[Deck] Merfolk

[LegacyDan]

Indeed, it was a great bluff on his part.

[dyzzy]

I should note also that against a smart player, casting standstill ought to be a loud signal that you have no disruption, because it's a bad play to play standstill with no pressure unless you're desperate.

I probably did misplay Standstill. If you listened to the commentators, they were right when they said I had no idea what I was playing against. I realized he was probably playing combo from the Lotus Petals, so I was afraid he'd just randomly go off at any time and figured I needed to slow him down, even if I had no pressure on the board.

[T-101]

You may have misplayed Standstill, but it's damn hard to lose vs combo when you draw 4 FoWs :)

[(nameless one)]

Apparently, we have a really good matchup against Reanimator.

How exactly does that work under a resolved Iona or Inkwell Levies?

I'm just paranoid like everyone else.

[Mayk0l]

Merfolk has a reasonable Reanimator MU. First, and foremost, it's decent at stopping Reanimator from.. well.. reanimating a creature. Especially the Stifle builds are good at this. Merfolk runs Daze, Force of Will, Spell Pierce, Wasteland, sometimes Stifle and of course Aether Vial to fight Reanimator.

1) Reanimator is a deck that runs few lands. Stifle/Wasteland are really strong against them. This empowers Daze and Spell Pierce.

2) The Counterspells stop reanimation. Of course, Reanimator runs almost the same countersetup as we do, and they have Thoughtseize, but counters are still really usefull (especially post-board when you bring in Spell Pierce)

3) Merfs (they remind me of Smurfs) have an excellent clock. Lord beatdown > Inkwell Leviathan if it doesn't enter play on the first turn (if it did, you should've mulliganed your hand, or Reanimator had the nuts draw). For example, if you play Catcher, Adept, Lord, Lord, and they use Reanimate to get back an Inkwell, you're in good shape.

4) Aether Vial. It almost nullifies Iona's ability. Sure, it slows you down, but it's not that bad. Vialing a Sower is pure awesomecakes if you play it. Otherwise, Vialing Lords still offers a good clock, especially if they have the Island for your Lord of Atlantis.

[atropos]

I don't mean to steer the conversation off topic or anything but I had a question for all you experts. I just started playing Merfolk recently from playing Canadian Thresh. Anyway, I'm trying to settle on a good mono-U list that I like and I was intrigued by Spellstutter Sprites. I like the synergy with Mutavaults and having counterspells on legs seems great. What do you all think?

[luckme10]

On what basis are you saying we have a good match up vs Reanimator?

I mean, granted the sample size is small in SCG 5k Richmond, but we didn't do so well.
" However, Merfolk is not without its foils as the fish posted a dismal 33.33% (6-13-2) against Zoo and 27.78% (2-6-1) against Reanimator."


Cecilla's Reanimator primer from Salvation also believes they have a favorable match up vs us, at the moment:
Merfolks: Favorable. You have free countermagic, cantrips to enable you to race them and then outrace them with your reanimate capabilities. Renaimating a Blazing Archon would seem nuts here since it's basically a super moat. Although, Sphinx of the steelwind seems awesome here as well since he's good against aggro peroid. Postboard, it only gets better for you thanks to duresses and thoughtseizes.

Haven't tested against the deck personally yet, but I'm curious. Entomb is up to $35 now. So I wouldn't be surprised if this deck starts popping up like weeds.

[Curby]

@atropos I don't think so. People have had some success with recurring Spellstutters in Faerie decks, but we lose all the synergies in this deck. Some use Kira because she protects everyone else. This huge ability does a lot to overcome her lack of Merfolkness. Spellstutter's "merely a Daze" effect is significantly smaller. As I ask of all questionable suggestions for inclusion: "What card is inferior to Spellstutter and would therefore be your suggestion for removal?"

[RogueMTG]

I don't mean to steer the conversation off topic or anything but I had a question for all you experts. I just started playing Merfolk recently from playing Canadian Thresh. Anyway, I'm trying to settle on a good mono-U list that I like and I was intrigued by Spellstutter Sprites. I like the synergy with Mutavaults and having counterspells on legs seems great. What do you all think?

This is not really a new idea, I've played with and against it a number of times.

I personally like the sprites in mono-blue, though I admit it may not be "optimal." The extra counters certainly helped when testing against reanimator though.

[Finn]

Luckme, I think a lot of the difficulty stems from the lack of sb options for merfolk versus the good sb options on the other side. I think a lot of merfolk players are completely ignoring gy hate. The most common opponent I have wanted hate for has been Ichorid, and I usually win that on the back of a counter on their first discard outlet , plus a quick offense and a lucky Cursecatcher for their Bridges. So I either have nothing or just a single Crypt and a Relic or two.

