Empire of the Rising Tide

Modern Aggro Competitive Devotion Merfolk Mono-Blue Tribal

nighthawk85

Creature (27)

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

Land (20)

• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 13x Island
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 3x Mutavault
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Spreading Seas

Artifact (4)

• 4x Aether Vial

Instant (5)

• 2x Spell Pierce
• 3x Vapor Snag

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Sideboard

Creature (3)

• 3x Spellskite

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Sea's Claim

Artifact (4)

• 2x Chalice of the Void
• 2x Relic of Progenitus

Instant (7)

• 2x Hibernation
• 4x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Spell Pierce

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Maybeboard

Instant (3)

• 1x Dismember
• 1x Echoing Truth
• 1x Spell Snare

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Competitive Modern Merfolk. Here, I'm focusing more on a Tempo style build as opposed to pure creature aggro. The primary goal of this build is to play multiple threats while bouncing enough of our opponent's threats to slow them down. We want to give our creatures evasion and pump them using the Master of the Pearl Trident + Spreading Seas combo.

I have found this to be a very synergistic build that has good versatility to deal with multiple situations. We can bounce threats and control subtly with our noncreature spells as well as disrupting our opponent's mana base. At the same time we have the ability to race many aggro builds with the low cost creature that are featured here.This isn't the strongest build in modern, but a very fun build that will allow you to compete and see success.

• Current record - 19-18
• Win percentage - 51.3

MEET THE LORDS..."Let the land dwellers know, the coast is no longer the border between our realms. A new age of empire has begun."

• Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident
  These are some of the best lords in MTG. For the CMC we get great value.
  As mentioned earlier, their combo with Spreading Seas is the signature of this build.

• Merrow Reejerey
  While not granting islandwalk like the previous two lords, Merrow Reejerey has a great ability here that not only combos with Harbinger of the Tides, allowing us to force tap an opponents creatures, then bouncing them back to their hands, but also can help us empty a hand full of creatures in one turn!
  With two of these on the field we can play a two drop merfolk, and untap both lands used to play it, allowing for those lands to be used to play yet another merfolk. In rare instances, you'll be able to dump an entire hand of creatures in one turn, leaving your opponent overwhelmed. Don't forget we can tap any permanent with Merrow, including our opponent's lands if need be, to prevent any instant tricks during combat.

• Master of Waves
  Taking advantage of the many spells in this build that use multiple symbols in their casting costs, this lord hits the field with friends and usually ends the game once he drops. Made even nastier to drop this either mid-combat using Aether Vial, to gain an instant combat advantage, but also to vial in at the end of our opponent's turn to give them minimal time to react to an overwhelming creature army getting ready to swing.
  Although MOW doesn't pump our other Merfolk, it does pump the tokens it produces. Like our other lords, it's pump applies to Mutavault as well.
  One of the larger benefits here is the pro red. Meaning this can be a game winner against burn, but still falls victim to other popular Modern removal, such as Path to Exile, or Dismember.

SOME VERY SALTY INDIVIDUALS..."Of all the things that can be stolen, opportunity is the most valuable."

• Cursecatcher
  The only one-drop creature in the build. CC can be extremely disruptive early game, slowing down combo decks with it's sac ability.
  There are simple tricks to increase the effectiveness of this card. If you need to counter a spell mid combat while on defense, always assign CC to block first, then sac for it's counter ability.
  Merfolk, although fast, is usually about a turn slower then a lot of faster decks in Modern. Curscatcher can help slow them that extra turn by forcing the opponent to wait until they can pay the extra cost should you move to counter. This can have a large effect in a lot of games. It's not uncommon for opponent's to waste a good removal spell such as Path to Exile, or Lightning Bolt just to remove this tiny 1/1. This action works to our favor as that keeps the target off of our more important lords, but essentially acts as a counter in the sense that we've forced the opponent to remove the lesser threat, helping us maintain a stronger board presence.

• Harbinger of the Tides
  We have a great tempo ability added onto this 2/2 for , once again giving us great value for our CMC.
  You want to avoid playing this without taking advantage of it's ability, even if that means holding onto it for a turn or two. It's flash ability is excellent, allowing us to remove an attacker outright, but even better is using Aether Vial to put this into play. While playing at instant speed is always best, don't be afraid to drop this on your turn to bounce a tapped creature back to your opponent's hand.

• Phantasmal Image
  Fits great in this build, and it's only 2 CMC which fits with the majority of our creatures making it an easier choice leaving our Vials on 2 counters.

• Silvergill Adept
  Tempo means card andavntage. Silvergill gives us a 2/1 body with a draw. Can't beat that, especially when you can bypass the extra casting cost with Aether Vial.

LANDS CLAIMED BY THE EMPIRE...It's students graduate the school and enter history

• Cavern of Souls
  We only run one copy here, just as an added cushion against control.

• Ghost Quarter
  Extra mana disruption will be needed greatly when playing against popular Modern builds such as Tron, or Eldrazi.

• Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
  Most players will tell you these are here to help defend against blue hate such as Blood Moon, or Choke, but they also have a secondary function...
  In the mirror match, we can play these in place of an Island, in the hopes of keeping our opponent's Merfolk from taking advantage og Islandwalk.
  While not to important, don't forget, Minamo can be used to untap Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in a pinch to block.

