Notes & Combos
After going back into the depths for more Mermail testing, I decided to play 60-card Mermail again w/ Coel over the 45-card list without Coel for a number of reasons.
- The 45-card list felt brickier than 60-card Mermail with inconsistent hand quality, and that factored into games where I didn't have the waters or non-engine to push through certain boards going second.
- The 45-card list lacked the tools necessary to play through interruption going first. While I have played through Droll and Maxx C / Fuwa (after self drolling) with Mermail if I opened multiple waters, Rhine into Coel dramatically simplifies things, and it makes substandard hands workable since Coel can still make a board by itself if I didn't open or find a way to get to Neptabyss and/or Dragoons.
- The 45-card list lacked the tools necessary to play through interruption going second. Lack of Coel was certainly a factor since that card can give you the bodies to push for lethal if it resolves but having access to Talents, Pankratops, or even Storming Poseidra was important in playing through boards going second.
Ultimately, the reason I abandoned 60-card Mermail was because it felt inconsistent and bricky. Well, we now have ways of unbricking ourselves, so let's talk about them.
Why did I cut Lancea / Raiho?
This was one major step in making Mermail less bricky since Raiho does nothing in hand besides being a discard for Teus / Storming Poseidra. Lancea rarely came up for me as a way to beat Nib (which didn't matter since I have Virtue Stream) or as a win condition, so I cut both in favor of non-engine or cards which help to unbrick certain hands, which has worked so far.
Small World?
Small World was extremely critical in accessing tools like Pankratops going second, Ash Blossom going first to beat Maxx C / Fuwa, or a way to access waters like Neptabyss, Goons, or Squad in either turn.
I truly believe it is absolutely mandatory for a Mermail deck (especially at 60-cards) to be running some copies of this card, even at the cost of losing to Droll, due to how important it is at unbricking you.
Pot of Desires?!
Honestly, I was slightly confused at this inclusion at first, but in practice it does make some sense in 60-card Mermail.
Most of our engine cards are at 3 in this deck, and the deck is quite large, so Desires banishing 10 cards is not a big deal. Plus, the chance of Desires banishing 3 copies of engine cards like Neptabyss is infintestimally small.
One-ofs like Coel, Ran, or Moulinglacia are not critical towards establishing a Mermail board, so they can be played around in Desires does banish them.
In exchange, Desires acts like a Pot of Greed, and that's important for a deck that relies more on 2-card combos to play. Combined with Small World, you can easily get to a position where your starters beat several interruptions or handtraps if they resolve.
Final Thoughts
The end result is a deck that has improved hand quality for going first or second while setting up impressive boards that can beat even 6-card hands (though I preferably want Moulinglacia to politely rip a couple of them).
The only changes I would consider this deck at the moment is whether to cut certain cards like Talents, Diva, or Dominus Impulse for the 2nd Nib, but I will keep 1 for now.
The climb w/ Mermail felt like night and day in Season 42 compared to Season 41 even if I was losing the die roll most of the time, and I truly feel it came down to superior deckbuilding (although skill and knowledge of the deck certainly helped).
Mermail is such a fun deck to pilot, and when you get past all of the ****** winmore options, you can feel like a true degenerate, as Poseidra intended.