Future Visions: The Mermail Archetype

It's that time again. Now that Return of the Duelist is looming in closer, I don't consider it the future any more. Of course we don't have it yet and won't have it until August, but when I say the future, I mean far far away :) .

In Abyss Rising, there is a lot of Emphasis on the Water attribute. It seems to be Shark's pack since his deck in the anime focuses around Banish Fish and other fish stuff. It only seems right that any archetypes debuting in the set are going to be Water-based.

The Mermail Archetype is the Only Archetype that we know of right now (from Abyss Rising). They are a group of level 3 and 4 fish type monsters. The level 3 Mermails all share the same effect that special summon another Mermail when discarded. The level 4 ones are generally the ones doing the discarding.

Anyway without further ado, lets "dive" in and take a look at what we're dealing with.

We shall start with the level 4's.

Mermail - Abysslang

Your opponent cannot target another face-up WATER monster you control for attacks. All face-up WATER monsters gain 300 ATK, except this card.

It's one of those archetype cards that have the name, but are not playing the game. This card does not actually help the deck much. It does not provide any advantage and it needs to survive to be of any use. With only 1800 defence, I can't see that happening.

Not much else to say. Don't even bother trying to run this.

I apologise for starting with negatives but once this card is out the way, we can start looking at the relevant and useful cards.

Mermail - Abysspike

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can discard 1 WATER monster to the Graveyard; add 1 Level 3 WATER monster from your Deck to your hand. The effect of "Mermail - Abysspike" can only be activated once per turn.

This card is essentially the Stratos of the deck. It lets you discard the level 3 Mermails (Which let them get their effects) and add a Water monster to your hand. It even activates when it's special summoned. Without a doubt there is no reason why you wouldn't run 3 of these. It gives the deck consistency, allows for good combos and thins your deck. However the discard is a cost and if it gets veiler'd, you might have just put yourself in more trouble than it's worth. 

Run 3, no matter what!

Mermail - Abyssturge

When this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can discard 1 WATER monster; add 1 Level 3 or lower WATER monster from your Graveyard to your hand. The effect of "Mermail Abyssturge" can only be activated once per turn.

It does the same thing as Abysspike, except it gets monster from the Graveyard instead. Of course getting cards from the graveyard is not as handy as from the deck. At least both of them have utility with Frogs. 

I'd say to run 2 until I see a combo worthy of putting it at 3.

Now for the level 3's. It makes sense to review them after the level 4's since they get their effects when they're discarded by those level 4's.

Mermail - Abyssgunde

If this card is discarded from your hand to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "Mermail" monster from your Graveyard, except "Mermail - Abyssgunde". The effect of "Mermail - Abyssgunde" can only be activated once per turn.

So when it's discarded you can get back a Mermail from the graveyard. I guess that's quite handy, especially if you special summon one of the level 4's since they can activate their effects. Ideally, you summon Abysspike (The Stratos) while you have another in the graveyard. You then discard Abyssgunde and that allows you to add a monster from your deck to your hand, and special summon the other Abysspike, allowing for no loss in advantage and you can now xyz into a rank 4 if you want to.

Run 2 perhaps.

Mermail - Abysshilde

If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "Mermail" monster from your hand, except "Mermail - Abysshilde". The effect of "Mermail - Abysshilde" can only be activated once per turn.

So just like Abyssgunde, it allows you to make combos with the level 4s. Special summoning from the graveyard is always more favourable than from the hand for obvious reasons. 

Run 1 or 2, depending on how many Abyssgunde you want to run.

There is a level 7, believe it or not. Lets take a look.

Mermail - Megaloabyss

During your Main Phase, You can discard any 2 WATER monsters except this card; Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is Special Summoned by this effect: Add 1 "Abyss" Spell or Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. You can Tribute 1 other face-up Attack Position WATER monster you control; this card can attack twice during this turn's Battle Phase.

It actually does a lot for the deck believe it or not. Since we now that Abyssgunde and Abysshilde like being discarded, it turns this card's summoning condition into a whole bunch of interesting combos. If you discard Abyssgunde, then you can special summon a Mermail from your Graveyard (Maybe the other one that was just discarded, which has to be Abysshilde). Then you can tribute it to let Megaloabyss attack twice this turn. against an empty field, that's 4800 damage right there, which is not too shabby at all. When it's summoned you can add an Abyss Spell or Trap, which is great since they are not too bad.

