Thassa Goddess of ETB's

Commander / EDH Counterspell Mono-Blue Primer Wizards

J0nnah

Creature (27)

• 1x Overwhelmed Apprentice
• 1x Augury Owl
• 1x Naban, Dean of Iteration
• 1x Stern Proctor
• 1x Thassa's OracleGC
• 1x Vedalken Aethermage
• 1x Watcher for Tomorrow
• 1x Aether Channeler
• 1x Patron Wizard
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Vendilion Clique
• 1x Amphin Mutineer
• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Naru Meha, Master Wizard
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sower of Temptation
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Salvager of Secrets
• 1x Shipwreck Dowser
• 1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Palinchron

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Mirrormade
• 1x Rhystic StudyGC

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils

Land (35)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Detection Tower
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Homeward Path
• 16x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Mirrorpool
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Sunscorched Desert
• 1x Tolaria West

Artifact (13)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Pyre of Heroes
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sky Diamond
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Crystal Shard
• 1x Scroll of Fate
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Cauldron of Souls

Commander (1)

Instant (16)

• 1x High Tide
• 1x Mystical TutorGC
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Negate
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Teferi's Time Twist
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Displace
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Illusionist's Stratagem
• 1x Force of WillGC

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Time Warp

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Windfall

Artifact (1)

• 1x Sensei's Divining Top

Instant (1)

• 1x Swan Song

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Introduction

Welcome to the realm of my goddess Thassa, Deep-Dwelling. This deck was built around february 2020 when Theros Beyond Death was released. It is my first deck ever (yeah..., mono-blue as my first deck, I guess that says alot about me).

Thassa crossed my eyes for the first time on The Commander's Quarters, where Mitch presented her as a $50 and $100 budget deck.I took that one as a baseline, and made it more competitive (75% range), as my playgroup plays with fairly optimized decks (75-100% decks).

This deck can be described as a Control, Blink Wizard, Combo Deck (in that specific order). It's for those players who love a lot of interaction and various ways to win. This deck is very versatile as it tries to control your opponents just enough, so that you can eventually pull of one of your win combo's. If you are looking for a turn 1-3 combo deck, then you are in the wrong spot. This deck likes to play first and then combo out.

So if this sounds like something for you, read on!

The Commander

Thassa, Deep-Dwelling is a strong commander for several reasons:

• The deck is built around enter the battlefield (ETB) triggers. So obviously, we need a way to repeatedly 'blink' (make them disappear and re-enter) our creatures. Thassa can do just that when she's on the field with this ability:

At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one other target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.

• She is indestructable, so that eliminates every 'destroy target creature' removal spell. (examples: Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Bone Splinters, ...]
• She isn't a creature until your devotion to blue is less then five. So that makes her immune (untill you reach 5{U} among your permanents) to cards like Path to Exile, Amphin Mutineer, Final Death, ... She is an enchantment though, so Altar's Light, Fate Forgotten, ... can target her while your devotion is low.
• She can deflect big creature attacks with this ability, although I don't use it that much: {3}{U}: Tap another target creature

We want her as fast as possible onto the battlefield and ofcourse want her to stay there to abuse all those ETB's. She isn't too expensive, so you can get her onto the field on turn 2.

General Strategy

Opening hand

I don't need to emphasize that this is your most important hand. It requires some experience with the deck to know what to keep and what not. Just make sure you have enough mana scources in your hand and some way to either control the opponents or get alot of value yourself.

Good cards to start with:

• Overwhelmed Apprentice or Augury Owl are good ways to manipulate the top of your deck early in the game
• Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study or Watcher for Tomorrow are good cards to get a massive card advantage
• Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Sapphire Medallion, Wayfarer's Bauble, Sky Diamond and Arcane Signet all help you to ramp.
• Tribute Mage can tutor for early ramp.
• Force of Will, Rapid Hybridization, Mana Drain, ... help you control your opponents early in the game.

Early Game

Depending on your opponents, you can either progress your own board state by ramping and getting your creatures out or stall your opponents. Like every control deck, you need to be aware of upcoming threats. Knowing your opponents and their decks is key here and Vendilion Clique can help you with that. Try to get thassa out asap to start abusing the ETB's in the mid game.

Mid Game

In your midgame you have two main goals:

Control

You are a mono-blue player, so your task is to make sure no one gets their wincon on the board easily. The vast majority of instant spells are there to counter their most dangerous pieces. Don't overestimate your power and counter everything, but choose to counter the vital pieces in their strategy. We run alot of wizards in our deck, so Patron Wizard can definately help you slow down there plays. Venser, Shaper Savant can bounce any permanent, even lands. With thassa on the field, we can do that once every turn. Narset, Parter of Veils stops your opponents from digging for answers. Archaeomancer, Shipwreck Dowser or Salvager of Secrets can return those counterspells to our hands, so you can counter even more.

Digging for combo's

While we control the board, we'll need to dig for our own wincons as well. Carddraw and deck manipulation is key to doing so. Consecrated Sphinx, Mystic Remora, Mulldrifter, Rhystic Study and Sea Gate Oracle. will help you a great deal with digging through your deck. We also could tutor for the right pieces: Vedalken AEthermage lets you search for any wizard. Mystical Tutor, Spellseeker for any instant/scorcery, Merchant Scroll for any instant and Fabricate for any artifact. We can also upgrade our current creatures to the ones we need using a birthing pod style card Pyre of Heroes.

