Shark Fighter I fight sharks (non-wheel Sharkbros)

Commander / EDH Casual RUW (Jeskai, America) Theme/Gimmick

supa_tim

Lands (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 1x Desert of the Fervent
• 1x Desert of the Mindful
• 1x Desert of the True
• 1x Drifting Meadow
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 5x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 3x Mountain
• 3x Plains
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Raugrin Triome
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Remote Isle
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Smoldering Crater
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Utility (12)

• 1x Akroma's Blessing
• 1x Commit / Memory
• 1x Dismantling Wave
• 1x Forsake the Worldly
• 1x Izzet Charm
• 1x Mage's Guile
• 1x Narset of the Ancient Way
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Rescind
• 1x Shredded Sails
• 1x Starstorm
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Ramp (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Raugrin Crystal
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Cycling (26)

• 1x Akroma's Blessing
• 1x Akroma's Vengeance
• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 1x Complicate
• 1x Desert of the Fervent
• 1x Desert of the Mindful
• 1x Desert of the True
• 1x Dismantling Wave
• 1x Drifting Meadow
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Forsake the Worldly
• 1x Hieroglyphic Illumination
• 1x Irrigated Farmland
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Mage's Guile
• 1x Miscalculation
• 1x Neutralize
• 1x Nimble Obstructionist
• 1x Raugrin Crystal
• 1x Raugrin Triome
• 1x Remote Isle
• 1x Rescind
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Shredded Sails
• 1x Smoldering Crater
• 1x Starstorm

Countermagic (12)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Complicate
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Miscalculation
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Negate
• 1x Neutralize
• 1x Nimble Obstructionist
• 1x Remove Soul
• 1x Stifle

Careful Studies (10)

• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Catalog
• 1x Dangerous Wager
• 1x Desperate Ravings
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Read the Runes
• 1x Tolarian Winds
• 1x Wild Guess
• 1x Windfall

Commanders (2)

 ^Flip

 ^Flip

CardSelection (21)

• 1x Anticipate
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Catalog
• 1x Commit / Memory
• 1x Concentrate
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Hieroglyphic Illumination
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Mind Spring
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Obsessive Search
• 1x Opt
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Prosperity
• 1x Read the Runes
• 1x The Locust God
• 1x Think Twice
• 1x Treasure Cruise

BoardWipe (3)

• 1x Akroma's Vengeance
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Starstorm

Combo (3)

• 1x Glint-Horn Buccaneer
• 1x Psychosis Crawler
• 1x The Locust God

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Maybeboard

Other (10)

• 1x Big Score
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Chart a Course
• 1x Fend Off
• 1x Prismari Command
• 1x Shattered Perception
• 1x Thirst for Discovery
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Thrilling Discovery
• 1x Witch's Mark

CardSelection (1)

• 1x Improbable Alliance

Lands (1)

• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium

Ramp (1)

• 1x Azorius Signet

Countermagic (1)

• 1x Disallow

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Shark Fighter, by The Aquabats

Do you like drawing a bunch of cards? Do you like toolbox decks with a lot of answers? Is cycling a cool mechanic? Do you want to play Brallin and Shabraz but don't want to use a bunch of Wheel of Fortune effects? Then check out the Shark Fighter! (Primer in progress)

Intro

Although Brallin doesn't actually fight sharks (in fact, he's very friendly with Shabraz), nor does he have blonde hair, and he doesn't fight things in the water...I couldn't help but think of "Shark Fighter" when I put the deck together.

I bought the Timeless Wisdom precon for two reasons: cycling looked like an interesting mechanic to build around and to get Fierce Guardianship. Heh.

I don't actually have some of the really good cycling cards (decree of silence/annihilation), but I wanted to give it a shot nonetheless. After building around Gavi, Nest Warden the deck felt really weak. I wanted to build it like a control deck, but I couldn't fit enough countermagic in because I needed to make room for cycling cards. I wanted to cycle my cards to get dino cats, but that usually meant cycling away answers. And for a control deck, that felt really counter-intuitive. I'm sure you can build Gavi in a control shell, but perhaps I don't have the cards for it, nor do I have the patience to dive into all the nuances of it.

Nevertheless, I bought the precon so I wanted to use the cards. Akim, the Soaring Wind seemed really uninteresting so I did a little digging into how others built the deck with Brallin, Skyshark Rider  /Shabraz, the Skyshark  . In my research I saw an interesting combo with New Perspectives and The Locust God. I noticed (as I assume most people have) that Brallin combos with New Perspectives as well. So, Shark Fighter it is. Many Brallin/Shabraz decks are built with wheel effects, and I can see why: They are much more efficient at dealing big packets of damage. But since I don't own too many Wheel of Fortune effects (not even the original :sadface:), I started with the cycling theme.

