merfolk commander deck mtg Magic: The Gathering The Lost Caverns of Ixalan 100 card The 33 Best Merfolk Commanders

You can easily swap Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider for other variants of this effect like Hardened Scales or Branching Evolution

I was incredibly surprised at a few options going through the list such as K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth and Hell's Caretaker both being horrors, which fit excellently in a deck like this

Abzan counters and aristocrats are supreme archetypes, and Ghave, Guru of Spores and Karador, Ghost Chieftain absolutely pioneered that, remaining at the 3rd and 4th spot for Abzan, respectively

That cheap mana value and access to green both help for when you need to recast your commander

In most formats, losing life can be detrimental, but in Commander it is much more easily worked around, making the drawbacks of both cards not bad