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Copy of: Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca | Merfolk & Untaps - PRIMER (EDH / Commander)

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>Introduction

Hello all, I’m WizardSpartan. You may know me from my Ezuri, Renegade Leader primer. I love EDH, and I love Kumena in particular. Tribal Merfolk was my first ever EDH deck, and I have a lot of experience with it. Look no further than this primer if you want to get jiggy with the Merfolk tribe.

>Why Kumena?

There aren’t many legendary Merfolk that actually care about Merfolk. Here are the options:
Kopala, Warden of Waves – The subpar bonus Kopala provides coupled with the fact he’s in mono blue makes him a less than stellar commander for a Merfolk deck. He is solid in the 99, though.

Sygg, River Guide – While Sygg is a better Merfolk commander, I still find that he pales in comparison to Kumena. I would honestly be more interested in some sort of Voltron deck with Sygg’s Islandwalk and various protections allowing him to slip through for commander damage then a dedicated Merfolk deck.

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca – Kumena is the best for obvious reasons. His second ability is probably the best of the 3, as alone, he draws absurd amounts of cards, but both of his other abilities synergize with other strategies and allow him to close out the game, turning him into a 3 mana machine capable of accelerating into the late game and shutting the door on your opponents.

>The Power Level of this Deck

This deck is not cEDH by any standards. On a scale of 10, I would characterize it in the 7-8 range. While it’s win cons aren’t the most efficient, the sheer draw power and density of interaction allows it to consistently go toe to toe with the highest level of EDH decks.

Also, the 2 main themes of this deck aren’t terribly mainstream, allowing this deck to perform extremely well without spending $500+. Therefore, I aim to keep this deck pretty low price wise to keep the barrier of entry lower.

>The Playstyle

The thing I love about Kumena is his flexibility. You can build around any of his abilities and most likely do well. He can be built as Voltron around his first ability, with only a light Merfolk theme. He can also be built as a go wide Merfolk deck focused on +1/+1 counters, abusing his 3rd ability. I went for the most consistent approach, though, built around his 2nd ability.

My Kumena deck still uses cards like Deeproot Waters and Jungleborn Pioneer to generate a large board of Merfolk, which I then use to activate Kumena entirely too many times. Then, cards like Seedborn Muse and Quest for Renewal repeatedly untap your Merfolk, allowing you to draw an absolutely filthy amount of cards.

If you want to play a deck that is always doing something, is very consistent, and is highly interactive, look no further than my boy Kumena.

>Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses
This deck is extremely resilient and is highly interactive. Because you are in blue, you have access to counterspells, Pongify effects, and Cyclonic Rift. Green provides access to Heroic Intervention and the best of the best artifact & enchantment removal. This deck does very splashy things. You may not be winning by drawing 9 cards a turn cycle, but all that action will scare your opponents.
This deck is consistent. Kumena is a very cheap and recastable commander that provides easy to access card draw. His abilities can be used without worrying about summoning sickness, meaning you can immediately replace the merfolk you play. It’s hard to consistently win with this deck. You may have a full grip of cards at all times, but Merfolk, as a tribe, isn’t too explosive, and even particularly large board states will likely need several turn cycles to kill the table. This leaves you vulnerable to getting focused and blown out.

>Inclusions

>Lands

Botanical Sanctum – With an average cmc of 2.46, this deck only needs 2-3 lands to get the ball rolling. Botanical Sanctum is an excellent land to ensure that my early merfolk get out before Kumena.

Castle Vantress – I love the ELD castle cycle for 1 and 2 color decks, and Castle Vantress is no exception. This deck leans towards blue, meaning that Castle Vantress rarely comes in tapped. The scry 2 for 5 mana is not the best, but if you’re playing reactively, then activating Castle is much better than overextending into a wipe.

Command TowerTropical Island without the hefty price tag.

Hinterland Harbor – 27 of this deck’s 34 lands allow Harbor to come in untapped. Extremely good.

Mystic Sanctuary – Yet again, it’s pretty easy to get this to come in untapped, as I make my mana base lean towards blue, and it can turn games around. It can do as little as recurring a removal spell or counterspell and as much as getting that Cyclonic Rift back for a round 2 or getting Dramatic Reversal back to set up the Dramatic Scepter combo.

