What I'm taking to Regionals
Merfolk
Fish
Merfolk has traditionally been a Fish deck -- not the creature type, the archetype. Fish is a classic aggro-control strategy that backs up white-weenie-style aggro with countermagic.
Today's modern metagame is incredibly linear and increasingly creature-centric, so the amount of countermagic we need is far less than we used to. Today's Merfolk build often has just enough countermagic to not-die to combo, and not-die to wraths.
The Decklist
Creatures
Cursecatcher is an incredibly powerful card whose effects are usually unseen by the Merfolk pilot, which is unfortunate. You may not realize how much time Cursecatcher buys you, but every time the enemy casts Anger of the Gods on turn 4 instead of 3, Cursecatcher probably helped.
A cantripping creature is always great, and one that costs only two mana is even better in an Aether Vial deck that likes to leave Vial on 2. Silvergill is usually your best turn 2 play, ready to be pumped by a lord or two the next turn.
An anthem that's also a creature is great for being aggressive, and granting islandwalk gives the evasion we'll often use to win a game. Double blue in the mana cost is great for Master of Waves, too.
See Master of the Pearl Trident, except that it also powers up your opponents' merfolk, changelings, and Mutavaults.
The flexibility of Phantasmal Image has always been great, and with the recent Splinter Twin ban, it's not going to die to
Deceiver Exarch
nearly as much. You can copy your own Lords, Reejereys, and Master of Waves for more power; copy a Silvergill for more cantripping; copy a Mutavault for more mana; or even Vial it in to copy the opponent's best creature (Griselbrand anybody?).
This was an automatic four-of in the deck when Splinter Twin was dominant, but I've seen its great tempo plays (and synergy with Reejerey) in more than just that matchup. Of all the creatures that might get shaved down, Harbinger is the first.
While it's the clunkiest of the anthem creatures in the deck at three mana, it's still worth putting in the deck. The cast trigger can get you ahead on mana, force the opponent's hand with removal, or tap down blockers. Note that activating Aether Vial is not casting a merfolk spell.
An absolute house that gets us out of bad situation, or turns parity into a winning board state. Pumps your mutavaults, blocks Goblin Guide all day long, and doesn't die to Lightning Bolt, Terminate, or Abrupt Decay.
Non-Creature Spells
Merfolk is the best Vial deck in modern. We usually want it on 2, though rolling it up to 4 for Master of Waves can be useful. Uncounterable, zero-mana, instant-speed Merfolk are really powerful. Note you can run some cool tricks, like using it on 2 while the roll to 3 is on the stack.
Spreading Seas is an absolute house. At its best, it is a two-mana Stone Rain that gives us an extra 1/0 Elemental, makes our creatures unblockable, and draws us a card. Good against non-blue decks, fantastic against 3-color or big-mana decks, but only okay against 2-color blue decks.
Gets things gone more permanently than Vapor Snag. The four life is often worth it if they're clocking you. Has a fun interaction when
Eldrazi Mimic
tries to copy something.
Sometimes you need to counter a Goryo's Vengeance, Pyromancer Ascension, Sylvan Scrying, or just an Anger of the Gods. Having a bit of countermagic in the mainboard is useful. Note that it gets worse as the game goes on, so don't be afraid to cash it in.
Lands
It's an uncounterable Merfolk that dodges sorcery-speed removal, doesn't take a spell slot, and taps for mana. Seems great!
We're a blue deck.
We're afraid of
Choke
, Boil, and opposing merfolk.
See Minamo, plus the ability to use your turn's land drop to make Mutavault tap for and the opportunity to bounce it to discard to Kolaghan's Command or Liliana of the Veil.
See Minamo.
See Minamo, with some extra upsides and downsides. Having uncounterable Merfolk can be invaluable in matches against control decks where you don't see your AEther Vial, but producing colorless mana for non-Merfolk spells is a bummer when you draw Mutavault, Cavern of Souls, 2x Spreading Seas, 2x Spell Pierce, and Negate against Tron.
Sideboard
On zero, this is great against Affinity, Living End, and whatever might remain of Amulet Bloom. On one, this is great against Burn, RG Tron, Bogles, and Delver. Cavern of Souls lets us cast Cursecatcher through it.
Affinity is traditionally a hard matchup for Merfolk, but the combination of Harbinger of the Tides, Chalice of the Void, and this make it much better.
Sometimes, you need more countermagic.
Against grindy decks (often the ones casting Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize), Aether Vial gets much worse. It's a liability that can make you keep hands weak to discard, and a terrible topdeck. In these matchups, you're better off having more lands and attacking their (usually) tight manabases.
Great against Burn, Jund, Abzan, Zoo, Infect, and more. Any time its textbox can hit opposing creatures, play it.
This has been the most mobile of the creatures in the list. I've played 0-2 of her, moving between the mainboard and sideboard. She protects us from removal (except Abrupt Decay and
Rending Volley
), she blocks Inkmoth Nexus, and she provides a clock when you can't guarantee islandwalk.
Maybeboard
These cards often rotate in-and-out of the sideboard, depending on my feelings about the metagame just before a tournament.
When we need to preserve our life total and don't care if they redeploy their threats as long as we get in some damage first, this comes in for Dismember.
Great against Snapcaster Mage and Tarmogoyf, as well as random splash damage against graveyard decks. If nothing else, it cantrips.
Affinity is traditionally a hard matchup for Merfolk, but the combination of Harbinger of the Tides, Chalice of the Void, and this make it much better, even better than Hurkyl's Recall. You can go up to 4x each of
Wanderwine Hub
, Cavern of Souls, and Aether Vial to deploy this -- can't say that about Stony Silence. However, Hurkyl's Recall is usually good enough without turning your manabase into an abomination.
This is sometimes an experiment in the fourth
Tectonic Edge
slot. In the same grindy matchups, this can keep your hand refilling faster than theirs. We have other sources of post-board in Mutavault, Cavern of Souls, and
Tectonic Edge
.
It remains to be seen if this will be a counterspell often enough in the new metagame to replace Negate.
I choose to run Chalice of the Void over Spellskite, especially with Splinter Twin banned. They hit many of the same decks, but Chalice seems to hit more.
