mermaids by Gaullo

Format: Commander

Commander: Hakbal of the Surging Soul

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is a Simic Merfolk +1/+1-counter deck built to turn Hakbal of the Surging Soul's combat explore trigger into a self-perpetuating engine of card flow and stats. Every Merfolk explores at the start of combat, so the deck naturally grows a wide board while stocking your hand with lands and the graveyard with spells. Hakbal then either develops the battlefield for free or draws cards. The primary win is an unblockable combat alpha strike: Herald of Secret Streams, Deepchannel Mentor, islandwalk lords, and Mist Dancer's flying make sure the counters connect. Finale of Devastation is the cleanest one-turn finisher, while Simic Ascendancy offers an alternative "counter count" win. Supporting engines like Emperor Mihail II, Reflections of Littjara, Deeproot Waters, and Kindred Discovery generate Merfolk and cards simultaneously, and a counter-doubling package-Branching Evolution, Hardened Scales, Doubling Season-turns each explore into a meaningful board presence. Hakbal is cheap to recast, and Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca functions as a hidden commander if he is answered.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Animist's Awakening
• 1 Aquitect's Will
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archmage Ascension
• 1 Archway of Innovation
• 1 Banner of Kinship
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Branching Evolution
• 1 Chronicle of Victory
• 1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Conduit of Worlds
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Death's Presence
• 1 Deepchannel Mentor
• 1 Deeproot Elite
• 1 Deeproot Historian
• 1 Deeproot Waters
• 1 Descendants' Path
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Eclipsed Realms
• 1 Emperor Mihail II
• 1 Explore
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Finale of Devastation
• 1 Finale of Revelation
• 8 Forest
• 1 Growth Spiral
• 1 Hakbal of the Surging Soul
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Harvest Season
• 1 Herald of Secret Streams
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Innkeeper's Talent
• 1 Inspiring Call
• 8 Island
• 1 Kindred Discovery
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Mana Reflection
• 1 Master of the Pearl Trident
• 1 Merfolk Skydiver
• 1 Mist Dancer
• 1 Mistrise Village
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Namor the Sub-Mariner
• 1 Neerdiv, Devious Diver
• 1 Nicanzil, Current Conductor
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Reflections of Littjara
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Ripples of Potential
• 1 Shifting Woodland
• 1 Simic Ascendancy
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Singer of Swift Rivers
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sporocyst
• 1 Stonybrook Banneret
• 1 Surgespanner
• 1 Svyelun of Sea and Sky
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1 Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1 Thieving Skydiver
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Tishana, Voice of Thunder
• 1 Tropical Island
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
• 1 Vorel of the Hull Clade
• 1 Wave Goodbye
• 1 Wizard Class
• 1 Wizard's Staff
• 1 Worldly Tutor
• 1 Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• 1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker