From the Depths of the Sea

Commander / EDH GU (Simic) Kraken Leviathan

iSacs1987

Land (36)

• 1x Barkchannel Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 3x Island
• 1x Island
• 3x Island
• 1x Littjara Mirrorlake
• 1x Lumbering Falls
• 1x Memorial to Genius
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Rimewood Falls
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Skyshroud Forest
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Vineglimmer Snarl
• 1x War Room
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Crush of Tentacles
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Whelming Wave

Creature (29)

• 1x Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
• 1x Breaching Leviathan
• 1x Brinelin, the Moon Kraken
• 1x Charix, the Raging Isle
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Gyre Engineer
• 1x Hydroid Krasis
• 1x Inkwell Leviathan
• 1x Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
• 1x Kiora's Follower
• 1x Koma, Cosmos Serpent
• 1x Krosan Drover
• 1x Lorthos, the Tidemaker
• 1x Nadir Kraken
• 1x Nylea, Keen-Eyed
• 1x Pearl Lake Ancient
• 1x Sea-Dasher Octopus
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Serpent of Yawning Depths
• 1x Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
• 1x Spawning Kraken
• 1x Stormsurge Kraken
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x Thunderous Snapper
• 1x Tromokratis
• 1x Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
• 1x Verazol, the Split Current
• 1x Vizier of Tumbling Sands

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Court of Bounty
• 1x Garruk's Uprising
• 1x Kiora Bests the Sea God
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Ominous Seas
• 1x Quest for Ula's Temple
• 1x Rhystic Study

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Crystal Shard
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Curiosity
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Instant (9)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Decisive Denial
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Opt
• 1x Plasm Capture
• 1x Shared Summons
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
• 1x Kiora, Master of the Depths
• 1x Kiora, the Crashing Wave

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Theme of the Deck

This Commander Deck is a blue/green Aggro-Deck with Arixmethes at its Top. I got the Idea from the Aesi -Deck from Commander Legends when I saw the different Kraken , Serpents , Leviathans and Octopuses . Therefore the deck resolves around Kraken , Serpents , Leviathans or Octopuses . With the help of Kiora , Thassa and Token-Producer the whole theme is further enhanced. Even the Board - Wipes were chosen so that either my big splashy creature remain on the battlefield or I get at least one big splashy creature back.

Monsters of the Sea

The main strategy of this deck is relativly simple, since it tries to bash the opponents with the help of big splashy sea creatures. Therefore I included a broad collection of Serpents, Octopusses, Leviathans and Kraken which all have some nice little abilities or ETBs to make the most out of them. To further amplify the mass of creatures on my Board I included several cards which produce Kraken or Octopus Token. The included creatures or producers of Tokens are the following:

1. Kraken:
   1. Creatures: Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle , Brinelin, the Moon Kraken , Nadir Kraken , Spawning Kraken , Stormsurge Kraken and Tromokratis
   2. Token generators: Ominous Seas , Kiora Bests the Sea God and Kiora, the Crashing Wave
2. Leviathans: Breaching Leviathan , Charix, the Raging Isle , Inkwell Leviathan , Pearl Lake Ancient and Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
3. Octopusses:
   1. Creatures: Lorthos, the Tidemaker and Sea-Dasher Octopus
   2. Token generators: Crush of Tentacles and Kiora, Master of the Depths
4. Serpents: Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait , Koma, Cosmos Serpent , Serpent of Yawning Depths and Verazol, the Split Current

The only exception to this theme regarding my main attackers is the included Hydroid Krasis but since it is a Jellyfish, it can also be viewed as part of the Sea-Life.

Laying the Foundation

Since nearly all my attacking creatures have high mana value, I have to be able to generate a great amount of Mana in a realtively short time. During the first stages of planning this deck I had to choose between ramping via lands or via Artifacts and creatures. I choose the later, simply because the thought of ramping via my Commander and some Artifacts was more appealing to me. Therefore I included a big variety of different Ramp-Spells, including some options to put lands from my hand into play, to help me cast my Sea-Monsters as fast as possible. Furthermore I included cards to lower the Mana cost of my creature Spells as well as some options to cheat the creatures into play. I went for the following ramp options:

1. Mana-Rocks: Arcane Signet , Fellwar Stone , Hedron Archive , Mind Stone , Simic Signet , Sol Ring , Talisman of Curiosity , Thought Vessel and Thran Dynamo
2. Mana-Jerks: Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle , Gyre Engineer , Kiora's Follower , Selvala, Heart of the Wilds , Vizier of Tumbling Sands , Kiora, Master of the Depths and Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
3. Cost-Reduction: Krosan Drover and Nylea, Keen-Eyed
4. Cheat into play: Mosswort Bridge , Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy , Court of Bounty and Quest for Ula's Temple
5. Land Ramp: Kiora, the Crashing Wave , Growth Spiral , Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Furthermore I tried to generate a Mana-Base consisting of a lot of Dual-Lands to be able to generate all needed combinations of and at all times of the game. The small amount of Basic lands can be found via Myriad Landscape , Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse which also help me to be able to draw my Sea creatures more often.

