Merfolk?

[TopSecret]

Alright, so with Morningtide coming out soon, I'm starting to wonder how many
viable non-goblin tribal decks there will be in the new environment.

My question is: "Are Merfolk Viable?"

Here's my untested idea for them:

4 AEther Vial

4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Merrow Reejery
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Waterfront Bouncer (He's a merfolk now!)

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Chalice of the Void

1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
20 Island (There may be room for some cool non-basics like Mutavault in here.)

This is the current rational for the card choices:

Stonybrook Banneret + Merrow Reejery = Your merfolk are cheap as free, or possibly netting mana.

Merrow Reejery + AEther Vial = When you hardcast a merfolk, you'll get another drop off Vial.

Merrow Reejery + Waterfront Bouncer = Though it may not often be relevant, this allows for a lot of bouncing in one turn.

Silvergill Adept + Waterfront Bouncer = This is a very dumb card selection engine.

This deck plays almost all two mana cost cards.
I would normally consider this very dangerous without a maindeck answer to Chalice, but this deck also plays AEther Vial.
Maindeck answers to Chalice may be an option.

Force of Will is an experimental slot. Currently, I think it's the right call for my metagame, since there's so much Stax floating around.
Either way, time will tell.

Chalice at one is tight.
Waterfront Bouncer discards unwanted Chalices and Vials.
Mana Draining into a large Chalice, or a Reejery + more 'folk is tech.

Hypothetical matchup analysis which will most likely be wrong later:

GAT: You have Chalice at one and all of your guys are huge Island walkers.
Hypothetically, this matchup shouldn't be that bad.

Stax: You have Vials, so Spheres are bad against you. Chalice on two is amazing if they play it,
while you don't have a counter or a Vial.
You have Drain for their larger threats and Trike is less impressive because of the pump 'folk.
You play a lot of dudes, so Smokestack is probably a non-issue.

Workshop Aggro: If you play some early pump 'folk, your guys will be big enough to trade with Jugg' and the like.
Magus does nothing. Most builds don't play Chalice right now, so it likely won't come up game one.
The dream is to Drain into a Chalice at three or four.
Sword of Fire and Ice is hella scary if it ever gets equipped.

Goblins: I don't know how this one would go. Likely not good, because Piledriver wrecks you.

Combo: You have Chalice at one as your main out, and not much else.

Potential ideas:

Maindeck Jitte, or something else to help stop Goblins and Sword of Fire and Ice
A maindeck answer to Chalice (Probably Repeal)
Daze
Brainstorm and/or Ponder
Stifle/Waste/Strip
Mutavault or Factory
Adding White for Judge of Currents, Swords to Plowshares, Sygg, River Guide, and/or Meddling Mage

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Sextiger]

Morningtide has made a variety of tribes vintage playable but I think Merfolk is probably one of the least playable.  Merfolk abilities seem to concentrate on Islandwalk, which is often useless and bounce/power-toughness switch.  Compare that to something like Wizards, which have Meddling Mage, Confidant, Lavamancer, Mindcensor (very unique abilities) and then the standard theme of counterspells/card selection-draw.  My analysis is pretty shoddy, but honestly Treefolk seem like a more viable tribe than Merfolk do. 

[Burntgerbil]

Let me chime in on merfolk - I do not post very much on the boards here, but for quite a period of time myself and Phantom Tape Worm worked a lot on merfolk in T1 after Oddessey block, I believe. Things have changed a good bit with merfolk now - mostly for the better even though the deck has a lot to currently overcome. Having moderate regional success in the southeast with the archetype for a little while back then, I was able to test quite a few variations. I was excited to see, upon my return  - that Lord of Atlantis had been given Errata to make him better as well as the bouncer being a merfolk now too.  However, from my testing, the bouncers really seem useful in small quantities - four is probably two too many.

A lot has changed in the metagame since then, and even though these minor advancements had looked a little brighter for the 'folk, it wasn't until I saw the Grimoire Thief that I wanted to play merfolk again. When I was winning with merfolk, they had a distinct game plan - one different than the one in play now. Back then, merfolk were aggro, plain and simple. They were slow aggro with card draw and disruption - and you have to buckle in and hope that you had enough draw and disruption to find the Lords in time to win. Reguardless, they were still played like aggro.

Some of the matchups you oversimplify -  and I believe you have a shell of a deck that needs some intensive reconstruction. My current build was based on the core of the wizards deck seen here - http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=34694.0 . New merfolk will operate drastically different than the wizard deck - at least my testing has proven so so far. The new merfolk will probably need to have a three-pronged game plan (not unlike the tridents they commonly use):
 
  1) pro-actively remove threats from decks before opponent can draw/tutor/play them    (rootwater & grimoire thieves)
  2) provide enough disruption to prevent decks from "doing what they do", even if it is only for one or two turns  (FOW, Mis-D, Stifle, Daze, E.flux, etc)
  3) Be able to provide enough creature utility (abilities) on a low manacount (early game) while staying aggressive  ( careful play and vials aid this)

When my testing yields productive results, I will supply decklists - It appears that as of right now, Shadowmoor will probably contain merfolk also (they are on the packaging). This could like give us the last crucial piece we need for a truly competitive deck.


Sextiger : Your analysis on merfolk may be quite shoddy. Type 1 merfolk are more varied than the three you described. Historically Fish has played Lords, Rootwater Thieves, Manta riders, even razorfin hunters and other metagame calls. Since those times, card selection has gone up quite a bit - doing a quick gatherer search for merfolk yields quite a few new options for the toolbox - including changelings. Meddling Mage and confidant are everywhere right now - they work well in wizards also, but realize that both of the wizard builds seen lately do not even use the confidant. The hypothetical deck posted above would probably not fare very well after being put through the wringer. But I posit that a skilled (and long-experienced) Fish player could soon build the first pile of fish that works since the turn of the millennium.

TopSecret - to answer your question - 'Folk may indeed be viable, but it will take greater research, different card selection and more playtime than what you have put in this far.

[dirk-jan]

I played a merfolk deck  in a vintage tournament .

I started with:

4 silvergill adept
4 merrow reejerey
4 riptide pilferer
2 lord of atlantis
1 darting merfolk

and added
4 duress
4 force of will
1 mana vault
1 mana crypt
1 tolarian academy
1 demonic tutor
1 vampiric tutor
1 time twister
1 black lotus
1 yawghmot's will
2 sword of fire and ice
4 brainstorm
and a few other spells

It preformed quit well. Just 2 matches were lost without a real fight. It needs some more focus. I added tendrills for the chance of a darting merfolk+merrow reejerey+ tolarian academy.
And I replaced the pilferers for 4 merfolk traders.

[TopSecret]

Burntgerbil, thanks for the input.

My posted decklist is more of a skeleton right now. As you indicated, it will require a lot more work to have a shot at viability.
When I find some time, I'll take a another look at the options available, test some of your suggestions, and post anything cool I find here.

[Burntgerbil]

Dirk-jan :    Thanks for the input. The choices are not what I would initially play, but it appears you did OK.

Let us know a little more about how you fared in the tournament -
   What matches were good ?
   What matches were bad ?
   Was the tourney a proxy tourney ?
   What sideboard cards did you use a lot ?
   What sideboard/main cards did you not use ?
   Do you wish at any time that some cards were other cards ?
   What would you change for next time ?

This will further develop our knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the deck.

[dirk-jan]

The tournament(with 5 proxies) was in december, so I have to think about yout questions.

My first matchup was against TEPS. I lost 1-2. I won game two. He mulled to 4 and I beat the hell out of him with a piferer. He never recovered. In game 3, we tossed some turns. He was disrupting and looking for keycards and I was attacking with a sivergill and a reejerey. On turn 4, I played tolarian and a darting merfolk. I asked for the stormcount of that turn and that kind of upset him. I had a vampiric,but no draw. the next turn he got off with necropotence.

Second matchup was against black-red aggro. I lost 1-2. A matter of the right draws. It could have been the other way around.

match three was against green aggro. I won 2-1, thanks to the reejerey and the extra cards drawn with silvergill.

match 4 was against green-red aggro-land destruction. I lost 0-2. His mazes of ith and his pyrostatic pillars proved their value.

Match 5 was against goblins. Me deck did well, but I lost game three.

I was fairly content with my new deck but I think I need some adjustments.

1.Replace the pilferes with merfolk traders. The pilferers did nothing against aggro. The card drawing and selection of cards is more important in this deck.
2.Putt in merchant scrolls and add 1 copy of mask of the mimic. The merchant scroll I can use to open my instant toolbox(echoing truth,FOW,stifle,maybe high tide, ancestrall and mask of the mimic) I think mask of the mimic is worth playtesting. If I need an extra reejerey or an extra silvergill, I can go fetch it.
3.Apathy in the sideboerd against aggro. Means card advantage if he wants to use his creature.
4.Grimoire thieves might be handy.

