[Deck] Merfolk

[Jeet]

True-Name Nemesis is great at improving some of our bad matchups: Shardless BUG, Jund, Death and taxes, Maverick, Blade and more. It is also great vs any deck packing Punishing Fire. It is also good against RUG and other tempo decks as they have no way of removing it once it sticks.

The deck is very resilient to most fair strategies and has a decent shot against combo, with 12 counterspells (8 conditional) pre-board and a decent clock.

For reference, here is the latest list I was running:

13 Island
4 Wasteland
4 Mutavault

4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Phantasmal Image
4 True-Name Nemesis
4 Cursecatcher

4 Force of Will
4 Daze

4 Æther Vial
1 Umezawa's Jitte

2 Standstill

I suggest anyone running Merfolk to try 4 True-Name Nemesis as well as 4 Phantasmal Image as they are great together.

[zulander]

Stop playing 4 wasteland, seriously, just stop it. The mana is soooo bad especially with 4 1UU creatures now in the mix.

Also, I'm not sure Jund matchup has gotten much better, they still have Plagues and sac effects in the board, but I do think that the rug matchup is better now.

[kingtk3]

Stop playing 4 wasteland, seriously, just stop it. The mana is soooo bad especially with 4 1UU creatures now in the mix.

Also, I'm not sure Jund matchup has gotten much better, they still have Plagues and sac effects in the board, but I do think that the rug matchup is better now.

I agree with you, this deck needs more U sources (I decide to trim a Mutavault instead of a waste, since the latter makes our taxing counters better) and Jund still feels bad.
RUG is also a better matchup, but I didn't have any problems with them so far.

[KobeBryan]

I agree with you, this deck needs more U sources (I decide to trim a Mutavault instead of a waste, since the latter makes our taxing counters better) and Jund still feels bad.
RUG is also a better matchup, but I didn't have any problems with them so far.

Wasteland cannot be dropped. If anything, I would drop a mutavault.

[CaptainTwiddle]

Wasteland cannot be dropped. If anything, I would drop a mutavault.

I agree; if you're going to trim a colorless land, trim a Mutavault.

I'm not sure if True-Name Nemesis really deserves a spot in the maindeck though. It seems like a great sideboard option, but I think it does slow the deck down. For that reason, I'd have some number to bring in against Jund and other removal heavy decks and maybe 1-2 in the maindeck. If you're running Phantasmal Image (which I think you should be), that gives you additional virtual copies of the Nemesis as well. Keep the maindeck focused and fast, then use the SB to adjust for troublesome matchups, which is where Nemesis will shine; against non-interactive decks, he's really just undesirable. Obviously, if your meta is full of fair decks, that changes things somewhat.

[Dice_Box]

Question for the floor.

Those of you that are going to run True-Name Nemesis main, will you be cutting Standstill? What about Kira?

I am thinking (With my very limited play experience with this deck) that if Name goes main, Standstill will be a clash. Name feels like a balls to the wall aggro choice, separate from a more traditional control version.

If your cutting Standstill, hyperthiecitly, what's the harm in trading out two Mutavault for basics? Your going to need more mana and you adding more creatures main anyway. So why not cut two and sure up your land support? It would matter more since you are not playing around Standstill.

Sent from my mobile, forgive spelling and grammatical errors.

[beez]

If one were to take out the 3 Standstills for 3 Nemesis, I would certainly drop down to 3 Mutavault as well and plus 1 Cavern of Souls. I tested this and it was very strong. Particularly with a Jitte. Against combo, I think you'd need ti slot in a couple extra Spell Pierce/Swan Song/Flusterstorm or even Standstill in the board.

With this guy plus some amount of Submerge and Tidebinder Mage in the board, our poor matchups are much stronger. Combo we have more maindeck than most so just a little more attention there shoyld shore anything weakened by adding a few of this new guy.

