[Deck] Merfolk

[Hightower]

Depends.. on the aggro deck. If it's Goblins, then it's not a good matchup, but you have BEB/Chill post board.

- If it's non-red you should win anyways (I know this is pretty generalizing), but what kind of aggro decks do you have problems with?

The main reason I like "Aggro Merfolk" (the version I play) is the fact that it's an aggro[and a little control] deck that doesn't scoop to Combo (like Goblins..) It has a decent Control macthup and a relative decent Aggro matchup.

[idraleo]

JUst a thought on a different path...

// Lands
4 [TE] Ancient Tomb
4 [EX] City of Traitors
10 [CS] Snow-Covered Island

// Creatures
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Leech Bonder
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Tidal Courier
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Stonybrook Banneret

// Spells
4 Force of Will
4 Chrome Mox
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Trinisphere

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Propaganda
SB: 4 Blue Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Back to Basics
SB: 4 Pithing Needle


This became a stompy deck wich abuse from the tribal sinergy, with Leech Bonder that became a good way to have simoultaneously a good body and a little spot removal other than Jitte, it also interacts well with Reejerey and became a permanent way to pump down opponent's Tarmogoyf...

[Curby]

Banneret and 3sphere don't really get along... everything will still cost 3.

If I wanted more removal, I'd probably look to Seasinger or Vedalken Shackles. Leech Bonder looks pretty bad. Jitte tears up weenies anyway, not to mention Chalice and 3sphere will slow down a weenie horde.

[Elficidium]

IF you play the Stompy lands, Banneret and Lord of Atlantis become annoying to cast. And you can't land a Chalice@2 (Wicked play vs Aggro Loam). This combined with the bannerets effect being unwanted and negated by the Trini would make me automatically dismiss this build.

On another subject: what would you guys run in terms of SB in a Combo-heavy meta? (I have 4 Ichorids, 3 Belcher, 2 TES, 1 Painter and 1 SI in my Meta)

[Maveric78f]

idraleo, as the other posters said, your proposed deck has a lot of dyssynergy:
- FoW and 3sphere
- banneret and 3Sphere
- banneret and stompy lands
- lord and stompy lands

[electrolyze]

i'm thinking to build this deck but i dont know what the best build is, the land disruption build, countertop build, vialstill build, or just an really aggroish build.

i'm testing a countertop build with back to basics now and it works really good to me:

4xcursecatcher
4xlord of atlantis
4xmerrow reejery
4xsilvergill adept
3xwake trasher

3xcounterbalance
3xback to bascis

3xtop
2xjitte

4xforce of will
4xdaze
4xbrainstorm

3xdelta
3xflooded strans
12xisland

side, depends on meta

this build has worked out really good for me now, its good against control decks like landstill. thanks to countertop aggroloam, combo, thresh, deadguy all become better i think. and against aggro decks i can race and use jitte.

i'm not totally sure about the jitte, wake trahser and the amount of back to basics. maybe i want to add some lands to the list so i have to cut something.

can somebody give me some advise to this list?

and i like to know what the best lists are for the other types of the deck(like land disruption, vialstill, etc..) my meta consists out of many combo decks, deadguy, thresh and random decks, whats the best list for that meta?(or is my list good for that meta?).

[jazzykat]

i'm thinking to build this deck but i dont know what the best build is, the land disruption build, countertop build, vialstill build, or just an really aggroish build.

i'm testing a countertop build with back to basics now and it works really good to me:

4xcursecatcher
4xlord of atlantis
4xmerrow reejery
4xsilvergill adept
3xwake trasher

3xcounterbalance
3xback to bascis

3xtop
2xjitte

4xforce of will
4xdaze
4xbrainstorm

3xdelta
3xflooded strans
12xisland

side, depends on meta

this build has worked out really good for me now, its good against control decks like landstill. thanks to countertop aggroloam, combo, thresh, deadguy all become better i think. and against aggro decks i can race and use jitte.

i'm not totally sure about the jitte, wake trahser and the amount of back to basics. maybe i want to add some lands to the list so i have to cut something.

can somebody give me some advise to this list?

and i like to know what the best lists are for the other types of the deck(like land disruption, vialstill, etc..) my meta consists out of many combo decks, deadguy, thresh and random decks, whats the best list for that meta?(or is my list good for that meta?).

