[Deck] Merfolk 2010, or, New England Aggro

[DubDub]

I debuted a deck I've been working on for a little while at ELD's latest Mox event (announcement thread here), to a mediocre, but encouraging finish:

Merfolk 2010 - New England Aggro

Creatures
4x Coralhelm Commander
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Merrow Reejerey
2x Cold-Eyed Selkie
2x Merfolk Sovereign
2x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1x Rootwater Thief

Instants
4x Force of Will
4x Spell Pierce
1x Ancestral Recall
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Rebuild

Sorceries
1x Time Walk
1x Tinker
1x Merchant Scroll

Artifacts
1x Black Lotus
1x Mox Emerald
1x Mox Jet
1x Mox Pearl
1x Mox Ruby
1x Mox Sapphire
1x Sol Ring
1x Time Vault
1x Trinisphere
1x Voltaic Key

Lands
5x Island
4x Wasteland
2x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Strip Mine
1x Tolarian Academy

Sideboard
3x Spell Snare
2x Energy Flux
2x Magus of the Unseen
2x Waterfront Bouncer
1x Bribery
1x Inkwell Leviathan
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Pithing Needle
1x Rebuild
1x Rootwater Thief

The sideboard was a bit ambitious, as I intentionally made the 'dredge gambit', relying on the 5 maindeck wastes, one sideboard Pithing Needle and any incidental hate my countermagic could give me.

Reason for creating the deck (i.e. Synergy)
The deck is built upon a number of interlocking synergies, but most crucial is the potential to untap Time Vault in an uncounterable way, simply by casting a Merfolk spell with one or more Merrow Reejereys in play (note that with more than one Reejerey you can target Time Vault multiple times, and respond after each untap with an activation to accumulate extra turns).  These free extra turns should generally lead directly to a win, as they effectively give haste to the creature you cast, where Thada Adel or Cold-Eyed Selkie should seal up the win (by stealing an opponent's key, or drawing you into additional Merfolk spells), and additional Lords may provide the beats necessary to end the game through combat.

Merrow Reejerey's untap ability does not just combo with Time Vault however, it can combo with Tolarian Academy to quickly dump a hand full of lords, and it can 'combo' with Coralhelm Commander to provide extra mana to level up with (for instance, with Sol Ring in play, a cast Coralhelm Commander can immediately be levelled to max, which can provide a few extra points of damage right away, much like the Exalted mechanic does.  A final use, and one I was not anticipating having to use, is casting a Merfolk spell in order to tap an opposing creature to force damage through.  I made use of this tactic against DA to tap his Sphinx, but was only able to get him down to two life before Sphinx locked up the combat step (and in that situation I was casting unfortunately a Rootwater Thief, which is basically the only creature that doesn't win the game there, as any Lord pumps my team sufficiently to win immediately, Thada Adel or Cold-Eyed Selkie would likely win with their abilities and Islandwalk, and Waterfront Bouncer would have just allowed me to deal with the Sphinx).

Another interaction is that between Merfolk lords and Cold-Eyed Selkie.  While I never had an active and pumped Cold-Eyed Selkie (it was at all times apparently a must-counter and must-kill creature for my opponents), CES is slightly better with Lords than with Exalted (in my opinion), because you are not precluded from attacking with other creatures in order to draw cards, which can be a drawback in Noble Fish.  Of course, this deck loses some of the speed of Noble Fish, due to the absence of Noble Hierarch.

I feel that running a creature deck is well positioned in two ways.  First, you dodge Spell Pierce on some of your most crucial spells.  Additionally, knowing that your creature spells dodge Spell Pierce allows you to make other strong plays.  If you have Ancestral Recall and a creature with just the mana to cast both, leading with Ancestral with sufficient mana open may deter your opponent from Piercing to avoid a 0-for-1, where it might be the right play, given that you will follow up with a creature spell they can't target.  'Throwing away' a Spell Pierce may at times be the right call, if it robs the deck of tempo, though none of my opponents made that play.  Running a creature deck also eeks a bit more advantage out of Time Walk, since you make better use of the additional combat step (versus blue-based control decks that don't typically have creatures in play).

As far as creature decks go, this one may be stronger for not including Green creatures, since I was also able to dodge Perish on the day, though a surprising number of decks were running Firespout in their sideboard (which I was glad not to be on the receiving end of).  Note that Firespout can be invalidated with enough Lords, and doesn't affect a levelled Coralhelm Commander (assuming that only Red was paid for the spell).

I would also mention that Waterfront Bouncer (who is a Merfolk at this time) is a decent trump to Oath of Druids.  Assuming that the Robot the Oath deck runs is not Inkwell Leviathan, Waterfront Bouncer can bounce any Oath creature currently played (basically, Terastodon and Iona).  Admittedly it must be landed before Iona, and can potentially be turned off by Terastodon if you lack sufficient blue sources, but it also has the potential to invalidate multiple copies of Oath of Druids at once, in a way a single Nature's Claim or Seal of Primordium or the like cannot.

Coralhelm Commander is an extremely strong addition to the deck, as he makes your off-color moxen immensely better (note that Mox Emerald is the 'best' off-color mox, as it can help cast Cold-Eyed Selkie).  He is an 'army in a can' due to the flexibility of level up.   for a 2/2 is unimpressive, but if you have an extra non-Sapphire Mox laying around he's a painless   for a 3/3 flier by the time he first attacks.  The final stage is obviously great, especially if the real cost is something like   , since you're only investing mana you wouldn't use otherwise.  In certain situations he may allow you to bluff Spell Pierce, since the level up costs is only   leaving an Island open can be conspicuous.

As a final comment on this first iteration of the deck, I opted for Trinisphere over a Robot.  There are arguments for both cards, but I figured that most of the time if I Tinkered it would be to complete Vault-Key, and I wanted another artifact worth Tinkering for that may actually be castable.  As the deck has next to no draw engine (and indeed, no Brainstorm or Jace (at the moment...)), drawing a Robot would be devastating, whereas topdecking Trinisphere is still potentially useful.  Trinisphere does not adversely affect the deck much, since most of the creatures already cost three mana, and since it runs a full suite of Wasteland/Strip Mine in order to slow the opponent.

