[Deck] Merfolk

[MightyPenguin007]

So what is our plan now that Abrupt Decay and BUG, in general, is on the rise? Do we go to a UW build with Sygg, River Guide in order to combat the crazy amount of removal?

[reale]

Any thoughts about Simic Fluxmage? I think this card is confirmed.... or am I wrong?

[Magic_Shortbus9]

So what is our plan now that Abrupt Decay and BUG, in general, is on the rise? Do we go to a UW build with Sygg, River Guide in order to combat the crazy amount of removal?

I have been trying out Divert but haven't had a chance to use it yet as I never get paired with a BUG deck when I put it in the SB.

Any thoughts about Simic Fluxmage? I think this card is confirmed.... or am I wrong?

I don't think its good enough 3cmc and 2 to activate is mana intensive. Also the fact that most of your creatures are 2/2 and will only trigger it once and then you will have to move the counter to trigger it again is probably to slow i could be wrong though.

[FANAttIC]

http://www.mtgpulse.com/event/11831#165802
This looks like all-in deck (either you get lucky or you don't) with only 10 Islands and full set of Dazes.
Four Vials are missing from the decklist. Other than that, looks generic and I'm happy for the fishiez.

[fired88]

Lately, I'm a little upset with Aether Vial.

Is great when it comes to one in the opening hand, along with some fish and daze,
but merfolks do not have a CA engine, that they can take advantage if the game runs, much less if we draw two or more vials.

I would not cut this card at all, but I would try cards that give a function once our hand is empty, or in a possible Vial-Flood

Standstill is one of them, but is not enough ... there are any other suggestions?

Brainstorm, and merfolk ringleadear , already have been discussed and discarded, right?

I would love a 2/1 Merfolk Looter...

(Language: Googlenglish)

I had this thought too, and one idea that came to mind was thirst for knowledge? We can either pitch the vial for card advantage, or pitch two lands or w/e for card filtering. But 3cc is asking for a lot so maybe a 1 of or something? Although if we already have a vial in play should have some free mana to cast it.

Also I'm pretty sure this has been frowned upon, but I did test out Jace as a one of in the deck too. Helps with long games, alternate win against moat/bridge (and lately RIP/Energy Field), free brainstorms, or the good old bounce to get your guys through.

[Psyqo]

I took a stock mono-blue list to a local tourney last night, 12 players total I think. Went 2-2 losing to Storm and Nic Fit. Storm I need to learn how to play against better when I'm the control deck, but how does Merfolk win against Nic Fit? I wasn't really sure how to sideboard either on the play or on the draw (match was 2-1, I lose g1 and won g2). He also had the Grove and Punishing Fire in his deck so he was able to keep my board in check with that, deeds and Abrupt Decays.

[kingtk3]

I had this thought too, and one idea that came to mind was thirst for knowledge? We can either pitch the vial for card advantage, or pitch two lands or w/e for card filtering. But 3cc is asking for a lot so maybe a 1 of or something? Although if we already have a vial in play should have some free mana to cast it.

Also I'm pretty sure this has been frowned upon, but I did test out Jace as a one of in the deck too. Helps with long games, alternate win against moat/bridge (and lately RIP/Energy Field), free brainstorms, or the good old bounce to get your guys through.

The problem is that if you cut Vial your mutavaults, daze and Coralhelm (if you still play it) become worse because you would need your mana to play creatures instead of activating those cards. Moreover vial gives us uncounterability, flash and lower the risk of mana screw.

Although, with the recent trend to cut coralhelm from the main vial loses value: you can consider cutting it (I won't hinder your research) but I advise you against thirst for knowloedge because it's not a tempo card but a control one. If any, I would play 1-2 more lands (cavern of soul?) and more threats instead of card draw, because otherwise we loose our tempo.

[fired88]

The problem is that if you cut Vial your mutavaults, daze and Coralhelm (if you still play it) become worse because you would need your mana to play creatures instead of activating those cards. Moreover vial gives us uncounterability, flash and lower the risk of mana screw.

Although, with the recent trend to cut coralhelm from the main vial loses value: you can consider cutting it (I won't hinder your research) but I advise you against thirst for knowloedge because it's not a tempo card but a control one. If any, I would play 1-2 more lands (cavern of soul?) and more threats instead of card draw, because otherwise we loose our tempo.

What I meant with the thirst for knowledge was for when you draw multiple aethervials, instead of it being a dead card, you can use thirst for knowledge to the cost, cause people complain how merfolk have no brainstorm or card fixing. But yea I still think its too cute.

[Blaze22]

Hello guys I'm new to the forum and to this thread but I'm certainly not new to merfolk :D I played this deck for a really long time and I've made some changes to the usual list. I feel like my list is really good in a diverse metagame and I would like to share it with you and hear what you think about this.

1st change: cutting merrow reejerey.

Reason: First, I am a great fan of standstill, I think that card is too good in the deck and the combination of standstill+vial is just awesome. that would be even more powerful if every merfolk we play except for the 1cmc could be vialed into play by leaving the vial at 2 counters. The second reason is about the card itself... he costs 3 mana and is not that great... I mean, +1+1 is ok but we already have 8 lords that does it better, and the second effect is meh... tap-untap a permanent when you CAST a merfolk means that you'll never be able to do that at instant speed and it will not trigger off of vialed creatures. there are some better options to replace him, for example any combination of phantasmal images and/or coralhelm commander.

