This is a draft. Would anyone like to provide input?
Credit goes to AWOL at Damnation Studios! CASUAL MERFOLK
This thread will talk about the common archetype known as Merfolk tribal.
Merfolk are a popular tribe, dating back to the release of Lord of atlantis, from the merfolk Opposition deck in the nineties to the TimeSpiral-Lorwyn standard merfolk.
There are many types of merfolk decks: Some rely on milling merfolk, while others can rely on straight beatdown or a lockdown with opposition.
We'll be talking about some popular card choices, some decklists and overall tech.
THE CARDS
Blue:
LORDS: Merrow reejerey- The basic lord, it's a staple in most merfolk decks. Not only does it buff your creatures, every time you play one you can tap down a blocker or untap a land to reuse it. Lord of atlantis- The most cost-efficient lord out there, and is usually coupled with Aquitect's will or Merfolk soveriegn- A budget choice over Lord of atlantis. People usually run it only in cases where they need more slots or they can't afford LoA. Coralhelm commander- The new lord from Rise of Eldrazi, it can be used as a early game evasive flyer to a late game lord.
CA: Tidal Courier- Completely depends on the deck. In a deck with mostly merfolk, you could draw up to 4 cards, but in something like millfolk or opposition, it's better to run a normal draw spell. Silvergill adept- This is just plain great. It's a coral merfolk that allows you to draw a cost. It will always come down easily, unless your hand is empty.
AGGRESIVE CARDS: Tidal warrior- to set up for an alpha strike. Sejiri Merfolk- Not many people run him, but he's a very good card. With white, it can become a 2/1 lifelinking first striker. Without, he becomes coral merfolk. Wake thrasher- This is a killer. When you cast him, he automatically becomes a 4/4 the next turn. After M10 removed mana-burn, it became much better, allowing players to tap down their lands at the end of their opponents down without taking any damage and making it huge the next. Stonybrook Banneret- It makes all your merfolk cheaper, allowing you to drop many of them in the same turn. It becomes explosive with Merrow Reejerey, because the reejerey can untap lands to easily let you empty your hand by turn three. Cursecatcher- In legacy, it's used to counter unexpected Force of Wills and Dazes. This can help you win counter wars.
MILLFOLK-ORIENTED: Fallowsage- It has a solid body, and whenever it swings or becomes tapped, you can draw a card. It may not seem like much, but the difference can be significant. Drowner of secrets- The card that makes Millfolk work. It may not seem very efficient at what it does, but it provides an outlet for tapping merfolk, like fallowsage and Grimoire thief. Grimoire thief- It pseudo-mills when it swings, or is tapped with drowner of secrets. It also comes with a pretty back-up counter effect, in case it pops up. ("Oh, you cast cruel ultimatum? I'll counter it.") Ink dissolver- This card isn't too bad by itself. However, I feel that it is not strong enough. Mothdust changeling- It provides a nice tap outlet for most of your creatures.
OPTIONAL: Wanderwine prophets: Sometimes people use this as a win-con. It can usually take a lot of turns in a row. The only problem is that it is easily disrupted. It combos with Summon the school, which supplies the Prophets with many merfolk to sacrifice. Kira, great glass-spinner- A 2/2 flyer that gives your creatures pseudo-shroud. The only problem is that it's not a merfolk itself, and is legendary,but that's negliable, because they'll have to dump two cards to destroy it anyways.
White: Stonybrook Schoolmaster- Great in millfolk. It makes more merfolk to mill, and there was a nifty combo with intruder alarm to produce infinite token, or just straight out win by mill. Judge of current: In merfolk aggro, this gains you a lot of life. In millfolk, it gains you a lot of life. Harpoon sniper- Removal on a stick, and it has a pretty effective body. Reveillark- Although it's not a merfolk itself, it gives a huge late game boost either in a 4/3 or reanimation of your weenies. Mainly used in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor standard.
Lots of merfolk decks rely on tempo, and often require a lot of disruption in the form of counterspells and spot removal. Although most counters and removal work, I'll highlight on some of the better choices.
Blue: Aquitect's will- It activates islandwalk, cantrips, and provides you with the tap effect from merrow reejerey. Counterspell- It's a simple hard counter. You can substitute this with any counter you'd like. Sage's dousing- It can be a cantripping mana leak, as many merfolk are wizards. Daze- When your opponent isn't expecting a counter and taps out, daze will often shine as a hard counter, and you can pull it out at just about any time. Spell snare- Almost every deck has two-drops. Spell pierce- It's great. This is an overpowered force spike for almost everything, except for creatures. You have removal for that. Force of will- GOD MODE. A free hard counter? That you can pull from any time? This is probably the best card in the deck. It also costs 160 a playset, so good luck if you get them. Disrupting Shoal- I haven't seen this in too many builds, but I would run this because it's a very budget version of Force of Will.
White: Summon the school- Amazing card. It can generate mass amounts of merfolk tokens, and you can always bring it back at the end of your opponent's turn, pumping up wake thrasher even more. Path to exile- Solid removal spell. Swords to plowshares- See above.
Blue: Merrow commerce- It is mostly used in millfolk, but it messes up with wake thrasher. Spreading seas- Used in conjunction with Lord of atlantis. Opposition- An old-school choice, it usually locks people down. Standstill- With aether vial, you can chuck things out while stalling your opponent.
White: Oblivion ring- Just because. It removes anything from planeswalkers to pesky enchantments to creatures.
Colorless: Aether vial- It can make you drop your merfolk as fast as possible. Quicksilver fountain- It mana-screws others and it allows islandwalking. Umezawa's Jitte- It's used in legacy because it's generally amazing. Removal, lifegain, pump in the same package. Lands Wanderwine hub- This will not disappoint you. It is a great dual which has an almost null drawback. Riptide laboratory- If you're running a wizard heavy version, this could be a lifesaver. Mutavault- It's a manland that gets boosted by lords. DO YOU WANT MORE? Wastelandandfriends- Land disruption is good. When someone drops an urborg, tomb of yawgmoth or Valakut the molten pinnacle, it can be a major pain. Minamo, School at water's edge- Mostly good with Wake thrasher. You can use it's ability to untap itself, pumping Wake Thrasher. Also, it has shenanigans with [CARD]Kira, Great Glass-spinner
[/CARD]
Most duals will get you there. There are not many worth mentioning.
Merfolk are very synergistic creatures. Many of abilities that make the others much better.
Merfolk decks can vary from aggro to aggro-control to even control.
An example of merfolk aggro is U/x merfolk aggro.
An example of aggro-control is fish, or millfolk.
An example of control is opposition lockdown.
This deck is slightly more control. Most of the time, you'll be tapping out your creatures to mill, so judge of currents will help you stall time by gaining life. Summon the school will readily supply you with more merfolk that you can tap down/chump block with.
Merrow Commerce is probably the MVP in this deck. It works synergistically with the tapping effects, and allows you to keep blockers out after tapping out. It also stacks, so you can tap out with drowner of secrets, then untap and do it again for each merrow commerce you control. It counts as a merfolk, which you could tap for summon the school.
You could add in Intruder alarm to combo with stonybrook schoolmaster and drowner of secrets to mill for infinite an arbitrarily large number.
The Traders/Merchants, I haven't been all that thrilled with, honestly.. If I ever rebuild it, I'll start w/those.
And Rootwater Thief is basically just in their on a pure 'quality' basis and has an interesting/rather potent ability. He's randomly good but when he is, he's just really good. And telling noobs all about the infamous Mike Long is kinda fun.
Tidal Courier is severely underrated. He provides massive amounts of card advantage, and is, well, a Merfolk. If you get get out 2 Merrow Reejery and 1 Stonebrook Banneret, generally, Tidal Courier will let you play out most of your deck in one turn.
Ponder is the best drawspell for this style, because you want to dig for Bannerets quickly. Halimar Depths is another option.
If you REALLY don't like Tidal Courier, swap him for another Lord or utility spell.
Merfolk have often been in competitive since the inception of Lord of atlantis. Here I will talk about Merfolk in competitive
In the standard of Lorwyn to Alara, Merfolk made a pretty big splash as a very powerful U/w Aggro-control deck, with Meddling mages, Wake thrashers, and cryptic commands. A sample list would be sort of like:
Merfolk also made a huge splash in Legacy. Merfolk Fish is one the most popular decks, and for a good reason: It's explosive, but can still keep the board in control. The link to the Legacy thread for Fish is here.
Also, here are some ideas that have not been implemented in this primer, because it's not a core part of the deck.
Armageddon: You can win with Armageddon because it'll disrupt their lands while you still have creatures to beat face with and Aether vial to chuck out more fishes. Stifle + Phrexian dreadnought:
Not sure if this belong in the primer, but I sometimes run the StifleNought combo in merfolk. It was somewhat popular in the early days of merfolk in legacy, but since it lessens the synergy and consistency of the deck, they stopped using it. I'd also include Brainstorm which is nice in decks using fetches, and maybe Shapesharer which is really nice in StifleNought builds.
Daze and Force of Will should be listed among the instants/sorceries. Spell Snare and Spell Pierce probably deserve mention too. For enchantments, I think it would be helpful to add Standstill and an explanation of the synergy with Aether Vial. Perhaps Ancestral Vision should be included as an option too? Under lands I suggest adding Mutavault and Wasteland.
for aggro i think is better mono blue, with coralhelm, no white splash, with vial, a build close to the legacy merfolk deck, also spreding seas is better than arquitec will, since both are cheap this should be relevant in description.
the legacy merfolk deck should get a mention. you could ask warden permission to link to the primer. also, I believe Swords to plowshares and path to exile deserve a mention here. i've also seen aggro-folk win after casting armageddon with three creatures on the board.
the legacy merfolk deck should get a mention. you could ask warden permission to link to the primer
I agree with this. The Legacy list features Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce, sometimes Stifle, etc. which deserve mention and, given the success of Merfolk in Legacy, I think that the deck as a whole should probably get some sort of nod here.
Also, like Maelkyral said, Standstill, Mutavault and Wasteland (for that matter Strip Mine) should probably get some sort of mention due to their historical success in many legacy builds.
Too, and this is included often in the sideboard of the Legacy version, Umezawa's Jitte should also get some sort of mention for being sick utility/tricks/facemelter.
some other cards to consider mentioning
Merfolk decks love counterspells. i can see not adding FoW/Daze/Spell snare since they really don't play well in casual magic, but these ones probly should be there:
Counterspell
Mana leak
Cryptic Command
Rune Snag
Remand
Removal
Narcolepsy - best/only removal for mono bluefolk
Journey to nowhere you mention obby ring so...might as well for completion
Reveilark - this card although not a merfolk, is notoriously good with merfolk and used to be run with then around lorwyn's hayday and extended builds
Currently Taking altered art Comissions. www.nf96alters.webs.com
Quick and Cheap Alters (looking to fill up some slots so some special pricing currently)
Not sure if this belong in the primer, but I sometimes run the StifleNought combo in merfolk. It was somewhat popular in the early days of merfolk in legacy, but since it lessens the synergy and consistency of the deck, they stopped using it. I'd also include Brainstorm which is nice in decks using fetches, and maybe Shapesharer which is really nice in StifleNought builds.
Not sure if this belong in the primer, but I sometimes run the StifleNought combo in merfolk. It was somewhat popular in the early days of merfolk in legacy, but since it lessens the synergy and consistency of the deck, they stopped using it. I'd also include Brainstorm which is nice in decks using fetches, and maybe Shapesharer which is really nice in StifleNought builds.
That seems... very legacy like. I'm not sure I'd include that into the primer, just because it may be too competitive and also it's not very common around these parts.
Bone_Doc, can I get your list pwease?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Thanks to Darth Monkey and SGT_Chubbz at Damnation Studios for the sig and banner.
Quote from Bone_doc »
This virtual world is begining to feel more and more like Tron, exept with less motorcycles and more card games
Tidal Courier is severely underrated. He provides massive amounts of card advantage, and is, well, a Merfolk. If you get get out 2 Merrow Reejery and 1 Stonebrook Banneret, generally, Tidal Courier will let you play out most of your deck in one turn.
Ponder is the best drawspell for this style, because you want to dig for Bannerets quickly. Halimar Depths is another option.
If you REALLY don't like Tidal Courier, swap him for another Lord or utility spell.
Credit goes to AWOL at Damnation Studios!
CASUAL MERFOLK
This thread will talk about the common archetype known as Merfolk tribal.
Merfolk are a popular tribe, dating back to the release of Lord of atlantis, from the merfolk Opposition deck in the nineties to the TimeSpiral-Lorwyn standard merfolk.
There are many types of merfolk decks: Some rely on milling merfolk, while others can rely on straight beatdown or a lockdown with opposition.
We'll be talking about some popular card choices, some decklists and overall tech.