Reliquary Tower – When you draw absurd amounts of cards, discarding to hand size is not the play. Tower is lovely.

Scavenger Grounds - There are so few colorless lands in this deck that I'm comfortable to include one that doesn't necessarily actively help this deck. More and more commanders that interact with graveyards are released, and graveyard hate just keeps getting more and more necessary. Scavenger Grounds is especially good, as getting your own graveyard doesn't matter as Kumena, so having an effect that removes all graveyards from the game at instant speed for 3 mana stapled to a land is perfect here.

Unclaimed Territory – Another good multicolor land in any tribal deck.

Yavimaya Coast – Your life total is a resource, and Commander players know it. Early game, Coast comes in as an untapped dual, and once you have your colors set up, it can tap for colorless without any pain. One of the best lands to transition you seamlessly from early to late game.

>Ramp

Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Simic Signet, Sol Ring, Talisman of Curiosity – There’s a reason why I run so many nonland sources of mana. I’ll explain why later, but Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal is a primary win condition of this deck, and mana rocks are essential to the Dramatic Scepter plan. In addition, a high density of mana rocks allows you to be more flexible with your mulligans (more on that later, too).

Cryptolith Rite – Absurdly good here. Cryptolith Rite turns all your cheap Merfolk into mana dorks. Paired with Kumena, you can choose between mana or cards, giving you the perfect balance.

Kiora's Follower – An excellent Merfolk that can simply untap a land or rock for mana or do nastier things. Very high floor, very high ceiling.

Sea Scryer – This may seem bad, but it’s a lot better than it looks. Merfolk that are mana dorks are hard to come by, and just Kiora’s Follower doesn’t cut it. Both Sea Scryer and Kiora’s Follower are nice in that they tap for mana when necessary and can be converted into cards once the mana isn’t necessary.

Stonybrook Banneret – Absolutely excellent. It enables you to cast your merfolk on curve while still leaving mana open for counterspells or removal.

Thought Vessel – Just like Reliquary Tower, this allows you to draw to your heart’s content and avoid the difficult decision of discarding to 7. Additionally, this, like the list of mana rocks mentioned earlier, works with the Dramatic Scepter plan.

>Card Advantage

Benthic Biomancer, Enclave Cryptologist – Both are solid 1 mana merfolk that can draw some cards on their own without Kumena.

Cold-Eyed Selkie - It's very likely at least one opponent will control islands, so this becomes a very consistent way to draw a card each turn cycle. It's especially good because it is excellent at getting the deck out of bad places (hybrid symbols make it easy to cast & it draws cards even if you don't have Kumena in play for whatever reason). Lastly, it pairs excellently with lords, as each point of power is an extra card.

Fallowsage – I am never unhappy to see this card. Want to make Kumena unblockable? Here’s a card for your troubles. Maybe you have Fallowsage and a couple other merfolk on the board to activate Kumena’s 2nd ability, allowing you to tap 3 merfolk to draw 2 cards. This gets out of hand fast.

Merfolk Looter – Another strong merfolk that provides early game consistency. Once you have a giant hand, looter can filter out extra lands, removal spells, etc. for better cards.

Seafloor Oracle – Despite not being on completely combat focused plan, this card is still fantastic. Tap it to give Kumena unblockable and draw a card off of Kumena’s connection.

>Tutors

Forerunner of the Heralds, Merrow Harbinger – Both are solid Merfolk that find the best merfolk for your situation. I’ll go into the best options to find off of these.

Mystical Tutor – An all star here. Using Kumena’s 2nd ability, Mystical Tutor, at instant speed, can put Cyclonic Rift, Dramatic Reversal, a removal spell, or a counterspell into your hand.

Tribute Mage – Can find Lightning Greaves, Thought Vessel, or, most importantly, Isochron Scepter.

>Removal

Beast Within, Cyclonic Rift – Staples within their colors, for good reason.

Imprisoned in the Moon – Locks down commanders, creatures that are tricky to remove, planeswalkers, and lands. While Imprisoned in the Moon is sorcery speed, it is still solid.

Nature's Claim, Return to Nature, Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Reality Shift – All are fantastic removal. Cheap, flexible, and instant speed is the name of the game with removal spells.

Nullmage Shepherd – Repeatable and synergistic. An absolute gem.

