So a big problem with this deck is dealing with big green creatures. Sure we have Beacon Bolt but it can be a little unreliable. Why don't we play with Fight With Fire? It seems to hit all the of the early big creatures while potentially being a wincon/board wipe later in the game.
I was thinking about Dream Eater as a possible replacement for Torrential Gearhulk. He serves the same purpose against creature decks in that he gets rid of two attacking creatures (hopefully.) How has the surveil 4 been working for you?
Deafening Clarion
1RW
Sorcery @ Rare
Choose One or both-
-Deafoning Clarion deals 3 damage to each creature
-Creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn
What I'm starting to realize is we need a way to interact with our opponents creatures.
Gifted Aetherborn is a prime example of a creature that slows us down in several ways; he's able to block our early creatures and can bring the life total further out of reach. Being in Simic colors (colors well known to not have much proactive interaction) we'll most likely be forced to use fight effects or bounce spells to only temporarily fix the problem.
After some more testing I'm liking Unsummon more and more and Opt a lot less. I'm rather shocked however that most people haven't considered running Chart a Course. The card seems perfect for our line of play.
Nissa, Steward of Elements as well as the Vineshaper Mystic/Rishkar,Peema Renegade look more appealing as Deeproot Champion, as many have already pointed out, doesn't have such a natural fit in her. More often than not he becomes a 3/3 or even a 4/4 but never anything more. I'll be tuning my list over the week and see what i end up with.
I'm not a fan of Waker of the Wilds because I dont think this deck wants to play the long game, and after resolving one the best we can do is get a 2/2 land the next turn at the bare minimum. Paying 8 mana for 5 power across 2 turns doesn't feel good.
Just a thought though, is what if merfolk tried to mimic the U/W Monument deck? Only it'd be U/G and it'd be with Rhonas's Monument and Deeproot Waters. The deck would try to swarm the battlefield with 1/1 hexproof merfolk (or 2/2's with metallic mimic out). Again, just a thought.
Gearhulk is just a value creature in green who happens to have synergies with the rest of the deck. As a two of he most likely won't be stuck in your hand turns 1-3 but will be a way for you to push that last bit of damage. Or at the very least you could start with an 8/8 trample if you cant save yourself from a Fumigate or Hour
U/G Merfolk is an Aggressive Tempo Tribal deck that looks to play high value creatures and protect them with reactionary spells. A bit about myself is I am normally a control player; the past couple standard seasons you would've caught me playing U/R Control, U/W Spirits, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Black, and Prime Speaker Bant. I love tribal decks, especially ones that take a tempo route such as merfolk so I was excited to make a deck work for them, and I feel like they could have a place to stay in the new standard environment.
Card Choices:
In most cases this is a 2/2 for G which is a great rate. Its a cheap merfolk for River Sneak and its a potent threat on its own without investing too much into it.
At first I was skeptical as this is only a 1/1 for 1G but the more I tested the deck the more I saw that this guy just grows naturally from just playing the type of game we want to play anyway.
Our Merfolk lord, it's beneficial that he gives +1/+1 counters to other Merfolk rather than just giving a static +1/+1
An unblockable 1/1 for 1U,can have explosive turns similar to Mausoleum Wanderer
Gives our Merfolk psuedo-Islandwalk of old and makes our team unblockable. The 2/3 body can be relevant as well since after one +1/+1 counter he is out of Abrade and Lightning Strike range.
Can give +1/+1 counters to himself and the rest of the team, or if its an empty board can just be an 8/8 trample for 3GG
Serves a primary purpose and a secondary purpose. Its primary purpose is to protect against spot removal that River Heralds' Boon can't protect us from such as Fatal Push,Cast Out, and even Unsummon effects. Its secondary purpose is to push through that little extra damage we may need to finish a game.
This is almost always "Draw 2 cards" for 1U and its great. With this we can be sure that we're never running out of fish to play or answers we need. Its unfortunate that it isn't instant speed but that would be a bit too much.
Jace gives the consistency that the deck needs, his +1 giving us the ability to loot for having just one of our merfolk hit as well as another permanent to take a card out of our opponents hand or to soak damage for us is a good rate for 1UU. He can also make an Illusion token on an empty board which is okay, but really all we want here is the ability to loot.
Cards Considered: Merfolk Branchwalker - The card is too vanilla and while it can smooth out our draws, I feel like we'd want it to be a 3/2 for 1G way more often than a 2/1 for 1G that draws us a land card. I could be wrong about the creature but my gut response says that the other creatures in the deck are just flat out better.
