Jadelight Ranger and Merfolk Branchwalker

Originally had the Branchwalker in the list, but eventually pulled it out for the Deeproot Elite due to Elite's slightly better versatility, and Branchwalker giving the information to my opponent as well as myself.

Have not tested the list with the Ranger as I've found this setup works well against Pirate and Dino decks mainly, still haven't figured out the perfect setup for getting around aggro WB Vamp decks.

Have not had the pleasure of going against Ramunap Red or any Energy deck yet, though a buddy said his list does well against Sultai Energy.

Branchwalker & Ranger are in the maybe board, as i may eventually change it around again due to necessity.

As for Deeproot Waters and Hadana's Climb I'm really loving them. The Climb doesn't need to flip to be useful, given that as long as the counter from Climb doesn't go on something that already has 2 or more counters, it keeps putting counters as i enter my combat steps. The Waters gets bonkers with 1+ on board and multiple Fish getting cast each turn, and really helps get out of a bad situation.

If you have any suggestions for the sideboard, please, help. I would like to make this deck as competitive as possible without changing it too much. If you have any questions about cards I didn't mention here, feel free to ask.

So I'm making a similar deck that I'm calling swift swimmers, but this comment isn't just a self promo. My deck is a slightly higher average cmc, and isn't running Hadana's Climb which is what i wanted to address.

Hadana's Climb just isn't as good as it looks whether you're flipping it or not. The idea with the card is pretty obvious, the longer it's on the board the more value you'll get, which when you're main boarding Herald of Secret Streams seems like a lot of value, but say you play it turn 3, you're accomplishing less on that turn than you would from just playing Jade Bearer, and you're doing it for triple the mana. Even if you do get to keep out Hadana's Climb long enough to have real value it still does nothing to assist with the WB board clears that are the bane of merfolk decks, you'd be better off running any 2 or 3 cost merfolk as a replacement, or counters like Negate/Spell Pierce, you can even follow in my deck's idea and run Enter the Unknown to try and add to early game ramp and get real value out of Deeproot Waters on turn 3.

Outside of that I'd recommend 1 River's Rebuke its cost is a bit high, but it fits in both as a win con and a means to clear out vamp tokens all at once.

rapicho no problem on the self plug! i was accidentally doing that in a comment on another user's deck, which i kept kicking myself for.

Now, the issue you're bringing up with Hadana's Climb actually isn't too much of one, given it's added at combat. So say it's turn 4, i have no creatures on board, i play the Climb and drop Kumena's Speaker or Mist-Cloaked Herald. Since the Climb triggers at beginning of combat, even though I can't legally attack due to summoning sickness, I can still enter combat and use the trigger w/o actually attacking and proceed to main phase 2 (or at least, that's how I see it) so it's actually more useful than simply dropping a Jade Bearer.

Though I have thought about running Enter the Unknown, Opt or Chart a Course as Opt & Chart were in the original variation but got removed soon after starting as without being able to get Kumena on board and sticking, I don't have much in the way of drawing anything.

Though I will admit, boardwipes are the bane unless I already have a Deeproot Waters out and Fish still in hand to cast. Though like you mentioned, the main problem with River's Rebuke is the cost is so friggin high, and Dino's got the ramp cards that I was hoping Fish would get. Another thing, if WB Vamps have an army of tokens, then there's not much I can do to counteract that, let alone live to be able to use the Rebuke, though I have been wondering if I shouldn't at least try to splash a third color for either cards like Settle the Wreckage or Walk the Plank in the sideboard, and turn it into a UGx variant of one of my Boros decks from RTR/THS standard. I loved that deck for the versatility, being aggro preboard and midrange postboard, usually siding in.. 12/15 of the SB cards every time.

So I already understood that Hadana's Climb triggers whether you attack or not, but I still don't see it as useful. Take the turn 4 situation you're talking about, you're saying you drop Hadana's Climb then Kumena's Speaker/Mist-Cloaked Herald, I'm saying playing Kumena's Speaker/Mist-Cloaked Herald followed by Jade Bearer accomplishes the same thing with an additional 1/1 merfolk for half the mana. Synergy wise as well if you have out deeproot waters you get an additional 1/1 hexproof merfolk on that play, or if you have out Deeproot Elite you get 2 additional +1/+1 counters to place as you want. To clarify a good portion of my argument is that Hadana's Climb has no merfolk synergy and won't accomplish as much as a 3 drop should, and considering all the merfolk synergy you do have in the deck placing in another merfolk like Merfolk Branchwalker accomplishes more.

Also as a quick address to Merfolk Branchwalker being in your maybe board, remember the explore mechanic allows you to chose to send the top card to the grave if it isn't a land, which is a bit of an underutilized part of the mechanic, but it gives you a good chance to pick the card for your next draw and avoid a valueless late game land draw.

rapicho The reason why i dislike Merfolk Branchwalker but would consider Enter the Unknown simply has to do with cmc. Branchwalker is potentially a 3/2 that pitches an unnecessary card, or simply a 2/1 that drew me a land i couldn't use that turn whereas Enter allows me to use that same land I drew or give something else a counter, possibly out of burn range.

