Merfolk A Merfolk enters the battlefield under your control
While youre at it, use Koth of the Hammer and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle so each of those mountains can become direct damage
That means you can afford to splash out a little bit more in black for cards that provide options and won't ever be dead weight in hand (obviously once you can cast it, everything with a cost can be dead when you can't pay it...)
However, that owner will be under another player's control, so that player controlling that owner actually makes the decision
Unless I am missing something, this effect is a little lame unless you have some effect that benefits from it, and I have not come across it yet in these cards (something like 'whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 1 life')
And they can make attacking you look undesirable, with Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats and Edric, Spymaster of Trest