Subject: Documetary to The Merfolk Deck
Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 11:00:24 -0400
From: Teri and Pete Ripley <pandp@erols.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Hello, this is Iron Peter Ripley briging you yet another one of my
e-mails to read. This one has to do with the Merfolk decks and their
increasing popularity in tournament play. Merfolk has always been one of
those decks that we all usually saw in fun or multiplayer games, but now
we have seen four Merfolk decks qualify for the US nationals through the
regional tournaments throughout the US. One of those Merfolk decks was
my good friend's, Matt Linde. Matt played the Merfolk deck that was
constructed by our good friend, David Magnani, who is the same person,
in our opinion, that created the tournament level Merfolk deck. Matt
placed fourth place in the mid-atlantic regional with this Merfolk:
Main Deck:
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Rootwater Diver
3 Tidal Warrior
4 Merfolk Traders
2 Vodalion Illusionist
1 Merfolk Seer
4 Tradewind Rider
4 Man O' War
4 Counterspell
4 Impulse
4 Cursed Scroll
1 Zur's Weirding
4 Quicksand
1 Svyelunite Temple
16 Islands
Sideboard:
4 Chill
4 Hydroblast
2 Steal Artifact
3 Steal Enchantment
2 Seasinger

This is not our current version, we have changed it a little scence
then, but that is the basics of it. We also have a friend, Ron Schubert,
who qualified with a deck that he called a merfolk, but let me warn you,
this is not a Merfolk deck. This is Ron's deck in which he placed second
in the Dallas regional. I can not say that it will down to the very
card, but this is the basic design of Ron's "Merfolk Imposter" deck:
Main Deck:
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Manta Riders
4 Waterspout Djinn
4 Azure Drake
4 Azimaet Drake
4 Man O' War
4 Counterspell
4 Impulse
3 Undo
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Quicksand
17 Islands

I do not have a sideboard for it. This deck is not a Merfolk, hence, it
has four merfolk. Ron calls this a Merfolk deck, but we want him to know
that it is not (and it should have that 1/4 flyer that has a cool
special ability). I have heard that two other Merfolk decks qualified
for the US National and I wanted to let them know they did a good thing
for the sake of Merfolk.

I now want to show you the Merfolk deck that Dave origianly made for
tournament play. Between Dave, Matt and I, we won many local tournaments
with some "known" players and some "chumly" players. So here it is:
Main Deck:
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
4 Merfolk Traders
4 Vodalian Illusionist
4 Merfolk Seer
4 Man O' War
2 Abduction
4 Impulse
4 Counterspell
2 Dissipate
1 Power Sink
1 Zur's Weirding
1 Psycic Vortex
4 Quicksand
4 Svyelunite Temple
13 Islands

I do not have the sideboard for this deck. I would like to tell you that
this deck was played befor Tempest or Stronghold came out. That is it
for now on the Merfolk decks, I hope you will try to play a Merfolk at
one of your local tournaments and learn to appreciate it. It is a very
good deck and is aggresive with control, that is the best way I can put
Merfolk. Good luck to all of you.

Later,
Iron Peter Ripley