Deeproot Waters - The enchantment is a do nothing spell on turn 3 and while it can be good, is just too slow. 1/1 hexproof aren't relevant either.
Shaper Apprentice - It can't buff itself somehow like all of the other merfolk. Evasion is nice though.
Shapers of Nature - 99% of the time will just be a 3/3 for 1GU, its abilities are just too mana-intensive.
Nissa, Steward of Elements - While Nissa can smooth out our draws and be a potential mana sink, I feel the reliability of Jace is more important.
Ridgescale Tusker - Can be a budget Gearhulk that can sometimes be better if we have more than 4 creatures out, but the Gearhulk is probably the better play in most situations.
Tishana, Voice of Thunder - Simply too expensive. I heard Gerry Thompson wrote an article for a merfolk deck featuring Ixalan's Cradle and mana sinks so this may in that list, but I personally haven't seen the list myself.
I've only been able to do some light testing against Dinosaurs, Temur Energy, and U/R Control decks but the mainboard feels optimal and that it can have strong game 1s. I'm unsure of what to do with the sideboard so for the purpose of being complete I decided to go with a safe sideboard that doesn't answer one archetype but instead tries to protect its own gameplan.
4 Sulfur Falls
7 Mountain
9 Island
4 Crackling Drake
2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Ionize
3 Sinister Sabotage
2 Shock
2 Lava Coil
4 Lightning Strike
4 Opt
2 Chemister's Insight
2 Mission Briefing
2 Essence Scatter
2 Expansion // Explosion
I was thinking about Dream Eater as a possible replacement for Torrential Gearhulk. He serves the same purpose against creature decks in that he gets rid of two attacking creatures (hopefully.) How has the surveil 4 been working for you?
Thanks, not quite sure how I made that typo lol.
The card seems fine though, none of the guilds in this set typically have big things. Boros could mentor their creatures out of its range.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB0hRp38DRQ&feature=youtu.be
Deafening Clarion
1RW
Sorcery @ Rare
Choose One or both-
-Deafoning Clarion deals 3 damage to each creature
-Creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn
I mean he's gotta be one of the Planeswalker deck planeswalkers right?
Gifted Aetherborn is a prime example of a creature that slows us down in several ways; he's able to block our early creatures and can bring the life total further out of reach. Being in Simic colors (colors well known to not have much proactive interaction) we'll most likely be forced to use fight effects or bounce spells to only temporarily fix the problem.
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Unclaimed Territory
6 Island
4 Forest
4 Hashep Oasis
Creatures (25)
4 Kumena's Speaker
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Metallic Mimic
4 River Sneak
3 Vineshaper Mystic
2 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Herald of Secret Streams
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Blossoming Defense
3 Dive Down
3 Deeproot Waters
3 Chart a Course
1 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
2 Sentinel Totem
3 Spell Pierce
3 Negate
4 Life Goes On
I want to find room for more Herald of Secret Streams but i honestly don't know where to begin.
Nissa, Steward of Elements as well as the Vineshaper Mystic/Rishkar,Peema Renegade look more appealing as Deeproot Champion, as many have already pointed out, doesn't have such a natural fit in her. More often than not he becomes a 3/3 or even a 4/4 but never anything more. I'll be tuning my list over the week and see what i end up with.
Just a thought though, is what if merfolk tried to mimic the U/W Monument deck? Only it'd be U/G and it'd be with Rhonas's Monument and Deeproot Waters. The deck would try to swarm the battlefield with 1/1 hexproof merfolk (or 2/2's with metallic mimic out). Again, just a thought.
So in the end it'll look like this.
+3 Opt
-3 Jace, Cunning Castaway
+4 Merfolk Branchwalker
-1 Island
-1 Forest
-1 Herald of Secret Streams
-1 Chart a Course
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Unclaimed Territory
6 Island
8 Forest
Creatures (24)
4 Kumena's Speaker
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Deeproot Champion
4 River Sneak
2 Herald of Secret Streams
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Blossoming Defense
3 Chart a Course
4 Spell Pierce
3 Opt
2 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Negate
3 Shapers' Sanctuary
3 Vineshaper Mystic
I don't like the idea of going all in on Deeproot Champion. The blowout potential is huge. Spell Pierce can only counter Fatal Push for so long.
U/G Merfolk is an Aggressive Tempo Tribal deck that looks to play high value creatures and protect them with reactionary spells. A bit about myself is I am normally a control player; the past couple standard seasons you would've caught me playing U/R Control, U/W Spirits, Jeskai Control, Jeskai Black, and Prime Speaker Bant. I love tribal decks, especially ones that take a tempo route such as merfolk so I was excited to make a deck work for them, and I feel like they could have a place to stay in the new standard environment.
