Surgespanner This card has proved a house for me. At least 2 copies, I'm running 4.
Merrow Harbringer This cards usefulness depends on the rest of the deck. Searchs for 1 ofs in the deck, like wanderwine prophets, as well as crib swab or lord of atlantis. I'm running 3.
Wanderwine prophets It looks like a win condition, it smells like a win condition, but are we sure it is a win condition? I'm running 1 at the moment, has yet to even come into play.
Streambed Aqueducts I haven't had much of a chance to see how useful this guy is, but he's a 2/3 for 3, plus has tap abilities that work very well with the deck.
Sygg, River Guide Solid body (for a merfolk) and very useful effect. Use this card in your merfolk deck, if not in main then in sideboard.
Judge of Currents Solid body, easy to trigger his ability. Great sideboard material.
Fallowsage Rather useful ability, but I'm running a couple in my sideboard and that's it. He can be an engine, but needs support.
Merfolk Looter Tap abilities are better on merfolk than other creature types. Rather useful, however I'm not using any atm.
Tideshaper Mystic Since you can't play anything else in this deck turn 1, a couple of these wouldn't go astray. Nice synergy. Again, tap effects are nice on merfolk due to the enchantment. I'm not using any atm.
Drowner of secrets Taps merfolk like fallowsage and surgespanner. Absolutely pointless ability. Too high on the mana curve for me.
Deeptread Merrow Giving the opponent islands is not usually the problem, it's the U to activate the ability and the rather small 2/1 body. Fits into more aggro versions.
Inkfathom Divers There are a decent amount of cantrips in a merfolk deck, his ability can be rather useful. Buy the time you cast him, he is also unblockable. Not bad, especially if they've taken care of your Lord of Atlantis.
Paperfin Rascal A card not to use. There doesn't seem to be a way to abuse clash, nor do merfolk have high cmc.
Silvergill Douser This ability is not useful, even though tapping him is not as big a cost as tapping other tribes. A 1/1 body for 2 to me says no.
Non Creature Spells Aquitect's Will Merfolk need this card to make themselves unblockable. I don't know why you wouldn't run 4 just to make sure you draw one, since it draws you a card anyway. Obviously sometimes the first thing to go into the sideboard, though.
Merrow Commerce From play testing, I'm getting the feeling this is an extremely vital card for the deck. I'm running 4 at the moment, each one in play triggers separately, thus works well with summon the school. It also taps itself for summon the school.
Summon the School This card is quite amazing. It's not the 2 merfolk, but the ability to tap your own merfolk, and it can always come back to your hand when you want it. I'm running 3.
Crib Swab It counts as a merfolk, and since your merfolk effectively have vigilance does not really have much of a drawback. I'm not sure how many to run right now, at least 2.
Delay A tempo card, save yourself from *** or Damnation especially. Once you get going you can win in 3 turns.
Cryptic Command It's such a good card, although the more non-merfolk cards in the deck, the weaker other cards become.
Is a Wanderwine Prophets + Summon the School Merfolk combo deck possible, or will it be too slow? You could do something like eot Deluge or Cryptic Command tapping all your opponent's creatures and then swing with Prophets to take an extra turn, sacrificing a Merfolk token and then getting School back via the tap ability.
What about Wanderwine Prophets + Whispersilk Cloak/(Islandwalk and changing lands) and Summon the School?
With the right amount of extra Merfolk, you have a guarenteed infinite amount of turns....
I really wish people would put spoiler information when using cards from Lorwyn, because it gets really annoying going back and forth to look up a card. It is called "electronic" courtesy.
Anyways, about Merfolks. Attacking is the nut low. The strategy simply isn't viable. This deck just seems really slow to me. The last time Merfolks were good were when Merfolk Opposition was around in STD and even then it wasn't great because Nether-Go was around.
I imagine I will see a lot of tribal decks at States/Champs but the only deck I am really even coming close to liking is either the new White Weenie or Super Elves.
I don't think Merfolk.dec is going to be viable in Standard (but almost certainly in block constrcuted), but I think some kind of Fish deck with Merfolk can be good.
