Pioneer: Dimir Merfolks - Deck tech & Sideboard Guide

Despite not having any Regional Championship or Pro Tour events scheduled for 2025, Pioneer is still a busy format on Magic Online, with innovations occurring every week as players migrate new lists and ideas from other formats into the Metagame.

One such approach is a new take on Merfolks decks in a Dimir version running the famous Ninjutsu package with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares to generate value while the typal interactions make it an effective strategy in the current Metagame, which harks back to the old Merfolks versions that were known as Fish.

In this article, we delve into this new version of one of Magic's most popular creature types, with a Sideboard guide to the main matchups in the Pioneer Metagame!

This is the standard decklist that most players have been using in Magic Online Leagues and Challenges. The only significant change to it is merely semantic: since my articles are also aimed at Magic Arena players, I replaced Triton Shorestalker with Mist-Cloaked Herald to make the deck available on that platform as well.

Maindeck

Although this is a Merfolk deck, we seek to make the most of the interaction of efficient ETBs with Ninjutsu, or use cards that make it easier for our Ninjutsu cards to enter the battlefield.

Mist-Cloaked Herald basically has the sole function of enabling Ninjutsu, but in some games it helps to push the clock in our favor, especially when accompanied by Vodalian Hexcatcher.

Mockingbird is a 1/1 with Flying for that can copy one of our creatures and grant all the functions that other creatures you control have, or even copy the opponent's creatures.

Silvergill Adept and Floodpits Drowner have the best interactions with Ninjas: Silvergill grants an extra draw and is especially lethal in terms of value when bounced with any of our Ninjas and reused in the same turn, while Floodpits Drowner gets blockers out of the way, locks them down for a turn, and can even get rid of troublesome creatures permanently.

The Ninjas.

Kaito, Bane of Nightmares gave birth to this Ninja engine in Pioneer, and for good reason: he's a hard-to-remove win condition, board control, and a source of card advantage all in one card for the mere cost of in Ninjutsu.

Moon-Circuit Hacker complements this game plan with a cheap way to reuse your ETBs while drawing an extra card in the process, and the emblems Kaito creates make him a threat in his own right.

Vodalian Hexcatcher is the only typal interaction we have in the list besides Silvergill Adept, being the most powerful Lord that Pioneer has for merfolks, since in addition to the classic +1/+1 for all creatures, it transforms all your merfolks into Cursecatcher.

Unholy Annex is our other source of card advantage and alternative win condition: in addition to guaranteeing an extra draw per turn and having interactions with Mutavault (which we would already use in the list naturally), the possibility of creating a 6/6 creature with Flying to pressure the opponent in longer games is very relevant.

Fatal Push is our standard removal and works perfectly in this list, since we are constantly returning creatures to our hand, thus enabling Revolt more often.

Our duals are essentially based on ensuring that we have untapped lands from the first turn, with the combination of Watery Grave and Gloomlake Verge being the most important among them, while Darkslick Shores is our best option in the early turns.

Among the utility lands, Mutavault guarantees a Demon for Unholy Annex every turn and is also a Merfolk that we can sacrifice with Vodalian Hexcatcher in critical situations, and another attacker to pressure the opponent.

Otawara, Soaring City is essentially a bounce that we can use against our opponent's permanents in longer games, while Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth ensures that we always have access to in games where we are flooded with Islands and Mutavaults.

Sideboard

Anoint with Affliction fits into any game where the opponent has low-cost creatures, or where we need to deal with a permanent threat like Unstoppable Slasher or Enduring Innocence, being common in Aggro games or even against some Midranges.

Aether Gust is our interaction against Nykthos Ramp, but it also works to delay the turns of Prowess or Atarka Red decks. It is worth remembering that, in these games, it is common to need to adopt the posture of a Tempo deck.

Spell Pierce is an efficient stack interaction for a low cost that protects our threats from removal and/or prevents the opponent's key cards such as an Unholy Annex or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker from entering the game too early.

Thoughtseize is essential to protect our creatures from removal, but its main function is against slower archetypes, where removing a sweeper or a key card can guarantee the victory.

Tishana’s Tidebinder is a response to countless things in the current Metagame, but it works in more specific matchups: it answers Planeswalkers well, blocks the ETB trigger of some important cards like Niv-Mizzet Reborn, and a 3/2 with Flash always has some utility in longer games.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a card that I have doubts about its viability in this list, but its inclusion is mainly due to attrition games and also in matches where we need to punish the opponent for drawing too many cards, like the various Artist’s Talent lists.

Unlicensed Hearse is our default answer against archetypes that utilize the graveyard in some way, like Jund Ygra and Izzet Phoenix, and since we have several creatures in this list and Mutavault among the lands, using it as a complementary threat is an option.

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Atarka Red

IN

OUT

Rakdos Prowess

IN

OUT

Nykthos Ramp

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!