Maybe it is simlply a matter of hating out the new deck.

[AcidFiend]

Can I get some feedback on my SB plan? My meta has the following: NO Bant, Depths Nought, Dragon Stompy, WW / DnT, Intuition Demigod, Stax, Pox, Zoo, Ichorid, Painter, Lands, Merfolk

1 Spell Pierce
3 Relic
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Llawan
3 Submerge
3 Needle
2 Propaganda

Note my build includes 2 Kira, 2 ET & 3 Spell Pierce (over Snare) MD.

NO Bant: +3 Submerge, +2 Llawan, +1 Spell Pierce, -3 Standstill, -2 Echoing Truth, -1 Daze
Depths Nought: +1 Spell Pierce, -1 Sovereign
Dragon Stompy: +1 Spell Pierce, -1 Standstill
Death n Taxes: +3 Needle, -3 Daze
Intuition Demigod: +3 Relic, +3 Propaganda, +1 Spell Pierce, -2 Kira, -1 Sovereign, -3 Daze, -1 Standstill
Geddon Stax: +1 Spell Pierce, +3 Relic, -3 Standstill, -1 Sovereign
Pox: +3 Relic, -3 Daze
Zoo: +3 Relic, +3 Submerge, +2 Needle, -3 Standstill, -3 Daze, -2 ET
Ichorid: +3 Relic, +1 Crypt, +2 Propaganda, -3 Standstill, -3 Daze
Painter: +1 Spell Pierce, +3 Needle, -3 Sovereign, -1 Cursecatcher
Lands: +3 Relic, +3 Needle, -2 Echoing Truth, -3 Standstill, -1 Sovereign
Merfolk: +2 Llawan, +2 Propaganda, -3 Standstill, -1 Lord

[Tacosnape]

If Reanimator becomes too much of a threat and we need a tool against it that's still decent against most aggro decks, we could start playing Seal of Removal. For one blue, it basically forces Reanimator to get its 3rd or 4th best threat against you - Inkwell Leviathan, which can be outraced sometimes. It bounces every threat of notable size in the format except for Progenitus, and it can buy you a bit of time against quick problems like Goblin Lackey, Noble Hierarch, or Grim Lavamancer.

I'm not sure if it packs enough punch for the slot, given that there aren't but 5-6 flexible slots in the deck right now, but it's an idea.

[AcidFiend]

Why not Aether Spellbomb over Seal of Removal? Costs one to activate but you can play it after Iona hit play, unlike Seal.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

Why not Aether Spellbomb over Seal of Removal? Costs one to activate but you can play it after Iona hit play, unlike Seal.

This. Plus it cantrips.

On the other hand, it kinda sucks to limit the things that your bounce spell can target, and bounce spells aren't even part of the "set in stone" core of the deck.

Right now, I think one of Reanimator's main advantages is that the sideboard hate cards that are best against them aren't that good against much else. You can run Faerie Macabre or Ground Seal or Aether Spellbomb or what-have-you, but once you start making room in your sideboard for stuff that's that specific, you're kind of limiting your ability to be efficient in the wide range of other matchups that you have to be prepared for.

On still yet another hand, I think it bears mentioning that Reanimator is going to be yet one more powerful deck that the white splash of this deck is pretty damn good against.

EDIT: And on the fourth hand (yes, apparently I'm some sort of freaky mutant)... Chalice of the Void also seems good against them, since most of their main business spells all cost one mana. Is it perhaps time for us to reinvestigate Chalice for the sideboard?

[SlopeeJ]

are you guys really that worried about reanimator? With 4 cursecatcher, 4 Force of Will and 4 Daze I'm not really seeing it as that bad of a matchup. Esp if you bring in graveyard hate such as relic/crypt. Also not to mention the lists that run stifle/wasteland.

As mention this is another reason for the white splash, but I think chalice is to slow. I would rather run waterfront bouncer then the artifacts mentioned.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

are you guys really that worried about reanimator? With 4 cursecatcher, 4 Force of Will and 4 Daze I'm not really seeing it as that bad of a matchup. Esp if you bring in graveyard hate such as relic/crypt. Also not to mention the lists that run stifle/wasteland.

As mention this is another reason for the white splash, but I think chalice is to slow. I would rather run waterfront bouncer then the artifacts mentioned.