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Sig banner by Xyre. My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
just for reference, check my pre-Lorwyn Merfolk Tribal. i intend on improving it, or dumping it for the "new" merfolk tribal style lorwyn has to offer. also, merfolk assasin seems useless, if only to destroy the opponent's merfolk, unless you have war barge or piracy charm.
Summon the School + Merrow Commerce doesn't work. Summon the School is a sorcery.
But you can tap 4 merfolk to return it to your hand any time. So, you can cast it, return it to your hand, and then at the end of your turn, your merfolk untap to block or whatever. Or, attack, cast it, eot your merfolk untap so you can returnt he shcool to your hand at the end of opponent's turn. These two cards combo quite nicely.
What about using Mana Tithe as your 1-drop? It can keep some other annoying 1- or 2-drops off the board.
Try not to use too many white spells to make it more consistent. Also the tap/untap machines should be bonuses, not something to build around or rely on. Otherwise, you slow down your deck with too many high CC stuff and lose focus on aggro.
Just drew this up based on the suggestions already posted here, with the exception that I added Tideshaper Mystic as an alternate win if the game too long. Feel free to replace these with Griffon Guide or any other useful stuff you may come across but the rest of the deck should do good.
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In my dream, the world had suffered a terrible disaster. A black haze shut out the sun, and the darkness was alive with the moans and screams of wounded people. Suddenly, a small light glowed. A candle flickered into life, symbol of hope for millions. A single tiny candle, shining in the ugly dark. I laughed and blew it out.
Many thanks to HotP Studios. Special thanks to DNC for this great sig.
I've gotten turn 4 kills with this deck. It hasn't been slow so far... eight lords at different mana costs means you can deal a lot of damage quickly facing no removal.
Merfolks are solid. It's just a matter of which support cards to use
I completely agree.
I posted a list two days ago, but the DFC forum is so active that no one replied... here's what I have now:
I've been playing this for almost a week on MWS, and it's been doing well, though I haven't played against too many tier 1 decks. One guy I played insisted that merfolk 'mill' was better than aggro... that was a kinda weird statement.
About certain card choices: Aquitect's Will
It really doesn't do much for you unless you have a Lord of Atlantis out, and even then, the Lord itself isn't unblockable. Though you'll *usually* be able to draw a card with it, it's not that spectacular. And against blue control, your non-Lord creatures will probably be unblockable anyway. Cryptic Command
IMO this card is too slow, but I haven't tested it so I couldn't say. With the number of two-drops in my deck, I like Delay (or Familiar's Ruse) better so that you can play 2-drop + have mana open for Sygg/counter. Dunno. Merrow Commerce
Tap effects are not where Merfolk are headed. Maybe a deck abusing Summon the School + Merrow Commerce could work, but that's awfully expensive and it lacks threats. Harpoon Sniper
Looks like a good sideboard card, but my 3-drop slot is already clogged enough with Reejerey, PsiBlast, and O-ring. I'd really like to keep the blasts and the ring because they're both useful.
You're either looking to make a bunch of merfolk and use their pumping ones (Reejery or Lord of Atlantis) to swarm over a deck, which is the aggro route. Or you're looking to hold down the fort and use their tapping abilities to contain an opponent, while using Islandwalkers to attack, otherwise known as control.
Here's the deal: As an aggro deck, Merfolk are nothing but undersized, unevasive (not counting islandwalk, cause it's situational) weenies that are not going to get it done. Good luck taking down an opponent with a few 2/1's. As such, they are outclassed by bigger aggro decks, who will grin when you play your 2/1 for 2 and in turn make a 2/2 for 1 or a 3/3 deathtouch for 2. As a control deck, Merfolk seem synergistic with tap/untap effects, IF REMOVAL WAS NONEXISTANT. Unfortunately for our blue friends, removal is one of the most important factors in the game. If one of your merfolk dies, it goes to the graveyard along with all the bonuses it would give your other dudes. With that said, Merfolk have no defense against pinpoint removal, and no answer to Wrath. They simply will not be competitive in standard.
It's a little out of the box. First splash green just for Tarmogoyf. Fortunately that led to lands that also thin out the deck. Then added a planeswalker who not only boosts Tarmy, but gives you life and a huge avatar. Throw in the other card types like [CARD=Unstable Mutation]enchantments and tribal that are also good removal spells.
As an aggro deck, Merfolk are nothing but undersized, unevasive (not counting islandwalk, cause it's situational) Good luck taking down an opponent with a few 2/1's. As such, they are outclassed by bigger aggro decks, who will grin when you play your 2/1 for 2 and in turn make a 2/2 for 1 or a 3/3 deathtouch for 2. As a control deck, Merfolk seem synergistic with tap/untap effects, IF REMOVAL WAS NONEXISTANT. Unfortunately for our blue friends, removal is one of the most important factors in the game. If one of your merfolk dies, it goes to the graveyard along with all the bonuses it would give your other dudes. With that said, Merfolk have no defense against pinpoint removal, and no answer to Wrath.
I do agree with you that tap/untap effects will not be competitive, but whether aggro is competitive remains to be seen. Merfolk do have answers to spot removal and mass removal. Sygg stops removal spells nicely, and counters are adequate defense against wrath. That said, if your opponent resolves a kill spell while you're attacking into their creatures it can be devastating, but I built my version with that in mind. I think it's still worth testing.
You're either looking to make a bunch of merfolk and use their pumping ones (Reejery or Lord of Atlantis) to swarm over a deck, which is the aggro route. Or you're looking to hold down the fort and use their tapping abilities to contain an opponent, while using Islandwalkers to attack, otherwise known as control.
Here's the deal: As an aggro deck, Merfolk are nothing but undersized, unevasive (not counting islandwalk, cause it's situational) weenies that are not going to get it done. Good luck taking down an opponent with a few 2/1's. As such, they are outclassed by bigger aggro decks, who will grin when you play your 2/1 for 2 and in turn make a 2/2 for 1 or a 3/3 deathtouch for 2. As a control deck, Merfolk seem synergistic with tap/untap effects, IF REMOVAL WAS NONEXISTANT. Unfortunately for our blue friends, removal is one of the most important factors in the game. If one of your merfolk dies, it goes to the graveyard along with all the bonuses it would give your other dudes. With that said, Merfolk have no defense against pinpoint removal, and no answer to Wrath. They simply will not be competitive in standard.
MAYBE you'd consider writing something that is useful to people who want to build a deck like this rather than just telling them that its a bad deck to make. Yes, I agree, Merfolk are not as big as the creatures in other colors, and the evasion is built around islandwalk (which is not as situational if you plan for it).
With that said, I'm not sure how well the tap/untap stuff will work either, BUT, there are somethings they DO have...
1) Card Advantage. They have a 2/1 for 2 that replaces itself, thats amazing. Not to mention your playing blue which is the color of card advantage. One of the reasons traditional aggro loses to control is that its generally forced to over-extend to win faster and sets up 4-for-1 with *** that screws them for the rest of the game.
2) Protection. To answer you on the point that merfolk can't do anything about point removal, I will point you in the direction of Sygg, River Guide. Last I checked giving a creature pro-red stops it from getting incinerated. Pro-white stops condemn, Pro-black stops Terror. That should do.
3) Mass Removal. What does any other aggro deck do to ***? Nothing, but maybe rollover. This deck has blue and therefore has COUNTERS. Thats another reason to go with Merfolk.
4) Tap Tricks: Lastly there are some fun tricks that happen when you tap things, these are maybe effects that could be played. They all would need testing though.
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EDH Decks:
UWMerfolk (Sygg, River Guide) B Vampires (Anowon the Ruin Sage) BRU Zombies! (Lord of Tresserhorn) WUBRG Allies (Karona, False God) W Soldiers (Darien, King of Kjeldor)
With Merrow Reejerey Being able to untap your own land with multiples out you can power out your merfolk real quick. Island walk is cool, but the amount of beats and pump, its not needed.
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"He stands alone,
All killed by his madness.
Voices incessantly yelling,
drowning out his sadness.
Of this land he is king,
he is the almighty Deathwing."
With Merrow Reejerey Being able to untap your own land with multiples out you can power out your merfolk real quick. Island walk is cool, but the amount of beats and pump, its not needed.
