At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
- Colors: Green / Blue (GU)
- Archetype: Simic flood tempo (budget)
- Power tier: competitive
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Xolatoyac and the owned Eluge, the Shoreless Sea drip flood counters onto lands, turning them into Islands, and Xolatoyac’s end-step untap keeps your counter-permanents and mana online. Since the pricey islandwalk lords aren’t available, the beatdown leans on cheap ‘can’t be blocked’ merfolk (Mist-Cloaked Herald, Triton Shorestalker, River Sneak, Slither Blade, Invisible Stalker) buffed by Merrow Reejerey and Merfolk Mistbinder, with unblockable auras (Aqueous Form) to close. A proliferate sub-engine (Merfolk Skydiver, Flux Channeler, Evolution Sage, Thrummingbird, Contentious Plan, Courage in Crisis) multiplies both flood counters and +1/+1 counters. Under it all is a lean Simic tempo shell of mana dorks, card draw, counters, and bounce so the deck still functions when the flood theme doesn’t show up. Flood your own lands to grow the island-count payoffs Flow of Knowledge, Waterbending Scroll, and Eluge.
Upgrade path
Playable-now build. The only rare/mythic craft is the commander Xolatoyac; every other slot is an owned card or an unlimited common/uncommon craft (39 of the 62 are commons/uncommons, e.g. the merfolk shell and tempo spells). Eluge, the Shoreless Sea is already owned and anchors the two-card flood-counter identity alongside Xolatoyac. Owned rares Tishana’s Tidebinder, Kiora, the Rising Tide, and Champions of the Shoal are included since they’re already in the collection. The full ideal upgrade is the unowned islandwalk/merfolk-lord package (Lord of Atlantis, Master of the Pearl Trident, Vodalian Hexcatcher, Herald of Secret Streams, Master of Waves, Kopala, Svyelun, Deeproot Elite, Stormtide Leviathan) plus the mythics Kumena, Tishana, Roalesk, and Kiora Sovereign of the Deep, which convert the flooded board into true unblockable-islandwalk damage.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
Deck
1 Eluge, the Shoreless Sea
1 Flow of Knowledge
1 Waterbending Scroll
1 A-Tatyova, Steward of Tides
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Merfolk Mistbinder
1 Merfolk Trickster
1 Merfolk Skydiver
1 Flux Channeler
1 Evolution Sage
1 Thrummingbird
1 Contentious Plan
1 Experimental Augury
1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
1 Deeproot Waters
1 Growth Spiral
1 Kiora's Follower
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Voyaging Satyr
1 Ilysian Caryatid
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Long River's Pull
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Merfolk Branchwalker
1 River Sneak
1 Kiora's Dambreaker
1 Merfolk Looter
1 Nicanzil, Current Conductor
1 Vineshaper Mystic
1 Champions of the Shoal
1 Mist-Cloaked Herald
1 Triton Shorestalker
1 Kumena's Speaker
1 Jade Bearer
1 Floodpits Drowner
1 Brineborn Cutthroat
1 Merfolk Pupil
1 Storm Sculptor
1 Shapers of Nature
1 Oko, Lorwyn Liege
1 Tempest Caller
1 Slither Blade
1 Invisible Stalker
1 Aqueous Form
1 Maraleaf Pixie
1 Simic Locket
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Chart a Course
1 Behold the Multiverse
1 Quick Study
1 Counterspell
1 Quandrix Charm
1 Unsummon
1 Blink of an Eye
1 Courage in Crisis
1 Waterwind Scout
1 Command Tower
1 Breeding Pool
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Yavimaya Coast
9 Forest
24 Island
Ideal build (upgrade target)
The full Simic flood build — every islandwalk lord + island-count payoff + proliferate sub-engine wrapped around Xolatoyac & Eluge. The budget list keeps the flood core with owned Simic tempo; craft the Merfolk lords to complete it.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 28 (5 mythic, 22 rare, 1 other)
- Mythic: Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep, Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, Roalesk, Apex Hybrid, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Tishana, Voice of Thunder
- Rare: Benthic Biomancer, Charix, the Raging Isle, Chasm Skulker, Deeproot Champion, Deeproot Elite, Deeproot Pilgrimage, Deeproot Wayfinder, Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres, Harbinger of the Tides, Herald of Secret Streams, Inexorable Tide, Kopala, Warden of Waves, Kumena’s Awakening, Lair of the Hydra, Master of Waves, Master of the Pearl Trident, Prime Speaker Zegana, Seafloor Oracle, Stormtide Leviathan, Tezzeret’s Gambit, Vodalian Hexcatcher, Zegana, Utopian Speaker
- Other: Lord of Atlantis
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood
Deck
1 Eluge, the Shoreless Sea
1 Lord of Atlantis
1 Master of the Pearl Trident
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Stormtide Leviathan
1 Flow of Knowledge
1 Waterbending Scroll
1 Charix, the Raging Isle
1 A-Tatyova, Steward of Tides
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Merfolk Mistbinder
1 Vodalian Hexcatcher
1 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
1 Svyelun of Sea and Sky
1 Master of Waves
1 Herald of Secret Streams
1 Deeproot Elite
1 Kopala, Warden of Waves
1 Deeproot Pilgrimage
1 Merfolk Trickster
1 Merfolk Skydiver
1 Flux Channeler
1 Evolution Sage
1 Thrummingbird
1 Inexorable Tide
1 Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres
1 Contentious Plan
1 Experimental Augury
1 Tezzeret's Gambit
1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Tishana, Voice of Thunder
1 Kumena's Awakening
1 Deeproot Waters
1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
1 Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep
1 Growth Spiral
1 Kiora's Follower
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Voyaging Satyr
1 Ilysian Caryatid
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Long River's Pull
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
1 Silvergill Adept
1 Merfolk Branchwalker
1 Deeproot Champion
1 River Sneak
1 Benthic Biomancer
1 Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
1 Kiora's Dambreaker
1 Harbinger of the Tides
1 Oko, Lorwyn Liege
1 Nicanzil, Current Conductor
1 Seafloor Oracle
1 Vineshaper Mystic
1 Deeproot Wayfinder
1 Champions of the Shoal
1 Command Tower
1 Karn's Bastion
1 Lair of the Hydra
1 Breeding Pool
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Yavimaya Coast
9 Forest
22 Island
Card images & data via Scryfall.