Commander Deck Tech: Sea Monsters, Attack!
“Magictating” is defined as getting into the zone with your Magic the Gathering collection--thinking, planning, organizing, reminiscing about past games, and imagining future games. It is a combination of hard thinking about the game and calm meditation, reveling in the joy it brings you.
I've been playing my “Sea Monsters, Attack” deck since 2018, and it's one of my favorite Commander decks that I own. It doesn't usually make the table groan, unite unanimously against me prior to turn 1, or win in super cheesy fashion (well most of the time). Now, if you plan to gloss over the rest of my explanations and discussion to read through the deck list, then know that you will be missing all the beautiful build up and strategy that I will lay out for you along the way. In other words…come back from the list to hear out my choices.
The Newest Includes/Updates
Dropped: Lorthos, the Tidemaker & Sprouting Vines
Included: Spawning Kraken & Double Major
Spawning Kraken is perhaps the card I've been most excited to see aside from the deck's own commander—Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle. I did not opt to include Octavia, Living Thesis because I'm not convinced I'll have enough spells in the bin to justify using her. I'll be keeping careful track of my games in the future, and if I notice that she's a good fit, then she's getting sleeved up. I actually think that I'm more likely to build an entire deck devoted to using her, replicate spells, Homarid Spawning Bed, and Scornful Egotist. But, I digress, let's focus on the “Sea Monsters, Attack” and see why it's such a fun deck to run.
I also chose not to include Wormhole Serpent for now, but that could legitimately get slotted into this deck in place of anything you don't already own, because it's a huge bang for your buck!
The Ramp:
This is a semi-traditional ramp package with cards like Kodama's Reach, Nissa's Pilgrimage, Rampant Growth, Three Visits, and Skyshroud Claim. I also figured that I should take advantage of my Commander being a land and acting as its own ramp spell. That's why I put in cards like Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (also good for drawing cards), Instill Energy, Fertile Ground, and Wild Growth. I also included a Recross the Paths as the deck has more than its fair share of high mana value sea monsters, so you can get it back again for more ramp and remove another counter from Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle. Remember that when you cast the final spell to remove the last counter you must say, “Release the Kraken!” in your best Laurence Olivier impression. The other ramp spells may look a bit odd as many of them allow you to have ramp, but also put extra lands in your hand. This is by design. There are cards that want you to be able to discard other cards to use them, and there are several others that allow you to play multiple lands in a turn—like Kiora, the Crashing Wave—that help keep you ramping way faster than the average player.
What to do with all that mana? Bounce stuff!
With all this ramping it can be very easy to suddenly have an empty hand. That's why I have a decently sized bounce package. All of these bounce spells (usually mass bounce) are designed to keep the pressure off while getting to cast some big draw spells. These draw spells help set up huge turns. The turns seem like they are going to be minor when you consider that most sea monsters in the deck have fairly high mana values, and that you won't often be able to cast two of them in a turn. That's why I opted to include many shapeshifters. Cards like Mirror Image are thematically perfect and have art that matches great with the deck, but they also enable you to drop two or three sea monsters in a single turn. Couple that along with a well timed Magosi, the Waterveil activation and you've got a path to victory. The one sided board wipes like Whelming Wave, Ætherize, Inundate, and Engulf the Shore can be especially powerful in a four or five player game. Meanwhile, several of the creatures also function as one sided tap outs or board bounce with Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep and Breaching Leviathan doing some serious work in setting up huge turns. Kederekt Leviathan also provides a massive bounce effect attached to a decent enough body. Bounce spells are key for setting up turns for your sea monsters to flood the shores and crush your opponents in their slimy tentacles!
Some often undervalued cards in the deck can really help you build enough incremental advantage that your opponents just can't compete. A few of these cards sitting out over several turns will often be the hidden key to your victory. People will be so concerned about killing your creatures that they'll overlook that the cards enabling you to make them huge threats and to cast them over and over again are actually the cards they should be dealing with. Garruk's Uprising is easily one of the best cards in the deck. It gives our Commander trample and makes it so each creature we cast replaces itself with a new card. That's fantastic value. Kruphix, God of Horizons builds up a ridiculous amount of mana in short order. I've even considered running Horizon Stone. I'm sticking with Kruphix because it's also fairly easy to turn Kruphix, God of Horizons into a creature. Overall, this means we can plan on a ridiculous turn that allows us to crush everyone in our tentacles.