Power out your merfolk real quick sounds like it translates into "overextend" in my mind. I've played against Merfolk builds...and they can't keep pace with Aggro...have fewer answers for combo...and control players would just laugh at that decklist. About the only thing they do do well is overextend into a 441 or 541 *** or Damnation. Sygg is cute...but with the amount of activated abilities running around (including those that many players fear most..Planeswalkers..since we have so few answers), Pithing Needles are more than likely going to be part and parcel of sideboards...that turns Sygg into a fun little U/W Merfolk bear that doesn't do much else. Much like Faeries..for the time being at least (until Morningtide..at least), I think we're "missing" some parts for the build.
free spells are good. you can tap out to play creatures while still be able to deal with the opponent's. right now only snapback and slaughter pact with black splash seems good and cheap enough for this curve. plus they're more offensive than say counters or condemn. i still swear by riptide pilferer and judge of currents. both are very disruptive if not dealt with in timely fashion. ponder is great, but i wonder if it's better to get a real card advantage to refuel, say Ancestral Vision, Finkel, or think twice.
This blows other tribe decks out of the water. Eightlords can rush just as fast. Plus built-in evasion and protection. Deck thinning and card selection. Two great freeremoval spells. Thoughtseize to peemptively take out threats, and along with Pilferers, control and combo will have a hard time. Late-game reach with Mirror Entity and Profane Command. Graveyard seems quite popular, so Jotun Grunt could be brought in MD, thus giving even higher creature density.
One downside to this version is it uses three colors, so the mana base is harder to perfect. But it's not bad since everything is so cheap. Only Lord of Atlantis and Sygg needs CC (Profane comes out late, so you should get BB by then.)
The latest, greatest Merfolk deck. Merfolks because it is the best tribe. Pilferer, Prowler, and Thoughtseize destroy their hands. Looter to filter cards--and with Prowler (and even Thoughtseize) are able to put Haakon into the grave. Obviously Haakon is there mainly to replay Nameless Inversion for a one-sided Wrath. Then we have a few free spells, namely the black and blue pacts. You fetch these with Tolaria West, which is also able to fetch lands including Urborg and Conclave. (Sideboard I just threw together so customize to your needs. Stromgald Crusader owns WW.)
Creatures
Lord of Atlantis Automatic 4 on in all decks. Unblockabilty is how this deck wins.
Merrow Reejerey Very useful triggered ability. 3 or 4 of in the deck.
Silvergill Adept Automatic 3 or 4 of in all decks again.
Surgespanner This card has proved a house for me. At least 2 copies, I'm running 4.
Merrow Harbringer This cards usefulness depends on the rest of the deck. Searchs for 1 ofs in the deck, like wanderwine prophets, as well as crib swab or lord of atlantis. I'm running 3.
Wanderwine prophets It looks like a win condition, it smells like a win condition, but are we sure it is a win condition? I'm running 1 at the moment, has yet to even come into play.
Streambed Aqueducts I haven't had much of a chance to see how useful this guy is, but he's a 2/3 for 3, plus has tap abilities that work very well with the deck.
Sygg, River Guide Solid body (for a merfolk) and very useful effect. Use this card in your merfolk deck, if not in main then in sideboard.
Judge of Currents Solid body, easy to trigger his ability. Great sideboard material.
Fallowsage Rather useful ability, but I'm running a couple in my sideboard and that's it. He can be an engine, but needs support.
Riptide Pilferer Great sideboard card against control.
Merfolk Looter Tap abilities are better on merfolk than other creature types. Rather useful, however I'm not using any atm.
Tideshaper Mystic Since you can't play anything else in this deck turn 1, a couple of these wouldn't go astray. Nice synergy. Again, tap effects are nice on merfolk due to the enchantment. I'm not using any atm.
Drowner of secrets Taps merfolk like fallowsage and surgespanner. Absolutely pointless ability. Too high on the mana curve for me.
Deeptread Merrow Giving the opponent islands is not usually the problem, it's the U to activate the ability and the rather small 2/1 body. Fits into more aggro versions.
Inkfathom Divers There are a decent amount of cantrips in a merfolk deck, his ability can be rather useful. Buy the time you cast him, he is also unblockable. Not bad, especially if they've taken care of your Lord of Atlantis.
Paperfin Rascal A card not to use. There doesn't seem to be a way to abuse clash, nor do merfolk have high cmc.
Silvergill Douser This ability is not useful, even though tapping him is not as big a cost as tapping other tribes. A 1/1 body for 2 to me says no.
Stonybrook Angler Looks great in limited. In contructed, it sucks.
Non Creature Spells
Aquitect's Will Merfolk need this card to make themselves unblockable. I don't know why you wouldn't run 4 just to make sure you draw one, since it draws you a card anyway. Obviously sometimes the first thing to go into the sideboard, though.
Merrow Commerce From play testing, I'm getting the feeling this is an extremely vital card for the deck. I'm running 4 at the moment, each one in play triggers separately, thus works well with summon the school. It also taps itself for summon the school.
Summon the School This card is quite amazing. It's not the 2 merfolk, but the ability to tap your own merfolk, and it can always come back to your hand when you want it. I'm running 3.
Oblivion Ring It's useful. Run 4.
Crib Swab It counts as a merfolk, and since your merfolk effectively have vigilance does not really have much of a drawback. I'm not sure how many to run right now, at least 2.
Delay A tempo card, save yourself from *** or Damnation especially. Once you get going you can win in 3 turns.
Cryptic Command It's such a good card, although the more non-merfolk cards in the deck, the weaker other cards become.
Also Benthicore is a bomb.
you give your opponent a 2/2 island walker... *eep*
With the right amount of extra Merfolk, you have a guarenteed infinite amount of turns....
21 land is too few, though. Stick with 22.
Prophets is way too difficult to work with. It's an option for mystical teachings control, not merfolk.
Anyways, about Merfolks. Attacking is the nut low. The strategy simply isn't viable. This deck just seems really slow to me. The last time Merfolks were good were when Merfolk Opposition was around in STD and even then it wasn't great because Nether-Go was around.
I imagine I will see a lot of tribal decks at States/Champs but the only deck I am really even coming close to liking is either the new White Weenie or Super Elves.
I don't think Merfolk.dec is going to be viable in Standard (but almost certainly in block constrcuted), but I think some kind of Fish deck with Merfolk can be good.
Sig banner by Xyre.
My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
Thanks to High~Light Studios for the awesome sig. Go check'em out!
http://http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=86831
But you can tap 4 merfolk to return it to your hand any time. So, you can cast it, return it to your hand, and then at the end of your turn, your merfolk untap to block or whatever. Or, attack, cast it, eot your merfolk untap so you can returnt he shcool to your hand at the end of opponent's turn. These two cards combo quite nicely.
What about using Mana Tithe as your 1-drop? It can keep some other annoying 1- or 2-drops off the board.
Cheers,
rant
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Try not to use too many white spells to make it more consistent. Also the tap/untap machines should be bonuses, not something to build around or rely on. Otherwise, you slow down your deck with too many high CC stuff and lose focus on aggro.
........................
8 Snow-Covered Island
3 Nimbus Maze
3 Adarkar Wastes
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Sygg, River Guide
3 Mirror Entity
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Tideshaper Mystic
4 Mana Tithe
3 Merrow Commerce
3 Cryptic Command
4 Summon the School
Just drew this up based on the suggestions already posted here, with the exception that I added Tideshaper Mystic as an alternate win if the game too long. Feel free to replace these with Griffon Guide or any other useful stuff you may come across but the rest of the deck should do good.
Many thanks to HotP Studios. Special thanks to DNC for this great sig.
I've gotten turn 4 kills with this deck. It hasn't been slow so far... eight lords at different mana costs means you can deal a lot of damage quickly facing no removal.
I completely agree.
I posted a list two days ago, but the DFC forum is so active that no one replied... here's what I have now:
5 Plains
10 Island
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Sygg, River Guide
4 Tideshaper Mystic
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Riptide Pilferer
4 Psionic Blast
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Delay
2 Riptide Pilferer
3 Summon the School
3 Disenchant
4 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Pithing Needle
I've been playing this for almost a week on MWS, and it's been doing well, though I haven't played against too many tier 1 decks. One guy I played insisted that merfolk 'mill' was better than aggro... that was a kinda weird statement.
