Bonny Pall, Clearcutter | Art by Bryan Sola

Havoc is a Small Price to Pay for Data

How's it going? Nick here with another edition of Back to Basics, a series that breaks down EDH's most played cards across different categories. I recently covered each of the five colors of Magic, ending with mono-white. For my next set of articles, I'm going to look at each color pair, starting now with the most played Simic cards in Commander!

Blue-green is one of my favorite color pairs in the game, as it often combines green's love of large creatures and effects that grow them with blue's penchant for card advantage. Whenever these colors work together, you're sure to find weird, wonderful, and oversized monsters like Hydroid Krasis, Bonny Pall, Clearcutter, and Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle.

Simic also offers no shortage of buildaround cards that often help you cheat on mana, like Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty, Inga and Esika, and Risen Reef. If you're wondering which among the multitude of sweet Simic cards are seeing the most inclusions from our Simic staples list, then read on!

This article will focus on multicolor Simic cards. If you'd like to see monocolor blue and green staples, check out my articles on mono-green cards and mono-blue cards.

Honorable Mention - Most Played Simic Card from Outlaws of Thunder Junction

I love checking in on the most recent set to see which new cards have broken into the format. In my article on the most played cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius was an early front-runner from the set. After nearly a month with OTJ, more powerful cards have overtaken this 2/3 Bear Druid, but the Doc is still among the most played cards and is seeing more play than the handful of other Simic cards in the set including Bonny Pall, Make Your Own Luck, and the newest Oko.

As I stated in the article, Doc may reference OTJ's Plot mechanic, but he really is just a very flexible enabler and mana generation engine for various shenanigans. EDHREC data shows that deckbuilders are playing him as a commander alongside Adventure cards and cards with the Foretell mechanic. Making splashy cards like Alrund's Epiphany and Tlincalli Hunter cheaper by two mana can really accelerate your game plan and make opponents regret not removing this deceptively dangerous two-drop when they had the chance.

He's also great in the 99 of blue-green commanders like Grolnok, the Omnivore and Muldrotha, the Gravetide, among others.

10. Koma, Cosmos Serpent

This 6/6 is an absolute beast of a finisher and also boasts a significant disruption effect alongside his uncounterability and ability to protect himself from destruction-based removal. When building around him as your commander, you have several ways of supercharging his toolkit. You can take advantage of blue's mini-subtheme of "Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent-matters" that pops up every now and again thanks to sets featuring former planeswalker Kiora or the plane of Theros. Whelming Wave, Spawning Kraken, and Serpent of Yawning Depths are all high-synergy options that make Koma dominate the board even more.

You can also do what many EDHREC users have done and optimize for Koma's token-generation ability. That seems like a good idea, because the more Koma's Coils you make the more opportunities you have to protect your finisher or disrupt your opponents' game plans. You can make great use of copy effects that don't keep the Legendary tag on the copy, like Spark Double or Irenicus's Vile Duplication. You can also play some of Simic's many token copiers, like Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Parallel Lives, and Roaming Throne. I can't think of many things more terrifying in a game of Magic staring down multiple Komas in play.

9. Kiora's Follower

Follower isn't a splashy bomb like Koma, but its utility and combo potential make it one of the most played Simic cards in Commander. Untapping lands or mana-producing artifacts every turn is great and all, but many EDH players are incorporating this 2/2 into several infinite combos. Thanks to Commander Spellbook, we know that Follower can produce infinite mana and untapped permanents alongside Illusionist's Bracers and Vizier of Tumbling Sands or Clever Conjurer.

Being a Merfolk means Follower slots neatly into decks featuring Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca and Hakbal of the Surging Soul, among others. It also interacts well with commanders with potent activated abilities like Alaundo the Seer and Prime Speaker Vannifar, allowing you to double dip with its untap ability.

8. Oko, Thief of Crowns

Oko is a cheap planeswalker that comes down early and can be very difficult to kill thanks to his incredibly high starting loyalty. While making Food tokens may not be exciting, this token generating ability works well with artifact and token synergies in blue and green decks. It also sets you up for an ultimate that promises to throw a spanner in the works of any strategy requiring small creatures to make work.

Where Oko really shines, however, is giving Simic decks a powerful removal-like ability that rivals that of the other three colors. Blue and green tend to lag behind white, red, and black when it comes to direct removal. Oko bolsters this weak point and compensates your opponents with an often-meaningless 3/3 Elk.

EDHREC data shows that Oko sees the most play in legends-matters decks like Sisay, Weatherlight Captain or planeswalker-matters decks built around cards like Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God and Oath of Teferi. But really, feel free to slot him into any deck that can make use of tokens or that could use controlling elements and extra removal options.

7. Coiling Oracle

This is another cheap blue and green creature that can have an outsize effect on the board. When I played a Momir Vig, Simic Visionary deck many years ago, Oracle was one of the cards I loved having in my opening hand the most.

When you're setting up, casting this on turn 2 will either keep the cards flowing or ramp you. This is already pretty good, though I know which outcome I'd prefer most of the time. Where Oracle really shines is in decks that can trigger its enter-the-battlefield (ETB) ability multiple times, as well as in decks that can generate a lot of advantage from Landfall triggers or from small creatures hitting play.

Looking at commanders, Roon of the Hidden Realm and Yarok, the Desecrated both power up Oracle's ETB effect. Oracle is also great at setting up and supporting the game plans of Simic commanders like Lonis, Cryptozoologist and Ezuri, Claw of Progress. Finally, you'll often see this 1/1 smoothing the mana of heavily multicolor that feature the likes of General Ferrous Rokiric and Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile in the 99.

