Introduction
This is my first deck built from scratch. I've tried to keep a synergy with an Aggro-Control attempt. The intention is to control your opponent with counterspells, without allowing him/her to play (almost) anything. Here is where Lullmage Mentor joins the game, the more counters you successfully play, more merfolks you'll have, the more merfolks you have, more counters you'll be able to play.
So, while you keep controlling your opponent, you play other merfolks, such as Deeproot Elite, Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, Master of the Pearl Trident, Merrow Reejerey to kill your opponent, maybe not as fast as a pure aggro deck, but constantly.
Deck tech
Creatures
- Lullmage Mentor: One of the main creatures of the deck. The functioning is easy: More counters = more merfolks, more merfolks = more counters. Just keep it alive with your counters and you'll be able to counter more progressively. Counters and merfolks for all! Also, some synergys are: Deeproot Waters + Lullmage Mentor
, meaning, the more merfolks, more merfolks, therefor, more counters; Lullmage Mentor + Merrow Commerce
, allowing you to counter thing on your turn, and getting ALL your merfolks untapped and the end of your turn, so you can counter more!; Lullmage Mentor + Merrow Reejerey
, this is not as cool as the last, bu the mechanic is pretty much the same, play merfolks untap your merfolks = more counters.
- Cursecatcher: This little guy for U can save you for hard situations, or at least, make your opponent spend some mana.
- Deeproot Elite: Let's have in mind that this deck is about having a considerable ammount of merfolks, whether playing them, or creating tokens, anytime a merfolk enters the battlefield, you can buff any of your merfolks, so you can have some power in the battlefield. Play Deeproot Elite + Deeproot Waters
and... play a merfolk, get another for free, and two +1/+1 counter to put on ANY of your creatures!
- Kopala, Warden of Waves: Protect your merfolks. A BOLT won't cost R anymore, and playing a bolt for 2R to kill a single creature... is something that will your opponent think twice before doing anything to your loved merfolks. <3
- Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca: You will have a considerable ammount of merfolks (_deja vu_), so let's make them more usefull: **tap one merfolk** = Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca will be unblockable, if you buffed her with Deeproot Elite, that's insured damage! (and if your opponent tries to do something to her, counter that! you don't need that kind of negativity in your life); **tap three merfolks** = draw a card, drawing cards is always wellcome, always; **tap five merfolks** = everyone gets its own +1/+1 counter! +But teacher, tapping five creatures is a lot! -Do not worry anymore!, we can get som help with Merrow Commerce, so at your opponent's turn, you will be ready to battle!, or you can help yourself with Merrow Reejerey and play any creature after doing the effect, so you will have some merfolks ready too do more stuff!
- Master of the Pearl Trident: Do I have to explain this? All right, this is very simple: Everyone gets +1/+1 and islandwalk, play Aquitect's Will + Master of the Pearl Trident
and there it is, you have an unstoppable army! (and you'll draw a card!).
- Merrow Reejerey: this little guy can boost your other merfolks, and besides that, it helps with anything that makes your merfolks being tapped: Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca + Merrow Reejerey
or Lullmage Mentor + Merrow Reejerey
, and of course, it helps if you play merfolks after your attack, letting you to have more creatures to block.
- Silvergill Adept: You will surely have another merfolk in hand, so having a 2/1 and drawing a card for 1U is good, BUT if you have Stonybrook Banneret in play, is having a 2/1 and drawing a card for just u, HOW COOL IS THAT?
- Stonybrook Banneret: She has islandwalk, and that is great, but the coolest is that she will down your mana curve from 4 to 3, so you will be able to play most of your deck for only 1 mana! and the most expensive card will cost only 3!, 2 if you have 2 of this in play!
- Swift Warden: This works as an unexpected counter if some of your merfolks is being compromised, with Stonybrook Banneret in play, is like a counter for GG, weird, true? no one expects that!
Spells
Have in mind that almost all spells have synergy with Lullmage Mentor
Instants
- Mana Leak: One of the bests counters in modern for early-mid games, nothing special to tell.
- Remand: You can play this with your own merfolks, playing anything for 1 mana (because you have Stonybrook Banneret, countering it (making it return to your hand) and drawing a card, this will activate Lullmage Mentor, creating an additional merfolk, and you can play your merfolk again for 1 mana, and if you have Deeproot Waters, boom, another merfolk!
- Spell Syphon: Remember, most of your merfolks are blue, so this is pretty cool for a late game.
Sorceries
Lands
I'll talk about the quantity of the cards later, so here I'll only say why I chose this cards, I'll skip the obvious ones.
- Alchemist's Refuge: I don't like the 1 mana that it adds, but letting you play anything with flash can really save you ass.
- Hinterland Harbor: Almost anything is a island, a forest, or both, so this fits pretty well
Enchantments
Planeswalker
- Kiora, Master of the Depths: +1: Recover a creature and a land! always usefull, for anything!; -2: Reveal 4 cards, keep one, and throw the others, this is pretty irrelevant in the deck, but can help you with a little boost; -8: For a late game, creating 3 8/8 creatures helps, in every way, even those are not merfolks.
Quantity criteria
I followed my own criteria for the quantity of the cards.
Creatures
- Legendary creature, because well, legend stuff
- Creatures that can help in almost any situation, but with concrete usabillity
- ---
- Things that we want always
Spells
Instants
Initially I had 4
Mana Leak and 4
Remand, but though that
Spell Syphon can help more than
Mana Leak in a late game so... well, that's it.
Sorceries
Aquitect's Will 1 mana, draw one card (as you will almost always be controling a merfolk at least), and it opens the door for
Master of the Pearl Trident and
Stonybrook BanneretEnchantments
- Deeproot Waters Is pretty helpful, but not a core card of the deck, so 2 is good, besides it cost 3 and always will cost 3 as it is not a Tribal - Merfolk enchantment
- Deeproot Waters Enchantment for 2 (1 if we control Stonybrook Banneret) that untaps all our merfolks, we want it, but not desperately, that's why 3
Lands
- Alchemist's Refuge This only adds 1, we don't like that, but we like the ability to play anything a with flash so... as we don't have useless mana, only 1 copy es OK
- Misty Rainforest We want to be able to search anything that we need, so increasing the posibilities of having the lands that we need is always a good thing. (The bad thing is the price so... just don't look at it)
- Breeding Pool Almost everything is blue, but for the cards that uses green, this will be really really helpful
- Hinterland Harbor Almost any land inm the deck is an island, a forest or both, so this will be very helpfull
- Island 7 because well, blue stuff, you know
- Forest 2 because of Blood Moon (and the card that uses more green in the deck uses 2, so... we must ensure to play that in every situation
Planeswalker
Kiora, Master of the Depths Again, only 1 because of legendary stuff (plus is not a core card that we need, is just a bonus, a cool one, but a bonus)
Under construction
Sideboard
Maybe
