[Deck] Triton's Minions

Critters
4 Silvergill Adept - thanks, kuja
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Reef Shaman (or Tidal Warrior)
2 Seasinger

Other blue stuff
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Land
4 Rishidan Port
4 Wasteland
6 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand

beginning SB
3 Pongify
3 Propaganda
3 Pithing Needle
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Rootwater Thief

What it does:
It is more disruptive on mana than Goblins. Add Stifle and Reef Shaman (turn a land into an off color basic on upkeep) to Port and Wasteland, and you have an awful lot of mana disruption. There are 8 creatures that pump everyone. Lord of Atlantis is a Muscle Sliver, only better. Wait until you see how insane Islandwalk is in this meta. And Reejerey is a Warchief, only way, way better. Tap or untap a permanent, are you serious?

Seasinger :)

OK, now include a partial assortment of counterspells, search, and draw. All in one color.

What it does not do:
Well, someone please tell me the downside. I can't see it yet. EDIT: Found it - It sucks against Goblins.

There is just no way I am the only person tooling with this deck. In fact, I will bet that there are people who frequent this website who are playing this and have simply chosen not to post it for secrecy reasons.

Opinions?

Thunderbluff v.7.2?

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Originally Posted by Ophidian

Thunderbluff v.7.2?

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No, it's Dirt v3.1

Silvergill Adept

Boy, those are some really useful responses. Thanks for the thought-provoking insight.

I think I will laminate this so I can just reveal it to the next genius who thinks he is clever at my expense.

It really does amaze me how certain personalities come out of the woodwork when they smell fresh meat. Ya know, back when I caught hell for reporting on Dirt, a deck that did things like nearly autowin against certain decks such as Threshold, I figured that eventually the folks who "knew" I was making it up would eventually learn the truth. Some people did.

IBA, for example, went through the trouble of messing with BGW control and quickly came out with a deck of his own, some tournament reports, and statements like "Threshold- Autowin. No, seriously. I know I said Train Wreck was a near autowin, but..." and other similar comments. I assumed that anyone who payed attention would soon figure it out for themselves. But amazingly there are ostensibly repected members of this community who still think they are funny when they mock my observations that have been independently corroborated over and over.

Goog God, ppl. Have some self respect.

How has Seasinger been working out for you? Do you ever wish you had another beater?

You're in the Source, dude. Expect stuff like that.

Anyway, I think the deck looks solid on paper. I like the Seasinger, especially in a Thresh-heavy meta. Have you tested this thoroughly? I'm interested in your MU's, though I think you're right - there's no glaring weakness that I can see as of right now.

EDIT: Oh, I think 3 Vials are enough in any deck that doesn't have 30+ creatures in it. Maybe -1 Vial, +1 Jitte?

What are the decks match ups like? Both pre- and post- board? What strategy works against the different DTB's and established decks?

I like the deck idea, however in order to avoid negative comments (like the ones above) you should abstain from using broad statements like "I don't see how this deck could be better," etc. and try to keep your opening post as objective as possible.

I'm not ready to build the deck (although it's a lot less expensive to build than mot decks) but it does seem to at least have potential. Having played merfolk in draft I can confirm the rediculousness of reejery. Using him to untap port or aether vial just seems...ewwww.

The only thing I see, and maybe this is just my narrow thinking right now, is that I'd love to see back to basics in here. You run so many nonbasics that disrupt without it though, so maybe not.

Reef shaman vs tidal warrior: they have very different uses (lackey blocker vs. better attacker) so maybe this is meta dependent.

Do you really need that many lands? I would think dropping two fetches for two more merfolk wouldn't be too bad. Coral trickster can complement the mana denial, but he's probably not good enough. Merfolk looter is always good, if a tad underwhelming. Rootwater diver can rescue jittes and vials from the grave, and reuse tormod's crypt from the board. Vodalian illusionist is decent creature removal...I guess. Eh, just throwing ideas out there.

