8.31.04  [Water/Nature]

Water/Nature is a deck type that has a lot going for it at once—draw power, attack pumps, mana acceleration, bounce, removal, search—you name an attribute, and with some exceptions, it’s probably represented in the deck. Water/Nature is an immensely powerful & popular build. Aden writes:

"I’m not sure if I should have 4 Mana Nexus in this deck but it seemed like an ok idea for some protection if I can’t get an early evolution out.  Ok, the goal of my deck is to drop evolutions as quick as I can. Cards such as Crystal Memory and Brain Serum help me get the needed cards to drop evolutions and to stop myself from topdecking. I will also use Nature’s ability to mana accel so that once mid-game rolls around I will be able to drop 2-3 evos on one turn. I’m not sure weather I should take out Spiral Gate for Holy Awe's or Terror Pits, because I like that Spiral Gate only costs 2 mana."

Here’s Aden Water/Nature build before fixes:

[Water--26]
2x Aqua Soldier
2x Aqua Vehicle
4x Aqua Hulcus
4x Corile
4x Crystal Lancer
4x Spiral Gate
4x Brain Serum
2x Crystal Memory

[Nature--22]
4x Burning Mane
4x Bronze Arm Tribe
4x Barkwhip, the Smasher
2x Fighter Dual Fang
4x Mana Nexus
4x Natural Snare

48 cards

There is nothing “bad” about Aden’s build. It captures the essential benefits of Water & Nature with its spell and creature selection. My minor fixes will address some issues regarding stability and deck size.

[Nature]

For Aden’s Beast Folk evo line he has 8 creatures to use as evo bait and 6 creatures that are evos--a ratio of 4:3. Having that sort of ratio makes for tight evo'ing, meaning he might find himself faced with putting Fighter Dual Fang on a Barkwhip. It's not absolutely horrible to put a Fighter Dual Fang on a Barkwhip, but doing so equals even less field advantage and the loss of using a Barkwhip to pump other Beast Folk. Rarely should you use 3 or more different evolution creatures unless you can keep the evo bait to evo creature ratio “comfortable” and at the same time keep the deck size manageable. Since Aden has fleshed out the Liquid People to be in the forefront--because he maxed Crystal Lancer and not Fighter Dual Fang--he should make his Beast Folk line more ideal for non-overlapping evos by either dropping the 2 Fighter Dual Fangs or by adding more evo bait Beast Folk. The deck is 48 cards, so I'm going to suggest dropping the 2 Fighter Dual Fangs. Aden will still have double breaking power from Crystal Lancer, mana acceleration from Bronze-Arm Tribe, and Beast Folk to utilize Barkwhip’s pump effect. As for the spells, his Nature lineup is great.

[Water]

Aden has the evo ratios ideal for Water--2:1. There usually is a debate over whether to use Aqua Soldier or Aqua Vehicle when not playing mono-Water—since Aqua Hulcus is a given and a mono-Water has room for all 3 creatures. That decision often comes down to what civilizations are dominant in your meta versus how fast you want to cast Crystal Lancer. If you see a lot of Fire and Darkness, then Aqua Soldier is good because kill will only send it back to your hand. Aqua Soldier is the more stable choice when facing increasingly popular mass removal spells like Searing Wave. Once your opponent even suspects that Lancer is in your deck they will gun for your little Liquid People. Aqua Solider means a diminished Death Smoke or Crimson Hammer because the creature’s effect turns those spells into bounce. Aqua Soldier also recovers from heavies like Holy Awe attack runs & Searing Wave, leaving you something for Lancer.

Aqua Vehicle is speed, especially when you can drop both an Aqua Vehicle and a Crystal Lancer on the same turn for 8 mana. If you summon Aqua Vehicle turn 2, you get an earlier hitter but a more vulnerable one. If you cast Aqua Soldier turn 3, you wait a turn to swing but nothing short of a card that puts Aqua Soldier in your mana zone can remove it for good (and there are cards that solve even that type of removal). Aden has included both Aqua Vehicle and Aqua Solider for chances at speed and stability. There is nothing wrong with doing that—many people go this route. I suggest maxing one or the other—for greater draw chances—and that means choosing stability or speed. I went with maxing Aqua Vehicle, because Aden mentioned that speed was his main concern. I may have gone for 4 Aqua Soldier because Aden’s Beast Folk still provide him with a quick evo line, but that choice does make for a slower attacking deck. His other Water creature choices are great, no changes.

