I currently have 3 decks brewing at the moment. It was 2 until yesterday, then a secret third deck was started. So I thought I’d do an early look at one of the known decks I’m working on, the Horrors from the Deep.

So this deck will be a familiar tactic for my decks so far, and that is swing in with big creatures for the win. Except these big creatures will be round the theme of big sea creatures such as leviathan, krakens, fish, serpents, elder dinosaur and octopuses.

Below is a list of early cards I want in the deck. Although this may change. You will notice that my commander isn’t currently on the list. It’s because outside of the Commander 2018 precon deck I currently don’t have the card. So I’m not including it until I have the card.

Currently there are some counter spells in, but there will also be some ramp and fog spells added too. Oh and there needs to be some board wipes. I think that there will only be another 8 creatures added to the deck. I’m thinking about 25 will be about the sweet spot for this deck. Which is about what I’m going with for the Muldrotha deck also.

Creatures:17

1 [card]Kraken Hatchling[/card]
1 [card]Shore Keeper[/card]
1 [card]Fog Bank[/card]
1 [card]Thing in the Ice[/card]
1 [card]Wall of Mist[/card]
1 [card]Reef Worm[/card]
1 [card]Segovian Leviathan[/card]
1 [card]Archetype of Imagination[/card]
1 [card]Shipbreaker Kraken[/card]
1 [card]Fleet Swallower[/card]
1 [card]Nezahal, Primal Tide[/card]
1 [card]Scourge of Fleets[/card]
1 [card]Simic Sky Swallower[/card]
1 [card]Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep[/card]
1 [card]Stormtide Leviathan[/card]
1 [card]Inkwell Leviathan[/card]
1 [card]Deep-Sea Kraken[/card]

Spells:11

1 [card]Opt[/card]
1 [card]Stifle[/card]
1 [card]Anticipate[/card]
1 [card]Call to Heel[/card]
1 [card]Counterspell[/card]
1 [card]Search for Azcanta[/card]
1 [card]Disallow[/card]
1 [card]Drag Under[/card]
1 [card]Helm of the Host[/card]
1 [card]Time of Ice[/card]
1 [card]Crush of Tentacles[/card]

Lands:1

1 [card]Evolving Wilds[/card]

That’s the early look.

I started to writing a short message to the MtG group of some friends and realised by the end of it I was writing the start of a blog post. So here goes…

After watching the latest episode of The Command Zone with the dreaded return of SJW Jimmy Wong with the deck tech of his for a Zombie Tribal deck around the new legendary creature from M19 (that’s Core Set 2019 for regular folks) Varina, Lich Queen. Which allows for the first time the ability to build a zombie deck that uses the white zombies from the Amonkhet block, and more importantly Anointed Procession, along side the good ol’ black zombies. However I won’t be building a zombie tribal deck around this commander because I prefer my Scarab God as it’s Commander. Although Jimmy demotes Scarab God to just one of the 99. Another reason to dislike him.

So in the cards they talk about there are some cards I could squeeze into my current version of the deck, and also make use in an up coming deck in the planning. And it’s these cards I will start off with in this post.

As sufferers will remember I plan to build a Muldrotha deck where the graveyard is basically an extension of my hand. I actually want cards in my graveyard. So these two cards that Jimmy uses in his zombie deck actually looked pretty good in helping to protect my graveyard in the Muldrotha deck from being exiled. Leave a couple of mana open, and crack the abilities off in response to any exiling nastiness.

These next 2 cards I like rather a lot, casting my zombies for free or cheaper is nice. Even better the Warchief buffs them up as well, it means the 2/2 zombie tokens would come in as 4/3 tokens. Which is cool. Any buff to the tokens particularly (because my deck can generate a lot of them) to keep them on the battlefield longer is good. Plus if the Scarab God tactic isn’t working, it means I can at least start swinging in with these buffed up undead.

What’s better than having the Scarab God on the battle field with a load of zombies? Having him on the battlefield with these next 2 creatures.

Wow, cards that replicate the upkeep ability of the Scarab God in some way. These out with the Scarab God and a few zombies is a scary thought. Potentially game winning combo. Although opponents would have a turn to try and disrupt it and take me out.

I’m not sure about the following card. Probably wouldn’t play the first ability. But the card draw might be useful. It’s not as if I do anything with all the zombie tokens.

So despite Jimmy being annoying, and not as likeable as the temporary host that covered for him (who I thought had a better rapport with Josh), I have to begrudgingly admit there were some nice cards in his zombie tribal deck that I could use in mine, despite our battle plans being different.

Here we are with the threatened blog post from yesterday (well I wrote this a while back apparently and only just discovered the post in my drafts folder, so not quiet the next day as I say here). Where I shared with those remotely interested the current Wizard Commander deck that I am playing based on last years Arcane Wizardry precon and a $20 upgrade (as created by MTGGoldfish) that was applied to it, which I then changed by a couple of cards.

Since I did that upgrade earlier in the year new cards have come out in the form of new sets like Rivals of Ixalan, BattleBond, Dominaria, and now Core Set 2019. Plus my adventures amongst the planes of the MtG universe have bought me into contact with old cards that are new to me, or ones I knew about and hadn’t considered until now.

It’s the nature of the game, new cards come out, and often the first thought that goes through your head is “this card will go nicely into my xxxx deck”. And that may be so but then you are left with which card does it replace? Sometimes it’s really obvious because the new card is a better version of one that you currently use. But then you have to evaluate the card, does it weaken or strengthen my decks game plan?

First up for consideration and putting pressure on the existing cards are these four creature cards. Torrential Gearhulk and Vampire Charmseeker double down on the game plan of being able to use the graveyard as an extension of my hand, and play instants and sorcery spells from there. While Spellseeker allows me to go fetch a 2 CMC or less instant to sorcery from my library. That ability alone to go fetch the spell I need is powerful. I just got to make sure I have spells that I can fetch that way.

Timestream Navigator would along with two of the other cards introduce a new tactic to the deck. That being the extra turn. I’m not a fan of the infinite loop (I have built decks that have gone infinite in the past to illustrate the mechanic to my students), they are not fun to play against, and in a casual group fun format like Commander I feel they are against the experience of the format. I don’t mind an extra turn/combat phase, but not infinite. So there is nothing in here to make these extra turns infinite. I suppose Timestream Navigator has the potential to go infinite if you are down to your last card. But I’ve not seen a game of Commander go through 98 cards yet to get to that state.

These 3 enchantments are potentially evil. As Foretold the longer it stays out on the battlefield is going to give me so much value. Rhystic Study potentially going to give me insane card draw. Omniscience although expensive if I can cheat it out will like As Foretold give me such value. But for both I need lots of cards in hand, which the likes of Rhystic Study and one or two of the cards below would hopefully do.

Search for Azcanta is probably the easiest one to put in. Even though it’s a legendary enchantment it could replace a basic land. If I don’t flip it, I have a scry effect each turn, but if I do it taps for a mana or allows me to go looking for an answer in my top 4 cards. It’s the flipped side I’m more interested in.

Only 2 Sorceries, Game Plan is a chaotic card that is just a (potentially) fun card to play in a multiplayer format. While Time Warp is the second of the cards that give that extra turn.

I have 9 potential instants to include. The first is that controversial buy-a-box promo Nexus of Fate. The third and final card that gives me an extra turn. Like Timestream Navigator this one goes back into the library and not the graveyard.

Then we have card draw, that digging for the right card at the right time. Having answers when the questions are being asked. These are cards that hopefully help me get to those answers quicker. Then we have some targeted spells to control what’s going on. The fact that all these spells can be played more than once is just extra gravy.

So those are the cards pushing on the door wanting to claim a slot. What do they replace? Do they fit in with the game plan?

This is my initial big green stompy Commander deck. It’s a simple game plan, swing in with big stompy green beasts. As I’ve pointed out in previous posts there seems to be a theme/game plan I like. Unlike a couple of my decks I like playing this is not a Tribal deck.

A disclaimer I don’t usually make but it holds true for all my decks, these Commander decks are not meant to be competitive, but fun casual decks. The inspiration for this deck was to play big stompy green creatures. So that was the criteria for selecting most of the creatures in the deck. Big stompy creatures aren’t cheap to cast so I’ve tried to make use of greens natural ability to ramp.

Commander: either Yeva, Nature’s Herald or Melira, Sylvok Outcast.

Most of the time the commander is going to be Yeva, giving flash to my green creatures. However if you know you are up against an infect/whither deck then Melira becomes the commander.

The big elephant in the room as the stats for the deck below will show is that this deck is about 5 – 9 lands short from the number people would normally be comfortable with. So why am I not worried, and settling for 25 lands in total?

Well for starters I have Leaf Gilder, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic and Boreal Druid that tap for mana. Rishkar, Peema Renegade gives each creature with a counter on it the ability to tap for mana. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger adds an extra mana per land I tap (plus slows down opponents). I have 7 sorceries that allow me to go fetch at least one land if not more. 3 mana rocks in the form of artifacts. 3 artifacts that give me a discount on spells. 6 enchantments and an artifact that boost mana production.

So even with a lowish number of lands I should be generating an awful lot of mana. Mana that will be sunk into the mana sinks I have in the deck. Which is basically the hydra. The more I can throw into these beasts when I cast them the better. Even funnier is if I have Doubling Season and/or Primal Vigor out at the time. Then these become scary big.

This vanity casual deck isn’t cheap to build. According to the decked app and its link to CardKingdom its more expensive than I was expecting. I am taken aback little by the costing. Doubling Season alone shows why I proxy in the card, and produce it when it is needed. I think it’s in 3 decks at the moment.