My other issue with the Explore mechanic is the fact the information isn't just revealed to me (like a Scry) but rather revealed to all players.

I'm in no way saying it's not good, it really is. I just want to keep my 1 drops higher than everything else, in the event i end up with a manascrew. And I get what you're saying about having more fish synergy, though on that note, I've been tempted to remove the Herald, given it's a 1 of and I'm rarely going to see it, but I'm not sure what I'd replace it with, besides maybe a fourth Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca.

Though, I can figure out a way to possibly fit the Jadelight Ranger & Merfolk Branchwalker back in, but I can't figure out how I would fit Enter the Unknown...

What would your thoughts be on removing the 1x Herald of Secret Streams, 4x Jade Bearer, 2x Hadana's Climb, 1x Deeproot Waters and the 1x Scavenger Grounds for 3x Merfolk Branchwalker, 3x Jadelight Ranger and 3x Enter the Unknown?

I know leaving Deeproot at 3 or even 4 would be optimal, but drawing Climb late game would be useful, I think, though I'm not gonna add any to the sideboard. Personally, I would like to make it a 3/2, 3/3 or 4/3 split between the Waters and Climbs, but I'm not sure how i'd do that without diluting the decks 4x.

Well if you look at my list I definitely agree on pulling Herald of Secret Streams and Hadana's Climb, but personally I'd want to keep the Scavenger Grounds for the UW God-Pharaoh's Gift decks, I also like how you'd be keeping one Hadana's Climb because if definitely adds some spice to the deck. I also wouldn't want to pull the Deeproot Waters because it's such a key combo card for the deck, where between it and Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca they're both key to fitting your deck into midrange scenarios. Personally I'm a big fan of the early game Enter the Unknown because if you hit an additional land playing it is basically free.

I know I just endorsed Merfolk Branchwalker as a great card, but I've actually been considering subbing it for a River Sneak just for the combo between it and Deeproot Waters, which I'm not necessarily recommending so much as pointing out.

Finally as for Jadelight Ranger I've been going through an internal debate of whether or not that card is good because of the extra mana, a turn 3 4/3 isn't bad, and neither is a turn 3 draw 2, but I'm just very hesitant in the idea of over including 3 drops in a tribal deck, and for that reason I'd select Merfolk Branchwalker over it any day.

Another slight offer which I only assume is in your price range since you've got Botanical Sanctum is Nissa, Steward of Elements because you can turn 3 her into a scry 2 or even play her later game if you get mana flooded, but what i see as the best part of putting her into this deck is her 0 ability, because if you have her at 3 loyalty it would put out almost any card in your deck. As your deck currently stands 49/60 cards get played off that ability on 3 loyalty.

rapicho

In the original iteration (sadly, no longer available anymore) i was running 3x Nissa, Steward of Elements for the exact reason you're bringing up, though I was suggested to cut her in favor of more fish.

I'm not sure if you've read through previous comments, but River Sneak was in recently then pulled for some other stuff, can't remember what, exactly.

Now, as far the changes I proposed in my last comment, what do you suggest? You mentioned the biggest problem I have with Jadelight Ranger though Merfolk Branchwalker imo doesn't have a place in this variant.

As far as the Scavenger Grounds I do have Silent Gravestone and Sentinel Totem in the sideboard for Grave Matters decks, such as GPG and reanimate.

And what are your thoughts on adding a third color for Settle the Wreckage and maybe (like, huge maybe to the point I'm not sure if it'll go in) Anointed Procession. The Wreckage would more than likely go sideboard for MUs against aggro decks, such as WB Vamps. I'd thought about adding black for Winding Constrictor though it adds to the 2 drop slot and makes the deck slightly different in what it wants to do, rather than what I want it to do.

Oh yeah sorry about that I didn't look too far into the comments, I really wouldn't do 3x Nissa, Steward of Elements 1 or 2 at most, but anyways I getcha I'm not running River Sneak myself so I can't totally stand by the statement. As for Scavenger Grounds I agree you've got enough graveyard hate in your sideboard, but personally I have way too much hesitation on running less than 22 lands, which might be just a me thing as some of the merfolk decks being posted here run less than 20, which I could never do.

With the changes you offered I think I was ultimately going for cut 2x Hadana's Climb 1x Herald of Secret Streams then add the 3x Enter the Unknown.

Finally with color splash options I think the question is what are you splashing against?

If you're splashing for flavor and to add more threat to your deck in general I'd go with black. Winding Constrictor and Fatal Push are just that good, but in general the board clears in black rn would hurt your merfolk too much and I think that splash would ultimately turn into making a completely different deck.

If you want to splash white though that might be worth it just for Settle the Wreckage as a 4 mana way to end your vampire problem indefinitely. you could also consider adding in a Radiant Destiny for the extra "lord," but I'm going to out right say no to Anointed Procession that card just isn't good enough in standard unless you're running a mono-white Oketra's Monument deck. Merfolk has token synergies, but not enough to be worthwhile with that card, because in your deck's current state it only adds value when you have out Deeproot Waters. If you want to make it so Anointed Procession does work you'd need to add more token gen and land in general.