schingon
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Commander
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{"ops":[{"insert":"ELEVATOR PITCH\nThis looks like straightforward Merfolk tribal. The flip is a combat-step engine: each Merfolk explores, turning the top of the library into lands or counters, while Nicanzil and the counter payoffs convert those explorations into extra mana, cards, and an unblockable finish.\n\nTHE RUG PULL — INVISIBLE THREAT\n- MASK — VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): at the beginning of combat on your turn, each Merfolk you control explores. When Hakbal attacks, you may put a land from your hand onto the battlefield; otherwise draw a card.\n- FLIP — VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Nicanzil turns land explorations into tapped lands and grows from nonlands; Deeproot Elite distributes counters; Herald of Secret Streams makes creatures with counters unblockable; Simic Ascendancy is an alternate win condition.\n- FLIP TURN — Target window: turns 4–7; this is not a goldfish-tested win turn.\n- TELLS — Hakbal, Nicanzil, Kindred Discovery, Herald of Secret Streams, and Simic Ascendancy.\n- RESILIENCE — Commander cost {2}{G}{U}; first taxed recast {4}{G}{U}; after two previous command-zone casts {6}{G}{U} (VERIFIED, CR 903.8). Merfolk and counter engines continue to build without Hakbal.\n- POD FIT — Provisional Bracket 3: 0 Game Changers, no mass land denial or extra-turn cards found, and no two-card loop verified in the targeted review. The curated combo catalogue had no exact match; the pair review was not exhaustive.\n\nHOW THE DECK PLAYS\n- TURNS 1–3: Develop green/blue mana and cheap Merfolk. Prioritize a counter engine or draw source over a lone high-cost lord.\n- TURNS 4–6: Cast Hakbal and move to combat with several Merfolk. Each explore can improve the board or find a land; Nicanzil makes the land branch more valuable.\n- FLIP: Turn counters into evasion with Herald, or accumulate growth counters toward Simic Ascendancy. Do not assume every explore finds a land.\n\nKEY CARDS\n- VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Kindred Discovery draws when a Merfolk enters or attacks; Tatyova draws and gains life on landfall; Vigean Graftmage moves counters and can untap a creature with a counter; Merfolk Skydiver adds a counter and can proliferate.\n- VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Cankerbloom, Counterspell, Cryptic Command, and Saw It Coming answer opposing threats. Inspiring Call and Ripples of Potential protect the counter board.\n\nREAL BRACKET\nPROVISIONAL BRACKET 3 — 0 Game Changers; no extra turns or mass land denial found; no intentional two-card infinite was verified in the targeted review. This is a focused tribal engine, not a claim that the deck has been playtested.\n\nBRACKET CONVERSION\nNo conversion requested or added. Decklist unchanged.\n\nRESILIENCE\nMANUAL FOUR-TURN CHECK ONLY; no Jev score or goldfish was run. Without Hakbal, Deeproot Elite, Nicanzil, Kindred Discovery, Tatyova, Vigean Graftmage, and the independent counter package still develop the board. SECOND WIN PATH: Simic Ascendancy or Merfolk combat through Herald of Secret Streams. PLAN B if the flip is exposed: protect the lords and win with a conventional wide Merfolk attack.\n\nINTERACTION & PROTECTION\nVERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Cankerbloom, Counterspell, Cryptic Command, Saw It Coming, Inspiring Call, and Ripples of Potential. Svyelun of Sea and Sky also supports the Merfolk board. Do not tap out for a payoff if a wipe would erase the only developed board.\n\nMANA BASE\nVERIFIED from the list and local Oracle records: 38 true lands / 0 MDFC lands / 2 mana rocks / 1 mana dork / 41 total sources.\n\nMULLIGAN NOTES\nKeep two or three lands, an early Merfolk, and a way to draw or add counters. A hand with only four- and five-mana payoffs is too slow without ramp.\n\nTOP 5 ORACLE TAGS\n- gains-pp-counters\n- repeatable-pp-counters\n- gives-pp-counters\n- pp-counters-matter\n- draw-engine\n"}]}
Hakbal of the Surging Soul
At the beginning of combat on your turn, each Merfolk creature you control explores. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on the exploring creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
Whenever Hakbal attacks, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you don't, draw a card.