Getting Reinforcements

Due to being in blue this deck has access to many different Card-Draw options. I included a mix of Can-Trips, Blue Staples and cards generating value from playing big splashy creatures. Furthermore some Tutors were included to search for Reinforcements directly from the deck. Included were the following options:

1. Can-Trips: Brainstorm , Opt and Ponder
2. Staples: Consecrated Sphinx , Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study
3. Drawing of my Creatures: Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner , Sea-Dasher Octopus , Selvala, Heart of the Wilds , Stormsurge Kraken , Thunderous Snapper , Bident of Thassa and Garruk's Uprising
4. Tutors: Fierce Empath , Nylea, Keen-Eyed , Kiora, Master of the Depths , Shared Summons and Worldly Tutor

Clearing the Path

This deck runs several different Single-Target-Removal as well as some Board-Wipes to clear the path for my giant creatures. The Removal-Spells consist of different Counters ( Counterspell , Decisive Denial , Plasm Capture and Quandrix Command ), Bounce-Spells ( Crystal Shard , Cyclonic Rift , Whelming Wave , Brinelin, the Moon Kraken , Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep and Crush of Tentacles ) as well as Tapper ( Kiora Bests the Sea God , Koma, Cosmos Serpent , Lorthos, the Tidemaker and Breaching Leviathan )). All in all the removal suits this deck and fits even thematically.

Crushing Through

Even though most of my creatures are very big, they often lack Evasion and thus aren't able to deal as many damage as intended. To address this problem I included cards to either give my creatures Trample ( Garruk's Uprising ) or make them simply unblockable ( Thassa, God of the Sea and Serpent of Yawning Depths ). Another option is to force my Opponents to attack me via Bident of Thassa and thus clearing their board by blocking with my Sea Monsters.

Last Words before Drowning

All in all this Deck follows it's theme throughout nearly all stages of the game and runs very consistent. I'm able to generate between 8 and 12 Mana around Turn 5 or 6 and thus can put out my Sea Monsters around the same time. Especially neat is that my Commander is often the first big creature to be able to attack even though I have to play five Spells after casting him, to be able to attack with him. The power level of this deck is pretty solid even though I made some suboptimal choices in regard to Ramp and Removal.

How to help the Sea Monsters

I'm always grateful for suggestions for this deck, but please keep the overall theme of this deck in mind. I rather want to build the deck resolving strongly around the whole Sea-Monsters theme than as strong as possible. I know that some of the cards are in contradiction to this claim ( Mystic Remora , Rhystic Study or Cyclonic Rift ) but I had to include them to be able to compete in my Playgroup. I already have some cards that could be included but I'm not sure if they are strong enough and if they are, which cards I should cut from the deck. In the following I will list these cards with some of my own thoughts on them:

• Thassa's Intervention , which seems to be a reasonable Counter and Card-Draw Spell
• Thassa's Rebuff could be a reasonable Counter in this deck because of the high devotion to Blue it can generate
• Kiora's Dismissal could be used as a Mass-Bounce-Spell for removing problematic Enchantments
• Thassa's Ire could be used to tap potential blockers
• Thryx, the Sudden Storm could grant even more Cost-Reduction for my creatures, but doesn't seem to fir the theme of the deck
• Tidal Kraken seems to be a nice beater but I think the current creature setup is stronger
• Octavia, Living Thesis from Commander 2021 seems to be a nice card, but since this Deck doesn't resolve around Magecraft, I think it wouldn't be as strong as it could be
• Icebreaker Kraken from Kaldheim is another nice Beater but I simply don't play enough Snow-Lands to make the most out of him
• Shipbreaker Kraken was part of this deck, but was removed for Mystic Remora . I still think I should make some room for it but I simply can't figure out which card I should remove.
• Tolarian Kraken could help me out by tapping my opponents creatures for every card I draw, but I think this ist too mana intensive
• Stormtide Leviathan is another creature that was once a part of this deck but was removed for additional Ramp-Spells
• Aethersquall Ancient could be used as another Board-Wipe
• Elder Deep-Fiend another creature that was once part of this deck, but seems to be simply not good enough for me
• Grozoth can currently only find Inkwell Leviathan and Breaching Leviathan . Other options would be Leviathan and Thing from the Deep which both are not really playable
• Mesmerizing Benthid brings two Blockers with it and can be protected from Removal. I'm simply not sure if it's good enough
• Nimbus Swimmer doesn't do enough to replace some of the other creatures
• Wormhole Serpent from the new Set Strixhaven could be another way to make my creatures unblockable, but I can't think of a card to remove from the deck for it

Date: April 21, 2021

Top Ranked	Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH GU (Simic) 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.70
Tokens	Copy Clone, Emblem Kiora, Master of the Depths, Emblem Kiora, the Crashing Wave, Koma's Coil 3/3 U, Kraken 8/8 U, Kraken 8/8 U w/ Hexproof, Kraken 9/9 U, Octopus 8/8 U, Tentacle 1/1 U, Monarch Emblem
Folders	Commander, commander, KRAKE, Cool Stuff, arix