Adrix and Nev, Twincasters and Thrasios, Triton Hero are great examples of powerful merfolk that work without being part of a dedicated typal deck
Tymna can draw you a card and Ramirez can take one of the cards you put into your graveyard and put it back into your hand
Arabian Nights King Suleiman (PO, LP) Erhnam Djinn (PL) City in a Bottle (PL, GD) Island of Wak-Wak (PL, LP, GD) Bazaar Of Baghdad (BGS 8.5) Antiquities Argivian Archaeologist (PL, LP, EX) Transmute Artifact (PO) Tawnos's Coffin (NM) Italian Legends Moat (LP) High-End Reserved List Stocking up on High-End RL cards from Essen
The alternative is that my attacker goes unblocked, and that can either make an opponent dead or I can sacrifice the attacker myself in the post-combat main phase
Wizards have been on my radar as a tribe to build a deck around for almost two decades