After really giving the cycling mechanic a go as the primary strategy, the deck just couldn't keep up with my pod. So, I ended up moving it more toward a spellslinger deck that focuses primarily on growing Shabraz and using Brallin to get some damage in (but no longer the primary commander). However, the deck keeps a high number of cycling cards because 1) the cycling mechanic helps both commanders and contributes to the win, and 2) there are several cycling cards that are still powerful and at the very least, cycling makes them not dead. The deck does run a few wheel effects, but I don't consider it a wheel deck, because it doesn't run enough of them to power out huge wheel turns, therefore it plays differently.

Winning

The primary way the deck wins is to play Shabraz (relatively) quickly, then start gaining life and growing the flying shark for a big swing. He's not necessarily a huge target at first, so it gives you a bit of wiggle room in terms of defense, but certainly try to keep some protection spells up to defend Shabraz. Brallin is secondary, but you should cast him when you have some security for Shabraz, as he will help you close out games. Once you have Shabraz (and Brallin) online, continue to use your Careful Study effects to dig through your deck for answers, protection, and more careful studies. Shabraz and Brallin work really well together with evasion to get that combat damage through, and they both get plenty big to end games with just a few hits. Therefore, combat damage is your primary way of winning, even if Brallin helps whittle down your foes.

The deck features a few creatures that supplement this strategy: Psychosis Crawler, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, and The Locust God. Psychosis Crawler and Glint Horn play into the direct damage theme with Brallin, and the Locust God gives you an alternate win by going wide with flying bugs.

Mana

The manabase looks really janky on paper because there are so many lands that enter the battlefield tapped. However, those are needed for cycling purposes and you have enough lands that it usually doesn't slow you down. The deck seems to be able to get the mana it needs through fetches and duals, and the signets help ramp as well. Luckily, the deck is pretty reactive, so it isn't really ramping into anything. Getting your commander down on turn 4 instead of turn 5 isn't very important for this deck, but you still want to make your land drops. The deck runs 36 land and 7 mana rocks as ramp, which isn't a lot, but enough draw to make sure you continue to get your land drops. Once you hit 6 mana you're often in a good spot, but be sure to keep playing lands as you get them, especially any non-cycling land. Drawing into more draw and being able to cast a lot of spells in a big turn is important.

Gameplay Tips

The deck often plays like an aggro-control deck. You want to use your countermagic and removal to take out key threats from your opponents, and protect your commanders. But you can't lock-down a game, so you want to do just enough to stay alive but also keep your presence as non-threatening as possible until you are in a position to swing in a few times with your commanders. You have a ton of tools at your disposal and inherent ways to dig for them through cycling and careful studies, so try to position yourself as helpful for removing universal threats so that you aren't the main target for people.

It's ok to play slowly and not rush out your commanders. While the deck runs a handful of smaller wheel effects, this is not a wheel deck. You can't just wheel into another wheel, etc. So, a more methodical approach of smaller digging every turn to sculpt your hand is a better approach. Playing Shabraz early can be a good decision because he naturally grows just by you playing the game, and gives you a cushion of life to help weather attacks from your opponents. I often undervalued lifegain in the initial builds for the deck, but your life total can get big easily, and will help against direct damage decks, or decks that try to go wide and don't win with commander damage. It's actually super helpful.

Playing Brallin soon after Shabraz also gives you another threat, and a way to whittle down your opponent's life total through discard. His ability to give Shabraz trample is not insignificant. However, neither become too threatening right off the bat, so you may have some time to establish answers in-hand before people try to remove them. It goes without saying, but having both commanders out at the same time is actually really good as well, as they can both be evasive threats to close the game with commander damage, and they are often big enough to be effective blockers without risk of trading.

The deck has quite a few ways of playing out, so in game decision making is critical. Do you keep mana open for countermagic/removal? Or use it for a sorcery speed dig spell/careful study? Remember to prioritize pitching some of the draw or careful studies that have flashback (Think Twice, Deep Analysis, Faithless Looting etc. and Obsessive Search with madness), so that you get the most out of both your hand and graveyard. The deck is reactive in a lot of ways: countering or removing threats early in the game. But it goes on the offensive later, when Shabraz and Brallin have grown in size.

Let me know your thoughts.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 40 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.62
Tokens	Emblem Narset of the Ancient Way, Insect 1/1 UR
Folders	EDH, The Aquabats EDH, Currently Sleeved