commander-nezahal

Commander / EDH Mono-Blue

scottnonnenberg

Sea Monsters (17)

• 1x Breaching Leviathan
• 1x Inkwell Leviathan
• 1x Kiora Bests the Sea God
• 1x Kraken of the Straits
• 1x Lorthos, the Tidemaker
• 1x Mesmerizing Benthid
• 1x Pearl Lake Ancient
• 1x Scourge of Fleets
• 1x Serpent of Yawning Depths
• 1x Shipbreaker Kraken
• 1x Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
• 1x Spawning Kraken
• 1x Stormsurge Kraken
• 1x Stormtide Leviathan
• 1x Tidal Kraken
• 1x Trench Gorger
• 1x Tromokratis

Boardwipes (5)

• 1x Crush of Tentacles
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Engulf the Shore
• 1x Flood of Tears
• 1x Whelming Wave

Single-target Removal (4)

• 1x Curse of the Swine
• 1x Icy Blast
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Into the Roil

Play at instant speed (2)

• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Vedalken Orrery

Ramp (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Kefnet's Monument
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Quicksilver Amulet
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Land (38)

• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Silundi Vision  ^Flip
• 28x Snow-Covered Island
• 1x Terrain Generator

Recursion (3)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Mnemonic Wall
• 1x Torrential Gearhulk

Utility (2)

• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Mystical TutorGC

Commander (1)

Card Draw (11)

• 1x Archmage's Charm
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Cryptic Command
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Kefnet the Mindful
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic StudyGC
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Sublime Epiphany

Protection (5)

• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Aetherspouts
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Wall of Frost

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Key ideas:

• Tagline: Instant-speed play, bounce/counter, large hand, sea creatures (the soul of blue)
• This is a slow, controlling deck. Our commander Nezahal, Primal Tide allows us to sit back and draw cards, blinking him to protect him if necessary. Nezahal, Thought Vessel and Reliquary Tower let us keep a big hand full of options.
• A whole lot of bouncy disruption, and some good tapping down too. Via spells and on creatures themselves. Crush of Tentacles can even create an 8/8 Octopus token. Two ways to bounce everything but Krakens, Leviathans, Octopuses, and Serpents (Whelming Wave and Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep), so we jammed all the best of those into this deck - really, looked through every one of these creatures in blue/colorless.
• Quite a few counterspells, with a focus on modal spells: Archmage's Charm, Cryptic Command, Mystic Confluence, Sublime Epiphany, Swan Song, and Mana Drain.
• Many ways to fill hand: Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Consecrated Sphinx, Fact or Fiction, Stroke of Genius, Blue Sun's Zenith, Kefnet the Mindful, and of course Nezahal himself.
• Some good ramp to help us afford all of these expensive creatures, like Sapphire Medallion and Extraplanar Lens. Also Quicksilver Amulet to get a big sea creature down for free per turn cycle. And Omniscience to dump our hand in the very late game.
• A focus on instant-speed spells, and both Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery to make everything else instant-speed as well. Ideally we get these down, put down Omniscience with a huge hand, dump a bunch of big sea creatures on the board during the end step before our turn, and swing in for the win!
• Two tutors to really embody blue and improve consistency: Mystical Tutor (an instant/sorcery to top of library) and Fabricate (an artifact, to hand)
• Recursion subtheme to bring back important instants and sorceries: Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall, and Mystic Sanctuary (and Kefnet the Mindful to bounce it back), Torrential Gearhulk.

Originally inspired by CommanderReplay:

• Gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-AZ-a-B4YI
• Deck http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/10-12-18-arixmethes-sea-monsters/

Date added	6 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.48
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Boar 2/2 G, Copy Clone, Illusion 0/2 U, Kraken 8/8 U w/ Hexproof, Kraken 9/9 U, Octopus 8/8 U