Hiya! Trying out a simple deck as my first MTG attempt at deckbuilding. This took me a long time to make up my mind about, so I suppose it warrants some explanation regarding the sideboard options.
DISCLAIMER: I am an experienced card-game player, however, I am new to MTG in particular, so I welcome any and all constructive criticism. In fact, I encourage it. Let me know what you think! Keep in mind I'm fairly confident as to why I made the decisions I made, but I might still be wrong.
Essentially, I prioritized the main deck to be more tempo based, with a stronger aggro gameplay, to value. Since some of these value cards are so good however, I decided it's worth keeping them to sideboard against decks you can't beat with pure aggression. This is a tempo deck. Against aggro it will either easily out-tempo the other deck and win with its own aggressive agenda, or it will take a more control stance against faster, more violent decks and try to eventually build a strong enough board to fend off the aggro player and start to out-value them with Kumena, or get through with flying or unblockable fish. Against control, it can easily destroy them before they have time to react with the right hand, but against removal-heavy control decks it can also prioritize a more value-based strategy that can keep up with control's card advantage and slowly build up tempo until it can create a winnable board-state.
At least in theory.
Here's the breakdown. Let's start with the staples:
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4 Kumena's Speaker. Best one-drop in the entire deck, period. Amazing tempo on turn 1.
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4 Silvergill Adept. Excellent cycle, and occupies the same slot as Merfolk Branchwalker in my opinion, just strictly a better card however as it draws you a card unconditionally, which is important since card advantage is what sets this deck apart from other aggro decks and makes it be able to keep up with control much longer.
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4 Merfolk Mistbinder. Just an excellent lord for the deck, can be slammed down for unexpected damage. Often will be the target of removal, so unless it's played on curve after a Speaker it's better to wait until it's safe to summon her against control.
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3 Kumena, Tyrant of Oraza. I tried playing four of these and it was ok, so if it's your thing, go for it. I like three, however, and must insist that you really don't need it on every matchup. Don't get me wrong, Kumena is an absolute staple and the best card in the deck, but if you play this right, you should win against slower decks easily without needing to slap him down. See, he's better when hitting a board full of Merfolk anyhow. A lonely Kumena is a tempo loss, if anything, and while 3 mana 2/4 is ok stats off the bat you really want to start getting value from him immediately before he gets removed. I think plenty has been said about HOW to play this card so I'll leave it at that. Good card.
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4 Dive Down / Blossoming Defense. Spell Pierce in this slot is also valid, however I find these 2 cards to be muuuch more flexible, always effective (unlike Spell Pierce's tax that a control deck can easily pay for). Not to mention they can be both used for trading efficiently against aggro, not to mention provide burst damage for a finisher in the case of Blossoming Defense.
So here's the stranger picks, plus the sideboard options:
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3 Jade Bearers and 3 Mist-Cloaked Heralds. I frankly like JB, a lot of people would rather run 4 copies of Herald and no JB's and I think that's fair. However, this does not lend itself well to Deeproot Elite and Deeproot Waters, which is ironic since everyone seems madly in love with those two cards. So I think 10 one-drops is a good way to have a solid early game anyhow and round up your curve on each of the early turns.
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3 One with the Wind (Sideboards for Deeproot Elite). So this is one people will find strange no doubt. Deeproot Elite is So Good! And I agree, it's a good card and all, but on turn 2 it's next to useless against Chainwheeler, not to mention it's an awful tempo loss after a Speaker. Turn 1, 2/2, turn 2, 1/1? If we need to win FAST we need to make BIGGER things not smaller things. One with the Wind (alternatively Cartouche of Knowledge or Arcane Flight if you'd prefer) provides a much better statline of +2/+2 and evasion, which can really make a difference against aggro to get past tokens or be able to block up Glorybringers and Phoenixes. Granted, a control deck without many creatures would just counter OwtW or just remove the creature, enchantment and all (this is why I usually target hexproof tokens with it). So Deeproot Elite might just be better against those matchups, being able to spread out power better and build stronger boards over time.
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3 Jungleborn Pioneer (Sideboards for Deeproot Waters). Ah yes, DW, the card all fish lovers are crazy about. Here's the deal when you're trying to win fast: Deeproot Waters is 3 mana Do Nothing. That's not a terribly good move, is it? Jungleborn Pioneer puts TWO bodies on the board immediately, 3/3 worth of them in fact. That would take THREE merfolk summons for DW to make up for, AND it would take at least another turn. Sure, it out-values Pioneer eventually, and that's why I prefer it in control matchups, where it starts making each Merfolk more valuable and provides hexproof merfolk for you to start buffing.
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4 Merfolk Trickster (Sideboards, usually, for 2 Swift Warden and 2 Shapers' Sanctuary). Trickster is a DELIGHT to play against aggro decks. Make gods mortal, clip the wings off of dragons and phoenixes and turn airships' engines off as you trade into them ruthlessly when your opponent least expects it. However, if your opponent HAS no creatures, and no, Torrential Gearhulk doesn't count (though the Scarab God does), then you're better off getting some Shapers' Sanctuary and trying to keep up with card advantage instead, or even getting some Swift Wardens in there, an insanely good value card in a slower matchup. 3 mana 3/3 AND practically counter an enemy (targeted) spell? That's insane.
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3 Unsummon. Alright, I admit it, I'm not a HUGE fan of unsummon and it's rotating out soon anyway. Is it because the old art is disturbingly ugly and the new art just doesn't fit this deck as much as the rest of the deck? Probably, mostly. Also I got super unlucky and never drew these the first couple times I played it but y'know what? It's kind of like a Dive Down sometimes, letting you save some fish, and sometimes it's just an insane tempo play that cripples your opponent by throwing them a turn or several backwards as they need to set up all over again. Staple? It would be if there weren't some control decks with no minions whatsoever, against which I will sometimes sideboard this for Admiral's Order or somesuch. That said, it's hardly USELESS against those decks, so you can sideboard something else if you'd like.
