A Can of Merfolk @$$-Whupery

[the_lord_shaper]

I know know that most peolpe, when they read this, will just shrug it off as some random, bad, merfolk deck. But it is a lot of fun to play and it's not really that bad at all. I'm not saying this is tier 1 material, but if you're board with what you normally play and what to have a little fun, this deck will very much do that for you.

Deck Name: A Can of Merfolk @$$-Whupery

Main Deck:
Creatures: 17
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Cursecatcher
3 Slivergil Adept
2 Merrow Reejerey
2 Wake Thrasher
2 Sygg, River Cutthroat

Spells: 18
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Duress
2 Thoughtseize
1 Brainstorm
1 A-Call
1 Timewalk
1 Vamp Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Echoing Truth


Artifacts: 7
4 Null Rod
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet

Lands: 18
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
2 Mutavault
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
3 Underground Sea
3 Island

Side Board:
1 Duress
2 Yixlid Jailer
2 Planar Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Energy Flux
2 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Spell Snare

It really is fun, and it's not half bad either. I will be posting my local tourney's results soon. If you guys/gals have any questions or comments, I'll gladly answer them. Oh! And thanks for reading my little Merfolk thread.

[jaeppel]

you are missing two of the best merfolk.  what about waterfront bouncer and grimoire theif?  bouncer gives you a solid plan against most anything that wants to kill with creatures.  with thief you expand the countering capabilities and get a nice millstone effect built in.  alot of the stuff you have in here seems more oriented to attacking and dealing damage.  doods need to have some kind of game-altering ability to be any good.

[the_lord_shaper]

That's not entirely true. first, Grimoire is a good creature, but usaually is far too slow to be any good. Overall Rootwater Thief is probably the better card, if I wanted an exact-like effect. Secend, bouncer is also a fine merfolk, but it's ability isn't as good as it used to be a few years ago. The card disavegeage is too great for this deck. Also the fact the Darksteel has been pretty much been replaced by Inkwell Lavathion, therefor the robot can't be bounced. He also doesn't help vs. aggro, this deck has pretty much six Lord-like effects. So you can mostly just overrun most aggro decks with Wake Thrasher and Lords, and Reejs. Plus most fish decks have islands in them, so your dudes are  mostly likely unblockable.

Your are right about that is focuses on winning fast. You usaully duress or play Catcher turn one, then follow up with null rod. From there, you just try and rucs them while drawing crads of adepts and Sygg, and playing more duress effects and dazes. once rod is out, it only should take about four to five turns at max to win. The cool thing is against combo and control if they mid-to-late game tinker your guys can just swim under Inky or Darksteel.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Is there a reason why the black splash is necessary?  It seems you're replacing standstill and stifle with them.  Demonic Tutor doesn't seem very useful in this list.  Is it worth it?

[IthilanorStPete]

Has Sygg been better than Cold-Eyed Selkie?

[the_lord_shaper]

Is there a reason why the black splash is necessary?  It seems you're replacing standstill and stifle with them.  Demonic Tutor doesn't seem very useful in this list.  Is it worth it?

The duress effects proved to be much better then stifle for two reasons. First, duress unlike stife is always good, no matter what turn you draw it on. Stifle loses a bit it's effectiveness in the late game. Now don't get me wrong, I love stife, but this deck can win very quickly vs. most decks and duress effects make that much easier to accomplish. Second, now this reason is somewhat debatible, but since I am playing fish, and especailly so because it being a merfolk deck, all my opponites thought that I had stifle and tried to play around it anyway. So, in a way I was playing it with ever having one in the deck.

Has Sygg been better than Cold-Eyed Selkie?

Yes he has. The fact he ony costs two for starters makes a big difference. The deck already has 4 three drops and thats pushing fish a little far as is. This guys has drawn my card not only on my turn but my opponites as well. Sygg's abitily is also triggered so he can cantrip the turn he comes into play rather easily and doesn't have depend on a combat phase to draw a card. He's also a great blocker, considering his large butt for a two drop. So yes overall he is better.

[policehq]

Curfew has some synergy with Silvergill Adept and Merrow Rejeerey; have you tested it in the sideboard to battle Inkwell Leviathan, Oath, etc.?

[the_lord_shaper]

No I haven't tested it, but I did think about curfew for Oath. I desided on 4 spellnare in the sideboard but I'm not too sure if that was correct. I would use curfew over edicts vs. Oath, since the creatures being in their hands is a much better place for them then in the graveyard or deck for me. Oh and inky, Recall has been great vs. that guy.

[jester3397]

Would adding standstill help?
+3 Standstill
-1 Duress
-1 Vampiric Tutor
-1 Null Rod

I'm not too sure if I made the right cuts just to fit standsill.