Actually, why don't we take look at them now?

Abysscale - Kraken

Equip only to a "Mermail" monster. It gains 400 ATK. When an Effect Monster your opponent controls activates its effect: You can negate that effect, then send this card to the Graveyard.

This one is interesting, since there are very few cards that do what this card does. Being able to negate monster effects is really handy. In all of my current decks I run 3 Veiler and a Fiendish chain, just to keep them at bay. With this, you don't get to destroy the monster but you do get to slow them down to a standstill for a turn. Equip it onto Megaloabyss (It can search this card), and It's double attack becomes 5600 which is huge!

I would say to try 1 since with all the staples around, it's hard trying to find space for spells outside of the generic ones.

Abyssquall

Target 3 "Mermail" monsters in your Graveyard; Special Summon those targets in face-up Defense Position. Their effects are negated, they cannot attack, and they are destroyed during the End Phase.

This card's main use is to summon Sea Dragon Poseidra since you can just summon 3 level 3 Mermails. There's not much else you can do with this card except that or to xyz summon. I'm just glad it says Mermail and not 3 Water monsters. 

Abyssphere

Special Summon 1 "Mermail" monster from your Deck, but its effect(s) is negated. While this card is face-up on the field, you cannot activate Spell Cards. When this card leaves the field, destroy that monster. Destroy this card during your opponent's next End Phase after activation.

This card's only real use is to xyz summon. Not being able to activate spell cards is something you don't want to have for an extended period of time (It's why Naturia Beast wins games). So getting it overlay'd under a monster before the destruction effect kicks in is the only way to use this card. I personally wouldn't use it, but it depends on what direction you are aiming for with the deck.

Abysstrom

Send "Umi" you control to the Graveyard; send all Spell/Trap Cards on the field to the Graveyard.

A simple but powerful effect. If you're playing a water deck, you're probably trying to add Umi in there somewhere. Note that it does not destroy, but sends. That bypasses Starlight road and Stardust dragon, which is always handy. Fortunately there are 5 different cards that are treated as Umi while on the field (Guess them all if you think you can.) so there's plenty of fodder for this card. I just don't like how you have to hit at least 2 of your opponent's backrow for this card to be worthwhile since you're giving up 2 of yours. At least it's a trap so you can catch your opponent by surprise in the end phase.

That's it for the traps. What would a ZeXal archetype be without some ridiculous xyz monster to bring it all together? Introducing...

MERMAIL - GIAOABYSS

2 Level 7 WATER monsters

While this face-up card has Xyz Material, Level 5 or higher monsters cannot attack. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate the effects of all monsters your opponent controls whose ATK is lower than this card's ATK, until the End Phase. 

This card's quite the powerhouse. With 2800 raw power and the ability to negate monster effects And be a Gravity Bind while it has material, it's got a lot going for it. The best part is: you can activate the effect on either turn, essentially making this a Force Focus but so much better. All you have to do is wait for your opponent to activate effects and now you have shut them down completely for that turn. An in built protection effect would have been nice too, but as always I'm asking for too much.

How do you summon this card? Well there's 2 card's we can use. Mermail - Megaloabyss x 2 is the only real way to get this out since it's the right level and attribute. You can use the field spell Forgotten Capital Lemuria (Which is also debuting in this set) to increase the level of all water monsters you control by the number you control. So if you control 3 level 4s, you can increase them all to 7 and summon this card. But the question is, if you can make rank 7s, why not summon Big Eye instead?

Also if you have 2 Megaloabyss, you can increase them to 9 and summon Number 9: Canopy Star Dyson Sphere, which is a fun card to mess around with.

 Anyway that's as far as we know about the Mermail archetype. Overall I see potential for some interesting decks, when combined with the Atlanteans and used with some outside support like Abyss Warrior. I can see this archetype recieving a TCG exclusive since it's so close to being really good. My prediction it's a Level 3 Mermail that Special Summons from the deck when it's discarded. Imagine the Brokenness!

Until next time, TheTCGLover out!