? I would think dropping two fetches for two more merfolk wouldn't be too bad. Coral trickster can complement the mana denial, but he's probably not good enough. Merfolk looter is always good, if a tad underwhelming. Rootwater diver can rescue jittes and vials from the grave, and reuse tormod's crypt from the board. Vodalian illusionist is decent creature removal...I guess. Eh, just throwing ideas out there.

[Finn]

Kicks, it is hard for me to test anymore. I have played only a few games - just enough to work out the rough edges. About Aether Vial, you want it in the opening draw, so it is hard to go to three.

[etrigan]

Merfolk Looter to get rid of extra Vials and help you draw into Jittes?

[Ophidian]

Hey-- you can't get mad at me cause you typed in the wrong card, I thought you were playing trixie. (you also used the "feels like I'm cheating line") I digress, and back to my original post which did have some merit in regards to your build.

1) I think 4 Stifle main is a must-have to compliment your mana disruption Philosophy.
2) Winter Orb needs to be in the main or the side-- you have awesome synergy with Aether Vial, Daze, Port, and Merrow Reejerey.
3) Also, your manabase seems a bit thin. 8 Fetches and 6 islands? You might want to juxtapose those numbers. (or forgoing Wasteland/Port and going with Back to Basics)

[TheMightyQuinn]

Have you tried Waterfront Bouncer at all? He seems like a worthy inclusion after having his creature type changed to Merfolk Spellshaper. Seasinger seems neat. How has it been treating you in testing? I like the overall concept.

[Iranon]

Actually, the deck I would compare this to is Countersliver. 8 Pump creatures, ways to make all our men evasive, similar counter suit and light hand refinement.

It lacks the awesomeness of Crystalline Sliver, but features a much stronger mana base that allows for a mana denial angle... I ran Back to Basics but this looks better.

Do we really need Jitte (hate equipment in a deck without acceleration or creatures that are always evasive/able to win critter fights)?

I liked 2 Achitect's Will in addition to the Tidal Warriors, but I suppose a total of 6 1-mana-creatures could work as well.

[Finn]

So sorry, folks. I am guilty of posting a deck I have not tested much. Frankly, I figured I could get away with it because the deck isn't particularly original. Lemme show you what I mean.

Also, your manabase seems a bit thin. 8 Fetches and 6 islands? You might want to juxtapose those numbers. (or forgoing Wasteland/Port and going with Back to Basics)

Actually I stole it by the numbers from Goblins. And I have tested out the 8/6 plan with other decks. It should not ever be a problem. The more fetches the better with Brainstorm. The one thing I would consider at the moment would be cutting some land and adding Ponder ala Threshold.

How has Seasinger been working out for you? Do you ever wish you had another beater?

This part has been really good. I say this because she IS a beater. There are 8 pump effects in this deck. Well, plus Jitte for now.

Actually, the deck I would compare this to is Countersliver. 8 Pump creatures, ways to make all our men evasive, similar counter suit and light hand refinement.

Yes. I thought that as well. As such, I wish I had done more testing of Slivers. It would come in handy right about now. As it is, mostly, I just faced it a lot.

Winter Orb needs to be in the main or the side-- you have awesome synergy with Aether Vial, Daze, Port, and Merrow Reejerey.

I don't know about Winter Orb. I mean, there is a lot of mana disruption already. That seems win-more to me. I am oping to keep the deck as aggressive as possible.

Reef shaman vs tidal warrior: they have very different uses (lackey blocker vs. better attacker) so maybe this is meta dependent.

I really am only considering what percentage of the field will not be hurt by having a land become and island (as opposed to some other basic land).

Have you tried Waterfront Bouncer at all? He seems like a worthy inclusion after having his creature type changed to Merfolk Spellshaper. Seasinger seems neat. How has it been treating you in testing? I like the overall concept.

I have not. How often do you really feel OK about discarding to unsummon in Legacy, though. The guy I want to see in play is Sygg, River Guide. The manabase could easily support White and Jittes could come out in favor of Swords to Plowshares.

I liked 2 Achitect's Will in addition to the Tidal Warriors, but I suppose a total of 6 1-mana-creatures could work as well.

