hakbal by user3418443

Format: Commander

Commander: Hakbal of the Surging Soul

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This Simic Merfolk deck is built around Hakbal of the Surging Soul and the explore mechanic. The plan is to flood the board with Merfolk, then turn every combat step into a mass-explore event that puts lands into hand, +1/+1 counters onto the team, and fuel into the graveyard. Multipliers like Topography Tracker, Roaming Throne, and Path of Discovery turn one explore into several, while Branching Evolution, Hardened Scales, and Court of Garenbrig explode the counter count. Card flow from Kindred Discovery, Vanquisher's Banner, Seafloor Oracle, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, and Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca keeps the engine fed. The kill is combat: Herald of Secret Streams and islandwalk from Master of the Pearl Trident / Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood march an unblockable, counter-laden army through all three players, with Simic Ascendancy as a slower alternate win. The deck is intentionally non-infinite; it wins through overwhelming board presence and value.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Aetherize
  • 1 Alchemist's Refuge
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Branching Evolution
  • 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commit // Memory
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Court of Garenbrig
  • 1 Curse of the Swine
  • 1 Deepfathom Echo
  • 1 Deeproot Elite
  • 1 Deeproot Historian
  • 1 Deeproot Pilgrimage
  • 1 Deeproot Waters
  • 1 Emperor Mihail II
  • 1 Explore
  • 1 Forerunner of the Heralds
  • 7 Forest
  • 1 Growth Spiral
  • 1 Hakbal of the Surging Soul
  • 1 Hardened Scales
  • 1 Herald of Secret Streams
  • 1 Herald's Horn
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Inspiring Call
  • 12 Island
  • 1 Jadelight Ranger
  • 1 Karn's Bastion
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 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 Commerce
  • 1 Merrow Reejerey
  • 1 Metallic Mimic
  • 1 Mist Dancer
  • 1 Mosswort Bridge
  • 1 Myriad Landscape
  • 1 Nicanzil, Current Conductor
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Path of Discovery
  • 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
  • 1 Quandrix Command
  • 1 Rapid Hybridization
  • 1 Ravenform
  • 1 Realmwalker
  • 1 Reflections of Littjara
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Roaming Throne
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Ruinous Intrusion
  • 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 Svyelun of Sea and Sky
  • 1 Swan Song
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Tarrian's Soulcleaver
  • 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
  • 1 Temple of Mystery
  • 1 Temple of the False God
  • 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
  • 1 Tishana, Voice of Thunder
  • 1 Topography Tracker
  • 1 Unclaimed Territory
  • 1 Vanquisher's Banner
  • 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
  • 1 Wave Goodbye
  • 1 Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
  • 1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker