>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+.

>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

>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 Tower – Tropical 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.

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.

Harvest Season – Compared to Kodama’s Reach/Cultivate, Harvest Season has such a high ceiling. Just activating Kumena’s 2nd ability once, then casting Harvest Season gets 3 basics from your deck. That’s an unparalleled rate, and it only gets crazier from there. On larger boards, getting 5 or 6 basics is easy, and this card gives the explosive start needed to abuse all the juicy, juicy cards you will be drawing.

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.

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.

Merchant Scroll – More of a flex slot until I grab something a little better, but it grabs most of the same things that Mystical Tutor grabs (except green removal spells), albeit for 1 more mana at sorcery speed.

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.

>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. Lord of Atlantis & Master of the Pearl Trident are also a spicy win con when paired with Stormtide Leviathen ;).

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.

>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.

Stoneforge Masterwork – This is a cheap equipment that can turn a slow, 7 turn kill with Kumena into a 3 turn kill easily.

Stormtide Leviathan – Islandwalk is a big part of the Merfolk tribe’s identity, and my deck includes 2 lords that give islandwalk to the team. Leviathan paired with one of those lords allows you to attack freely without fear of blocking or return attacks.

Thassa’s Oracle – Thassa’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

Cold-Eyed Selkie, 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 – Like Cold-Eyed Selkie and its friends, 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, Leyline of Anticipation – Both are solid cards that allow me to play as reactive as possible. In addition to activating Kumena at instant speed, these two allow you to flash out your merfolk and immediately tap them for stuff. They are somewhat clunky, though, as they are 4 mana do nothing artifacts/enchantments on their own.

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.

>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; Stoneforge Masterwork; 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.

>Stormtide Leviathan

Requirements: Lord of Atlantis/Master of the Pearl Trident.

Combined, these creatures allow your Merfolk to attack without fear of being blocked/attacked back. This combo is even more vulnerable than Simic Ascendancy because it will likely take multiple turn cycles to whittle your opponents down.

>Stoneforge Masterwork

A slower, but safer win condition. Oftentimes, Masterwork pumps Kumena up to ~7 power, allowing him to kill an opponent in 3 turns. Pretty solid, and it is pretty safe to go for.

>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.

>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.

>4/30/20

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.