[Burntgerbil]

I forgot to welcome you to type 1 and to the Mana Drain, Dirk-jan.

Your feedback is appreciated and is very helpful. Let me make a few comments on your insights -
Mask of the mimic - That is a card that I hadn't thought of and could prove useful but very risky.
Apathy is quick and cheap - It may work in fields with more random aggro, but for decks like ichorid, we need a different solution - proposed blue leylines and several propagandas. Additionally, if your sideboard cards for aggro are only cards that attempt to let you race them, a better sideboard strategy may need to be considered. This is doubly important if so much of the field you played was aggro.

My research shows two things concerning what you mention
1) merchant scrolls were too slow for my tastes. I need to be disrupting and playing threats
2) Grimoire Thief has proven to be nothing less than a house for me. I wish I could run twelve - snagging many good cards when she taps. The only drawback is that she can become such a mind game for your opponent, that the cards she takes could singlehandedly win it for you without them knowing. I am unsure of the rulings of what kinds of information you can share and bluff about - but I am sure a skilled player can absolutely make the most of her.   

 

[dirk-jan]

I read your remarks, Mr.Burntqerbill. They are very helpful. I think something like this could work.

disruption

4 thoughtseize
3 cabal therapy
4 FOW

creatures

4 silvergill adept
4 merfolk traders
4 merrow reejerey
4 grimoire thief

toolbox

1 vampiric tutor
1 demonic tutor
1 diabolic intent
1 yawghmoth's will
4 brainstorm
1 echoing truth
1 diabolic edict
1 ancestral recall
1 timetwister

fuel

1 black lotus
5 moxen
1 mana vault
1 tolarian academy
4 polluted delta
4 underground sea
3 island
2 swamp

I think this would be a good starting point. The disruption of thoughtseize and cabal therapy, combined with Force of will, can buy you enough time to get the merfolks started. you have 4 adepts,4 traders, ancestral, timetwister, 4 brainstorms and three tutors to fuel your hand. That should do the trick.
In the sideboard you can have planar voids, pitching needles and more of that stuff.
every comment is welcome.

[Burntgerbil]

Have you built this deck up ? I am unsure if you need the three off color moxen - there is not much to cast with colorless in this deck

Diabolic Intent I am not a fan of this card - it is a sorcery, and you have to sacrifice a creature - so its real cost to play is more like 1BUU & discard a card. 

Merfolk Traders These guys do very little for you - they basically cycle a card. If you want this type of effect, replace them with merfolk looter. A lord of atlantis would not be a bad call for this slot, either.

The tutors in general - you devote a lot of space to them, but have very little for them to find. Sure, you can get another merfolk - but there are not many good cards in there to get you out of tight situations. I find that if I go the tutor route, I need a lot of juicy cards to try to find to shut my opponent down ASAP.

Mana Vault - again like the moxes, you have very little to play with the mana from this card.

Timetwister - My general rule of thumb is that If I am not playing combo, it probably helps my opponent more than me.

Your build is also a little black heavy to consistently expect your FOW's to counter.

I suggest to build a version of the deck - play it on Magic Work Station or test it with friends or just goldfish it a couple of times to see what isn't working.

[dirk-jan]

thanks for your thoughts.

I'll tell you my considerations.

1. the three off-colour moxes ehlp me out to play turn 1 silvergill turn 2 reejerey. I agree on the mana vault.
2. FOW's have 23 other blue cards that should do the trick.
3. the untap/tap ability is so versatile that it tends to lure you to a combo style approach. Feels a bit like elves/staff of domination. You are right when you say that my first problem is to chose between aggro, control and combo.

conclusion is indded to test it in different styles and environments.

Some interesting cards to consider are static orb and rystic study.

[Spacebalzz]

Just for reference, in the middle of last year, Xavier Sanchez took 4th at UAL Power Nine in Madrid out of 159 players.

His decklist:

Maindeck

7 Island
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
3 Stifle
2 Misdirection
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Echoing Truth
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Tidal Warrior
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
3 Rootwater Thief
3 Manta Rider
3 Null Rod

Sideboard

1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyll´s Recall
1 Anull
1 Energy Flux
3 Spell Snare
3 Extract
3 Tormod´s Crypt
2 Pithing Needle

It functions the way any Fish deck does.  Choke mana, counter important spells, hit with lots of dudes (in this case, dudes with islandwalk).  Perhaps this can somehow be updated with LOR/MT?  Figured I'd throw it out there.

