Merfolk of the Pearl Trident (Original Sketch)

Merfolk of the Pearl Trident is one of Magic’s earliest “vanilla” creatures – being a one-mana 1/1 with no abilities. Being from Alpha (1993), it was the very first Merfolk ever printed, and represents the early vision of blue’s creature identity. Merfolk of the Pearl Trident helped shape the Merfolk tribe that would go on to become one of Magic’s most iconic creature types. In Magic’s earliest years, before the Merfolk tribe fully emerged as a competitive archetype, Merfolk of the Pearl Trident was simply one of the few available 1-drop blue creatures. It sometimes appeared in basic blue weenie and early casual tribal Merfolk decks. In Old School (93/94), it’s still played today in Mono-Blue Aggro/Tempo or Merfolk Tribal decks (Lord of Atlantis + Islandwalk). In this deck, it’s often paired together with other creatures like Flying Men, Lord of Atlantis, and Serendib Efreet – and plays Boomerang and Unstable Mutation to help keep attacking. It also plays some removal spells and control cards such as Psionic Blast, Control Magic, and Counterspell. Merfolk of the Pearl Trident is not on the Reserved List.