I don't think it's on our list of "nightmare matchups" (which I basically reserve for Goblins and Zoo), but Reanimator runs about as many counterspells as we do, plus some discard spells, and a resolved Iona goes a pretty far distance to trumping our whole deck.

That being said, I think everyone sort of has "The Fear" right now, and we probably have less to worry about than most mon0 color decks, concerning the prevalence of I-Own-Ya these days.

[luckme10]

I dunno, the white splash will probably be seeing a lot of Inkwell leviathan, is this really much better than mono blue?

Perhaps it's time to start sideboarding some meddling mages.

I know i'm just reverting back to my standard thinking but...
I swear, I might just side in Twincast for kicks. One could copy Reanimate and take their guy instead, or copy their entomb to fetch out something of their own when they exhume, or just counter one of their counterspells or copy a thoughtseize... sounds like fun.

[1mpulse]

If Reanimator becomes too much of a threat and we need a tool against it that's still decent against most aggro decks, we could start playing Seal of Removal. For one blue, it basically forces Reanimator to get its 3rd or 4th best threat against you - Inkwell Leviathan, which can be outraced sometimes. It bounces every threat of notable size in the format except for Progenitus, and it can buy you a bit of time against quick problems like Goblin Lackey, Noble Hierarch, or Grim Lavamancer.

I'm not sure if it packs enough punch for the slot, given that there aren't but 5-6 flexible slots in the deck right now, but it's an idea.

You're not going to be bouncing anything but Iona or Sphinx of the Steel Wind.

[Phoenix Ignition]

You're not going to be bouncing anything but Iona or Sphinx of the Steel Wind.

I have no idea why anyone would go for any creature other than blazing archon against us, unless they were sure we had a bounce spell. Iona we can get around with vial or mutavault or just racing depending on the time, but there's nothing you can do to Blazing Archon other than bounce him.

This. Plus it cantrips.

On the other hand, it kinda sucks to limit the things that your bounce spell can target, and bounce spells aren't even part of the "set in stone" core of the deck.

Right now, I think one of Reanimator's main advantages is that the sideboard hate cards that are best against them aren't that good against much else. You can run Faerie Macabre or Ground Seal or Aether Spellbomb or what-have-you, but once you start making room in your sideboard for stuff that's that specific, you're kind of limiting your ability to be efficient in the wide range of other matchups that you have to be prepared for.

On still yet another hand, I think it bears mentioning that Reanimator is going to be yet one more powerful deck that the white splash of this deck is pretty damn good against.

EDIT: And on the fourth hand (yes, apparently I'm some sort of freaky mutant)... Chalice of the Void also seems good against them, since most of their main business spells all cost one mana. Is it perhaps time for us to reinvestigate Chalice for the sideboard?

and

If Reanimator becomes too much of a threat and we need a tool against it that's still decent against most aggro decks, we could start playing Seal of Removal. For one blue, it basically forces Reanimator to get its 3rd or 4th best threat against you - Inkwell Leviathan, which can be outraced sometimes. It bounces every threat of notable size in the format except for Progenitus, and it can buy you a bit of time against quick problems like Goblin Lackey, Noble Hierarch, or Grim Lavamancer.

I'm not sure if it packs enough punch for the slot, given that there aren't but 5-6 flexible slots in the deck right now, but it's an idea.

Relic of Progenitus is not a bad maindeck card, and if people are freaking out about reanimator (which they obviously are) then just play it. Why use some trash like Aether Spellbomb or Seal of Removal? At least Relic is good against a very wide variety of decks including anything with goyf, aggro loam, lands, ichorid, the rock (stopping their recur engine in witness/volrath is key, and you can stop persist on finks), Tempo thresh (lol at 1/1 and 0/1 clocks), zoo (grim lavamancer), stax (crucible of worlds is how they win), and it even is relevant againt ANT shutting off IGG. Against tribal it at least cantrips.

and @ Chalice of the Void... they have so many cards to tutor or set up their hand before you waste all of your mana turn 2 on this (if it is even relevant anymore) that it will be next to useless. You're better off with Cursecatcher, as 4 Exumes, Show and Tell, and them simply getting a guy out before turn 2 are extremely easy ways around chalice. They play 4 Mystical Tutors in most decks anyway, so their sideboard bounce spells/Krosan Grips are going to stop it if it even did do anything.

[dyzzy]

In my experience, Merfolk is a tricky matchup for Reanimator because they can't just autopilot Iona for the win. They have to pick the right target at the right time. So if they just rely on Iona, usually you can outrace them, otherwise it becomes somewhat more difficult to win.

My friend and I did discover that Terrastodon is absolutely devastating, though.