Kicks, it is hard for me to test anymore. I have played only a few games - just enough to work out the rough edges. About Aether Vial, you want it in the opening draw, so it is hard to go to three.

Merfolk Looter to get rid of extra Vials and help you draw into Jittes?

Hey-- you can't get mad at me cause you typed in the wrong card, I thought you were playing trixie. (you also used the "feels like I'm cheating line") I digress, and back to my original post which did have some merit in regards to your build.

1) I think 4 Stifle main is a must-have to compliment your mana disruption Philosophy.
2) Winter Orb needs to be in the main or the side-- you have awesome synergy with Aether Vial, Daze, Port, and Merrow Reejerey.
3) Also, your manabase seems a bit thin. 8 Fetches and 6 islands? You might want to juxtapose those numbers. (or forgoing Wasteland/Port and going with Back to Basics)

Have you tried Waterfront Bouncer at all? He seems like a worthy inclusion after having his creature type changed to Merfolk Spellshaper. Seasinger seems neat. How has it been treating you in testing? I like the overall concept.

Actually, the deck I would compare this to is Countersliver. 8 Pump creatures, ways to make all our men evasive, similar counter suit and light hand refinement.

It lacks the awesomeness of Crystalline Sliver, but features a much stronger mana base that allows for a mana denial angle... I ran Back to Basics but this looks better.

Do we really need Jitte (hate equipment in a deck without acceleration or creatures that are always evasive/able to win critter fights)?

I liked 2 Achitect's Will in addition to the Tidal Warriors, but I suppose a total of 6 1-mana-creatures could work as well.

So sorry, folks. I am guilty of posting a deck I have not tested much. Frankly, I figured I could get away with it because the deck isn't particularly original. Lemme show you what I mean.

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Also, your manabase seems a bit thin. 8 Fetches and 6 islands? You might want to juxtapose those numbers. (or forgoing Wasteland/Port and going with Back to Basics)

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Actually I stole it by the numbers from Goblins. And I have tested out the 8/6 plan with other decks. It should not ever be a problem. The more fetches the better with Brainstorm. The one thing I would consider at the moment would be cutting some land and adding Ponder ala Threshold.

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How has Seasinger been working out for you? Do you ever wish you had another beater?

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This part has been really good. I say this because she IS a beater. There are 8 pump effects in this deck. Well, plus Jitte for now.

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Actually, the deck I would compare this to is Countersliver. 8 Pump creatures, ways to make all our men evasive, similar counter suit and light hand refinement.

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Yes. I thought that as well. As such, I wish I had done more testing of Slivers. It would come in handy right about now. As it is, mostly, I just faced it a lot.

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Winter Orb needs to be in the main or the side-- you have awesome synergy with Aether Vial, Daze, Port, and Merrow Reejerey.

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I don't know about Winter Orb. I mean, there is a lot of mana disruption already. That seems win-more to me. I am oping to keep the deck as aggressive as possible.

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Reef shaman vs tidal warrior: they have very different uses (lackey blocker vs. better attacker) so maybe this is meta dependent.

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I really am only considering what percentage of the field will not be hurt by having a land become and island (as opposed to some other basic land).

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Have you tried Waterfront Bouncer at all? He seems like a worthy inclusion after having his creature type changed to Merfolk Spellshaper. Seasinger seems neat. How has it been treating you in testing? I like the overall concept.

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I have not. How often do you really feel OK about discarding to unsummon in Legacy, though. The guy I want to see in play is Sygg, River Guide. The manabase could easily support White and Jittes could come out in favor of Swords to Plowshares.

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I liked 2 Achitect's Will in addition to the Tidal Warriors, but I suppose a total of 6 1-mana-creatures could work as well.

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Yes, this is true. Initially, I had four Seasingers, and this was necessary. But that was too narrow, IMO. Honestly, so many decks have blue that I expect the Tidal Warriors to be pretty expendible.

-2 Umezawa's Jitte, +2 Stifle seems like a good plan. I am concerned about limited anti-creature stuff, though.

in the limited testing i have with this deck i can say this, i really like it. Vial is absolutly amazing in here and i wouldn't drop them to three, nor would i up the jitte count, two is perfect with the amout of draw you have. Also in the debate between Reef Shamen and Tidal Warrior i would say Shamen all the way, the extra toughness gives it more resilience than the warrior, which helps a lot vs. fast aggro. Over all i realyy enjoy this deck and am planning on actually building it soon.

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Originally Posted by Finn

There is just no way I am the only person tooling with this deck. Playing it feels like cheating. In fact, I will bet that there are people who frequent this website who are playing this and have simply chosen not to post it for secrecy reasons.

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I have been screwing around with a similar build, although I will freely admit that I didn't think of Reef Shaman or Tidal Warrior (I kind of assumed that every deck that is going to try to block is already running islands). I was running Waterfront Bouncer to mixed results (he was nice when they would sneak something though before I could waste/port them). And Seasinger is just...wow (I was splashing white for plows and running Threads in the board for goyf control).

I've found stifle to be the second best blue card in the deck (behind FoW). I'm at four and it seems unfair. I was playing against Thresh, and he knew I was running this so he kept a three land hand but Stifle + Waste + Port is just a killing. I would cut Dazes for them (although I like Daze a lot here) just because stifles are also so good in the combo matchup (and against Deed which is a bitch).

I put Jitte in. I take Jitte out. I put them back in. I love them, especially when our masses are unblockable, but the deck seems to suffer from the same problem as CounterSliver 1.0: namely that sweepers really hurt us, and Jitte just makes them hurt all the more (this is why I played around with Factories in the Port spot, but it just wasn't worth it). Still, they may be too good to pass up.

I know the deck can splash since Goblins did. Should it? For what color? I tried white for swords which was ok. Black for thoughtcast maybe? And yard hate out of the board seems nice. I really don't know.

Anyway, it's good to see someone else screwing with the deck.

I don't get the use of Jitte in this deck. I would rather play 2 more seasingers or 2 more land modifiers.

As you play no card advantage card, I don't think that Force of Will is such a good card in your deck. Maybe 2*stifle instead 2 of them and 2 land modifiers.

Winter orb is a very bad idea in a deck where you are playing 4*rishadan port. Running Thorn of amethyst in SB should be a better option as a solution against non creature decks FoW is also obvious in SB if you don't play it MD. And against creature decks, propaganda is your friend.

Eventually I would blindly run this list :

Critters
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Reef Shaman
4 Tidal Warrior
2 Seasinger

Other blue stuff
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Land
4 Rishidan Port
4 Wasteland
8 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand

SB
4 Force of Will
4 Propaganda
4 Thorns of Amethyst
3 Tormod's crypt (damn crucible, maybe a bounce would better ?)

My little brother just built a casual merfolk. He doesn't own any Jitte, FoW or Brainstorms, but still it beats like hell. Especially the Thresh-matchup is very good!


Creatures
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Waterfront Bouncer
2 Seahunter
4 Manta Riders
4 Lord of Atlantis
1 Changeling Titan (secret tech with seahunter ;)

Spells
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Vedalken Shackles
2 Repeal
2 Disrupt
2 Repulse
4 Daze
2 Zephid's Embrace

Lands
1 Forest
19 Island

That opening build needs Standstill. And Rootwater Thief.

Standstill is easily supportable in a blue deck with Vial, Port, and Wasteland, and fits the mold pretty well. Rootwater Thief is awesome both due to his evasion abilities and his deck-eating skills. He's also fantastic with Vial, since he's mana-intensive for his abilities and Vial lets you play other Merfolk meanwhile.

Seriously, can't we just call this deck "Merfolk" or "Fish?" Triton's Minions is a retarded name.

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Originally Posted by Taco

That opening build needs Standstill. And Rootwater Thief.

