Top 10 Best Merfolk's in MTG

Merfolk are one of the oldest creature types in Magic, appearing in the very first set of magic, and merfolk tribal decks have been successful in multiple formats throughout the years. So today, we’re going over the best Merfolk cards in the game.
Script and Editing by Pumkinswift
├ The List
Intro: (0:00)
10: Master of Waves: (0:15)
9: Harbinger of Tides: (1:32)
8: Silvergill Adept: (3:00)
7: Svyelun of Sea and Sky: (4:13)
6: Merfolk Trickster: (5:26)
5: Lord of Atlantis: (6:47)
4: Hullbreacher: (7:46)
3: Emry, Lurker of the Loch: (9:45)
2: True-Name Nemesis: (10:59)
1: Thassa’s Oracle: (12:14)
#mtg #tcg #magicthegathering

[@RomeDrori]

I really hope this channel of yours takes off as well, learning about mtg as a ygo player is so fun

[@connerhansen2947]

I have good news from the future.

[@roxasxdarknessx]

Fun fact about Master of Waves. The Goblin vs Merfolk duel deck had to put Ghostly Fire in the red deck to have as an option to deal with it, as Ghostly fire is technically colorless

[@hunterredtalon9011]

I own those duel decks and I never knew that fact. I was like: "Ghostfire? Why is there a burn spell in my goblin deck?!"

[@glennrugar554]

As a dedicated mono green stompy player, merfolks are my mortal enemy.

[@God-ch8lq]

which format?

[@glennrugar554]

Modern. Good ole e-one, strangleroot geist,and pump spells for days lol

[@Ace88Sama]

My best friend plays green/white I play mono blue. Can confirm we make great rivals.

[@HispanicatthediscoMTG]

Mono green stompy players rise up

[@songarakram]

@@glennrugar554 the ol' dick twist

[@coolkidavid]

I'm absolutely in love with these new magic videos, and I hope you continue to do magic content in the future!

[@vxicepickxv]

As a note, Master of the Pearl Trident specifies Your Merfolk get the benefits, and Lord of Atlantis says all merfolk get the bonus.

[@the_puppeteer2136]

Very specific wording but it can mean a big difference

[@greenbronze6318]

In commander, still to me the funniest way to wipe out a thoracle combo is to run the land geier reach sanitarium and wait until one of your opponents got into thoracle and then hold priority onto demonic consultation and after consultation resolves which means they have a empty library, tap the geier to force them to draw and wipe them out by forcing a deck out.

[@yoman8027]

1:45 "Oppnent" xD Jokes aside, it was a great video. It's nice to see how much merfolks have evolved since the classic "I summon a 1/1 for U that becomes an islandwalker 2/2 thanks to my non-merfolk Lord of Atlantis".

[@enlongjones2394]

I like the way that they made Master of Waves work. Making 1/0 tokens that get +1/+1 while he’s around makes the tokens die when he dies, without needing to explicitly state that.

[@TheEmeraldboy100]

Top 10 Pot of Greed effects in Magic (Draw 2 cards)

[@collinbeal]

I'm so glad Emry made the list. I haven't used her yet, but I could tell just from looking at her that she's an artifact GOD. I was so hype when I finally got a copy of her on Arena

[@XmortoxX1990]

As Green/Blue player, I would love to try Merfolk in Pioneer if more good Merfolk are printed

[@penguinpanther4586]

Will you do a best Planeswalkers video please

[@clegge7]

Dang. Didn't even touch on Paradox Engine Emry combos. That's the biggest meme of a use for Emry in my experience

[@13UchihaRyuga]

My man out here with the TCC propaganda Keep at it, I'm throughly enjoying you branching off into other top 10 lists.

[@vDeadbolt]

Don't forget Nikachu. The professor had him featured on Tolarian Tutor.

[@7Alberto7]

Amazing!

[@corporalkills]

I’m a budding merfolk player in modern and this was very helpful for me

[@nanya524]

Reminder: Hullbreacher was such a house that it got banned in Commander. That format allows dang near every card in the game and that card was too good for a format with tons of infinite combos.

[@kuiperkineticliterature7586]

If you read the Hullbreacher ban decision, the EDH rules committee specifically banned Hullbreacher because, quote, the wheel + hullbreacher combo "isn’t something we want prevalent in casual play (see the Leovold ban), and we have seen a lot of evidence that it is too tempting even there, as it combines with wheels and other popular casual staples." The ban decision says nothing about the card's power level; like many cards on the EDH ban list, the stated reason for its ban seems to have much more to do with the fact that casual players simply find it unfun to play against. See also cards like Limited Resources, Upheaval, Braids, and Biorhythm for examples of cards that are on the EDH ban list despite being significantly weaker than a lot of the things that are allowed in EDH because casual players find them "unfun" to play against. (For an example of the reverse, see Thassa's Oracle, the last card mentioned in this video, which is one of the most powerful win conditions in EDH, but remains unbanned because the cards that it combos with aren't popular among casual players and thus it's not considered disruptive to the casual play experience in the same way that a card like Hullbreacher is.)

[@thevp_ssb.]

@@kuiperkineticliterature7586 rules committee also just lacks actual cajones to ban thoracle and Dockside, instead trying to hide behind rule 0.

[@vDeadbolt]

@@thevp_ssb. it's either that or unban almost every other card. EDH is all about 2 card combos anyways. Either rule 0 if you want a casual experience or proxy the high powered cards

[@TheEmeraldboy100]

Also reminder: Hullbreacher should've been white.

[@vDeadbolt]

@@TheEmeraldboy100 it wouldn't have fixed white either way. They already got Smothering tithe and other similar effects. It has enough stack cards lol.

[@The1AndOnlyGoldenboy]

Surprised that Lullmage Mentor wasn't on the list, even if it'd only be in the bottom half of the list. With how fast Merfolk can swarm the field, giving them the ability to negate spells practically for free can get janky super quick.... especially with cards like Merrow Commerce and Intruder Alarm.

[@yoman8027]

It'd be nice to see some videos about: - Top 10 counterspells |- Addendum: Top 10 non-blue counterspells - Top 10 worst blue counterspells - Top 10 burn spells |- Addendum: Top 10 non-red burn spells - Top 10 worst red burn spells - Top 10 best cards in the reserved list outside of the Power 9 - Top 10 mana dorks - Top 10 vanilla creatures - Top 10 cards from the Portal sets

[@MusicalBoarder]

Feserve list non power would be og duals, lions eye, yawg will, gaea's cradel, tabernacle, bazaar, mox diamond, wheel, and mishra's workshop probably

[@yoman8027]

@@MusicalBoarder I'd say Mirror Universe, Time Vault and Yawgmoth's bargain have a chance there too.

[@MusicalBoarder]

@@yoman8027 i discluded bargain cuz its banned in commander lol same with vault

[@calemr]

I had a UG deck that was built around making token copies of Master of Waves. More elementals And bigger elementals on the same card!

[@T-REXMACHINEGUN]

As my favorite creature type I like this video

[@Sidearmfootball]

Thoracle has had just as big of an impact on the cedh scene as well, and is an auto include in any deck containing blue and black. It also was the final push that caused flash to be banned in commander, the only time the rules committee banned a card solely due to its impact on competitive edh.

[@alexpaul4144]

Too 10 cards from the invasion set…..god I still love it to this day best set imo

[@benjamintay9619]

My dad always talked to me about Thassa's Oracle and needless to say, we've come up with a few combos. One of which being Simic involving Mordenkainen, mainly his ultimate.

[@nanya524]

Top 10 best non-blue draw spells/abilities or Top 10 worst blue draw spells/abilities OR Top 10 Slivers (my favorite tribe)

[@fwg1994]

Top 10 worst blue cantrips (1 mana instants/sorceries that draw a card) could be a pretty solid video. Especially since I bet all of them have seen competitive play before, even when they probably shouldn't have.

[@Frozen_Hope]

The prof could really need this :)

[@marcoottina654]

2:00 false, you can cast it after the subphase of declaration of the attackers which is the subphase of declaration of blocker, meaning you won't get any damage. Indeed, the opponent still may benefit from bonuses from the bounced creature like "at the beginning of your combat", or "if this creature attacks", like Annihilator. You need "correct" yourself at 2:37, good :D anyway, your format and explanations are always awesome ^^

[@Damn_It_Meg]

Mah boy Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, ANDDDDD Meerow Reejery

[@robsonfujii461]

Make a video about samurais. I think they are cool.

[@MageSkeleton]

i bet the professor of Tolarian Community College LOVED this video lol

[@PlatoXX13]

It's literally uncomfortable to hear you talk about Magic, man. That said, so stoked

[@CC-oi9mc]

You should do a top 10 alternative win conditions, or top 10 turn 1 win combos as a crossover on your yugioh channel.

[@31codyskater]

i dunno why but i find all the little mispronunciations kind of funny like speeding seas instead of spreading or marty colours instead of mardu

[@DerpyLaron]

The professor will like this

[@jerrym2836]

Top 10 cards that sound like they should be good at first glace.

[@Hatneas]

Day 1 of requesting Top 10 Lands that don't tap for Mana

[@stevenrhodes8338]

I feel like elves are next

[@HakureiIllusion]

If you want to see some insane stuff, play Master of Waves in an Esix, Fractal Bloom deck. If you want to go crazy, put out a Doubling Season and Parallel Lives first.

[@waitiamtrash]

Could you do a video on Dinosaurs in similar format to this?

[@nmathew01]

None of my old Fallen Empires cards made this list?!?! Blasphemy!

[@Abunai_Gaming]

Sooooo how have we gone this long without hearing anything of Tolarian Community College and The Professor?

[@maxwellmulford5898]

Am I missing something or is Master of the Pearl Trident just better than Lord of Atlantis, because it doesn’t buff the enemy’s cards? He acts like they do the exact same thing.

[@Lcngopher]

Where is the professor?

[@PharaohofAtlantis]

Wait a minute, when did this channel become a thing?!

[@TaQa04]

Harbringer count: 743 Harbinger count: 0

[@darkcrow125]

i first played magic in the early 2000 i think it was 2006 or 8 and merfolk where the cards why i started to play blue

[@anonymoose2474]

disappointed kumena isn't on here, love him

[@certaingloom3797]

Top 10 Best God creature cards

[@bradensorensen966]

Merfolk is plural without an s on the end.

[@fauxtool952]

It's har binger not har bringer. Harbringer isn't a word

[@danielarturomassara]

What about Rootwater Thief? Where should that card be?

[@badvoodoo2097]

You left out the green merfolk Jade light ranger and there was a couple of other great staples

[@InOzWeTrust]

"Har-Bringer"

[@mestre12]

Do elfs or zombies.

[@CommanderSal]

You pronounced Harbinger wrong the whole time

[@jarzz3601]

Emry the eighth I am, I am

[@dragade101]

I'll be picking here but isnt Emry and Thassa's Orcale just blue cards that do amazing things and no one plays them for their creature type? Like these could be Wizards and you wouldnt care they suddenly change creature types.

[@gabekeeter6415]

Anybody else get dizzy with that first background?

[@gilang4838]

vampire please (edgar user here)

[@biggestboss1756]

is it me or does the editor missing some spelling mistakes in some words in the last few videos?

[@pumkinswift8263]

I watch these videos twice checking for spelling errors. What have you noticed?

[@vxicepickxv]

@@pumkinswift8263 I noticed that there was a discrepancy between bad and big, and our narrator added an r in the middle of harbinger.

[@slythyis]

Why is Harbinger such a hard word for people to say

[@InOzWeTrust]

"Speeding Seas"

[@songarakram]

Harbinger is pronounced "Har-Bin-Jer". There's only two Rs in it.

[@OverlyCriticalAnime]

I don't think you get the treasure tokens still with days undoing since after it resolves it ends the turn.

[@biancalages1431]

It ends the turn after the draw. So it seems like it should work fine

[@OverlyCriticalAnime]

@@biancalages1431 True. I thought the triggers would go on the stack but it happens when drawings. Should work

[@pumkinswift8263]

It's a replacement effect, not a trigger, so it doesn't even go on the stack

[@OverlyCriticalAnime]

@@pumkinswift8263 I forgot it had instead in there

[@alexpaul4144]

And if you wanna see nutty treasure generation cards looks at ancient copper dragon…6/5 flying if you deal combat dmg roll a d20….you get as many treasure tokens as the d20 shows

[@SmashPortal]

Apostrophe typo in the title (possessive rather than plural).

[@liampierce8607]

I’m a cEDH player and I absolutely despise thassa’s oracle. It absolutely warps that format

[@ozridbales3613]

I know this video is old, but I just discovered your channel. The vid is great and I can see that a lot of work went into it, but one thing bugged me a lot. Your #9 is Harbinger, not HarbRinger. You mispronounce it every single time and it was very off putting.

[@jaykorner1391]

Master of Waves sees absolutely no play in merfolk btw

[@kingginger3335]

Hullbreacher is the most broken card they've ever printed. Hands down. It never should've been printed

[@DS-tv2fi]

I’m pretty sure Merfolk is the plural of Merfolk.

[@littlemrdoom5997]

Speeding seas lmao

[@FLASHWHITESTORM]

Is English your second language?

[@glennrugar554]

First

[@BeaglzRok1]

Har-binge-r. Two "r"s, not three.

[@Foeseeker]

I went to the comments the second I heard him butcher the pronunciation for the fifth time.

[@queasy367]

The way you cant read the names of the cards makes me thing you dont care.

[@th3giv3r]

Ugh "merfolk" is already plural

[@terrydirks4441]

Harbinger = har bin jer, not har bring ger

[@MakeEmRageQuit]

It's 2022, if you can't say harBINger correctly, than you have no business making youtube videos.

[@AximVidya]

heart bringer