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-The Big 3-

In my opinion, there are three major cards that are being released in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy that I feel could have a positive impact on the Mermail deck and should be taken into consideration by every Water duelist.

Tidal, Elemental Dragon of the Cascades

Water/Dragon/Level 7/2600/2000

Effect: You can banish 2 Dragon-Type and/or WATER monsters from your hand or Graveyard, except this card; Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard. During your opponent's End Phase, if this card was Special Summoned: Return it to the hand. You candiscard this card and 1 other WATER monster to the Graveyard; send 1 monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. If this card is banished: You can add 1 WATER Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use 1 "Tidal, Elemental Dragon of Cascades" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

Yes, this is an Elemental Dragon, but he will prove to be quite useful in Mermails as well. First off, it is important to know when you use Tidal’s effect to send a monster from your deck to the grave, the Water monster you discard alongside him as a cost effect will trigger if they have one. This can prove to be very useful and believe it or not, his [ccProd]Foolish Burial[/ccProd] effect is quite important. If you were to activate Tidal’s effect, discarding himself alongside a [ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd], you will resolve his effect sending any monster in your deck to the grave (in this scenario any Mermail monster), then [ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd]’s effect will trigger allowing you to special summon the Mermail monster you sent to the grave. A two card [ccProd]Monster Reborn[/ccProd] seems pretty good to me! So this means if you send a [ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd] to the grave, you will be able to bring him back with [ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd], and if you have a [ccProd]Deep Sea Diva[/ccProd] in hand already that’s a quick 8000 damage into an open field! If the deck didn’t already have enough 3 card OTK combos(Tidal/[ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd]/[ccProd]Deep Sea Diva[/ccProd]), they just got another one.  The best part about this guy is if you don’t have the OTK you can summon him from your hand or grave and use him as an XYZ material for any of the three powerful rank 7s that Mermails can utilize. One may say its just another card that Evilswarm Ophion is going to stop, but in most cases it is just the opposite. If you read my last article where I discussed some of my favorite answers to this deck you will know that [ccProd]Mermail Abyssdine[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Temtempo the Percussion Djinn[/ccProd] can really put in work. The Tidal/[ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd] combination can also give you access to a quick rank 3. You simply send [ccProd]Mermail Abyssdine[/ccProd] to the grave with Tidal’s effect, trigger [ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd]’s effect to bring back [ccProd]Mermail Abyssdine[/ccProd], then trigger [ccProd]Mermail Abyssdine[/ccProd]’s effect to bring back the [ccProd]Mermail Abyssgunde[/ccProd] and there you have a quick rank 3! I am a huge fan of this card and you can expect him to definitely make an impact on the Water deck.

Mermail Oceabyss

Water/Aqua/Level 3/1100/1900

Effect: You can target 1 face-up "Mermail" monster you control that has a Level; Special Summon any number of Level 4 or lower "Mermail" monsters from your Deck whose total Levels are less than or equal to that target's Level, then send that target to the Graveyard. You can only use the effect of "Mermail Oceabyss" once per turn.

The first time I read this card I was very intrigued because as many of you know, I love Plants, and this guy has a [ccProd]Lonefire Blossom[/ccProd] like effect for Mermails. In worst case scenarios, you can use her effect on herself to bring out a [ccProd]Mermail Abysslinde[/ccProd] to get things rolling. Mermail Oceabyss should probably be considered as a one-of because of its capabilities in not so great hands. Let’s say you open up with just a [ccProd]Mermail Abyssteus[/ccProd] another Water monster, but nothing else really going on for you or maybe you just want to play defensively, with Mermail Oceabyss in your deck you now have easy access to a turn 1[ccProd]Mermail Abysstrite[/ccProd]. You special summon [ccProd]Mermail Abyssteus [/ccProd] then search your deck out for Mermail Oceabyss, summon her and use her effect targeting [ccProd]Mermail Abyssteus[/ccProd], special summon [ccProd]Mermail Abysslinde[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Mermail Abyssdine[/ccProd] (you miss timing on her effect with Mermail Oceabyss), then just like that you have thee level 3 monsters on your field and your ready to go into [ccProd]Mermail Abysstrite[/ccProd]! Even better, once they get it off the field and send it to the grave you can bring back the [ccProd]Mermail Abyssdine[/ccProd], trigger her effect since she was summoned by a Mermail and bring back the [ccProd]Mermail Abysslinde[/ccProd]. Now you have access to any Rank 3 or any Mermail monster in your deck with [ccProd]Mermail Abysslinde[/ccProd]. The possibilities are almost endless! The best part about the Mermail deck is all of the options it has access to and Mermail Oceabyss gives you even more!

Abyss-Scale of Mizuchi

Equip Spell Card

Equip only to a "Mermail" monster. It gains 800 ATK. When a Spell effect that was activated on your opponent's side of the field resolves,negate that effect, then send this card to the Graveyard.

At first glance I think many duelists may be overlooking this card, but it has a lot of potential. Most spell cards in this game are pretty devastating, [ccProd]Monster Reborn[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Dark Hole[/ccProd] to name a couple, and having the ability to search out a card that can stop them can prove quite useful. As I just mentioned with Mermail Oceabyss, the best part about the Water deck are all of the options it has access to and this card will give them yet another one. The fact you can search this card out with [ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd] is what can make this card so deadly. Most Mermail decks with a standard hand will be able to summon a turn one [ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd], possibly alongside a [ccProd]Mermail Abyssteus[/ccProd], and overlay the two for a [ccProd]Mermail Abyssgaios[/ccProd]. Not only will you have enormous monsters that can negate your opponent’s face-up effects, you will at the very least be able to have a one for one with any spell card they might try and activate. You have to be careful when equipping or searching for this card depending on the match-up. Trap cards and monster effect that don’t activate on the field like [ccProd]Atlantean Heavy Infantry[/ccProd] and really ruin your day if you invest everything into this turn one control play. The fact that this equip card boosts any Mermails attack by 800 can also prove to be very relevant. Allowing for easier OTKs, a 3200 attack [ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd] that can attack twice sounds pretty lethal if you ask me. It gives Mermails a lot of help in dealing with bigger monsters as well. The biggest downside to this card is that it is a mandatory effect and you will have to negate the first spell card that your opponent activates, but in most decks having to throw away even one spell card can be pretty devastating. In my opinion, this card may also be a solid one-of at the very least.

Conclusion: There are so many amazing cards being released in the newest set Lord of The Tachyon Galaxy, it is hard to say which deck will end up coming out on top! While Mermails have been on top for awhile now it is always important to see if anything new will help improve a good thing! I went over the main three cards I am looking forward to the most to help give Mermails a boost in this powerful set. Each one of these cards will make an impact on the deck and you can bet your bottom dollar Water duelists ever where will be trying them out each of these cards and possibly others upon this sets release!

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, or simply want to just answer the question of the article, you can do so in the comments down below!

-Billy Brake

-YCS Toronto and YCS Columbus Champion