THE CARDS
Blue:
LORDS:
Merrow reejerey- The basic lord, it's a staple in most merfolk decks. Not only does it buff your creatures, every time you play one you can tap down a blocker or untap a land to reuse it.
Lord of atlantis- The most cost-efficient lord out there, and is usually coupled with Aquitect's will or
Merfolk soveriegn- A budget choice over Lord of atlantis. People usually run it only in cases where they need more slots or they can't afford LoA.
Coralhelm commander- The new lord from Rise of Eldrazi, it can be used as a early game evasive flyer to a late game lord.
CA:
Tidal Courier- Completely depends on the deck. In a deck with mostly merfolk, you could draw up to 4 cards, but in something like millfolk or opposition, it's better to run a normal draw spell.
Silvergill adept- This is just plain great. It's a coral merfolk that allows you to draw a cost. It will always come down easily, unless your hand is empty.
AGGRESIVE CARDS:
Tidal warrior- to set up for an alpha strike.
Sejiri Merfolk- Not many people run him, but he's a very good card. With white, it can become a 2/1 lifelinking first striker. Without, he becomes coral merfolk.
Wake thrasher- This is a killer. When you cast him, he automatically becomes a 4/4 the next turn. After M10 removed mana-burn, it became much better, allowing players to tap down their lands at the end of their opponents down without taking any damage and making it huge the next.
Stonybrook Banneret- It makes all your merfolk cheaper, allowing you to drop many of them in the same turn. It becomes explosive with Merrow Reejerey, because the reejerey can untap lands to easily let you empty your hand by turn three.
Cursecatcher- In legacy, it's used to counter unexpected Force of Wills and Dazes. This can help you win counter wars.
MILLFOLK-ORIENTED:
Fallowsage- It has a solid body, and whenever it swings or becomes tapped, you can draw a card. It may not seem like much, but the difference can be significant.
Drowner of secrets- The card that makes Millfolk work. It may not seem very efficient at what it does, but it provides an outlet for tapping merfolk, like fallowsage and Grimoire thief.
Grimoire thief- It pseudo-mills when it swings, or is tapped with drowner of secrets. It also comes with a pretty back-up counter effect, in case it pops up. ("Oh, you cast cruel ultimatum? I'll counter it.")
Ink dissolver- This card isn't too bad by itself. However, I feel that it is not strong enough.
Mothdust changeling- It provides a nice tap outlet for most of your creatures.
OPTIONAL:
Wanderwine prophets: Sometimes people use this as a win-con. It can usually take a lot of turns in a row. The only problem is that it is easily disrupted. It combos with Summon the school, which supplies the Prophets with many merfolk to sacrifice.
Kira, great glass-spinner- A 2/2 flyer that gives your creatures pseudo-shroud. The only problem is that it's not a merfolk itself, and is legendary,but that's negliable, because they'll have to dump two cards to destroy it anyways.
White:
Stonybrook Schoolmaster- Great in millfolk. It makes more merfolk to mill, and there was a nifty combo with intruder alarm to produce infinite token, or just straight out win by mill.
Judge of current: In merfolk aggro, this gains you a lot of life. In millfolk, it gains you a lot of life.
Harpoon sniper- Removal on a stick, and it has a pretty effective body.
Reveillark- Although it's not a merfolk itself, it gives a huge late game boost either in a 4/3 or reanimation of your weenies. Mainly used in Lorwyn-Shadowmoor standard.
Multicolor:
Sygg, river guide- This is a spammable Mother of runes, which is pretty amazing.
Sygg, river cutthroat- Not many people have tried him, but he COULD generate a lot of card advantage.
Cold-eyed selkie- It has islandwalk and it is better than ophidian. It also generates huge CA.
Inkfathom infiltrator- A 2/1 unblockable is nothing to scoff at.
Lots of merfolk decks rely on tempo, and often require a lot of disruption in the form of counterspells and spot removal. Although most counters and removal work, I'll highlight on some of the better choices.
Blue:
Aquitect's will- It activates islandwalk, cantrips, and provides you with the tap effect from merrow reejerey.
Counterspell- It's a simple hard counter. You can substitute this with any counter you'd like.
Sage's dousing- It can be a cantripping mana leak, as many merfolk are wizards.
Daze- When your opponent isn't expecting a counter and taps out, daze will often shine as a hard counter, and you can pull it out at just about any time.
Spell snare- Almost every deck has two-drops.
