Precon Primer - Explorers of the Deep
December 6, 2023 by
Beth Queen of Cardboard 
(Hakbal of the Surging Soul | Art by Tyler Walpole | Nicanzil, Current Conductor | Art by Fariba Khamseh | Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood | Art by Campbell White)
Hello friends. It's Beth, Queen of Cardboard, with the Precon Primer for the Lost Caverns of Ixalan deck, Explorers of the Deep. Popularity-wise, this deck falls far below Veloci-ramp-tor, but fish friends rejoice, because this deck is splashy and takes full advantage of the Explore mechanic.
Explore allows you to reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land, it goes to hand; if it's not, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on the Exploring creature and you can leave the card on top or put it in the graveyard. In prerelease at my game store, this mechanic was relatively overlooked, with players focusing more on Descend, artifacts, and big stompy Dinos. In Commander, however, Explore is extremely useful - thinning your deck as needed, getting those lands you're missing, and making your creatures a little bit bigger.
Let's get into how you can Explore your way to victory with this Merfolk deck.
I Wanna Be Where the Merfolk Are
As typal builds go, EDHREC shows that Merfolk falls far behind the most popular type, Dragons. But they've held a place in my heart, if not my decks, for some time. Prior to Lost Caverns, your most powerful Merfolk didn't really lend to a typal build. Tatyova, Steward of Tides wants to turn your lands into creatures, Thrasios, Triton Hero is busy dominating the cEDH scene, and Adrix and Nev, Twincasters are token focused. Most Merfolk decks until now were helmed by Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, who is not a weak commander, but having variety is the spice of deck building, and Hakbal of the Surging Soul is coming in with a surge of support.
Hakbal is a four-mana 3/3, which feels a little expensive until you experience the Explore mechanic going off. Hakbal allows all your Merfolk to Explore at the beginning of combat. So getting out two or three Merfolk out ahead of your commander is actually a good thing, because when he's out, instead of Exploring once, you can do it multiple times.
This is the Simic synergy that will make you drop your Human deck and consider living under the sea with your Merfolk - at least on the battlefield.
Flippin Ya Fins is Gonna Get Ya Far
Let's be honest, Explore by itself isn't the most busted mechanic. It's what your commander and alternate commander do with it that makes it cracked. The primary goal of Explore is to either get cards you don't want (or do if you're short on lands) out of your deck and out of your way. Additionally, it's going to pump your creatures permanently with +1/+1 counters.
Nicanzil, Current Conductor is going to take advantage of this - whenever a creature Explores a land card, you can put a land card into play tapped; and when a creature Explores a nonland card, you'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature and Nicanzil as well. Don't worry about all those lands going to hand, because Hakbal also lets you put a land into play when he attacks, and if you don't have one or don't want to, you draw a card. This is a value engine that doesn't stop, with some heavy support from your Merfolk.
Your Merfolk army not only gets more evasive as you play more cards, you're also going to have so many cards you might not know what to do with it all. Don't worry, you'll end up playing most of them with all the ramp you'll be getting from your commander.
Poor Unfortunate Opponents
This deck is swingy, and as such you'll need to get through for combat damage. So it has a lot of removal, and you'll be sure to take advantage of Wave Goodbye, a mass return-to-hand for creatures that don't have +1/+1 counters on them. I really like this one because it doesn't destroy your creatures who don't have counters yet, but gets the board open for combat. Other fan favorites in this deck include Aetherize and Beast Within.
If you're not able to wipe the board, you can at least swing in with your biggest creatures, because there are multiple ways to make your creatures unblockable. In addition to Herald of Secret Streams, this deck is equipped with Thassa, God of the Sea, Merfolk Sovereign, Rogue's Passage, and Merfolk Cave-Diver.
As a blue player, you'll have some responses, but the deck is lacking in counterspells. The ones included, Quandrix Command and Commit // Memory, are a little slower than the average blue player's arsenal.
Wait, That's Not a Fish
Included in the creature section of the deck are four decidedly not-Merfolk creatures, and the only one that I'm super excited about is Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood. Not only does this smiling axolotl get a 10/10 on the cuteness scale, it's also incredibly synergistic with the deck. Turning your opponents' lands into Islands is another way you'll be able to swing in for combat damage, with Master of the Pearl Trident, Stonybrook Banneret, and Cold-Eyed Selkie.
As for the other three (Evolution Sage, Metallic Mimic, and Realmwalker), while they're creating synergy with the deck, I would have preferred something a little more oceanic, or at least from Ixalan itself, like Roaming Throne, for example. Merrow Reejerey, Merrow Commerce, or Lord of Atlantis would have been my choices.
In Conclusion
It's hard to explain how good this deck is until you see it in action. It has plenty of evasion and gets a wide and strong board state quickly with a lot of typal support, like Reflections of Littjara and Kindred Discovery. If you like playing decks that give you full hands, swingy board states, and lots of ramp, this is the deck for you. You'll be flipping out when you see this deck popping off against creatures big and small.
One thing is for sure, fish is not on the menu for your opponents when you're at the helm. Let me know in the comments what you liked about this deck and some of your favorite Merfolk from Lost Caverns of Ixalan. And stay tuned for my Upgrade Guide!
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Beth Queen of Cardboard
Beth is an casual Commander player who's passionate about silly decks, creating safe community spaces, and crowns. She loves to travel and play magic with friends. When not playing Magic, she's probably snuggling her dogs or playing some video games.
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