[Deck] Merfolk

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Originally Posted by dschalter

Plague has a few other uses. Against Aluren (which got the 6th most players d2ing) it's an autowin unless they can kill it, as their deck doesn't do anything when Cavern Harpy can't gate. Survival can't Recruiter for Emrakul (obviously they can just fetch up something to kill the Plague, but if you have a good presence and/or a Vial the delay may be enough to take it. It also kills EtW tokens, though siding it in against the decks that run EtW presumably isn't going to happen.

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Also answers Thopter tokens, although Merfolk should be favorable in that matchup to begin with.

Plague is a good sideboard for Tribal deck which includes Goblin, Faeries and Elves on top of Alluren. This gave Merfolk access to mass kill and to compensate to their current weakness.

I guess the performance is good that's why Saito Become the champ. :)

Would a splash into Krosan Grip be worth it in addition to Engineered Plague and Perish? The mana base would only change slightly, say 2 Tropical Island main board?

After watching Saito play, would Pithing Needles be worthwhile in the board? He often was forced to play around a plethora of wastelands and staring down an active CB \ Top or Survival is pretty difficult to overcome.

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Originally Posted by Pastorofmuppets

I have some issues with Saito's list, namely running all 4 Seas. I'd run 3 and an extra Island, since drawing them early-game basically screams, "Hey guys with Wasteland, come on in," which can ruin a curve if there's no Vial directly succeeding it. Also 7 fetches with 6 lands to fetch seems odd.
Although, I'll give him props for diversification of Fetches. I don't know why more 2-color decks where one is only represented in duals (Goblins) don't do this. It may not be a format-warping play, but I don't want to be there that one time out of a million my opponent names the fetch that comprises a full four slots in my deck with Needle.
Also, I would say that this solidifies running Pierce MD, but how much aggro did he face?

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What I think Saito did, from watching the games and reading the list is take the following high level strategy:

1 - Play anti-control/combo Merfolk w/ Pierce and Standstill.
2 - Build a focused anti-aggro/GY board that also hits Aluren and particularly shores up Goblins and Zoo.

I also think it's worth noting that he didn't play Merfolk Sovereign. I've never played that Lord and I think it's just too slow and provides less value than the others (and less value than using the slots for, say, Pierce or Jitte or whatever helps in your meta more). Sadly, though, it's a good proof point that thinking of Merfolk as the budget deck that doesn't need duals is a bit limiting.

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Originally Posted by justindz

What I think Saito did, from watching the games and reading the list is take the following high level strategy:

1 - Play anti-control/combo Merfolk w/ Pierce and Standstill.
2 - Build a focused anti-aggro/GY board that also hits Aluren and particularly shores up Goblins and Zoo.

I also think it's worth noting that he didn't play Merfolk Sovereign. I've never played that Lord and I think it's just too slow and provides less value than the others (and less value than using the slots for, say, Pierce or Jitte or whatever helps in your meta more). Sadly, though, it's a good proof point that thinking of Merfolk as the budget deck that doesn't need duals is a bit limiting.

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Sovereign pushes your optimal counter count on Vial to 3, especially since he's best with Thrasher, and he's far from a threat on his own. As an addendum to my former statement, the average mana cost of his creatures is 2, meaning he can drop more of his deck faster with Vial. I think that may have been a factor in the early game.

Look at his list, you see how beautiful and streamlined it is. He built it so well to destroy the GP. It also shows that people should've been splashing... And not green or white... Saito's just next level.

I'm not really sure you can argue with a list that went 17-1-1, but anyway here's my 2 cent :wink:

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Originally Posted by Pastorofmuppets

I have some issues with Saito's list, namely running all 4 Seas. I'd run 3 and an extra Island, since drawing them early-game basically screams, "Hey guys with Wasteland, come on in," which can ruin a curve if there's no Vial directly succeeding it. Also 7 fetches with 6 lands to fetch seems odd.

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Even in the mirror or against other decks with Waste, I'm more than happy if they hit my Seas with their Waste, so long as my Mutavault are alive.
And just a couple of Islands are enough to activate them in the face of Wasteland. :smile:

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Originally Posted by Pastorofmuppets

how much aggro did he face?

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25% of the meta on day 2 was aggro, so I'd guess a decent amount!

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Originally Posted by Jiaozy

25% of the meta on day 2 was aggro, so I'd guess a decent amount!

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Most of that though was closer to the bottom tables. I don't remember seeing zoo near the top except for Alix Hatfield, who could have been piloting Ham and swiss on rye and still been in contention

actually the top tables, especially what he played against was different variations of the jace control decks, ( i was at the top tables day 2 and saw atleast 30% to 40% had jace. I felt like I saw Jace every match.) And I can say after watching him man handle jace, that Merfolk is like a 75-25 against those jace control decks

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Originally Posted by blueneverfails

actually the top tables, especially what he played against was different variations of the jace control decks, ( i was at the top tables day 2 and saw atleast 30% to 40% had jace. I felt like I saw Jace every match.) And I can say after watching him man handle jace, that Merfolk is like a 75-25 against those jace control decks

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That's to be expected from a deck that handles control requiring expensive permenants to resolve. Between wasteland, daze, force, and spell pierce main, it doesn't seem like the type of thing to even consider having a harder time against.

The problem has rarely been the control decks, but Zoo/goblins. His board full of perish effects i feel doesn't quite make zoo favorable, but goblins seems more managable thanks to the E Plague and jitte. His list was extremely well metagamed.

Can someone tell me where to find some of the lists of the GP and the videos? Thanks

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Originally Posted by lotriderm

Can someone tell me where to find some of the lists of the GP and the videos? Thanks

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http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazin...pcol10/welcome

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Originally Posted by Tammit67

His board full of perish effects i feel doesn't quite make zoo favorable, but goblins seems more managable thanks to the E Plague and jitte. His list was extremely well metagamed.

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Actually, 3 Perish, 3 Submerge and 2 Jittes are a huge help in the Zoo MU, IMO.
I've still never saw a Merfolk deck siding in 8 relevant cards against Zoo so it's something new enough.

Saito usually does what he did to win this GP: play aggro or combo (he rarely plays control), find the deck he think it's the best deck for his playstyle, then tune it to beat the bad MUs.

When I was playing black splash, I had an improved game against aggro, but it was never "good". The question I have now is if Saito's design is actually "good" against Zoo and Gobs or just not as bad. If it is in fact pretty good, what precisely are the deck's bad matchups?

I wonder if its worth looking into Brainstorm, if the black splash (with fetches) becomes popular.

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Originally Posted by Finn

When I was playing black splash, I had an improved game against aggro, but it was never "good". The question I have now is if Saito's design is actually "good" against Zoo and Gobs or just not as bad. If it is in fact pretty good, what precisely are the deck's bad matchups?

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Don't be fooled, Saito's results and the deck's results are two different things. Saito is a dead ringer, he won that tournament, not Merfolk. It seems to be a player choice, did you switch back to the mono U version in that case? If so, why?

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Originally Posted by Finn

When I was playing black splash, I had an improved game against aggro, but it was never "good". The question I have now is if Saito's design is actually "good" against Zoo and Gobs or just not as bad. If it is in fact pretty good, what precisely are the deck's bad matchups?

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Bad matchup would be mono u merfolk with more beaters and a decent sb against mirror like Llawan.

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Originally Posted by Hanni

I wonder if its worth looking into Brainstorm, if the black splash (with fetches) becomes popular.

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What would you take out from Saito's list though? Spell Pierce and Standstill seem to be the only things, but both of those seem to be better. Brainstorm just filters cards out. Merfolk really just want to draw more.

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Originally Posted by Tacosnape

So let me get this straight. You're an aggro deck of the least aggressive color in magic, and have absolutely no means in your maindeck to get rid of a creature?

This doesn't strike me as a fantastic plan for winning damage races.

EDIT: Oh, and, good decks run good cards, to quote the motto of Card Quality Advantage. There is absolutely no reason there shouldn't be 3-4 Jittes in Sideboard at least, if not maindeck.

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2010 Legacy First Place Winner in Columbus Ohio..

Creatures [20]
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept

Spells [19]
4 AEther Vial
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Spell Pierce
4 Standstill

Lands [21]
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Mutavault
1 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD
4 Engineered Plague
2 Nature's Ruin
1 Perish
3 Submerge
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Umezawa's Jitte

2nd place: Counter Top
3-4: Standstill and UG Vine
Others: Goblins, Zoo, and many Tarmogoyf containing decks...



Merfolk is a true competitive legacy deck.

Please keep in mind that it's Merfolk we're talking about. It's not exactly the most decision-intensive deck. I'm sure Saito played very well, but stop talking about him as if Cursecatcher is Ancestral Recall in his hands.

That said, his list is pure genius. When I saw it, it just seemed so obvious, so right, and I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. This is what you get when you have an expert deckbuilder and player come in from the outside.