>Interaction

Arcane Denial, Counterspell, Negate, Swan Song – Just like Nature’s Claim and friends, all of these counterspells are flexible & cheap.

Cursecatcher – This merfolk is way too underplayed. If dropped early, it can tap for Kumena’s abilities and will fade into the back of your opponents’ minds. Then, boom. It’s turn 16 and that one guy (we all know who they are) taps out for an Exsanguinate for x=too much, but your little Cursecatcher ruins their plans. Seems ridiculous? Happens a lot more than you may think.

Mistcaller – Yet another cheap merfolk that is too underplayed. It stops most graveyard shenanigans, from one shot effects like Animate Dead to stopping an entire Living Death from taking over the game.

Lullmage Mentor – This card promotes you to Archenemy, but it can make your opponents play carefully. It can slow your opponents’ win conditions down, giving you valuable time. In addition, you will usually get a couple tokens out of it, which is nice.

Muddle the Mixture – One of the best transmute cards, hand down. It finds both halves of Dramatic Scepter, Simic Ascendancy, Cryptolith Rite, Cyclonic Rift, removal, (better) counterspells, Lightning Greaves, Merrow Commerce, the list goes on and on. What makes it go over the top, though, is that it is still a serviceable counterspell in case you are already trying to win the game and don’t need the tutor.

Thada Adel, Acquisitor – The floor of this card is that it steals Sol Rings or other ramp. It only gets better from there.

>Protection

Inspiring Call – Synergizes with Kumena in that you can tap 5 merfolk, put a +1/+1 counter on your entire board, then cast Inspiring Call to draw 5+ cards and give all your guys indestructible all at instant speed. Doing this in response to a Wrath or even just a removal spell is a major blow out and can even win you the game at times.

Heroic Intervention – One of my favorite green cards of all time. It has the same blowout potential of Inspiring Call, while also fizzling exile-based removal spells like Anguished Unmaking.

Kopala, Warden of Waves – A very solid merfolk that discourages your opponents from interacting with your board. Once your opponents see your full grip, untapped blue mana, and Kopala, they’ll just want to throw the towel in.

Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots – Both are excellent equipment that provide another layer of protection for important creatures like Kumena, Seedborn Muse, etc.

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds – A jack of all trades. Kumena is a potent attacker and blocker, so being able to attack with him and hold him up for blocking is good. Reach can be nice in certain pods also. Vivien’s minus is solid card advantage, which is nice. Her static is the real reason I run it. I already play reactively, and Vivien allows me to play almost completely at instant speed.

Tidal Barracuda – While this creature does have the downside of giving your opponents' spells flash, its 2nd ability allows you to break parity. Oftentimes, your opponents feel the need to cast their spells before your turn, forcing their hand. It also allows you to avoid almost all interaction when trying to win the game. I think this card is severely underestimated and a great fit in a reactive deck like this one.

>Lords

Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Merfolk Mistbinder, Merfolk Sovereign, Merrow Reejerey – All are solid lords that pump your team and tap for cards, etc.

Deeproot Elite – Good at pumping Kumena up to more of a threat than just a 2/4.

>Untap Shenanigans

Intruder Alarm – Probably the most scary card in this deck, but beware. Decks that use mana dorks (like Elves, for example) may be able to use Intruder Alarm much better than this deck, but you will profit the most off of Alarm in most pods.

Merrow Commerce, Murkfiend Liege, Quest for Renewal, Seedborn Muse – All allow your merfolk to work in double time (well, quadruple time for some of these) and can commonly draw you 6 or more cards a turn cycle. Also, you can do some cool things with Merrow Commerce, but more on that later.

Surgespanner – This card gets downright dirty in the right situation. Once you have lots of mana and untappers, this can completely shut an opponent out of the game.

>Other Merfolk

Deeproot Waters – If your opponents know what they’re doing, this will most likely eat a removal spell as soon as they have priority. If not, it makes absurd amounts of tokens and will snowball the game out of control.

Jungleborn Pioneer – 2 bodies on 1 card is fantastic for activating Kumena. I wish there were more good token creators in Merfolk because Kumena loves large amounts of Merfolk.

Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore: I just love this card. I am more than happy to play this card as a clone, but in the corner cases where I need the land, it is serviceable as that. The worst cards it can copy are the 3 legendary creatures I run, Surgespanner, Tidal Barracuda, and Nullmage Shepherd, but that's only 6 out of the 31 creatures. There are plenty of creatures that are insane to copy, like Seedborn Muse, Murkfiend Liege, and Seafloor Oracle. What puts Mimic over the top is the fact that every single creature I didn't mention ranges from decent to copy to very strong. Insane card.

>Win Conditions

Isochron Scepter & Dramatic Reversal – Probably the best win condition with Kumena. Check the winning tab later in the primer for the conditions necessary to win with Dramatic Scepter and how to sequence the win.

Simic Ascendancy – While +1/+1 counters isn’t a primary theme for my Kumena deck, Simic Ascendancy is still very good in the right situation.

Thassa’s OracleThassa’s Oracle is a potential win condition for the Dramatic Scepter combo and can straight up win the game on its own if your library gets low.

>Exclusions

Kindred Discovery, Wanderwine Prophets, Bident of Thassa – Another direction you could take is more of an attack-based approach. The only problem with that is the tension between wanting to tap for Kumena’s abilities and wanting to tap to attack. I’m sure if you really wanted to, you could build a strong deck around this theme.

Vanquisher’s Banner, Herald’s Horn – Both have been in at some point, but both felt unnecessary. The card advantage elements of both didn’t feel needed, and the pump and cost reduction, respectively, didn’t warrant the slots, in my eyes.

Seahunter – Unlike other tribes like elves, with good silver bullets, merfolk don’t have that same flexibility. Seahunter is expensive to cast, activate, and isn’t even a merfolk. Nah.

Coralhelm Commander – This card is a trap in my eyes. It’s a lot of mana to get him to level 4, and there are much better things to be doing. Maybe in a more attack-based shell, but not here.

Karn’s Bastion, Hardened Scales, other +1/+1 counter themed stuff – You could build more around +1/+1 counters. Personally, I like that plan more than the attack plan, but I don’t like it enough to go further than a couple win cons.

Vedalkan Orrery - I am currently testing a couple other 4 mana effects like Orrery, but they have other upsides and cost much less than Mr. Orrery. Boo.

Breeding Pool, Tropical Island, Fetches – I currently just don’t have the cash for these, tbh. I don’t have mana problems 95% or more of the time, and if I do, it’s because of keeping greedy opening hands.

Metallic Mimic - With more +1/+1 counter synergies, I definitely see this Shapeshifter shining, but I don't really need another lord effect. I prefer lord effects that can be dropped onto an already full boardstate, and Mimic needs to come down before all my other Merfolk, rather than the rest of them, which can come down at any point. Additionally, many of my lords provide another benefit outside of the pump. Metallic Mimic does not.

Empress Galina - This card is nasty in here. You thought Surgespanner was disgusting? You ain't seen nothin yet. I think there's a time and a place for her, though, and I'm not particularly interested here. Not only is she 5 mana (the only two other cards that are 5 mana are Murkfiend Liege & Seedborn Muse, my best 2 untap effects), her ability is quite costly at 2 blue mana, she's very vulnerable to hate, and she's $10. While it's true she synergizes with untap effects, it's unlikely I'll have enough mana laying around or there will be enough good targets for her to steal. Lastly, she's super un fun. If she steals a commander, killing her won't even get their commander back, which puts it over the top for me. The aforementioned factors combined with my playgroup's outlook on stax/steal effects makes me decide not to include her. Even if you have the $10 & your playgroup is willing, I would sit back and objectively think about how good her effect is for you. I definitely don't think she deserves an inclusion in every pod.

Kindred Summons - Simply put, this card is a trap. This deck is good at cards, less so at mana. Looking at my curve, everything is 4 mana or less, except for a win condition and two of the best untap effects. That should say something. Also, this card encourages you to overextend and tap out, playing all the merfolk in your hand to get a higher and higher x value for Summons. I could go on and on about why this card is just not good here.