About certain card choices:
Aquitect's Will
It really doesn't do much for you unless you have a Lord of Atlantis out, and even then, the Lord itself isn't unblockable. Though you'll *usually* be able to draw a card with it, it's not that spectacular. And against blue control, your non-Lord creatures will probably be unblockable anyway.
Cryptic Command
IMO this card is too slow, but I haven't tested it so I couldn't say. With the number of two-drops in my deck, I like Delay (or Familiar's Ruse) better so that you can play 2-drop + have mana open for Sygg/counter. Dunno.
Merrow Commerce
Tap effects are not where Merfolk are headed. Maybe a deck abusing Summon the School + Merrow Commerce could work, but that's awfully expensive and it lacks threats.
Harpoon Sniper
Looks like a good sideboard card, but my 3-drop slot is already clogged enough with Reejerey, PsiBlast, and O-ring. I'd really like to keep the blasts and the ring because they're both useful.
Rasputin Dreamweaver EDH
You're either looking to make a bunch of merfolk and use their pumping ones (Reejery or Lord of Atlantis) to swarm over a deck, which is the aggro route. Or you're looking to hold down the fort and use their tapping abilities to contain an opponent, while using Islandwalkers to attack, otherwise known as control.
Here's the deal: As an aggro deck, Merfolk are nothing but undersized, unevasive (not counting islandwalk, cause it's situational) weenies that are not going to get it done. Good luck taking down an opponent with a few 2/1's. As such, they are outclassed by bigger aggro decks, who will grin when you play your 2/1 for 2 and in turn make a 2/2 for 1 or a 3/3 deathtouch for 2. As a control deck, Merfolk seem synergistic with tap/untap effects, IF REMOVAL WAS NONEXISTANT. Unfortunately for our blue friends, removal is one of the most important factors in the game. If one of your merfolk dies, it goes to the graveyard along with all the bonuses it would give your other dudes. With that said, Merfolk have no defense against pinpoint removal, and no answer to Wrath. They simply will not be competitive in standard.
Akuma will wreck you.
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Horizon Canopy
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Gemstone Mine
2 Faerie Conclave
3 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Riptide Pilferer
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Ponder
3 Psionic Blast
3 Unstable Mutation
4 Bound in Silence
3 Ajani Goldmane
It's a little out of the box. First splash green just for Tarmogoyf. Fortunately that led to lands that also thin out the deck. Then added a planeswalker who not only boosts Tarmy, but gives you life and a huge avatar. Throw in the other card types like [CARD=Unstable Mutation]enchantments and tribal that are also good removal spells.
........................
I do agree with you that tap/untap effects will not be competitive, but whether aggro is competitive remains to be seen. Merfolk do have answers to spot removal and mass removal. Sygg stops removal spells nicely, and counters are adequate defense against wrath. That said, if your opponent resolves a kill spell while you're attacking into their creatures it can be devastating, but I built my version with that in mind. I think it's still worth testing.
Rasputin Dreamweaver EDH
MAYBE you'd consider writing something that is useful to people who want to build a deck like this rather than just telling them that its a bad deck to make. Yes, I agree, Merfolk are not as big as the creatures in other colors, and the evasion is built around islandwalk (which is not as situational if you plan for it).
With that said, I'm not sure how well the tap/untap stuff will work either, BUT, there are somethings they DO have...
1) Card Advantage. They have a 2/1 for 2 that replaces itself, thats amazing. Not to mention your playing blue which is the color of card advantage. One of the reasons traditional aggro loses to control is that its generally forced to over-extend to win faster and sets up 4-for-1 with *** that screws them for the rest of the game.
2) Protection. To answer you on the point that merfolk can't do anything about point removal, I will point you in the direction of Sygg, River Guide. Last I checked giving a creature pro-red stops it from getting incinerated. Pro-white stops condemn, Pro-black stops Terror. That should do.
3) Mass Removal. What does any other aggro deck do to ***? Nothing, but maybe rollover. This deck has blue and therefore has COUNTERS. Thats another reason to go with Merfolk.
4) Tap Tricks: Lastly there are some fun tricks that happen when you tap things, these are maybe effects that could be played. They all would need testing though.
