[Deck] Merfolk

[supachai]

Being able to counter a first turn Nacatl/Lackey/Vial and then dropping Standstill seems pretty powerful. Daze doesn't let you do that.

[Clark Kant]

Yeah it seems really powerful and needed with Standstill. We have to stop their turn one play/vial/lackey/Nacatl. FoW takes two cards to do that, this is far better for that purpose.

[death]

This can fit in the Daze slot, having a turn 0 answer aside from Force is just too good. Something that Daze isn't capable of doing on the draw. Aside from the fact that this card can protect your creatures from removal/discard makes it more valuable than Daze imo.

Edit: Spell Pierce is garbage here, you usually tap out and go all in with creatures and win quickly. The only time I have a mana to spare is on turn 1 when I don't have vial. In which case I have the luxury of Stifling fetchlands before dropping a beater then Waste another land again.

[Justin]

I don't think this is necessary in fish, daze, spell pierce, cursecatcher, and FOW seem to be enough to stop most problem cards...if anything it goes in the spell pierce slot as they are both conditional counters. Could be a great call for a zoo/goblins heavy meta but beyond that it seems unnecessary.

But none of the spells you mentioned, except FOW can counter anything turn one on the draw. Mental Mistep does it with costing you an extra card. This is so important. I suspect that Mental Mistep may become a Legacy staple.

[Tammit67]

This can fit in the Daze slot, having a turn 0 answer aside from Force is just too good. Something that Daze isn't capable of doing on the draw. Aside from the fact that this card can protect your creatures from removal/discard makes it more valuable than Daze imo.

Edit: Spell Pierce is garbage here, you usually tap out and go all in with creatures and win quickly. The only time I have a mana to spare is on turn 1 when I don't have vial. In which case I have the luxury of Stifling fetchlands before dropping a beater then Waste another land again.

What do you care about turn 1? If you are so worried about Nacatl that you are main decking MM, then you probably should be playing combo. Even if you wanted MM main, daze is NOT the card you take out for it. Decks that don't have to play around daze >> decks that have to play around daze. We are really a tempo deck with tribal synergies.

But none of the spells you mentioned, except FOW can counter anything turn one on the draw. Mental Mistep does it with costing you an extra card. This is so important. I suspect that Mental Mistep may become a Legacy staple.

What do you really want to MM that comes down so early?

[Justin]

Vial, Top, opponent's MMs, Lavamancer, Lackey, Mana dudes, Lynx/Nacatyl, Thoughtseize, etc.

[Sims]

Vial, Top, opponent's MMs, Lavamancer, Lackey, Mana dudes, Lynx/Nacatyl, Thoughtseize, etc.

How many gamebreaking cards come down that early that you have to have a counter or else you can't win?

I believe your list would be much shorter. To be fair, as I said in the SCD thread, the card is very good, but it's not going to fit in as a direct x for y swap. The deck is probably going to need to undergo an overhaul to find the appropriate number, in the main or the board, and for what slots.

Of the list you mentioned there, depending on what i have in hand and what the match is, there's maybe 3 cards on that list that I would actually pay the alt cast for Misstep on.

[Justin]

It depends on what deck you are playing. For Merfolk (and this is a Merfolk thread afterall), I would counter all of them. This is especially true if you are playing Standstill and want to keep your opponent from landing creatures against you. In most cases, if you have a chance to counter your opponent's first turn play for zero mana, you will do it.

[Shough]

Its a great card, I'm sure it will find its way into Merfolk at some point at least in the SB. Its not going to replace Daze or FoW... Kira?

[death]

What do you care about turn 1? If you are so worried about Nacatl that you are main decking MM, then you probably should be playing combo. Even if you wanted MM main, daze is NOT the card you take out for it. Decks that don't have to play around daze >> decks that have to play around daze. We are really a tempo deck with tribal synergies.

The LAST 1cc card I worry about in this format is Nactl. I simply don't give a fuck about that card, thanks for reminding me that card exists. The deck has 8 Lords, enough to make tons of 4/4s. I only mentioned Daze because it's the card in my flex slot. Yes Merfolk can play tempo hence my MD 4x Stifles + 4x Wastelands. Making decks play around Daze is not strictly better than making them play around Misstep.

What do you really want to MM that comes down so early?

ALOT except wild Nactl, also MM doesn't need to come down early. It's a 'free' spell that can sit in your hand as an insurance policy.

[SMR0079]

Last I checked Merfolk loves free counters and one of the defining features to Legacy is powerful low curve (see Counterbalance). Being able to stop your opponents turn one play without pitching to force or a land drop is very powerful in a tempo strategy. It's yet another card that stops your opponent while you pull ahead. Not to mention it protects your lords from spot removal, adds yet another nail in the coffin against combo, and ensures you can drop Standstill on turn two.

Make no mistake, this card is going to become a staple in Merfolk and all tempo based decks. If you can't see that there's no helping you.

[Tammit67]

Make no mistake, this card is going to become a staple in Merfolk and all tempo based decks. If you can't see that there's no helping you.

Sure, it could see play, but not over Daze.

