Triggering off of artifacts as well is a huge deal since it lets you draw cards from Treasures, Clues, etc
Merfolk Branchwalker was a mainstay of the deck for a long time, but some stronger stuff got printed and I haven't been back for a while
The sun through the water shows a tantalising glimpse of the land as the artwork evokes the theme of the story
Its also an artifact, rather than an enchantment
Cackling Fiend Most discard in multiplayer is weak because it only hits one player, often makes an enemy of that player, and usually doesnt scale in power to reflect the neediness of card advantage in a format where you are being outdrawn one-to-X, where X is the number of opponents you have
Instead of destroying threats and letting them return later, white removes them cleanly