UWMerfolk (Sygg, River Guide)
B Vampires (Anowon the Ruin Sage)
BRU Zombies! (Lord of Tresserhorn)
WUBRG Allies (Karona, False God)
W Soldiers (Darien, King of Kjeldor)
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Merrow Reejerey
4x Silvergill Adepts
4x Judge of Currents
2x Sygg, River Guide
4x Ponder
4x Momentary Blink
4x Familiar's Ruse
4x Rune Snag
3x Oblivion Ring
3x Condemn
6x Island
4x Plains
2x Nimbus Maze
4x Wanderwine Hub
4x Adarkar Wastes
With Merrow Reejerey Being able to untap your own land with multiples out you can power out your merfolk real quick. Island walk is cool, but the amount of beats and pump, its not needed.
All killed by his madness.
Voices incessantly yelling,
drowning out his sadness.
Of this land he is king,
he is the almighty Deathwing."
Power out your merfolk real quick sounds like it translates into "overextend" in my mind. I've played against Merfolk builds...and they can't keep pace with Aggro...have fewer answers for combo...and control players would just laugh at that decklist. About the only thing they do do well is overextend into a 441 or 541 *** or Damnation. Sygg is cute...but with the amount of activated abilities running around (including those that many players fear most..Planeswalkers..since we have so few answers), Pithing Needles are more than likely going to be part and parcel of sideboards...that turns Sygg into a fun little U/W Merfolk bear that doesn't do much else. Much like Faeries..for the time being at least (until Morningtide..at least), I think we're "missing" some parts for the build.
Cheers,
Austin
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Underground River
3 Adarkar Wastes
3 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Faerie Conclave
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Riptide Pilferer
4 Sygg, River Guide
3 Judge of Currents
4 Mirror Entity
4 Ponder
4 Snapback
3 Slaughter Pact
free spells are good. you can tap out to play creatures while still be able to deal with the opponent's. right now only snapback and slaughter pact with black splash seems good and cheap enough for this curve. plus they're more offensive than say counters or condemn. i still swear by riptide pilferer and judge of currents. both are very disruptive if not dealt with in timely fashion. ponder is great, but i wonder if it's better to get a real card advantage to refuel, say Ancestral Vision, Finkel, or think twice.
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2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Underground River
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Vivid Creek
3 Terramorphic Expanse
23 Creatures
4 Riptide Pilferer
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Sygg, River Guide
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
3 Mirror Entity
3 Slaughter Pact
3 Ponder
4 Thoughtseize
3 Snapback
3 Profane Command
4 Pithing Needle
4 Jotun Grunt
3 Ronom Unicorn
4 Oblivion Ring
This blows other tribe decks out of the water. Eight lords can rush just as fast. Plus built-in evasion and protection. Deck thinning and card selection. Two great free removal spells. Thoughtseize to peemptively take out threats, and along with Pilferers, control and combo will have a hard time. Late-game reach with Mirror Entity and Profane Command. Graveyard seems quite popular, so Jotun Grunt could be brought in MD, thus giving even higher creature density.
One downside to this version is it uses three colors, so the mana base is harder to perfect. But it's not bad since everything is so cheap. Only Lord of Atlantis and Sygg needs CC (Profane comes out late, so you should get BB by then.)
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4 Tolaria West
4 Secluded Glen
3 Underground River
3 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Faerie Conclave
1 Vivid Creek
Creatures 27
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Riptide Pilferer
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Oona's Prowler
3 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
4 Nameless Inversion
3 Thoughtseize
2 Slaughter Pact
1 Profane Command
1 Pact of Negation
4 Stromgald Crusader
4 Extirpate
3 Pithing Needle
2 Living End
1 Thoughtseize
1 Profane Command
The latest, greatest Merfolk deck. Merfolks because it is the best tribe. Pilferer, Prowler, and Thoughtseize destroy their hands. Looter to filter cards--and with Prowler (and even Thoughtseize) are able to put Haakon into the grave. Obviously Haakon is there mainly to replay Nameless Inversion for a one-sided Wrath. Then we have a few free spells, namely the black and blue pacts. You fetch these with Tolaria West, which is also able to fetch lands including Urborg and Conclave. (Sideboard I just threw together so customize to your needs. Stromgald Crusader owns WW.)
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