Competitive Merfolk (Primer in Description!!)

Modern Aggro Competitive Merfolk Mono-Blue Tribal

omnipotato

Instant (4)

• 2x Dismember
• 2x Vapor Snag

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Spreading Seas

Artifact (4)

• 4x Aether Vial

Creature (29)

• 4x Cursecatcher
• 4x Harbinger of the Tides
• 4x Lord of Atlantis
• 4x Master of the Pearl Trident
• 4x Master of Waves
• 3x Merrow Reejerey
• 4x Silvergill Adept
• 2x Spellskite

Land (19)

• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 10x Island
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 4x Mutavault
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 2x Wanderwine Hub

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Sideboard

Instant (9)

• 4x Hurkyl's Recall
• 2x Negate
• 3x Spell Pierce

Artifact (2)

• 2x Relic of Progenitus

Creature (2)

• 2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

Land (2)

• 2x Tectonic Edge

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Competitive Modern Merfolk deck.

I've been playing Merfolk for a few months now in Modern and I wanted to put my list, and some card choices and tips on T/O for future reference for myself as well as for others who are interested in playing this deck.

Merfolk is generally looked down upon as a easy, non-interactive, play-out-your-hand kind of deck, but the more I play it, the more interactions and interesting plays I discover, making for fun and competitive matchups against almost every deck in the field.

Maindeck Choices Show

Deck Base (4x Lord of Atlantis, 4x Master of the Pearl Trident, 4x Silvergill Adept, 4x Spreading Seas, 4x Aether Vial, 4x Mutavault) Show

The spine of the Modern Merfolk deck. The idea is to make your creatures powerful with the lords (Lord of Atlantis and Master of the Pearl Trident), generate card advantage while adding to the board with Silvergill Adept, disrupt the opponent's mana while turning on islandwalk with Spreading Seas, play instant speed creatures and hold up mana for disruption (or more creatures) with Aether Vial, and grind out one-for-one control decks with Mutavault

4x Cursecatcher Show

While not one of the most powerful cards in the deck, I think Cursecatcher is highly underrated. It's generally the only one-drop creature played by Merfolk (some play Cosi's Trickster), and sometimes grudgingly, but Cursecatcher can be useful in a tight spot. I can't tell you how many opponents forget about its ability even though it's right in front of them, and you can sometimes steal games by countering a sweeper or targeted removal on a lord. It can sometimes even buy you a turn or two, if the opponent plays around it, or can't play his follow-up threat after sweeping because of the mana tax.

4x Harbinger of the Tides Show

A relatively new addition to the Merfolk deck, Harbinger can put in a lot of work against creature decks and Splinter Twin combo. A generally defensive card, it can be a reprieve against Burn (a lot of times a two-for-one, as it can bounce a creature, requiring more mana to be spent to recast it instead of a burn spell, and killing a creature via blocking) or any aggresive creature deck like Hatebears, Zoo, Elves, and the mirror. Vialing in Harbinger against an aggressive deck turn 3 with a follow up of a couple of lords is usually game over. Against Twin, it can also be used to stop them mid-combo, flashing Harbinger in to return Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite to your opponent's hand, killing Splinter Twin in the process. This interaction can even be made uncounterable using Cavern of Souls or Aether Vial.

4x Master of Waves Show

This may seem like too many, especially since I'm only running 19 lands, but Master of Waves is just too powerful to not play the full set. It always demands an answer, and it is generally not easy to answer. Most targeted removal in Modern is red (Lightning Bolt, Kolaghan's Command, Lightning Helix, etc), and it is too big to be killed by Abrupt Decay. This means it usually spells doom for Jund, and a lot of times they resort to killing the tokens one by one, which results in a 4- or 5-for-1. It sucks if it is Disfigured or something, but in my experience, that rarely happens. Modern is a fast format and 4-drops have to be powerful. I think Master of Waves is one of the more powerful things you can do in this format and it requires a clean answer almost immediately when it hits the table, representing 10 or more damage the next turn.

