I see a lot of cards that do good things, but not necessarily together.
I see parts of a ramp deck with Nissa, multiple parts of a proliferate merfolk deck, parts of a control deck, parts of a planeswalkers monsters deck and parts of a proliferate monsters deck. While there are synergies, I think it would be stronger if it were more focused. So I have questions.
Is this on Arena? Do you have the starter decks available to you?
What is the most important thing you want this deck to do? I want to help you build a merfolk proliferate deck, because I was reasonably successful with a budget merfolk deck on Arena before War of the Spark came out. But that's just me. This is your deck. What is the key combination of effects that you want to win games of magic with?
Yep this is on arena, I have all of the starter decks available to me.
I enjoy the ramp up of Nissa and I like what the merfolk bring for cheap mana and the potential for adding counters / proliferating. I try to use the counters to buy time to set the ramp up.
I really like the new Nissa, but I don't think that merfolk really need it. I think they work best as an aggro deck. I drafted some rares, but here is what I did without spending rare or mythic wildcards (not updated for WAR):
This deck was not great, but I could win about half the time with it at low gold and fulfill quests that involved casting U or G spells.
Raphael Levy (Hall of Famer) took this to the last Standard Mythic Championship and did quite well.
In your shoes I would start with Kumena, Deeproot Elite, however many Breeding Pool, Hinterland Harbor, Unclaimed Territory, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters and Merfolk Mistbinder as you can muster. Add the Skydivers, Jade Bearers and Herald of Secret Streams along with any other merfolk at less than 3 mana that you want to try.
Spend some uncommon wildcards on up to 3 of the good uncommons (Mistbinder, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters, Unclaimed Territory). Maybe throw in a few spells that you like (Contentious Plan?, Incubation, // Incongruity, Spell Pierce, Dive Down, Disperse).
Fill in the lands with some Simic Guildgates and Woodland Stream, Islands and Forests until you have at least 14 G sources and 14 U sources and about 23 lands.
Fill in up to 60 with merfolk around the 1-3 mana cost so that you don't have too many 3 drops.
Test and iterate.
When Dominaria comes round as the draft format (hint: the day after tomorrow) do as many drafts as you can and snag Hinterland Harbors if possible. Likewise Ravnica Allegiance for Breeding Pool and Benthic Biomancer. Ixalan block for lots of cool merfolk of all rarities and Unclaimed Territory.
I hope this helps, but I realize I may have gone far afield from your intention. Please feel invited to correct my misapprehension or post your next iteration.
If you can, the decktags are super-easy and make it easy to mouse over your deck and see what the cards are. They are described here.
Good! Randomly fulfilling UG spell quests, I retried that budget list from above has been running over 50% and I have been able to run that account from bronze to Silver 1. Since we only have to run over 33% to improve below gold, I am hoping it can carry me to Gold 4 by tomorrow.
Edit: I lied. I was Silver 2 this morning. A 6-0 run just got me to Gold 4.
4 Pollenbright Druid (WAR) 173
10 Island (RIX) 193
2 Bloom Hulk (WAR) 154
2 Contentious Plan (WAR) 46
14 Forest (RIX) 196
4 Evolution Sage (WAR) 159
4 Merfolk Skydiver (WAR) 205
3 Essence Scatter (M19) 54
2 Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter (WAR) 164
2 Nissa, Who Shakes the World (WAR) 169
2 Mowu, Loyal Companion (WAR) 167
3 Jade Bearer (RIX) 134
2 Herald of Secret Streams (XLN) 59
1 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales (WAR) 220
1 Bioessence Hydra (WAR) 186
2 Galloping Lizrog (RNA) 175
1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid (DAR) 206
2 Divination (M19) 51
Thanks, happy Friday
I see a lot of cards that do good things, but not necessarily together.
I see parts of a ramp deck with Nissa, multiple parts of a proliferate merfolk deck, parts of a control deck, parts of a planeswalkers monsters deck and parts of a proliferate monsters deck. While there are synergies, I think it would be stronger if it were more focused. So I have questions.
Is this on Arena? Do you have the starter decks available to you?
What is the most important thing you want this deck to do? I want to help you build a merfolk proliferate deck, because I was reasonably successful with a budget merfolk deck on Arena before War of the Spark came out. But that's just me. This is your deck. What is the key combination of effects that you want to win games of magic with?
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I enjoy the ramp up of Nissa and I like what the merfolk bring for cheap mana and the potential for adding counters / proliferating. I try to use the counters to buy time to set the ramp up.
If there were cards I would drop its
Bioessence Hydra
Divination
3 Kumena's Speaker
1 Deeproot Elite
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Merfolk Mistbinder
1 Merfolk Trickster
2 River Sneak
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Jadelight Ranger
1 Jungleborn Pioneer
1 Kopala, Warden of Waves
2 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
2 Watertrap Weaver
1 Seafloor Oracle
1 Tempest Caller
3 Deeproot Waters
1 Sleep
Land
2 Breeding Pool
6 Forest
2 Hinterland Harbor
6 Island
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Woodland Stream
This deck was not great, but I could win about half the time with it at low gold and fulfill quests that involved casting U or G spells.
Raphael Levy (Hall of Famer) took this to the last Standard Mythic Championship and did quite well.
In your shoes I would start with Kumena, Deeproot Elite, however many Breeding Pool, Hinterland Harbor, Unclaimed Territory, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters and Merfolk Mistbinder as you can muster. Add the Skydivers, Jade Bearers and Herald of Secret Streams along with any other merfolk at less than 3 mana that you want to try.
Spend some uncommon wildcards on up to 3 of the good uncommons (Mistbinder, Silvergill Adept, Deeproot Waters, Unclaimed Territory). Maybe throw in a few spells that you like (Contentious Plan?, Incubation, // Incongruity, Spell Pierce, Dive Down, Disperse).
Fill in the lands with some Simic Guildgates and Woodland Stream, Islands and Forests until you have at least 14 G sources and 14 U sources and about 23 lands.
Fill in up to 60 with merfolk around the 1-3 mana cost so that you don't have too many 3 drops.
Test and iterate.
When Dominaria comes round as the draft format (hint: the day after tomorrow) do as many drafts as you can and snag Hinterland Harbors if possible. Likewise Ravnica Allegiance for Breeding Pool and Benthic Biomancer. Ixalan block for lots of cool merfolk of all rarities and Unclaimed Territory.
I hope this helps, but I realize I may have gone far afield from your intention. Please feel invited to correct my misapprehension or post your next iteration.
If you can, the decktags are super-easy and make it easy to mouse over your deck and see what the cards are. They are described here.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Appreciate the heads up on the Dominaria draft - been waiting for something else besides WAR.
Excited to dig into this after work!
Arena Events Calendar
Ben Stark refresher guide to drafting Dominaria
Post your merfolk list if you want more feedback.
Good luck!
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Edit: I lied. I was Silver 2 this morning. A 6-0 run just got me to Gold 4.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.