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BMoor's Magic
The
Gathering
Deck
Garage
A blue deck that's themed about... water? Really?
November 12, 2009
Before you read today's installment of the Garage, I suggest
you go to YouTube, look up the best sea shanty you know of,
and have it playing in the background as you read this. I
recommend "Billy Peddle" by Great Big Sea-- it'll set the
mood nicely, and it's mostly an instrumental, in case you
have trouble focusing on what you're reading when there's
music with lyrics playing.
It happened one day that as I was sorting through a pile of
commons from M10, my gaze fell upon a Serpent of the Endless
Sea. Immediately, I was transported from my cozy living room
into an ocean of raging whitecaps and driving rain. Just as
suddenly, I heard the shouts of panicked sailors rise above
the din of the crashing waves. However, their cries were cut
short by the thunderous roar of a mighty sea serpent!
Needless to say, I was sold. I grabbed 26 islands off my
shelf faster than you can say "Leviathan" and got busy
making a deck themed around the swirling waters of the deep
and some of the fearsome beasts that inhabit them.
Creatures (of the deep):
4x Dandan
3x Veiled Serpent (technically not a creature, but turns
into one fast enough)
4x Serpent of the Endless Sea (RAAAWR!)
1x Lorthos, the Tidemaker (Nothing says "you're being
attacked by a sea monster" quite like a giant squid... or
Octopus, as the case may be.)
Everything else:
4x Spreading Seas
2x Flood
2x High Tide (Does it get any more thematic than this?)
4x Into the Roil
2x Careful Consideration
3x Rewind
1x Walk the Aeons
4x Wayfarer's Bauble
Lands
26x Island (It really does feel like you're adrift in a
vast, stormy sea when you've got 7 or 8 islands in play and
you're keeping the opponent at bay with gigantic serpents
and a Flood.)
While I have a great time slapping down serpents and
sloshing around with my islands with this deck, it's not
without its problems. For one, I'm puzzled by the fact
that I always seem to be running out of cards; despite my
cantrips and card draw. Obviously this is one of my more
casual decks, so it doesn't need to perform like a
tournament powerhouse; but all the same, do you have any
suggestions that might help it do a little less sinking and
a little more swimming?
I'll tread water until you get back to me,
Keith
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have no fear, Keith, I'm here to throw you a life raft. My
only regret is that I'm writing this on Guy Fawkes Day
instead of Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Now, how to make the oceans themselves rise up and serve
your needs? Well, the moon controls the tides, so it
couldn't hurt to throw in some Moonfolk. Soratami Savant and
Uyo, Silent Prophet are among the best ones.
But the Soratami are aloof cloud dwellers that aren't at
their best in combat and don't really suggest the ocean, so
we can do better. Zendikar has given us an excellent choice:
Living Tsunami! What better way to make your opponent feel
like's adrift in a hostile sea than to summon a living
tsunami to wash him away?
You can evoke that same idea with Kamigawa card Genju of the
Falls. If a tsunami didn't get the point across, use your
ACTUAL ISLANDS to attack for an unblockable three damage a
turn. When your opponent is literally under attack by the
land (or should I say ocean) underneath him, he'll get the
idea pretty quick.
Another card, or pair of cards, that feel pretty at home in
this deck would be Mana Drain and the card it later
inspired, Draining Whelk. After all, you can't have a
body of water witout some sort of drainage, can you?
Also, I think you should replace Careful Consideration with
the much more on-theme Gush. Gush is more powerful, mainly
because you can tap all your lands for other cards, then at
end of turn use Gush's alternate cost to draw two more.
Of course, between the Tsunami, Gush, and any Moonfolk you
may want to add, you'll be returning a lot of Islands to
your hand. How to make up for it? Well, to answer that, we
can take an example from the idea man himself, Magic's
premier monoblue mage, Jace Beleren. In the Jace vs. Chandra
Duel Decks, Jace runs Gush among other cards, and
counterbalances the drawback (not literally, or course) with
a singleton copy of Terrain Generator. Since you're running
plenty of Islands, you can definitely afford to replace one
of them for this land, and be able to increase the rate at
which you put Islands onto the field. That should also let
you replace Wayfarer's Bauble-- a good card, but your deck
would liekly be better served by AEther Spellbomb,
Conjurer's Bauble, or perhaps Ponder. Of course, there are
very few blue decks that don't become better when you add
Ponder.
And as for your deck's tendency to run low on cards, there
can be only one card that I could suggest to solve that
problem. That card, of course, is Flow of Ideas. No other
card will work as well or fit the theme so well.
That's about all I can say for this deck, Keith. Now get out
there and bring the nor'easter down on some unsuspecting
landlubber's head!
Good luck!
~BMoor
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