Thassa's OverWhelming Wave

Commander / EDH Control Mono-Blue Multiplayer Tempo Theme/Gimmick

FeralKitten

Artifact (19)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Crystal Shard
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Quicksilver Fountain
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Land (36)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 25x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terrain Generator
• 1x Tolaria West

Creature (18)

• 1x Archetype of Imagination
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Draining Whelk
• 1x Great Whale
• 1x Kederekt Leviathan
• 1x Lorthos, the Tidemaker
• 1x Man-o'-War
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1x Pearl Lake Ancient
• 1x Scourge of Fleets
• 1x Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
• 1x Stormsurge Kraken
• 1x Stormtide Leviathan
• 1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1x Thing in the Ice  ^Flip
• 1x Tidespout Tyrant
• 1x Tromokratis

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Crush of Tentacles
• 1x Devastation Tide
• 1x Distorting Wake
• 1x Part the Waterveil
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Pull from the Deep
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Whelming Wave

Commander (1)

Instant (15)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cryptic Command *list*
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Disallow
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Negate
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Swan Song

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study

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Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Cursecatcher
• 1x Riptide Shapeshifter
• 1x Sea Scryer

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Leyline of Anticipation

Instant (5)

• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Overwhelming Denial
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Turnabout

Artifact (2)

• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Vedalken Shackles

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Coastal Breach
• 1x Treasure Cruise

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It all started when I pulled a Whelming Wave in a pack of Born of the Gods. I saw that card and thought to myself, "WIN CONDITION!" When my buddy wanted to build theme decks, I had the perfect opportunity to make it happen. I wanted to build something fun, flavorful and powerful.

Who better to head up a water themed deck than Thassa, God of the Sea? She provides insane value throughout the game with the scry and unblockable abilities, not to mention can punch someone's face when they're getting out of line.

If you're feeling a bit more aggressive you can run Tromokratis or Lorthos, the Tidemaker as your general, both of which work nicely with the deck's namesake card. If you run Lorthos, you get the bonus of always having access to the lone octopus in the deck.

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Deck Theme/Philosophy

The goal of the deck is simple: control the pace of the game and finish with big "splashy" creatures. Over time some of the less effective, but more thematic, cards have been removed in favor of more focused and competitive build, but that goal remains the same.

I've always been a fan of bounce spells and with the water themes of cards like Whelming Wave, Capsize and Devastation Tide it all seemed like a perfect fit.

You could try to thematically justify the artifacts in the deck as treasure found at sea, but really they're here because this deck needs A LOT of mana, plus some are just very good and fit in with our gameplan. I also find it absolutely hilarious to imagine a giant sea creature wearing a pair of tiny flaming boots!

The Gameplan

Our first few turns will be spent ramping and filtering our top of deck until we can drop Thassa, God of the Sea. Once Thassa is out we can begin to shape our draws to fill the gaps in cards we need. Once we're stabilized with decent mana output we can start to put pressure on the board with a few big beaters while keeping our opponents off their game with bounce and counter magic.

If you're playing against heavy combo then you might just want to hold up some mana instead of windmill-slamming Thassa on T2 or T3, even if you don't have an answer in hand. Sometimes just a few untapped Islands are enough to deter an opponent.

This deck runs a heavy suite of removal via bounce, but make sure you're smart about how you use it! You'll usually want to keep it up to protect yourself (or someone else politically) or cast something big and asymmetrical like Cyclonic Rift EOT to swing a game in your favor.

Awesome Cards

Lorthos, the Tidemaker - A giant octopus with a possibly oppressive ability...it's perfect for this deck!

Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor - Timing is everything with this creature, and if you tap everything down before your turn it should leave people open for big beats and leave mana up since you won't have to activate Thassa's ability!

Thada Adel, Acquisitor - The islandwalk is nice, but being able to just make her unblockable is so much better. I can has Sol Ringz?

Deadeye Navigator - Protecting VIPs and abusing ETBs since 2012.

Crystal Shard - Has so many uses like bouncing a creature when an opponent taps out, saving a dude from removal (even someone else's) and reusing stupid ETB effects like Scourge of Fleets or even just bouncing Mulldrifter in response to the evoke trigger (yes, evoke is a trigger).

Vedalken Shackles - With the number of islands in this deck, you'll usually have your pick of creatures on the battlefield.

Capsize - Not only is it on theme, it can be a win condition with enough mana.

Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Turnabout, Time Spiral, Great Whale - All ways to untap lands, usually involving Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or High Tide.

Riptide Shapeshifter - This card is neat and seems unassuming at first, until you see that most of our creatures can be directly tutored for. For those who don't feel like going through the creature types here they are:

• 1 Cephalid - Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor
• 1 Djinn - Tidespout Tyrant
• 1 Elemental - Mulldrifter
• 1 Human Wizard - Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Horror - Thing in the Ice  
• 1 Illusion - Draining Whelk (counterspell!)
• 1 Jellyfish - Man-o'-War
• 3 Kraken - Scourge of Fleets, Stormsurge Kraken, Tromokratis
• 3 Leviathan - Kederekt Leviathan, Pearl Lake Ancient, Stormtide Leviathan
• 1 Merfolk Rogue - Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1 Octopus - Lorthos, the Tidemaker
• 1 Spirit - Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Whale - Great Whale

  Combos

  Deadeye Navigator + Great Whale - Infinite mana. There aren't many outlets for infinite mana in the deck, but making sure costs are not an issue goes a long way for us.

Deadeye Navigator + Draining Whelk - Repeatable counterspell that beats faces.

Oboro, Palace in the Clouds + Quicksilver Fountain - Can soft lock opponents from colored mana production.

Man-o'-War + Tidespout Tyrant - Repeatable bounce a permanent for when you have Man-o'-War bounce itself.

Archetype of Imagination + Stormtide Leviathan - Only you can attack, and only creatures with reach (spiders and treefolk?!?) can block your stuff.

Honorable Mentions

For those who want to crank up the sea theme knob to 11 and don't mind sacrificing a bit of power/efficiency, here are some other cards that may be worth running:

• Inkwell Leviathan
• Chasm Skulker
• Sigiled Starfish
• Cephalid Constable
• Gomazoa and/or Guard Gomazoa
• Reef Worm
• Trench Gorger
• Grozoth
• Deep-Sea Kraken
• Master of Waves
• Lost in the Mist
• Scattering Stroke
• Inundate
• Displacement Wave
• Flow of Ideas
• Coastal Piracy
• Spreading Seas
• Quest for Ula's Temple
• Flooded Shoreline

• Homarid Spawning Bed

  Fun Stuff

  A few of the more whimsical things you can (and should) do with this deck:

• Whenever you play Tromokratis, or someone even mentions his name, start singing his name to the tune of 'Rock Me Amadeus'

• Whenever you cast a water-themed bounce spell, make splashing noises
• Flap your arms like tentacles as you tap down permanents with Lorthos, the Tidemaker
• Play Leviathan roulette with Riptide Shapeshifter
• Call Mystic Remora by a different name: Fish Stick Study
• Crack jokes about sleeping with the fishes

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Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position overall 10 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Blue 4 years ago
Date added	10 years
Last updated	6 years
Key combos	Deadeye Navigator + Great Whale Archetype of Imagination + Stormtide Leviathan Deadeye Navigator + Draining Whelk Oboro, Palace in the Clouds + Quicksilver Fountain Man-o'-War + Tidespout Tyrant
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.84
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Octopus 8/8 U
Folders	This is pretty cool, Other People's EDH Decks, decks, possible decks, EDH, EDH, Decks to Try, interesting decks, EDH, Decks I Want To Use