Legendary Creature — Merfolk Scout

Nicanzil, Current Conductor

Mana value2EDHREC#5,215

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The Commander

Whenever a creature you control explores a land card, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.

Whenever a creature you control explores a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on Nicanzil.

Guide

Gameplan

Nicanzil turns explore triggers into ramp and counters, letting you flood the board with extra lands and grow into a threat. You play a critical mass of explore creatures and effects, deploy lands from hand for free, then convert that mana advantage into a big board or commander damage.

Strengths

Repeatable land ramp that accelerates you ahead of the table
Self-growing commander that becomes a real clock or Voltron threat
Synergizes with landfall payoffs since you drop extra lands
Cheap 2-mana commander that comes down early and works all game

Weaknesses

Heavily dependent on assembling enough explore creatures to be relevant
Explore is random; nonland reveals don't ramp and land reveals don't grow Nicanzil
Removing Nicanzil shuts off the +1/+1 counter half and any Voltron plan
Lacks built-in card advantage or interaction outside of explore effects
Vulnerable to land-drop hate and floods you with lands you may not need

Key Cards

Path of Discovery — Gives every creature that enters an explore trigger, fueling Nicanzil's ramp engine repeatedly.
Kazandu Tuskcaller — Token generators plus Path of Discovery create chains of explore triggers each turn.
Scute Swarm — Landfall payoff that explodes when Nicanzil drops extra lands from hand.
Lotus Cobra — Turns each extra land Nicanzil puts down into a mana burst for explosive turns.
Tireless Tracker — Both explores for value and rewards the extra land drops with Clues and counters.
Avenger of Zendikar — Landfall finisher that turns Nicanzil's land flood into an overwhelming token army.

Upgrade Path

Add more reliable explore enablers (Path of Discovery, Vivien, Champion of the Wilds) and token makers so triggers happen every turn, then pack stronger landfall payoffs and ramp like Lotus Cobra and Cultivate. Tighten the curve with efficient interaction and protection (Heroic Intervention, Swiftfoot Boots) so Nicanzil survives, and add a decisive finisher such as Craterhoof Behemoth or Finale of Devastation to close before the deck stalls on lands.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Landfall payoffs like Avenger of Zendikar or Scute Swarm overwhelming with tokens
▸Commander damage from a heavily-buffed, equipped Nicanzil
▸Mana-fueled big creatures with trample or an Overrun-style finisher
▸Craterhoof Behemoth alpha strike off a wide explore board

Archetypes

Lands / Landfall — Extra land drops from hand trigger a suite of landfall payoffs for explosive value.
+1/+1 Counters — Nonland explores grow Nicanzil and support a wider counters synergy package.
Voltron — Nicanzil naturally accumulates counters and can be suited up to swing for lethal commander damage.
Ramp Midrange — Free lands fuel big creatures and overrun the table with raw mana advantage.