Pointed Discussion

well at least they gave it islandwalk.

you say that like it's a bad card

any lorwyn harbinger is a good lorwyn harbinger. except boggart and giant.

then you can use this guy to get em, DUH

Is there something wrong cuz this harbinger is my decks most expensive spell?

Probably my least favorite of the harbingers, since you can't play the creature you find until at least turn 4, normally (play this on turn three with any fancy mana accel, although you don't see a lot in mono blue merfolk, something like chrome mox would do it) then the thing on turn 4, and it's stats are nothing to brag about...I'd say flamekind is really good, and same w/ treefolk, since they're one drops, and that means whatever you find will certainly find it's spot in your curve.

4 of these guys + Quest for Ula's Temple

He is tricky to use with Mark of Eviction, it maybe a little slow, but you can put your best or what maybe more important needy (in given situation) merfolk to play each turn. With some drawing love, like attacking with Fallowsage supported by Merfolk Sovereign you can draw a merfolk you've just drew.

On the other hand, it's quite inefficient when it comes to a mana needed, 4 CMC is not so pleasant, so it's not so bad idea to put some Stonybrook Banneret to make it less painfull, and maybe Sage of Fables to enjoy some drawing. I haven't tested it yet, seems interesting, but slow. It may actually work, if you manage to protect your merfolks.

You know, this guy's not so bad. Reasonable P/T for a 4cmc blue creature. They gave it the harbinger ability, snapped evasion on it, and all of this on an already viable creature type. I'm building a merfolk islandwalk deck right now, and this guy has three slots reserved for him. He's good tempo- keeps the pain coming. After he drops, I've got an expendable soldier as well. With a Merfolk Sovereign on the field, he becomes an evasive 3/4 soldier. I could bring another Sovereign to the top of the deck, or even another Summon the School for extra creature advantage. I'd say this card is pretty solid, as it becomes part o the glue that holds the deck together. For the purpose it was created for, I give it a 5/5. It doesn't stand up very well on it's own though. Needs teamwork to become what he can. For that reason, I give it a 3.5/5. Altogether, 4/5, solid card.

I could play Seahunter for the same cost. He plays them for you too, so card advantage (though they might cost less than three but if they do then you're doing it wrong) and he's repeatable every turn.

there are so many merfolk that are better than this guy.
And he tutors for them! :D

@narim - pair him with Drowner of Secrets and Fallowsage - He comes into play, you put the desired merfolk on top of your library, tap him for drowner, draw a card that you just put on top of your library. With Fallowsage in play, you can draw another card. With Intruder Alarm in play, you can untap after you cast the new merfolk. If you have Judge of Currents in play, you gain life and if you have Stonybrook Schoolmaster in play, you have an infinite combo.

Tap Schoolmaster to the DoS, JoCurrents gets you a life, you mill the opponent for a card, tap Fallowsage to to mill and draw a card, Intruder Alarm triggers on the new merfolk from Schoolmaster and all your merfolk are untapped, so you do it again... and again and again...

I run a couple in my Merfolk deck in spite of his being a little over-costed and a little under-powered. Luckily, there's a plethora of viable options at earlier points on the Merfolk curve, so I'm usually not too disappointed when I stumble upon the Harbinger. More often than not, the implicit card advantage that comes from choosing my next draw (after all, there's no explicit card advantage when you harbinge because you don't actually get more cards; however, you do gain the advantage of card quality) outweighs the drawback of his four-mana-costing, puny 2/3 frame.

Because having the option to fetch an island would've just broken this guy...

Also, Lullmage Mentor anyone?

I like this guy. He has a better body than most merfolk, he's in a supported tribe that pumps him up further, he has islandwalk, and he tutors up a merfolk card—which is always a good thing. And there are numerous ways to draw the card you just tutored.

He's a four of in my merfolk deck.

Nothing wrong with this in an EDH Merfolk deck.

Even in regular play - you wouldn't cast Prime Speaker Zegana until at least turn four (and only if you have some ramp going on with green) and more likely it will be turn six, and this boy can fetch him for you on that schedule. Throw a big green beater out there on turn five then replenish your hand with Zegana. I run Reef Shaman in most any Merfolk deck and he can make him unblockable. Zegana and Bident of Thassa = bigtime card advantage.