Inspired by the mono Blue Devotion deck that's been tearing up the Pro Tour, but with a Simic twist. Like the Mono version, the idea is to hit your opponent early and often with cheap flyers and unblockable creatures, all the while building Devotion towards Thassa, God of the Sea and
Master of Waves
. While splashing Green gives up some Devotion, this deck has a lot more muscle for the late game with cards like Zameck Guildmage and Master Biomancer turning all the weenies into threats (not to mention making Master of Waves 10x better), and Evolvers like Experiment One allow for aggressive play early while having a solid board presence late. The breakdown:
Cloudfin Raptor: The bread-and-butter. The deck is built around cheap flyers and Evolving / using +1/+1 counters. Here's both in a one-mana package.
Experiment One- Teams well with Cloudfin and the flyers for fast starts while Evolving easily to regeneration-ability thanks to the plethora of creatures with 3+ toughness. He gives the deck a better answer to big creatures than the Mono version has to offer.
Judge's Familiar: An obvious choice for a cheap flyer. With so many creatures, it's important to build in answers wherever you can.
Faerie Impostor
: Bouncing your own creature is supposed to be a downside, but when it comes to Evolving and using creatures like
Omenspeaker
and
Master of Waves
, it can actually be an advantage, especially in a format with 3 and 4 drop boardwipes. It can also be held back until Master Biomancer arrives, then get the counters itself and allow an earlier creature to get the boost.
Dryad Militant: Only a 2-of since it's not Blue, but it's another aggressive one-drop that helps your Evolving happen quickly.
Zameck Guildmage: Normally not a fan of him (for example, he didn't manage to make the cut in my Simic Elf deck), but he is a beast here, almost like a Biomancer Jr. He can get more value out of the 15 one-drops, helps with Evolving, and is the main card advantage engine. And for 6 mana instead of 4, you get to keep Master of Waves' tokens even when he leaves.
Omenspeaker
: I love being able to scry early on, especially of I know I'm about to draw a card or two. His 3 toughness evolves Exp One and Cloudfin nicely while making a great blocker against aggro like Little Red and mono White.
Frostburn Weird
: A Devotion and Evolving juggernaut for 2 mana. He is also a beatstick vs control. One other thing worth noting is that he enjoys having +1+1 counters; for example, Biomancer makes him a beefy 3/6 as is, but his potential power doubles from 4 to 8.
Elusive Krasis
: A wall against any deck that Evolves my guys and can quickly Evolve himself, and an unblockable attacker when needed.
Master Biomancer: In his zone in this deck. The one drops become ridiculous value, Master of Waves is insane, and the draw power means that the bodies will keep coming. He also allows your Evolving to reach new heights while adding another solid defender to the board, and having two out at once will have Judge's Familiar laughing at the puny
Arbor Colossus
. Nightveil Specter is a cute trick with high Devotion, but as an alternate win con to Waves and Thassa, you can't beat this.
Master of Waves
: Hits the table with a few less buddies than the Mono version, but they tend to last a little longer. While his power isn't initially impressive, he can obviously be pumped and Evolves your army to his power immediately.
Thassa, God of the Sea: Usually finishes the game quickly when she hits the board with enough Devotion, as she neutralizes their best threat and makes your entire army unblockable. In case it's relevant, she also Evolves the troops if entering as a creature. But laying her down quickly to take advantage of the scry is also solid.
Simic Charm: The Swiss Army knife that should be in any creature-based Simic deck. It protects your PERMANENTS from removal- including a noncreature Thassa or a planeswalker. The
Giant Growth
has a variety of uses, from typical things like pushing across the last bit of damage or killing a creature in combat, to more quirky plays like pumping a Biomancer before playing a couple cheap dudes. The Unsummon effect can similarly do routine tasks like bounce Aura'd or otherwise dangerous creatures or eliminate tokens, or less obvious ideas like saving an important creature from Supreme Verdict or recycling
Master of Waves
. I'm sure there's other ideas I missed; it's simply never a dead draw.
Bident of Thassa: I really wish this card wasn't Legendary or there would be more on the mainboard. This card allows you to simply overwhelm your opponent with and swing all the evasive creatures since an army of blockers or replacements will be in your hand shortly.
SIDEBOARD
Bred for the Hunt: I'm on the fence on this card since I have playtested some games in which its been dynamite, but other times it does nothing. For now, it seems like a solid add for the mid or control matchup to stack with the Bident and bury the opponent with card advantage.
Claustrophobia
: I have considered mainboarding this card, but it's too dead of a draw in control matchups and really isn't great if not for the Devotion. That said, the extra 2 Blue and tempo swing definitely come in handy vs creature decks, and any time you can remove something with Blue and not leave behind a token, you're doing ok.
Jace, Memory Adept: Another card-advantage engine specifically for WU control (not bad v. Esper, but they have Hero's Downfall and Detention Sphere to deal with it). I also considered Jace, Architect of Thought, but his plus isn't really relevant in the matchups I'd want to use him, which would really limit his effectiveness. By contrast, Memory Adept's card advantage comes from his plus so it can be used every turn, and the mill option gives me another win con.
Prophet of Kruphix: Another good option v. midrange that allows me to both attack and block with my evasive troops and cast creatures faster than their removal can keep up. But the real reason this is here is that flashing in
Master of Waves
during their end step is just too stylish to pass up.
Rapid Hybridization: I am also considering Curse of the Swine for another removal option, but the one mana cost of Hybridization makes it useful in a few different matchups. I like it most against midrange decks with big creatures, but it is also useful against Devotion decks that depend on high-impact cards like Fanatic of Mogus since you can kill their highest Devotion creature in response and only have to keep one mana open to do so. It has a bonus effect here of Evolving my creatures if I Hybridize my own guy that's about to die anyways. And something I just learned- you can Hybridize your own Thassa and get an instant-speed 3/3, assuming she's in creature mode.
Tidebinder Mage- It's
Claustrophobia
plus a Bear against Red and/or Green decks. It doesn't Evolve my creatures well enough to make the mainboard like it does in the mono decks, but I will happily sub him in for Zameck Guildmage or Judge's Familiar in the right matchup.
Mutavault: Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is better in most matchups, but I'll throw this in vs control since my Devotion will probably be kept in check.