[KobeBryan]

I've been tooling around with this deck, and i run 2 maindeck jittes.

i dont' think i even want these anymore with the 3/1 merfolk. The jittes haven't been doing anything. i don't even want to cast it.

I think i rather run echoing truth or more creatures just to keep the pressure going.

the 13 islands, 3 mutas, and 4 wastes are really the way to go.

[Tru3z3rox]

I've been tooling around with this deck, and i run 2 maindeck jittes.

i dont' think i even want these anymore with the 3/1 merfolk. The jittes haven't been doing anything. i don't even want to cast it.

I think i rather run echoing truth or more creatures just to keep the pressure going.

the 13 islands, 3 mutas, and 4 wastes are really the way to go.

That is exactly what I've been saying! It makes the deck so slow and makes it even more vulnerable to removal. I will miss standstill though. Raw card advantage for virtual card advantage.

[Anfylion]

Wasteland cannot be dropped. If anything, I would drop a mutavault.

Drop mutavault? it's our best beater...

I think 3 wasteland it's O.K.

[troopatroop]

Drop mutavault? it's our best beater...

I think 3 wasteland it's O.K.

How is it the best beater? I think it's the worst now, because we no longer need a Lord in play to win, and Mutavault is only fair without a Lord in play. Drawing 2 Wasteland is alot better than 2 Mutavault, especially if our deck no longer packs Standstill. I also agree that Jitte isn't ridic, but I've found it pretty good at dealing with an opposing True-Name with Lifegain, or nuking utility creatures. It's not "bad" in any matchup, but I see what you're saying about pressure being more important. That lifegain can really save us tho, and the pump finishes games. I think 1 Jitte at least should be maindeck, and in many metagames 2 is correct.

Also, "True-Name slows down the goldfish, so we can't play 4", isn't a real argument. You play 4.

[KobeBryan]

How is it the best beater? I think it's the worst now, because we no longer need a Lord in play to win, and Mutavault is only fair without a Lord in play. Drawing 2 Wasteland is alot better than 2 Mutavault, especially if our deck no longer packs Standstill. I also agree that Jitte isn't ridic, but I've found it pretty good at dealing with an opposing True-Name with Lifegain, or nuking utility creatures. It's not "bad" in any matchup, but I see what you're saying about pressure being more important. That lifegain can really save us tho, and the pump finishes games. I think 1 Jitte at least should be maindeck, and in many metagames 2 is correct.

Also, "True-Name slows down the goldfish, so we can't play 4", isn't a real argument. You play 4.

Jitte is good in certain matches especially mid range decks.

but its pretty lousy in other matchups because you are using so much mana and time to get it working.

a bounce spell like vapor snag might be better since we are a tempo deck.

[landwalker000]

Jitte is good in certain matches especially mid range decks.

but its pretty lousy in other matchups because you are using so much mana and time to get it working.

a bounce spell like vapor snag might be better since we are a tempo deck.

Repeal would also be a good idea. Repeal is quite good when paired with swan song, if that's your one drop counter of choice. It's pretty decent versus batterskull and delver too.

[BVB09]

Hi, I have been testing this list for some days

13 Island
4 Wasteland
3 Mutavault

4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Phantasmal Image
3 True-Name Nemesis

4 Force of Will
4 Daze
2 Spell Pierce

4 Æther Vial

My thoughts are that TNN is absolutely amazing against creature decks. Paired with Phantasmal image is really really good. However my experience is that I can't beat Punishing Jund even with with these "adquisitions".
The manabase is a horrible thing. Sometimes you don't get lands, other times you topdeck 3 islands and 2 vials... I really don't know how could we solve this issue, but we have a really weak manabase to be a mono-color deck, i don't think this is the way to go.
I would probably be wrong, but maybe it's time to start considering some cantrips like Ponder or BS (with some fetchs). It's not only that we are bad at topdeck, but now we also need to find more mana for TTN.
Maybe another option could be dropping Mutavaults completely. They are good, they're fantastic against control, but i think something has to be done with the manabase, it should be one of our strengths as a Mono-U deck, not a debility.

