New take on mono-blue. Prevents getting blown out by cards like Mistcutter Hydra and Skylasher. Far / Away In the main is excellent because casting either sides of this card is awesome. Away is an excellent tool against Naya Hexproof decks, which are growing in popularity due to heavy removal decks like mono black and esper. The deck is still weak to Supreme Verdict and Anger of the Gods, but there's not much a creature deck can do against cards like that. The goal is the get enough damage in before those cards hit the table to push through afterwards, and in post board cards like Font of Fortunes will help refill your board afterwards. The addition of Hypnotic Siren has actually had a decent impact. Instead of top decking a 0/1 Flyer in a late game Cloudfin Raptor, we are now drawing a mind control on a body. Sideboard is very control focused, as most match ups are favorable. This deck currently stands at 14-2 in standard tournament games, and has not lost a match. Played against heavy removal twice, beating esper control 2-1, and drawing to R/W/B 1-1 due to time. The deck has extraordinary game one matchups, and most decks have a difficult time living to turn 6+.
One of my favorite things about the deck is the consistency of the "God hand". It consists of:Turn one: Island, Judge's Familiar or Hypnotic SirenTurn two: Island, Frostburn Weird or Tidebinder MageTurn three: Generic untapped land, Thassa, God of the Sea or Nightveil SpecterTurn four: Untapped land, or having your turn three land be Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and playing Master of Waves.
This hand will usually kill your opponent on turn 5. Use your mana on turn 5 to either bounce their blockers, or just make Thassa and Master unblockable with her ability, and swing out. The reason that hand is so consistent is because excluding the turn four play, you have 8 cards in the deck that will allow you to get that perfect turn.
Weaknesses. Heavy removal will keep you off of Thassa. Getting Bident, Jace, or both will help with this. Cards like Thoughtseize and Slaughter Games can really mess up your tempo. Game 1 against super-kill decks can go either way, it really depends on your respective draws. If you draw Thassa and non-creature devotion, and they do not attack your hand, you'll be okay. If they draw a lot of kill and you only have creatures, it's probably going in their favor. Post board games get a little bit better for you, taking out some creatures (Exact cards depend on matchup. If their deck is midrange or aggro, take out tidebinders, if they are late-game, take out frostburns) in favor of enchantments like Font of Fortunes, Claustrophobia, Pin to the Earth and Domestication if they have good targets. (Their turn three Brimaz, King of Oreskos is a perfect one).
Remember that Master is the epitome of a "kill the head and the body will die". Don't rely on untapping with him when you are playing with removal, and don't give them lethal damage by only leaving master and/or tokens back to block. Also remember that he is not lethal. Oftentimes opponents will count your damage, and swing out because they think they can take the swingback. Dropping another Master on your field and making your tokens 3/2s has ended a few games for me.
