Mermails vanished beneath the waves for a couple months after Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy hit, but now they’re back and as good as ever! Mermail Decks have always excelled at quickly Summoning strong Level 7 monsters like Mermail Abyssmegalo and making up for the multitude of discards required by using Atlantean monsters. Now that Atlantean Dragoons is Limited, there are fewer Atlanteans floating around to discard, so Mermail Duelists have needed to find a new way to make their rampant discarding less painful and more useful.

They’ve found it, in the form of Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls.

Every time you discard to Special Summon Mermail Abyssmegalo, you’re putting 2 WATER monsters in the Graveyard that can be used to Summon a Tidal. Combined, they make for at least 5000 points of damage, and you can easily follow up their attacks by Xyz Summoning Mermail Abyssgaios. Abyssgaios is just as good as ever. At 2800 ATK, it can negate the effects of almost every frequently played monster out there, and many that aren’t frequently played as well. And as long as it has at least 1 Xyz Material remaining, Level 5 and higher monsters can’t attack. That’s a double-edged sword since many of the best cards in the Mermail Deck are Level 5 or higher, but stopping nearly every Synchro Monster in its tracks along with all of the Dragon Rulers and High Priestess of Prophecy is pretty darn good.

Mermails also still have access to great low-Level monsters too. Mermail Abysslinde is still amazing, especially in combination with Abyss-sphere. Abyss-sphere can Summon any Mermail from your Deck, but will eventually destroy it. Abysslinde doesn’t mind getting destroyed since she brings any other Mermail out of your Deck when she’s destroyed and sent to the Graveyard. And unlike Abyss-sphere, Abysslinde doesn’t negate the monsters effects on the field or prevent you from using Spells. If you feel like you aren’t seeing Abysslinde as much as you’d like, or that you aren’t filling your Graveyard with enough WATER monsters fast enough to fuel your Tidals, you can even use the Level 3 1900 DEF Mermail Abyssocea from Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy. She can Summon low-Level Mermail monsters from your Deck whose combined Levels are less than or equal to that of a target Mermail on your field, then sends the targeted Mermail to the Graveyard. At minimum, you can always Summon her and swap her out for Abysslinde.

Mermails are usually played as a low-Trap strategy. There’s nothing we see right now that suggests this will change. Most cards in the Deck can be played as soon as they’re drawn, so the Deck can be played at a blistering pace if the Duelist so chooses. The destructive powers of the Atlanteans help to soften up the Spell & Trap Card Zones for the eventual wave of monsters the Mermail Duelist wants to Summon. And finally, Tidal is always lurking, ready to add 2600 ATK to your field or a second Level 7 Xyz Material at a moment’s notice.

They may not have gotten any new cards over the last few months, but if ever there was a time for Mermails to make a comeback, this is it!