A long time ago there was only Magic. Now before you think I’m a crazy person who thinks Harry Potter’s wonderful world of wizardry is real, it’s not, I’m referring to the game we all love and come to this website to read about. That’s when my friends and I started playing Magic the Gathering. Later on a combination of Wizards and the DCI decided we need more than just Magic and invented three new formats: Type 1, 1.5 & 2. For us these could be broken down into three categories: Every card, every card except power 9 and standard. Those were our inaccurate descriptions of the formats which are now known as Vintage, Legacy and Standard. Even back then no one cared for Extended!
The important category of the three is Legacy as that’s what my friends and I always played as we were allowed to build decks with every single one of our cards. In fact it’s the only thing we played till Invasion came out, then we tried Standard. So why did we play Legacy, asides for the fact we could use all our cards, simply put, because it made playing magic FUN! and it’s the reason I prefer playing Legacy to any other format because it’s still fun and truth be told, its why more people should play Legacy, as observing a room at a standard tournament people do not look like they are having fun. So with people starting to talk about Providence and getting psyched for Legacy I thought now was as good a time as any to write about Legacy with KYT’s approval and given a little effort on my part, I’ll try and make it a regular thing where I discuss a Legacy staple followed up by a deck list that features that staple, so without further ado, as my intro has gotten long winded, I give you…
Force Of Will
Force of Will, the Legacy staple of Legacy staples. As a quick aside one of these cards is worth 80 dollars, the other is not. Hint: the one from Alliance is worth 80 dollars. Explicit Hint: it’s the one on the left, the card on the right can make for a nice proxy. Another quick asides, 5 points if you can guess who the quote on the right card is attributed to. Time’s up, the correct answer is Winston Churchill so 5 points if you got it right and -5 points if Google got it right for you, keep track it might be important. So why is this card so important? After all it’s a counter spell for five mana, which seems bad, or it’s a counter spell for one life and two of your cards which also isn’t very good. In fact most new players just shrug their shoulders when you play it against them and are thoroughly unimpressed, even my first blue control deck only ran two because I ran out of copies of [Card]Desertion[/Card].
So why is this one piece of cardboard so important? Well in exchange for Force of Will, any blue cards and one life you either greatly inconvenience your opponents or more importantly you don’t lost the game, as it keeps degenerate decks in check. By being one of the few cards that allow you to interact on turn 0 and the only one of those cards that is good in every situation, though Mindbreak and Ravenous Trap can be effective in the right situation. It’s the reason why Force of Will is arguably the best card in the format and four copies are an auto-include in almost every deck that plays blue cards. Now make no mistake it creates card disadvantage for you but given the choice of starting game two or taking your first turn in game 1, the latter option is the correct choice. So if ever you have the chance pick this card up do because it will always be a Legacy staple and always be legal in Legacy. So which deck plays Force of Will, actually a whole lot do but since Providence is less than a month away and people will be looking for a legacy deck I figured I would review a deck that I’d recommend to people starting to play Legacy: Merfolk and specifically Alex Bertoncini’s list, which is a consensus top version of the deck.
[Deck Title=Merfolk By Alex Bertoncini]
[Lands]13 Island 1 Mishras Factory 4 Mutavault 4 Wasteland[/Lands]
[Creatures] 4 Coralhelm Commander 4 Cursecatcher 2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 4 Lord of Atlantis 2 Merfolk Sovereign 4 Merrow Reejerey 4 Silvergill Adept 1 Sower of Temptation[/Creatures]
[Spells]4 Aether Vial 4 Daze 4 Force of Will 1 Spell Pierce[/Spells]
[Sideboard]2 Back To Basics 3 Hydroblast 2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress 1 Sower of Temptation 2 Spell Pierce 3 Submerge 2 Umezawas Jitte[/Sideboard][/Deck]
Mana Base
The strength of the Merfolk deck lies within its mana base. Since it’s a monochromatic deck it can get away with playing islands which means it does not need to fear [Card]Wasteland[/Card] and most Merfolk players chose not to play fetch lands so that they are not vulnerable to Stifle and can gain consistency. Every version of the deck plays 4 copies of [Card]Mutavault[/Card] as it counts as a Merfolk as well as every other creature type so it receives all power and toughness increases from all lords on the battlefield. The main distinguishing feature of Bertoncini’s list is the singleton copy of Mishra’s Factory which provides an additional body similar to Mutavault but more importantly since Mutavault is every creature type it is also an assembly worker which means the Mishra’s Factory can be tapped to pump Mutavault as a neat combat trick and Bertoncini himself admitted at least once per tournament he tricks someone into blocking his Mutavault with a creature of the same size and then pumps his Mutavault so that only his opponent’s creature dies. Last there is another legacy staple, Wasteland. Every version of the deck plays 4 copies as it is capable of destroying any land that isn’t a basic and can be used to keep your opponent off a specific color or off of lands all together, i.e. legacy decks don’t play many lands.
