Explorers of the Deep

Format: Commander

Commander: Hakbal of the Surging Soul

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

Hakbal of the Surging Soul leads an aggressive Simic Merfolk tribal deck centered on +1/+1 counters, explore triggers, and unblockable combat damage. In the early game, you establish low-cost Merfolk to build board presence. Once Hakbal enters the battlefield, your entire army explores at the start of combat, smoothing your draws and rapidly inflating your creatures. Hakbal accelerates your mana by placing lands directly into play when attacking, allowing you to deploy high-impact lords and token generators like Deeproot Waters. You win by overrunning opponents with massive, evasive creatures enabled by Herald of Secret Streams or by securing an alternate victory through Simic Ascendancy.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Aetherize
  • 1 Alchemist's Refuge
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Benthic Biomancer
  • 1 Branching Evolution
  • 1 Bygone Marvels
  • 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Commit // Memory
  • 1 Coralhelm Commander
  • 1 Curse of the Swine
  • 1 Deeproot Elite
  • 1 Deeproot Historian
  • 1 Deeproot Waters
  • 1 Emperor Mihail II
  • 1 Evolution Sage
  • 1 Explore
  • 7 Forest
  • 1 Growth Spiral
  • 1 Hakbal of the Surging Soul
  • 1 Hardened Scales
  • 1 Herald of Secret Streams
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Inspiring Call
  • 13 Island
  • 1 Karn's Bastion
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Kiora's Follower
  • 1 Kodama's Reach
  • 1 Kopala, Warden of Waves
  • 1 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
  • 1 Llanowar Reborn
  • 1 Master of the Pearl Trident
  • 1 Merfolk Cave-Diver
  • 1 Merfolk Mistbinder
  • 1 Merfolk Skydiver
  • 1 Merfolk Sovereign
  • 1 Merrow Reejerey
  • 1 Metallic Mimic
  • 1 Mist Dancer
  • 1 Mosswort Bridge
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Nicanzil, Current Conductor
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
  • 1 Quandrix Command
  • 1 Rapid Hybridization
  • 1 Ravenform
  • 1 Realmwalker
  • 1 Reflections of Littjara
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Ripples of Potential
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Ruinous Intrusion
  • 1 Sage of Fables
  • 1 Seafloor Oracle
  • 1 Secluded Courtyard
  • 1 Simic Ascendancy
  • 1 Simic Growth Chamber
  • 1 Simic Signet
  • 1 Singer of Swift Rivers
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Stonybrook Banneret
  • 1 Surgespanner
  • 1 Svyelun of Sea and Sky
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
  • 1 Temple of Mystery
  • 1 Temple of the False God
  • 1 Thassa, God of the Sea
  • 1 Thieving Skydiver
  • 1 Tishana, Voice of Thunder
  • 1 Topography Tracker
  • 1 Tributary Instructor
  • 1 Unclaimed Territory
  • 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
  • 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade
  • 1 Wave Goodbye
  • 1 Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
  • 1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker