[Brainstorming] Merfolk

[Barook]

Lorwyn gave us some new, cool merfolk to toy around with.

Especially these two are worth mentioning:

http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/LRW/EN/Card139682.jpg

In a merfolk deck, this should always be a 2/1 cantripper for :1::u: - quite good if you ask me, especially when combined with pumpers.

Now coming to the Merfolk "warchief":

http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/LRW/EN/Card139702.jpg

On the first glimpse, it just seems like a more expensive Lord of Atlantis. But keep in mind that this guy can also untap AEther Vial or even an Island when you play Merfolk.

Now the question is what kind of direction is the best one to go for a competitive direction?

Mono-U: Provides you with highest consistency. Also allows you to run Back to Basics. Due to running that many Islands, Vedalken Shackles could be quite useful.

White Splash: Gives you Galina's Knight, Pikula (Sb), StP and

http://resources.wizards.com/Magic/Cards/LRW/EN/Card140172.jpg

Black Splash: Gives you Vodalian Zombie (take that, Gofy!), Thoughtseize and E Plague, among other things.

Further Questions: Besides various merfolk, what else should the deck run? Brainstorm, Daze and FoW are pretty much a given. Jitte is another good call. Probably another cantrip (Ponder?) to increase the consistency? With that (and probably 8 blue fetches to support the splash/Brainstorm), a low-land mana base should be possible.
Should the deck run Aether Vial? Or is it not powerful enough with such a "low" creature count?

Any other ideas? Opinions?

[C.P.]

I love merfolks, but I don't see how the deck can be better than Meathooks if you splash colors. If you don't, then you have creatures that are not big enough by themselves, making the deck not much better than Blue Sky or its like.

However, B2B and other Mana denial(Waseland, Port) + cheap blue merforks via Vial might be pretty cute. In that case, the curve should be kept low and cards like Tidal Courier or Silvergill Adept probably does not have a place in it.

[thefreakaccident]

well, how many creatures would you be planning on running?

If you run more than 15, Aether vial isn't that bad... any less tho and I wouldn't.


I think it would be cool to vial a couple of those new Merrew guys in one turn and another creature (EOT, play 3 guys... who are all 4/4s... GG?).

[Benie Bederios]

Don't forget that with the new creature-type update there are even more merfolks.

Saprazzan Legate
Saprazzan Outrigger
Waterfront Bouncer
Empress Galina
Tidal Visionary
Vodalian Hypnotist
Ceta Disciple

Don't know if there are any good one among them, but none the less, they're Merfolk.

BB

[Sims]

A 2 mana 2/1 that draws cards doesn't have a place...? In which realm?

[Barook]

A 2 mana 2/1 that draws cards doesn't have a place...? In which realm?

Exactly - I don't get it either... :confused: Especially considering it costs only 2 in the eyes of Vial.

I don't think that Tidal Courier should even be debated - you can't run a deck just filled with Merfolk and it by itself is a horrible card.

@Benie: Yeah, I forgot about Waterfront Bouncer - it's probably the only one that could be worth it among the "new" merfolk cards.

[C.P.]

A 2 mana 2/1 that draws cards doesn't have a place...? In which realm?

Assuming you run less than 15 Folks, how many times can you actually cantrip?
Unless you plan to make this deck goblinlike(where you tend to play as much goblins as possible), you would not have much cards in hand after midgame, let alone the merfolks to reveal.

Right, you can pay 4U for 2/1 cantripper! Exiting! Not in my realm, though.

[Cait_Sith]

// Lands
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
4 [R] Tundra
8 [P2] Island (1)

// Creatures
4 [NE] Rootwater Thief
4 [TSB] Lord of Atlantis
4 [IN] Galina's Knight
4 [LOR] Silvergill Adept
3 [LOR] Sygg, River Guide

// Spells
3 [B] Swords to Plowshares
3 [5E] Portent
4 [DS] AEther Vial
4 [OD] Standstill
3 [NE] Daze
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [AL] Force of Will

Looking at this test list I am thinking I could go safely down to 15 lands, put the Swords to Plowshares in the side board, and sneak in some of the Reejerey, but aside from just being another pump body I don't see a need for him.

