For as long as Theros has been in existence, Thassa, God of the Sea and Purphoros, God of the Forge have been locked in an endless battle of the elements. With the watchful eye of
Jace, the Living Guildpact
and
Chandra, Pyromaster
each side has it's own story to tell:
When Jace came first came to Theros, he was immediately drawn to Thassa's power. The way she commanded devotion from her followers and watched over the sea made him believe that she was truly the master of her element. Using her resources to command the elements of water, she was entrusted with the aide of the
Master of Waves
, who himself had the power to draw upon the water elementals. Through Thassa and the master's ingenuity, they were able to combine their powers to create something so spectacular, that it defied gravity. Jace was so impressed by the
Vaporkin
's ability that he too crafted his power to reflect that of the ever changing tide, bringing in new and washing away old.
Chandra, however, saw things differently. As a pyromaster she had an unrelenting hunger for power and destruction, similarly to that of fire, that led her deep into the molten forge to consult with Purphoros himself. He was tired of Thassa's elements eroding his mountains and shores so with the help of Chandra, sought out the assistance of a Young Pyromancer. Like the
Master of Waves
this individual was equally as skilled in creating fire elementals. These Generator Servants struck fiercely and violently like lighting which Chandra attributed to her own skills.
With the encouragement of the two plainswalkers, Thassa and Purphoros became so caught up in their battle for devotion that they didn't even realize that something had gone wrong. During the midst of elemental conjuring, the
Master of Waves
and Young Pyromancer had accidentally crossed elemental forces, creating a new creature. This Nivmagus Elemental embodied both fire and water and was certainly a force to be reconed with. What concerned the two gods the most was that there was no telling who's side it was on due to its shared devotion between the two elements.
Seeing the power this new elemental held caused a realization in both Thassa and Purphoros that if they could win it's devotion, they would have the power they needed to overcome the other side. For years, the two gods focused their efforts solely on trying to win the devotion of the Nivmagus until one day they finally had enough and clashed in a glorious battle of fire and water as a means of proving to it that they were the superior element.
Jace and Chandra, content with the build up that caused these two enormous forces to explode, looked on from the sidelines, offering assistance to their respective sides if needed. To this day, the battle still rages on and it's up to you to bring these two elements together to fight for one cause.
So, not only does this deck have an AWESOME back story but the amount of synergy in this deck is unbelievable and makes it really competitive.
Starting with the blue side, you have
Jace, the Living Guildpact
. He is pretty viable in this deck, adding two devotion to both Thassa, God of the Sea and
Master of Waves
. He's mostly used for his -3 ability to remove an opposing threat from the field but can also be used on
Master of Waves
to recast and get more elementals. Next on the list is Thassa, God of the Sea. She really works with the deck to make sure you get the draws that you need and even allows you to double scry with Jace's +1. Her ability to make creatures unblockable is really good if you have a beefy Nivmagus Elemental or a creature with a bunch of ciphers that need to get through.
Master of Waves
is the big hitter for the blue team because not only does he produce a lot of tokens on ETB but he gives all elementals +1/+1. That means
Vaporkin
becomes a 3/2 with flying and all of Master Pyromancer's dudes become 2/2's.
Vaporkin
is a standard answer to flying but can also be a good way to make sure those cipher effects get through. Last but not least, there are
Hidden Strings
and
Trait Doctoring
. There is so much to say about these two cards that there will be a separate section at the end.
On the red side, you have
Chandra, Pyromaster
. She is really good for pinging small guys or just dealing that extra 1 damage if a
Lightning Strike
or Shock doesn't do the job. Her 0 ability is also really good with the amount of deck stacking you get from Jace and Thassa. Her ult will probably be rarely used but in the event of triple casting a
Lightning Strike
with a Purphoros, God of the Forge and a Young Pyromancer on board, you're looking at three 1/1 elementals and 15 damage to the face. Purphoros, God of the Forge is the bread an butter of this deck. With the amount of token production you do between Young Pyromancer and
Master of Waves
, your opponent will be taking tons of burn damage before combat even starts. Young Pyromancer is the big hitter for the red team as he produces elementals at the CAST of an instant or sorcery. That means every cipher trigger gives you another creature. Generator Servant gives the deck that extra kick and allows your creatures to come out swinging. Sacrifice it to play a
Master of Waves
for 1U or two
Vaporkin
s for one U each with haste.
Lightning Strike
and Shock are just standard burn spells that also proc Young Pyromancers elemental production.
Last and certainly not least, there is Nivmagus Elemental. There's a reason both side are fighting over him because he is RIDICULOUSLY broken. First off, as an elemental, he gets the +1/+1 bonus from
Master of Waves
making him a 2/3 for R/U. Next, whenever you proc a cipher ability, you can choose to exile it to give him an additional +2/+2 each time and even though the spell doesn't resolve, you're still casting it so you get an elemental from Young Pyromancer.
This brings us to the two cipher cards. Starting with
Hidden Strings
this is going to be your bread and butter. It allows you to tap or untap any two permanents including lands so if you wanted, you could cast the initial spell for free buy choosing to untap the lands you tapped to cast it. A really good control spell for any creatures your opponent may have and if you don't see any valid targets, you can just eat the spell with Nivmagus Elemental. When it comes to cipher spells, more often than not your are going to want to cast
Hidden Strings
which is why we have
Trait Doctoring
. As a one drop spell, it allows you to get that free cipher trigger and elemental production from Young Pyromancer and then immediately turn around to give your Nivmagus Elemental +2/+2. However, upon further investigation, the spell's abilities do in fact have some uses. The most notable one is that for a turn, you can give
Master of Waves
protection from a different color pre combat if you're casting it for the first time or post combat if it's a cipher trigger. Another thing you can do is change the devotion requirements on Thassa, God of the Sea and Purphoros, God of the Forge. Have 5 devotion to red and a Thassa on board? Play the spell and turn her online for a turn!
I didn't spend too much time on the sideboard as I was too busy writing the story behind the deck. I just made a general one for different situations such as Skullcrack against pesky lifegain, Rapid Hybridization and Dissolve for removal, and a completed playset of
Vaporkin
and Generator Servant to tailor the game for more aggro or more flying.
The deck and the story are both completely original and I hope you enjoyed reading and possibly playtesting. I am always open to criticism so if you have any suggestions of how I can make the deck better then please let me know in the comments! If you like the story or the deck, don't forget to upvote!