2nd change: replace cursecatcher with tidal warrior

reason:cursecatcher is not as powerful as it was years ago. now we need something that can improve our non-blue matchup and tidal warrior is a great contender.
he basically does 3 good things: enables islandwalk, screws opponent's mana and increases the count of our blue mana sources by turning our colorless lands into islands. that's so much better than a situational semi-daze. it also allows us to run one more manland due to the last reason.

Finally, here's my list. let me know what you think about this!

11 island
4 mutavault
4 wasteland
1 mishra's factory

4 aether vial
4 standstill
4 force of will
3 daze
3 spell pierce

4 tidal warrior
4 master of the pearl trident
4 lord of atlantis
4 silvergill adept
3 coralhelm commander
2 phantasmal image
1 sygg, river cutthroat

[firebadmattgood]

Reejerey taps goyf. Reejerey lets you vial twice. Reejerey buffs your dudes. Reejerey lets you cast a dude and still have mana open for mutavault. I would never cut him, and I wouldn't do it just because I can't use these abilities if I have a standstill out. If I have a standstill out, I am already ahead on the board, so I don't need to worry about extending it even more.

[ceustice]

This deck seems to be well seatted right now. I'm looking at putting Back to Basics in the board against all these greedy mana bases

[Blaze22]

Reejerey taps goyf. Reejerey lets you vial twice. Reejerey buffs your dudes. Reejerey lets you cast a dude and still have mana open for mutavault. I would never cut him

reejerey right now is bad, there are too many sweepers around, you can't afford to overextend and usually that's what reejerey is good at. And remember that by cutting him you're lowering the mana curve, so you have more free mana to do stuff, you don't need the untap effect anymore. tapping one goyf once usually isn't a great deal... copying it with image or flying in the air with commander is way way better!

[TheyCallMeTim]

Can this deck be competitive in a field with 12+ Punishing Fires in the Top 8? I saw it's 7th place finish in Atlanta, but really, Fires Jund is only going to rise in the immediate future.

[dougmtg]

Hello guys I'm new to the forum and to this thread but I'm certainly not new to merfolk :D I played this deck for a really long time and I've made some changes to the usual list. I feel like my list is really good in a diverse metagame and I would like to share it with you and hear what you think about this.

1st change: cutting merrow reejerey.

Reason: First, I am a great fan of standstill, I think that card is too good in the deck and the combination of standstill+vial is just awesome. that would be even more powerful if every merfolk we play except for the 1cmc could be vialed into play by leaving the vial at 2 counters. The second reason is about the card itself... he costs 3 mana and is not that great... I mean, +1+1 is ok but we already have 8 lords that does it better, and the second effect is meh... tap-untap a permanent when you CAST a merfolk means that you'll never be able to do that at instant speed and it will not trigger off of vialed creatures. there are some better options to replace him, for example any combination of phantasmal images and/or coralhelm commander.

2nd change: replace cursecatcher with tidal warrior

reason:cursecatcher is not as powerful as it was years ago. now we need something that can improve our non-blue matchup and tidal warrior is a great contender.
he basically does 3 good things: enables islandwalk, screws opponent's mana and increases the count of our blue mana sources by turning our colorless lands into islands. that's so much better than a situational semi-daze. it also allows us to run one more manland due to the last reason.

Finally, here's my list. let me know what you think about this!

11 island
4 mutavault
4 wasteland
1 mishra's factory

4 aether vial
4 standstill
4 force of will
3 daze
3 spell pierce

4 tidal warrior
4 master of the pearl trident
4 lord of atlantis
4 silvergill adept
3 coralhelm commander
2 phantasmal image
1 sygg, river cutthroat

Another possible interaction with Tidal warrior and your manlands is, if you attack with a man land and it were to get swords to plowshare'd and what not, you could turn it into an island and daze their spell returning it to your hand :P Not sure how often this scenario would come about, but it's pretty neat :)

[Blaze22]

Can this deck be competitive in a field with 12+ Punishing Fires in the Top 8? I saw it's 7th place finish in Atlanta, but really, Fires Jund is only going to rise in the immediate future.

it can be competitive because the rest of the field is mostly blue and we prey upon BUG / RUG / UW or esper stoneblade / combo.

the jund matchup is terrible of course, unless we really find some hard solutions in both main deck and post-board. I am currently testing with 4 tidal warrior and 1-2 misdirection main deck replacing pierce, it is working pretty well! for the sideboard against jund I bring in 2 submerge 1 mind harness 2 relic of progenitus, 1 more misdirection and 2 insight. the last one is a BOMB vs green based decks it's just awesome!!!

