In this series, we’re going to continue to explore multiple ways to look at something. So far, we’ve leveraged Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper to make a bunch of protected, animated lands, and we’ve built a “Handgun from IKEA,” as commenter Chris called it: an absurd combo designed to just win the game. A few people have suggested the next version should be a tribal deck.

The other option is Merfolk. Merfolk are great. Legacy and Modern both prove a school of fish, and especially when cheated into play by Aether Vial and boosted by a bunch of lords, they can be quite effective. But we run into a few more problems. Aether Vial is expensive, and we couldn’t run more than one anyway, and aggressive 2-drops are a lot less useful in multiplayer anyway. Also, since we can’t run multiple lords (some of those are too expensive, too), the boost we gain is rarely that great—a couple of 3/3s pumped by another 3/3 don’t win a game of Commander without a lot of help. Finally, Noyan Dar is a Merfolk, but that’s all—he doesn’t help our fish people at all. But we can use him as part of the ninety-nine, perhaps with a more useful piece of sushi at the helm.

Sygg is cheap and aggressive and can both protect and push through all our guys. Noyan Dar can lurk somewhere in the pile, and when he comes out, he can help us a bit by rebuilding a board or just being a larger creature.

One thing Merfolk are good at is drawing cards. From something as simple as Scroll Thief to the old-school Curiosity, we have plenty of ways to draw based on getting our dudes through. We even have some extra random stuff—take a look at Hobble. We lock down an opposing creature while it replaces itself. Righteous Authority is a straight-up bomb, and Ophidian Eye works great in combination with Sygg’s ability as long as we’re not giving protection from blue. Military Intelligence commands us to push with our guys and move the game along. Unquestioned Authority and Aqueous Form are both worth their weight in gold, though it’s worth it to hold at least one for a specific creature. Deepchannel Mentor makes a nice hole in any net opponents may cast to thwart us.

One of the issues with tribal in multiplayer is it can be difficult to gain a critical mass of sufficiently threatening creatures. Goblin decks cheat by making a ton of tokens, so a card isn’t necessary for every creature. Zombie decks do the same, and something like Beast decks can make a bunch of huge things. However, we can use our little guys to run interference as we work toward one of our two major threats: Wake Thrasher and Wanderwine Prophets.

Wake Thrasher can grow really big; remember to tap down all our lands before we start our turn so we trigger all those untaps. We can also go infinite with it with several different permanents—check out Basalt Monolith. Tap it for , and use that to untap it. Repeat for a really massive Wake Thrasher, and then give it protection from all colors with Sygg and kill someone. Aphetto Alchemist, Ith, High Arcanist, and Tidewater Minion all work the same way: They can all tap to untap themselves. Meanwhile, Wanderwine Prophets just needs a way to get in there and enough dudes to sacrifice, and we are able to take the rest of the turns. Sygg is cheap enough we can even use our commander a few times—untap on the next turn, recast Sygg, and sac him for the Prophets again—plus, we can keep drawing cards, giving us more creatures. Summon the School can also work for us, especially if we have enough mana to cast it twice per turn. We can also go Voltron with Sygg: Throw a couple of enchantments on him (or a Quietus Spike) and give him some protection, and he could just get there, especially with something like Righteous Authority. We have Sun Titan in here—turns out he’s pretty good with a bunch of permanents that cost 3 or less—and he can occasionally just steal a game. He certainly needs to be dealt with.

We run enough Auras here that Crystal Chimes seemed worth the spot. Druidic Satchel and Crystal Ball both help with extra cards, as does Bident of Thassa. Nim Deathmantle lets us use a bit of graveyard with our scaled friends, and Mimic Vat is solid value. Empress Galina threatens other commanders, which can force some difficult plays from opponents. We’re not running any counters, but Lullmage Mentor might wind up getting there, which can be really annoying for opponents. Spreading Seas and Aquitect's Will are land-fighters three and four—they won’t stop an awakened land, but they will kill someone else’s Temple of the False God or whatever. They also turn on all our Islandwalkers. We don’t have a bunch, but there are enough it can help. Rest in Peace absolutely hoses any sort of graveyard deck—they’re often black and will struggle to deal with the enchantment—and really doesn’t hurt us much. Seahunter and Merrow Harbinger are both ways to search for one of our two win conditions—choose based on what else is in hand, because Stonybrook Schoolmaster means Wanderwine Prophets and Aphetto Alchemist means Wake Thrasher, or they can look for something else necessary to stay alive or solve a problem.

Sygg, River Guide ? Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Aphetto Alchemist
• 1 Auramancer
• 1 Benthicore
• 1 Deepchannel Mentor
• 1 Harpoon Sniper
• 1 Judge of Currents
• 1 Kor Sanctifiers
• 1 Lullmage Mentor
• 1 Merfolk Sovereign
• 1 Merrow Harbinger
• 1 Sage of Fables
• 1 Scroll Thief
• 1 Seahunter
• 1 Stonybrook Banneret
• 1 Stonybrook Schoolmaster
• 1 Streambed Aquitects
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Tidewater Minion
• 1 Wake Thrasher
• 1 Wanderwine Prophets
• 1 Empress Galina
• 1 Ith, High Arcanist
• 1 Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor

• Spells (35)
• 1 Altar's Light
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Rebuke
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Curse of the Swine
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Aquitect's Will
• 1 Summon the School
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Curiosity
• 1 Fate Foretold
• 1 Flight of Fancy
• 1 Hobble
• 1 Military Intelligence
• 1 Ocular Halo
• 1 Ophidian Eye
• 1 Oracle's Insight
• 1 Ordeal of Thassa
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 1 Righteous Authority
• 1 Spreading Seas
• 1 Steel of the Godhead
• 1 Stratus Walk
• 1 Unquestioned Authority
• 1 Merrow Commerce
• 1 Basalt Monolith
• 1 Crystal Ball
• 1 Druidic Satchel
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Nim Deathmantle
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Spear of Heliod

• Lands (40)
• 15 Island
• 9 Plains
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Coastal Tower
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Encroaching Wastes
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 New Benalia
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sejiri Refuge
• 1 Temple of Enlightenment
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Cove
• 1 Darksteel Citadel

Buy This Deck

Pressure is key to piloting a deck like this. Start landing threats and drawing cards. Keep a full grip, and scare opponents into believing you have a bunch of answers while simultaneously keeping opponents on their back feet with attacks. A deck like this can take advantage of players who assume they’ll have a bunch of turns to set up before affecting the board state. Meanwhile, we’re looking for one of our ways to win.

Anyone out there have a successful Merfolk Commander deck? How does it differ? Is Noyan Dar a reasonable inclusion in a deck like this?

Play the Merfolk, swing for the reefs, and keep that hand loaded with cards. Put enough pressure, and—I’m sorry about this before I even type it—you’ll have your opponents swimmin’ with the fishes.

Total cost: $74.97