Most people plan on chump blocking your giant non-trampling creatures. A couple tidal wave plays, aside from the obvious size of each of our creatures, include some colossally overwhelming cards like Stormtide Leviathan to shut down ground swarming tokens, Ominous Seas to make 8/8 krakens at instant speed, and Serpent of Yawning Depths to kill one or two players the very turn you play it—unblockable sea monsters end games very quickly. Once you do so, you can easily become the table target, so hold off on dropping them until you know you can handle any backlash directed your way. Another sneaky thing most people forget about is that Kederekt Leviathan has “Unearth: 6U”. This allows you to return it to play from your graveyard, gives it haste, and then exiles it at end of turn. This surprise bounce spell coupled with making it essentially unblockable is an amazing tempo play. Most decks won't have effects to counter this ability, and so you'll be sneaking this little bit of bounce in off the sidelines nearly every game it is available.
Now, when we talk about playing sea monsters we don't often appreciate just how sneaky they should be. They are usually hidden beneath blankets of water like Scourge of Fleets. So, it makes sense to be sneaky with how you play them. Elder Deep-Fiend is a wonderful response to someone's removal spell, and Pearl Lake Ancient is always best when played on anyone else's turn. Additionally, Pearl Lake Ancient allows us to pick up lands, and that can synergize pretty well with a couple of our retrace and jumpstart cards that we are running.
Grozoth is wonderful in this deck. I have actually cast it several times, and going to tutor up Breaching Leviathan and Inkwell Leviathan feels so good. One punishes blue decks, and the other punishes non-blue decks—the perfect storm! Now, I also included Alchemist's Refuge in this deck, because it basically gives your sea monsters haste. Giving people less time to deal with your threats is usually the best course of action. Simic Sky Swallower is our only natural flier, so it's actually incredibly strong in the deck. I've even considered, despite the flavor fails, running Levitation or Wonder in the deck to suddenly take to the skies, but it just felt wrong. Feel free to try it if you like, as I'm sure it would be a wonder to behold flying Krakens and Leviathans! The main reason Simic Sky Swallower is so strong is the shroud it brings. This makes it a great target for all of our creature copy effects. It's an evasive, trampling, untouchable threat…yeah, multiples of this can end games in a hurry.
The shapeshifters in the deck help to round out the creature mana curve. While you usually spend the early turns ramping up to your bigger spells, you might drop a Renegade Doppelganger or Cryptoplasm early on as well. It's pretty awesome to make a Leviathan or Kraken out of nowhere on someone's end step, but it's even more amazing when you turn your Cryptoplasm into a second one on your upkeep. Dropping a Kraken sorcery speed is impressive, but having Renegade Doppelganger become a hasty copy of it is a beating for your opponents. Also, casting Double Major on your Commander is pretty neat as well. I happen to think it's a nice call overall. Now, I also included Triumph of the Hordes and Walk the Aeons as kill spells for the deck. If your opponents don't counter these, then you'll likely be winning the game. You can usually cast Walk the Aeons twice, and that's generally enough to end any game with all the giant sea monsters you'll have in play by that point.
Notable Exclusions and Wrap Up:
You could probably run other spells like Cyclonic Rift or Overwhelming Stampede, but I just like to switch things up rather than “optimize” (read, be boring). I also elected not to include Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, but that's just because I felt it was almost too good. If that doesn't bother you at all, then by all means, swap out one of the less impactful beasts and toss this one in. I'm also currently waiting on my Kiora Bests the Sea God to come to me in the mail, and that is something I plan on trying out in the near future. As it is an untested inclusion I did not include it in either the budget list or the original. In the future, once I've shared nearly all of my 70+ Commander decks with all of you, I plan to provide quick updates on decks that might share and provide insight into which new cards will offer the most fun from the newest sets. Well, that's all I have for you on this deck of mine that I've really grown to love more and more (even when I get wrecked by Andrew's Narset deck). This deck is worth building, and you can definitely build it on the ultra-cheap as well! May the tides be ever in your favor!
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