The Cutest Monsters Came to Play! - Merfae Archetype Debut
One of the newest archetypes to be featured in “Rise of the Duelist” is the Merfae. These are pretty cute and cuddly animals that have a Peek-a-Boo kind of effect. Their effects trigger when the opponent normal summon or special summon a monster or targeted for an attack. When they return back to the hand, another effect triggers. The Merfae effect monsters can all be special summoned from hand during the player’s End Phase. Also, they are an archetype that focuses around the usage of XYZ monsters. Let's see what else these cuties are capable of.
Name: Merfae Cathy
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 200
Defense: 200
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can add 1 Beast monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Merfae Cathy". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Cathy" once per turn.
Floaters are Always Must-Have
First one off the bat is Merfae Cathy, the floater of the deck. As basic principle of deck building in Yu-Gi-Oh! is concerned, floaters are the most important card on the deck. This will allow you to have a choice of what card you need depending on the situation. Moreover, they are deck thinners. Decreasing the number of Merfae cards in your deck increases the probability of drawing a staple card.
Name: Merfae Fenny
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 100
Defense: 300
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can Special Summon 1 Beast monster from your hand, except "Merfae Fenny". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Fenny" once per turn.
Surprise Beast!
This card special summons 1 Beast monster from hand. Worth noting that it says Beast monster instead of Merfae, which means you could special summon any Beast monster from hand. Interestingly enough, you could pull off a surprise lock on your opponent special summoning King Tiger Wanghu through this effect.
Name: Merfae Pony
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 400
Defense: 0
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can add 1 Level 2 or lower Beast monster from your GY to your hand, except "Merfae Pony". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Pony" once per turn.
Recycling Back Comrades
Although in my previous articles, I speak of recyclers as late game and conditional cards, the recycler in this archetype could actually do a decent job. Considering that there is only 1 reviver in this archetype, adding back Merfae monsters back to hand pretty much an advantage since once added to hand, they can be special summoned again during End Phase.
Name: Merfae Puppy
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 300
Defense: 100
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Beast monster from your Deck, except "Merfae Puppy". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Puppy" once per turn.
Another Floater
What’s better than adding cards from the deck? Special summoning monster from deck. This Merfae monster will send out a level 2 beast from the deck. It doesn’t require that it be a Merfae monster, therefore, you could special summon Watch Cat to further fetch it for “Merfae Hide-and-Seek”.
Name: Merfae Mammy
Attribute: EARTH
Rank: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 1000
Defense: 1000
2+ Level 2 Beast monsters
Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can attach 1 Beast monster from your hand or field to this card as material. This card gains effects based on the number of materials attached to it.
● 3+: Cannot be destroyed by battle.
● 4+: You take no battle damage from attacks involving this card.
● 5+: When an attack is declared involving this card and an Attack Position monster: You can inflict damage to your opponent equal to that Attack Position monster's ATK.
The Boss Card?
The Boss card on this deck serves as a strong-hold barricade. It is indestructible by battle when it has 3 or more xyz materials. Immunity to battle damage when at 4 or more xyz material and inflicts burn damage when attacked at 5 or more. Looks great at first glance but it’s not as strong as it seems. First, why would you think someone would attack a monster that is already indestructible in battle, at worst, that is also capable of inflicting burn damage. Your opponent would just resort to destroying or removing this card by card effect. So, this is just to buy you time to set up for a more compelling win condition.
Name: Merfaes of the Forest
Attribute: EARTH
Rank: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 500
Defense: 2000
2 Level 2 monsters
Effect:
You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 "Merfae" card from your Deck to your hand. If another face-up "Merfae" monster(s) you control returns to your hand: You can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; while it is face-up on the field, it cannot attack, also negate its effects. You can only use each effect of "Merfaes of the Forest" once per turn.
The Real Boss Card
This is more fitting to be the ace card for this archetype. It adds any Merfae card from deck to hand which means it can fetch you Merfae spell and trap cards. Also, it can negate attacks and effects when a Merfae monster returns back to hand. This is pretty solid compared to Merfae Mammy.
