If you’re the kind of player that likes making water-based puns and jokes about things being a little fishy, then you’ll likely be interested in knowing about the best Merfolk in Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format.
Sure, there are other moist creature types out there, but Merfolk are pretty consistently hard to deal with and incredibly powerful, and what more can you really ask for from a bunch of Creatures that like chilling out on river beds and stuff.
11 – Svyelun of Sea and Sky
In terms of Merfolk typal payoffs, Svyelun is one of the best. Capable of becoming Indestructible for little cost, Svyelun both protects your other Merfolk and offers a steady stream of card draw. While this card can be a capable threat in any slower deck that values draw effects like this, you typically need a board of Merfolk for Svyelun to shine. This holds back Svyelun’s position on our list a bit.
Read More: The 10 Best Equipment In Commander
10 – Merrow Reejery
Merrow Reejerey is a cheaper Merfolk, both mana value and finance-wise, that immediately gives your other Merfolk a small buff. In a typal strategy, this effect is crucial.
More importantly, whenever you cast a Merfolk spell, you can tap or untap a target permanent. Because this can hit Lands as well, you can very easily have turns where you basically cast your entire hand by untapping the correct Land. It also means you can get rid of potential blockers, and just generally exert a lot of control over the battlefield. This is where Merrow Reejerey truly shines. This effect is incredibly flexible, and can even be used to currey favor with opponents, allowing them to use their cards to remove other players’ permanents more efficiently. This saves you cards and helps them out!
Read More: 11 Best Planeswalkers In Commander
9 – Sygg, River Guide
There are two versions of Sygg in MTG, but this one is Sygg, River Guide, and they’re the lawful version of the card. For two mana, Sygg is a White and Blue 2/2 with Islandwalk.
You can also pay two mana to give a Merfolk you control protection from a color of your choice until the end of turn. Since your deck cares about getting a large board in play with multiple crucial cogs, Sygg offers necessary protection on-theme, fitting two roles in your Merfolk strategy.
8 – Surgespanner
Whenever Surgespanner becomes tapped, you can pay two mana, and if you do, you get to return a target permanent to its owner’s hand. That means you mana starve people, bounce their expensive permanents, or get a second-round of your best ETB effects. Combined with tapping and untapping effects like Merrow Reejerey, Surgespanner can create an insane amount of advantage very quickly.
Read More: The Best Infect Cards in MTG for Commander
7 – Vodalian Hexcatcher
Released as a part of Dominaria United, Vodalian Hexcatcher is one of Magic’s newest additions for Merfolk typal synergies. Offering a buff across your creatures, Vodalion Hexcatcher comes in at instant speed and can challenge your opponent’s noncreature spells. You need to sacrifice a Merfolk to do this, and it only provides a Force Spike, but turning all of your Merfolks into Force Spikes can help stop a crucial spell at the last moment.
Read More: New Chase $200+ MTG Card Revealed!
6 – Kopala, Warden of Waves
Basically, they make it so that both spells and abilities that your opponents control cost an extra two mana to cast or activate if they target a Merfolk you control. Kopala doesn’t address the biggest issue for creature typal decks (that would be board wipes) but it makes it a heck of a lot harder to deal with your creatures in any other way.
Read More: MTG Fae Dominion Review, How to Play, Upgrade Guide
5 – Lullmage Mentor
Lullmage Mentor creates these when you counter spells, but that can also be done with an ability. Wow, doesn’t this seem absolutely incredible alongside a Vodalian Hexcatcher? Not only will your tokens be able to counter spells, but if they successfully do so, you get to create more tokens!
Read More: MTG Virtue and Valor Review, Upgrade Guide
4 – Master of the Pearl Trident
Frankly, this effect is much better in constructed than Commander. That doesn’t stop Master of the Pearl Trident from turning your board into an unblockable nuisance for blue players, but this effect is a lot worse against any nonblue mages at your table. Effects like the Historic banned Spreading Seas can fix this and, since Islandwalk is a recurring mechanic across Merfolks, it is probably worthwhile running some effects like that, making Master of the Pearl Trident an absolute menace.
Read More: Free MTG Arena Codes
3 – Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
There are a lot of good choices for a commander if you’re playing Merfolk, but our favorite is Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca. Kumena is a three-mana Green and Blue 2/4 with three abilities.
If you tap one Merfolk, you can stop Kumena from being blocked. If you tap three Merfolk, you can draw a card. Finally, if you tap five Merfolk, you can put a +1/+1 counter on each Merfolk you control. The mix of abilities allows you to pick and choose what you need at any given time, and the flexibility means you can usually find the perfect answer to any given question.
While there are arguably some stronger Merfolk ranked lower than this one, Kumena’s ability to function as a powerful Merfolk Commander earns it a lot of points. It is, by far, the most popular Merfolk typal Commander according to EDHREC.
2 – Thrasios, Triton Hero
Thrasios is a bit odd in the sense that, while this is definitely in the top two, and arguably the best Merfolk card in Commander, like our #1 pick, Thrasios doesn’t do a ton of heavy lifting in Merfolk typal decks. Thrasios is instead one of the best Commanders in the format. Thanks to its ability to create value under any circumstance, Thrasios can support a multitude of different strategies.
The real value of Thrasios, however, its the precarious Partner ability. Commonly partnered with Tymna, the Weaver, Thrasios and Tymna provide both a mana sink to turn unused mana into card advantage and turn your attacks into card advantage. The value can be provided to any combination of cards, making this one of the most powerful and adaptive Commander combinations of all time.
Read More: Top Six Best Aura Cards in MTG
1 – Thassa’s Oracle
Thassa’s Oracle is considered by many to be one of the best cards in all of Commander. Combined with Demonic Consultation, Thassa’s Oracle is part of a two-card three-mana instant win combo. The Oracle also wins the game quickly when combined with a multitude of other options, and is rather hard to exploit thanks to it’s ability being an ETB one. This allows you to cast any instant speed mill effects in response to Thassa’s Oracle’s trigger, forcing your opponent to counter it, or for you to win the game. Sure, the odd Stifle will get you but, for the most part, if your combo doesn’t work out, you’ll still have your library. Thassa’s Oracle is often an instant win button with little downside.
Sure, Thassa’s Oracle is not the best typal support for Merfolk decks, but saying its not the best Merfolk in Commander is almost strictly wrong. Only Thrasios can compete for this slot.
Read More: MTG Fetch Lands