-Matt

P.S. It took me forever to find that deck on Morphling

[Burntgerbil]

This is what I have been testing lately - I had quite a bit of wins when fish had merfolk - I would love to see it come full circle.

Lands                 14
4 Strand
3 Delta
3 Tundra
4 Island

Creatures             17
4 Lord Of Atlantis
4 Grimoire Thief
3 Rootwater Thief
2 Waterfront Bouncer
4 Silvergill Adept
 


Spells                   29     
3 Aether Vial
1 Lotus
1 Sapphire
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
3 MisDirection
4 Force of Will
4 Stifle
4 Daze

// Sideboard
SB: 2  Echoing Truth
SB: 2  Propaganda
SB: 2  Disenchant
SB: 3  Energy Flux
SB: 4  Leyline Singul.   
SB: 2  Umezawa's Jitte
 

I like the way it rolls right now - It still needs extensive testing, though. I have found that reejereys come too late to be effective in here.
The silvergills are strictly ok - they do assist with drawing and very seldomly cost more than 1U.

I want to test with even more manabase disruption - I like the idea of wastes/stripmines and even Sea's Claim to try to wreak havoc and enable the walking.

I will experiment with swapping out silvergills for tidal warriors and determine the results - and maybe toying with the daze/stifle/Mis-d to see if I can allow room for strip effects. 


Again - this deck is in the works and I am really hoping to see some new, Vintage worthy merfolk in Shadowmoor.

Spacebalzz - I feel that grimoire thief is a great addition for the deck. It is a little reassuring to see results like that in a huge field. It seems that the meta has shifted to more aggro since then - fish has tools for that, so it is reasonable to think it can adapt. I like vials since tog is so prevalent right now. The only anti-creature element I see is a lone echoing truth. I would love to get this to mono blue if possible, but I really think that swords will prove too useful to cut right now.

[hauntedechos]

I have been waiting for Merfolk to be given solid creatures since Revised, in high school.  Certainly in casual play Merfolk are now very fun to play, and type 2 must be having a ball with them.  What Xavier did was nothing short of amazing, as I do not see Merfolk as being Vintage viable.  159 players is no small feat to be sure, how he made it that far I'll never know, but congratulations none the less.

If one is to play Merfolk in Vintage, you must have a solid draw engine, first and foremost.  Xavier opted for Ninja's, while Thieves added a form of card advatage by removing win conditions/threats from the opponents deck.  Don't forget that Waterfront bouncer has been erratad to Merfolk!!  With a solid draw engine, this greatly improves the aggro match up, which is something that Fish has never been very stellar at.

[Morphling420]

This a joke right???

[hauntedechos]

@ Morphling:  That's what I thought as well, but the tourny result is quite startling really.

[Morphling420]

seemslike that deck would be excellent ina stax enviroment  but now where else. GAT, combo, ichorid, and storm allfuckthis deck up.

[Burntgerbil]

Morphling - I appreciate your input and am positive that insight that deep can only come from hours of rigorous testing and research.
I do not think anyone here is misleading themselves about the deck - We are posting in the vintage improvement forum, after all. What I simply tried to add was to determine what tools and strategy a deck like this would need in order to compete. If I thought this deck could roll GaT and ichorid and not lose, (to paraphrase you) then I would have posted it in the vintage open forum. My goal is to develop a stockpile of options for merfolk through previous decks that have proven themselves in tourneys

[hauntedechos]

I think that in a creature heavy meta that we are in, 3-4 Bouncers are warrented.  Granted they are not as impressive w/o confidants to fuel them, it would still keep a creature control element on the table.  Factoring in 4 Swords between side and main, would be pretty tight.

One would think that the standard U/W Fish elements would work, but certainly B is needed for Duress effects.  W/o Confidants,you could increase the number of Thoughseizes for increased proactive approaches.

I'm such a huge fan of Oblivion rings in casual play, I doubt they would be very good in Vintage.  W/O Mages though, it could be a consideration. 

Just a quick reply while I go abouts my day.  Good luck to everyone with the project.

[Burntgerbil]

MY standard setup was 2 bouncers + 3 swords main decked. Would a stronger setup be to look to a broader effect like moat or propaganda ? It is slower, granted - but if I can power a propaganda out versus Ichorid, it would fare much better than a bouncer. 