Force of Will, Force of Negation, Force of Vigor - Free spells are nice. Everybody knows that. But this deck is reactive, and tapping out on your turn, leaving yourself reliant on these 2 for 1 spells is a trap. In EDH, though, counterspells are already subpar, as trading 1 for 1 with only 1 of your 3 opponents is not good. Force of Will and Negation 2 for 1 yourself, putting yourself even further behind card-wise. Not to mention the already high price tag both of these command make me lean towards counterspells like Swan Song, Arcane Denial, and Negate as my counterspells of choice. Force of Vigor is better, as at least it's a 2 for 2. This deck is very much weighted towards blue (for perspective, only 18 of the 66 spells in this deck are green), though, and many of the green cards are not Force fodder. Nobody wants to be exiling a Seedborn Muse, Cryptolith Rite, Heroic Intervention, etc. Green has an absolute abundance of artifact/enchantment destruction, and I prefer any of the other options. I also think that by not including free spells, this deck forces players to play more reactively. Instead of using your last 2 mana on a Merfolk Looter, leave it up for a Negate to protect your boardstate.

Gaea's Cradle - This deck doesn't like lots of green mana. Look at the mana distribution, look at the mana costs of the cards in my deck. I don't need a bunch of green mana, and I definitely don't need a $350 land that is reliant on me having lots of creatures. Having a lot of creatures is a sign you are overextending.

Distant Melody - Another trap. This deck doesn't need large amounts of merfolk on the battlefield, and having lots is yet again, a sign you are overextending. If you have the 3, 4 merfolk on the field to make Melody worth it, just use them to draw cards with Kumena! The only time this deck's card draw stops working is when there aren't any Merfolk to fuel Kumena's ability, and this card doesn't help those situations. I hate win more cards.

Cavern of Souls - If you are facing an absurd amount of counterspells hitting Kumena or your other merfolk (although the most powerful spells in here aren't even the merfolk), feel free to include Cavern. I don't really see the need, though, to include an expensive land that stops my opponents from countering Kumena or my lords. It's much better in tribal decks that either need the rainbow land and/or need their creatures to be uncounterable.

>Currently Under Testing

Leyline of Anticipation - A decent card that synergizes ok with Kumena's ability to do stuff at instant speed. Unsure as to whether it is worth the slot or not.

Path of Ancestry - This deck is low to the ground, and finding space for taplands is hard (and often unnecessary). There are only 24 merfolk in this deck, and I'm not quite sure if the occasional Scry 1 is worth it. We'll see.

Hullbreacher: This card is insanely powerful, so if you have no qualms based on price or saltiness, include it. 100%. Not a second thought. I, though, am not a fan of Hullbreacher's play patterns or his current price, so I'll be watching to see if anything changes.

Court of Bounty: This is a cool card, especially for a more combat-focused Kumena, as it's not hard to grab the Monarch with an unblockable Kumena. In addition, this deck is very good at drawing a lot of cards, so you will almost always have extra lands to put into play with the upkeep trigger.

>Keep or Mull?

This deck can be very lazy with opening hands. As long as there are at least 2 lands and 3 total mana sources (2 lands and 1 rock for example) with the right colors, it’s mostly fine to keep. Other stuff to look for are 1-2 cheap merfolk & 1-2 pieces of interaction.

Here are some examples I used Deckstats’ starting hand function for:

>Hand 1

Beast Within; Nature’s Claim; Arcane Signet; Mistcaller; Forest; Benthic Biomancer; Rapid Hybridization.

Not a keep, as there are 3 pieces of interaction and only 1 land.

>Hand 2

Island; Forest; Unclaimed Territory; Thada Adel, Acquisitor; Lightning Greaves; Merfolk Mistbinder; Stonybrook Banneret.

A definite keep, as there are 3 mana sources, a couple cheap merfolk, and some ways to interact and protect your stuff.

>Hand 3

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds; Cursecatcher; Murkfiend Liege; Counterspell; Forest; Talisman of Curiosity; Castle Vantress.

Another keep, albeit not as strong as hand 2. Make sure to play Castle T1, then Forest, Talisman, and Cursecatcher T2 to get around Castle entering tapped.

>Hand 4

Botanical Sanctum; Yavimaya Coast; Island; Merrow Commerce; Cursecatcher; Rapid Hybridization; Beast Within.

A snap keep, as lands are perfect & Cursecatcher into Merrow Commerce into Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca is extremely potent.

