"Merfolk are best known for their subtle magic. But those who try to fight them in their own territory quickly realize that merfolk are hardly defenseless on the field of battle."
I find the flavor text of Coral Merfolk (M10 & M12) accurately summarizes the style of Merfolk.
There are a few combos that make this deck particularly effective:
1) Leyline of Anticipation + Merrow Reejerey
= conTROLL. I can Flash in Merfolk spells to tap my opponents permanents, whether they be dangerous attackers, lands, or permanents with annoying "tap to activate" abilities. This keeps them locked down while I continue to build my board. Leyline of Anticipation is key in any control deck (say I want to keep my mana open to Mana Leak just in case, but I want to cast other spells if I don't end up using it), but is especially awesome here with Merrow Reejerey.
I humbly point out that this deck is the highest ranked Modern deck on tappedout.net that runs Leyline of Anticipation. Though I suppose that is more indicative of how little the Leyline is used...
2) Arcanis the Omnipotent + Stonybrook Banneret
. Arcanis the Omnipotent is a wizard! Stonybrook Banneret can bring him into play faster, and of course he replenishes my hand easily for more Merfolk/tapping. Heck, Arcanis the Omnipotent + Merrow Reejerey
for even more card draw! If an initial aggro-early game assault failed, having this dude in play can just keep them coming! LOL at the occasional game where T5 or T6 I draw my entire library and cast all my Merfolk, w a hand full of counter spells to protect them until while they have summoning sickness. Or better yet, just do the play during the opponent's end step with a Leyline.
4) Evacuation + Merrow Reejerey + Stonybrook Banneret
s. Day of Judgment or Wrath of God won't work here as board wipe, as this deck depends on board presence. However, with the above combo, I can clear the board... and flood the board with all my fishies in one turn.
The best scenario: 5 mana, 2 Stonybrook Bannerets and 2 Merrow Reejereys.
1U: Stonybrook Banneret
U: Stonybrook Banneret
U: Merrow Reejerey
U: Merrow Reejerey
untap, play any number of 2U Merfolk (e.g. Wake Thrasher, Merrow Reejerey, Silvergill Adept)
untap, untap, play any number of 1UU (e.g. Master of the Pearl Trident, Coralhelm Commander)
untap, untap, play Master of Waves.
BAM. One turn. The beauty is that I can cast Evacuation on my opponent's turn, and the rules say that players discard down to 7 cards ONLY during their OWN end step! So if I evacuate the board on their turn, I can keep ALL of my Merfolk and recast them on my next turn. Evacuation is also an alternate escape plan in the face of impending board wipe at the hands of a Wrath of God. Better to be set back to my hand than into the graveyard, because Merfolk are generally only a problem in large numbers.
Combo 4) is an ideal situation, but I can do a pretty good job with 1 Stonybrook Banneret and 2 Merrow Reejereys or 2 Stonybrook Bannerets and 1 Merrow Reejerey, provided that I have at least 6 mana available.
Of course, the +1/+1 boosts of Master of the Pearl Trident, Coralhelm Commander, and Merrow Reejerey are useful, and since this deck can crank out large numbers of permanents, Master of Waves can give me another option for the overwhelming finish.
Leyline of Anticipation seriously increases my chances if winning, but I can't depend on having it in my opening hand (almost never hard cast it). So, Merrow Reejerey can help keep my mana source open for counterspells. A 1 CMC counterspell (i.e. Spell Pierce) has saved me in a pinch many times.
And that's it! Thank you for reading and all feedback will be, as always, greatly appreciated. Happy Gathering!
