For weeks leading up to Nationals, the deck I had been advocating was Merfolk. It had great matchups against most of the popular decks, and stayed extremely under the radar. I had given the deck to a handful of friends to play, but the rise of elves scared a lot of people off. However, with the format as it is after U.S. Nationals, I feel like Merfolk is still the deck to play right now.
If I were playing in a PTQ this weekend, this is the list I would use:
Creatures (24)
- 4 Meddling Mage
- 4 Merrow Reejerey
- 4 Silvergill Adept
- 2 Sower of Temptation
- 2 Sygg, River Guide
- 4 Stonybrook Banneret
- 4 Merfolk Sovereign
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
There are several notable choices here, as well as some notable absences. Before I go into actual card choices, though, I want to talk a little about how I have found success playing the deck. A lot of people have the belief Merfolk is an aggressive deck. The deck has twenty-four creatures and four Mutavaults, something which is easily correlated with beatdown. Don’t be fooled: Merfolk is a control deck masquerading in beatdown clothing. The traditional example I give is this: look at Silvergill Adept as not a 2/1 for two that draws you a card, but a two mana cantripping removal spell. Now, that’s incredibly oversimplifying it as Silvergill Adept does attack quite a bit, but against the beatdown decks you want to just go trade, trade, trade, and then beat them with card advantage in the long game. Against the control decks, though, you are beatdown in the sense that you are an aggro control deck which plays cheap threats and protects them with countermagic. A lot of this philosophy ties back into the principles of “Who’s the Beatdown” and what I discussed two weeks ago in “Reassigning Your Role”: you want to be the disruptive beatdown deck in matchups where your opponent is controlling, and the control deck in matchups where your opponent is beating down.
All of the above discussion is important to keep in mind when talking about one of the major exclusions from this deck: Wake Thrasher. Wake Thrasher has received a lot of speculative praise with the advent of the new M10 rules due to the removal of mana burn. On your turn, Wake Thrasher should have a minimum power and toughness of the amount of lands you control plus one, which seems pretty strong on the surface. Furthermore, Merfolk Sovereign allows him to always get through.
So, why isn’t Thrasher here? The problem is that Wake Thrasher does nothing defensively and, with the way I propose playing Merfolk, he has trouble fitting my strategy. I thought he would be excellent, but I gave him a try and was thoroughly unimpressed. If you tap three mana to cast him on your turn, he doesn’t do much defensively on your opponent’s turn. If you don’t have Sovereign in play, he’s just a generic big guy on your turn which is easily blocked. The deck doesn’t want creatures that are just fatties, it wants creatures which have immense synergy together. If you’re playing the deck more aggressively I feel like Wake Thrasher may be an alright card, and against control decks it is a gigantic one card threat (albeit a very easily removed one) but I feel like the games Wake Thrasher is attacking and killing them are games you were already ahead.
Another absent card is Cursecatcher. I have never understood the infatuation with this card: it is just bad. What does Cursecatcher even do? Catch their Spectral Procession? Their Cruel Ultimatum? Cryptic Command? Yes, it can do all of these things, but it doesn’t do many of them very well. The problem is that the best spells each player has are each still worth paying an additional mana for, and they’re not just going to send a Cryptic Command into your Cursecatcher without a mana up. While it may seem like a Stone Rain in this regard, it’s really not. You almost always have to blow it when your opponent taps out for a spell, because who knows if you’ll be given another opportunity, allowing your opponent to dictate which spell is getting countered, not you. It can’t touch Volcanic Fallout, and it’s terrible against creature decks, Spectral Procession or no. As a fragile 1/1, it’s not worth the card you spend, and I have never felt like it has had a place in Merfolk.
Although those two are the major exclusions, I’m sure some of the inclusions are just as equally debatable. While some of the card choices in Merfolk are fairly uniform (Cryptic Command; Silvergill Adept), while some are a little more debatable. Recent lists have had numbers all over the place, so I’m just going to run through the reasoning for all of the card choices, talking more about the ones which deserve more discussion. The only exclusion is Cryptic Command, because really, who wants to read another snarky line about how playing with less than four in your Blue deck is a mistake?