So how should you design your mana base for legacy Merfolk? There is slight variance in Merfolk but most versions of the deck pretty much start off with four Mutavaults and four Wastelands. From there you have the choice as to whether you want to play the Mishra’s Factory or not, I’d recommend it but some people prefer not playing it. Last you need to decide how many lands you want in your deck which will dictate the number of islands. Bertoncini’s 22 lands is on the high end of what I’ve seen Merfolk decks play but he’s also had the most success with it, on the flip side I’ve seen Merfolk decks with 18 lands, it all depends on your comfort level but to start your Merfolk deck I’d recommend 22 and if you find yourself getting too mana flooded cut one or two lands down to 20 but below that is very risky without an immense familiarity with the deck, to give you an idea Bertoncini’s been playing the deck for over two years.
Budget Options: As many of you may know, Wasteland is a 60 dollar card which for some may be too expensive, so an option I can recommend for budget players is [Card]Ghost Quarter[/Card]. Like Wasteland it provides one colorless mana and has a second ability where it can destroy any non-basic land however it has the drawback that the destroyed land’s controller can search for a basic land and put it into play. Though not ideal, many Legacy decks don’t play basic lands as well the land that you’re destroying will most likely be better than a basic land. If you can’t invest in a set of [card]Wasteland[/card]s I’d recommend trying a set of [card]Ghost Quarter[/card]s.
Creatures
As you guessed the creature base is where Merfolk derives its name from. The deck plays two non-lord Merfolk creatures, [Card]Cursecatcher[/Card], a one drop capable of protecting your spells from being countered or delaying your opponent’s clock by a turn. The other creature is [Card]Silvergill Adept[/Card] which for two provides cycling with a 2/1 body, provided you have another Merfolk in hand. The one creature that is part non-lord and part lord is [Card]Coralhelm Commander[/Card] which is a 2/2 body for two which when levelled up four times provides you with a 4/4 lord. At the same time when levelled up twice Coralhelm gains flying which is actually quite important as you can send it flying over your opponent’s troops while keeping the rest back on defense. The last category of Merfolk creatures in the in the deck are the lords. The first lord is one of the original lords from Alpha, [Card]Lord of Atlantis[/Card] who boosts all Merfolks by 1 and 1 but more importantly in a landscape of blue decks and islands, the Lord of Atlantis provides an army of unblockable dudes. Next is [Card]Merrow Reejerey[/Card] which once again provides the 1 and 1 boost but this time has the ability to tap or untap a permanent whenever you cast a Merfolk spell. This gives you the ability to tap down their only blocker to swing for lethal, untap your Aether Vial for another dude or even a Wasteland or island to destroy an opponent’s nonbasic land or have that one mana up to cast a Spell Pierce on your opponent’s crucial spell. The last lord is [Card]Merfolk Sovereign[/Card] which again provides the 1 and 1 boost as well as the ability to make one dude unblockable. He’s the lesser important lord as the unblockable ability is usually moot in most matches but the lord ability is always welcome.
The deck also commonly runs two different non-merfolk creatures the first being [Card]Kira, Great Glass-Spinner[/Card]. Simply put Merfolk is a creature deck and it is susceptible to spot removal, Kira solves all of those problems with its ability essentially requiring your opponent to use two of his spells to deal with Kira before focusing on the rest of your team. The last creature that may be included is a singleton copy of [Card]Sower of Temptation[/Card] which curves off the end of the Merfolk curve at four mana, coming down to steal your opponents most important creature essentially ending the game and acting as Merfolks’ finisher, provided your opponent has a creature worth stealing. Interesting anecdote, I once saw someone play Show and Tell putting an [Card]Emrakul, the Aeons Torn[/Card] into play only for his opponent to put his [card]Sower of Temptation[/card] into play and stealing the Emrakul, Good Times!
Budget Options: Most of the Merfolk creatures are inexpensive with only Lord of Atlantis costing you upwards of 5 dollars. Kira on the other hand may run you anywhere from 10 to 15 dollars which if you have trouble acquiring or is too expensive you can always play more Merfolk spells though I would truly recommend picking up a copy or two because Kira in play is back breaking for most decks.
Spells
Remember that staple called [Card]Force of Will[/Card], well here it is. As already discussed you know why the card is good but since Merfolk is a mono blue deck, approximately 60 percent of the deck can be removed to Force of Will, which doesn’t seem problematic given this deck but when you consider a three color deck like Team America there are times when unless you have five mana up, Force of Will can be a dead card. Another Legacy staple that tribal decks can best take advantage of is [Card]Aether Vial[/Card], which if dropped on turn 1 can lead to a massive headache for your opponent if not immediately dealt with. Aether Vial can be used to flash in Merfolk lords during combat as a trick to kill your opponent’s creatures or to pump your creatures to get those extra points of damage. The vial can also be employed similar to fetch lands where you can protect your creatures till your opponents tap out and then flash in some creatures at the end of turn to end the game on your untap and your opponent is tapped out with no answers.
[Card]Daze[/Card] is the other Counterspell staple in the Merfolk deck which allows you to return an island to your hand, meaning you can tap out, leading your opponent into a false sense of security which you can trap them with. Inherently Daze is tempo disadvantageous card as it leaves you a land down but it provides a nice combo with Aether Vial where you can play island, Aether Vial and you can return your tapped island to play Daze to counter your opponents first spell turn or even their mental misstep targeting your Aether Vial, keep this in mind, it will be important. The last main deck spell that Merfolk generally plays is [Card]Spell Pierce[/Card]. With more than half of your creatures being lords or able to be levelled to lord status, Merfolk is able to win the creature war, however the spell war is where it can be disadvantageous for the deck so loading up on counter magic is never a bad thing and unlike standard where mana is running rampant, Legacy decks don’t have much spare mana running around and in many games Spell Pierce is essentially a hard counter for one blue mana.
Generally your spell package in a Merfolk deck will run 4 copies of Aether Vial, Force of Will and Daze. The differences across Merfolk decks are the number of copies of Spell Pierce that are played. Generally the Merfolk decks plays 25 creatures, 22 lands and the remainder are spells which means playing one copy of Spell Pierce in this configuration. However some players choose to instead remove two islands from that configuration meaning you’re playing 25 creatures, 20 lands and the remainder are again spells but this time there are three copies of Spell Pierce.
Budget Options: This may seem weird given that Force of Will is the staple I discussed in this article but for some people, 300 dollars for a play set it out of some peoples price range and there is in fact a budget option to replace Force of Will though it is inferior, let me present [Card]Foil[/Card], the card not the random insert in some packs. Playing Foil would require you to change the mana base of your deck to include more islands but if you’re looking to build the deck slowly and can’t get all the big money cards, Foil can be used as a short term solution though when you have the chance pick up copies of Force of Will. Otherwise to replace Force of Will you can use Counterspell though remember the strength of Force of Will is that it is one of only two counters that can interact on turn 0, Foil being the other.