Spell pierce- It's great. This is an overpowered force spike for almost everything, except for creatures. You have removal for that.
Force of will- GOD MODE. A free hard counter? That you can pull from any time? This is probably the best card in the deck. It also costs 160 a playset, so good luck if you get them.
Disrupting Shoal- I haven't seen this in too many builds, but I would run this because it's a very budget version of Force of Will.
White:
Summon the school- Amazing card. It can generate mass amounts of merfolk tokens, and you can always bring it back at the end of your opponent's turn, pumping up wake thrasher even more.
Path to exile- Solid removal spell.
Swords to plowshares- See above.
Blue:
Merrow commerce- It is mostly used in millfolk, but it messes up with wake thrasher.
Spreading seas- Used in conjunction with Lord of atlantis.
Opposition- An old-school choice, it usually locks people down.
Standstill- With aether vial, you can chuck things out while stalling your opponent.
White:
Oblivion ring- Just because. It removes anything from planeswalkers to pesky enchantments to creatures.
Colorless:
Aether vial- It can make you drop your merfolk as fast as possible.
Quicksilver fountain- It mana-screws others and it allows islandwalking.
Umezawa's Jitte- It's used in legacy because it's generally amazing. Removal, lifegain, pump in the same package.
Lands
Wanderwine hub- This will not disappoint you. It is a great dual which has an almost null drawback.
Riptide laboratory- If you're running a wizard heavy version, this could be a lifesaver.
Mutavault- It's a manland that gets boosted by lords. DO YOU WANT MORE?
Wasteland and friends- Land disruption is good. When someone drops an urborg, tomb of yawgmoth or Valakut the molten pinnacle, it can be a major pain.
Minamo, School at water's edge- Mostly good with Wake thrasher. You can use it's ability to untap itself, pumping Wake Thrasher. Also, it has shenanigans with [CARD]Kira, Great Glass-spinner
[/CARD]
Most duals will get you there. There are not many worth mentioning.
Merfolk are very synergistic creatures. Many of abilities that make the others much better.
Merrow Commerce + Drowner of Secrets = You can mill all out on your turn, untap, save blockers, then mill again at the end of your opponents turn.
Merrow Commerce + Opposition = You'll be able to swing on your turn, then lock them down at their upkeep.
Merrow Commerce + Summon the School = You'll be able to tap out on your turn, make a bunch of tokens, then have blockers and survive to do it the next turn.
Merrow Reejerey + Stonybrook Banneret = This allows you to chuck out 1U or 1W cost merfolk for free. If you have two stonybrook, you can just about empty your entire hand.
Lord of Atlantis + Quiksilver Fountain: Your army is unblockable.
Aether Vial + Kira, Great Glass-spinner: It's a free counter against targeted removal.
THE LISTS
Merfolk decks can vary from aggro to aggro-control to even control.
An example of merfolk aggro is U/x merfolk aggro.
An example of aggro-control is fish, or millfolk.
An example of control is opposition lockdown.
4 Silvergill adept
4 Sejiri Merfolk
4 Lord of atlantis
4 Merrow reejerey
4 Judge of currents
4 Wake thrasher
4 Aquitect's will
4 Swords to plowshares
4 Wanderwine hub
4 Hallowed fountain
2 Plains
16 Islands
This is a basic aggro deck. You want to set an alpha strike by using Aquitect's will to enable island-walk from Lord of atlantis.
4 stonybrook schoolmaster
4 Drowner of secrets
4 Grimoire thief
4 Judge of currents
3 Sages dousing
3 Summon the school
4 Swords to plowshares
4 Shared discovery
4 adakar wastes
This deck is slightly more control. Most of the time, you'll be tapping out your creatures to mill, so judge of currents will help you stall time by gaining life. Summon the school will readily supply you with more merfolk that you can tap down/chump block with.
Merrow Commerce is probably the MVP in this deck. It works synergistically with the tapping effects, and allows you to keep blockers out after tapping out. It also stacks, so you can tap out with drowner of secrets, then untap and do it again for each merrow commerce you control. It counts as a merfolk, which you could tap for summon the school.
You could add in Intruder alarm to combo with stonybrook schoolmaster and drowner of secrets to mill for
infinitean arbitrarily large number.Credit goes to Morphling for this deck.