• Mutavault
  Running these along with a copy of Ghost Quarter, and Cavern of Souls can be a bit ambitious, often leading to awkward opening hands. That's the primary reason we only see 3 copies instead of 4.
  Mutavault gets the added benefit of being pumped by all our lords and counting as a merfolk, means it can be granted Islandwalk as well.
  Another added benefit is the difficulty Discard builds such as 8 Rack, can have removing this from our hand, as the primary discard spells, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Thoughtseize, cannot remove a land. Giving us a creature we can maintain aggression with.

DISRUPTION"There's a hole in your plan."---Nolan Dar, Tazeem lullmage

• Spreading Seas
  This card works beautifully with our Lords. Not only does turning an opponent's land into an Island often cause their game to slow down when running most colors, but it makes our army unblockable. As if that's not good enough, it replaces itself by allowing you to draw a card.
  While disruptive, this is best used on a utility land if possible. Using on Basics tends to give minimal effect unless you're opponent is being starved for mana. Don't be afraid to hold one for a turn or two waiting for the best usage against your opponents lands.

• Spell Pierce
  The effectiveness of this counterspall begins to wane as the game goes on, since it's additional 2 generic mana becomes easier for our opponent to play.
  You want to use this as early as possible to counter effectively. Even if it's not a powerful spell you're countering, anything we can do to slow our opponent a turn can tilt the game in our favor.

• Vapor Snag
  For the threats that hit the field, and must be slowed down, this card works great. Making the opponent recast their creature the following turn, and taking a point of damage. Can also be used to save one of your creatures from removal.

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST...

• Aether Vial
  As mentioned multiple times previously, Aether Vial's versatility in this build cannot be underestimated. It combos greatly with our creatures, allowing for instant combat advantage, bypassing extra casting costs, and it even chumps control builds, allowing us to play creatures without fear of a counterspell.
  Oddly enough, this can work against you in rare occasions. Typically it's to your benefit to side these out if you're taking the first turn. We want card advantage, and one of these in your opening hand can actually hurt more then help if we're not taking the draw. It puts you down a card, since you always want to play this turn one if possible.
  We bypass that scenerio if taking the draw, as we will more or less have 7 cards available to play after dropping this turn one.
  With that said, this is mostly personal preference. Aether Vial helps us go head to head with aggro builds allowing us to flood the board faster.
  We also have the added benefit of having the majority of our creatures as 2 drops, making it an easy choice to leave this with two counters on it.
  Always think carefully before ticking this up another counter, and don't forget to do so before your draw step.

SIDEBOARD

• Chalice of the Void
  Stops most burn, and discard spells. Play for 0 mana to disrupt 0 drop artifacts from hitting the board. This card has such a wide range of disruption, it had to be included.

• Sea's Claim
  An extremely good option if you're in a meta heavy with Tron and Eldrazi. Also pulling double duty to work with our lords for granting our Merfolk Islandwalk.

• Echoing Truth
  Great against token builds. We can also hit any nonland permanent meaning we can remove artifacts and enchantments, and remove a Planeswalker before they can trigger their ultimate.

• Hibernation
  Mono-Green has one of the best answers for fish with Choke.
  We also can't forget about the occasional Elf deck we may run into, although rare, it is typically a hard match for us. Casting one of these mid-game usually means an instant win against anything mono-green.

• Relic of Progenitus
  A must have to defend against combo builds such as Living End, and Instant Reanimator.

• Hurkyl's Recall
  Affinity is a tough match-up for us. This is easily our best defense against it. We can more or less send their whole board back into their hand with this. Since it's such a tough match, we want to take advantage of a full 4 copies here.

• Spellskite
  Can be used as another buffer against Burn to keep our fish alive, but it's best used against Infect, and Bogles.
  While these aren't horrible matchups for us, the former being the hardest, they tend to give us problems in the form of Hexproof, crippling our Harbingers, and Vapor Snags.
  Spellskite allows us to divert any pump spells these decks use to deal quick damage to itself. Slowing them down substantially. If this is what you're having to do to maintain an advantage, you'll want to side in your extra Spell Pierce, and hold onto in response to the inevitable Nature's Claim these decks tend to use.

HONORABLE MENTIONSA single lie unleashes a tide of disbelief.

• Dismember
  A good option for removal. The downside is, we're always paying the four health to remove a threat. A good option against blue hate cards such as Goblin Piledriver .

• Spell Snare
  I good counterspell that can be effective at gaining an early game advantage.
  Good for stopping early board sweepers like Pyroclasm .

• Echoing Truth
  Great against token builds. We can also hit any nonland permanent meaning we can remove artifacts and enchantments, and remove a Planeswalker before they can trigger their ultimate.

Date added	10 years
Last updated	8 years
Key combos	Master of the Pearl Trident + Spreading Seas
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 2 Mythic Rares 22 - 7 Rares 12 - 4 Uncommons 9 - 2 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.90
Tokens	Elemental 1/0 U
Folders	Decks in Use, Favorites, Blue Aggro, Deck modern standard