Jolting Merfolk
Creature — Merfolk
Fading 4 (This creature enters with four fade counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from it. If you can't, sacrifice it.)
Remove a fade counter from this creature: Tap target creature.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Nemesis
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #29303
Jolting Merfolk lets you tap or untap a creature when it enters — useful in untap-matters and tap-outlet strategies, but a 2/1 for three mana with no evasion is a poor rate by any modern standard. Run it only if you need redundancy in a dedicated tap/untap engine; otherwise it's outclassed.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Jolting Merfolk is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but competitive play in Legacy and Vintage ignores it entirely — those formats have no room for a three-mana 2/1 with a conditional tap effect. Commander is the only realistic home, and even there it earns a slot only in narrow Merfolk tribal builds or tap/untap combo decks that need every available redundant piece. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander at a smaller scale.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Jolting Merfolk is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not power. The price reflects the card's narrow playability, and there's no reason to expect it to move.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.