Deck Builders: Episode 20: Pro Tour Hollywood Merfolk

[LordSgt]

Why have Wanderwine Hub and Adarkar Wastes when you don't have white spells?

[line0freeskier]

@LordSgt sideboard

[xjsk88]

no sound

[Brunomjg]

thank you for doing that videos, is very good for the players and for the game, i am from portugal and am learning whith you.

[Brodaddy1000]

Tidal Warrior would be great in this deck.. it's 1/1 merfolk for U and has T: target land is an island until end of turn.

(prob not legal in the format this was build for but still)

[theway280]

its been replaced by

Tideshaper Mystic

[juventusx20]

mermaids? u mean merfolk

[MJtheKandyman]

why do you have the lands for blue and white mana???

do you have white stuff in the board?

[fousek1000]

there is sygg in sideboard

[Ftw7xD]

can you please make a vid where u explain everything?. no offensive just want to know the combo.

[carthwolf]

this did explain everything, but youtube cut the audio.

[Ftw7xD]

ohh. now i see. btw what's the songs name

[carthwolf]

in the link at the sidebar there is another video of gameplay of this deck.

[Phiz787]

This Audio removal seems to be targeting you Bryan, it hit your shadowmoor fae as well as ur Lark / Elves coverage, is it possible you can re post these?

[carthwolf]

Yeah i dont know why they seem to pick on me. There are plenty of other video's that have more music than I do and they stay on.

[isMilkshake]

no offense towards you just making sure my readings ok keep up the awesome vids dude (ur music is awesome same with the magic) keep it up!

[isMilkshake]

Something Corporate? North? Everyone knows thats Plain White T's Mistake Txt me back wolf Im soo Confused =P

[carthwolf]

My audio was removed by youtube and replaced with that one. Weird. I know.

youtube is doing weird crazy stuff lately.

[carthwolf]

I would think just looking at my cards would be pretty boring. I usually talk and explain card choices.

[Lostfeaion]

I got so into merfolks after watching this video, that I'm now fixing my own merfolk deck ^^ thank you for this video :)

[bowboycot]

y can´t i hear any sound? i see fingers pointing and stuff, but there´s no comments or anything O.o is that normal?

[carthwolf]

this video's sound was removed for some reason. Ask youtube :\

[iokahoma]

Shut up and enjoy the video i love the songs

carthwolf!

[Mightypoo007]

On most the videos I have to put the volume down... the intromusic sucks so much, doesn't even fit with Magic. T_T

[carthwolf]

What kind of music would fit with Magic? Its personal opinions there buddy.

[Mightypoo007]

I expected a more mature kind of music. Don't get me wrong, but this choice of music probably makes people think we're al 14 years old and emo or punk/rock. It's not edgy, it's just not a professional choice... it's rather whiney and dull. All in all, I watched quite a few videos, I like the decks, I like your explanation. You seem like a clever guy why knows what he's talking about. The only think that doesn't link to all that is... the choice of music. I'm easily annoyed by it.

[carthwolf]

unfortunately I dont have much of a selection of music that is available to use on a public video. I feel i have done a good job on at least keeping them from becoming repetitious.

plus i enjoyed that song several years ago when it was new. My audience is to wide and broad to have every person enjoy it. someone will always dislike something. to my card choices, to my voice, to my music selection. its just how people are.

[Mightypoo007]

Fair enough. =)

[SparticusFM]

i love this deck !

[hsktoadftw]

only 3 sowers?

[carthwolf]

yes

[IxSiNiSt3RxI]

haha nerds

[iokahoma]

haha shut up asshole

[Amanisawesome]

shut up ass hole

[SparticusFM]

haha no life!

[SparticusFM]

oups... i mean IxSiNiSt3RxI was no life

magic the best !!

[Amanisawesome]

why is there no main deck sygg, and harpoon sniper

[carthwolf]

the team didnt feel that sigg was good in the meta at the time. i still strongly felt that he deserved a spot so he found himself in the board. strangely the merfolk deck ended up in 2nd place, but personally the hollywood version was a bad version of the deck.