Yes, this is true. Initially, I had four Seasingers, and this was necessary. But that was too narrow, IMO. Honestly, so many decks have blue that I expect the Tidal Warriors to be pretty expendible.

-2 Umezawa's Jitte, +2 Stifle seems like a good plan. I am concerned about limited anti-creature stuff, though.

[Metaknight]

in the limited testing i have with this deck i can say this, i really like it. Vial is absolutly amazing in here and i wouldn't drop them to three, nor would i up the jitte count, two is perfect with the amout of draw you have. Also in the debate between Reef Shamen and Tidal Warrior i would say Shamen all the way, the extra toughness gives it more resilience than the warrior, which helps a lot vs. fast aggro. Over all i realyy enjoy this deck and am planning on actually building it soon.

[Phantom]

There is just no way I am the only person tooling with this deck. Playing it feels like cheating. In fact, I will bet that there are people who frequent this website who are playing this and have simply chosen not to post it for secrecy reasons.

I have been screwing around with a similar build, although I will freely admit that I didn't think of Reef Shaman or Tidal Warrior (I kind of assumed that every deck that is going to try to block is already running islands). I was running Waterfront Bouncer to mixed results (he was nice when they would sneak something though before I could waste/port them). And Seasinger is just...wow (I was splashing white for plows and running Threads in the board for goyf control).

I've found stifle to be the second best blue card in the deck (behind FoW). I'm at four and it seems unfair. I was playing against Thresh, and he knew I was running this so he kept a three land hand but Stifle + Waste + Port is just a killing. I would cut Dazes for them (although I like Daze a lot here) just because stifles are also so good in the combo matchup (and against Deed which is a bitch).

I put Jitte in. I take Jitte out. I put them back in. I love them, especially when our masses are unblockable, but the deck seems to suffer from the same problem as CounterSliver 1.0: namely that sweepers really hurt us, and Jitte just makes them hurt all the more (this is why I played around with Factories in the Port spot, but it just wasn't worth it). Still, they may be too good to pass up.

I know the deck can splash since Goblins did. Should it? For what color? I tried white for swords which was ok. Black for thoughtcast maybe? And yard hate out of the board seems nice. I really don't know.

Anyway, it's good to see someone else screwing with the deck.

[Maveric78f]

I don't get the use of Jitte in this deck. I would rather play 2 more seasingers or 2 more land modifiers.

As you play no card advantage card, I don't think that Force of Will is such a good card in your deck. Maybe 2*stifle instead 2 of them and 2 land modifiers.

Winter orb is a very bad idea in a deck where you are playing 4*rishadan port. Running Thorn of amethyst in SB should be a better option as a solution against non creature decks FoW is also obvious in SB if you don't play it MD. And against creature decks, propaganda is your friend.

Eventually I would blindly run this list :

Critters
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Reef Shaman
4 Tidal Warrior
2 Seasinger

Other blue stuff
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Land
4 Rishidan Port
4 Wasteland
8 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand

SB
4 Force of Will
4 Propaganda
4 Thorns of Amethyst
3 Tormod's crypt (damn crucible, maybe a bounce would better ?)

[Moczoc]

My little brother just built a casual merfolk. He doesn't own any Jitte, FoW or Brainstorms, but still it beats like hell. Especially the Thresh-matchup is very good!


Creatures
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Seahunter
4 Manta Riders
4 Lord of Atlantis
1 Changeling Titan (secret tech with seahunter ;)

Spells
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Vedalken Shackles
2 Repeal
2 Disrupt
2 Repulse
4 Daze
2 Zephid's Embrace

Lands
1 Forest
19 Island

[Tacosnape]

That opening build needs Standstill. And Rootwater Thief.

Standstill is easily supportable in a blue deck with Vial, Port, and Wasteland, and fits the mold pretty well. Rootwater Thief is awesome both due to his evasion abilities and his deck-eating skills. He's also fantastic with Vial, since he's mana-intensive for his abilities and Vial lets you play other Merfolk meanwhile.

Seriously, can't we just call this deck "Merfolk" or "Fish?" Triton's Minions is a retarded name.