Possible Improvements staying Mono-U
Rootwater Thief underperformed, especially since the deck is already mana-hungry.  In a more combo filled meta he may have a place, but I didn't see any Tendrils on the day.  Obviously other current inclusions are up for discussion.  I choose against Cursecatcher since Spell Pierce is better on turn one, and immensely better in response to a non-instant, non-sorcery game winner like Tezzeret, Time Vault, Jace, Oath, etc.

These cards are at the top of the list to test:
Sygg, River Cutthroat, Jace the Mind Sculptor, and Cold Eyed Selkie #3.  The deck needs a draw engine, badly.  These seem like the best choices.

Lesser options:
Merfolk Skyscout also untaps permanents, which can combo with a Time Vault you control, but only if Time Vault is on the battlefield.
Merrow Harbinger can smooth your draws, and find you a Lord/Thada/Bouncer but is likely too expensive.  A Merfolk Matron type card would be infinitely preferable.
Seasinger may merit testing against Oath, though I believe Bouncer is preferable.  Surgespanner is another choice against Oath, but is again simply too expensive.
Brittle Effigy is a nice new colorless answer to Iona, but I'm not sure it's significantly better than Aether Spellbomb.

Mana Drain is an attractive option as always, but I choose Spell Pierce instead due to the unlikelihood of have   up to cast a creature and Drain in the same turn, as well as the lack of good targets to drain into (again due to the   cost of most of the creatures).  If I were to play Mana Drain in a blue-based Fish deck I'd want Glen Elendra Archmage, which I felt did not fit here.

Exploring Other Colors
Any second color is going to bring a weaker manabase.  The enormous number of   costs mean non-Island basics are likely out, however each color (besides Red) offers cards that mono-U can't.

White - White brings Sygg, River Guide as a tool against Oath, as well as Seal of Cleansing/Aura of Silence/Serenity.  Sejiri Merfolk would be an inclusion against TPS and opposing Fish decks.

Green - Green brings Nature's Claim and Seal of Primordium (neither of which kill Sphinx), as well as the promise of Time Walk -> Regrowth -> Time Walk for the win.  I don't believe Tarmogoyf would merit inclusion.

Black - Black would add consistency to the main, bringing Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor.  Demonic Consultation and Yawgmoth's Will are potentially good.  Also, Duress/Thoughtseize would begin to compete with Spell Pierce.  Black would also bring a blue/non-blue game to dealing with Iona, with Diabolic Edict, Cruel Edict, or Deathmark in the sideboard (note that Deathmark hits each of Sphinx, Terastodon, and Iona!).

Red - I don't think Red has cards we want that we can't get in other colors.

Initial Performance
I piloted the deck only to 2-3 in its debut, beating Tezzeret and Noble Fish, while losing in three games to each of Demonic Attorney with Oath + Vault/Key, Oli with Tezzeret, and the eventual winner Brassman with Dredge.

Against DA I resolved Bribery in game three, but managed to lose.  I believe there were lines of play available during and after Bribery's resolution that would have led to a win.  Additionally I got him to two life after he had Tinkered up Sphinx, but then drew two Moxen, a Magus of the Unseen (which would have won me the game had it not been countered) and a useless Force of Will.

Against Oli I played to my outs in Game three, narrowly losing because I held back Magus of the Unseen since I knew he had 2-3 Sower of Temptations left in his deck (one having been pitched to Force), while he instead dropped a 1-of Tezzeret to win (and my outs on my one turn were Voltaic Key, Tinker, and Time Walk (to give my Magus 'haste')).

Brassman was unfortunately playing Dredge, and beat me through Wasteland in game one.  I went aggro with Coralhelm Commander in game two with Strip Mine for his Bazaar, but he blew me out in game three.  Brassman ended up winning the whole tournament.

Honestly, I won a few games on the back of Black Lotus (notably, turn one Black Lotus + Thada Adel + Island + Spell Pierce against Oli in game two), but didn't 'luck into' any unearned Time Vault + Voltaic Key wins, or wins with the combo using Tinker, or wins with Time Walk.  I think the small sample from this tournament is representative of the deck.

A Final Note
This is a rogue deck, designed to attack the meta I anticipated (where I was slightly off/unlucky, unfortunately facing one of two dredge decks instead of any of 4+ Shops decks).  I recognize that Oath is a serious problem for the deck, but I think the tools are there to address that matchup (some of the white spells listed, Jace the Mind Sculptor, or the cards I've already tried: Bribery, Spell Snare, and Waterfront Bouncer).  This deck is however only one card away from being very good regardless of meta.  Whether that's Magus of the Basics (with a Merfolk creature type, preferably), Magus of the Unseen shifted to Merfolk type, a Merfolk Lackey or Matron, or even a Merfolk 'Llanowar Elves'.  Merfolk Tribal spells could also be printed to enable the deck, especially draw spells.

The deck generated a fair amount of interest on the day, so I am pleased to share it with you.  I would be happy to discuss any aspect of the construction and reasoning with the goal of improving the deck.

[serracollector]

Your deck reminds me a lot of a mono blue fish build I had several months ago.  Another great card you should try is:

Grimiore Theif
UU
2/2
When ~this~ becomes tapped, exile the top 3 cards of your opponents library FACE DOWN, you may look at these exiled cards at any time.
U, sac ~this~ reveal all cards exiled with ~this~ counter any and all spells with the same name as a revealed card.

Not only can it act as a sitting counterspell, it works 3 times as hard as a Rootwater Theif for free(just not your choice which 3), but think of it this way in the current meta, Other than MUD, what decks run 4 of anything other than FoW? or maybe Dark Ritual?

You tap a Grimiore to Atk and remove 3 cards from the restricted list, that hurt's people.  I once played oath, swung on turn 2 and removed 3 oath's, unlucky him, lucky me.

I know it's a "luck" not skill card, but it has worked amazingly for me just by tapping it to atk, I haven't even tried to fit in some janky "tap a merfolk to do this" type of card, or a Earth craft lol. 

Also I would go 4 Reejery over the 2 sov, how often do you need to make them unblockable anyways?  You already got waterfront bouncer for tinker/oath toys, and magus and bouncer for Lodestone/Karn.

4 reejery just lets you tap down their critters anyways.

