Beating the Blue Menace

[Malakai]

This thread is intended for discussion on how to beat Merfolk (any version) with blue-based decks, regardless of how many colors they play. What plans people have tried, what works, what doesn't, and what super secret tech has panned out.

Merfolk poses a problem in that it attacks blue decks from so many vectors. Lord of Atlantis becomes lethal. AEther Vial allows them to dodge your countermagic, as does Mutavault. They have card advantage in Standstill and Silvergill Adept. All of that combined with the devastating disruption package of Stifle, Wasteland, Daze, Force of Will, and--perhaps most annoying of all--Cursecatcher.

So what have people found to work? Please include the deck archtype it goes with.

[mchainmail]

I don't think Canadian Threshold has a terrible matchup in general with Merfolk (probably 50-50 like everything else)

The way I see it, the keys to winning are:
o Don't let them attack with LoA in play.
o Don't let them get more than two lords in play.
o Play Firespout (period, it's really good in this matchup)
o Land a 10/10 Hydra.

[Fons]

In my testing swan thresh has been doing very well against Merfolk with the 3Chain of Plasmas 4 Bolts and 3 Firespout.

[FoolofaTook]

Use spot removal and goyfs to survive long enough to land Llawan, Cephalid Empress. Alternately splash red if you're not doing it already with maindeck Lightning Bolts and have Firespout and REB's in the board.

[emidln]

Play Xantid Swarm.

[Mark Sun]

As you pointed out, the strength of Merfolk vs. <insert blue-based deck> is Lord of Atlantis, so the key to slowing them down is to focus on shutting down those specific 4 cards. I make this my number one priority when playing. I am speaking from a UWb Landstill perspective, so there is access to cards like Humility, Swords, Path to Exile (as well as EP in the board). Starting with 5-Swords effects and increasing to 7-Swords.dec post-board improves your matchup with them greatly. Also, in the Landstill thread, Preacher has been discussed as a way to deal with Merfolk, and they often do not have a large array of answers to the card post-board (sans Pithing Needle).

I believe decks with the red splash tend to do well against Merfolk, as they have access to REB/Pyroblast & Firespout to be used a turn earlier than WoG effects or Humility & Moat. Regardless, it's a rough matchup, I'm usually not too happy to see it in a tournament.

[Shimi]

Playing with SupremeBlue (many times against a Merfolk Team mate) I found that StP LoA them Firespout the board to land a RWM is usually the way.
Some times you can FoW their Vial an land CB but it is rare, force them to use Daze/FoW in your Goyfs and go for mass Sweep , it is very balance even I do not use REB or Pyro.

With Evangreen and other black decks you can also land a Plague and remove their LoA , StP with white splashs can also care the LoA or Big Wake , Wastland ends mutavaults.

CT is very equals , Fire/Ice and Bolt some many problems and Goyf e Goose are bigger than some merfolks.

Playing with every deck the most concerning card in Merfolks are STANDSTILL since +3 cards allow some insane alpha attacks tapping blockers and pumping Wake or playing other standstill.

PS- My personal opinion is that Monoblue Merfolks are better than Tamofolks.

[MattH]

o Don't let them attack with LoA in play.

Incorrect. Let them attack, then remove Lord of Atlantis from play and make sweet, sweet blocking love to their team.

[Piceli89]

The best weapon to fight Merfolks is red, which offers Pyroblasts in the sideboard. Each Pyroblast is basically a hard-counter, or a cc1 instant Vindicate, which is great to break the combat math and to block the other non-Lord dudes with your fatter dudes.
Firespout is more manageable for them because they have several Daze effects to stop it from resolving, and it requires basically to have survived their Wasteland to have 1-2 more "safety" mana. Plus, it's a Sorcery that taps you out completely in the early-mid, and that's when Merfolk can push it with Vials and Lords and ramp up a great damage the turn after. If you play carefully in a tempo approach against them, instead, you have great chances to win. Merfolks is very easy to disrupt if you hit in the right points-this said by an expert ex-Merfolk player.

[FoolofaTook]

double post.

[dahcmai]

I love playing Combo and Blue based decks so I studied this for a while so I could build decks that could go around them a little easier. Merfolk is an excellent deck overall so it's rough to find something to just shuts them out.


Here's what I found.

1. Burn: Cheap efficient burn is amazing. They seem to have a problem when they can't keep Lords out. Firespout, typical things like Bolt, and even Sudden Shock gives them fits. Volcanic Fallout is one of the best since it's an instant and has the nice phrase of not being able to counter it. Watch the Vial counters. I find a lot of people forget about that vial and try to kill some fish and accidentally walk into that vialed in creature. That's always something to watch.

2. Efficient creatures: They have a really hard time with Meathooks, Goblins, and Zoo for a reason. Goblins not as much as the other two, but it depends on the draws since they are about the same size in the early part. Meathooks and Zoo tend to just start dumping 3/3's quite quickly and outclass their guys. Goyf does well against them for a reason. He's super efficient and has a large butt to survive most blocks. Wild Nacatyl is probably the next "least want to see" guy.

3. Kill the Vial: It provides a large boost in mana production and allows them to play their fairly expensive guys for free. That's a huge boost to a deck that runs a lot of 2cc and 3cc dudes. Being they will use that instant speed to good use is another reason to just keep it off the table. It's also the only way they have to play under their own standstill. If that advantage is nullified, it's much easier.

4. They have no Counterbalance: Cheap casting cost cards such as Pyroblast become quite powerful against them. You can cast yours while they have to have more mana to keep up. If your removal is cheaper than their guys it helps immensly.

5. Build up your own decks weaknesses to this strategy: Seems obvious, but I notice a lot of people don't do this. If you seem to have a hard time playing against a certain deck, then do something about it. You don't have to be hard coded into playing a certain sideboard that came with that decklist. I watch kids do this all the time. They will copy a list of a deck, build it up, and then wonder why they lose. If you don't bother to adjust your board to cover what you are playing against locally, you should be losing. People on these forums and others build boards to match their own meta or an unknown one. If you know your meta, why not abuse the heck out of the fact that you have a good idea of what people bring.

Like Emildn said playing Xantid Swarm is quite nice when you are playing storm based combo, but yet you won't find too many lists in the forums running it for some reason. Those guys probably don't see Merfolk as much if they aren't playing it. They probably see more Zoo, Thresh, and Countertop more than likely. Swarm is stupid good against Merfolk.



All in all it really depends on the deck you are playing on how to beat them. There's no real overall foolproof strategy.

So the overall things they hate are Burn, cheap large creatures, Choke, Not being able to use Vial, having a board advantage enough to null Standstill, mass creature hate (ghostly prison, Tabernacle, Firespout), and of course dedicated hate that works well with your deck.

[wolfstorm]

Splashing red in your deck for firespout and red elemental blasts in the board probably would help tons, and well firespout can be used against zoo and well any other tribal deck same thing with blast making you stronger in the mirror / against other blue decks.

[Kuma]

Engineered Explosives is pretty boss, as it is almost always a two for one at worst.

[Anusien]

Actually prepare for the matchup. I see a lot of decks planning against Zoo and hoping they'll get there. Rhox War Monk is not so sexy in the matchup.

[Phoenix Ignition]

Lightning Bolt is one of the best removal in the format again. It kills early Zoo creatures, letting you set up control before they get the chance to swarm the crap out of you, 1 hit kills any merfolk on the board, and stops Goblin Lackeys. It also stops goyf staring matches for any other matchup you may have troubles with.

You need other control as well, 4 spot removal is obviously not enough to deal with a hoard of creatures, but team it up with Firespout, Jitte, big efficient creatures, or even more burn and you've got a good defense strategy.

[Tacosnape]

Summarizing this thread,

1. Play Mountains.

2. Play Merfolk with mirror tech.

[Aggro_zombies]

2. Play Merfolk with mirror tech.
Mirrorweave!