Legacy: Merfolk - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, Legacy fans! While we wait for news from Las Vegas to hear about new releases and how they'll affect the format, let's carry on with another deck tech. This time, we'll tackle an old favorite: Merfolk!

This good ol' archetype always stands out, even when it is not in the upper tiers of the format, and has a dedicated fan base. Now, Merfolk has, just like many other classic decks, incorporated cards from Modern Horizons 3 to keep seeing play in the format.

The most critical addition was precisely a Merfolk itself, one of the most exciting in the entire set: Harbinger of the Seas.

If Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon are powerful in Legacy, certainly a blue version can find a spot to compete. The list we'll review today got 9th place in a Magic Online Challenge 32 in the hands of lazerbeam. Besides Harbinger of the Seas, it plays Sink Into Stupor from MH3, and Ghost Vacuum from Duskmourn.

In its core, Merfolk is a Kindred deck with many (many) lords - creatures that give +1/+1 to all creatures of a same type, and also have synergies with the Kindred in question itself. Silvergill Adept draws you cards if you have another Merfolk in hand, Svyelun of Sea and Sky grants Ward 1 to all other Merfolk, and Tide Shaper gives you value (because of the Islandwalk ability which some of your other Lords give you) even against decks without any lands.

Aether Vial is great in these types of decks, as it lets you put pressure while you use your lands more proactively.

Besides your Merfolk, this deck uses a series of cards we often see in Tempo decks: Force of Will, Wasteland, and Daze.

Tide Shaper and Harbinger of the Seas are part of your disruption elements, and Vodalian Hexcatcher's second ability can catch opponents with limited mana off guard when Aether Vial is in play. Even without Aether Vial, you'll most likely be able to tax the mana cost of each noncreature spell your opponent plays with Vodalian Hexcatcher quite often.

This deck uses a monoblue mana base, without any dual lands, so it is a good budget option for Legacy. besides Wasteland and basic Islands, it plays Otawara, Soaring City in case of emergencies, Cavern of Souls (the best Kindred land available on the market), and Mutavault, which can be quite offensive with your lords.

Merfolk is an aggressive deck, so your hands need to do something in the first few turns. You can keep practically any hand with Aether Vial and at least 1 land, considering this deck works well when this artifact is in play.

Force of Will is crucial to beat combo decks, but it can also protect your threats against other decks. As you don't play Brainstorm or Ponder, you'll need to understand what your initial hand can do because you won't be able to draw many cards with this deck.

Example:

This is a risky hand, as it doesn't have blue mana and leans too heavily into Aether Vial - if your opponent counters it, you'll hardly be able to come back from it. However, if you resolve it, it all goes according to plan. It is the type of hand that I, as an aggro player, tend to keep. Verdict: risky keep, but performs well if Vial isn't countered.

This hand is a bit slow, but is protected by Force of Will and can play Silvergill Adept on turn 2 to try to find a second blue land. Verdict: below-average keep. If you know your opponent's deck, you can mulligan to a more efficient hand.

Even though it only has 1 land, this is the type of hand this deck is looking for: you can play Vial on turn 1, you have double protection against counters, and Silvergill Adept to refill. Verdict: easy keep.

Four lands is often an invitation to mulligan, but, with 2 Wasteland and 1 Force of Will as backup, you'll most likely push your opponent out of your game plan. It is the type of hand that can win on its own if your opponent kept a risky hand. Verdict: keep.

Once again, this deck doesn't play cantrips, so you'll have to use answers that are a little more redundant. Still, lazergame added multiple options for each situation: Faerie Macabre and Ghost Vacuum deal with graveyards, Chalice of the Void and Force of Negation deal with combos, Dismember deals with problematic creatures, and Hydroblast//Blue Elemental Blast deal with the red threats in the format.

Finally, if you don't need counters to stall the game and would rather have a stronger threat, you'll have Master of Waves to create a horde of Elementals and end the game very quickly.

Frognator

Unfortunately, this deck basically ignores the threat of Harbinger of the Seas and has just as many counters as you, not to mention tools to discard your cards and cantrips. This means that, before you sideboard, they'll be a very complicated opponent.

You'll try to fix that by swapping these dead cards for graveyard answers and more interaction.

In:

Out:

Eldrazi Aggro

Now, this opponent struggles a lot against Harbinger of the Seas. Not even their main answer for Blood Moon, Wastescape Battlemage, can handle this new Merfolk. Our counters, which are not effective, will come out so we can add more removals and Masters.

In:

Out:

Red Stompy

Ironically, a Blood Moon deck is very vulnerable to Harbinger of the Seas, even more considering current lists use even less basic lands than old ones.

Vexing Bauble disables your counters, so they need to come out. Master of Waves is incredibly effective against them.

In:

Out:

Control

Aether Vial is the most important card in this match. You'll have many ways to disrupt their mana development, so Leyline Binding will be less efficient and Escaping Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath will be nearly impossible.

True-name Nemesis doesn't put enough pressure, so we'll remove Ghost Vacuum to create an extra win condition that still limits their recursion.

In:

Out:

Painter

You'll be playing a blue deck against an opponent that plays 7 or 8 Blasts in their main deck… Prepare for a difficult landing. On the other side, Harbinger and Shaper can contain Urza's Saga.

In:

Out:

I confess, seeing Merfolk coming back into Legacy is a bit nostalgic - it reminds me of when Legacy first became a format.

This deck was truly missing a fantastic effect like Harbinger of the Seas, and this card is incredibly well-positioned right now.

What did you think of this list? Would you change anything? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!