This is a VERY budget mono-blue combo deck which utilizes
Fold into AEther
and Tormod's Crypt to play an
Inkwell Leviathan
on turn 4 consistently.
The deck additionally plays wrath-bounce spells such as Whelming Wave and
Engulf the Shore
in order to take pressure off the board and hose token strategies. The deck is additionally very counter heavy using Mana Leak, Negate, and Condescend all mainboard to stop the opponent from comboing off or stopping our combo from happening.
DESCRIPTION OF EACH CARD'S PURPOSE
---UPDATES OCCUR FREQUENTLY, THIS MAY NOT BE UP TO DATE---
Fold into AEther
- This is the card which the deck revolves around. It is incredibly powerful and perhaps one of the best sleeper cards in the game. The entire premise of the deck is to counter any spell that you control with
Fold into AEther
. Ideally this is to be done with a Tormod's Crypt, but any spell will do. Only in a desperate situation should this spell ever counter an opponent's spell.
Tormod's Crypt - Perhaps the second most important spell in the deck, this allows you to counter a zero cost spell on turn four in order to combo and plan an
Inkwell Leviathan
,
Stormtide Leviathan
, or even an Arcanis the Omnipotent. The reason this spell is chosen over cards such as Ornithopter and
Memnite
is that Tormod's Crypt is a useful spell which this deck can take advantage of by randomly hosing popular decks like Living End, Dredge, and Delve strategies.
Think Twice
- This card is used when I want to combo off at instant speed. At six mana it is much more expensive, but almost always worth it because it will allow me to play and block with a giant leviathan mid-combat, or I can wait for my control opponent to tap out, then immediately combo off. When I was first constructing the deck I thought that I would most likely want to counter a spell which I can still get value from, and that's exactly what
Think Twice
does for this deck.
Condescend - One thing I want from this deck is for it to be fun, inexpensive, and effective. Condescend is the perfect fir for this. It is very cheap (both money and mana wise), it helps find land drops and assemble the combo together, and it can counter turn two plays, punishing any opponent for curving out. A very ideal card.
Mana Leak - Just like Condescend, Mana Leak is solely in here for a cheap effective counter. Mana Leak is incredibly consistent and very easy to cast, making it an automatic include in this deck.
Negate - Although it does not hit creatures, Negate is spectacular with dealing with control based opponents who are trying to mess up the combo. Often times, it is best to wait in order to hold up Negate as protection for making sure the combo goes through. Leaving up the two extra mana is very important and effective when playing.
Cyclonic Rift - The most expensive card in the deck at over four dollars, this card is very necessary to the function of this deck. In the early game, Cyclonic Rift is excellent at removing any pesky creatures, enchantment, planeswalkers, or artifacts making it incredibly versatile and useful. Late game, this card is a complete blowout against many strategies since at instant speed, you can remove all of the opponent's progress, untap, and combo off.
Serum Visions - This card lacks real synergy with this deck other than the fact that it can be comboed with
Fold into AEther
. Besides that, this card's real use in this deck is to smooth out the draws and help find what is needed. This deck is relatively clunky and needs cards like this. But it can easily be replaced with cards such as Impulse.
Whelming Wave - The only issue with
Engulf the Shore
is that in the late game, there are moments when
Engulf the Shore
hits
Stormtide Leviathan
and
Inkwell Leviathan
. With Whelming Wave this deck essentially has the blue equivalent of In Garruk's Wake. There isn't much of a chance of facing other leviathan playing decks, so Whelming Wave is very reliable.
Concentrate
- Just like Serum Visions the purpose of this card is to find what is needed.
Concentrate
can easily be replaced with cards like Jace's Ingenuity.
Tectonic Edge
- This only serves as a way to mess with our opponent, same as any other deck running
Tectonic Edge
. This deck runs quite a few lands and card drawing, so we can afford to sac this to disrupt opponents.
Inkwell Leviathan
- In my opinion, this card outclasses creatures like Griselbrand and in some cases even
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
.
Inkwell Leviathan
dodges removal, tramples over chump blockers, and is even unblockable in some cases. If you can afford to put in
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
, I would say that in a lot of cases it is definitely better with the Annihilator 6, but for the nice budget version,
Inkwell Leviathan
does a fine job.
Stormtide Leviathan
- There are times when playing a 7/11 trampler on turn 4 will not win the game due to incredible pressure put on by the opponent. In this case, stop your opponent's creatures in their track with
Stormtide Leviathan
. Another sleeper card in my opinion, this 8/8 unblockable not only punches in for incredible amounts of damage, but additionally shuts off your opponent's creatures entirely. The reason there are two copies in the sideboard is for when the matchup is with an aggressive deck where it is more beneficial to play a
Stormtide Leviathan
and stop your opponent's creatures rather than play an almost strictly aggressive
Inkwell Leviathan
.
Arcanis the Omnipotent - This deck only contains one copy of Arcanis. The only reason is to provide some excellent card draw when needed, and he also serves as a formidable blocker against mid sized creatures. But, mainly the only purpose is to add some incredibly good card draw. Feel free to replace Arcanis the Omnipotent with any other giant blue creature (thinking of Colossal Whale, Tromokratis, even a
Jace's Mindseeker
if you feel like it)