Standstill is easily supportable in a blue deck with Vial, Port, and Wasteland, and fits the mold pretty well. Rootwater Thief is awesome both due to his evasion abilities and his deck-eating skills. He's also fantastic with Vial, since he's mana-intensive for his abilities and Vial lets you play other Merfolk meanwhile.

Seriously, can't we just call this deck "Merfolk" or "Fish?" Triton's Minions is a retarded name.

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Perhaps if we add Standstill it could be called Fish, but as it is now, this deck would suck with Standstill. The threats do not come down early enough often enough. Fish is definitely a particular kind of deck (well, a bunch of similar ones), and this one is tribal in theme, so while Fish began as a deck with some merfolk, the name now applies to something else. Or, whatever.

Rootwater Thief is an interesting idea. I don't think it is a maindeck card since it IS mana intensive, and the evasion isn't quite as important with Islandwalk available. Certainly it is a better sb card than Blue Elemental Blast, but I have to stress that the combo matchup seems very strong already for this deck. And that is the natural purpose for the Thief.

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Originally Posted by Moczoc

My little brother just built a casual merfolk. He doesn't own any Jitte, FoW or Brainstorms, but still it beats like hell. Especially the Thresh-matchup is very good!


Creatures
4 Merrow Reejerey

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This does not surprise me. I could go on and on how stupid good Reejerey is.

example: Just by random chance, I played Bane of the Living last night on MWS. On turn four or something, beginning the turn with no creatures in play and three lands, I vialed out Reejerey, played a Tidal Warrior, untapped the Vial, vialed out another Reejerey, played Lord of Atlantis from hand, untapped an Island and the Vial. At this point, there are four unblockable 4/4's in play, and I still had an untapped vial for my Seasinger in hand.

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Originally Posted by Maveric

I don't get the use of Jitte in this deck. I would rather play 2 more seasingers or 2 more land modifiers.

As you play no card advantage card, I don't think that Force of Will is such a good card in your deck. Maybe 2*stifle instead 2 of them and 2 land modifiers.

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I think 2 Stifles for 2 Jittes is the way to go, and I am about to modify the opening post to reflect this. But then you are leaning heavily on the Seasingers unless you side in Pongify or Boomerang or something.

The deck has Silvergill Adept for card advantage to help with FoW. But it doesn't matter anyway. You can't seriously think FoW does not belong in the deck.

Propaganda seems worth investigating for the SB.

Then standstill to support FoW ?

I've just played against a rebel deck playing landstill and I won through landstill. Too good.

I think Merfolk.dec just might be the new goblins judging from the list. Do you guys agree?

I for one don't.
This deck is incredibly solid but lacks goblins ability to deal with random crap nearly as well. Solid old school aggro decks will consistently beat up on this one if it can't get some of its muscle merfolk out quick enough.

The only real weakness I see is the lack of creature removal. Finn, has this ever been an issue for you?

Has splashing white for StP ever cross your mind?

Seasinger is like creature removal.

I ran that in a transformational SB back when flash was legal and it seriously won the game against thresh/fish when it hit the board. My only wish would be that you had a sac outlet for it so you could clear their board, but that would be a little too situational.

Overall I like the concept a lot, and I might have to try this list or a similar one out.

Have you tried dropping the entire LD scheme and just playing a pseudo Counter Sliver deck with Standstill, Counterspell and Umezawa's Jitte backing the deck up? Since you're playing an army of Island Walking creatures that can keep the opponent's threats locked down, I think you could just focus on slipping threats thru' with Curiosity and under Standstill to crush aggro-control and control any way. You also get the added benefit of playing more 1 and 2cc Merfolk that can establish a clock and reduce the land count.

Regardless, it's a really refreshing deck.

Edit: After a search, I was reminded how much Merfolk suck. The next best Merfolk I could find cc to power/toughness wise was River Merfolk and Sygg, River Guide (since he's more or less your "Crystalline Sliver," I think he's worth splashing for if you get Swords to Plowshares out of the deal).

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Originally Posted by Cavius The Great

I think Merfolk.dec just might be the new goblins judging from the list. Do you guys agree?

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Why? Because it's another Tribal deck? Or because it has incredible threat density and can win turn 3?

I have to say that from all new tribal decks, this one interested me the most. It has md answers to stop combo and a really nice pack of aggro that can overrun others Aggro, Aggro/Control decks.

But isn't 4 daze and 4 stifle too much, Finn? Perhaps you could cut one of each, maybe some other 2 slots and add Ponder, or even MD Rootwater Thief. What do you think?

A new Goblins this isn't. There's a huge difference between 4 1-drops that allow us to cheat on mana and 8, especially since Lackey was the more gamebreaking one. This also affects how early we can use our mana denial lands as such. This isn't as good at winning out of nowhere... in many respects it's a very poor man's goblin.

Having said that, the countermagic we can run is a big plus.

After testing, the deck behaves very well. As everyone tries to compare it to Goblins, I can make the comparison :

++++
* does not die to pyroclasm as easily as gob
* great evasion
* better mana disruption
* a very good answer to tarmogoyf in the name of seasinger
* a better combo matchup
* counterspells
* monocolor
* lower curve

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* no tutor
* less tribal
* best pool of creature
* best goldfish performance
* only 4 ways to cheat with mana

There's no point in comparing Merfolk to Goblins, what people should be doing is comparing Merfolk to Slivers, because I can't see a reason I would run Slivers over Merfolk after testing similar shells for each deck. Playing 8 "Muscle Slivers" that give your deck evasion and tempo to boot and playing 4 Sygg, River Guide that turn your entire army into "Blazing Knights" is pretty hot. I think you can cut the Rishadan Ports and still play an effective LD plan, so that should cut down on the annoying Goblins references.

Yea this deck is not goblins by a long shot.

It's creatures are significantly weaker when compared 1 vs 1, it has no Lackey, no Fanatic, no Siege Gang. That said I think it's an ok deck- it seems pretty comparable to Slivers or to a lesser degree the Crystalline Elves builds being discussed... in terms of having a good 1 drop that complements the theme, in this case Reef Shaman or Tidal Warrior, 2 sets of muscles at its disposal, a few solid creatures with good effects (like Winged and Hibernation in Slivers or Wren's Run Vanqisher and Herald in Elves)...

From limited playing around with it, the right call definitely seems heavy mana disruption- 4 Wastelands, 8-12 Ports (Reef Shaman!! and to a lesser degree given Thresh- Tidal Warrior), 4 Stifles, 3-4 Dazes... I think Force of Will is too much card disadvantage to warrant main deck room, maybe worth it vs combo, maybe something like Disrupt would make more sense.

Maveric78f's list a few posts up looks spot on for what I would be playing around with.

How can people question FoW here? As if the card weren't good enough on it's own virtues, this deck puts a ton of permanents on the board and sweepers like Wrath and Deed will wreck it.

Jitte might not belong here, but I really think it does after some extremely light testing. The decks creatures are tiny, and never really grow to Goyfs size. What they do have going for them is evasion in the form of islandwalk (and Jitte doesn't really NEED evasion) and Vial tends to keep our mana open for easy casting and equipping. Lastly, it's one more Needle target that isn't Vial, Port, or Seasinger.

Also, I love Standstill but am extremely skeptical about it here, at least in current builds. Without a Vial, it seems like getting board advantage would take a damn long time, and be uncertain without manlands a plenty. I guess the deck could be tweaked to fit in that strategy, but right now the mana denial madness seems more promising to me.

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Originally Posted by Phantom

How can people question FoW here? As if the card weren't good enough on it's own virtues, this deck puts a ton of permanents on the board and sweepers like Wrath and Deed will wreck it.