Name: Merfae Hide-and-Seek
Card Type: Continuous Spell Card
The first time each Beast monster you control would be destroyed by card effect each turn, it is not destroyed. You can target 3 Beast monsters in your GY with different names; shuffle them into the Deck, then draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of "Merfae Hide-and-Seek" once per turn.
Protection and Recycler
This one isn’t so bad at all but would only keep at 1. Only the protective effect is worth noting on this card. This reinforces Mefae Mammy’s defense as it can save it from destructive card effects like Raigeki. The recycling ability is a bit late game. Also, there is already Merfae Pony to this role. No need for another recycler.
Name: Merfae Tag
Card Type: Quick Play Spell Card
Target 1 "Merfae" monster in your GY; Special Summon it. You can only activate 1 "Merfae Tag" per turn.
The Revival Card
This is essential for the deck. Add this from deck through “Merfaes of the Forest” effect and activate it special summon the detached xyz material. This quickly sets up the field for “Merfaes of the Forest” second effect. Not only that, this helps in spamming the field with Merfae monsters.
Name: Merfae Time
Card Type: Normal Trap Card
Detach any number of materials from Beast Xyz Monsters you control, then target up to that many cards your opponent controls; return them to the hand, also all Beast Xyz Monsters you currently control gain 500 ATK for each material detached to activate this card, until the end of this turn.
The Killing Blow of Mammy
This is perhaps the win condition for the deck if you happen to centralize your strategy around Merfae Mammy. With so many xyz materials to dispose of, Merfae Mammy paves way to a direct attack for your Merfae monsters and gives them extra muscles, potentially swinging for a win. Of course, if you get this card in time before your Merfae Mammy leaves the field.
It is worth noting that this archetype happens to have a level 2 Normal Merfae monster. This could possibly mean that this archetype could use the effect of Rescue Rabbit to xyz summon either Merfae of the Forest or Merfae Mammy quickly.
So, what do you think about Merfae? Are they worth the investment for competitive gaming? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Name: Merfae Cathy
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 200
Defense: 200
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can add 1 Beast monster from your Deck to your hand, except "Merfae Cathy". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Cathy" once per turn.
Floaters are Always Must-Have
First one off the bat is Merfae Cathy, the floater of the deck. As basic principle of deck building in Yu-Gi-Oh! is concerned, floaters are the most important card on the deck. This will allow you to have a choice of what card you need depending on the situation. Moreover, they are deck thinners. Decreasing the number of Merfae cards in your deck increases the probability of drawing a staple card.
Name: Merfae Fenny
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 100
Defense: 300
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can Special Summon 1 Beast monster from your hand, except "Merfae Fenny". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Fenny" once per turn.
Surprise Beast!
This card special summons 1 Beast monster from hand. Worth noting that it says Beast monster instead of Merfae, which means you could special summon any Beast monster from hand. Interestingly enough, you could pull off a surprise lock on your opponent special summoning King Tiger Wanghu through this effect.
Name: Merfae Pony
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 400
Defense: 0
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can add 1 Level 2 or lower Beast monster from your GY to your hand, except "Merfae Pony". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Pony" once per turn.
Recycling Back Comrades
Although in my previous articles, I speak of recyclers as late game and conditional cards, the recycler in this archetype could actually do a decent job. Considering that there is only 1 reviver in this archetype, adding back Merfae monsters back to hand pretty much an advantage since once added to hand, they can be special summoned again during End Phase.
Name: Merfae Puppy
Attribute: EARTH
Level: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 300
Defense: 100
Effect:
If your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), or this card is targeted for an attack by an opponent's monster: You can return this card to the hand, then you can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Beast monster from your Deck, except "Merfae Puppy". During your End Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use each effect of "Merfae Puppy" once per turn.