Whenever Hakbal attacks, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you don't, draw a card.
Legendary Creature - Scout Merfolk
Commander
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Anthem
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Iron Man, Armored Avenger
Flying
Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Whenever Iron Man attacks, other attacking modified creatures gain flying until end of turn. (Equipment, Auras you control, and counters are modifications.)
Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Whenever Iron Man attacks, other attacking modified creatures gain flying until end of turn. (Equipment, Auras you control, and counters are modifications.)
Legendary Creature Artifact - Human Hero
Simic Ascendancy
: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on a creature you control, put that many growth counters on this enchantment.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if this enchantment has twenty or more growth counters on it, you win the game.
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on a creature you control, put that many growth counters on this enchantment.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if this enchantment has twenty or more growth counters on it, you win the game.
Enchantment
Topography Tracker
When this creature enters, create a Map token. (It's an artifact with ", , Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.")
If a creature you control would explore, instead it explores, then it explores again.
If a creature you control would explore, instead it explores, then it explores again.
Creature - Scout Merfolk
Warden of the Grove
At the beginning of your end step, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, it endures X, where X is the number of counters on this creature. (Put X +1/+1 counters on the creature that entered or create an X/X white Spirit creature token.)
Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, it endures X, where X is the number of counters on this creature. (Put X +1/+1 counters on the creature that entered or create an X/X white Spirit creature token.)
Creature - Hydra
Counters
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Danny Pink
Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
Creatures you control have "Whenever one or more counters are put on this creature for the first time each turn, draw a card."
Creatures you control have "Whenever one or more counters are put on this creature for the first time each turn, draw a card."
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier Advisor
Jadelight Ranger
When this creature enters, it explores, then it explores again. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard. Then repeat this process.)
Creature - Scout Merfolk Ranger
Svyelun of Sea and Sky
Svyelun has indestructible as long as you control at least two other Merfolk.
Whenever Svyelun attacks, draw a card.
Other Merfolk you control have ward . (Whenever another Merfolk you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays .)
Whenever Svyelun attacks, draw a card.
Other Merfolk you control have ward . (Whenever another Merfolk you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays .)
Legendary Creature - Merfolk God
Zegana, Utopian Speaker
When Zegana enters, if you control another creature with a +1/+1 counter on it, draw a card.
: Adapt 4. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put four +1/+1 counters on it.)
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has trample.
: Adapt 4. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put four +1/+1 counters on it.)
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has trample.
Legendary Creature - Wizard Merfolk
Draw
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Mosswort Bridge
Hideaway 4 (When this land enters, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom in a random order.)
This land enters tapped.
: Add .
, : You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if creatures you control have total power 10 or greater.
This land enters tapped.
: Add .
, : You may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost if creatures you control have total power 10 or greater.
Land
Path of Ancestry
This land enters tapped.
: Add one mana of any color in your commander's color identity. When that mana is spent to cast a creature spell that shares a creature type with your commander, scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
: Add one mana of any color in your commander's color identity. When that mana is spent to cast a creature spell that shares a creature type with your commander, scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
Land
Land
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Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
Flying
If you would proliferate, proliferate twice instead.
, Remove three counters from among other artifacts, creatures, and planeswalkers you control: Put an indestructible counter on Tekuthal. ( can be paid with either or 2 life.)
If you would proliferate, proliferate twice instead.
, Remove three counters from among other artifacts, creatures, and planeswalkers you control: Put an indestructible counter on Tekuthal. ( can be paid with either or 2 life.)
Legendary Creature - Horror Phyrexian
Proliferate
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Ripples of Potential
Proliferate, then choose any number of permanents you control that had a counter put on them this way. Those permanents phase out. (To proliferate, choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there. Treat phased-out permanents and anything attached to them as though they don't exist until their controller's next turn.)
