Merfolks

[sedio]

Hi..this is my first thred in the forum....
I'm not new at magic but not very expert..so you must sorry me for some things meybe I dont know haow to anage....

Well...I have some friends that play magic and we decided to play with proxys we want just play and not to buy the cards...so..the range of wat car I could use is infinite.....

I have a deck that I love to use....It seems balanced and it runs perfectly....BUT it have no to much hit....(maybe I´m not using it well..)

here it is:

3x Mutavault
4x Flooded Strand
4x Tundra
2x Plains
8x Island

4x Stonybrook Banneret
4x Sejiri erfolk
3x Merfolk Looter
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Merfolk Sovereign
4x Merrow Reejerey
2x Wake Trasher
3x Stonybrook Schoolmaster
2x Wanderwine Prophet


4x AEther Vial
4x Echoing Truth
2x Opposition


This deck is really fun to play...
What I need for you is suggestions on changing some cards, playing modes, everithing you want to say about it.

Thxs
Claudio

[Q 221]

There's actually a very competitive Merfolk deck that seems closely related to yours: it goes down to one color and uses more efficient Merfolk, with counterspells to back them up. I could offer suggestions to help you shift your deck in that direction, but it'd probably be simpler and more educational for you to look at the discussion thread and see a variety of opinions on the deck.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?8158-[DTB]-Merfolk

[sedio]

I have taken a peak on that thread.....(firsts pages and last obviously...not the 4420 responses) and I think that theck is to much control for mine...and that not run Opposition, which is the funniest part of the game.....
I can see that Curscatcher is very played, Silvergil adept and Coralhelm Commander too, I will test it seriously
but..what I must change???
I dont want to run much counterspells, I have an MUC that is my "counter-deck", so I want something more agressive but in blue, I know that run oposition is not too agressive, it's to have control of the board...but it really works in this theck....specially with Stonybrook Schoolmaster

Please take a moment to view it and if you can..tes it....but I think that it has a lot of sinergy between some cards

I will keep an eye on that threat...
Thx
Claudio

[Q 221]

Counterspells in MUC are somewhat different than those in Merfolk. MUC wants to lock down the board and get rid of anything it doesn't want to have to deal with. Merfolk is just trying to buy enough time to finish off an opponent with its creatures, so it tends to run cheaper and less absolute counterspells. This tactic tends to be very effective at getting wins, while still playing a lot more aggressively than your classic control deck.

As far as what to take out for some of the more classic Merfolk staples, I'd say the following should be cut:
1. Wanderwine Prophets. Yes, it lets you go infinite, but if you can pay six mana for a 4/4, have it survive the turn, and be able to hit an opponent, you probably have enough board presence to just win the game anyway.
2. Stonybrook Schoolmaster. Cute with Oppostion, but if you don't have Opposition the Schoolmaster becomes pretty inefficient.
3. Merfolk Looter. I really don't understand this one: why do you need to filter cards? Most of the deck pretty much just does the same thing, there's not much point in trading one card for another.
4. Stonybrook Banneret. Aside from the Prophets (which I recommend cutting and you only have two of anyway), every merfolk in your deck costs 3 or less. Thus, the cost reduction isn't really going to do anything useful in terms of getting a higher-cost creature faster. It might let you drop a lot of merfolk in one turn, but you don't have anything that nets you cards in hand, so even if you do drop a couple Merfolk in one turn, you're probably just going to run out of gas a turn or two later, which means all you're really getting out of the Banneret is a slight increase in board presence for a turn or two. Probably not worth running a sub-par 2-drop.

[sedio]

So...you mean that I must cut Wanderwine Prophet..that's the idea for me. I've tested it and I'm not to agree with it...it's like you said...when it comes to the board ..mean that in one way or another I have the board controled and really easy to win.....but..what to put in this place???

the same for Stonybook Banneret..I was seduced with the idea to drop fishes for one or two mana....in fact many times it works...I'm not sure to change it for other thing...maybe reduce the copies....

Looter is like you say....i have put it in MB because its cost and p/t...but not really for the ability....what is the change for it??

and about the schoolmaster....you are right...without Oposittion its another normal fish....what could I put in this place????

what about the lands??? I have seen that many runs Wastelands and some do Ports.... should I run 2 more fetchs???

[Q 221]

In regards to the Banneret, I'll point out that if you have three mana open and cast a fish for two mana, but don't have anything to do with the last mana, you might as well have just paid 3 for the fish. And with no draw power, it's likely that you'll find yourself in exactly that situation.

Drop Prophet, Banneret, Looter, and Schoolmaster, add Cursecatcher, Silvergill Adept, Coralhelm Commander, and Force of Will. Cursecatcher and Adept are very strong at their respective casting costs and provide nice utility, Coralhelm can singlehandedly swing games for the same total cost as the Prophets spread over a few turns and is a great late-game topdeck, and Force of Will helps lock out pretty much anything that could ruin your day.


And yes, Wastelands are very strong, they allow you to slice holes in an opponent's manabase and punish any shaky hands they keep, especially since Vial means you don't really need as many lands of your own. I'd run them, particularly if your playgroup can get any cards they want: should be lots of juicy nonbasics to blow up.

The problem I have is that we're really just shifting towards the classic Merfolk build. The next step I'll probably recommend is cutting the Sejiri Merfolk to reduce the multi-color dependence (just go back to mono-blue), and probably throw in some more counters, like Daze. I'll restate that I think the classic Merfolk build is a good starting point, and then perhaps customizing the deck from there to suit your taste. This is the last I'll say on the matter, because I don't really want to sound like a broken record.

I'll just state some other cards that you might want to look into:
Umezawa's Jitte- Does amazing things with a single unblocked creature, helps pick off opposing creatures, and goes great with the plan to drop creatures through Vial.
Sygg, River Guide- He's somewhat mana-intensive, but he can protect your guys from removal and push through attackers. If you're determined to run white, he's a pretty nice card.
Standstill- You've probably seen this in the Merfolk thread, but it's a seriously nice card, even if you don't want to run with counters. It'll often just be a two-mana draw three if you have a Vial to make it one-sided, and if an opponent tries to play around it you can often just trash him while he's trying to be all clever. Just note that against other Vial decks, or anything that can field nastier creatures than you, it'll be a liability.