What spells would help me count on this deck even more?
The basic idea behind this deck is simple: get as many counters as possible on my merfolk, then drop Herald of Secret Streams as my bomb to make them unblockable and bash my opponent to submission.
I'm a rather new MTG player (This is only my third deck attempt and my 4th month really playing MTG), so any suggestions are appreciated! Also please note that I will be upgrading this deck only with what cards I get from limited tournaments and what cards I can trade for, with maybe a few booster packs mixed in.
Creatures
Counter generators:
Deeproot Elite: One counter on any target Merfolk every time I cast another merfolk. I keep flip-flopping between whether I want to use this one or Deeproot Champion more. I'm leaning towards this one. The only thing that keeps me from putting more Deeproot Elite cards in is price -- I'm doing a "limited events only" method of card acquisition for RIX.
Deeproot Champion: One counter on this card every time I cast a noncreature spell. I have a bunch of spells in this iteration of the deck (13, to be precise), so there is some potential for this one to become rather buff. I'd rather use Deeproot Elite though, so I'll probably replace it later on.
Forerunner of the Heralds: I love this card because it's both a merfolk tutor and a counter generator. +1/+1 for every other merfolk that enters the battlefield. You'd better bet that I'll be looking for a merfolk that I can cast next turn, so this one basically becomes a 4/3 by next turn.
Vineshaper Mystic: Well, this one is kind of River Heralds' Boon combined with a 1/3 creature that will probably get buffed up to a 2/4 by one of its +1/+1 counters. It could be a bit more beefy for its 3-cost, but I'm satisfied with the net 3/5 worth of attack/defense for 3.
Tishana's Wayfinder: I'm going to replace this with Jadelight Ranger in the future, I think. It explores, which has a 63% chance of giving me a counter. It gets me a land the other percentage of the time. That's good with the synergy I'm going for.
Merfolk Branchwalker: Just like Tishana's Wayfinder only a bit less expensive, a bit more efficient (IMO).
Utility Creatures:
Kopala, Warden of Waves: This creature is going to help with some of the removal spells and other abilities those nasty black and red decks tend to have. I may include 4 of these in the future, depending on how my tests go. Too bad it doesn't make Hostage Taker's enter the battlefield ability cost anything.
Seafloor Oracle: This one's a good card draw card. Why only one, you ask? Good question. Mostly because I have no $$$ budget for singles right now.
Kumena's Speaker: A good one drop that has a good chance of being buffed by turn two due to its +1/+1 ability.
Swift Warden: This one is annoying. Half the time, I will use it to make removal fizzle. The other half of the time, I'll use it at the end of my opponent's turn when I need a creature or need to buff my existing creatures.
"Bomb" creature:
Herald of Secret Streams: This one is not impressive stats-wise, but the potential it gives me with all of the counter cards I have makes me excited. Running 3 of these because I haven't pulled a fourth; Open Into Wonder should tide me over for when I would otherwise need a fourth.
Noncreature Spells
One With the Wind: This one will help with evasion when no evasion is available in the form of Herald of Secret Streams. It's also pretty nice for its +2/+2 perk.
Open Into Wonder: I have this just in case for some reason my plan for Herald of the Secret Stream fails and I need to draw him. Unblockable + card draw for 4+ should help with my problems at that point (I'm not counting the 3-cost scenario because I hopefully will never be in a situation where I need a card that badly).
River Heralds' Boon: A +1/+1 counter spell, plain and simple. Good synergy with the other things out there. Plus, it gives an additional +1/+1 to Deeproot Champion.
Crashing Tide: This'll give me one more turn to deal with most annoying creatures the opponent can cast.
Spell Pierce: In my quest to make my opponents' lives miserable, hopefully this will help them with any panicked removal they try for my counter cards (which are super weak to removal btw). I'm considering replacing two of these with something else because Kopala, Warden of Waves and Swift Warden are already helping with removal hate. However, card might cause an already augmented, absurd removal spell cost to go even higher to the point of being ridiculous.
Cards under consideration
Vanquisher's Banner: Would help buff up creatures should my counters fail or just make them even scarier if they are working. Card draw for each merfolk spell is also pretty sweet.
Jadelight Ranger: It explores twice. It would replace my Tishana's Wayfinder.
Waker of the Wilds: The Elemental creatures it makes out of lands have +1/+1 counters, so this is an instant candidate. However, I think I'd rather play this in a deck with more synergy (with World Shaper) and more lands (this one is rather aggressive and currently only has 22 lands). We'll see. I have two of them, so I might mess around with them.
Jade Bearer: At first glance, I liked this card because +1/+1 counter for 1 mana. However, I don't think I like it that much after all. I don't really like this creature's base stats and probably would not buff it up. Might be a good chump blocker, but for now I'm going to not play it.
Storm Sculptor: Unblockable by default, but it doesn't have any synergy with my counter strategy. I'm putting this one on the sidelines for now.
Oh and my sideboard is still TBD. Suggestions?