Ok here is the initial deck list.

Creatures:34

1 Boreal Druid
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Feral Hydra
1 Hungering Hydra
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Hooded Hydra
1 Leaf Gilder
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Eternal Witness
1 Lifeblood Hydra
1 Managorger Hydra
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
1 Steel Leaf Champion
1 Thrashing Brontodon
1 Elvish Piper
1 Ivy Lane Denizen
1 Yeva, Nature’s Herald
1 Gigantosaurus
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Aggressive Mammoth
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Hydra Broodmaster
1 Hydra Omnivore
1 Oran-Rief Hydra
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Greater Sandwurm
1 Tornado Elemental
1 Khalni Hydra
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Spells:41

1 Adventurous Impulse
1 Attune with Aether
1 Forced Adaptation
1 Lay of the Land
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Sol Ring
1 Unbridled Growth
1 Aim High
1 Blackblade Reforged
1 Bonds of Mortality
1 Emerald Medallion
1 Gaea’s Blessing
1 Karametra’s Favor
1 Land Grant
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Moss Diamond
1 Song of Freyalise
1 Thought Vessel
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Crushing Canopy
1 Cultivate
1 Gift of Paradise
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 Nissa’s Pilgrimage
1 Retreat to Kazandu
1 Rhonas’s Monument
1 Helm of the Host
1 Pir’s Whim
1 Return to the Earth
1 Whirlwind
1 Doubling Season
1 Overwhelming Stampede
1 Primal Vigor
1 The Mending of Dominaria
1 Caged Sun
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Wave of Vitriol
1 Zendikar Resurgent
1 Praetor’s Counsel
1 The Great Aurora

Lands:25

1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Detection Tower
20 Forest
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tranquil Thicket

Naturally this isn’t the final deck list. Decks are living breathing things. New cards come out, you find an existing card that would work better. Who knows I may have to adjust the mana base up. I’ve only played this deck once. It seemed to work, and got to do its thing. But it needs more play.

“phew! 3 days of boring videos over” I hear you say. Sadly for you I’m following those videos up with some extra boring posts. Welcome to the first of those cures for insomnia.
I do like playing this deck, the majority of it’s current state is based on the $20 Budget Upgrade for the Arcane Wizardry 2017 Commander deck on the MTGGoldfish web site. You may have noticed from one or two other decks I’ve used them as the starting point for taking a precon and making it my own more than once. The nice thing about this site and the articles is that these are budget upgrades that the majority of people can afford.

I would not let a new player use this deck as their first deck to pilot. There needs to be a lot of attention paid to what is going on. And there is also a fair bit of decision making to make also on your turn. And it’s these two things that make this deck fun for me to play with.

The Commander I went for with the 2017 precon was Kess, Dissident Mage. I liked the plan of attack for Kess over the one for Inalla. I went spell-slinger over wizards. Hey we are wizards we should be slinging spells. It’s thematic.

Ok something I keep forgetting in this type of post, here is the mana curve for the deck as done by the Decked app.

As an exercise I got the app to also price the deck up based on the CardKingdom prices at the time of writing, and it weighed in at a few cents shy $132. Sensei’s Divining Top and The Immortal Sun account for roughly $38 of this price. Which happen to be two of the cards I swapped in. That’s not bad if you are buying the singles. But I’m sure the original precon can be picked up for around the original price, so it should be possible to put this together for half that if you stick to the original posts budget upgrade list.

Here is the all important deck list:

Creatures:15

1 Young Pyromancer
1 Izzet Chemister
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Archaeomancer
1 Kess, Dissident Mage (Commander)
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
1 Bloodline Necromancer
1 Body Double
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Magus of the Future
1 Mercurial Chemister
1 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent

Spells:47

1 By Force
1 Dark Ritual
1 Faithless Looting
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Spell Pierce
1 Cabal Ritual
1 Comet Storm
1 Dimir Signet
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Go for the Throat
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Increasing Vengeance
1 Into the Roil
1 Izzet Signet
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Reality Shift
1 Reverberate
1 Terminate
1 Burning Vengeance
1 Commander’s Sphere
1 Crosis’s Charm
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Frantic Search
1 Sage’s Dousing
1 To the Slaughter
1 Unstable Obelisk
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Insidious Will
1 Jace’s Sanctum
1 Memory Plunder
1 Primal Amulet
1 Syphon Mind
1 Dark Petition
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Mana Geyser
1 Metallurgic Summonings
1 Silumgar’s Command
1 Mind’s Desire
1 Opportunity
1 Spelltwine
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Kindred Dominance
1 Necromantic Selection
1 Decree of Pain

Lands:38

1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Command Tower
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Grixis Panorama
10 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
4 Mountain
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Scavenger Grounds
6 Swamp
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Marsh

Now this post isn’t the end of me talking about this deck. The next post will be looking at whether I have new cards that should be in this deck, and if so what do they replace?