Hakbal of the Surging Soul
Legendary Creature — Merfolk Scout
At the beginning of combat on your turn, each Merfolk creature you control explores. (Reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on the exploring creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
Whenever Hakbal attacks, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you don't, draw a card.
3 / 3
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC #29)
- Rarity
- Mythic
- Mana value
- 4
- Released
- 2023-11-17
- Artist
- Tyler Walpole
- EDHREC rank
- #3,818
- Colour identity
- Finishes
- Nonfoil, Foil
- Served from
- Local database
Commander bracket
Derived from card traits, not a ruling — bracket rules turn on how a deck intends to use a card. Bracket rules
EDHREC
Combos 2
Commander recommendations
Top synergy 50
Played far more in this commander's decks than elsewhere.
- Nicanzil, Current Conductor
- Master of the Pearl Trident
- Svyelun of Sea and Sky
- Emperor Mihail II
- Kopala, Warden of Waves
- Stonybrook Banneret
- Merrow Reejerey
- Merfolk Sovereign
- Deeproot Waters
- Topography Tracker
- Herald of Secret Streams
- Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
- Seafloor Oracle
- Mist Dancer
- Deeproot Elite
- Singer of Swift Rivers
- Cold-Eyed Selkie
- Hardened Scales
- Zegana, Utopian Speaker
- Wave Goodbye
- Inspiring Call
- Ripples of Potential
- Deeproot Pilgrimage
- Merfolk Mistbinder
- Secluded Courtyard
- Vodalian Hexcatcher
- Unclaimed Territory
- Kindred Discovery
- Thieving Skydiver
- Deeproot Historian
- Path of Ancestry
- Branching Evolution
- Benthic Biomancer
- Lord of Atlantis
- Realmwalker
- Kiora's Follower
- Karn's Bastion
- Metallic Mimic
- Tatyova, Benthic Druid
- Reflections of Littjara
- Tishana's Tidebinder
- Merfolk Cave-Diver
- Merfolk Skydiver
- Tributary Instructor
- Rapid Hybridization
- Tishana, Voice of Thunder
- Simic Ascendancy
- Aetherize
- Merrow Commerce
- Rogue's Passage
Most included 50
Highest share of decks running them, distinctive or not.
- Island
- Forest
- Nicanzil, Current Conductor
- Command Tower
- Master of the Pearl Trident
- Svyelun of Sea and Sky
- Herald of Secret Streams
- Sol Ring
- Emperor Mihail II
- Kopala, Warden of Waves
- Merrow Reejerey
- Stonybrook Banneret
- Hinterland Harbor
- Merfolk Sovereign
- Deeproot Waters
- Topography Tracker
- Hardened Scales
- Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
- Arcane Signet
- Cold-Eyed Selkie
- Seafloor Oracle
- Inspiring Call
- Reliquary Tower
- Deeproot Elite
- Mist Dancer
- Singer of Swift Rivers
- Wave Goodbye
- Path of Ancestry
- Ripples of Potential
- Tatyova, Benthic Druid
- Zegana, Utopian Speaker
- Deeproot Pilgrimage
- Vineglimmer Snarl
- Merfolk Mistbinder
- Kindred Discovery
- Branching Evolution
- Beast Within
- Secluded Courtyard
- Rapid Hybridization
- Vodalian Hexcatcher
- Unclaimed Territory
- Thieving Skydiver
- Kiora's Follower
- Deeproot Historian
- Karn's Bastion
- Benthic Biomancer
- Realmwalker
- Lord of Atlantis
- Simic Growth Chamber
- Rogue's Passage
Format legality
Rulings
- 2023-11-10
Each of your Merfolk creatures will explore during the resolution of Hakbal of the Surging Soul's first ability. Players won't be able to respond between the explores.
- 2023-11-10
If a resolving spell or ability instructs a specific creature to explore but that creature has left the battlefield, the creature still explores. If you reveal a nonland card this way, you won't put a +1/+1 counter on anything, but you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. Effects that trigger "whenever a creature explores" trigger as appropriate.
- 2023-11-10
If an ability instructs a creature to explore, its controller reveals the top card of their library. If it's a land card, they'll put it into their hand. Otherwise, they'll put a +1/+1 counter on that creature, then choose to either leave that card on top of their library or put it into their graveyard.
- 2023-11-10
If no card is revealed, most likely because that player's library is empty, the exploring creature receives a +1/+1 counter.
- 2023-11-10
If you control multiple Merfolk, you choose the order in which they explore. Make sure it's clear which Merfolk is exploring before you reveal any cards.
- 2023-11-10
In some unusual cases, noncreature permanents may explore. For example, if the creature card returned by Defossilize is somehow not a creature once it's on the battlefield, it can still explore. You'll take all the same actions, and you may end up putting a +1/+1 counter on the permanent. (Note that some effects target a creature, and those effects would still require a legal target to have it explore.)
- 2023-11-10
Once an ability that causes a creature to explore begins to resolve, no player may take any other actions until it's done. Notably, opponents can't try to remove the exploring creature after you reveal a nonland card but before it receives a counter.
- 2023-11-10
Some spells or abilities might cause a creature to explore multiple times in a row. If you reveal a nonland card when a creature explores and leave it on top of your library, then the creature explores again immediately afterwards, you'll reveal the same card again.