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Unclaimed Territory
7 Island
9 Forest
Creatures (21)
4 Kumena's Speaker
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Deeproot Champion
4 River Sneak
3 Herald of Secret Streams
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Chart a Course
4 Spell Pierce
3 Jace, Cunning Castaway
2 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Negate
3 Shapers' Sanctuary
3 Vineshaper Mystic
Card Choices:
In most cases this is a 2/2 for G which is a great rate. Its a cheap merfolk for River Sneak and its a potent threat on its own without investing too much into it.
At first I was skeptical as this is only a 1/1 for 1G but the more I tested the deck the more I saw that this guy just grows naturally from just playing the type of game we want to play anyway.
Our Merfolk lord, it's beneficial that he gives +1/+1 counters to other Merfolk rather than just giving a static +1/+1
An unblockable 1/1 for 1U,can have explosive turns similar to Mausoleum Wanderer
Gives our Merfolk psuedo-Islandwalk of old and makes our team unblockable. The 2/3 body can be relevant as well since after one +1/+1 counter he is out of Abrade and Lightning Strike range.
Can give +1/+1 counters to himself and the rest of the team, or if its an empty board can just be an 8/8 trample for 3GG
Serves a primary purpose and a secondary purpose. Its primary purpose is to protect against spot removal that River Heralds' Boon can't protect us from such as Fatal Push,Cast Out, and even Unsummon effects. Its secondary purpose is to push through that little extra damage we may need to finish a game.
This is almost always "Draw 2 cards" for 1U and its great. With this we can be sure that we're never running out of fish to play or answers we need. Its unfortunate that it isn't instant speed but that would be a bit too much.
Another protection spell for our Merfolk in the early turns but it can also be a way to stop some important spells in the later turns such as Heart of Kiran,Oketra's Monument,Refurbish,Glimmer of Genius, or any Planeswalker spells.
Jace gives the consistency that the deck needs, his +1 giving us the ability to loot for having just one of our merfolk hit as well as another permanent to take a card out of our opponents hand or to soak damage for us is a good rate for 1UU. He can also make an Illusion token on an empty board which is okay, but really all we want here is the ability to loot.
Cards Considered:
Merfolk Branchwalker - The card is too vanilla and while it can smooth out our draws, I feel like we'd want it to be a 3/2 for 1G way more often than a 2/1 for 1G that draws us a land card. I could be wrong about the creature but my gut response says that the other creatures in the deck are just flat out better.
Deeproot Waters - The enchantment is a do nothing spell on turn 3 and while it can be good, is just too slow. 1/1 hexproof aren't relevant either.
Shaper Apprentice - It can't buff itself somehow like all of the other merfolk. Evasion is nice though.
Shapers of Nature - 99% of the time will just be a 3/3 for 1GU, its abilities are just too mana-intensive.
Nissa, Steward of Elements - While Nissa can smooth out our draws and be a potential mana sink, I feel the reliability of Jace is more important.
Ridgescale Tusker - Can be a budget Gearhulk that can sometimes be better if we have more than 4 creatures out, but the Gearhulk is probably the better play in most situations.
Tishana, Voice of Thunder - Simply too expensive. I heard Gerry Thompson wrote an article for a merfolk deck featuring Ixalan's Cradle and mana sinks so this may in that list, but I personally haven't seen the list myself.
I've only been able to do some light testing against Dinosaurs, Temur Energy, and U/R Control decks but the mainboard feels optimal and that it can have strong game 1s. I'm unsure of what to do with the sideboard so for the purpose of being complete I decided to go with a safe sideboard that doesn't answer one archetype but instead tries to protect its own gameplan.
Drover of the Mighty
Ripjaw Raptor
Regisaur Alpha
Glorybringer
Carnage Tyrant
Savage Stomp
Commune with Dinosaurs
Abrade
Lightning Strike
I think some of you are trying to go too in on the dinosaur stuff.
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Botanical Sanctum
7x Island
9x Forest
Creatures: 30
4x Kumena's Speaker
4x Longtusk Cub
4x Metallic Mimic
4x River Sneak
4x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
4x Herald of Secret Streams
4x Tempest Caller
4x Verdurous Gearhulk
3x Blossoming Defense
3x Chart a Course
Maybeboard
1x Deeproot Waters
1x Shapers' Sanctuary
1x Shaper Apprentice
1x Shapers of Nature
1x Jace, Cunning Castaway
1x Waker of the Wilds
Ridgescale Tusker is also a budget option to the gearhulk