3x Merrow Reejerey Show

This is one of the variable slots of the Merfolk deck. Some players play Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in this slot, though I think of it more as a sideboard card. Another possibility is Coralhelm Commander, though I feel it's a bit slow and I can usually be pretty mana efficient in this deck, so leveling up would be hard to do. Phantasmal Image is another way to add more lords to the deck, but I think it's too soft to removal. Reejerey can take advantage of durdly decks like Mono U Tron or Amulet if they don't have the god draw by acting as another lord and pumping up the team. It can sometimes be used to power out a lot of creatures on one turn because of its untap ability, and two Reejereys means you can play almost anything in the deck for free, but it doesn't happen as often as you think. Its interaction with Harbinger of the Tides is cool and can sometimes serve to Time Walk the opponent.

2x Spellskite Show

I've recently added this card to the deck and I'm currently in the process of testing it out. The idea is that the decks that are harmed by Spellskite are REALLY soft to it game one, and if I can get one to stick against Burn, Bogles, or Infect, it's usually game over. Of course, they can board in answers to it for games two and three, and I can even side it out for them to have dead cards in their hand. I had Relic of Progenitus in this slot here before and in the matches where that was good, Spellskite can also often be good, eating removal spells against Grixis or Jund.

1x Cavern of Souls Show

A lot of Merfolk players play more than one copy, but I like my colored mana. Not being able to cast Vapor Snag or Spreading Seas on time can often be crucial. Also, Merfolk already hedges against counterspells via Aether Vial, and sometimes they can run counters right into Cursecatcher. All in all, I think Merfolk is well-prepared to handle counterspells, and more than one Cavern will hurt more than help.

1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge, 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, 2x Wanderwine Hub Show

Simply put, these are hedges against Choke and Boil. It's also possible to deny islandwalk to your opponent in the mirror. Playing one copy each of the legendary lands means that they are strictly better than islands. Wanderwine Hub has never come into play tapped for me when it's mattered, so it's pretty much another island. An interesting think you can do with Hub is reveal a two-drop Merfolk on turn one when you have no turn-one plays, and that bluffs Spell Pierce or Spell Snare, possibly making your opponent think twice about playing his one-drop. Oboro can also be used in an interesting way. If you have Oboro and a Mutavault in play for example, no land drop, and a UU spell in hand, you can tap Oboro for U, return to hand, then play it and tap it again to get UU. Minamo has no use in this deck (other than untapping Kira, Great Glass-Spinner), and I don't think I've used it in any way other than an Island.

2x Dismember, 2x Vapor Snag Show

The removal suite. I've seen any combinations of these two cards, as well as Echoing Truth, but I've gone for the 2-2 split. Dismember is risky against super fast decks, as there's no way to cast it without losing 4 life. Vapor Snag isn't useful against decks that play value creatures like Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique, although it is very good against delve creatures and cards like Scavenging Ooze, that get better the longer they're on the battlefield. I think they have about equal pros and cons, so 50-50 seems right to me.

Sideboard Choices Show

4x Hurkyl's Recall Show

Ah, Affinity, my nemesis. This matchup is so bad that 4 of this effect is necessary. Sometimes drawing one per game is not enough. Also, this gives me a much better game against the Lantern Control deck. Against any other deck this card is close to useless and it sucks I have to play 4, but Affinity is a tier one deck.

2x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner Show

I mentioned this before as a great sideboard card and it is. Against Jund and Grixis control, this card is a pretty big two-for-one. It will eat up two removal spells (if your opponent can spare them), or if they're unwilling to make that trade immediately, blank a lot of their draws.

2x Negate, 3x Spell Pierce Show

Interaction against combo decks, mostly. These, along with Harbinger and Spellskite, make the Twin matchup pretty good. I use Spell Pierce pretty aggressively against any kind of control deck, countering cantrips like Sleight of Hand or Serum Visions, and search spells like Ancient Stirrings or Sylvan Scrying. Negate is necessary against Scapeshift and Tron, and is useful in many other matchups as well.

2x Relic of Progenitus Show

Bring in against any deck utilising the graveyard. Great against Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf, any delve spells, and any reanimation strategy.

2x Tectonic Edge Show

Hate for manlands and Tron, and also extra lands to bring in against decks like Burn, where missing land drops and durdling is punished quickly.

Cards I'm Not Playing Show

Darkslick Shores: Even though this might prevent some loss of life from Dismember, not being able to play Master of Waves with the 4th land drop is a disaster, especially since the land count is low.

Phantasmal Image: This is one I'm close on. I prefer Merfolk decks with a lot of action and aggressiveness, so it seems like a good include. However, I think Twin is too prevalent for it to be good. They don't even need to waste a spell on it, they can just play half their combo and it dies. Also, I'd get frustrated if I draw it and have no lords in play.

Remand: The counterspells in this deck are for combo decks. The only thing that Remand can do that the other spells in my deck can't answer cleanly is Wurmcoil Engine. I'd rather have the efficiency of Negate than extra usefulness in one matchup. The extra card is important too, but I think Negate just has more power.

Sea's Claim: Makes the deck bad against other decks playing islands. Simple as that. If your meta is mostly Jund and Tron, you can easily play this. I'm a big fan of the 8 Seas version, but I think it's a bit too inconsistent.

Tips For Playing Merfolk Show

Don't forget about Cursecatcher. I see a lot of new Merfolk players make this mistake. Always try to counter a sweeper, even if they can pay for it, since they might have a follow up play.

You can Vapor Snag your own creatures. I do this a lot to protect Master of Waves but I've also used it to protect lords when it's important to do so.

Try to get 2 lords as quickly as possible out against Tron. Pyroclasm will be blanked.

You don't have to tell your opponent how big your creatures are. A lot of playing Merfolk is about doing combat math, and telling your opponent exactly what's going on is disadvantagous. Obviously don't be a dick about it, this only applies to high levels of competition. If they're just taking the damage (i.e. asking "how much is that"), make sure to ask if they're declaring any blockers first.

On the other hand, you should know exactly how big your creatures are. Silvergill Adept's, Mutavault's, and Master of Waves's power is 2 + the number of lords, and the lords and Cursecatcher's power is 1 + the number of lords. Mutavault also gets an extra boost from Master of Waves

Cut Aether Vial against Jund or any other attrition-based deck (i.e. Grixis control). A lot of Merfolk players tend to leave it in, but if the deck is just seeking to one-for-one you, you could have 4 threats in the place of Vials.

In the mirror, Lord of Atlantis gives any opposing Merfolk +1/+1 and islandwalk as well. Master of the Pearl Trident doesn't. It's always safer to cast Master of the Pearl Trident first if you're unsure about what your opponent is playing.

If you Spreading Seas a manland, your opponent can activate it in response, and it will remain animated until the end of the turn.

Keep Mutavault + Aether Vial and no other lands game one. It isn't safe to do so game 2 or 3, since your opponent might have brought in artifact hate. Generally don't keep one land hands unless you have Aether Vial since most of the threats in the deck cost 2.

With Wanderwine Hub and Silvergill Adept, try to reveal your play for the turn, or what you will be playing the turn after. Try to conceal Harbinger of the Tides and Cursecatcher if you can flash it in off Aether Vial

I'm indebted to Nikachu for a lot of the ideas presented here. His YouTube channel here is a great resource for the Merfolk enthusiast of any skill level.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 26 - 6 Rares 13 - 4 Uncommons 6 - 5 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.07
Tokens	Elemental 1/0 U
Folders	Merfolk, Modern Ideas, Modern, Decks, Primers - All of them