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I can't believe you tested the deck to post that. One of the best point of the deck is that, your opponent should never be able to play 4CC cards, and even less wth 2 colored mana. However about the use of FoW, I'm still wondering. as standstill definitely belongs to the deck *4, I now think that we can afford it, but there's a lack of room now

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Jitte might not belong here, but I really think it does after some extremely light testing. The decks creatures are tiny, and never really grow to Goyfs size. What they do have going for them is evasion in the form of islandwalk (and Jitte doesn't really NEED evasion) and Vial tends to keep our mana open for easy casting and equipping. Lastly, it's one more Needle target that isn't Vial, Port, or Seasinger.

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I'm quite sure that jitte is poor in the deck except in order to remove your opponent's one. Tarmogoyf is not a problem in its own, you will swarm it quite easily and if not seasinger may do the job.

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Also, I love Standstill but am extremely skeptical about it here, at least in current builds. Without a Vial, it seems like getting board advantage would take a damn long time, and be uncertain without manlands a plenty. I guess the deck could be tweaked to fit in that strategy, but right now the mana denial madness seems more promising to me.

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Our creatures are cheap and your opponent is not supposed to know that you don't run manlands (if you want to be sure run 1*mishra and you'll maybe feel more comfortable in playing standstill with an empty board). Sometimes I regret not playing tidal warrior over reef shaman (my list evoluated) just to have a beater and be able to play standstill, but that's not often. I prefer a 0/2 body that a 1/1 usually.

I post my new and tested list.

Critters
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Reef Shaman
3 Seasinger

Other blue stuff
4 Daze
4 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Standstill

Artifacts
4 Aether Vial

Land
4 Rishidan Port
4 Wasteland
7 Island
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand

SB
4 Force of Will
4 Propaganda
3 Thorns of Amethyst
1 Seasinger
3 Powder keg / echoing truth

I'am not completely convinced with thorns/powder keg and echoing truth. Stifle has not been that hot neither. Keeping 1 blue mana open is problematic in early games and stifle in late games are far more situationnal (for deed and explosives mainly). Daze or thorns of amethyst are not really combo with reef shaman neither. Btw, I wonder if explosives would not be better than keg because reef shaman can help to make it @2 or more.

I'm not convinced with Merrow Reejerey neither because the tapping or untapping does not work through vial (I mean that it does not trigger when you vial in a merfolk). It's an expensive and limited lord of atlantis to my eyes. The +1/+1 is golden though, I admit to play around engineered plague and pyroclasm.

Seasinger is great but I rarely face creature decks these last days on MWS so it was quite often useless. As being our only creature removal and as being sensible to creature removal, I really think that playing it *3 MD +1 SB is the least.

The week slots of my build (I don't plan to cut any of these but to reduce their count to 3 or 2) :
Merrow Reejerey
Brainstorm
Stifle
Daze

The cards I'm thinking about in the MD or SB :
Tidal Warrior ***
FoW *****
Aquitect's Will ***
Merfolk Traders *
Seahunter ***
Streambed Aquitects ***
Tidal Courier ***
Vodalian Illusionist ****
Whirlpool Rider / Whirlpool Warrior **

I too think Force shouldn't be cut. Not for the sweepers - Mana Denial and Stifle should work perfectly fine there.
In a format sporting combo decks that go off turn 1 and decks that have a decent chance to kill turn 2 with backup, I'll run Force if I can at all support it.

I think you're slightly overdoing it with the mana denial. I would definitely run less lands; unlike Goblins we don't ever have to worry about hardcasting 4- and 5-drops, we can find extra mana with a brainstorm and we don't refill our hand to use excess mana for second win in the lategame. I'm also averse to a full set of Stifle/Daze as multiple of those can suck royally.

What do you think about submerge in SB or even in MD ? It's a very good creature removal, as you can play it in resp to a fetch.

About the splashes, 1 only is possible imo: white. It would provide, ghostly prison in addition to propaganda in SB, maybe Sygg, but it's a very expensive ability, Galina's Knight, surely disenchant.

Surgespanner and Waterfront Bouncer have to be added to the above "need testing" list.

