. . . And the Merfolk from Neptune
Hey Planeswalkers, and welcome to another issue of VJ's Deckbuilding. Recently, I shared with you my love of the card Lullmage Mentor and how J's deck inspired me to make a merfolk EDH deck. Well, at long last, here it is!
The general I chose was none other than the legendary Sygg, River Guide, a relic from Lorwyn. I particularly like Sygg because he's cheap (both under a dollar and only UW to cast) and because although he certainly helps any merfolk deck shine, he is not necessary to win a game. "A good commander deck doesn't always rely on its commander," a wise man from Kamigawa once told me.
So in building a tribal merfolk EDH deck, I needed somewhere to start. I figured I'd see how a set based deck would look, that is, using mostly cards from the Lorwyn/Morningtide/Shadowmoor/Eventide block. A good starting point, I say! Here's the original layout:
Commander: Sygg, River Guide
Creature (30)
Cursecatcher
Deepchannel Mentor
Deeptread Merrow
Drowner Initiate
Drowner of Secrets
Fallowsage
Harpoon Sniper
Ink Dissolver
Inkfathom Divers
Judge of Currents
Merrow Harbinger
Merrow Levitator
Merrow Reejerey
Paperfin Rascal
Puresight Merrow
Sage of Fables
Sigil Tracer
Silvergill Adept
Silvergill Douser
Stonybrook Angler
Stonybrook Banneret
Stonybrook Schoolmaster
Streambed Aquitects
Surgespanner
Tideshaper Mystic
Veteran of the Depths
Wake Trasher
Wanderwine Prophets
Waterspout Weavers
Wellgabber Apothecary
Instant (17)
AEthertow
Broken Ambitions
Coordinated Barrage
Crib Swap
Cryptic Command
Disperse
Dream Fracture
Faerie Trickery
Familiar's Ruse
Forfend
Mirrorweave
Put Away
Sage's Dousing
Scattering Stroke
Spell Syphon
Swell of Courage
Whirlpool Whelm
Enchantment (4)
Forced Fruition
Merrow Commerce
Oblivion Ring
Thought Reflection
Sorcery (8)
Aquitect's Will
Austere Command
Distant Melody
Mind Spring
Ponder
Savor the Moment
Summon the School
Worldpurge
Land (40)
Island (x19)
Mistveil Plains
Moonring Island
Mystic Gate
Plains (x10)
Reflecting Pool
Shelldock Isle
Shimmering Grotto
Springjack Pasture
Vivid Creek
Vivid Meadow
Wanderwine Hub
Windbrisk Heights
The benefit to having a set-based deck is that all the cards tend to complement each other and as a result, this specific deck build had great synergy. But, some of the better merfolk cards are in other sets, so without cards like Lullmage Mentor or Master of the Pearl Trident, this deck just felt incomplete.
Many of the merfolk cards like Deepchannel Mentor gave the deck a solid offensive advantage, since it makes your blue creatures unblockable and Merrow Harbinger was absolutely vital to searching for that key merfolk card. Merrow Reejerey proved an invaluable card, both for control and for creature buffs. Drowner of Secrets was a great mill/control card, especially with Merrow Commerce out on the battlefield, which essentially gave all my merfolk vigilance.
Some merfolk did not perform up to par, though. Wellgabber Apothecary was too expensive for its ability, which I personally think is bested by Syggy's ability. Prevent damage to a creature or give it protection? Don't go in without protection, I say. And besides, the Apothecary only prevents damage to tapped merfolk, which is practically useless if Merrow Commerce is out. I was also sorely disappointed with Paperfin Rascal. Considering the CMC of most merfolk in this deck, I never won any clashes, so that card ended up being a waste of 3 mana. Deeptread Merrow was also not exactly a team player, since he could only give himself islandwalk, which is only useful if there was a way to turn my opponent's lands into islands (unless I played against another blue deck).
Inkfathom Divers was like a way too expensive Sage Owl, and I found myself wanting something more than a 3/3 Islandwalk for 3UU. Waterspout Weavers gave me some personal heartache, because I was expecting the Kinship ability to trigger about 30% of the time, seeing as there were 30 creatures in the deck. The sad truth was that whenever he was in play I only saw the ability go off two out of twelve turns. And when it did trigger, attacking was not always the best move. Levitation would have been more helpful. Cursecatcher was a nice turn one card to lay out, but Judge's Familiar is the much more powerful card, since it has a hybrid mana cost and has flying, which beats the plain ol' Cursecatcher. Also, by the time my opponent was casting instants and sorceries that needed countering, they had plenty of mana to pay the Cursecatcher cost.
