Merfolk is one of MTG’s most beloved creature types. From nostalgic designs like Lord of Atlantis to powerful recent upgrades like Vodalian Hexcatcher, there’s no shortage of neat Merfolk options.
Yet, at the same time, Merfolk is far from a top tier strategy in any Constructed format at the moment. The archetype pops up from time to time in Pioneer, Modern, and even Vintage, but playing Merfolk is hardly the best thing to be doing right now.
While there are a multitude of reasons why Merfolk decks have fallen short in recent years. One of the biggest flaws most Merfolk decks have had is a lack of strong one-drop options. Merfolk “Lords” can only pull so much weight, especially when the turn one plays are so weak.
Well, Aetherdrift is bringing some hope for Merfolk enthusiasts. A new rare one-mana Merfolk was recently spoiled, and there’s a lot to like about what the card brings to the table. Standard Merfolk needs a lot of help to be a true competitor, but this addition is a great start.
Filling a Need
The one-mana rare Merfolk in Aetherdrift is Mindspring Merfolk, and it has a pretty strong activated ability. At minimum, you can spend two mana to put a +1/+1 counter on all of your Merfolk creatures. This alone is a nice option to have, as it helps you push damage.
On top of that, though, you can sink mana into this to draw extra cards. This is great flood protection and comes in handy in attrition battles.
The fact that you can activate this ability at instant speed is a game changer. Many of the best Merfolk in Standard and Pioneer have Flash. Most notably, Vodalian Hexcatcher and Tishana’s Tidebinder. Tishana’s Tidebinder, in particular, is strong, but rather situational.
Typically, if you pass with mana up, your opponent may sniff out Tidebinder and choose not to run something out with an important enters-the-battlefield trigger. Now, you’re in an awkward spot. You don’t want to run out your Tidebinder, but you also don’t want your mana to go to waste. Mindspring Merfolk solves this problem since it comes down early and gives you something to do with your excess mana.
As things stand, Cenote Scout is the only elite Merfolk one-drop in Standard. Further, Vodalian Hexcatcher is the only strong Lord effect in Standard. Mindspring Merfolk helps with both these issues at the same time.
Being able to pump your Merfolk army generated by Deeproot Pilgrimage is a huge boon. Not to mention, Mindspring Merfolk’s ability triggers Deeproot Pilgrimage. Mindspring Merfolk may be a measly 1/1 on its own, but it sure has a lot of upside.
Cauldron Synergies
That upside grows even more when you factor in the potential for Agatha’s Soul Cauldron synergies. Agatha’s Soul Cauldron is an incredible card. As long as you can get creatures into your graveyard with potent activated abilities, you can start distributing +1/+1 counters to your on-board threats, which gain the activated abilities of cards you exiled with Cauldron.
Mindspring Merfolk is an excellent card to exile with Cauldron. If you’re lucky, you can start pumping your whole team and drawing cards every turn cycle, which is enough to quickly run away with the game. In Standard, Kiora, the Rising Tide is a solid discard outlet to set up Cauldron. In Pioneer, you can add Smuggler’s Copter to the equation.
Notably, because a single activation of Mindspring Merfolk’s ability puts a +1/+1 counter on all of your other Merfolk, those creatures instantly gain the abilities of all creatures exiled with Cauldron. This can make it easier to execute the Kiora’s Follower combo in Pioneer.
For those unfamiliar, the combo revolves around Cauldron, Kiora’s Follower, and Deeproot Pilgrimage. Once you exile Kiora’s Follower with Cauldron and have two creatures in play with +1/+1 counters on them, you can tap one of them to untap any permanent.
Then, you can tap the untapped creature to untap the first creature. Each time you do this, you get a Merfolk token from Deeproot Pilgrimage. As such, you can easily flood the board with infinite tokens.
If you have a big board of creatures and have already exiled Kiora’s Follower with Cauldron, activating Mindspring Merfolk’s ability will grant all your other Merfolk Kiora’s Follower’s ability at once. This makes it trivial to play through instant speed removal from the opponent.
Where Will Mindspring Merfolk Shine?
It’s clear that Mindspring Merfolk packs a big punch in such a puny body. The question is, is this addition good enough for Merfolk to rise from the ashes?
For Modern and Legacy players, things still look grim. As Merfolk aficionado Nikachu points out, the popularity of Orcish Bowmasters makes it very unlikely this card is worth playing. The one-mana Merfolk choices outside of Tide Shaper aren’t great, but there’s little reason to make Bowmasters a bigger liability. After all, Silvergill Adept has already gone through a similar experience.
This doesn’t even take into account the fact that Merfolk’s Energy matchup is quite poor. Energy decks are everywhere, and the addition of Mindspring Merfolk isn’t enough to change the tides.
Thankfully this card does seem like a strong upgrade for Standard and Pioneer. Mindspring Merfolk is much more robust than Mistway Spy, which is one of the only one-drop options in Standard besides Cenote Scout.
Similarly, in Pioneer, Mindspring Merfolk seems poised to be a better inclusion than Kumena’s Speaker in Cauldron builds. Simic Merfolk won a Magic Online Pioneer Challenge a few weeks ago, and Mindspring Merfolk may be the spark needed to put the deck back on the map. Make sure to be on the lookout for any other intriguing Merfolk spoilers in the coming days.