As for Aden’s spells, he clearly understand that one of the main weaknesses of this type of Water/Nature build is topdecking. The debate between Brian Serum and Crystal Memory comes down to whether or not you want a bigger hand or the right cards in your hand. To solve this issue Aden decided to use both. That's usually a good choice. Since he has also included Aqua Hulcus, the deck can still run well if he drops Crystal Memory. Maxing out Aqua Hulcus, Brain Serum, Crystal Lancer and Barkwhip equals a lot of good chances to get Crystal Lancer or Barkwhip in hand—especially with a decreased deck size, which will now be 44 (and could be made to go down to 40—see below). Brain Serum helps replenish the hand—even when you don’t draw that needed card—re-stocking the hand is a good thing.

Spiral Gate is a great spell, and 2 mana is cheap for removal. Terror Pits are great targets for Mana Nexus, as many already know, and are the epitome of straightforward kill. Both spells have trigger ability. The question is: do you want kill that is off color for 6 or removal that is temporary for 2? Sometimes that is not an easy choice to make. But let's keep in the Spiral Gates. A reason why Terror Pits work nicely in a W/N build is that focusing on the Beast Folk line means Barkwhip can pump up many of your hitters to heights that make them great for attacking creatures early to mid game when you can't get to your high cost removal and don’t want to give up too many shield hits. That is something Aden’s underpowered evo bait Water guys don’t have the luxury of doing without hitting his graveyard in the process—and they are essential creatures to Aden’s late game winner Crystal Lancer so he will not like losing them. Terror Pits won't hurt the deck, but can hinder getting to cards that are easier to cast because of the right civilization ratios. Even so, Terror Pits are worth splashing since Mana Nexus is in the deck. Since Aden’s gone with more Water hitters for Crystal Lancer, making for good chances that lot of Water guys are out the same time as Nature hitters, he may need the early removal Spiral Gate provides in this deck more than not. That is especially true if he faces a Rush deck or one with early blocker drops (so he can sneak in some early hits). Plus, Aden still has Natural Snare as a shot at permanent removal and another good Mana Nexus target.  If Aden really wants Terror Pits over Spiral Gate, then he will have to give up the early spell removal options and do more creature attacking until he can set his shields, establish a nice field, or hard cast a Terror Pit. Odds are that with Natural Snare and Terror Pit (Holy Awe/Spiral Gate) in a deck close to 40 cards with Mana Nexus Aden can have some great shields.

Holy Awe is another shield trigger that some W/N players have slapped into the build to minimize the effectiveness of blocker decks, do some creature removal, and for overall defense. Many have even splashed in both Terror Pit and Holy Awe. I am starting to think that Holy Awe might become a great splash spell for W/N. Terror Pit handles just 1 annoying threat at a time, but Holy Awe can open up game winning attacks and devastation of your opponent’s field. Many offensive and defensive strategies can be facilitated through hard casting Holy Awe or having it be triggered. W/N can put out a good number of hitters, especially if the deck faces a stall player. A nice sized field + Holy Awe can spell trouble for your opponent. Either way he will lose something—his creatures, his shields, or both. Which spell to splash is a matter of preference and your meta. While your guys may not be powerful enough at times to remove other creatures with Holy Awe without trading shots, the spell can save you from an onslaught and allow you to fly past blockers. You must decide what is most important—one-shot kill, early temporary removal, or massive tapping—and what would work better in your meta. Playtest with each shield trigger spell in the deck, maybe even more than one, because that is the only way to know for certain what works best. For now, I’ve gone with Spiral Gates for early deterrence/attack clearance.

With the below fixes your evo line ratios become more 'ideal' and you still receive the benefits of both civilizations in one deck. With fixes here's the build:

[Water--24]

4 Aqua Vehicle
4 Aqua Hulcus
4 Corile
4 Crystal Lancer
4 Spiral Gates
4 Brain Serum

[Nature--20]

4 Burning Mane
4 Bronze-Arm Tribe
4 Barkwhip, the Smasher
4 Mana Nexus
4 Natural Snare

44 cards

If Aden really wants Terror Pit/Holy Awe in this build, then he could take out 4 Corile or 4 Spiral Gates for them (whichever of the two he doesn’t find himself casting as much—ie. he uses it for mana most often). Also, if he wants the deck to be 40 cards, then he could take out 4 Corile. I like Corile in Water/Nature—slows down an opponent’s draw especially where evos are concerned—so it was left in the deck. Fighter Dual Fang could make an appearance in this deck, if Aden doesn’t mind the prospects of slapping it on Barkwhip or cutting down some Water cards to add more Beast Folk. But he should keep the deck below 45 cards. Hope this helps. Thanks for writing me!