Cards like Lord of Atlantis and Merfolk of the Pearl Trident captured the feel of Merfolk from day one. It's been a recurring creature type in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering ever since, with these underwater entities recꦜeiving waves of support in sets like Lorwyn and Ixalan.

The Commander precons for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Lost Caverns of Ixalan feature the plane's main factions, with Explorers of the Deeps diving into the denizens from down below. It's a Merfolk typal deck at heart, with +1/+1 counter synergies and a small emphasis on the explore mechanic. The precon features ten new cards of varying degrees of usefulness, though not all of them are poised to break free from their Atlantean brethren.

10 ꧒ Bygone M𒐪arvels

Let Bygones Be Bygones

Bygone Marvels makes some sense in the precon — explore does let you throw permanents in the graveyard fairly easily, after all. Descend 8 is still a tall order though, especially in metas where 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:good graveyard hate is already prevalent, and the lands you draw from explore don't contribute to the cause.

Without descend active, this ends up being a subpar Regrowth effect, which isn't always in demand. It's not something that a Merfolk deck is dying for, though there are surely graveyard-based decks where this will look like a more appealing recursion effect.

9 𒆙 Deeprooꦗt Historian

Retracing Your Steps

Deeproot Historian is one of the few Merfolk that works better with Hakbal of the Surging Soul instead of Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca. You need to keep your hand stacked with lands in order to enable retrace, but you don't want to give up land drops either, an issue that's solved by exploring a bunch with Hakbal.

Cute of Wizards to add the Druid text here, which gives Historian an ever-so-slightly larger subset of decks where it'll see play. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Not that Druids are that supported 🅠of a creature tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚype, but someone must have a Seton, Krosan Protector deck, right?

8 🌌 Mist Dancer ✤

Just Barely Mist The Mark

Mist Dancer works in the context of the precon and other Merfolk decks, and nowhere else. That said, it provides evasion to a board full of Merfolk, like a backup copy of Herald of Secret Stream♏s without all the extra +1/+1 counter text.

Encore is a fun and useful ability for Commander, letting you split up damage across all opponents at once, and it generates multiple bodies for effects that care about Merfolk simply entering the battlefield. Just activating encoꦍre with no other creatures on board gives you accessꦯ to three five-power flyers for the turn.

7 🦋 ♑ Wave Goodbye

Bound To Make Waves

More than just a little on the nose with its name, Wave Goodbye is blue's latest attempt at an asymmetrical 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:board wipe. It's not hard to parse out when you want it. Does your deck care about +1/+1 counters? Here's a consideration. No +1/+1 theme? Maybe find a different board wipe.

How effective Wave Goodbye ends up being also depends on the matchup. +1/+1 counter decks are popular, and even decks that aren't dedicated to the theme end up with stray counters across their creatures. Even worse, it can backfire if your own +1/+1 counter strategy doesn't pan out.

6 Topography ﷺTracker 𝔉

GPS, Merfolk Style

Whether or not Topography Tracker makes it into your deck depends entirely on whether you're pillaging the precon for parts, or if you plan on keeping Hakbal intact as the commander. Once you axe Hakbal, there's almost no reason to have such a specific explore payoff hanging around.

However, Topo-Tracker combines beautifully with just about any other card that ex♎plores, either doubling your +1/+1 counter production or drawing you into more lands. If you insist on keeping it around, look for more cards that produce Map tokens, and find room for Path of Discovery in your deck.

5 Tributary Instructor♋

That's Professor Merfolk, To You

Merfolk tend to be small, so the mentor ability on Tributary Instructor should trigger often. However, aside from having the Merfolk creature type, this card doesn't do anything inherently useful for the faction unless you're leaning into the +1/+1 counter theme.

That does mean the Instructor will slot into already-existing +1/+1 counter decks, giving those strategies a wrath insurance plan of sorts. Sure, you'd rather save your creatures with counters on them instead, but being refunded a few extra cards isn't too bad of a consolation prize if you can't dodge a board wipe.

4 Singer Of ꦓSwift Rivers 🤡

Swift Rivers Made The Billboard Top 100

It's nice to see some 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:shield counter love outside Streets of New Capenna. It's a great tool for protecting creatures from certain types of removal, especially when you can toss one around at instant speed.

The shield counter text alone won't often be enough to run this in non-Merfolk themed decks, but it'll definitely have a place in any Falco Spara, Pactweaver builds. It's a huge boon to its native deck, acting as a cheap Vedalken Orrery effect for Merfolk spells. Note that this includes non-creature cards like Merrow Commerce and Summon the School.

3 Xolatoyac, The ൩Smili🥀ng Flood

Cataclysmic Death, With Dimples

Never trust a tiny-armed axolotl god that smiles as it plunges your city underwater. Xolatoyac is the alternate commander for the precon, though it's leaning more on the +1/+1 counter subtheme than anything related to Merfolk specifically.

This is a commander that's better suited to its own style of deck than the precon it comes in. With Xolatoyac at the helm, you can go deep on counter and tap synergies, or maybe even find a way to turn that flood counter into a disruptive tool against your opponents.

2 Hakbal Of T♓he Surging Soul

The New Merfolk Commander In Town

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca has been the de facto best Merfolk commander for a while, and Hakbal of the Surging Soul is unlikely to change that in the long run. Still, Hakbal b𒁃rings their own set of tricks, leaning into the somewhat undersupported explore niche.

Hakbal has a tried and true design of putting 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:card advantage and ramp on your commander, and the first ability 𒆙scales with how many Merfolk you have on board. The dream is to have this and Topography Tracker out simultaneously, or combine it with Nicanzil, Current Conductor from the main Lost Caverns set.

1 Rip🎶ples Of Potential 𓄧

It's All In The Name

Ripples of Potential is the card from Explorers of the Deep most likely to see extensive play in Commander. Players are constantly foaming at the mouth for new 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:proliferate cards, and this one gives you that plus 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:phasing, thꦚe best form of protection in🔜 the game.

Ripples is the type of protection spell that not only helps you dodge a board wipe, but also leaves you in a better position than you were before your opponent tried to clear the battlefield. The card is very aptly named: there's a lot of potential here for counter-based decks.

Next: Magic:🐻 The Gathering – The Best Merfolk Commanders