Now for the non-creatures. I was happy with all four enchantments in this deck, although two of them were rather high in mana cost. Forced Fruition was a brutal multiplayer card and at first my opponents may have been saying, "Thanks for the extra cards," they quickly realized that just two spells a turn lowered their libraries by fourteen cards. Thought Reflection, the other big enchantment was very cool to have out since I was doubling my draw. I did feel like their were more efficient ways to do this, however. Consecrated Sphinx is one U less to play and you get a 4/6 flyer out of it, although its ability only triggers on opponents drawing cards (a great multiplayer advantage).
Of course, the enchantment that made my day was Merrow Commerce. Practically a blue Seedborn Muse. This card was vital with the Drowner of Secrets on the field and was key in making sure I had a strong defense as well as a brutal offense.
There was a good deal of counter spells in this deck, an absolute necessity in any merfolk deck. Nine total counters, including Cryptic Command, my personal favorite of all the Lorwyn Commands. Not so much removal in the deck, but Crib Swap had to be my favorite removal spell of all time. That's a mighty big dragon you've got there... oh and now you have a little changeling. Hey, it's still technically a dragon. In fact, it's all creature types at once! Isn't that cool!? Crib Swap: the other white Pongify. Okay, enough silly comments.
Board wiping was limited to Austere Command and Worldpurge, with Worldpurge taking my vote for best "What the Duck?" card in this particular deck. Sure it costs eight mana to play, but by the time you really want to sweep up, there's usually at least ten mana out on the field anyway.
I'm not one for extra turns, but Savor the Moment was a fun card, and only cost 1UU. "So what's the point in an extra turn if you don't untap?" That matters not to Merrow Commerce.
After a couple playtests, I knew that sticking to the set may be fun and challenging, but I needed some of those Core Set Merfolk like Merfolk Looter and Master of the Pearl Trident to make the deck really sing. Even Merfolk Spy's not a bad sideboard card!.
Also, I realized that all the deck really did was put out a bunch of merfolk, counter spells, and occasionally mill some key cards. As much as I like Hideaway, Shelldock Isle wasn't really doing anything. So, some careful revamping produced this:
Commander: Sygg, River Guide
Creatures (29):
Coralhelm Commander
Deepchannel Mentor
Drowner of Secrets
Enclave Cryptologist
Fallowsage
Harpoon Sniper
Judge of Currents
Lullmage Mentor
Master of the Pearl Trident
Merfolk Looter
Merfolk Sovereign
Merrow Harbinger
Merrow Reejerey
Puresight Merrow
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
Sage of Fables
Sejiri Merfolk
Sigil Tracer
Silvergill Douser
Stonybrook Angler
Stonybrook Banneret
Stonybrook Schoolmaster
Stormtide Leviathan
Surgespanner
Tideshaper Mystic
Veteran of the Depths
Wake Trasher
Wanderwine Prophets
Enchantments (8):
Infinite Reflection
Mark of Asylum
Merrow Commerce
Oblivion Ring
Prison Term
Rhystic Study
Rule of Law
Shared Triumph
Instants (17):
Azorius Charm
Crib Swap
Cryptic Command
Disperse
Dream Fracture
Faerie Trickery
Familiar's Ruse
Forfend
Hindering Light
Lapse of Certainty
Mirrorweave
Put Away
Sage's Dousing
Spell Crumple
Spell Syphon
Safe Passage
Syncopate
Sorceries (6):
Aquitect's Will
Austere Command
Mind Spring
Ponder
Summon the School
Worldpurge
Lands (40):
Island (x14)
Plains (x8)
Azorius Guildgate
Bant Panorama
Coastal Tower
Esper Panorama
Evolving Wilds
Lonely Sandbar
Mistveil Plains
Moonring Island
Mystic Gate
Reflecting Pool
Reliquary Tower
Secluded Steppe
Sejiri Refuge
Shimmering Grotto
Terramorphic Expanse
Vivid Creek
Vivid Meadow
Wanderwine Hub
A greater variety in lands helped balance out the mana troubles that occured in the first draft and fetch lands like the panoramas thinned out the deck of lands, increasing the chance of a better draw.