Another Floater
What’s better than adding cards from the deck? Special summoning monster from deck. This Merfae monster will send out a level 2 beast from the deck. It doesn’t require that it be a Merfae monster, therefore, you could special summon Watch Cat to further fetch it for “Merfae Hide-and-Seek”.
Name: Merfae Mammy
Attribute: EARTH
Rank: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 1000
Defense: 1000
2+ Level 2 Beast monsters
Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can attach 1 Beast monster from your hand or field to this card as material. This card gains effects based on the number of materials attached to it.
● 3+: Cannot be destroyed by battle.
● 4+: You take no battle damage from attacks involving this card.
● 5+: When an attack is declared involving this card and an Attack Position monster: You can inflict damage to your opponent equal to that Attack Position monster's ATK.
The Boss Card?
The Boss card on this deck serves as a strong-hold barricade. It is indestructible by battle when it has 3 or more xyz materials. Immunity to battle damage when at 4 or more xyz material and inflicts burn damage when attacked at 5 or more. Looks great at first glance but it’s not as strong as it seems. First, why would you think someone would attack a monster that is already indestructible in battle, at worst, that is also capable of inflicting burn damage. Your opponent would just resort to destroying or removing this card by card effect. So, this is just to buy you time to set up for a more compelling win condition.
Name: Merfaes of the Forest
Attribute: EARTH
Rank: 2
Type: Beast
Attack: 500
Defense: 2000
2 Level 2 monsters
Effect:
You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 "Merfae" card from your Deck to your hand. If another face-up "Merfae" monster(s) you control returns to your hand: You can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; while it is face-up on the field, it cannot attack, also negate its effects. You can only use each effect of "Merfaes of the Forest" once per turn.
The Real Boss Card
This is more fitting to be the ace card for this archetype. It adds any Merfae card from deck to hand which means it can fetch you Merfae spell and trap cards. Also, it can negate attacks and effects when a Merfae monster returns back to hand. This is pretty solid compared to Merfae Mammy.
Name: Merfae Hide-and-Seek
Card Type: Continuous Spell Card
The first time each Beast monster you control would be destroyed by card effect each turn, it is not destroyed. You can target 3 Beast monsters in your GY with different names; shuffle them into the Deck, then draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of "Merfae Hide-and-Seek" once per turn.
Protection and Recycler
This one isn’t so bad at all but would only keep at 1. Only the protective effect is worth noting on this card. This reinforces Mefae Mammy’s defense as it can save it from destructive card effects like Raigeki. The recycling ability is a bit late game. Also, there is already Merfae Pony to this role. No need for another recycler.
Name: Merfae Tag
Card Type: Quick Play Spell Card
Target 1 "Merfae" monster in your GY; Special Summon it. You can only activate 1 "Merfae Tag" per turn.
The Revival Card
This is essential for the deck. Add this from deck through “Merfaes of the Forest” effect and activate it special summon the detached xyz material. This quickly sets up the field for “Merfaes of the Forest” second effect. Not only that, this helps in spamming the field with Merfae monsters.
Name: Merfae Time
Card Type: Normal Trap Card
Detach any number of materials from Beast Xyz Monsters you control, then target up to that many cards your opponent controls; return them to the hand, also all Beast Xyz Monsters you currently control gain 500 ATK for each material detached to activate this card, until the end of this turn.
The Killing Blow of Mammy
This is perhaps the win condition for the deck if you happen to centralize your strategy around Merfae Mammy. With so many xyz materials to dispose of, Merfae Mammy paves way to a direct attack for your Merfae monsters and gives them extra muscles, potentially swinging for a win. Of course, if you get this card in time before your Merfae Mammy leaves the field.
It is worth noting that this archetype happens to have a level 2 Normal Merfae monster. This could possibly mean that this archetype could use the effect of Rescue Rabbit to xyz summon either Merfae of the Forest or Merfae Mammy quickly.
So, what do you think about Merfae? Are they worth the investment for competitive gaming? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Leave a comment