[Gyss070]

You wrote: "strangely the merfolk deck ended up in 2nd place, but personally the hollywood version was a bad version of the deck."

I don't understand, is this te good version.

If it's not, do you have a link with the good version.

GOOD VIDEO!

Greetz

[carthwolf]

the one that made top 8 in hollywood.

I felt this one was better, could use some changes, but it was stronger overall.

[Gyss070]

Do you have a reason for your decision for making an mono Blue merfolk-deck.. there are some pretty good white merfolk too, aren't they?

[carthwolf]

like?

[carthwolf]

sorry if i came off rude, what examples do you have? i know Sigg is good, many posters above had said the same thing.

[Gyss070]

It's just the deck "goal" diffrence

If your merfolk are focusing on tapping them, you have pretty good white merfolk,Example: Summon the School. This is a great combo with merrow commerce I think, cause, if you have 2 other merfolk, (2 stonybrook schoolmasters would be great). then if you play summon the school you can tap your 2 merfolk tokens you gained, and your stonybrook schoolmasters (wich give you 2 another tokens) for bringing summon the school back to your hand.

End turn: untap them

[Gyss070]

P.S sorry for my bad english, i'm just a guy from holland...

By the way: great video's!

[gonzotime7224]

start with a theme deck then enhance

[sv0nk]

i am thinking about starting magic the gathering. i am wandering if i should bu a premade deck first than enhance my deck with booster decks or just bu booster decks and make my own deck, what should i do?

[iokahoma]

both are good the two together are best =D

[Goronix]

u should buy a theme deck and play with it a bit then u will start to learn some new and better ways to play that deck and u could start to enhance that deck to be what u want.

[assult500]

i have a critical mass deck...is that good?

[carthwolf]

details

[artiicfyre]

is there any possible substitute for cryptic command if im on a budget? and im new, but why play wastes and wanderwine hub if you're playing mono-blue, excluding sideboard of course. if im just playing around, can i just put in basics?

[carthwolf]

if you dont plan on using the board go basic.

[benc512]

out of breath much?

[carthwolf]

yup.

[benc512]

haha its cool respect this deck looks strong nice work :) shout out to COD 4

[azxsdcr]

I wuld replace sage dousing for remand and cryptyc for telling time. And how bout faerie conclave instead of mutavault?

[itachithesharigan14]

no. sages dousing good cuz of banneret. and why would you ever take out a cyptic command?

[carthwolf]

those changes kill the deck.

[azxsdcr]

How about rebuff the wicked?

[koalarunner]

Too bad the LoA is cycling out on Oct 3rd when Shards of ALara comes out. I personally like this deck.

[goundof]

I was pissed about this too...however! he might be the mythic rare...but he will be returning.... he has been reprinted over time

[Helindi]

Hey Cartwolf.

Nice deck, with some interesting visions. I would like to know how your match up against BG elves is ? for what i have seen i think you will have some troubles with it. Since pro tour hollywood i have only seen more and more of those in my venue and was thinking Razormane Masticore would be a good counter for the fastness of the elves. and you need a little more than a nameless inversion and terror to get rid of it.

jsut a few thoughts

-Morten

[carthwolf]

Morten, its a bit late for my reply, but i think razormane would be an okay choice. problem is you might not have many cards to discard because this deck dumps its hard quite fast. sigg should help with that matchup

[fushizzlethislte]

sorry any ashling if fine

[fushizzlethislte]

hey dude could you make me an ashling the pilgrim deck.(the lorwyn or the eventide one).can you also make it a budget?please?

[fourstatefav]

no sygg? i think you shud run 2 main and maybe think about this mana base

4 mutavault

4 wanderwin hub

4 nimbus maze

7 island

4 plains

[Blackghst3]

Oh god NO AQUITECTS WILL

its a wast of space

Sygg main deck

i cant watch this video anymore

[carthwolf]

your choice.

[iokahoma]

i love merfolk i have a agro merfolk deck and is nice but i dont find more lords to buy

[fushizzlethislte]

what is da song . i just noticed just now

[phoking817]

came up with the deck while playing Call of Duty at 3am? LOL that's godly

[SparticusFM]

how much in total this dek cost?