4 Vial = broken. Trust me.

[Goaswerfraiejen]

I've been messing around a little with the following list, after realising that Goblin-style merfolk won't work:

13 Island
3 Flooded Strand
2 Plains

4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Reef Shaman
4 Seahunter
2 Seasinger
3 Merrow Reejerey
1 Sygg, River Guide
1 Wanderwine Prophets

4 Back to Basics
4 Force of Will
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Tangle Wire
3 Umezawa's Jitte



I think that something of the sort has real potential: even Wanderwine Prophets looks pretty good when you get it out with Seahunter. Tangle Wire seems a little out of place at the moment (originally I was running around with Tradewind Riders and other tap-y merfolk), so it could definitely get replaced with something. On the other hand, it's savage if coupled with Back to Basics--but I don't think that that's really necessary. I suspect that a stronger control aspect is all the deck really needs (perhaps Mana Leak and Counterspell to replace Tangle Wire and Stifle, or something of the sort).

Hope this inspires.

[Sims]

Assuming you run less than 15 Folks, how many times can you actually cantrip?
Unless you plan to make this deck goblinlike(where you tend to play as much goblins as possible), you would not have much cards in hand after midgame, let alone the merfolks to reveal.

Right, you can pay 4U for 2/1 cantripper! Exiting! Not in my realm, though.


Running less than 15 seems poor. Running a full goblin suite also seems relatively poor. But running enough to justify vial this guy is a 2 mana cantrip that, as barook stated, is really good friends with aether vial. It will rarely cost you 4U.

[Barook]

Assuming you run less than 15 Folks, how many times can you actually cantrip?

Why would you run a merfolk deck with less than 15 Merfolk creatures? :confused: Even Meathooks doesn't run that few slivers. So that point is moot.

Here's a list I'm toying around with:

8 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
3 Chrome Mox

4 Manta Riders
4 Tidal Warrior
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Sword of Fire and Ice (could be Vedalken Shackles as well)

I'm still looking for space to fit in Back to Basics.

[electrolyze]

finally, a merfolk deck thread.

i've played a long time merfolks in casual that was designed to win in legacy as well. after many tests the deck seems too weak for legacy but too hard for casual.

with the new merfolk they could be better in legacy.

here's a quick list that came in mind:

4xlord of atlantis(its a good pump merfolk that can give you unblockable creatures against thresh, fish and many other decks)
4xmerrow reejerey(the second merfolkj that boosts your other merfolks and has a nice second ability too)
3xsygg, river guide(i really like this guy becuase it can make your merfolk very difficult too kill)
2xgalina's knight(this is a very good card against goblins and fit perfect in the color scheme:laugh: )
3xsilvergill adept(2/1 for 2 that let you draws a card is really good because with vial you dont hae a drawback)

4xaether vial(just a very good card in this deck:laugh: )
2xumezawa's jitte(makes you aggro matchup more better)

4xponder(good cantrip)
4xbrainstorm(the best draw spell in the game)
4xdaze(free counter, duh...)
4xforce of will(see above)
4xswords to plowshares(good against big creatures that are in the way like tarmoghoyf)

4xflooded strand
3xpolluted delta
4xtundra
2xisland
1xplains
4xwasteland

so, what do you people think of this list, i dont have a sideboard yet and i think the list must be worked out better but this list is a good begin i think.

edit: wow, in the time i made my list 3 other people posted their list:p

[KillemallCFH]

I too, have been messing with Merfolk. My first attempt was UW with Vial/Standstill, but I honestly wasn't that impressed. What I'm testing right now is Mono-U with Waste/Stifle and CB/Top MD. Here's what I'm using:
//Land
10 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
4 Wasteland
//Merfolk
4 Tidal Warrior
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Waterfront Bouncer
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
//Other Spells
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
3 Sensei's Divining Top
3 Counterbalance
//Sideboard
SB: 3 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Threads of Disloyalty
SB: 4 Back to Basics
SB: 2 ??

I just need to decide on those last 2 SB slots, but I'm very impressed so far. Waste/Stifle obviously hurts a lot of decks, and with 4 B2B from the side, decks packing a lot of nonbasics (i.e. most decks in the format) will have a hard time.

Comments/Suggestions are welcome.

[Barook]

4x lord of atlantis
4x merrow reejerey
3x sygg, river guide
2x galina's knight
3x silvergill adept

4x aether vial
2x umezawa's jitte
4x ponder
4x brainstorm
4x daze
4x force of will
4x swords to plowshares

4xflooded strand
3xpolluted delta
4xtundra
2xisland
1xplains
4xwasteland

I think that the list isn't bad, but why Wasteland? You run nothing to support it (not even Stifle) and it isn't that good anymore without any backup.