Also in my testing having 4 Silvergil Adept was better than the selkies/thada's maindeck.  Thada is a SB card in my opinion, and as you said selkie dies quick all the times, and/or your opponent isn't playing island, making it a BAD ophidian.  Silvergil Adept gives you the draw now, and its a 2/1 for 2 mana, which can be cast w off color moxen.


Also trinisphere is a bad idea, you got 1 of it, 1 tinker, and 1 mystical to find tinker.  For a card that ONLY helps against....tendrils? 
If you want a tinker toy other than Vault, you play Sword of Fire/Ice of Umezze's Jitte.  Sword gives you draw, and way to deal with opposing critters, Jitte gives you life, critter kill, and a pumper to finish faster, so your choice.  I prefer sofi, but i always like to have a full hand.  Your call, but I would say drop Trini.

so in my view

-2 Soveriegn
+2 Reejery

-2 Selkie
-2 Thada
+4 Silvergil Adept

-1 Theif (sucks)
-1 rebuild (sideboard card)
-1 Merchant scroll (for wat Force an Ancestral?)
-1 Thirst for knowledge (ah so you can discard useless Trinisphere....)

+4 Grimiore Theif

-1 Trinisphere
+1 Good equipment card

Hope that helps, continue testing, good luck.

[BruiZar]

Initially I thought the list was crap, until I looked more carefully. I think there is room for improvement but I definately like where it is going. The sideboard probably wants Hurkyll's Recall.

[DubDub]

Grimiore Theif
Not only can it act as a sitting counterspell, it works 3 times as hard as a Rootwater Theif for free(just not your choice which 3), but think of it this way in the current meta, Other than MUD, what decks run 4 of anything other than FoW? or maybe Dark Ritual?

You tap a Grimiore to Atk and remove 3 cards from the restricted list, that hurt's people.  I once played oath, swung on turn 2 and removed 3 oath's, unlucky him, lucky me.

I know it's a "luck" not skill card, but it has worked amazingly for me just by tapping it to atk, I haven't even tried to fit in some janky "tap a merfolk to do this" type of card, or a Earth craft lol. 

Also in my testing having 4 Silvergil Adept was better than the selkies/thada's maindeck.  Thada is a SB card in my opinion, and as you said selkie dies quick all the times, and/or your opponent isn't playing island, making it a BAD ophidian.  Silvergil Adept gives you the draw now, and its a 2/1 for 2 mana, which can be cast w off color moxen.

Also trinisphere is a bad idea, you got 1 of it, 1 tinker, and 1 mystical to find tinker.  For a card that ONLY helps against....tendrils? 
If you want a tinker toy other than Vault, you play Sword of Fire/Ice of Umezze's Jitte.  Sword gives you draw, and way to deal with opposing critters, Jitte gives you life, critter kill, and a pumper to finish faster, so your choice.  I prefer sofi, but i always like to have a full hand.  Your call, but I would say drop Trini.

Sword of Fire and Ice

'2x Merrow Reejerey' was a huge typo that's now fixed.  Unfortunate that the only (I hope) typo in that wall of text was in the one line that is arguably *most* crucial to the deck.

Grimoire Thief is an interesting suggestion, and though I was aware of it, I admit I had not tested it.  However, it is less useful against highlander decks than against decks packing 4-ofs.  If you had managed to remove the three land cards allowing your opponent to draw the fourth card down, an Oath, you may be telling a different story.  It certainly does merit testing, but it faces strong competition at two mana (Lord of Atlantis, Coralhelm Commander) and the three mana 'Folk are largely just better.

I did test Silvergill Adept, and I feel it goes hand-in-hand with Aether Vial, as drawing an uncastable Adept is just about the worst thing ever.  I went from 4x Aether Vial down to 3x, then 2x, then 0x, at which point I couldn't get behind Adept.  Arik suggested Aether Vial as a 1-of because you so rarely want multiples, which I may give another shot.  Comparing Silvergill Adept to Dark Confidant makes me want to slap Bob Maher, and it too can't compete with the three mana merfolk.  Thada and Selkie were insane all day (well, not against Dredge), and I would not cut them from the main in New England.  Indeed I feel the third Selkie is likely a good choice.  Instead of having just Time Vault and Tinker to get a Vault working with Reejerey, Thada gives you an additional two ways to get a Vault into play, though you have to be wary of Hurkyl's Recall/Rebuild/Repeal and tutoring up your opponent's win conditions.

Part of the reason I played Trinisphere is I was hoping people would play 4x Preordain just because it's new.  It definitely sealed up a non-zero number of games for me on the day (and at least one where I cast it, not Tinkered for it), though as I said there are arguments against it.  I should note that I did consider extremely rare situations where one would want to tap Trinisphere with Merrow Reejerey's ability in order to 'turn if off'.

Sword of Fire and Ice is an interesting idea, although one hit by Null Rod.  It would help against Sphinx, and allow any creature I equip it to to trade with Lodestone, it definitely deserves testing.  Sword of Fire and Ice is however a much better card in a sort of Drain-Fish deck alongside Glen Elendra Archmage, and I think the existing shell using Spell Pierce is slightly stronger.

As a general comment, I think Hurkyl's Recall is preferable to Rebuild in this deck, both because Lodestone has made it harder to get to three mana + paying for spheres, and because you may have stolen something with Thada you don't want to give back.  I ran Rebuilds mostly because I have foil ones, and thankfully it was never relevant that they weren't Hurkyl's.  I believe I only ever cycled them or pitched them to Force on the day.

[Delha]

2x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
A Final Note
This is a rogue deck, designed to attack the meta I anticipated (where I was slightly off/unlucky, unfortunately facing one of two dredge decks instead of any of 4+ Shops decks).  I recognize that Oath is a serious problem for the deck, but I think the tools are there to address that matchup (some of the white spells listed, Jace the Mind Sculptor, or the cards I've already tried: Bribery, Spell Snare, and Waterfront Bouncer).  This deck is however only one card away from being very good regardless of meta.

Thanks for the writeup! I think the list is really interesting, and I'm definitely hoping it's given a fair shot by other people as well. A couple quesitons... What do you consider the idea meta for the deck? What in specific do you think the deck needs to be "very good regardless of meta"?

[DubDub]

2x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
A Final Note
This is a rogue deck, designed to attack the meta I anticipated (where I was slightly off/unlucky, unfortunately facing one of two dredge decks instead of any of 4+ Shops decks).  I recognize that Oath is a serious problem for the deck, but I think the tools are there to address that matchup (some of the white spells listed, Jace the Mind Sculptor, or the cards I've already tried: Bribery, Spell Snare, and Waterfront Bouncer).  This deck is however only one card away from being very good regardless of meta.

Thanks for the writeup! I think the list is really interesting, and I'm definitely hoping it's given a fair shot by other people as well. A couple quesitons... What do you consider the idea meta for the deck? What in specific do you think the deck needs to be "very good regardless of meta"?

Thanks.  I think the ideal meta would be split just between Tezzeret and other forms of fish (Noble Fish).  Tezzeret can be severely hampered by having one or more attackers down, since the namesake needs a turn unmolested to win.  Jace is more of an issue, but shouldn't live for long unless you only have one dude out.  Jace bouncing a lone creature, and having that creature be a leveled Coralhelm Commander would be a nightmare, thankfully one I've so far escaped (though I did have a leveled C.C. get Chain of Vapor'd).

Against Noble Fish, our creatures are just better if we have more than one (or even just one if it's C.C), and it's very hard for them to tempo us because we have 6x Basics and it's easy to play around Daze.  We can also bring in Inkwell against them, and they can't turn purely into a Bant Aggro deck post-side because I'd keep in Time Vault and Key.  The only creature in Noble Fish that I'd consider Forceable would be Cold-Eyed Selkie, and our Spell Snares are very live against their Tarmogoyfs/Qasalis/Null Rods/Meddling Mages, etc.

I think this build had decent game against Oath and Shops, though only because they so dominated my sideboard at the expense of the Dredge matchup.  I did not face any dedicated Storm deck, but I would think the matchup is in their favor, unless we find/Tinker-up Trinisphere with protection.  With the printing of Lodestone more TPS decks are prepared to handle artifact-based hate in game one, but having Trinisphere is still better than the alternative.

My comment about 'one card away' was not intended to mean that 59 of these 60 maindeck cards are correct.  What I meant was that there are some very printable cards that would not break other formats but which would power this deck up.  I mentioned 'Magus of the Basics', which would be a powerful addition to both Legacy and Vintage merfolk, and some other speculative cards.  I would expect the deck to gain another significant boost during the next Tribal block, though that won't be in the form of another Lord unless it's more efficient than Merfolk Sovereign (I don't think Sovereign #3 or #4 are worth running in Vintage currently).  The claim that a card could be printed to make the deck good is a tautology, but I'd hazard that a powerful new Merfolk creature/tribal-spell is more printable going forward than: '[appropriate mana cost] Sorcery - Draw a card. Storm.' given the recent push in creatures' power level.

[BruiZar]

I think Grimoire Thief is brutal in this deck. It´s cheap, its effecient against the restricted list and it is good against nonrestricted cards too.  It might be too slow though. Why are you not running Daze+Aether Vial?

It can give you an uncounterable counter against opponent´s Force of Will, Oath of Druids, and all the 4offs in stax. It essentially counters 3 spells each time it gets tapped. Another interesting note is that Overtaker is now also a merfolk. Which could mean that you can swing for lethal grabbing DSC/Inkwell or disable your opponent to cast blue spells in your turn with Iona, or get your life back against Sphinx. Against Terastodon you probably wont have the mana to use it.

[DubDub]

I think Grimoire Thief is brutal in this deck. It´s cheap, its effecient against the restricted list and it is good against nonrestricted cards too.  It might be too slow though. Why are you not running Daze+Aether Vial?

It can give you an uncounterable counter against opponent´s Force of Will, Oath of Druids, and all the 4offs in stax. It essentially counters 3 spells each time it gets tapped. Another interesting note is that Overtaker is now also a merfolk. Which could mean that you can swing for lethal grabbing DSC/Inkwell or disable your opponent to cast blue spells in your turn with Iona, or get your life back against Sphinx. Against Terastodon you probably wont have the mana to use it.

Yes, Grimoire Thief certainly merits testing, but it faces stiff competition at CMC= , and should not replace Thada, Cold-Eyed, or Reejerey at CMC= .  Perhaps it's better than the Merfolk Sovereigns?  It is great to have the two extra lords against Noble Fish though, and I could see the unblockable ability of Sovereign being relevant against Shops (getting a pumped Selkie through when they don't have islands, but do have blockers could make or break a match).

I did look at Overtaker, but in most situations I'm fine with Waterfront Bouncer instead, the cheaper activation cost is relevant against Terastodon, and bouncing is fine against Iona/Sphinx/DSC (unless they have Jace, but if they have Iona/Sphinx/DSC and Jace out you're screwed anyway).  Note that in the case of Robots Magus of the Unseen is preferable to Overtaker, despite Overtaker having the Merfolk creature type.  Magus also works against opposing Time Vaults.  Finally there is the insanely small probability of having Time Vault, Merrow Reejerey and Waterfront Bouncer in play, and discarding cards to bounce and replay Bouncer each turn in order to combo-out with Vault (additional Merfolk you draw during these turns can simply be played instead of discarded, you will eventually find Voltaic Key, or Reejerey may be able to win on its own).

[serracollector]

Remember having Grimiore Theif also hurts:

Top deck tutors - not they most aren't cast EOT but now thye must be.

If you attack first, then cast spells during 2nd main, it stops them from stacking a counter with TOP.

And this is luck ofc, but with many decks playing so few WC, you have a good chance to rip one or more. 

If you rip a restricted card and then they demonic consultation for it....... 

Also if acts as both a remover of cards and as a backup counter spell.  Honestly when I tested it tho, I rarely if EVER popped him, not because they weren't casting multiples, but because I beleive the ripping of 3 cards a turn, +2 or more damage, was more powerful, and I just used my counterspells for their other stuff.  Think about it you have 8 counters, and bounce.  And ripping 3 cards from the game from them leaves less things you NEED to counter.

I  can understand Thada if the majority of your meta is oath with vault and tezz. 

1 question, if the majority of your field is Oath Tezz and Fish, and not mud, then shouldn't you have Misdirection?  At least 1 or 2.  It counters counterspells, and stops Swords/Ancestral/Edict.

[Djinn]

My impression of your deck is that it can't really decide what it wants to be. 

You are essentially playing fish which is an aggro deck, but you also have a combo of time vault+untap method built in.  Its a good idea in theory but I think you are taking away from the deck by splitting it into 2 things.  Your time vault combo/card seems like more of a "win-more" card is what I'm saying.

Its been mentioned before you have some tutors which lack substantial targets.  Merchant scroll has been said, but I feel as thought your tinker is weak.  Tinker for time vault is good, but I think you should add a DSC/Inkwell/sphinx or something.  This way if you can open with tinker you can get a bomb on the board, but an early time vault is not very helpful.  If you play it it can be destroyed, and if you leave it in your hand it can be removed via disruption.

It is my real opinion though that you should drop the off color moxes and time vault, and add null rods.  If you don't draw a force of will in your opening hand you don't really have any way to stop your opponent.  I think daze would be a good addition for that.  You have a creature deck, and you need to win fast before the opponent can establish his/herself, because if you don't beat a TPS player quick for instance, you literally have nothing in your deck to stop a lethal tendris.  Ultimately it feels like you're playing an aggro deck without the perks of aggro (null rod), and a combo deck without the speed and explosiveness.

[dawgie]

Doesn't Cursecatcher merit a spot in the deck? Or it just does nothing since its useless in the late game?

[The Atog Lord]

I think this looks very clever. You have a typical Fish deck, but with a combo added. A combo with a very light footprint. One of my major problems with Fish decks in Vintage has always been their inability to recover should the opponent pull ahead. They really need to stay on top the entire game. This deck, however, has the ability to pull a win from out of nowhere using its combo.

I wonder if a bit more focus on that combo would pay dividends. I don't mean running bad cards to make it work, but rather splashing Black for Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. And running more copies of Thada Adel wouldn't be a terrible idea.

I also would have suggested your trying Vials, but it appears you did test and reject them.

Thanks for posting this.

[Yare]

Really interesting deck here and a very nice write up. Thanks for posting this.

[beder]

Very interesting idea, thanks for posting it!

My 2 cents remarks :

- As it has already been said, I think that the tinker package needs to be thought again. Right now, with only mystical as a tutor to get tinker, I feel like this is not a sufficently reliable game plan to deserve those slots. If tinker is kept, surely one can find a best target than trinisphere (sundering titan, inkwell, sphynx, ...).

- I have the feeling that the deck tempo may be weird. There is only very few early game options, all the creatures cost  a minimum of or 3CC. I think that something has to be done in order to smooth the spell cost curve. Curscatcher has been proposed and could perhaps be a good idea.

[BruiZar]

What I like about this deck is that Thada can finish half your combo.

If you have Voltaic Key in play, you use Thada to steal Time Vault
If you have Time Vault in play, you use Thada to steal Voltaic Key
If you have Merrow Reejerey in play, you can use Thada to Steal Time Vault
If you have Voltaic Key in play, you can tinker for Time Vault
If you have Time Vault in play, you can tinker for Voltaic Key
If you have Thada in play, you can tinker for either Voltaic Key or Time Vault
If you have Thada in play, you can timewalk to grab both Voltaic Key AND Time Vault
If you have Thada in play, you can grab Time Vault, skip the turn and grab Voltaic Key giving your opponent only one more turn to answer your threat.

There are so many ways to assemble the combo, even if you grab no combo piece yourself.

[Cyberpunker]

This is a great list. I don't know how it actually plays out, but it looks good. Keep up the good work.

[DubDub]

Thanks for the responses!

Remember having Grimiore Theif also hurts:

Top deck tutors - not they most aren't cast EOT but now thye must be.
[...]

1 question, if the majority of your field is Oath Tezz and Fish, and not mud, then shouldn't you have Misdirection?  At least 1 or 2.  It counters counterspells, and stops Swords/Ancestral/Edict.

I think it would be extremely rare for an opponent to play a top-deck tutor right into a non-summoning-sick Grimoire Thief.

Re: Misdirection.  I just didn't find room for it in the maindeck, and I was concerned about Shops as well.  Additionally, I think Mindbreak Trap is preferable as a 9th counterspell from the sideboard.

My impression of your deck is that it can't really decide what it wants to be. 

You are essentially playing fish which is an aggro deck, but you also have a combo of time vault+untap method built in.  Its a good idea in theory but I think you are taking away from the deck by splitting it into 2 things.  Your time vault combo/card seems like more of a "win-more" card is what I'm saying.

Actually I think the deck benefits from its flexibility.  With two such different gameplans, that are still synergistic, it can be difficult for opponents to have the proper answers at the right times.  That distinguishes this deck from other fish decks, where killing creatures kills the deck.  I don't think the combo kill is win-more, I believe it's just a potential win-now.

Its been mentioned before you have some tutors which lack substantial targets.  Merchant scroll has been said, but I feel as thought your tinker is weak.  Tinker for time vault is good, but I think you should add a DSC/Inkwell/sphinx or something.  This way if you can open with tinker you can get a bomb on the board, but an early time vault is not very helpful.  If you play it it can be destroyed, and if you leave it in your hand it can be removed via disruption.

I'll definitely revisit a Robot vs. non-Robot Tinker target in testing.  Note that I had Inkwell to bring in against Fish.  At least one other player on the day dropped their Robot for Mindslaver (though that player had welders).

It is my real opinion though that you should drop the off color moxes and time vault, and add null rods.  If you don't draw a force of will in your opening hand you don't really have any way to stop your opponent.  I think daze would be a good addition for that.  You have a creature deck, and you need to win fast before the opponent can establish his/herself, because if you don't beat a TPS player quick for instance, you literally have nothing in your deck to stop a lethal tendris.  Ultimately it feels like you're playing an aggro deck without the perks of aggro (null rod), and a combo deck without the speed and explosiveness.

I don't think Null Rod is the way to go.  Turning off, or removing off-color Moxen would significantly hurt Coralhelm Commander.  Removing Time Vault would significantly hurt Merrow Reejerey and Thada Adel.  The best Null Rod aggro deck is in my opinion Noble Fish.  I posted this in blue-based control for a reason.

Doesn't Cursecatcher merit a spot in the deck? Or it just does nothing since its useless in the late game?

Cursecatcher is blank against so many of the best spells of the deck we're trying to prey on: Dark Confidant, Tezzeret, Jace, Time Vault, Voltaic Key, not to mention Oath of Druids and everything in Shop decks.  I also don't think we have quite enough countermagic to force a stack battle where Cursecatcher can contribute.  Please note that Cursecatcher would slightly improve the Dredge matchup.