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Originally Posted by Maveric78f

I can't believe you tested the deck to post that. One of the best point of the deck is that, your opponent should never be able to play 4CC cards, and even less wth 2 colored mana. However about the use of FoW, I'm still wondering. as standstill definitely belongs to the deck *4, I now think that we can afford it, but there's a lack of room now

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I did test against Landstill, and there are times when you can deny them 4 mana, but if you think that is 100%, you're fooling yourself. We run 12 denial pieces (and Stifle is pulling double duty here) and half their deck is freaking land (and Loam/Crucible is no picnic). They WILL hit Deed, and they WILL hit Wrath (not every game, but they will). Goblins had a great plan of denying them mana and winning before they could sweep, but this deck really doesn't win that fast, especially through all their spot removal, so Force is a nice backup.

Frankly, I'm not even sure it matters. If the card read "can't target Wrath or Deed" it would still be worth running.

Right now I'm Pondering squeezing Ponder in as well as Brainstorm. The reason is that Vial is just so damn good I figure that will give me a solid chance at dropping one by turn two.

Phantom, I have done this. I am very pleased with it. Current build:

4 Aether Vial

2 Reef Shaman
2 Tidal Warrior
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Merrow Reejerey
2 Seasinger

4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Stifle
4 Force of Will
4 Daze

4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
5 Island
4 Wasteland
3 Rishidan Port

Ehh, thirteen blue sources is a little light with Lord of Atlantis around, but between Ponder and Brainstorm it has not been a problem yet.

I am really enjoying:
turn 1
Island, Vial, Daze
turn 2
Island, Stifle the fetchland

I've built and trested Merfolk ever since I saw the lorwyn spoiler for Silvergil adept. I definatly believe Vial is an auto-in, but I'd also like to point out that goblins can up vial as they still have other ways of playing guys from their hand with lackey. Goblins has card advantage is matron and ringleader, and merfolk have no such (playable) creatures. My opinion is that vial should remain at two, with only the best merfolk two drops run in the main. I chose to splash for Dark confidant (also 2cc) for card advantage and vodalian zombie. (wrecks UG thresh, and UGR if counter-top is set up)

Having the ability to give an opponent an island doesn't seem too relevant, as against most non fish/thresh decks, you will either have an empty field (ala combo) or have to kill their bigger dudes rather than try to race with evasion.

Reerjoy seems wholly weaker than LoA, as his ability only triggers when you PLAY a merfolk spell, and vial works against him, as you want to vial in guys without having them countered. If it was a CIP effect, I would mod my deck to fit him for the simulated (ice) effect of fire/ice in tapping an opponent's attacker on his turn. Sorcery speed free twiddles don't seem like good enough reasons to play this guy, and have the cc of your guys over 2.

Jitte allows for the deck to beat goblins pre-boards, as well as providing virtual card-advantage. E-Plague helps even more after boards, with dystopia helping with the thresh/meathooks matchup. I would say the black splash is superior to the white as it offers a better matchup vs combo, goblins, and thresh.

I also believe that the counter-top combo is superior to any other disruption sweet, as CB for two wrecks most decks in the meta, and this decks sports 26 cards at 2cc, so hitting with balance is ~50% even w/o top. Bob abuses top, and brainstorm benefits both. With the possibility of outright winning games, I would say Top+balance > stifle+daze in most cases.

All said, here's my list.

//Creatures//
4 x Dark Confidant
4 x Silvergil Adept
4 x Lord of Atlantis
4 x Rootwater Thief
4 x Vodalian Zombie

//Disruption//
3 x Counterbalance
4 x Force of Will

//Card draw//
4 x Brainstorm

//Artifacts//
4 x AEther Vial
4 x Sensei's Divining Top
3 x Umezawa's Jitte

//Lands//
4x Polluted Delta
2x Flooded Strand
4x Underground Sea
2x Swamp
2x Island
4x Wasteland

//SB//
4x Cashseize
4x Engineered Plague
4x Seasinger
3x Dystopia