[Jeet]

Stop playing 4 wasteland, seriously, just stop it. The mana is soooo bad especially with 4 1UU creatures now in the mix.

Also, I'm not sure Jund matchup has gotten much better, they still have Plagues and sac effects in the board, but I do think that the rug matchup is better now.

So you play 14 islands and 7 colorless lands?

[Blastoderm]

So you play 14 islands and 7 colorless lands?

Play seasinger. It solves every problem.

[Tru3z3rox]

How is it the best beater? I think it's the worst now, because we no longer need a Lord in play to win, and Mutavault is only fair without a Lord in play. Drawing 2 Wasteland is alot better than 2 Mutavault, especially if our deck no longer packs Standstill. I also agree that Jitte isn't ridic, but I've found it pretty good at dealing with an opposing True-Name with Lifegain, or nuking utility creatures. It's not "bad" in any matchup, but I see what you're saying about pressure being more important. That lifegain can really save us tho, and the pump finishes games. I think 1 Jitte at least should be maindeck, and in many metagames 2 is correct.

Also, "True-Name slows down the goldfish, so we can't play 4", isn't a real argument. You play 4.

Well it is actually. Against many decks (combo) we are trying to do just that, goldfish. Against aggro decks True-Name improves our matchups considerally. I just really like Merrow Rejereey and don't advocate taking him out of the deck.

[SlopeeJ]

mutavault is losing a lot of power and turning off your opps wasteland is pretty good. Being able to cast your creatures is a little bit better than playing manlands

[Fatal]

here is the list which I'm testing on Cockatrice. I think its worth looking about this splash:

3 Lord of Atlantis
4 True-Name Nemesis
4 Cursecatcher
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Silvergill Adept
4 AEther Vial
4 Mutavault
4 Wasteland
3 Merrow Reejerey
3 Island
4 Force of Will
3 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
4 Brainstorm
2 Misty Rainforest
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 3 Flusterstorm
SB: 4 Swords to Plowshares
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 3 Swan Song


Why W splash:
- SFM works very well with vial
- TNN works very well with Equips
- Merfolks have problem not having removal - Dismember is not bad but in aggresive MU you just want StP which can also give you life.

Why Brainstorms:
I just miss them, with SFM and equips it brings also CA (reshuffling equips), I already put some fetchlands so there will be big mistake not running brainstorms. Other reason was frustrating drawing 3 lands in row which brainstorm can fix (refill your gas).

Why only 3 LoA ?!
SFM fill 2cmc slot, more over I found actually many mirrors where LoA is sometimes very very bad - pumping opponents creatures/Mutavaults is always bad.

Why no Phantasmal Image - I really don't like losing with elves / scryb ranger ability.

SB dedicating:
GY - Relic of Progenitus (could be easy RiP)
Storm / S&T - Flusterstorms
S&T / Miracles - Swan Song
Middle range creature based - StP
Random pernament hate / tokens - Echoing Truth

[DragoFireheart]

here is the list which I'm testing on Cockatrice. I think its worth looking about this splash:

You have room for non-merfolk? Why are you mixing colors? We already have 4 Wastelands and some number of Caverns/Mutas. RuG is one of the most popular decks and being able to drop TNN counter free is a much more powerful plan than turning on their Stifles/Wastelands. We don't have card filtering like Brainstorm so we can't dig for SFM or swords when we need it. Merfolk as I understand it is about redundant Merfolks that power each up up and smash the blue player. Removing image is a mistake: it can copy any of our merfolk and acts like TNN 4-8 or another set of Lords.

If you absolutely need removal run Dismember.

EDIT:

mutavault is losing a lot of power and turning off your opps wasteland is pretty good. Being able to cast your creatures is a little bit better than playing manlands

Replacing the Mutas with Caverns is an option.