For months, Mermail Duelists relied on Genex Undine to send monsters like Atlantean Dragoons and Atlantean Marksman to the Graveyard, setting up big plays and raking in free cards.  But YCS Miami and Cosmo Blazer changed everything, and now the top WATER Deck, as seen in its YCS Austin victory, is focused entirely on Atlanteans and Mermails, without Genex Undine or Genex Controller.

New cards like Mermail Abyssteus made the Mermail strategy faster and more consistent, giving it better search power, more ways to discard WATER monsters for their effects, and doubling their number of Level 7’s.  The result was a surge of interest in certain cards from Abyss Rising that tied the strategy together.

When Mermail Abyssgunde is discarded to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon another “Mermail” monster from your Graveyard.  Unlike the Atlanteans, Abyssgunde’s effect will trigger no matter how it’s discarded: it doesn’t have to be pitched for the effect of a WATER monster.

If you discard Agyssgunde to Special Summon Mermail Abyssteus, you’ll get to search your Deck with Abyssteus’ effect, and Special Summon a Mermail from your Graveyard.  If you Special Summon Mermail Abyssmegalo or Mermail Abyssleed, you can use it with Abyssteus to Summon a Rank 7 Xyz Monster.  Or, just attack with both! Or do both!  Abyssgunde lets you put together powerful combo plays and big Battle Phases, and it’s a great combo with Raigeki Break or Lightning Vortex.

Abyss-squall is a Normal Trap that targets three Mermails in your Graveyard, then Special Summons them all in face-up Defense Position.  Their effects are negated, they can’t attack, and they’ll be destroyed in the End Phase, but that’s not a bad as it sounds.  You can combine the monsters for Xyz Summons, and that End Phase destruction can trigger certain effects, like Mermail Abysslinde’s.

One great way to play Abyss-squall is to use it to Special Summon a Mermail Abysslinde and two Level 7 Mermails.  That way you can Xyz Summon a Rank 7 Xyz Monster, and Special Summon with  Abysslinde’s effect in your End Phase.  You need a few Mermails in your Graveyard for that to work, so you probably won’t pull it off until you’re a few turns in; you probably shouldn’t run three copies.  You could run two Abyss-squall, but many Duelists get by with just one, since they can search it with Mermail Abyssmegalo.

So what do you make for that Rank 7 Xyz Summon?  Well, you could unleash Number 11: Big Eye, and there are many times in many Duels where that will be the right thing to do.  But the Xyz Monster that’s really shaking things up right now is none other than…

…Mermail Abyssgaios!  Clocking in at a dominating 2800 ATK and 1600 DEF, Abyssgaios has two effects that put you in control of the field.  Its first effect keeps Level 5 or higher monsters from attacking as long as Abyssgaios has Xyz Material.  That protects it from stuff like Machina Fortress, Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X “Bureido”, Ally of Justice Catastor, and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, which could all trade with it in battle (or worse!) otherwise.  Those high-Level monsters have to rely on their effects to beat Abyssgaios instead of their brute strength.

But not all monsters have effects that can stop Abyssgaios.  And even if they do, Abyssgaios might just stop them first!  Its second ability lets you detach an Xyz Material to negate the effects of your opponent’s monsters, provided they’re face-up at the time of the effect’s activation, and they have less ATK than Abyssgaios.  That negation lasts until the end of the turn, and you can activate the negation ability on your turn, or your opponent’s.  Abyssgaios can cleave through stuff like Spirit Reaper and Number 39: Utopia, but it can also protect itself from threats like Master Hyperion, Chaos Sorcerer, High Priestess of Prophecy, and Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Bear.  There are very few monsters that beat Abyssgaios once it’s on the table, and while your opponent struggles to survive, you’ll be building your next big combo.

The trick to unlocking the future of Mermails rests in their beginnings!  Mermail Abyssgaios, Mermail Abyssgunde, and Abyss-squall are key to your success, so don’t forget them when you build your Mermail Deck.