Deeproot Pilgrimage

Commander is where Deeproot Pilgrimage does its best work — long games, spell-dense turns, and tribal synergy matter enough that a two-mana enchantment paying out over ten or fifteen turns is a genuine engine. In competitive non-rotating formats like Modern and Legacy, Merfolk is a real deck but the bar is high: Deeproot Pilgrimage is too slow for a strategy that wants to win on turn three or four, and the tokens don't impact the board fast enough to justify the slot. Pioneer Merfolk is less developed and tempo-focused enough that the same criticism applies, though it's slightly more forgiving. Standard legality is relevant for any Merfolk build in that format, and the card is worth testing as a two-of there. Everywhere outside Commander, treat it as a fringe role-player at best.