The core of the manabase is fairly standard, I feel. 4 Mutavaults, 4 Wanderwine Hubs, 4 Mystic Gates are all necessary. I am only playing two Glacial Fortress because hands with two Glacial Fortress and no basic lands can slow your tempo down immensely. The basic land mix has worked smoothly for me, although you could play another White source over an Island if you’d like. I had two Windbrisk Heights at one point, but I really wanted to cut an enters-the-battlefield-tapped land so I cut a Heights.
As far as Heights go, I’m actually not a huge fan of Windbrisk Heights in this deck. I seldom activate Heights, but, similarly, having a single one has never hurt me. I know so few heights in a white deck with so many creatures seems like a travesty, but it’s a lot harder to hit the heights without token generators. Furthermore, with the more controlling way I like to play the deck, I am usually only attacking with so many creatures when I’m far ahead in the first place. I feel like the deck can play one, but it’s easily cut for another plains if you ever find the Heights consistently giving you issues.
Twenty-four lands may not look like a lot from an alleged control deck, but Stonybrook Banneret helps a lot with your mana efficiency. I thought Stonybrook Bannerets were Merfolk staples, but Adrian Sullivan cut them from his grinder-winning list, so I suppose the little Banneret that could deserves some discussion. Yes, it is a two mana 1/1, but making almost all of your spells cost one less allows you to operate as a control deck on only twenty-four lands. The Banneret makes Sage’s Dousing and Merrow Reejerey even better than they already are. It heightens your ability to easily Sower and leave counter mana up for their removal, and it makes the very potent Glen Elendra Archmage out of the sideboard miles better. It always looks weak, and when I originally played Merfolk last year for City Champs I was dubious as well. However, the card is superb and should definitely not be removed.
Silvergill Adept and the eight Merfolk lords are also cards I don’t feel are very debatable. Silvergill Adept is pretty much a universal four-of, but I have seen people playing with less than eight lords. You definitely want all eight; you want to find them every game. The more you draw the more resilient you are against Fallout, and they can just end games out of nowhere while causing gigantic headaches for control players. Reejerey makes leaving blockers up extremely difficult while making all of your Merfolk cost a virtual one mana less, or allowing you to attack and still block. Sovereign pumps all of your Merfolk while giving you a non-Cryptic Command way to break creature stalemates. I would definitely not cut any of them.
While Sygg is often included, the numbers range from two to three. I prefer two because it’s a legend and it’s White mana intensive, but I definitely wouldn’t want to game with less than two. Sower of Temptation, on the other hand, is a card I cut down on because of the numbers of Five-Color Control I expect to be prevalent this weekend. It’s absurdly good against beatdown though, and you definitely want to sideboard the copies that aren’t maindeck. If you really expect a lot of Five-Color Control, then you want to cut these for two Glen Elendra Archmage maindeck, as that card is really just the blade against Five-Color Control.
Meddling Mage is a card which has received a lot of discussion. It has been called a worse Tidehollow Sculler by some, a Merfolk staple by others. I definitely lean on the staple side of that argument. The ability to disable all of your opponent’s Volcanic Fallouts is tremendous, and allows you to turn off certain aspects of your opponent’s strategy. A lot of people complain about missing with Meddling Mage all the time, and I feel like these people just aren’t looking at the game closely enough. Run back through the past few turns, figure out which cards your opponent might have based on how he is playing, which cards he probably doesn’t have based on opportunities he would have played those cards in, and play Meddling Mage naming what seems most likely. On turn 2 against beatdown, you can just play Meddling Mage for the most powerful card they have in their two- or three-drop slot. In Merfolk, you often want to name Volcanic Fallout unless their deck obviously doesn’t have it. Even with the amazing protection of Harm’s Way, it’s nice to not have to concern yourself with worrying about having your team of Merfolk engulfed in lava.
Speaking of Harm’s Way, this is the deck that pushed the deck over the top for me. Systematically, I would compare lists of Merfolk with people and they would have Path to Exiles in my Harm’s Way slot. They all claimed Path was better, and so I told them to play some games with Harm’s Way and then make that same claim. Every person I talked to switched to Harm’s Way afterward. In a world where everybody is leaning on Volcanic Fallout, Harm’s Way can turn Fallout from a Wrath into a Flame Rift. Even if it’s just keeping a single Lord around and dealing two damage, it makes a huge difference in the game. And then, of course, it makes combat a complete nightmare for beatdown decks. Additionally, Harm’s Way makes the Red matchup so much better. I cannot extol the virtues of Harm’s Way in Merfolk enough, so I simply recommend trying it and seeing for yourself.