Edit: KillemallCFH's list looks quite impressive. And I love synergy between Bouncer and Adept to filter through your cards.
About the SB slots: Maybe EE? Kills EtW tokens and CotV.

[xsockmonkeyx]

If you splash black then you get some pretty good pieces in Vodalian Zombie (Protection from Goyf, mongoose), Thoughtsieze(discard Goyf, mongoose), Smother(kill Goyf), and a bunch of other stuff that doesnt come to mind. Just throwing that out there.

[electrolyze]

lol, when you make it u/b it becomes an anti-thresh deck with unblockable merfolks and enough anti thresh cards:p

and it has a good mu agianst combo as well.
in a thresh/ combo meta merfolks can be good i think.


what about a 3 colored list so you can have a better aggro mu as well?

i hope merfolks can become a really good deck in legacy.

[rufus]

Sandbar Merfolk seems like a very decent card for a merfolk deck since it's not bad early on, and can be cycled out later.

[Pinder]

Sandbar Merfolk seems like a very decent card for a merfolk deck since it's not bad early on, and can be cycled out later.

Well, it's better than Merfolk of the Pearl Trident, I guess. But that's not saying much. A rough list I tested on MWS a little while ago:


// Lands
20 [IN] Island (2)

// Creatures
4 [SH] Tidal Warrior
4 [10E] Merfolk Looter
4 [LOR] Deeptread Merrow
4 [4E] Lord of Atlantis
4 [LOR] Silvergill Adept
4 [LOR] Merrow Reejerey

// Spells
4 [US] Back to Basics
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [LOR] Ponder

It could definitely use improvement (I'm thinking Vial and Jitte should probably be in there somewhere, and it could stand to lose some Islands), but I do have an observation.

Back to Basics is really good. Back to Basics + Merrow Reejery = amazing. Of course, this is with a 24-Merfolk list, but still. Being able to tap your opponent out under B2B is just so delicious. With the addition of Wasteland (even Port?), this thing could have a pretty savage mana denial strategy.

Also, I briefly wondered if the CounterTop engine would fit in here, but never really tested it. Anyone have any thoughts/results on that? The list above, at least, is really clogged in the 2cc slot. Of course, that might not be that bad against Goyf...



Edit: KillemallCFH's list looks quite impressive. And I love synergy between Bouncer and Adept to filter through your cards.


Also note that under a Reejery this is pretty amazing, too. You can tap them down or keep untapping the mana you spent on Bouncer. All the while drawing cards.

[Aggro_zombies]

One thing I worry about with a mono-blue merfolk deck is that you're essentially running no removal that can't be Needled (a la equipment). As savage as Back to Basics plus tapping and Wastelanding is, I'd rather have a second color and access to Swords or something to kill problematic creatures. The best options to me would seem to be either white (more Merfolk, Swords, Meddling Mage), red (BURN, which is either reach or removal), or black (Smother/Terror, discard, Vodalian "Protection from Goyf" Zombie).

[Pinder]

One thing I worry about with a mono-blue merfolk deck is that you're essentially running no removal that can't be Needled (a la equipment).


Waterfront Bouncer is a Merfolk now, you know. I'm not really claiming that as true removal, but since your guys Islandwalk and you have ways of ensuring that your opponent controls an Island, you don't really need removal to be able to swing effectively because all of your guys will be unblockable. And you can play touch up with the Bouncer to get rid of big guys on their side of the table that pose a threat to you. Plus, under B2B plus Reejery + maybe some sort of other mana denial for consistency, once you bounce a creature they won't always be able to replay it.

Of course, Bouncer can be Needled too, so maybe it's a moot point. Perhaps what we need is a way to get rid of Needles that can't be Needled...

And actually, I'm thinking that if you run B2B, then Wasteland isn't really all that neccesary, and it would probaby be better to run Port so you can tap down their basics if they have any, and nonbasics if they play one or manage to untap one. Back to Basics is probably enough nonbasic hate.