Sideboard
Unlike Standard, there is never an ideal or optimal sideboard strategy for any deck in Legacy. Essentially if you know exactly everyone’s deck you can specifically sideboard against your weakest matchups, in essence “Metagaming against each other because we saw each other’s decks”! Otherwise the best I can do is provide valuable card options against certain decks and then sideboard according to what your best bet of the metagame is, though my advice is no more than three copies of a card in your sideboard. Here is a recommended list of sideboard cards for Merfolk:
– [Card]Back to Basics[/Card]: Remember those decks with no basic lands, this is the card you want against those decks.(Ex: Team America, Threshold and Some Countertop Decks)
– [Card]Energy Flux[/Card]: It’s more efficient than Null Rod for the Merfolk deck you’ll want to sideboard this against decks littered with artifacts. (Ex: Affinity, Metalworker and Thopter Sword)
– [Card]Hydroblast[/Card]/[Card]Blue Elemental Blast[/Card]: Merfolk dies to red based decks so this provides a nice hard counter for one blue mana to annoying red spells!
– [Card]Llawan, Cephalid Empress[/Card]: The mirror match, also as a last resort against Progenitus though not ideal. If this is played against you, Aether Vial will be critical.
– [Card]Mana Maze[/Card]: A bit of outside the box thinking which is very effective against mono color or two color combo decks. (Ex: High Tide and Blue/Black Storm)
– [Card]Relic of Progenitus[/Card]: You’ll want this in any deck that utilizes its grave yard in any way, also it cantrips. (Ex: Dredge, Cephalid Breakfast/Life, Team America, decks with Grim Lavamancer)
– [Card]Sower of Temptation[/Card]: Sometimes they have two big creatures (Ex. Sneak Show, Junk Decks & Team America)
-[Card] Spell Pierce[/Card]: You’ll want more copies of these in matches where their spells are the biggest threat to you winning the game. (Ex: Any Storm Deck, Dragon Stompy, Counter Top)
– [Card]Submerge[/Card]: Decks that play forests and creatures, basically all green decks except Belcher. Helpful Hint: If you play this spell in response to a fetch you get rid of their creatures as cracking the fetch shuffles the creature back in, you can target Dryad Arbor with this.
-[Card]Umezawas Jitte[/Card]: You’ll want this equipment in matches against creature decks or decks that play small potentially harmful creatures, though remember its Legendary so don’t play two. (Ex: Zoo, Goblins, Merfolk, Berserk Stompy, Poison Stompy & against Dark Confidant)
Last Words
If you are just starting out in Legacy and want to give Merfolk a try, I would recommend trying to use the budget deck list as a guide for building a deck, it will give you a decent feel for playing the Merfolk deck and then as you gain familiarity with the deck you can try upgrading to higher value cards to play a list similar to Alex Bertoncini. If you have access to every card from the outset however I strongly recommend playing Alex Bertoncini’s list as it is the most consistently successful. This has a lot to do with the player but the nice part of Legacy is nothing ever rotates so if you chose to play one deck you can develop a mastery of it over time.
There is also another version of Merfolk around which plays Standstill, stay away from this version of the deck. In its truest form Merfolk is an aggro deck which has the advantage of playing blue spells, giving it access to counter magic yet the only way this deck will win is beating your opponent down with creatures as quickly as possible. Standstill on the other hand plays the waiting game trying to wear your opponent down till you achieve a board state where your opponent becomes desperate and unless you have the optimal starting hand of Aether Vial and Standstill the deck will usually perform less than ideal which is why Merfolk decks with Standstill are not as prevalent in the top 16 deck lists as those that have forgone the card altogether.
As someone who has been playing Legacy for a long time, I have seen many decks come and go, some that achieved immediate and irreparable success (See Steve Sadin’s Flash Hulk) and others which have toiled in obscurity for years only making minor headway, yet for the past couple years, Merfolk has been as consistent as you could wish for from a deck and has weathered many a storms and cycles coming out unfazed, and made even better by a good pilot. It’s the reason why no matter how good my Merfolk matchup is, I’ll always want to avoid a good Merfolk player, because the deck is good at consistently winning.
Let me know what you think about the deck and the article in the comments, I’ll read every one and until next time: Have Fun Playing Magic!