Weekly Sale Commander: From the Depths - Merfolk!

Posted on July 21, 2025

Hi folks! Welcome to the Weekly Sale Column! This column will be aimed at showing you some cards on sale that could give you some new ideas for your lists. They will *usually* be Commander lists in Bracket 3 as well so you'll be able to play these in any Bracket 3 (or higher) pods. If you want to play in lower pods, just swap out the Game Changers for other choices and/or add more along with some other competitive combos if you want to compete with Bracket 4 and 5 pods! Remember that the weekly sale ends on Sunday night at 11:59 PM EST, so you have until then to get your cards ordered!

Today, we bring you a Commander list from this week's From the Depths sale, featuring the Merfolk creature type! Fish is a deck that I've historically loved, from almost all formats it has been legal. I've cast more Silvergill Adepts than some of you have ever tapped Blue mana, and this list will be a reflection of my wonderful history with the archetype! If you're looking to visit the other end of the sea in this sale, look out for another article later this week, featuring the other big baddies of the sea, like Krakens, Octopuses, and Serpents! Let's get into it!

The Leader of this Underwater Army!

One day, Aquaman may get his own card. Universes Beyond, I'm waiting! Until then, we have a few options. Hakbal of the Surging Soul is the most popular Merfolk commander, per EDHREC, however, I'm partial to this list's leader: Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca! Kumena, a Simic three-Mana 2/4, has three different abilities, having you tap ever-increasing amounts of Merfolk for some benefits! If you tap 1 (besides Kumena), Kumena can't be blocked for that turn. If you tap 3 (now including Kumena!), you can draw a card. Finally, if you tap 5 (also including Kumena), you get to put a +1/+1 counter on each Merfolk you control. It's worth noting that you can do this at instant speed AND you can use Merfolk that just entered, because the ability doesn't use the tap symbol. We still included Hakbal in this deck, because Hakbal is still super strong, but Kumena fits better with what we're doing in this list.

Sushi Go!

(If you ever see me and wanna draft Sushi, Go, I'm in!) Let's get into some of our creature choices. We have a grand total of FIFTY creatures in this deck, and only three of them aren't Merfolk. Of those three, one will become a Merfolk, one searches out Merfolk, and the last one pumps your creatures (like another Lord!) so they're all honorary Merfolk. 50% of our deck is fish. Like any good diet, having 50% fish in your life is both delicious and good for you! To start off, we included every Merfolk that makes other Merfolk bigger. This includes Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Vodalian Hexcatcher, Merrow Reejerey, and Merfolk Sovereign to name a few.

Having our Merfolk make our other Merfolk better just encourages playing more creatures and turning them sideways, so make sure you're attacking in your combat steps! Next, we include some classic Merfolk card advantage, like Silvergill Adept, Jadelight Spelunker, Cold-Eyed Selkie, Sentinel of the Nameless City, and Kindred Discovery. Being able to draw as we're flooding the board (both literally and figuratively, thanks Harbinger of the Seas!) will keep our steam up as we continue to attack our opponents.

I've included two pet cards in this list, include them or have a boring list, your choice. Rootwater Thief is a Merfolk that eats one card from the deck of the person it connects with. I don't know if you've ever had the pleasure of removing a combo piece from *that guy* in your playgroup, but it's such a great feeling. On the subject of water-based thievery, that same dopamine hit comes in when you play Thieving Skydiver on turn three and yoink your best friend's Sol Ring. Sure, they may hold a grudge over the next few games, but that's what they get for playing their Sol Ring so fast.

Finally, we've included some cards that synergize well with Kumena's tap abilities! Murkfiend Liege (honorary Merfolk) and Merrow Commerce untap our creatures extra times in one turn loop, letting us reuse Kumena and do more things before our next turn! Surgespanner and Fallowsage have great abilities when they are tapped, and Kiora's Follower and Wake Thrasher just work well with Kumena's abilities while also being useful on their own.

Fish are Friends, not Food!

Bruce said it best, folks. We need to protect our Merfolk. We've included some counterspells that are great for Merfolk, like Vodalian Hexcatcher, Lullmage Mentor, and Fierce Guardianship (one of our Game Changers!). Cards like Svyelun of Sea and Sky and Kopala, Warden of Waves make our opponent's answers cost more. Heroic Intervention and Inspiring Call help make our Merfolk indestructible when need be. To finish up this list, we'll round out with our other two Game Changers, Cyclonic Rift and Worldly Tutor. Rift will clear the way for our attacks in the late game, and Worldly Tutor helps us find the right Merfolk for any given situation, whether it's another Lord or some other utility, like Empress Galina or Herald of Secret Streams. If you want to substitute any of our game changers, Swan Song or even classic Counterspell can come in for Fierce Guardianship, River's Rebuke is a good substitute for Cyclonic Rift, and Nature's Rhythm is a good swap for Worldly Tutor.