One other thing, it doesn't have to neccesarily be Back to Basics or splash. Reejery untaps permanents too, so you could always run a light splash (white for Swords/Knight, black for Zombie/Smother), and use mostly basics to play your Merfolk, using Reejery to untap your nonbasics when you need them. And you can still use nonbasics to play merfolk, too, because Reejery will let you untap the nonbasic you used. Of course, that places a lot of emphasis on Reejery, so that might be an issue.

[Aggro_zombies]

Perhaps what we need is a way to get rid of Needles that can't be Needled...
Echoing Truth or Wipe Away would be good starts in that department, since they can also get rid of men and Wipe Away dodges Chalice and can't be countered.


And actually, I'm thinking that if you run B2B, then Wasteland isn't really all that neccesary, and it would probaby be better to run Port so you can tap down their basics if they have any, and nonbasics if they play one or manage to untap one. Back to Basics is probably enough nonbasic hate.
Yeah, but won't your Port not untap unless you use Reejery? It seems like, at that point, it would be more effective to just not run port and run something like Winter Orb or Early Frost instead.


One other thing, it doesn't have to neccesarily be Back to Basics or splash. Reejery untaps permanents too, so you could always run a light splash (white for Swords/Knight, black for Zombie/Smother), and use mostly basics to play your Merfolk, using Reejery to untap your nonbasics when you need them. And you can still use nonbasics to play merfolk, too, because Reejery will let you untap the nonbasic you used. Of course, that places a lot of emphasis on Reejery, so that might be an issue.
Yeah, it probably would be, since it would have a huge target painted on its back and you don't have any way to give your merfolk shroud...so you'd have to protect him with counters. You don't really have a way to find another one quickly aside from digging for it, too. I might only bring in Back to Basics out of the board in a splash-wielding deck, but keep in mind that running more than a handful of basic lands in the color you're splashing for isn't a good idea.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, Wipe Away also gets rid of Engineered Explosives, which would just rape you if it went off.

[Cait_Sith]

Early Frost just taps a massive pile of lands. I did find out that it is a near time walk early game.

I like the Winter Orb idea if you run Vial. I am looking over my list and I find that once I find a Vial the game pretty much turns into me tapping lands only for Sygg's ability. Winter Orb would be excellent SB material vs Control decks.

[DeathwingZERO]

I've been wanting to attempt a MUC deck with Back to Basics for a long time now, and this seems good enough to give it a shot.

I agree with the spell-based bounce for Needle and such, but think it should be a SB-only card, I don't think we'll need anything maindecked as of yet.

Anybody tried running maybe a couple Cunning Wish in the main for the game 1 "I need an answer now" possibility? It seems most of the SB will be dedicated to instants anyways, so curious if having maybe 2-3 of these would be worth the slots.

God, Merfolk in a tournament environment again. It's like the game constantly gives nods to it's ancestors everytime we see a new block developed. I love this game xD

[Cait_Sith]

Cunning Wish is a ridiculously expensive spell for what it does. Since these Merfolk decks are all Aggro-Control, it is EXTREMELY rare that you will have the amount of mana you need on the table for Cunning Wish to make an impact.

[DeathwingZERO]

My main thought with the question was factoring in the idea that after the first couple turns, Vial should be used more often than tapping lands, so it'd seem mid-game you'd have mana open in case it was necessary.

Though at the same time, I'm not too certain what the deck would be worried about to the point that it would want an answer right away. It seems that if an opponent dropped something like EE or Deed mid-game, they'd have the mana available to blow it by the time Cunning got an answer.

[Pinder]

Yeah, but won't your Port not untap unless you use Reejery? It seems like, at that point, it would be more effective to just not run port and run something like Winter Orb or Early Frost instead.


Oh. Right. Forget I said anything.



EDIT: Now that I think of it, Wipe Away also gets rid of Engineered Explosives, which would just rape you if it went off.

This is true. Seems sort of expensive for the maindeck, though.

Early Frost certainly is intriguing. I'd like a more repeatable way to tap basics, though. Also, has anyone considered Seasinger as a Merfolk-y substitute to Shackles? I'm not sure it would be better because it's easier to remove, and it has summoning sickness, but it does have the advantage of being able to beat down under Lord of Atlantis or Reejery. And Since you already have ways to makes sure your upponent has an Island, then it might be easier to steal bigger things, too. Of course, once you have it in play, anything you could steal with this thing, you could probably steal with Shackles. I only mention it because it's a merfolk.

Winter Orb is an interesting idea, but it seems sort of redundant with B2B, as they likely won't be able to untap anything anyway, and if they did, it would probably be a basic land that they would untap anyway. I suppose it could go in instead of B2B, though.
Of course, it doesn't pitch to Force.

Oh, and has anyone thought at all about Thorn of Amethyst? It seems that if we're going the mana denial route, this thing could be pretty good at keeping the important things from resolving.

[from Cairo]

This is the build I'm playing around with...

4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Tidal Warrior
3 Arctic Merfolk (questionable; only worthwhile with Vial@2)
2 Rootwater Diver
2 Silvergill Adept
2 Waterfront Bouncer

4 Aether Vial
4 Force of Will
4 Stifle
3 Daze
3 Winter Orb

13 Island
4 Rishadan Port
4 Wasteland

Kill off lands with Wasteland and Stifle, hinder development as much as possible with Daze and Port, (Tidal Warrior too right, turn opponents duals into u only sources during their upkeep? no Trop -> no Goyf). Get Vial into play and drop Winter Orb, tap their lands down when needed with Ports and Reej. Protect better Merfolk by vialing in kicked Arctics in response to any removal targeting the good ones.. ie Reej or use it replay the cantrip guy. Waterfront Bouncer to get Goyfs out of the way.

The main deck seems fairly tight, this design was more headed in a direction of blue Goblins, less focus on counters and draw, more focus on disruption long enough to kill them.

[Aggro_zombies]

Oh, and has anyone thought at all about Thorn of Amethyst? It seems that if we're going the mana denial route, this thing could be pretty good at keeping the important things from resolving.
It would still be symmetrical after a fashion if you're running counters. You'd have to push the deck pretty far to the Goblins end of the spectrum if you want to run that.

Seasinger seems horrible because it doesn't have haste, so it becomes active the same turn as Shackles would, assuming it lives that long. Plus, since you're not running the merfolk Harbinger or Tidal Courier (or whatever the merfolk Ringleader is), I don't see why it would be any better than Shackles. Tapping something with Reejerey is not an excuse.

EDIT: I just tested a bunch of games preboard against Pinder. I played Goblins splash white the whole time, he played mono-blue some of the time and W/U once. We came to a couple conclusions:

1) Mono-blue needs Jitte so badly it hurts.
2) Goblins rolls mono-blue no matter what you do.
3) Goblins rolls U/W with mana denial, otherwise I think it'll largely be a factor of how explosive the Goblin player's opening is.

And before you say "Goblins is irrelevant," I'm pretty sure it would be an awesome metagame foil right now...

[Barook]

I'm not really suprised that Merfolk does need Jitte.

But I wonder how can Goblins roll U/W that easily with mana denial - was that list running Vial to counter its weaker mana base? Providing lists would be helpful to analyse the problems.

[Wallace]

Well I figure if everyone else is going to post a list:

4 Lord of Atlantis
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Rootwater Thief
3 Silvergill Adept
2 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Shapesharer
1 Rootwater Diver

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill
4 Aether Vail
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Mask of Memory
2 Daze

4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
13 Islands


This seems really good, works a lot like skies but the creatures feed off of each other. Underwater Skies would be a cool deck name?

[Moczoc]

I think Rootwater Thief is outdated, his effect comes far too late (+ swallows mana) and his mana-cost-P/T-ratio isn't that great to keep him.


And for those who say blue doesn't have removal, do you know this old Gem?



Play Winter's Chill only during combat before the declare blockers step.
X can't be greater than the number of snow lands you control.
Destroy X target attacking creatures at end of combat. For each attacking creature, its controller may pay or to prevent this effect. If that player pays only for that creature, prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this turn.

[noobslayer]

Umezawa's Jitte seems like fine removal. I don't think the deck can really manage without a splash, so you'd obviously get some form of removal off whatever splash you get (as long as you aren't splashing green, in which case you get Tarmogoyf, and you don't need removal anymore).

[TheDrunkDwarf]

Nice...I knew I'd try merfolk as soon as lorwyn came out with a few nice cards.

Has anyone considered opposition? dropping one of these turn 4 with an orb in play is devastating. If you have trouble against goblins, propaganda might work. Having to pay 2 for each attacker slows goblins to a crawl.

[Happy Gilmore]

the zombie merfolk and Thoughtseize are enough of a reason to splash black imo. The tapping merfolk is quite interesting. Has anyone considered arctic merfolk with the new cantrip merfolk? Seems cool.

[Sims]

So, for the lists running Counterbalance, has anyone thought of rootwater commando as a 2/2 islandwalking (without a lord) body for 2U to smooth the curve for CB?

[Pinder]

And for those who say blue doesn't have removal, do you know this old Gem?

Um, that card sucks. If you want blue removal, try Pongify.

I agree about Rootwater Thief, though.

[Cait_Sith]

I'll admit that Thief can really underwhelm at times, but there just are not that many good Merfolk (And thief IS evasive).

[Finn]

Merfolk definitely have the potential to be huge. I have been toying as well.

4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Seasinger
4 Arctic Merfolk
4 Tidal Warrior
4 Force of Will
2 Stifle
2 Counterspell
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Aether Vial
4 Wasteland
4 Rishidan Port
14 Islands

[Peter_Rotten]

Sorry to necro the thread, but I'd like to point out a Merfolk list that T8ed a Japanese tourney (http://f18.aaa.livedoor.jp/~nameless/AMC/AMC_29th_E.html) on 10/28:

20 Snow-Covered Island

3 Tideshaper Mystic
4 Tidal Warrior
4 Manta Riders
1 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Sunken City
4 Unstable Mutation
4 Disrupting Shoal
4 Force of Will

Notice the Sunken City tech :wink:.

[Tacosnape]

That is the jankiest list I have ever seen.

And yet, looking at it, it has principles worth exploring. It dedicates all its mana to playing and pumping Merfolk, then defends/disrupts with Force and Shoal. One might call this deck Suicide Blue, in fact.

Tidal Warrior is also incredibly underrated, as he functions as a lesser Rishadan Port (Keeping off a color but not quantity) in addition to being an Islandwalk enabler.

Any idea what the board looked like?

[KillemallCFH]

Any idea what the board looked like?4 Threads
4 Null Rod
3 BEB
2 B2B
2 Chill
(According to the link in P_R's post)

I completely agree with the jankiness of that list. Merfolk of the Pearl Trident? WTF? "Sui Blue" is a new direction that is worth exploring, although I personally do not think it is the correct route to go with Merfolk.

[ClearSkies]

Alot of the japanese decks looks really... odd. Alot of one of's without any tutors. I guess maybe thats how they construct their decks?

I wonder how useful is that Disrupting Shoal for that player.

[Nihil Credo]

If you follow the link you'll see that it didn't exactly have an amazing competition to beat. The winning list make that Merfolk deck look like DicemanX's UG Thresh build.

Even passing on crap like Sunken City, no Daze, or "I built this in ten minutes" singleton Pearl Trident, the concept is IMO fundamentally flawed. If your plan is to play little man that grow with each other and back that up with some very light countermagic, then I can't see a reason to play Merfolks instead of Slivers. Maybe against Wastelands, but that's why Aether Vial exists.

[Kronicler]

yeah, I definately agree with Nihil. Slivers can run 8 +1/+1 guys too, along with Crystalline for shroud and winged for flying, which is essentially unblockability. I guess you get mana disruption with merfolk and a better manabase, but you loose good SB cards and a much stronger creature base. Not worth it IMO.

Kronicler

[Illissius]

It's not as janky as the two finalists.


1 Scaled Wurm

Best. Splash. Ever.

[Nihil Credo]

To be fair, Disrupting Shoal is an interesting option for Merfolk. The deck has an unusually varied curve for a "blue glue" deck, and it can run enough card advantage to recover from the pitch (Standstill, Silvergill Adept). I could see the card as a 2-of in Merfolk, supplementing FoW and Daze.

[ClearSkies]

It's not as janky as the two finalists.

(About Scaled Wurm)

Best. Splash. Ever.

Oh, you saw it too? I thought it was a mistake or something wrong with my eyes there.

Anyone have any information on why the wierd cards? (Like Japanese Mtg forum or something)

[paps]

Now all we need is a Silvergill Grunt and we're set.

Actually, the reason to run this deck over Slivers is the 4 MD B2B. That's a total hose for half of the format game 1, and it stills hurts game 2 and 3.

[satellites]

Oh, you saw it too? I thought it was a mistake or something wrong with my eyes there.

Anyone have any information on why the wierd cards? (Like Japanese Mtg forum or something)

Also, the alarming amount of Rainbow Efreet..?