Pretty much what kaim_arouet said. the CounterTop lock can give you very cheap counter magic, without having to spend cards in hand. This lets you build up on card advantage, which is how control decks win. Granted, Merfolk in Legacy doesn't need the CounterTop package, but since I don't expect your willing to put in Daze / Force of Will, it seemed the best option to suggest.
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If you looking to put together a cheap / decent list, you'd probably be better off running a varient on BR Vampires. One did very well at Worlds and it can be built for around $178, and about $140 if you ignore the Fetchlands it used. BR is the cheapest of the top decks in Standard right now, and it's got a very solid all-around game plan, not to mention that it's fun to Mark of Mutiny the other guys best creature, swing at them with it, then sac it to Viscera Seer to improve your card quality. The deck I use (http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=127265) has a pretty solid game plan VS most of the field from what I've seen / tested, and while it's not cheap (around $280), most of the deck is cheaper then BR Vampires, it's just the 4 Koth of the Hammers it runs that really brings the price tag up. It's pretty open to tweeks for any given meta, and if you scrap it, the Koths would be solid for any Red based deck you build afterwards and the rest of the price tag makes it less of a "loss". Feel free to check it out, it might be just what you're looking for.
Basilisk Collar over Flail? Hunted Wumpus seems like an unnecessary risk.
Seems like the manland would slow you down. And in match ups where you'd want Will, I'd imagine you'd be better off just being more consistent / faster. The big problem with Quest decks is that they're very inconsistent, and adding blue doesn't solve that problem, other than Trinket Mage tutoring up a Memnite / Ornithopter.
Why no Entomb to assist Exhume? Seems like you don't have enough ways to kill Percy quick enough.
Why the Blue splash? It really seems like it only waters down the deck. Maybe if you were running Mox Opal, I could maybe see justifying it as a way to combo off more reliably on turn 3 (turn 3 Mage up Mox, play Mox, use it for a Glint Hawk and probably be able to use Quest on a creature from the previous turn), but even then it's a stretch. I never understand why Student of Warfare doesn't see play in Quest decks. He comes down early, can give you a late game, and with only a WW investment, you get to add on +2/+2 and First strike. WWWWW after that and it's another +1/+1and you get Double strike. Seems like a good back up plan to me.
you have very little reason to run the Bannerets, and Currents really isn't that great. I'd go mono-Blue, and run some Counterbalance / Sensei's Divining Top.
Since Magosi returns itself to your hand as part of the cost to get that "free" turn, you really need to pair it with Amulet of Vigor and Rings of Brighthearth to negate the draw back. You'll still lose 1 turn, but with Rings, when you take your extra turn, you can get a second off of Rings, letting you replay Magosi (in that same turn) and prime it for another use (via Amulet). The net result is +1 turn (2 free turns, then you skip 1). However, that brings you out of Standard. But as of right now, there is no good way to abuse Magosi in Standard anyway. Odds are Magosi's "free turn" ability was costed the way it is because of Proliferate waiting in the next block.
Abyssal Persecutor (only bad if you don't have a way to kill it yourself, which you have plenty of) Pulse Tracker (looks like a good 1 drop to me, since it'll always deal 1 damage to the opponent, and it might deal a second) Viscera Seer + Mark of Mutiny (great combo for stealing a beater, killing it, and smoothing your draws) Dark Tutelage (solid source of CA, and little draw back with a low curve, which you have) Blackcleave Cliffs (great early mana fixing) Sarkhan the Mad (CA with a low curve, and a way to kill Percy) Burst Lightning (good burn) Looks like your friends don't know how to evaluate cards very well outside of a vacuum. I'd probably cut 2 land for +1 Mark of Mutiny and +1 Arc Trail. And really, Sarkhan seems unneeded, maybe finish filling out that Burst Lightning count?
If you're looking to stave off burn, you're best options would be to run Flashfreeze / Spell Pierce. Livewire Lash would make them think twice about shooting your guys. Doppleganger is an interesting choice, but he really doesn't seem to do a lot. It's not like you're using him to abuse level up creatures, you're just getting sudo-haste from a creature using a 0/1. If you were in Green it'd be interesting with Putrefax, but Black really doesn't have any "clone" worthy creatures.
Lash gives the creature the ability to deal damage to a creature or player when the equipped creature is targeted by a spell/ability. Since the creature is the source, it'll deal out poison counters as long as the creature has infect.
Why not use Groundswell? Seems like Black isn't doing much for this deck. Have you thought about cutting it all together for Blue? Blue would give you Distortion Strike as well as giving you Spell Pierce / Negate / Mana Leak to help stop removal / Fog. I guess Swipe's +2/+0 and it's rebound helps, but seems like protection would be better if you also get a spell that does the job of both Pain and Swipe at the same time. I just posted a similar (in theory) list. Only instead of comboing cheap creatures + Livewire + pump spells, I opted of a ramp package to power out the "bigger" infect creatures out on turn 3/4 and swing in and try to use a few pump spells to get a OHKO. Here's the link to my build: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=131363
Don't forget to put a Channel in your SB. Really, all you deck seems to need in it's SB is just 1 Banefire and 1 Channel. There's got to be a way to use Living Wish to also help you...may to grab Riftsweepers so you can shuffle Wishes back into your deck? Then with some Harmonize, you could draw your Wishes fairly reliably, and stop yourself from drawing too many extra combo pieces (and you could make the deck Vintage legal: ie, only 1 copy of Channel in the deck).
Burn decks, as a general rule, aren't meant to be a multiplayer deck, unless it's 2 burn decks VS 2 other decks. By trying to stretch an archetype to be better in formats were the deck is significantly weaker, you'll end up with a deck that just isn't good. There are some core differences between good 2 player and multiplayer decks. In 1-vs-1, all you need to consider is dealing with 1 person, so it's easier to take card advantage into consideration. But, in multiplayer you have to deal with more than 1 other player. In the case of a Burn deck, any spell they use on 1 player, can't be used on another. You need to pair up burn spells with other spells If you want a Burn deck to do well in a multiplayer format. I would suggest: Eye of the Storm + Spellshift + Burn. That combo will let you play every burn spell in your deck, and odds are, I'd say you could easily take out 3 or 4 players. And more than that, and you'll want an "infinite" combo like: Izzet Guildmage + Lavaspike spliced with Desperate Ritual. Since with how copying a spell that is spliced with another spell work together. You'd copy the spliced spell's effect as well, and since the Ritual gives you RRR, you can use it to copy the original Lavaspike-Ritual spell. This repeats until all other players are dead, or some one finds a way to stop the combo.
What do you mean you can't use artifacts? If it's because they're not Black, I don't see that effecting you too much since your land count is already lower than average. And it it really matters to you that Nocturnous always pumps your army, you could always run some Fetch lands so you can shuffle your deck.
Probably Spawnsire / Iguanar, and really, you could easily do without the Myrs as well. That frees up a lot of room for protection / draw power.
If you can generate infinite mana, you just need some good X-spells and ways to protect your combo. Too many combos spoil the deck. Stick with two infinite mana combos, and use the rest of the room for protection. Personally, I'll stick with Izzet Guildmage + Lavaspike spliced with Desperate Ritual. It combos out much quicker than most infinite damage combo's I've seen. Though Quillspike + Devoted Druid + Rite of Consumption can give it a run for it's money.
I see this as being an ok Draft Deck, but I don't think the Replicas are strong enough to win games pretty much on their own, not even in Block.
Red decks don't need to defend themselves, that's what all that burn in for. Legacy / Vintage Burn decks only need 7 spells to get the kill. With x4 of: Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Rift Bolt, Shard Volley, Lava Spike, and Sonic Seizure they will almost always have a hand that will yield with a turn 3 win. In other formats were 3 damage tends to cost more than 1 mana, you just need a bunch of fast creatures to lay on a beating, and focus your burn to keep creatures off the table unless you can go in for the kill, like with a combo of Assault Strobe + Kiln Fiend / Chandra's Spitfire, with a Fling for the finish. By filling your deck with stuff whose only purpose is defense, you slow the deck down, and Burn decks win off being fast. Thus, "Defense" is kind of counterproductive to their game plan.
Switch out the Dash Hopes (this card is bad) for Crucible of Worlds (you can exchange your land drops every turn with free, uncounterable land destruction via Strip Mine). Quag Vampires should probably be Vampire Lacerator / Pulse Tracker. Maybe exchange the enchantments for more creatures / disruption (Duress / Thoughseize). More removal could do you some good as well. Why didn't you just edit your other list?
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