I had initially wanted to keep this mono blue. Do you think that a 3 Mis-D, 4 FOW, 4 Stifle & 4 Daze, 3 rootwater & 4 grimoire  package is not enough disruption ? I would love to fit in duress, but a three color manabase was something I wanted to avoid - could we replace the Swords with anything even close in black ?

[hauntedechos]

@burntgerbil:  It's my opinion that a card like Moat is one for the history books.  Cards like propaganda and Moat are too narrow for this diverse metagame.  I know I said that there is a trend towards turning dudes sideways, but this fact requires you to choose cards that can deal with that fact and have other uses ie Echoing truth.  versus Ichorid, you are still looking at the leyline of the void approach, because Merfolk are generally slow, you need something to hit turn 0.  Granted most Ichorid players brace for that going into game 2-3, never the less, it's the fastest choice you have.  it is a black card, but it's played on turn 0 and even Fish that run B won't have mana to recast it if it's bounced to hand.  You could try a card like planar void which only costs  .  The problem you will run into is that if it's in your opening hand on the draw, they are going to have a couple shots to strip it from your hands.

In concerns with keeping it MonoU, I think that with the decent cards in W, it's worth it.  Certainly Swords at least is worth it and Seal of Removal isn't bad either.  After thoes cards, it's pretty well up to you in concerns with what is the strategy you intend to impliment?  4 Stifle seems a bit much, though I understand what you are trying to do here.  A deck like Landstill gets away with that, Fish doesn't.  Rootwater is a pretty slow dude, but I do love his ability.  Have you thought about Aether Vials in the deck?  You wouldn't have to worry about counter wars over your creatures, which is good, but it does slow everything down by at least a full turn.  The flipside is saving counters for your opponents threats.

Three colours isn't really that scary, just more expensive if you don't own te duals and fetches needed.

3Under ground sea
3Tundra
4Flooded Strand
3Polluted Delta
3Wasteland
1Stripmine
1Island

Was generally what I played with in U/W/B Fish.

Duress is a huge card for any deck right now.  it forces an opponent to blow a counter early and failing that, snags a portion of thier opening plan, this gains you tempo, which is what Fish wants.  No B doesn't have anything in the caliber of Swords.  It does have Imperial Edict (I belive thats the cards name), which cannot be MisDirected.  However it's your opponents choice as to the creature that he sacs, this is decent in some matchups, but terrible against aggro decks.

Haunted.

[TopSecret]

Black has Diabolic Edict and other sacrifice effects if you are looking to replace Swords.
Snuff Out has been good in some decks I've seen, so it might be worth looking into.
Also, Thoughtseize could be effective in dealing with creatures you Bounce back in the late game.

Black also has Vodalian Zombie, which could prove helpful against Tarmogoyf/Dryad decks.
I haven't tested him, so there's a very good chance he's terrible.

I've always been a fan of the Mono-Blue versions of fish,
but there's always the problem with big creatures, since all blue has is bounce.
If you played Mono-Blue, would Shapesharer be worth testing?
He can copy Lord of Atlantis to pump everything worst case,
and best case he takes advantage of your opponent's best creature.
Given, he's very mana intensive, so he might not be worth it.

[Burntgerbil]

Haunted - my build does run Vials right now. I had the same feeling about stifles - they are narrow, drawn late can sometimes useless. Both Duress and stifle are amazing early but stifle's power wanes as the game goes on. I will try to fit the Duress in. We run in a proxy metagame, but we own everything - at least all the old valuable stuff, so duals are no problem.

I had been advised by our local TO, a friend and someone who has consistently kept up with the meta for years about Ichorid - he suggested leyline of singularity.

[hauntedechos]

Singularity: Shuts down Bridges and thusly makes it very hard for them to Dread return...they can however keep filtering with Bazaar w/o fear of losing the yard and thusly all the creatures in it.

Void: does everything that Singularity does..however it also makes it very hard to filter with Bazaar due to the fact that they are losing the very cards they need to dread return.

The solution for Ichorid is the same no matter what Leyline you use, the difference is when they find the answer, would you rather they have access to all thier yard cards or would you like them to have to start over with whatever they happen to have left in the deck?