[the_lord_shaper]

I tested stadstill and it just wasn't really needed. You have Adepts and Sygg as your main draw engine.If you do go with the Standstill path, I would probably cut black. Standstill and Duress aren't really good friends. I do think Duress is better then Standstill, if that makes a difference. It's just that standstill may give you card advantage, but a good player can just wait till they have a pefectly busted had to crack Standstill. Plus, for Standstill to be really any good in this deck, it would have to be played in the mid-game, around turn four or five. Reason why, is that the first turn you want a Duress or Cursecatcher out. Then turn two you wan Null Rod out. Now you need another creature to truely make Standstill work well. I think it's too slow and really dosen't net card advantage when it's really needed. I do promise that you will be surprised at how good Sygg truely is.

[jaeppel]

i dont see enough things that abuse standstill to see how it could be any good.  if you draw it and already have a good board position, great.  for standstill to be worth it you need a stack of things that jump over it, or ways to improve board position without playing spells.  sometimes you just cant play standstill.. cutting 3 powerful, always playable effects for 3 conditional recalls is just not good.

[the_lord_shaper]

i dont see enough things that abuse standstill to see how it could be any good.  if you draw it and already have a good board position, great.  for standstill to be worth it you need a stack of things that jump over it, or ways to improve board position without playing spells.  sometimes you just cant play standstill.. cutting 3 powerful, always playable effects for 3 conditional recalls is just not good.

I couldn't agree with you more. Well said sir.

[jester3397]

Point taken.

With the black splash and with the meta having 30% up being fish, bug, or R/G adding a smother or two will prove to be useful. Tarmogoyf is really the reason for this, so with a meta that I face would it be a pretty good idea?

[Robert the Swordsman]

If you plan on maintaining the black splash, Dark Confidant seems like it'd be really good for this deck.

[dawgie]

Dark Confidant does look good but there is a problem to it. Dark Confidant is not a merfolk. It does not benefit from the abilities of Lord of Atlantis and Merrow Reejery. Sygg will be better because its size goes up (and will be able to attack due ti Islandwalk).

[the_lord_shaper]

Da

Dark Confidant does look good but there is a problem to it. Dark Confidant is not a merfolk. It does not benefit from the abilities of Lord of Atlantis and Merrow Reejery. Sygg will be better because its size goes up (and will be able to attack due ti Islandwalk).

And don't forget about the cantriping adepts

Point taken.

With the black splash and with the meta having 30% up being fish, bug, or R/G adding a smother or two will prove to be useful. Tarmogoyf is really the reason for this, so with a meta that I face would it be a pretty good idea?

Yes, I would think that two would be fine. Also a change in the main deck to 4 thoughtseizes would help. I just didn't have four of them to use.

[Bone]

how does this sb look in a monoblue version?

3 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Curfew
1 Echoing Truth
4 Tormod's Crypt

Should I play Spell Snare over Curfew (Oath) since it is good against more than just oath and tinker targets? Is energy flux worth a place in the side? Don't know what to take out. I feel BEB is the worst card in the side but I have met red in almost every tournament I have played.

What are this decks strong and weak matchups? Especially fish / tps / ichorid and tezzvault?

[jaeppel]

the more i look at this, i really think this is missing out not running selkie.  i agree with the points made about sygg being faster and capable of drawing 2 cards a turn.  there is also nothing here to force sygg's effect on opponents turn, so you're pretty much stuck drawing the second card when the other guy says.

selkie will get huge with 6 lord effects in the deck.  along with islandwalk you can mostly ensure an ancestral each turn, which should win all on its own.  sygg doesnt do that, but i think he has his place here too.  maybe cut 2-3 beaters for selkie and have a total 5 'ophidian' doods.

[John Jones]

I would cut null rod and add

1 timevault
1 key
1 tinker
1 levithan

The problem is not the draw engine. The problem is speed. Make the deck faster, cut null rod.

[the_lord_shaper]

I would cut null rod and add

1 timevault
1 key
1 tinker
1 levithan

The problem is not the draw engine. The problem is speed. Make the deck faster, cut null rod.

If you did that, why would you even play fish? Plus speed really isn't a problem, that's why there's 6 lord-like effects and wake thrasher. Adding Tinker and timevault do not always make a deck better.

[John Jones]

Have you ever tested a fish + key vault deck? It is acutally suprisingly amazing. See, you're already running 2 tutors, why not throw one more in and have a pretty good chance of randomly winning by turn 3 - 4. The problem with null rod is that its a win less card. All it does is stall when you should be winning.

[Pern]

Does anybody bother with Aquitect's Will to force the islandwalk?
It cantrips, and I can't really see anyone countering it.
Are there decks that don't run islands and do block?

[the_lord_shaper]

Does anybody bother with Aquitect's Will to force the islandwalk?
It cantrips, and I can't really see anyone countering it.
Are there decks that don't run islands and do block?

Most most merfolk decks have stopped trying to give their opponetes islands. Most decks in the game already have islands in them. If you do want an effect like it, then it would be better to run a merfolk creature that would do that; like Tidal Warrior. He also has magus of the moon-like effect on one land.