Another possible interaction with Tidal warrior and your manlands is, if you attack with a man land and it were to get swords to plowshare'd and what not, you could turn it into an island and daze their spell returning it to your hand :P Not sure how often this scenario would come about, but it's pretty neat :)

haha that's a nice one. there are a lot of possible interactions with tidal warrior, he's just too good. once I tricked my opponen, turning his fetchland into an island in response to his brainstorm and then play wasteland and destroy it. pure pleasure. :D

[Vandalize]

The main problem with Tidal Warrior is that he must be untapped to do his tricks. That means he's not attacking, and that's bad for Merfolk overall strategy. Cursecatcher can apply pressure while disrupting, and that's why he's valuable.

About Merrow Rejeerey, well, as much as I love him, the 3cmc always bothers me a little. He's really valuable as a lord, but Phantasmal Image can replace him with ease.

My latest list is this one:

4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault
12 Island

4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Coralhelm Commander

4 AEther Vial
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Standstill
1 Umezawa's Jitte

SB: 4 Submerge
SB: 4 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Divert
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Umezawa's Jitte
SB: 1 Aquitect's Will

Divert has worked really fine against Abrupt Decay and Hymn to Tourach. Echoing Truth is like a catch all, but I only board it against Miracles, actually.

Any comments, suggestions?

[FANAttIC]

I think that we should lower our mana curve, play Cursecatcher AND Tidal Warrior. We have too many 2-drops when legacy is so fast.
Full set of Forces and Dazes should provide minor disruption while we more quickly amass bodies.

[Blaze22]

I think that we should lower our mana curve, play Cursecatcher AND Tidal Warrior. We have too many 2-drops when legacy is so fast.
Full set of Forces and Dazes should provide minor disruption while we more quickly amass bodies.

Right now the meta is so diverse that it's actually impossible to predict what decks you're going to battle against, either fast or slow, combo or control or whatever. I think our deck shuld be on its good old plan: race the opponent while disrupting. playing more 1 drops would weaken our midrange matchups, and we don't want to send our win percentage vs jund below the 30% mark...

[boxman_619]

Right now the meta is so diverse that it's actually impossible to predict what decks you're going to battle against, either fast or slow, combo or control or whatever. I think our deck shuld be on its good old plan: race the opponent while disrupting. playing more 1 drops would weaken our midrange matchups, and we don't want to send our win percentage vs jund below the 30% mark...

Hey guys,

I have been playing Legacy properly for about 3 years now and I have picked up Merfolk as an archetype and this is my first post in The Source.

IMO, our worst matchups are Goblins, Elves, Zoo (which isn't really played any more and has been replaced with Maverick), MUD, Affinity and Jund.

The list I am currently running is as follows :-

Creatures (20)
Cursecatcher x 4
Silvergil Adept x 4
Lord of Atlantis x 4
Master of the Peral Trident x 4
Coralhelm Commander x 2
Phantasmal Image x 2

Artifacts (4)
Aether Vial x 4

Instants (16)
Force of Will x 4
Daze x 4
Stifle x 4
Spell Pierce x 2
Vapor Snag x 2

Lands (20)
Wasteland x 4
Mutavault x 4
Island x 12

Sideboard (15)
Dismember x 2
Submerge x 2
Misdirection x 2
Umezawa's Jitte x 2
Hurkyl's Recall x 1
Pitjing Needle x 1
Blue Elemental Blast x 1
Echoing Truth x 1
Flusterstorm x 1
Tormod's Crypt x 1
Relic of Progenitus x 1

I used to run standstill instead of stifle, but when you are against card advantage decks like Jund and Shardless BUG, they don't care about you drawing 3 cards. It also wasn't great against miracles.

I think that stifle can do all the things we want standstill can do plus more.

Jund usually taps out for their Bloodbraid Elf, wha't better than stifling the cascade and dazing the guy?

I have also put vapor snag in the main to get rid of pesky blockers. It's great against Blightsteel Collossus and Wurmcoil Engine! It will also help against Abrubt Decay on a Lord.

1 more utility out of Vapor Snag is being able to bounce Silvergil Adept, flashing it in with a Vial and being able to draw another card!

My sideboard is a little unorthadox in the sense that it's very diverse, but all the card selections have many uses.

Dismember - great against T1 Lacky, Painter's Servant and Metalworker. I DONT bring this in against Goyf decks because it's aweful lategame, whereas Submerge is much better here.

Jitte - Arguably the best equipment in the game. No explanation needed.

Misdirection - Imagine misdirecting an abrubt decay/Maelstrom Pulse/Hymn to Tourach - this could potentiall be a 3 for 2 for free! This also has outside uses against TES, being able to mess up the maths on Tendrils can be relevant.

Needle - great utility for Liliana, Jace, Metalworker, Cranial Plating, Top, Knight of the Reliquary ETC.

Hurkyl's Recall - very relevant against artifact decks and gets around Chalice for 1.

I have a tournament on Sunday, and the 1st prize if a set of Forces and 2 byes for Bazaar of Moxen.

This is the deck I am taking. I will post a full tournament report on here after.

Wish me luck guys!

:)

[reale]

Someone could please tell me more about sideboarding against mid-range (like Jund), combo/tricks (Show and Tell, dredge, reanimator) and those bad matchups like Mav and Affinity?

The sb's cards against those decks aren't my difficulty. My doubt is what to take out in each scenario?

Thanks in advance.