So, I tried this design out and I think I may have been a victim of expectations. Many of my opponents playing blue thought that this might be some kind of unblockable, enchantment buff deck, since that seems to be a popular Azorius strategy since Return to Ravnica was released. Most were suprised at the lack of auras, but nevertheless, Sygg was an instant target.
Now, I blame these gang-ups on Bruna, Light of Alabaster. The common bubble-voltron strategy around her makes everyone who's met a deck around her scared that U/W general + some kind of offensive advantage (i.e. Flying or Islandwalk) = tons of enchantments + unblockable commander damage. Don't get me wrong, I like Bruna and bubble-voltron is a perfectly viable strategy; but, that type of thinking has made Sygg's Islandwalk look like some kind of dark omen for any opponent who's mana base contains Islands
As a result, I didn't see too much of Syggy in action. On the flip side, games where I managed to not be targeted were quite fun, and the minimal enchantments took opponents by surprise. Often times, combos like Lullmage Mentor + Rule of Law appeared, and then my opponents were justified in targeting me (maybe a Silent Arbiter would have been nice). In one game Judge of Currents + Drowner of Secrets made for crazy life gain, which kept me alive long enough to turn the odds in my favor, as well as got rid of opponents' key cards.
The creature combos in this deck were great fun all around, and Merfolk tribal proved itself to be both interesting and unexpected in the EDH world. Only real issues, as far as functionality, were a lack of draw power and removal. The things that did work were the tribal buffs and the few Islandwalk creatures. As far as patching up the issues, I replaced the not-so-useful Veteran of the Depths with Distant Memories (tutor or Concentrate, essentially). Mirrorweave was removed and Honden of Seeing Winds took its place. Considering the power of most merfolk, Mentor of the Meek proved more useful than Wake Thrasher. Silvergil Douser wasn't doing anything, so Saprazzan Heir gladly filled that spot. As useful as Forfend was, Inheritance replaced it, proving to be more useful in the long run.
The added draw greatly increased the chances of getting to a win con, but ultimately, the deck's weak points are removal, direct damage, and discard.
The best game I had went like this: opening hand: Sejiri Refuge, Island, Evolving Wilds, Merfolk Looter, Stonybrook Banneret, Rhystic Study, Ponder. (A god-hand, by my standards).
Turn 1: Evolving Wilds, search for a Plains (because I felt like it)
Turn 2: drew an Aquitect's Will. Island, then Sygg.
Turn 3: drew an Azorius Charm. Sejiri Refuge. Hold steady (the Ponder was actually not played until turn 7, I like to have some self control).
Turn 4: drew an Island. Island, Rhystic Study.
Turn 5-9: My opponent had been playing a red-green deck around Rosheen Meanderer, so, his general popped out on turn 5. Only three times did my Rhystic Study pay off, but they were juicy draws: I had drawn a Syncopate, a Spell Crumple, and a Mind Spring. Burn spells were cast, then countered. His deck had very few creatures, considering the colors (then again, the commander doesn't sound terribly creature heavy). My life had gone down by 4 one turn, but I had 1W and a blocker the rest of the turns.
Turn 10-14: I only missed one land drop since casting a Honden of Seeing Winds (best Shrine in my opinion, way broken with Honden of Cleansing Fire and Drogskol Reaver). A Lullmage Mentor had been dropped and I had a Chance to put Infinite Reflection on him. I opted our once playing a Stonybrook Schoolmaster and a Drowner of Secrets. More counterspells (including Counterspell) were drawn and more burn spells were countered, spitting out tokens. The Merfolk Reejerey and Merfolk Sovereign were cast, I had a hefty lot of eight 3/3 Merfolk tokens, plus Sygg, Lullmage, Drowner, Schoolmaster, Banneret, Looter, and two Merfolk buffers out.
Turn 15: I draw a Deepchannel Mentor and a Shared Triumph. Jeez.
Turn 16: Swing for a total of 49 damage. Unnecessarily good draws. Opponent suffered from a less than perfect draw and had to mulligan down to 6. I thought it was unfair luck, but nonetheless, it showcased what the deck was really capable of doing.
The deck is certainly fun to play, since I hardly see tribal in EDH, but this is definitely not competative material. If you want to make Sygg really good, maybe the voltron strategy is your best bet. . . But, that's a whole other segment.
Syggy played guitar.
-V. J.
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