The 11 Best Merfolk Planeswalkers in Magic Ranked

Kiora, Master of the Depths | Illustration by Jason Chan

Merfolk players, am I right?

I’m one, and I know that when we sit down with merfolk, we get a little nonverbal reaction from folks. To be fair, most archetypes get a response like that from players in the know (here’s looking at you, red deck wins and blue tempo!), but I think merfolk is like its own country.

That country is one where the board state gets huge really quick and a lot of complex things happen. In most 60-card formats, that means there’s no time for a planeswalker. But in Commander, maybe there is. Although there are almost 300 merfolk in MTG, not all of them fit well in decks together, and the speed with which merfolk can hit the board in other formats just isn’t there in EDH when you can’t rely on your OP 1-drop being in your opening hand. A slower merfolk deck sometimes wants some intervention from a higher power. Enter Kiora and friends!

What Are Merfolk Planeswalkers in MTG?

Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner | Illustration by Jaime Jones

We’re not just looking at planeswalkers that happen to be merfolk, which would leave us ranking the three printings of Kiora. We’re looking for planeswalkers that support what merfolk decks are trying to do, especially in Commander. Merfolk decks tend to combine go-wide and tempo/control elements with interaction attached to their creatures. That’s a pretty unique deck, which is one reason why the type has been so enduringly popular with MTG players. And that means we’re looking at a unique group of planeswalkers.

It also means we’re looking at these cards mostly for Commander, as very few merfolk decks in 60-card formats have the space for a lot of non-merfolk cards or the time to take turn 4 off for some kind of long game planeswalker advantage. In EDH, though, there just aren’t enough merfolk of quality to fill the deck, so brewers need to fill out the suite of support and spells, especially from a control perspective, and planeswalkers can fit that goal just fine.

We’re going to focus on the top 10, even though you’ll see an occasional Teferi, Time Raveler, Nissa, Who Shakes the World, or other cherished Standard cards looking for new EDH life in the brewer’s fave merfolk EDH deck.

#11. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is a rare enough include that is most often found in decks that tap down opposing creatures, like Hylda of the Icy Crown, but in a deck that wants to turn its merfolk sideways a lot, Tamiyo can draw a lot of cards.

#10. Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Kiora, the Crashing Wave seems like you should include it in your merfolk deck, but with only 2 starting loyalty, you have to be in the mood for fogging one creature something like six times to want to run this card. That’s not what I want to be doing with my merfolk 4-drops.

#9. Ashiok, Dream Render

This is mostly here for Araumi of the Dead Tide (a merfolk who doesn’t play that many merfolk in the 99!). That deck wants the self-mill Ashiok, Dream Render can provide, and blanking opponents’ graveyards is always useful.

#8. Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

I think this staple of Pioneer’s Mono-Green Devotion deck isn’t usually a great fit for merfolk decks. It can work, and decks like Vorel of the Hull Clade are the most likely to play Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner. The trouble is that you need enough Lord of Atlantis style static buffs for your raft of tiny creatures to land with power 4 or greater. That’s a reasonably big, almost win-more kind of ask in decks like these. Still, it’s on flavor.

#7. Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim

This is a fine planeswalker for Commander. It draws cards if left alone. At worst it makes a token that grows while Simic cards do Simic things. At best Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim has a better-than-usual-for-EDH chance of ultimating in decks like Tishana, Voice of Thunder that draw metric tons of cards.

#6. Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter

Best in merfolk decks that like to dish out +1/+1 counters like Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, Vorel of the Hull Clade, any deck that leans into explore, and, depending on how closely you stick to their Quandrix precon theme, Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter really wants to get cast as a piece of ramp on a turn you aren’t going to be attacking with your creatures. This is best in more controlling merfolk builds.

#5. Kiora, Master of the Depths

A merfolk planeswalker that's an actual merfolk, Kiora, Master of the Depths does a lot. Its untap ability upticks it while ramping and/or synergizing with the rest of your strategy. There are a variety of infinite combos with that if you want to seed your deck in that direction, but at a base level it just feels right to sleeve Kiora up for your merfolk deck.

#4. Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler

Thrasios, Triton Hero, paired with all sorts of buddies but classically Tymna the Weaver, heads up a variety of cEDH builds. There are many variations, but some Thrasios decks lean toward creature ramp and Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy fun. Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler is perfect for those decks, for the haste, the recursion, the jubilation.

#3. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Thrasios/Tymna needs a wincon, though, and often that’s the cEDH staple wincon of “deck myself and win,” a strategy made possible by Thassa's Oracle and backup Thoracle, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. Jace’s color requirements make it a tough include in decks without that wincon, but if you can swing it, it’s a way to get the game over fast.

#2. Narset, Parter of Veils

Narset, Parter of Veils makes the rest of the table sad. Merfolk players have been making tables sad for years now, so of course this card fits! You draw lots of cards. They draw none. You make piles of merfolk tokens to protect it. Feels good, man.

#1. Oko, Thief of Crowns

The most busted of planeswalkers just happens to be in merfolk Simic colors. And those two colors tend to have some difficulty finding effective removal. Enter Oko, Thief of Crowns. Whether it’s in the cEDH stylings of the Thrasios, Triton Hero plus Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools, the used to be cEDH vibes of Tatyova, Benthic Druid, or the full merfolk typal playground of Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, Oko is there, giving folks grim flashbacks to Throne of Eldraine Standard.

Best Merfolk Planeswalker Payoffs

Some of these planeswakers, like Narset and Oko and just powerful, all-purpose plays. But most of these payoffs are specific to the wants and needs of individual decks. Counters theme? Jiang. Mana dorks? Tyvar. CEDH? Jace.

But overall, I think merfolk players might want to have a look at these planeswalkers and see if it’s worth slowing down a bit for value. A creature-heavy deck is vulnerable to board wipes, even with merfolk’s typical control package. Planeswalkers can help you restart faster. And you certainly will have the bodies to help keep them alive in other cases.

Wrap Up

Kiora, the Crashing Wave | Illustration by Scott M. Fischer

Planeswalkers, at their most typical in Commander, are little islands of value that help you out for a time. That’s okay. That’s kind of how the card type was envisioned back in Lorwyn, not as a drop Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and close down the game, but as a value engine. We’ve been getting better at Commander over the past few years, I think, and many of us are “optimizing” the walkers out of our decks.

But I think that can go a little too far and we can miss some unexpected value and synergy by considering cards like these, which, incidentally, are generally cheaper than they used to be. Good time to think it over!

Have we missed a favorite merfolk planeswalker? Tell us about it in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, just keep swimming!