>Hand 5

Mystic Sanctuary; Reliquary Tower; Lightning Greaves; Glasspool Mystic // Glasspool Shore; Reality Shift; Forerunner of the Heralds; Murkfiend Liege.

Not a keep, as it contains only 2 mana sources (1 is even colorless) and several late game cards that are horrible in opening 7.

>Tutor Targets

>Mystical Tutor

Arcane Denial, Counterspell – Jack of all trades tutor targets for defending your board or stopping opponents from winning.

Pongify/Nature’s Claim – The cheapest options if one of your opponents has already resolved a problematic permanent.

Return to Nature – A bit of targeted grave hate if one of your opponents is trying to cheat something large onto the field.

Dramatic Reversal – If you already have Isochron Scepter in hand and are looking to combo.

Muddle the Mixture – If you are looking to get any of the cards Muddle can get that Mystical can’t.

Cyclonic Rift – If you want to hit the big, blue reset button.

>Merchant Scroll

Grabs the same things as Mystical Tutor, barring Nature's Claim, Return to Nature, and Beast Within.

>Muddle the Mixture

Cyclonic Rift – If you want to hit the big, blue reset button.

Isochron Scepter/Dramatic Reversal – If you have the other half of the combo in hand already.

Cryptolith Rite – If you need mana and have a large boardstate.

Lightning Greaves – If there’s one particular creature you need to protect.

Lord of Atlantis/Master of the Pearl Trident – If the Islandwalk is relevant in your current game.

Simic Ascendancy – A solid win condition if you have a Seedborn Muse effect and 5 merfolk on the board. Make sure you have some protection in hand, though, as this combo is very choreographed and archenemy-inducing.

Thought Vessel – If you don’t want to be discarding down to hand size.

Thassa’s Oracle – If your library is getting low and you aren’t able to win otherwise (maybe because it’s late game and your other win conditions have gotten stopped).

>Winning

> Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter (Dramatic Scepter)

The most consistent of the win conditions in my deck. I’ll be discussing this one the most.

Dramatic Scepter is extremely powerful in Kumena because once you have enough nonland mana sources, it provides infinite untaps, allowing you to draw your deck and pump the team an infinite number of times. If you are unfamiliar with the combo, I’ll explain it.
On the field: Sol Ring, Simic Signet (or any combination of nonland mana sources producing 3+ mana), and have access to Kumena & 2 other merfolk. Play Isochron Scepter imprinting Dramatic Reversal. Then tap Sol Ring and Simic Signet for 1GU. Use 2 of the mana to activate Isochron Scepter. Dramatic Reversal then untaps Isochron Scepter, Sol Ring, and Simic Signet, netting 1 mana. You can then repeat this as many times as you want, producing infinite mana of any color & infinite untaps of all your nonland permanents. From there, use the infinite mana to play Kumena or any other merfolk you need until you have 3. Then, you can activate Kumena to draw your whole deck. Lastly, play Thassa’s Oracle and win using its ETB ability.

Sometimes, you only need 2 mana from nonland sources to win, but you will need to have Kumena & 2 other merfolk on the field and have 2 blue mana available. Use Isochron Scepter to draw your entire deck as usual, then tap your last 2 mana for Thassa’s Oracle. This line is risky, as it leaves no mana up for using the many counterspells you have access to, but it can be used in certain situations.

Feel free to ask more specific questions about Dramatic Scepter in Kumena, as there are many, many other ways to win outside of Thassa’s Oracle, but they all have different conditions and are too plentiful to cover here.

>Simic Ascendancy

Conditions necessary: Kumena, 4 other merfolk, and Seedborn Muse/Quest for Renewal/Murkfiend Liege.

Each turn (including your opponents’ turns), you can tap 5 merfolk to put a +1/+1 counter on each of those 5 merfolk, putting 5 growth counters on Simic Ascendancy. After 4 turns, it will have 20 growth counters on it and you can win on your next upkeep. Like I’ve pointed out earlier, it requires you to wait an entire turn cycle, so make sure you have mana up for 1-2 counterspells at least.

>Overall Tips

-Merrow Commerce is unique because it is a Tribal Enchantment – Merfolk. It can be tapped for Kumena’s abilities, untaps itself, and triggers Deeproot Waters. It even gets bonuses from lords like Lord of Atlantis and can get +1/+1 counters from Kumena’s 3rd ability in case that ever somehow comes up.

