First thing I did was swap my old Merfolk staple, Lord of Atlantis, with the new boss, Merfolk Sovereign. It hurts to see the old guy retire but sometimes you just gotta move on with the new kid. Now that I'm not using the Islandwalk theme anymore its time to restructure the rest of the tribal deck.
The cards that were able to make the transition easily were Silvergill Adept, Wake Thrasher, Sygg, River Guide, Merrow Reejerey, and Cursecatcher. All of these cards from the Lorwyn block are still legal in Standard, at least until October, and they fit what I'm wanting to do with the new build. Cursecatcher is a nice play on turn 1 because it could potentially make a key instant or sorcery spell your opponent controls one mana more expensive which could mean the difference between a win and a loss. Silvergill Adept is a great 2 drop in this deck because it allows you to draw a card and put a 2/1 creature on the board for such a cheap price. The other 2 drop is Sygg, River Guide and he can give any of your Merfolk protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. The main combo engine of this deck though is Merrow Reejerey and Wake Thrasher. The synergy between the two is fantastic. Merrow Reejerey taps or untaps a permanent every time you play a Merfolk spell. Wake Thrasher gets +1/+1 until end of turn every time a permanent you control is untapped. Combine that with Merfolk Sovereign which could make Wake Thrasher unblockable and you've got a potential monster on turns 4, 5, and 6 if your opponent can last that long.
The new kids on the block are Meddling Mage, Wall of Denial, Harm's Way, and Sleep. Meddling Mage is an absolute must have for any W/U deck much less this Merfolk Deck. To not include her would be rather silly. Wall of Denial is great because it allows me to shut down my opponent's biggest threat on the board. Not much can get past an 0/8 defending flyer with Shroud. Harm's Way is in this deck as an answer to global damage spells such as Volcanic Fallout. If you've got Merfolk Sovereign on the board with two other 2/2 Merfolk creatures Volcanic Fallout would be enough to wipe them all out. But if you cast Harm's Way and redirect the 2 damage from Merfolk Sovereign to your opponent then your Sovereign lives and in turn saves your other two Merfolk creatures as well with the +1/+1 pump. The great thing about Harm's Way is that it is versatile and can be used in many different types of scenarios. Sleep is one of those cards that you play as a final lethal blow. It's a very powerful card that gives you two turns to try and make the kill without worrying about your opponent's creatures retaliating. Now that we've gone through the strategy behind the deck I'll lay out the deck list for you as constructed...
Creature Spells
Merfolk Sovereign x4
Silvergill Adept x4
Meddling Mage x4
Wake Thrasher x4
Merrow Reejerey x4
Sygg, River Guide x3
Wall of Denial x3
Cursecatcher x4
Instant Spells
Harm's Way x4
Sorcery Spells
Sleep x3
Lands
Wanderwine Hub x4
Glacial Fortress x2
Island x9
Plains x8
I hope this deck has given you guys some new ideas. Drop me a line if you have any questions and don't be afraid to leave your thoughts in the comments section. Take care and good luck on your next coin flip!
P.S. I've got quite a few decks for sale at my ebay store. All of them are custom made for casual yet competitve play. Take a peek at...
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/RIGHT-PLACE-MTG
I recently put together a Merfolk deck, and it's cool to see some suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering why you aren't playing Stonybrook Schoolmaster. Maybe I over-value that card, but I feel like a lot of the power in Merfolks come from token generation. Again, I am on my first Merfolk deck.
I think I do see your logic on all cards though. I'm lacking the Harm's Way, Meddling Mage and Sleep.
I will try adding those. I think the biggest problem I've run into now, is that my early game is rough. A solid aggro deck tears me apart. If I had my deck list handy I'd post, but it's very similar to yours.
I also run some Rune Snag's in mine for early control...
I think Stonybrook Schoolmaster is a great choice if you decided to go the Token route. It has great synergy with Summon the School. I used to have a Merfolk token build that used those cards with Lord of Atlantis. It was a pretty powerful deck.
ReplyDeleteI think a good card for the early game is Cosi's Trickster especially with the fetch lands getting so much play. I plan to incorporate it into my Merfolk deck. Also, I didn't include Cryptic Command in my post but it is a no-brainer if you're playing it competitively. I would put it in place of Sleep as they are the same mana cost. Good luck and keep me posted on any new builds you got going on.
Here is my build
ReplyDelete4x Merfolk Sovereign
4x Wake Thrasher
4x Grimoire Thief
4x FOIL Sygg, River Guide
4x Merrow Reejery
4x Stonybrook Banneret
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Sage's Dousing
4x Cursecatcher
1x Lord of Atlantis
1x Stonybrook Schoolmaster
22x Basic Land
-=-=-
I'm going to add 4 Wanderwine Hub's once they arrive, but I feel like I could make a few tweaks to tighten the deck up. It's not "competition" level, but I would kind of like it to be. I used to run a very solid Kithkin deck, but enjoy the control aspect of the Merfolk a lot more. I love that part of the game with tribal decks.
I definitely see the advantage of Cryptic Command vs. Sleep, but right now I just don't have the money for the CC's.
With the build I have, I'm wrestling with adding Sleep or Rune Snag's. Unfortunetely, I've only been able to play test it 5-6 games, but find that little goblin and soldier decks mop the floor with me. Those aggro decks feel to be 1-2 rounds faster. So, I figured maybe adding the Rune Snag's would slow them down?
I really do like the potential to generate tokens, but doing that would mean a reduction in another part of the deck correct?
A lot of these cards are new to me, so I hate to claim ignorance and say, "What do you think?" and not be able to offer counterpoints, but it seems like I can go the "Token" route, or a more "Control" route?
Does that sound correct? Does this seem like something that can be easily solved with a side board?
Thank you guys so much for your help!
- Ryan
AIM: Ryan Raze
Hey Ryan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Rune Snag is more of a defensive card and Sleep is more of an offensive card. It depends on what you want to do with the deck. I think if you're seeing a lot of action against speedy aggro decks than Rune Snag is the best option because you'll need to be defensive in the beginning. Below is a build that I won quite a few matches with after M10 came out. I like Harm's Way if you're playing decks with speedy creatures but Path to Exile is good against bigger creatures that are more problematic. Reveillark will help you late game since almost every creature in your deck has power 2 or less. I think you'll only need 3 Sygg, River Guide since it is Legendary. You don't want to be stuck with too many in your hand.
4 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Reveillark
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
3 Sygg, River Guide
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Cryptic Command (Sleep or Rune Snag would be fine)
4 Harm's Way (Path to Exile if you're facing a deck with bigger creatures)
3 Sage's Dousing
Sideboard
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Path to Exile or Harm's Way
4 Sleep or Rune Snag (whichever you don't use maindeck)
3 Sower of Temptation
I was definitely looking into Path to Exile and the Reveillark's. I even threw in Telefri just to prevent any type of late game counters, plus being able to flash a merfolk is pretty cool. Although it's kind of pointless, I enjoy the card, but will most likely take him out once the Path's arrive.
ReplyDeleteI was able to get 2 Cryptic Commands, which I added, and I have the 2 sleeps.
I also 100% have a place for the 2 Reveillarks, and have 2 on the way, but they WERE going in my gf's kithkin deck. A shame I will intercept them.
I like where you're going with Harm vs. Path, and will add those to the side board. Thankfully, I have some Sower's sitting around while I build the Faerie deck.
Thanks for the help man, I look forward to adding the Reveillark's and Path's.
-Ryan
No problem Ryan. Stay in touch and good luck with your builds.
ReplyDelete