[(nameless one)]

So, with the Standstill lists, how would the deck look like with Mental Misstep?

I am currently contemplating on this list:

[cards]
12 Island
4 Wasteland
3 Mutavault

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merrow Reejerey

4 AEther Vial
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Spell Pierce
3 Mental Misstep[/card]

I originally run +1 Island, +2 (Jitte, Kira, Echoing Truth, depending on the meta I'm going).

I'd always have problems with first turn plays. Now, not only FoWs and Daze cover that, I think Mental Misstep is definitely going to help that cause.

[Humphrey]

Id run straight forward

12 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merrow Reejerey

4 AEther Vial
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Mental Misstep

[SlopeeJ]

What do you really want to MM that comes down so early?

Anything my opp plays.... The list of turn plays is endless, not even turn 1 just 1cc spells. I want to be able to use my mana on my turn and counter their shit for 2 life. Mana for life is awesome early in the game, esp since we don't run fetches

I already decided that I will probably be cutting 1 adept, 1 daze, 1 sovereign and 1 kira for 4 missteps. As others have mentioned, countering stuff for free is what merfolk wants to do and this card is another card that makes standstill better. Adept is the worst creature in the deck and daze is terrible on the draw. I like drawing a card from adept, but I think misstep will make our recalls better. Maybe something like keep the adept for 3 missteps. Even the list Humphrey posted looks super consistent. Anything could happen but I think the card is going to be good

so 20 lands 3/4 mutavaults

19 fish
2 kira
19 spells 3 daze/4 mental misstep

Alex Bertoncini said on fb that he won't be running any spell pierce until he run 4 of these. So it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I still think spell pierce has it's place in the sb for control/combo but you never know. One thing I do think is I don't see zoo/goblins or random decks playing this card. It just doesn't fit their strategy

[bakofried]

Are you shitting me? Adept kicks ass, and he's only "the worse creature in the deck" if you evaluate him/her/it? in terms of opening power/toughness.

[SlopeeJ]

No why would I be shitting you? Yea adept is the worst creature in the deck, if we would get a better 2 drop then adept would be cut even if it didn't draw a card. Drawing a card off adept is good, just like I said but having a free counterspell making standstill better seems good.


What is the point of your troll post? How else do you evaluate a card, you're saying adept is good because you get 5 lords out making him bigger?I already said drawing a card is good, but playing something better in it's place would be just..... well better. Btw I've cast adept for 5 mana more times then I'd like to remember

Maybe something like keep the adept for 3 missteps

Anything could happen

[lordofthepit]

What is the point of your troll post? How else do you evaluate a card, you're saying adept is good because you get 5 lords out making him bigger?I already said drawing a card is good, but playing something better in it's place would be just..... well better. Btw I've cast adept for 5 mana more times then I'd like to remember

Another thing to point out is that Merfolk is a somewhat linear deck with its tribal synergies (although not nearly as much as something like Goblins or Affinity). Although most of the synergy comes from the boost that the lords provide, it is also comes from having a critical mass of Merfolk to be able to reliably cast Silvergill Adept for 1U.

When you cut Merfolk for spells (like Mental Misstep), cards like lords and Adept become weaker. Unfortunately, cutting out the lords is a no-no; in fact, maintaining them becomes more important than ever to ensure that there are enough to represent a solid clock when you need to go into beatdown mode. That means if you were to cut Merfolk from the deck, something like Cursecatcher or Adept would be the appropriate card to chop. It can be debated which card is better, and it varies depending on your metagame, but with fewer Merfolk, the balance will tip towards Cursecatcher (and vice versa).

[Jigga_Tech]

Id run straight forward

12 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Merrow Reejerey

4 AEther Vial
4 Standstill
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Mental Misstep

This is exactly what I was thinking of trying. Its a very solid and straight forward list. I really think Merfolk is one of the best decks to abuse Mental Misstep. From my experience playing the deck I always hated getting my Lord of Atlantis sworded or wasting mana to pump Coralhelm Commander only to get it sworded or bolted in response to the last level activation. Mental Misstep is just what this deck needs to protect its creatures and keep pressure on your opponent. Not to mention stop opposing Vials, Lackys, Nacatls, and Grim Lavamancers and many more. And all of this can be done without mana so you are free to play more creatures, level Coralhelm, and activate mutavaults. 12 free counters seems good to me!

[Tacosnape]

Mine's pretty much the above list, -4 Standstill, +1 Island, +2 Merfolk Sovereign, +1 Sower of Temptation.

Mental Misstep is making me rebuild this deck. I've always felt like it needed another fast free counter to go with the style of how I play it. I hate deciding whether to leave mana open in aggro decks. I feel like I'll play better by largely removing some of this responsibility from myself.

EDIT: While we're discussing new sneaky stuff, Any thoughts on Phyrexian Metamorph? It copies lords. Copies opposing huge Tombstalkers/Tarmogoyfs/etc. Kills Emrakul/Progenitus. Great in a Jitte war. Off a Vial can kill Llawan or Iona. Kind of sucks against Knight of the Reliquary, though. My gut feeling says it's not quite good enough except as a random sideboard card in weird metagames, but I'm curious for input.