-Play reactively. Use Kumena’s abilities at the last moment possible to give you the option to block or use your Merfolk for other things. Make sure to do the same with whatever spells you can cast at instant speed.

>Extras

Format Wins Losses Ties
Paper 1 0 1
Online 2 3 0

Note: These stats aren't guaranteed to be 100% accurate. I might miss a few games.

>Conclusion

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca is a flexible, jack of all trades commander. He’s excellent in many pods and is one of the most consistent commanders you will find. He can be built around many themes, provides strong, consistent card advantage, and provides inevitability for your opponents, all stapled onto a 3 mana commander.

Feel free to ask any questions about any aspect of my primer or decklist!

I hope this has been helpful, guys!

>Changelog

>4/24/20 - Created Primer

This date marks the beginning of this illustrious primer.

>4/30/20 - Decklist Changes

I decided that Herald of Secret Streams is just too weak, slow, and dangerous for a win condition, so Merchant Scroll will be filling that slot for now.

-1 Herald of Secret Streams
+1 Merchant Scroll

>5/1/20 - Primer Changes

Added more cards to the Notable Exclusions section and added a subsection called Currently Under Testing.

>5/2/20 - Primer Legitimized

Got approved by the omnipotent Morganator 2.0. We are a go, bois.

>6/19/20 - Decklist Changes

I'm a big fan of the flexibility Tidal Barracuda provides. While it gives your opponents' spells flash also, it gives you the two solid options of casting lower impact spells at the perfect moment or casting your important spells on your turn when it's (almost) impossible to interact with you.

-1 Merchant Scroll
+1 Tidal Barracuda

>9/28/20 - Zendikar Rising Update

There are a solid amount of Merfolk cards and other potential inclusions, so let's get into it.

Thieving Skydiver is fantastic in most metas. Mine, though, is not artifact-focused at all, and it might steal a Signet if it's lucky. Space is really tight, and I have decided against it for now. I'm still definitely on the fence, though.

Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn is yet another card I am not 100% against. I think it's mostly a trap card, though. This deck has more trouble casting all the cards it is drawing than it has trouble drawing enough cards to play. Still, if you got ahold of this card, you might as well swap out an Island for it.

Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore is a card I can definitely get behind. It has an extremely high ceiling (2 Seedborn Muses, anyone?) and a very low floor (very few creatures that are bad to copy).

Merfolk Windrobber, Sure-footed Infiltrator: Both of these could be good in a combat-oriented Kumena, but mine isn't.

Confounding Conundrum is a card that doesn't really fit here, but if you have a lot of opponents doing big ramp with green, then it's definitely a solid card.

-1 Stoneforge Masterwork
+1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore

>11/1/20 - Decklist Changes

Making some changes for consistency's sake.

-1 Harvest Season
-1 Stormtide Leviathan
+1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
+1 Island

>11/12/20 - Decklist Changes

Scavenger Grounds is some flexible grave hate, which is nice. I've done some more thinking about Skydiver, and I think I like it. Most commander decks run several 0-2 CMC mana rocks which are excellent targets, and grabbing a higher-CMC artifact just as pseudo-removal can be a game changer in certain situations.

-1x Forest
-1 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
+1x Scavenger Grounds
+1 Thieving Skydiver

>11/19/20 - Commander Legends Update

Outside of a couple standout cards, there isn't much that CMR gives Kumena, unfortunately.

Jeweled Lotus: Just don't put it in here, I'm begging you. What does a T1 Kumena accomplish? Absolutely nothing. You really only want to be playing him once you can actually use him (i.e. you already have 2 other Merfolk out), so you just put a big target on his head by getting him out T1.

Hullbreacher: If you have it & don't care about the salt that will pour from your enemies' eyeballs, include it. For a few different reasons, though, I am not including it at present.

Rejuvenating Springs: Include it if you want. While it is nice, it's largely unnecessary and not high on my list of cards to grab.

Court of Bounty: This card is surprisingly sweet, as it isn't hard to get the monarch with an unblockable Kumena, not to mention it is super easy to have plenty of lands in hand to put into play with Court's upkeep trigger. Under consideration.

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This deck appears to be legal in EDH / Commander.

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