Instant
Protection
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Ramp
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Removal
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Tokens
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Deck Info
Deck stats
CategoriesQtyOdds
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Deck extras (0)
Description
{"ops":[{"insert":"ELEVATOR PITCH\nThis looks like straightforward Merfolk tribal. The flip is a combat-step engine: each Merfolk explores, turning the top of the library into lands or counters, while Nicanzil and the counter payoffs convert those explorations into extra mana, cards, and an unblockable finish.\n\nTHE RUG PULL — INVISIBLE THREAT\n- MASK — VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): at the beginning of combat on your turn, each Merfolk you control explores. When Hakbal attacks, you may put a land from your hand onto the battlefield; otherwise draw a card.\n- FLIP — VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Nicanzil turns land explorations into tapped lands and grows from nonlands; Deeproot Elite distributes counters; Herald of Secret Streams makes creatures with counters unblockable; Simic Ascendancy is an alternate win condition.\n- FLIP TURN — Target window: turns 4–7; this is not a goldfish-tested win turn.\n- TELLS — Hakbal, Nicanzil, Kindred Discovery, Herald of Secret Streams, and Simic Ascendancy.\n- RESILIENCE — Commander cost {2}{G}{U}; first taxed recast {4}{G}{U}; after two previous command-zone casts {6}{G}{U} (VERIFIED, CR 903.8). Merfolk and counter engines continue to build without Hakbal.\n- POD FIT — Provisional Bracket 3: 0 Game Changers, no mass land denial or extra-turn cards found, and no two-card loop verified in the targeted review. The curated combo catalogue had no exact match; the pair review was not exhaustive.\n\nHOW THE DECK PLAYS\n- TURNS 1–3: Develop green/blue mana and cheap Merfolk. Prioritize a counter engine or draw source over a lone high-cost lord.\n- TURNS 4–6: Cast Hakbal and move to combat with several Merfolk. Each explore can improve the board or find a land; Nicanzil makes the land branch more valuable.\n- FLIP: Turn counters into evasion with Herald, or accumulate growth counters toward Simic Ascendancy. Do not assume every explore finds a land.\n\nKEY CARDS\n- VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Kindred Discovery draws when a Merfolk enters or attacks; Tatyova draws and gains life on landfall; Vigean Graftmage moves counters and can untap a creature with a counter; Merfolk Skydiver adds a counter and can proliferate.\n- VERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Cankerbloom, Counterspell, Cryptic Command, and Saw It Coming answer opposing threats. Inspiring Call and Ripples of Potential protect the counter board.\n\nREAL BRACKET\nPROVISIONAL BRACKET 3 — 0 Game Changers; no extra turns or mass land denial found; no intentional two-card infinite was verified in the targeted review. This is a focused tribal engine, not a claim that the deck has been playtested.\n\nBRACKET CONVERSION\nNo conversion requested or added. Decklist unchanged.\n\nRESILIENCE\nMANUAL FOUR-TURN CHECK ONLY; no Jev score or goldfish was run. Without Hakbal, Deeproot Elite, Nicanzil, Kindred Discovery, Tatyova, Vigean Graftmage, and the independent counter package still develop the board. SECOND WIN PATH: Simic Ascendancy or Merfolk combat through Herald of Secret Streams. PLAN B if the flip is exposed: protect the lords and win with a conventional wide Merfolk attack.\n\nINTERACTION & PROTECTION\nVERIFIED (oracle_all.json): Cankerbloom, Counterspell, Cryptic Command, Saw It Coming, Inspiring Call, and Ripples of Potential. Svyelun of Sea and Sky also supports the Merfolk board. Do not tap out for a payoff if a wipe would erase the only developed board.\n\nMANA BASE\nVERIFIED from the list and local Oracle records: 38 true lands / 0 MDFC lands / 2 mana rocks / 1 mana dork / 41 total sources.\n\nMULLIGAN NOTES\nKeep two or three lands, an early Merfolk, and a way to draw or add counters. A hand with only four- and five-mana payoffs is too slow without ramp.\n\nTOP 5 ORACLE TAGS\n- gains-pp-counters\n- repeatable-pp-counters\n- gives-pp-counters\n- pp-counters-matter\n- draw-engine\n"}]}