I played against a similiar version to your deck as far as the creature base goes. However, it had ports, wasteland, and some more merfolk instead of lock pieces and BtB . It played scarily like goblins with the ports, and wastes but the wake thrasher ate my lunch continuously when playing angel stax against it.

I think if that fellow puts vials into his deck, then it will be like goblins with FOW and insanely pumped creatures thanks to the 8 lord effects.

[Hightower]

I played against a similiar version to your deck as far as the creature base goes. However, it had ports, wasteland, and some more merfolk instead of lock pieces and BtB . It played scarily like goblins with the ports, and wastes but the wake thrasher ate my lunch continuously when playing angel stax against it.

Hey jazzykat, it was me you met =)

[jazzykat]

Hey jazzykat, it was me, you met =)

Hmmm...I looked back in the thread and there it was in your post... ~"goblins with merfolk". While I have not faced the other versions of this deck, I can safely attest to effectiveness.

The question...how do you do vs. a counterbalance/top?

That has to cause you a fair amount of problems right?

Hmmm...all this tribal makes me want to revive nobody beats the wiz

[Hightower]

Hmm.. Countertop can be problematic if you don't have an active Vial. But usually it's not since you play 8x 3cc spells (4x Wake Thrasher 4 Merrow Reejerey) and 4x 4cc spells (Tidal Courier) makes it alot less scary.

But Deed or recurring Engineered Explosives can ruin your fun.. [hence Stifle main or SB is a must in my opinion]

[Curby]

@Hightower: you seem to be the sort of guy that would have tried out Selkie over Courier, but you seem to be keeping Courier. Does Selkie not work as well as we all had hoped? What sort of things is it stronger or weaker against? Drawing several cards a turn with an unblockable attacker seems really sexy.

[djeyjey]

Anyone thinking about Saprazzan Legate ?

With Reef Shaman and Tideshaper Mystic, this guy would be nice…

[syssc9]

@ djeveiv - Saprazzan Legate seems overcosted. Flying is mostly superfluous in a landwalk deck. I would rather he had native Islandwalk than flying. That way you don’t have to wait around for a Lord. Also, Tidal Warrior > Tideshaper Mystic. Warrior’s ability can be used at any time, not just on your turn. My $0.02.

[djeyjey]

@ djeveiv - Saprazzan Legate seems overcosted. Flying is mostly superfluous in a landwalk deck. I would rather he had native Islandwalk than flying. That way you don’t have to wait around for a Lord. Also, Tidal Warrior > Tideshaper Mystic. Warrior’s ability can be used at any time, not just on your turn. My $0.02.

My point is that with Tideshaper Mystic and Reef Shaman (which I think is better T1), you can drop Saprazzan Legates for free any time (well… any time you could play it)

[syssc9]

Oh, OK - thanks for the explanation. Color me dense. It does seem a wee bit contrived, however. Cool, but contrived. I wonder if this falls into the category of "danger of of cool stuff." I am usually a sucker for such stuff, but this seems a bit much even for me. But hey, what do I know? Go ahead and goldfish a 100 games and let us know how many times you get this to work by turn 5 or so.

If that silly Legate just had Islandwalk...

[Curby]

My point is that with Tideshaper Mystic and Reef Shaman (which I think is better T1), you can drop Saprazzan Legates for free any time (well… any time you could play it)

Oftentimes, the problem is not that a card is inherently bad (though this card is truly mediocre for our theme and goals), but rather there's not enough space in the deck to fit it. The combination of mediocre card and no inferior card to take out means that no, it probably doesn't have a place.

If you're going to evade, Islandwalk is much better. Use Cold-Eyed Selkie with those same enablers to do infinitely more (even though it costs three) or use the Banneret to walk in for the same damage while making other merfs cost less.

If you're going to fly, I'd look at Manta Riders and Mothdust Changeling first.

Remember that between Reejery, Banneret, and Aether Vial, we can do a lot of cheating, so casting free low-power creatures is not that enticing. We would rather cast something for greater cost, and have it do better in combat (Wake Thrasher) or enhance the deck outside of combat (Tidal Courier, Cold-Eyed Selkie).

In conclusion and in general, ask not what you'd put in, but rather what you'd take out for it. It helps you avoid the cool things trap. =)

[Sims]

So, I'm sure you guys knew this already, but I'd just like to say that Wake Thrasher is amazing. I haven't decided if I like the VialFolk (goblins) approach better than the tempo approach with b2b and counter/top... but I do know that if you untap with Wake Thrasher in play, Rejoice! For very bad things are about to happen....

[Xurcks]

Wake Thrasher is the nuts! I'm testing a Faerie Stompyesque version with Tritons , and first turn Wake Thrasher with Chrome Mox , Tomb\City and CoTV for 0 is amazing play against combo. Better with equip on second turn or FOW backup. It is at least promising.

[Finn]

Yeah, Wake Thrasher seems to be living up to its promise. My question is whether or not it will be good enough to take some of the heat off Selkies long enough to make them any good.

Wake Thrasher is the nuts! I'm testing a Faerie Stompyesque version with Tritons , and first turn Wake Thrasher with Chrome Mox , Tomb\City and CoTV for 0 is amazing play against combo. Better with equip on second turn or FOW backup. It is at least promising.

The problems I have regarding that approach are with the lack of untapping things. You get one less land if you use City of Traitors. And then there is the problems with one being sacrificed afterward. And the equipment does not untap either. Is it good enough to see play in Faerie Stompy and the like despite these things? I don't know. I guess that discussion can be found there.

[Piceli89]

meh, to exploit Trasher at its best the stompy-esque version seems to be a bit too unstable for my tastes, and the 2-mana land are effectively risky.
I was wonderig about a strange sinergy to get the beast from thisc ard: if we assemble a more controllish shell, putting Counterbalance + top, trasher could be really nuts. Furthermore, CB+ Top could offer us a solid way to endure all the removals ( Bolt, Stp, even Vendetta... ) which Trashy is weak against, and just tap our flooding islands to pump it next turn. ( i Know is a crappy sinergy, but it works and has given me games ). Furthermore, trashy and merfolks seem to get a lot of benefit from a great game- slowdown, which could be offered by Back To Basics MAINDECK. I know that pors and wastes are really useful, but i can assure than a right BtB in the right clock can put KO several decks ( stax, stompies also, rock and , most of all, landstill).
I found a list on deckcheck.com which i'm testing and gets me satisfaction:
http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=17687
It's created by Nihil, but i would cut some things. First of all, tidal warrior doesn't seem to be really that useful, so -4 of them and +4 vial; seasinger out for +3 trasherm and ponder and wipe away leave room to echoing truths and shapesharer. I came to this list:

lands (18)
4 polluted (maybe more fetches here )
14 islands

creatures (17)
3 wake trahser
4 loA
4 reejerey
4 Adept
2 Shapesharer

spells (25)
3 brainstorm ( I can't fit the 4th ! )
4 Fow
4 daze
2 BtB
3 Top
3 CBalance
2 Echoing truth
4 Vials

Side(15)
1 BtB
2 stifle
3 Mind Harness
4 Crypt
2 Needles
3 Chill

Maybe it could be an interesting variation towards more controllish route than the usual "aggro -control" or " blue goblinesque " ones.