I feel like less than four Sage’s Dousing in this deck is a mistake. The card is so good; it’s a three mana Dismiss in this deck without much work, and often it costs two thanks to the Bannerets. The way the deck wants to play against control is to apply some pressure with a few fish while leaving countermagic up. Sage’s Dousing complements this plan perfectly, and gives you card advantage going long if they do have Fallout. Against beatdown, it’s an affordable counterspell that digs you closer to Sowers and Cryptic Commands. Adrian Sullivan only played two in the deck he ground into Nationals with, and the only explanation I can think of is that he wanted to play cards like Wake Thrasher and the third Sower and couldn’t think of another card to cut. I would much rather have Sage’s Dousing, and would definitely not play less than four in any list I built.
As far as the sideboard goes, this is how I have been sideboarding:
Faeries
+1 Reveillark
-1 Sower of Temptation
There aren’t a lot of changes to make here. Archmage is okay against them, but it’s not superb and you really don’t want to risk getting it Sowered. You want to be the beatdown deck here. Meddling Mage on Bitterblossom is very good, and even if they land one you can use your lords to power through them.
Five-Color Control
+4 Glen Elendra Archmage, +1 Reveillark
-2 Sower of Temptation, -1 Harm’s Way, -1 Stonybrook Banneret, -1 Merrow Reejerey
The matchup was already okay, but Glen Elendra Archmage makes the matchup significantly better for you. Keep in mind they can still play Plumeveil, though. Great Sable Stag out of the sideboard surprisingly isn’t as big of an issue for you as Faeries, because you can lord up your guys to make them huge and attack through it. That’s not to say Stag isn’t a problem, but I didn’t feel like you wanted to sideboard Path to Exile just for Stags, although you certainly could. The ability to make creatures unblockable with Sovereign is also a great asset to have against Stag.
Kithkin
+2 Sower of Temptation
-2 Meddling Mage
This is pretty straightforward. You can also bring in Reveillark for another Mage if you want, but Mage can be solid if you can craft a plan around it going long or hit their Spectral Procession/Ajani/Cloudgoat Ranger.
G/W Tokens
+2 Sower of temptation
-2 Meddling Mage
Same as above.
R/B Sligh
+4 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender, +1 Reveillark
-2 Sower of Temptation, -1 Merfolk Sovereign, -2 Stonybrook Banneret
While traditionally a bad matchup, with Harm’s Way and Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender the matchup gets quite a bit better. If you don’t draw either of those two you will likely run into difficulties, but if you draw them and use them wisely the matchup is very winnable. Just one for one them whenever possible, even if it means trading Bannerets for Tattermunge Maniacs, and you will end up on top.
G/B Elves
+2 Sower of Temptation +1 Reveillark
-3 Meddling Mage
The popularity of G/B Elves has died down recently with Llanowar Wastes out of the picture, but it just won French Nationals so it might be on the upswing again. If you’re really worried about the matchup, Sleep can be devastating out of the sideboard, but the matchup is generally in your favor.
Combo Elves:
+4 Ethersworn Canonist, +2 Sower of Temptation
-2 Sygg, River Guide, -4 Stonybrook Banneret
Although the people who I had given Merfolk to switched away at the last minute because of Elves, it was more because we hadn’t tested the matchup than because it’s a bad matchup. After testing it, the matchup is actually favorable. Meddling Mage is great against them, you have eight counterspells, and you have a clock. The full four Canonists might not be necessary, but I feel like until Combo Elves’ popularity dies down it’s better to have all of them.
I feel like Merfolk is the deck to play at PTQs this weekend, and if I was going I definitely would play the above list card for card. It’s my girlfriend’s birthday this Saturday so I’m not going to make it to the Portland PTQ, but if any of you play Merfolk in a PTQ this weekend, let me know what you think and what you would change from the list you used. I’d be more than happy to field any questions about the deck in the forums, so please feel free to ask. If you don’t have a StarCityGames.com forum account, you can feel free to e-mail me your questions or comments to Gavintriesagain at gmail dot com. See you guys in the forums!
Gavin Verhey
Team Unknown Stars
Rabon on Magic Online, Lesurgo everywhere else