Hakbal of the Surging Soul
– Lost Caverns of Ixalan
Date Reviewed: Sept. 5, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 3
Casual: 4
Limited: NA
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
We don’t currently know much about Hakbal, but he seems to be a figure who emerged in Ixalan’s scene after Elesh Norn’s multiplanar war. And while he’s kind of an embodiment of the jokes about how Simic-colored legends rearrange the words from Growth Spiral in various configurations, he offers an unusual dimension to Merfolk-themed decks. A lot of the common ones don’t usually care about putting things in their graveyard, but now maybe you can if you want to. A lot of the common ones don’t play green and try to go as fast as they can, but now maybe there’s a reason to try switching up both of those – you’ll sometimes add a ridiculous amount of power to your side of the table, and in casual settings where you don’t need to race cards like Necrodominance, Hakbal might be a good way for your kitchen table kindred deck to keep up and do interesting things.
Constructed: 3 (seems a little slow for Legacy, but there could be a way to make it work)
Casual: 4
Limited: N/A (currently only in the Commander decks, but he’d have potential in any draft set with merfolk)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Hakbal was only ever in a Commander subset before Play Boosters, so no Limited score here.
Hakbal of the Surging Soul is a pretty archetypal “go wide” Merfolk enabler, potentially filtering your way past cards and making them big. With only a couple of Merfolk, you can make it likely you see a potent play for your post-combat main phase or next turn, and I should mention that they needn’t attack to explore. The only attack trigger here is on Hakbal, and both halves play well off of the exploring (and he even gets bigger himself). He’s definitely a “build around me” tribal commander, one who can snowball hard if your board is positioned well.
Constructed: 1.5 (too slow to work in Legacy)
Casual: 4.25
Limited: N/A
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
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