The Modern Merfolk Primer

Hey everyone! I'm Petr and this is my first article for MTG Mint Card. I wasn't sure what to write about, but given that 2 Modern WMCQs are coming up, I decided to write about Modern.

I am not going to talk about Modern as a whole, because the format is too diverse and the metagames in certain countries are drastically different. What I am going to talk about though, is a deck, that is really close to my heart.

Merfolk.

I have been called a Merfolk Master way when I made the Top 16 at Pro Tour Born of the Gods. Since it also won Grand Prix Los Angeles, I thought it might be useful to know how to play against it, or how to play it if you decide to sleeve up the fishes yourself.

Before Grand Prix Los Angeles and Grand Prix Charlotte, Ond?ej Stráský asked me for a Merfolk list. Afterwards, he changed a couple of cards and posted it on Twitter. Simon Slutsky took the list, changed 2 cards and won the Grand Prix with it.

Merfolk (Grand Prix Los Angeles 2016 - 1st) Gallery View Modern by Simon Slutsky Buy This Deck

Mainboard (60)



Cavern of Souls

12

4 Mutavault

1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds

1 Wanderwine Hub

20 land



4 Cursecatcher

2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

4 Lord of Atlantis

4 Master of the Pearl Trident

4 Master of Waves

3 Merrow Reejerey

1 Phantasmal Image

4 Silvergill Adept

1 Tidebinder Mage

27 creature



12 Island 20 land27 creature Aether Vial (Æther Vial)

3 Dismember

1 Relic of Progenitus

4 Spreading Seas

1 Vapor Snag

13 other spells



13 other spells Sideboard (15)



2 Gut Shot

4 Hurkyl's Recall

2 Relic of Progenitus

2 Spell Pierce

4 Tectonic Edge

1 Tidebinder Mage

15 cards



15 cards

Card Choices

My list is very similar and this is what I would play, if there was a Modern tournament tommorow.

Merfolk (Modern - Others) Gallery View Modern by Petr Sochůrek Buy This Deck

Mainboard (60)





4 Mutavault

1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds

19 land



4 Cursecatcher

3 Harbinger of the Tides

4 Lord of Atlantis

4 Master of the Pearl Trident

4 Master of Waves

4 Merrow Reejerey

1 Phantasmal Image

4 Silvergill Adept

28 creature



14 Island 19 land28 creature Aether Vial (Æther Vial)

1 Dismember

2 Remand

4 Spreading Seas

2 Vapor Snag

13 other spells



13 other spells Sideboard (15)



2 Dismember

3 Dispel

4 Hurkyl's Recall

2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

2 Relic of Progenitus

2 Remand

15 cards



15 cards

Before I start talking about certain matchups and how to play the deck in general, I would like to talk about some of the card choices, that not all the lists play.

4 Master of Waves

I saw various lists playing less than 4 copies and that is just wrong. I think that the reason, why they play less than 4, is because it is not very good in your "god hands", because you just want to curve out with lords and Master of Waves doesn't really fit in that plan.

While this is true, you are not going to have a nut draw every single game so when you don't, it's important to have a poweful card like Master of Waves, that can steal a game. Also it's just insane in some matchups like against Jund or Grixis.

4 Merrow Reejerey

I used to think that this was more of a metagame dependent card, that is great in metagames with bunch of combo decks and Collected Company decks, even though there are many scenarios where you want to play Kira, Great Glass-Spinner instead.

I was wrong.

The truth is that you just want to goldfish Game 1 and curve out instead of being smart and trying to outgrind your opponent. In the matchups where Kira shines, the additional Lord is still good, but drawing Kira in a matchup, where it's bad can mean that you kill them turn later and that is just unacceptable.

Also, Merrow Rejeerey are great in multiples, because you can play basically your whole hand if you have 2 of them on the table and it also works well with Harbinger of the Tides.

2 Remand



What most of the people do when they see my Merfolk list is that they cut both Remand and replace them with something else, usually Spell Pierce.



I strongly advise you to not do that.

Merfolk is a synergistic deck – every single card in your deck gets stronger with another card. Therefore playing one-for-one answers is worse than simply adding another threat to the board. That being said, there is a high reward in playing disruption in many matchups and that is why Remand is so good.

Against combo, the pseudo-counter is usually good enough and in the other matchups it cycles into more creatures. The fact that it's also great against Snapcaster Mage and Ancestral Vision is obviously an awesome upside, but I think that I would still play it even if those cards weren't in the format.

2 Vapor Snag & 1 Dismember

I can't really explain why, but I have played Merfolk for a very long time and I have been satisfied with 3 removal/bounce spells the most. 2 felt too few and 4 too many. As for the split; there are obviously ups and downs for both of them.

