release the krakens
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 2 | 16 COMMENTS | 1341 VIEWS
Land Update —Oct. 23, 2015
Updated some lands, added Stasis, and revised the instants a bit. Let me know what you think would help improve this deck.
Thanks!
FancyTuesday says... #2
I don't really see what you're getting out of your commander. His +1 is anemic in multiplayer, his -3 only has maybe 5 worthwhile targets in your deck, and his ult is useless in EDH. I would change to Simic commander, either Kruphix, God of Horizons or Prime Speaker Zegana. If you wanna stay mono blue I'd switch to Jalira, Master Polymorphist, or at the very least Thassa, God of the Sea.
32 is not nearly enough lands. Thran Dynamo isn't going to do you any good if you have to wait till turn 6 to drop it, and you don't have nearly enough ways to cheat out creatures to forgo hard-casting altogether. I'd bump that up to at least 37.
Whelming Wave seems like an auto-include in this sort of scheme, and I'm a huge fan of Curse of the Swine. From there it would depend on if you change up commanders and what commander you end up with.
September 1, 2015 7:57 p.m.
thirdcherry says... #3
The reason they aren't added yet, is when you search "Kraken" on MTG, only the creatures come up originally, have to deep search, and I just hadn't gotten that far yet in my build.
Quest for Ula's Temple looks like a must, as well as Whelming Wave, thanks guys! Jalira, Master Polymorphist looks like she fits with exactly where I've been going with this deck, I know there are a lot of polymorph cards available, just have to do some sorting/searching for best setup.
Thanks again!
September 2, 2015 1:01 a.m.
orbweaver11 says... #4
Kederekt Leviathan is a nice krakken with a sweet unearth ability.
Guard Gomazoa is like a fog bank for early defense.
September 3, 2015 5:21 a.m.
orbweaver11 says... #5
Man-o'-War, AEther Adept, and Archaeomancer would be good for polymorphing with Jalira, Master Polymorphist.
September 3, 2015 5:27 a.m.
thirdcherry says... #6
Ok guys, going to test the deck tonight, made some adjustments. Will let you know how it goes. Also planning on trying Tromokratis as general for a round and see how that plays.
September 5, 2015 12:13 p.m.
thirdcherry says... #7
so far, the deck still works fastest with Teferi, Temporal Archmage as commander. I will definitely keep Jalira, Master Polymorphist though. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip maybe anemic as a commander, but he's cheap, he's fast and gets the deck moving with card draw. Which in my play group, is a huge benefit. I've been able to stall quite a bit, but I still need ways to get things going faster.
I'm looking at dropping: Swiftfoot Boots, Hoverguard Sweepers and really struggling with whether to let go of Frost Titan in favor of either more land or more control...
Please check out the Maybe board for my thoughts on improving the mana ramp.
thoughts? thanks again for the input!
September 6, 2015 1:24 p.m.
FancyTuesday says... #8
With Teferi as your commander you open up slow mana sources. Grim Monolith, Basalt Monolith and Mana Vault all benefit tremendously from Teferi's untap ability. Worn Powerstone would also be worth considering, basically anything that taps for more than 1 is value with commander that can untap it. Being mono-colored you'll also want Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx for its explosive mana potential. I'd trade out these for more board-dependent, one-shot ramp like Energy Tap and Drain Power.
As thematically on point as it may be, I'd drop Quest for Ula's Temple. You have zero deckfixing and only 20 creatures, that's a 20% chance to topdeck a creature on any given turn and you have to hit it 3 times. I'm not a fan of Infinite Reflection here either, you don't have many non-token creatures to begin with and it makes polymorphing meaningless.
Cards like Concentrate and Divination loose out majorly for being sorcery speed, forcing you to commit resources you'd want to keep open for countering. Fact or Fiction digs deeper and Brainstorm pairs with polymorph.
You have a splash of control that I'd retool, either more and better counters or swap out the slots for creatures with ETB triggers. Cancel, Dismiss, Exclude and Rakshasa's Disdain are too few and ineffective for their cost, I'd run Counterspell, Swan Song, and Arcane Denial over any of those, and if that Mana Drain over in your Maybeboard is serious you can spring for Cryptic Command, Force of Will, and Pact of Negation.
Brine Elemental costs a lot to unmorph and is pretty weak for something being cheated out. The unblockable brothers Tidal and Deep-Sea Kraken aren't nearly as threatening in a multiplayer format with double life totals as they would be otherwise. The bouncers orbweaver11 mentioned are both great as cards to be poly'd and aren't complete disappointments if you run into them. Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur and Tidespout Tyrant are in the same part of the curve as the krakens and both blow out the game if unanswered.
You have a lot of tap-down effects and now you have a commander that untaps as an activated ability, you might wanna move towards a lockdown theme with Stasis, Winter Orb and so on.
September 9, 2015 2:33 a.m.
thirdcherry says... #9
what do you mean by deckfixing? I see the point on the untap for more than one mana, which is why I will always keep Thran Dynamo. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx looks great! Initially, I took Worn Powerstone out because i was having mana problems. So far, the deck is working better in one on one encounters, and I need to test it in my group again since I've made changes. I regularly battle against some mean Goblin, Sliver and Mill, Dragon, and Angel Decks my friends have built.
Mana Drain will be longer term acquire plan. Stasis looks amazing, I was trying to stick with one overall mechanic, but may be suitable since I already have support from Teferi. Thanks!
September 9, 2015 10:53 a.m.
FancyTuesday says... #10
Sorry, I meant deck-rigging. Effects like Brainstorm, Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, and scrys of more than 1, thing that let you rearranged the cards on top of your deck so you can rig it to be a creature card.
Duel commander and regular commander are very different beasts. In duel you might be able to get away with fewer counterspells and the unblockable krakens, though I think they're still a little underwhelming. There's also a different banlist that includes Sol Ring, though that isn't that important if you're just playing casually with your group.
September 9, 2015 12:47 p.m.
thirdcherry says... #11
Ok, I've got some solid considerations in the maybe board, help me choose what to replace. Thanks!
September 12, 2015 1:09 a.m.
thirdcherry says... #12
So, Infinite Reflection has the lovely ability to disrupt and cause an opponents creatures to enter in odd ways, as an opponent showed me by enchanting my Fog Bank... lulz
September 13, 2015 3:58 a.m.
JuiceboxHero says... #13
That was such a fun game. I thought you rather enjoyed your 3 Fog Banks with no flying, courtesy of Archetype of Imagination. :P
September 16, 2015 5:17 p.m.
JuiceboxHero says... #14
Hey, any chance you guys could help me with Hydras, Hydras Everywhere!?
The_Raven says... #1
Well... It's a Kraken deck.... Then why no Quest for Ula's Temple?
September 1, 2015 11:44 a.m.