[fushizzlethislte]

is this a budget?

(please reply carthwolf)

[carthwolf]

depends on your budget. everything always is Dependant on the individual.

[thetrigger41]

this is a budget deck sower isn't really expensive lord of atlantis isn't expensive but is hard to find cryptic command is basically not an expensive card buying it from ebay or trading will make it easy to get

[iokahoma]

i had a cryptic i got it on a booster but i loose the card...

[fushizzlethislte]

yeah but say how much would it probably cost?

[carthwolf]

i've never bought just a "deck" i buy cards than i can use those cards in many different decks. its hard to say.

[zurogh]

what is the title of this beatifull song?

(Excuse me but I am italian and I don't speak english very well)

[carthwolf]

something Corporate - North

[bigblopper]

SOMETHING CORPORATE - SPACE is actually the name of the song. Just thought I'd point it out for anyone else who had trouble finding it.

[carthwolf]

album is North

[bigblopper]

yeah, he asked for song though. but whatever.

[carthwolf]

yeah you are right. Thanks blopper.

[afg1222]

I really like the idea but I dissagree with Sygg, Riverguide in the sideboard. Also you only run three aquitects wills which I playtested and I never got it when I needed to combo it with Lord of Atlantis. I do like Sower of Temptation but I prefer River Guide really because if you ever need to block, which you usually will, Sygg is the only thing keeping your Merfolk alive. Overall I love the deck though. One last suggestion would be to ditch Adarkar Waists for Windbrisk Heights, check it out.

[carthwolf]

yes i would change the sowers for siggs.

[redmangoose182]

How much does this deck cost?

[mistbind]

The most expensive cards seem to be the Lord and he is an older card and can be found anywhere. I built mine for under 50 bucks.

[redmangoose182]

Serious? Where did you buy your cards from?

[dolemiteX]

He obviously means without the Mutavaults...and the Cryptic Commands...and the Sowers...

[homelesskid123]

when i was at Reg i went 7-2 with my board consistant of 2 lark 1 sower 2 arrows 4 sunlance 4 forgtender and 2 moat and the main had 2 syggs insteaf of 1 aquitects will and 1 dousing.

[goundof]

ive been tryin to decide? what is better?

Venser or sower because my deck needs to hav at least one of them

[carthwolf]

we've been thinking maybe Vendillion Clique instead.

[FishermanB0B]

I played this at regionals in Orlando Florida and made top 8 I lost to the Gargadon Lark deck... But it helped my points go up... :-D

[LordRahl1988]

hey I live in Orlando, and I am going to my first FNM this Friday at Coolstuff GAmes

[carthwolf]

how was it?

[LordRahl1988]

well I had lost my first two matches then won the next 2 with no problems but I had to drop because my ride just HAD to leave early

I probably would have done better if I didn't have to return the chameleon colossus's i had to there owner, which weakened my deck gigantically

if you dont mind, I can send you my current deck list so you can tell me what to put in and what to take out, which I hope you do =]

[mistbind]

You're an Idiot St4x99. He never said he was the original builder of Merfolk. Its been around since Alpha you dumbass. He stated that he just thought that a deck like this would do good. I had to make an account just to say how big of a dumbass your comment is.

[tharbk01]

lol if i followed ur steps, i would have an account in every forum, video site, etc..

[mistbind]

hehe well you know how it can be right?!

[st4x99]

my comment isnt dumb i was just saying that he made it sound like he thought up the deck when its been around for a while i know its been around for a while

[carthwolf]

St4x99 please listen to the videos for clarity.

[sethd85]

Dude get a grip! He's just pointing something out.

[shuukasster]

Err... didn't we decide on 3 Sower of Temptations?

[carthwolf]

i forget them in the video, but they should be added in the main deck.

[fourstatefav]

i was wondering if you ever thought about using sunlance in the sideboard? its a good choice!

[H4WKEYES]

I'm not saying that you net decked, but this deck has been around, at least in my area, for at least a month. It is a very good deck, but I have an extremely hard time believing that you can beat faeries 80-85% of the time let alone 99%. Oh, Sygg needs to find a spot main board. It's just a house.