6. Alchemist's Refuge

I think utility lands with two-color activated abilities are apt inclusions in lists like this, because you can't play them without having both colors of mana available. Alchemist's Refuge is a very powerful gold utility land, especially in decks that let you play a lot of lands or that let you untap lands on your opponents' turns. With cards like Kruphix, God of Horizons, Inga and Esika, Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood, and others, you can spend a lot of mana on other players' end steps to ensure they don't have as many opportunities to disrupt your game plan and to allow you to keep your own disruption spells castable at a moment's notice.

In a multiplayer game, keeping a Seedborn Muse alive while being able to cast spells at instant speed can be a win condition in and of itself. For the low, low price of a single land slot, Refuge lets you attack a game at a different angle.

5. Murkfiend Liege

This hybrid blue and green creature is like a lord for all your other Simic creatures. Giving each UG creature +2/+2 and untapping your board every turn makes it very hard to get into combat with you while also letting you reuse the multitude of powerful activated abilities that Simic creatures have. Legendary creatures like Alaundo the Seer, Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, and Vorel of the Hull Clade all benefit from the untap ability, making the Liege a powerful inclusion in most decks focusing on Simic colors and synergies.

Liege also generates extra mana for you on your opponents' turns when you have a bunch of mana creatures in play, meaning you can keep up counterspells or other disruption. It also goes great with these creatures and Alchemist's Refuge!

4. Singer of Swift Rivers

I love this Merfolk Shaman because it's such a richly Simic card. More Simic-ness oozes from the card more with each line of text. First, it's a Merfolk, a type which has been mechanically blue and green since Ixalan. It has Flash, which is an ability that green and blue cards tend to have and which also teases at the rest of its abilities. While putting a Shield counter on another creature is a recent innovation from Streets of New Capenna that the blue, green, and white Brokers faction specialized in, giving creatures Hexproof and other protective abilities is something Simic does very well. Finally, granting other Merfolk Flash-timing makes it an excellent addition to typal decks while playing off Simic's proclivity towards Flash antics as seen on Alchemist's Refuge, Seedborn Muse, and other cards.

Practically speaking, the card slots right into any deck with a heavy emphasis on Merfolk led by commanders like Kumena, Hakbal of the Surging Soul, Nicanzil, Current Conductor, and even Xolatoyac. Notice that Shield counters on creatures gets them to untap with the Smiling Flood's ability! Now that's Simic synergy.

If you're looking for high-synergy cards for the 99, then you'll have a blast browsing EDHREC dedicated Merfolk page. Do make room for Murkfiend Liege!

3. Nicanzil, Current Conductor

Speaking of Nicanzil, this 2/3 is one of the most played Simic cards in Commander thanks to its utility in Merfolk decks that lean into the type's Explore theme and its attractiveness as a cheaper alternative to Kumena and Hakbal to headline a deck. Thanks to several sets spent on the plane of Ixalan, there are a bunch of Merfolk with Explore built in, with Jadelight Spelunker looking the most attractive option. Map tokens from the most recent Lost Caverns of Ixalan set will get you further, thanks to Sentinel of the Nameless City, among others. You can also play Path of Discovery to make sure every creature you play Explores, and some more than once!

As a card in the 99, you don't need to worry too much about maxing out on Explore creatures. You can have it contribute to your Merfolk game plan while occasionally drowning your opponents in card advantage and mana when you combine it with Hakbal. Merfolk pretty heavily utlilize +1/+1 counters, so growing your Nicanzil a few times will make other cards like Wave Goodbye, Ripples of Potential, and Hardened Scales better.

2. Tatyova, Benthic Druid

This 3/3 Merfokl Druid is similar to Nicanzil in that she feels right at home in a typal deck. She's also an incredibly powerful creature in her own right, so deck builders run her in a wider range of decks. Tatyova is particularly powerful in Landfall-style decks featuring Omnath, Locus of Rage, Mina and Denn, Wildborn, and Azusa, Lost but Seeking.

You already wanted to run cards like Cultivate and Rampant Growth in your green decks, and Tatyova just makes it so that casting these spells later in the game is exciting. Turning lands into cards is another Simic subtheme, so you can go all-in by pairing Tatyova with UG commanders Bonny Pall, Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, and Averna, the Chaos Bloom, among others.

1. Growth Spiral

Spiral is a fantastic spell that helps enable some of EDH's greediest manabases, and that's why it's the most played Simic card in Commander. You'll see it run in a wide variety of decks, from those that just want to cast giant monsters like Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep to decks that appreciate the multicolor identity of the card, like the various incarnations of Niv-Mizzet.

It's also an excellent cantrip in a controlling deck, where you can hold up mana for disruption before casting this when the coast is clear. If you needed more reason to run it, it also gets you an easy Landfall trigger from the cards I mentioned above, but also from Tireless Provisioner and Omnath, Locus of the Roil.

If I've learned anything writing Back to Basics, it's that set up spells are among the most important staples in Commander, and Growth Spiral is certainly one of the better cheap spells in decks that can cast it.

Beneath Crashing Waves Lies an Ocean of Secrets Waiting to be Explored

That'll do it for the most played Simic cards in Commander! There are tons of sweet UG cards in the format beyond these top picks. My personal favorite is Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, with Imoti trailing not far behind. Let us know which is your pet Simic card! If you'd like even more staples for your Simic deck, take a look my articles on mono-green staples and mono-blue staples.

Read more:

Top 10 Most Played Commander Cards From OTJ

Myth Realized - What if Any Planeswalker Could Be Your Commander? (Simic)

Nick Price