I think this looks very clever. You have a typical Fish deck, but with a combo added. A combo with a very light footprint. One of my major problems with Fish decks in Vintage has always been their inability to recover should the opponent pull ahead. They really need to stay on top the entire game. This deck, however, has the ability to pull a win from out of nowhere using its combo.

I wonder if a bit more focus on that combo would pay dividends. I don't mean running bad cards to make it work, but rather splashing Black for Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor. And running more copies of Thada Adel wouldn't be a terrible idea.

I also would have suggested your trying Vials, but it appears you did test and reject them.

Thanks for posting this.

The color splash that is most appealing to me is Black, for the reasons you mentioned.  In addition to improving the combo, the two black tutors also find Time Walk, which can sometimes seal a win if you have sufficient board presence.  I intend to test the third Cold-Eyed Selkie before the third Thada Adel, due to Thada's Legendary status, but there may be room and reason to have three of each.

Very interesting idea, thanks for posting it!

- I have the feeling that the deck tempo may be weird. There is only very few early game options, all the creatures cost  a minimum of or 3CC. I think that something has to be done in order to smooth the spell cost curve. Curscatcher has been proposed and could perhaps be a good idea.

I think my reasons not to run Cursecatcher are sound.  One of the speculative cards I think would truly make the deck would be a Merfolk 'Llanowar Elves' shifted to blue (perhaps 0/1 and Legendary, since it's not in blue's slice of the color pie).  I actually looked at a green splash for Noble Hierarch to accelerate to CMC= , but the lack of Merfolk type, and the dis-synergy with multiple lords encouraging multiple attackers made it unprofitable in my mind.  Many of my opponents were fine with slowing the game down to avoid my Spell Pierce, which is where you hope to have Waste/Strip to punish them.  Opponents not going for it early makes Coralhelm Commander better, since he is again so painlessly a threat on his own, and can force action as a 4/4 on turn three.

[Djinn]

If you want to keep the off color moxes and not add null rod, I would say to add more control aspects to your deck.  Force of will and spell pierce are the only means of countering, half of your counters only work against something thats 2cc.  If you remove the merchant scroll and trini, theres at least 2 spaces for either maindeck daze or spell snare (run either 2x, ideally make room for at least 3, not one and the other).  I don't know how many creatures you plan on countering that have been hard casted, but maybe use spell snare instead of spell pierce?  Just a thought.  Also if you ran waterfront bouncer with spell pierce you could most likely counter your opponents spells, and whatever gets through your spell pierce you can bounce with Waterfront.   

I'm at work, but I will do a little more research and come up with some more suggestions.  I didn't make it clear in my last post but I do like your deck, it just has a little bit of an identity crisis . 

[DubDub]

If you want to keep the off color moxes and not add null rod, I would say to add more control aspects to your deck.  Force of will and spell pierce are the only means of countering, half of your counters only work against something thats 2cc.  If you remove the merchant scroll and trini, theres at least 2 spaces for either maindeck daze or spell snare (run either 2x, ideally make room for at least 3, not one and the other).  I don't know how many creatures you plan on countering that have been hard casted, but maybe use spell snare instead of spell pierce?  Just a thought.  Also if you ran waterfront bouncer with spell pierce you could most likely counter your opponents spells, and whatever gets through your spell pierce you can bounce with Waterfront.   

I'm at work, but I will do a little more research and come up with some more suggestions.  I didn't make it clear in my last post but I do like your deck, it just has a little bit of an identity crisis . 

It seems to me that you might be conflating Spell Pierce and Spell Snare.  Snare is the one that counters spells with CMC =  .  Another alternative would be Annul, which I did not test.  I was concerned about Tarmogoyf/Dark Confidant decks, but Annul may yet prove to be a better card out of the board as it is better against Shops.

[serracollector]

Annul works against shop AND OATH and Time Vault.  Annulling a black lotus isn't a bad move either turn 1.

[xouman]

I have played merfolks for nearly a year in Vintage (although unpow) and I would make the following changes:

-4moxen
-2x Merfolk Sovereign
-1x Rootwater Thief
-2x Cold-Eyed Selkie
-1trinisphere

+4cursecatcher/chalice of the void
+4mutavault
+1brainstorm


Mana costs are very expensive, there are lots of UU creatures that are quite difficult to get with that manabase.

Null rod is not an option if you play vault+key, but chalices would give you huge advantage on the play (and can be used for tinker if finally played). Or you can play Cursecatcher, better against Ichorid and worse against MUD, better on the draw and worse on the play :p

For the sideboard I would test back to basics and annul, plus waterfront bouncer (it gave me very good usefulness) one magus of the unseen (if there are lots of vaults around).


Nevertheless I would play UBg Tezz, with Tarmos in the side. Bobs alongside with tarmos hit really hard, tinker is easier to play and combo too. If there are lots of vaults, Thada is still an option.

[Malakai]

I agree in that I think we definitely want to find room for 4x Cursecatcher in the main.  Black tutors seem useful as well, although I'm not sure how much the deck wants them.

[DubDub]

Annul works against shop AND OATH and Time Vault.  Annulling a black lotus isn't a bad move either turn 1.

Yes, I mentioned Annul because it's very good.  I was more concerned at the time with Tarmogoyf/Dark Confidant/Qasali Pridemage.

I have played merfolks for nearly a year in Vintage (although unpow) and I would make the following changes:

-4moxen
-2x Merfolk Sovereign
-1x Rootwater Thief
-2x Cold-Eyed Selkie
-1trinisphere

+4cursecatcher/chalice of the void
+4mutavault
+1brainstorm


Mana costs are very expensive, there are lots of UU creatures that are quite difficult to get with that manabase.

Null rod is not an option if you play vault+key, but chalices would give you huge advantage on the play (and can be used for tinker if finally played). Or you can play Cursecatcher, better against Ichorid and worse against MUD, better on the draw and worse on the play :p

For the sideboard I would test back to basics and annul, plus waterfront bouncer (it gave me very good usefulness) one magus of the unseen (if there are lots of vaults around).