[carthwolf]

in our testing it really never lost to fae on the play or draw. Fae cant really do much counter or spot removal with curse catcher turn 1.

[goundof]

wut about revillark? or how far can it go in a tournament

[carthwolf]

no idea, we are testing Lark.

[bigblopper]

too much fairys. it might be good if quick 'n toast gets really big.

[goundof]

ummm...you do realize that cursecatcher cant stop bitterblossom..so how does it hold up against it?

[thetrigger41]

cursecatcher only counters instants and sorcerys not enchantments

[carthwolf]

you're correct.

[KevDaCutie]

LOL... *sigh* I came up with this idea at 3am while playing call of duty.

[goundof]

also the will can help you if magus is out casue u make your island an iland with a flood counter so its red /blue

[thetrigger41]

wow i'm impressed aggro merfolk

[goundof]

they always had potental i mean look around and ull see em in top 8 or near

[goundof]

man brain you a have a nice life

[thetrigger41]

bryan you forgot to show sower

[carthwolf]

thank you trigger, i will make sure to note all cards in the deck correctly. thanks!

[SaintSanic]

A merfolk aggro deck won the pro-tour in my hometown, Portland OR. I do not know the deck list though, pretty cool that you had the same idea.

[goundof]

also maybe a puresight merrow?

[goundof]

pure sight merrow untaps for 1 and removes crap from the top of you deck

[iokahoma]

aggro deck..

[goundof]

also what about tideshaper mystic?

[goundof]

i would say throw in a grimmore theif...because its a 2/2 for 2 and its card avantage.

[GeOhDe001]

Merfolk is not bad at all. Sygg is a decent card. I agree with ponder over vision.

[MagicPlayor]

why is white here??? no sigg, no mana tithe!!!!!

[carthwolf]

are you kidding me? do people even watch the video?

[MagicPlayor]

I did watch and i meant not in the main dek. you should have sig main, its so useful and flexible. it will fizzle a criptic comand if it targets ur creature. so sig needs to come to the main, and psiblast needs to either get cut or move to the main. in the side you need flash freeze and teferiz moat to stop aggro.

[carthwolf]

good points. thank you for the rebuttal

[goundof]

so retarded

[goundof]

i mean retarded for the person who asked why you hav white mana

[nathones]

I'm not sure how much I like this without Sygg

[nathones]

nvm I'm retarded and didn't notice your sideboard

[chimpy666]

"you threw it together" haha please I agree with Mossivo..credit where credits due!!

[carthwolf]

thanks for the great comment

[mossivo1986]

so you came up with this idea all on your own? Not that pro tour hollywood featured this deck in the finals or anything. Also note: Ponder is better then visions in this deck not because of how visions is bad in the later turns, but because is one suspends a visions turn one they can actually beat their opponent before a resolved visions sees play. That said you seriously need to give credit to the people you net decked from.

[vgames85]

Oh noes!

[carthwolf]

This deck wasnt "Net Decked" from anyone. Did you not notice that a team member of Deck Builders took this deck down to hollywood? Did you know he beat Jon Finkle in the last round of Day one and went onto day 2? Give Credit where Credit is due. Thank you. Btw the Final Merfolk deck is very different than mine in card count. I knew that Merfolk can destroy fae so we built a fast deck that could also handle other decks. this is what we built.

[dasoboe]

He was running it at FNM well before the Pro Tour so yes, he came up with it. See also: Netdecking is building a deck with the exact same list as someone else.

If you listen to the video it was obviously made BEFORE the Pro Tour because our teammate "is going to" take it. so basically he edited it well which takes some time.

[dasoboe]

EDIT: dear mossivo1986 and chimpy666... now read the post.

[TDAWizard]

Very good

[sithapprentic03]

hows your match up aginst red deck wins

[carthwolf]

terrible game 1. after sideboard we did very good.

[TappingOut]

Hey, Bryan. Great show. I'm piloting Merfolk at Regionals, so this helped me out a great bit. Congrats on reaching 20 shows, you've worked hard.