To expand on chosing one over the other, Singularity also has uses for other matchups that intend to resolve a large amount of permanents and that is the reason I think that your friend chooses one over the other.  Void however has usefullness against Welder tricks, Yawgmoth's Will, Dragon Combo, and any other yard abuse a deck may employ.  I'll just finish by saying that the choice you make should reflect what your meta is.

A few players I know of that play Fish, have stated that they are happy with 2 Stifles in the Main and non in the SB.  To me this sounds about right, though I have not tested.  In addition to some limited utility (Tendrils, Warrens, Oath, Welder tricks, Mindslaver activation etc.) it would generally be considered wasteland 4&5 when looking at Fetchlands.

I would really strongly suggest the additions of Duress as a 4of and no less.  They are huge for ANY deck because of the kinds of plays you can force your player into.  After your opponent sees one, he/she is most likely going to try and play around them for the rest of the match via Brainstorm tricks (I cast Duress, you cast Brainstorming, opting to put the valued card on the top of your library as one of the 2 that are returned), which may or may not also draw them into a Force of Will.

Anyways, I'll leave it at that as my card dealer has just called me with some deals LOL, I understand why they call it the cardboard crack.

Haunted.

[Burntgerbil]

Thanks for the input, haunted. I always knew leyline of the void was a stronger card - and with black mana in for duress, The answer on the leyline question is clear. I will be to testing and revise my list a little more to take all of these suggestions into account.

[Morphling420]

all though leyline of the void is a stronger card it has a serious draw back compaired to leyline of singularity that should not be over looked. Leyline of singularity can be pitched to force of will late game. This is a huge benefit.

[hauntedechos]

@Morphling:  Congrats on your Day 2 win first off.  In terms of Singularity versus Void, we have to look at the match in which we are talking about: Ichorid.  Force of Will is generally not a card you want to bolster in this matchup.  Sure countering the few spells you can is always a good thing. Void leaves them in a slump (and thusly not needing more counters) and buys you time to beat w/o creatures/tokens getting in the way of the attacks.  Assuming they get a bounce spell off and it resolves, they could very well get Ancestors chosen into play and then win from there.  If they bounce the Void, they cannot make this play, and even if they do, how many cards would you rather them have in the yard when it Chosen resolves?

To be clear, I'm not saying that Singularity is a bad card/choice.  I am only suggesting that you need to consider how much damage the two leylines do to the Ichorid deck, and then consider the position you are in when they bounce the leyline you've chosen.  While you may have drawn a second Leyline and have a Force in hand: Ichorid, Narcomeoba, and an ancestors chosen (gaining X amount of life, then dread return the game winner into play) can all happen under a leyline of Singularity but not Void.  Ichorid filtering hard for another bounce card means you need to be able to replenish your counters from your draw to get ready for them again, and they can get there faster than you.

All in all it just seems that, with Singularity you have to work harder during the game to keep the control up against them, while Void just says "go ahead and do your business, and hold a Force/counter for the bounce...if they get one".

I could be totally wrong.

Haunted.

[Burntgerbil]

Well put haunted - the pitchability of leyline is not a concern to me since it would only be sided in for certain matchups anyway. I am still testing with black - will post my latest results soon. 

[hauntedechos]

@ the Thread:  I know that the point of this thread is Merfolk only, but can you really afford to play a U/W list w/o Meddling Mage?  He acts like hard counter 4-8 really and forces some decent tempo plays.  There is no Merfolk that can fill his spot and as a four of gives the U/W player some breathing room.  He also pitches to Fow for thoes of you who are really concerned with your U count.  As a thought, has anyone considered the use of Sea Singer from the Side?  I would imagen that playing in the creature heavy meta, playing against another deck running Islands and critters, it would be the Merfolk choice of Oldman of the sea, of course you could just run Threads if you like.  It's a must counter for the opponent and if it does resolve can actually cause some problems for the opponent.  They now have to search for bounce/kill to deal with  it and untill then you abuse thier own creatures.  It's just a quick passing thought with no thought put into it, just putting it on the table.

Haunted.

[Morphling420]

Thanks haunted echos for the congrats on my waterbury results. I would like to say i have been thinking about this list alot lately and think that i may have been a little hasty in my assumption that this deck would not be competitive, however, i do think this deck needs to add atleast black and probly white as well.  Im gona formulate a completed list to take advantage of weak mana bases aswell as the low count on kill options since oath has made a come back. I have a friend who has been playing u/w/b fish for years and i think im gona ask his advice on this deck ill get back to you shortly with a list.