Nevertheless I would play UBg Tezz, with Tarmos in the side. Bobs alongside with tarmos hit really hard, tinker is easier to play and combo too. If there are lots of vaults, Thada is still an option.

That's quite a reversal in the direction of the deck.  You're taking out four non-Sapphire Moxen, but adding four Mutavaults.  I'm not sure how your manabase is better for casting  costs.  Taking out the Moxen also hurts Coralhelm Commander, who I don't think the deck is worth playing without.

I've given my opinion on Cursecatcher, though I would encourage you to test him out if you want.  I don't feel that Cursecatcher is impressive given the high number of opposing spells we want to counter that he can't hit (Planeswalkers, Oath, anything in Shops).

Brainstorm is obviously good, but I could not find room for it, and I lack sufficient shuffle effects to capitalize upon it fully.

Chalice of the Void probably deserves testing, but that may tip the deck too far over toward tempo, where you'd then want Null Rods, which would make Coralhelm Commander again worse, and Merrow Reejerey worse, and Thada Adel worse... etc.  In my opinion Noble Fish is a stronger Null Rod aggro deck than Merfolk could hope to be.

Back to Basics is a great card that I will test for the sideboard.  However, one of the reasons Oli beat me was he was able to get to five mana before exposing a dual land to my Wastelands.  I don't think manabases are getting too greedy in general for Back to Basics to be better than other options.  B2B also doesn't play well at all with your proposed 4x Mutavault addition.  I think Stifle is probably a better option at completing the mana-denial, and it has potential applications against Oath and Ichorid.  I did not test Stifle on the grounds that it's worse in Vintage than Legacy, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily Vintage unplayable.  I think having Stifle makes one more dependent on going first, and hurts this deck's late game (where topdecking Stifle is horrible, but getting C.C. to accelerate the clock, or one of the few win-now buttons is nice).

Finally, I'm not sure why you mention UBg Tezz, as that is a completely different deck that isn't really relevant to this discussion.  In fact, that sounds like exactly the sort of deck I hope to face (though I realize that not's a statement about which is better against the meta).

I agree in that I think we definitely want to find room for 4x Cursecatcher in the main.  Black tutors seem useful as well, although I'm not sure how much the deck wants them.

If we were still in the Thirst dominated meta I think you'd have a point, but we aren't.  My testing since posting the list has been to add Black and I do think that Black is a strong addition, but I still plan to test the other color splashes.  White in particular is a compelling option, in my opinion.

[honestabe]

Time Vault and Regis Folkman is the cutest thing of all time

[xouman]

That's quite a reversal in the direction of the deck.  You're taking out four non-Sapphire Moxen, but adding four Mutavaults.  I'm not sure how your manabase is better for casting  costs.  Taking out the Moxen also hurts Coralhelm Commander, who I don't think the deck is worth playing without.

In this deck moxen are not better than mutavaults imho. Moxen give a plus of acceleration, but not so much because of the UU costs, this deck takes few profit of colorless mana in the first turns. In the mid-late game mutavaults are great. I agree that coralhelm benefits from moxes, but it is a bit narrow to put moxen > mutavaults.

I've given my opinion on Cursecatcher, though I would encourage you to test him out if you want.  I don't feel that Cursecatcher is impressive given the high number of opposing spells we want to counter that he can't hit (Planeswalkers, Oath, anything in Shops).

If you expect lots of MUD and Oath, cursecatcher may not be a fine option, and I side it lots of times. But it helps the mana curve, fights tinker (my worst enemy :p), tutors, counterspells...

Brainstorm is obviously good, but I could not find room for it, and I lack sufficient shuffle effects to capitalize upon it fully.

Chalice of the Void probably deserves testing, but that may tip the deck too far over toward tempo, where you'd then want Null Rods, which would make Coralhelm Commander again worse, and Merrow Reejerey worse, and Thada Adel worse... etc.  In my opinion Noble Fish is a stronger Null Rod aggro deck than Merfolk could hope to be.

Null rod gives tempo. A couple of turns for an Aggro deck is Massive. If your main plan is based on artifacts rod is not an option, but if your plan is disruptive, or if you want to win a couple of turns, rod is a serious weapon.

Back to Basics is a great card that I will test for the sideboard.  However, one of the reasons Oli beat me was he was able to get to five mana before exposing a dual land to my Wastelands.  I don't think manabases are getting too greedy in general for Back to Basics to be better than other options.  B2B also doesn't play well at all with your proposed 4x Mutavault addition.  I think Stifle is probably a better option at completing the mana-denial, and it has potential applications against Oath and Ichorid.  I did not test Stifle on the grounds that it's worse in Vintage than Legacy, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily Vintage unplayable.  I think having Stifle makes one more dependent on going first, and hurts this deck's late game (where topdecking Stifle is horrible, but getting C.C. to accelerate the clock, or one of the few win-now buttons is nice).

I also think B2B is not good enough, and of course I don't play them with manlands, I just suggested it because in certain metagames and without manlands can make the spot.

I used to play 2-3 stifles, but with so many basic lands and MUDs you rely too many on luck; as you said, it's a crap topdeck. Besides, an aggro deck wants to deploy cards in its main phase, not keep mana open in order to play stifle/counters. It can give a turn against Oath, dredge and vault, but usually 1 turn is not enough.

Finally, I'm not sure why you mention UBg Tezz, as that is a completely different deck that isn't really relevant to this discussion.  In fact, that sounds like exactly the sort of deck I hope to face (though I realize that not's a statement about which is better against the meta).

The original deck was an aggro deck with vault+key. Playing 4 tarmos + tinker maindeck in a tezz deck gives a decent amount of aggro, while keeping good chances of win with key+vault. But you are true, it is a different deck

Probably our metagames are quite different (I'm from Spain) so my opinions are not useful, but I'm interested in your approach

[DubDub]

In this deck moxen are not better than mutavaults imho. Moxen give a plus of acceleration, but not so much because of the UU costs, this deck takes few profit of colorless mana in the first turns. In the mid-late game mutavaults are great. I agree that coralhelm benefits from moxes, but it is a bit narrow to put moxen > mutavaults.

They certainly aren't strictly better, which is not what I meant to say, but they do give the deck close to enough speed to keep up with Tezz.  A hand with Spell Pierce, Thada, two Islands and a Mox is more than a little bit better than one with the same but a Mutavault in the Mox's place.  I certainly don't see Muta's as substitutes for the off color Moxen, I think the first Mutavault may have a better chance at replacing the fourth Wasteland.  Mutavault does give one another near-costless attacker, that benefits from Lords and can put a long clock on Oath without activating Oath, so it's worth testing.

In full disclosure, while I tested Mutavaults, I decided against them for the tournament I played in partly because I don't own any.

Null rod gives tempo. A couple of turns for an Aggro deck is Massive. If your main plan is based on artifacts rod is not an option, but if your plan is disruptive, or if you want to win a couple of turns, rod is a serious weapon.

I understand what Null Rod does, and how it can be used to create tempo, but this deck is trying to steal a little tempo with Spell Pierce and Wasteland to set up Merrow Reejerey + Time Vault + Merfolk Spells, or to just win with Time Vault + Key. 
'A couple of turns for an Aggro deck is Massive', right, especially *real* *true* Time Walks coming for free.

The original deck was an aggro deck with vault+key. Playing 4 tarmos + tinker maindeck in a tezz deck gives a decent amount of aggro, while keeping good chances of win with key+vault. But you are true, it is a different deck

Probably our metagames are quite different (I'm from Spain) so my opinions are not useful, but I'm interested in your approach

There is a slight difference between 5 creatures (9 with Confidants) in a deck and 19....  I'm definitely not discounting your opinions, because I do think that a Cursecatcher/Null Rod/Mutavault addition would be powerful, but it's a different direction from what I'm proposing, and I don't think in this case that those cards synergize with C.C. or Merrow Reejerey fully.

[Ruven]

hey, first of all: nice to see someone else trying to come up with a merfolk list ^^ (I'm currently also trying something, but haven't got to test it)

But I'm sorta curious about some things /choices.

The first thing that struck me, when seeing your list was that you run only 13 Blue mana sources, while having 14 spells that require UU. From a probability point of view, that would mean that 37%-45%  chance of NOT getting your second blue on turn 2 and still a 37%-30% chance of still not having it turn 3, didn't you lose to that a lot during testing/playing the tournament? Also why do you play fetchies, when you dont' have anything relevant to fetch?

Also didn't you have a lot of trouble with NobleFish (or basically any fish that plays rods?) as, unlike other aggrolike decks, you seem to be heavily affected by a single Rod, making your 3 CMC critter either hard to cast or daze-fodder?

[DubDub]

hey, first of all: nice to see someone else trying to come up with a merfolk list ^^ (I'm currently also trying something, but haven't got to test it)

But I'm sorta curious about some things /choices.

The first thing that struck me, when seeing your list was that you run only 13 Blue mana sources, while having 14 spells that require UU. From a probability point of view, that would mean that 37%-45%  chance of NOT getting your second blue on turn 2 and still a 37%-30% chance of still not having it turn 3, didn't you lose to that a lot during testing/playing the tournament? Also why do you play fetchies, when you dont' have anything relevant to fetch?

Also didn't you have a lot of trouble with NobleFish (or basically any fish that plays rods?) as, unlike other aggrolike decks, you seem to be heavily affected by a single Rod, making your 3 CMC critter either hard to cast or daze-fodder?

I didn't find the blue count to be too low, but you may be right.  We do have Spell Pierce and Wastes to buy time, as well as a few single- plays available like Scrolling/Mysticaling up Ancestral and then casting that.  As I mentioned above, I think the 4th Wasteland is the weakest part of the manabase, so that may turn into another blue source instead of a Mutavault (especially if one needs to support a second color with dual lands).  Typically I didn't start casting creatures until after the first 'skirmish' of a match, at point where I could afford  or more each turn.  Note that you can play Merrow Reejerey off a single Island, and as is occasionally relevant, Cold-Eyed Selkie with the help of Mox Emerald.

I played Fetches only for the super-marginal deck thinning, since we aren't using our life total to fuel Necro/Confidant etc.
Also, since this list was mono-blue, I didn't have any Islands get Wasted (though I do recall one getting Strip'd), so I think you can go a touch lighter.  Turning off opposing Wastelands was a goal of the original list, and was a contributing factor to my win over Noble Fish, since I was able to shut off his access to White after he got one activation out of a Tundra.

Null Rod can be a problem, but it's one of the few cards in game one where Spell Pierce is live, so it's fine to try to counter it.  You should be able to see with your opening hand whether you'll be winning with Beats or with turns.  I think having the Vault plan instead of Null Rods of our own makes it difficult for Noble Fish, since Null Rods will be mostly dead if we're going aggro, but they have to respect the instant win.  Plus, whenever they don't have Null Rod our excess Moxen invalidate Daze.  This is actually a really nice thing about Coralhelm Commander, that he dodges Daze if we have Mox Ruby out, but then once he's resolved if we aren't holding up Spell Pierce/Force etc. we can Level without fear of Daze.

[MaximumCDawg]

What do you think about making this deck unpowered?  The Time Vault interaction appears pretty critical to the list, and alot of your creatures lack disruptive capabilities / multiple roles like the Noble Fish creatures enjoy.  On the other hand, running mono blue makes the mana base rock solid.

This is actually something of a pointless question because you've motivated me to take a merfolk list to non-proxy Vintage tonight!  I'll see how it performs.  Perhaps there are interactions between the non-power cards that may be insightful.

[DubDub]

What do you think about making this deck unpowered?  The Time Vault interaction appears pretty critical to the list, and alot of your creatures lack disruptive capabilities / multiple roles like the Noble Fish creatures enjoy.  On the other hand, running mono blue makes the mana base rock solid.

This is actually something of a pointless question because you've motivated me to take a merfolk list to non-proxy Vintage tonight!  I'll see how it performs.  Perhaps there are interactions between the non-power cards that may be insightful.

There are close to 200 pages of discussion on unpowered Merfolk here.  Obviously they're tuning to face Legacy decks, so working Null Rods into the deck would be a good start.  Losing Aether Vials (which I would not play next to Null Rod) means that Silvergill Adept is probably not good enough.  Not being able to capitalize fully on stealing Vault/Key with Thada means Thada isn't as good.  Potentially useful as a 1-of to exile Robots, but I would shift heavier toward Cold-Eyed Selkie instead.  In an unpowered meta Standstill and Mutavault probably get better.