Credit to Bone_doc for this deck:
Merfolk have often been in competitive since the inception of Lord of atlantis. Here I will talk about Merfolk in competitive
In the standard of Lorwyn to Alara, Merfolk made a pretty big splash as a very powerful U/w Aggro-control deck, with Meddling mages, Wake thrashers, and cryptic commands. A sample list would be sort of like:
2 Merfolk Sovereign
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Reveillark
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Sygg, River Guide
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Cryptic Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Sage's Dousing
8 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Mystic Gate
2 Plains
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Meddling Mage
2 Sleep
3 Sower of Temptation
Merfolk also made a huge splash in Legacy. Merfolk Fish is one the most popular decks, and for a good reason: It's explosive, but can still keep the board in control. The link to the Legacy thread for Fish is here.
Also, here are some ideas that have not been implemented in this primer, because it's not a core part of the deck.
Armageddon: You can win with Armageddon because it'll disrupt their lands while you still have creatures to beat face with and Aether vial to chuck out more fishes.
Stifle + Phrexian dreadnought:
People who've contributed:
Bone_doc
Maelkyral
Zeromd
Hyugafan
Matchbox20
Numotflame96
acpc2203
Konkey
Morphling
Thanks to Darth Monkey and SGT_Chubbz at Damnation Studios for the sig and banner.
Deck Building Primer - Casual
Sliver Primer - Casual Share your tips with us !!
Want To Buy List Please Check !!
Now Playing:
Excaliboros R(R/W)W / Maverick G(G/W)W
Bant Pro Excalibur (G/U)W(G/U) / Merfolk (W/U)U(U/B)
I agree with this. The Legacy list features Force of Will, Daze, Spell Pierce, sometimes Stifle, etc. which deserve mention and, given the success of Merfolk in Legacy, I think that the deck as a whole should probably get some sort of nod here.
Also, like Maelkyral said, Standstill, Mutavault and Wasteland (for that matter Strip Mine) should probably get some sort of mention due to their historical success in many legacy builds.
Too, and this is included often in the sideboard of the Legacy version, Umezawa's Jitte should also get some sort of mention for being sick utility/tricks/facemelter.
Legacy:
WGMaverickWG
UMerfolkU
WStaxW
XRaffinityX
BRGoblins RB
RBUTESRBU
UGW Countersliver UGW
UB Dredge UB
U W CounterThopter U W
"Casual:"
BVampiresB
WMWCW
GElfdraziG
WWhite WeenieW
BWClericsBW
UGMadnessUG
UBPsychatogUB
GWAstral SlideGW
Merfolk decks love counterspells. i can see not adding FoW/Daze/Spell snare since they really don't play well in casual magic, but these ones probly should be there:
Counterspell
Mana leak
Cryptic Command
Rune Snag
Remand
Removal
Narcolepsy - best/only removal for mono bluefolk
Journey to nowhere you mention obby ring so...might as well for completion
Reveilark - this card although not a merfolk, is notoriously good with merfolk and used to be run with then around lorwyn's hayday and extended builds
Currently Taking altered art Comissions. www.nf96alters.webs.com
Quick and Cheap Alters (looking to fill up some slots so some special pricing currently)
Ebay Stuff
That would be great, I need a decklist for mono-u.
I'd also link up to the legacy versions.
Did I put in Kira, great glasspinner?
Thanks to Darth Monkey and SGT_Chubbz at Damnation Studios for the sig and banner.
That seems... very legacy like. I'm not sure I'd include that into the primer, just because it may be too competitive and also it's not very common around these parts.
Bone_Doc, can I get your list pwease?
Thanks to Darth Monkey and SGT_Chubbz at Damnation Studios for the sig and banner.
4 Merrow Reejery
4 Stonybrook Banneret
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Wake Thrasher
4 Tidal Courier
4 Ponder
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Aquitect's Will
20 Island
Tidal Courier is severely underrated. He provides massive amounts of card advantage, and is, well, a Merfolk. If you get get out 2 Merrow Reejery and 1 Stonebrook Banneret, generally, Tidal Courier will let you play out most of your deck in one turn.
Ponder is the best drawspell for this style, because you want to dig for Bannerets quickly. Halimar Depths is another option.
If you REALLY don't like Tidal Courier, swap him for another Lord or utility spell.
Wait are you saying
dump all your mana into tapping and untapping Minamo?
That's amazing. Updated.
Thanks to Darth Monkey and SGT_Chubbz at Damnation Studios for the sig and banner.