The newest mermonsters, Mermail Abyssleed and Mermail Abyssteus are capable of some truly incredible feats. If Abyssleed resolves its effect even once in a Duel, your chances of winning go way up, and he has 2700 ATK to boot. Abyssteus transmutes merely OK hands into truly great hands. But the key to making the most of these monstrous beasts of the sea is the lovely Level 3 mermaids from Abyss Rising and Cosmo Blazer.

I have yet to meet a Duelist who doesn’t agree that Mermail Abysslinde is a worthy addition to any Mermail Deck, but reactions to Mermail Abyssgunde (from Abyss Rising) and the new Cosmo Blazer mermaid, Mermail Abyssdine, have been lukewarm. While Abysslinde’s a pretty easy card to figure out, these other two do a lot of different things for you that you might not realize at first.

First, here’s what all three do:

–Mermail Abysslinde Summons any Mermail from your Deck if she’s destroyed on the field and sent to the Graveyard.

–Mermail Abyssgunde revives any Mermail from your Graveyard if she’s discarded.

–Mermail Abyssdine Special Summons herself from your hand when you add her to your hand with an effect OR revives a mermaid when she’s Summoned by a Mermail effect.

And here’s how they can help!

Fix Awkard Hands

All of the mermonsters are great, and it would be a real shame to leave any of them out of your Deck. But many Duelists worry about what happens when they draw that awkward hand that starts with Mermail Abyssmegalo, Mermail Abyssteus, and Mermail Abyssleed. That’s when you need your mermaids to step up and help you out.

If you have Abysslinde (or better, Abyss-sphere): Set her and let her get destroyed. When she’s destroyed, Summon Mermail Abysspike and discard Abyssleed with his effect to fetch Abyssgunde to your hand. Finally, on your turn, discard Abyssgunde to Summon Abyssteus.  Let Abyssgunde revive Abyssleed, and then you have choices for what to do with Abyssteus’ effect.

1. Grab Mermail Abyssdine and Special Summon her with her own effect. She’s a great Tribute for Abyssleed’s effect, and getting her in the Graveyard sets up plays down the line. Abysspike makes a great second Tribute as well if he makes it to your next turn.
2. Grab a different Mermail, like another Abyssgunde, to set up future plays. Tribute Abysspike to dump a card out of your opponent’s hand and get ready to throw down Abyssmegalo in the near future.

If you have Abyssdine: Discard her to Special Summon Abyssteus. Abyssteus can then add Abyssgunde to your hand. Discard Abyssgunde and Abyssleed to Special Summon Abyssmegalo, and then you have some options.

1. Use Abyssgunde to special Summon Abyssdine, who in turn will Special Summon Abyssgunde. You now have 2 Level 7 WATER monsters and 2 Level 3 WATER monsters to do with as you will.
2. Use Abyssgunde to Special Summon Abyssleed. You have 3 Level 7 WATER monsters, one of which is likely going to be Tributed to use Abyssleed’s effect. Abyssdine waits to be either revived, or added back to your hand, either of which create surprise Summons.

Either way, you also get an “Abyss-“ card from your Deck with Abyssmegalo. In a situation like this, Abyss-sphere will let you continue your combos next turn, Abyss-scorn will protect you from the threat of big monster counterattacks, and Abyss-squall makes it so that next turn you can Xyz Summon a Rank 3 monster and (if you went with option 2) a Rank 7 monster.

If you have Abyssgunde: Discard her and Abyssleed to Special Summon Abyssmegalo. Revive Abyssleed and search for an “Abyss-“ card. You get to keep Abyssteus for later, which is great because it only requires one discard.

Make Your Other Cards Better

The mermonsters and mermen require discards or Tributes to pay for their abilities. The Atlanteans are great for skirting around those costs. But there’s only so much they can achieve on their own. Having more mermaids in your Deck gives you plays that just don’t exist if all you’re using is multiples of each Atlantean. And remember, Abyssleed only accepts Mermails as Tributes for its hand disrupting effect!

The most important thing that the mermaids do that Atlanteans don’t is give you easy access to your best Xyz Monsters. Being able to quickly Summon Number 11: Big Eye and Mermail Abyssgaios thanks to Mermail Abyssgunde is crucial to snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, or just putting it on lockdown. Furthermore, Abyssdine acts like a Tour Guide from the Underworld that you can even use on your opponent’s turn. Summon her with Abysslinde, and Abyssdine can bring Abysslinde back to hang out for a Rank 3 Xyz Summon.

Give Your Deck Freedom

Right now, a lot of people use Genex Undine and its unique cost to trigger their Atlantean effects instead of more mermonsters. While Undine does give you access to whichever effect you need at any given time and doesn’t require extra cards in hand, it also requires you to play a minimum of 5 cards in your Deck that have nothing to do with your strategy. Undine itself doesn’t do anything but search out Genex Controller, which means you have to play with Genex Controller, which is a Tuner Normal Monster.

But once you search out that Genex Controller, it’s not very useful. You probably have Deep Sea Diva for your Synchro Summoning needs, and you may have even searched it out with Atlantean Dragoons, courtesy of Undine! So you have to play other cards like Allure of Darkness, Common Charity, and Raigeki Break to make use of the Controllers once you have them, and at that point around 20% of your Deck is made of cards that don’t contribute towards Summoning your mermonsters and manhandling the opposition.

Playing more mermonsters and mermaids increases the number of different things your Deck can do and decreases the number of hands you draw where the cards just don’t interact in any meaningful way. You sacrifice a bit of precision for a lot more power and still have room left over for some generally useful cards. Maybe that’s what Mermail Decks need to take home a title. But whether or not that’s a trade Duelists are willing to make remains to be seen!