Have you ever tested a fish + key vault deck? It is acutally suprisingly amazing. See, you're already running 2 tutors, why not throw one more in and have a pretty good chance of randomly winning by turn 3 - 4. The problem with null rod is that its a win less card. All it does is stall when you should be winning.

I haven't perosnally tested it but I don't see how, by putting vault and key in a fish deck, would make it better or even on par with Tezz decks. It would seem like an inferior combo deck, where your aggro portion is these effective because of the lack of nullrod, and where your combo has inferior tutage, draw, and counters compared to Tezz decks.

[Bone]

Btw.. ended up with this sb for BoM III

Anti-Ichorid and stuff:
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
Anti-Oath and stuff:
3 Curfew
2 Spell Snare
Anti-Oath,Tinker,Tezz,Creatures and stuff:
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Echoing Truth

I think this will improve the Oath matchup alot (+3 Curfew, +2 Spell Snare, +2 Waterfront, +1 Echoing Truth). Along with 5 cards to help combat Ichorid. With LoA making all my fishmen unblockable against other fishdecks I feel that matchup also is okay.

[the_lord_shaper]

Btw.. ended up with this sb for BoM III

Anti-Ichorid and stuff:
4 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progenitus
Anti-Oath and stuff:
3 Curfew
2 Spell Snare
Anti-Oath,Tinker,Tezz,Creatures and stuff:
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Echoing Truth

I think this will improve the Oath matchup alot (+3 Curfew, +2 Spell Snare, +2 Waterfront, +1 Echoing Truth). Along with 5 cards to help combat Ichorid. With LoA making all my fishmen unblockable against other fishdecks I feel that matchup also is okay.

It seems to be a fine mono-blue sideboard, but I think you should take out waterfront bouncer. Bouncer isn't very good vs. Oath in the 2nd or 3rd game. It can not bounce their creatures with shroud. The fish match up is in your favor as long as Tarmogoyf doesn't resolve in the early game. I think one Hurkyl's is enough and you should add two energy flux by cutting the bouncers, then you can up your spellsnare count as well.

I know you like the mono blue version of merfolk but try out a blue/black build. You will be surprised how much more effective the deck is.

[nineisnoone]

Is there a reason why the black splash is necessary?  It seems you're replacing standstill and stifle with them.  Demonic Tutor doesn't seem very useful in this list.  Is it worth it?

Have to agree on that.  I would say that Dark Confidant would be a better card instead of the tutors.  There's nothing you really want to tutor for, except Ancestral.  Dark Confidant will probably get you more bang for your buck.  It's not a merfolk, but then again neither were the tutors.

And Wake Thrasher also doesn't seem good enough.  3 mana is a lot for a beater.  I don't know if even Tarmogoyf would be played at 3 mana.  Would also replace for Confidants.

[the_lord_shaper]

Demonic and Vamp tutor are very good in the main; They can get A-Call of course,  Time Walk, Echoing Truth, Null Rod, and Lord. It may seem odd that Lord would be that important but he is. Many games have come down to me winning off a Lord. The real boon to the tutor's is the 2nd and 3rd games. They make is much easier to get a hold of side board cards, thus making the Dredge and Oath match ups much easier. I can understand why you think Wake Thrasher is not good enough. I didn't have him in the 1st build of the deck. I only ran him as a experiment, which I was very glad I did. Wake Thrasher in this deck is usually as big or is bigger then Taromogyf, especially so if you have a Muta Vault out. I won many games off just resolving Null Rod and him. Plus unlike goyf or Confident, Lord pumps him up and gives him island walk, which normally makes him bigger then Inkwell. You can use the Taromogyf argument, of that he speeds up the damage clock, to warrant his usage.

[Bone]

What is your opinion on Hurkyl's Recall vs Energy Flux? (the first bounces Inkvell, Colossus, Platz and is one mana cheaper, the second one is a gamewinner if you get it to stick).

I'm thinking about testing out black for some tutoring but I'mno 100% sure yet. What of the spells do you remove? What do you feel the ideal creature amount is? 18?

Talking about splashing, how about some volcanic islands for 1 single Fire | Ice md and one more + Shattering Spree in the sb?

[nineisnoone]

The real boon to the tutor's is the 2nd and 3rd games. They make is much easier to get a hold of side board cards, thus making the Dredge and Oath match ups much easier.

I often just SB them for that reason rather than running them main.

Doesn't Thrashers inability to block ever come become bothersome?  Inability meaning he's a 1 toughness on defense.

[the_lord_shaper]

The real boon to the tutor's is the 2nd and 3rd games. They make is much easier to get a hold of side board cards, thus making the Dredge and Oath match ups much easier.

I often just SB them for that reason rather than running them main.

Doesn't Thrashers inability to block ever come become bothersome?  Inability meaning he's a 1 toughness on defense.

No, not really at least, but then again I never had to block with him. He usually forced my opponent to block with their dudes when he swung. Also there are six Lord-effects so there's a good chance he'll at least be a 2/2.