Dismember actually kills the creature, which is especially relevant against Dark Confidant on the draw and in the longer games. You can cast Dismember using Mutavault, relevant if you need two Blue for Lord of Atlantis.

On the other hand it costs 4 life and more importantly can't save your own creature from a removal spell which is actually the main reason why I prefer Vapor Snag a little bit more – in the matchups where you want this effect, Dismember is a little better, but it's horrible in others, whereas Vapor Snag is almost always useful and trades for a removal spell. Also, in some scenarios, they are forced to kill your Silvergill Adept which makes Vapor Snag awesome.

3 Harbinger of the Tides

Harbinger is a relatively recent addition and I am still not sure how good it actually is. The problem is that it's either great or horrible, but it's always at least a creatures. Merfolk can have a problem against aggressive decks on the draw and Harbinger fixes that problem, so I like 3 copies.

1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds and 0 Minamo, School at Water's Edge

It took some time, but eventually everyone started to play with Oboro and sometimes even the Minamo. For those of you, who are wondering why are these in the Merfolk lists, I will quickly explain it.

First of all, Oboro can give you an extra Blue mana from Mutavault, which is relevant when you need a lot of Blue to cast your other Lords. You can also bounce it to discard it to Liliana of the Veil or Kolaghan's Command.

On the other hand, Minamo's ability is largely irrelevant, barring some odd scenario where you want to untap Kira. That situation occurs far less, and the consideration to include Minamo usually comes down to how many hate cards such as Choke, Fulminator Mage and Blood Moon you are expecting to face.

Right now, I feel that there are a reasonable number of cards that punish you for playing Minamo, so I would not play it. Oboro, however, has a good enough upside that it is worth it. Just be aware that there will be games where you want to play both these lands, including Cavern of Souls and Wanderwine Hub. However, almost nobody plays counterspells for Cavern of Souls to be superb, but Choke can be pretty devastating.

1 Phantasmal Image

I used to hate this card when the Splinter Twin was around, but that is no longer the case. I like Phantasmal Image now, but you don't want to play a lot of them because there are still several cards that can punish you, making it an awkward card. Sometimes, they're killing all your creatures and you have nothing to copy, and other times you might need a Merfolk card to reveal to Silvergill Adept.

The upside is certainly there though, so I advise you to play some. It's especially strong in combination with Master of Waves especially when you cast it with four mana and drop Phantasmal Image through Aether Vial on 2. Unless they have 2 removal spells, they are dead on the spot.

19 Lands

Like many others, I used to believe that 20 lands was correct, and most players also play 20 lands. The problem with Merfolk is that you usally need at least 2 lands in your opening hand, or you will have to mulligan. There are exceptions, such as when you have Aether Vial, but if you end up playing too many lands there is also the danger of mana flood.

There are so many draw effects in the deck, that flooding is a common scenario. With the new Scry rule, keeping a one-lander with six cards will not lead to an immediate loss as often. Hence, I believe that 19 is the right number.



Sideboard Options



As I explained above, this card is just great in many matchups and I don't see a reason, why you would not want 4 of them, when you face those.

Personally, I just love Relic – it's just such a sweet card that functions as a hoser against some decks while being a great, cheap value card against others. Also I made myself an unwritten rule, that I will do my best to always have 6 good cards against the Black midrange decks, because I want to cut 4 Aether Vials and 2 Remand. Relic of Progenitus will replace some of those cards.

You might be wondering, why is Dispel better then Swan Song?

After all, Swan Song is way better against something like Ad Nauseam combo, Storm and Scapeshift. While that is the truth, Dispel is still great in those matchups, and you have a lot of diruption postboard. You not only want to beat those decks, but also have good options against both Abzan Company and Burn. Dispel is great against them, but Swan Song is not!

I don't think that Kira needs that much explanation – the card is just great against strategies that are trying to kill all of your creatures, because it's almost always a 2 for 1 if they are lucky. Sometimes, they have only 1 removal spell and you blank it with Kira and get a 2/2 evasive threat. In fact, Kira is so good, that I am strongly considering adding 1 more either to the main or sideboard.

If you need a removal spell, Dismember is the best option available.

In my opinion, you want to either play 4 Hurkyl's Recalls, or play none and pray to dodge all Affinity. The reason is simple – it is really hard to beat affinity without Hurkyl's Recall, so you really want to draw it in both games 2 and 3. Therefore, playing 2 copies is not really to accomplish much, so it is really either all or nothing. Right now, I believe, you have enough space in the sideboard to play 4 Hurkyl's Recall, but it is certainly close and I wouldn't blame you for not playing them and playing something like Tectonic Edge instead.

This is the end of the first part of my Modern Merfolk sharing, I hope you liked it and I will be back with the another part soon enough!

I love Merfolk, and I hope you do too!

Thanks for reading,

Petr Sochůrek

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