MTG Salvation

We have many options for improving our hand: Chart the Course, Military Intelligence, S. Copter, Bident of Thassa, Glint-Nest Crane, Sword of Fire&Ice...
Altar and Staff are not it.

I am thinking about Spreading Seas because big mana decks are still a problem, Explosives (Bogles, Lantern, Shadow...) and something for Spell Queller/Verdict decks (not knowing if Stony is coming is harsh).

Played 2 Online Leagues today: 4:1 twice, lost to Jund when we were in topdeck mode, I had Master of Waves but he played Liliana of Last Hope (next draws all x/1s); lost to GW Tron (this is not Merfolk, no Spreadins Seas here, he had everything).
Speaking of Merfolk, luckily that wasn't my deck of choice today because I beat Devoted Elves, Affinity and TWO Lanterns, which would never happen

Copter was MVP as usual since Affinity can't past through it, blocks Etched and drew many cards through both Leagues. Play of the day: against Elves, he Reclamation Saged my Ballista so it pinged it on his way to graveyard. He played Ezuri and this was my "cue" that the game is ending next turn. I need something. But I drew Academy Ruins. Then it hit me. Crew Copter, Ruins the Ballista to top, draw it with Copter, play for million with Architect and gang, equip Collar that was already there...

Green is not really friendly to artifacts. Before diving into green for chunks of hunk, have you tried Myr Battlesphere, God-Pharaoh’s Gift or even Inkwell Leviathan? Gearhulk can never be paid by only creatures, we always need at least GG and mana base took great hit against Burn, Scapeshift and Blood Moon.

Not that I tried your build, maybe it’s great, I am just concerned since blue isn’t lacking beef.

In my view aggressive approach would be with 4 Signal Pest and Master of Etherium.
Those cards did nothing in my testing, so I am off that route.
That said, with Lantern as PT winner, Pests become more interesting in helping Throne and Ballista fightning against it.

I also don't see the deck successfully control everything Modern has to offer, we are not fully stopping what the other side wants to do.
I hope Thorn and Lodestone can stop some degenerate combo, or maybe equip Ballista with some death rays to stop assault, but we are not specialized for either.

As primarily Merfolk player, I find myself more in the middle, aggro or tempo, I want to curve out, to use all my mana every turn.
In this case, if I can have turn 3 attacking creature equipped with sword; big Ballista; al my hand out with multiple threats; Trinket Maged perfect answer and played it immediately because turn 2 accelerator, then I am happy.

Good thing is that blue is bff with artifacts (Whir of invention says Hi!), we can always expect some headscratcher in new sets (just like Humans deck), so that is exciting, even if we are not tier1.

What approach everybody else has: aggro, tempo, control?

4:1 at the end. Lost to Dredge by mull to 4 in game 1, then I played Relic turn 1 but tapped for random bird instead of leaving open mana and he lucked dredge into to much c*ap from his graveyard which I couldn't contain.
At 3:1 I played against Lantern, he had me locked but somehow left Throne for me to draw, Architect tapped everything and killed him obv.
Then I drew serviceable hand without disruption, which was fortunate since he IoKed and TSeized me and I drew into Thorn of Amethyst twice. That really slowed him down and I beat with dorks. He died with XUUU instant because he couldn't cast it to pay for 2 Thorns and Mauseleum Wanderer

I feel like I am bringing Relic in every match, so Pest is now Relic and 2 Ballistas are 2 Trinket Mages. This will strengthen my game against grindy decks and also accelerate finding Collar + Ballista combo against creature decks. I will fill Trinket slots in the sideboard with Negate and another Unified for Combo and Control.

I am not really sure yet. Both 4-drops, Lodestone and Waves don't like being Pathed, but have really powerful presence when protected by Siren (or Elementals with Architect).
Fired up a second League, 3:0 at this moment, I will have some time few hours from now and hopefully go undefeated again.
Deck is so much fun.

My guess is Lodestone, Wurmcoil or something with Collar. In any case we are pumping too much mana and some cards to have a land that can crank 4/4s for 5 mana and our accelerators can't help with that. People are casting Tasigur, Angler, Goyf or killing us on turn 3 while we durdle around.
Even our deck can cast Wurmcoil turn 3.
Payoff is not there.

I just 5:0-ed my first Modern League on Mtgo, started last month.
I switched some Lodestones for Master of Waves. It was turn 3 Architect, turn 4 Architect, turn 5 Waves... vs Merfolk

Beat Dredge without any graveyard removal, just turn 2 Thorn of Amethyst, turn 3 Amethyst

This is rather interesting and different than our "regular" builds.
I am not sure we could give some feedback without playing it but maybe you can give us more details?
Did you played it in a paper/online tournament?
Maybe more Spellskite for Burn matchup or Glint-Nest Crane for discard decks and Hangarback Walker for Shadow?
This decks folds to Stony Silence?

I approve of Pili-Pala combo because Devoted Druid in Company deck annoys me too much, so it is great having something that opponent must respect and dilute their deck instead of ignoring us.

Bought this deck yesterday online and went 1:4, 1:4 and 2:3 (progress!!).
After a series of matches against Merfolk and Valakut I decided to cool off and return to Merfolk for a while
Felt like online shuffler is broken and laughing at my face, all hands were bull**it.

I had small testing yesterday, before the tournament, against black devotion (Pack Rat, bunch of removal and discard, Liliana of the Veil, Damnation, Demigod of Revenge, Obliterator...).
We managed seven games, Damnation cleared me 3-for-1 two times and 4-for-1 once, and I still won 6:1
Copters and Thrones were mvp, and Sword of Light and Shadow was also great.
This deck is pure fun, while also being powerful.

Batterskull is going out and I like my Trinket package in the sideboard.

We play 16 flyers and since Bident is never "4" mana in our deck, I play 1 in the main.
What are Cruisers for?

There is no reason to play 0 Copters, the card is too powerful in our deck.
Splash white for those 2 cards seems bad.
In general, our Affinity and Lantern matches are ok, no need for Stony. Stony wrecks so much in our deck, I would not waste space in my sideboard.
He won despite of splash, not because of.

IMO, I would never play this list.

Maybe we need more tutors to assemble Ballista + Collar asap, to shoot all those creatures. More Trinket Mages in the main comes to mind.
Other than that we could introduce Dismembers, we ignored other creatures for too long. Baral, Devoted Druid, Elvish Archdruid, etc just need to die.