End Game

At this point we want to end the game asap with one of our combo's. We'll soon be unable to control the board any longer, so try to get your wincon out asap.

Combo's and wincons

The mana cost next to the combo's are the maximal mana costs when casting all of it from you hand. If one or more pieces are on the board, the cost will be less.

Infinite Turns Show

1 Time Warp + Archaeomancer + Thassa, Deep-Dwelling

How does it work?

• Have Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Archaeomancer out
• Cast your extra turn with Time Warp
• Move to end step, where Thassa, Deep-Dwelling's trigger will flicker Archaeomancer, returning Time Warp back to your hand.
• Proceed to have infinite turns where you can draw your deck, close the game out in any given way.

Alternatives

• Shipwreck Dowser and Salvager of Secrets can replace Archaeomancer.
• Crystal Shard can replace Thassa, Deep-Dwelling

2 Time Warp + Venser, Shaper Savant + Thassa, Deep-Dwelling + Mystic Sanctuary

• On either of your main phases, cast your extra turn.
• Play Mystic Sanctuary from hand, return the extra turn spell to the top of your deck.
• Cast Venser, Shaper Savant. He will trigger on entering the battlefield.
• Target Mystic Sanctuary and bounce it to your hand.
• Proceed to have infinite turns with your turn draw always being the extra turn.

From here you can close the game out with Venser, Shaper Savant doing 2 combat damage each turn. You can tap creatures that could block with Thassa, Deep-Dwelling if you have 4 or more mana, or other outs if you have additional draws in hand etc.

Alternatives - Capsize can replace Venser, Shaper Savant and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling in this combo. Target Mystic Sanctuary with Capsize (where the buyback cost has been paid).

There are also some additional lines you can take with infinite mana, flickers with Archaeomancer etc. to produce infinite turns but those are very rare cases. An ETB doubler ( Panharmonicon / Naban, Dean of Iteration ) with Naru Meha, Master Wizard , Time Warp and a flicker spell, for example Ghostly Flicker you can cast them holding priority in a way, where you will create infinite Naru Meha ETBs and create infinite copies of extra turns.

Infinite Mana Show

1 Ghostly Flicker + Peregrine Drake + Archaeomancer (max {5}{U}{U})

How does it work?

Cast Peregrine Drake, untap your 5 lands. Cast Archaeomancer and you can return an instant of sorcery of choice from the grave. Then cast Ghostly Flicker targetting Peregrine Drake and Archaeomancer. If Ghostly Flicker resolves, it goes to the grave and Archaeomancer and Peregrine Drake return to the battlefield. With Archaeomancer's trigger you target Ghostly Flicker to return to you hand. With Peregrine Drake you untap 5 lands. Then you can repeat the process again and again. Only using {2}{U} for Ghostly Flicker, and untapping 5 lands everytime with Peregrine Drake, we create infinite mana.

Alternatives

• Illusionist's Stratagem and Displace are alternatives for Ghostly Flicker.
• Shipwreck Dowser and Salvager of Secrets can replace Archaeomancer.
• Palinchron can replace Peregrine Drake floating even more mana.

Make it a wincon

If we use Illusionist's Stratagem, we draw our deck and win due to Thassa's Oracle.

If we used Ghostly Flicker or Displace, we'll need one of the following cards either in our hand or on the field to blink together with Archaeomancer for infinite ETB's:

• Overwhelmed Apprentice to mill our opponents.
• Watcher for Tomorrow, Sea Gate Oracle or Mulldrifter to draw our deck and win due to Thassa's Oracle.
• Venser, Shaper Savant to return all of the opponents permanents to their hands (so all their lands as well) or Agent of Treachery to steal their entire board.

We use one of our mana outlets: Blue Sun's Zenith to draw our deck and win due to Thassa's Oracle or Capsize to return all of the opponents permanents to their hands.

2 Ghostly Flicker + Naru Meha, Master Wizard ({4}{U}{U}{U})

How does it work?

Cast Ghostly Flicker targetting two tapped lands. Retain priority, cast Naru Meha, Master Wizard. Let Naru Meha, Master Wizard resolve. Naru Meha, Master Wizard triggers and targets Ghostly Flicker, copying it. For the copy, chose two targets, 1 land, 1 Naru Meha, Master Wizard. Tap the land for mana. Let this copy resolve. Land is exiled and returns. Naru Meha, Master Wizard is exiled and returns. Naru Meha, Master Wizard effect triggers, copy the original Ghostly Flicker. Rinse repeat. The best part about this combo is that it can be done at instant speed.

Make it a wincon

• If you have one of the previously mentioned creatures on the battlefield, you can start to blink them together with Naru Meha to generate those infinite ETB's, draw your deck and win through Thassa's Oracle or mill your opponents.
• If you have Venser, Shaper Savant or Capsize in your hand, you can return everything to their owners hands. Agent of Treachery can steal everything. Blue Sun's Zenith is an option here as well.
• You can also use scrying to put your deck in the order that you want flickering Castle Vantress or Augury Owl. Then you could stack Blue Sun's Zenith on top of your library and if you have a source of draw (Lonely Sandbar or one of the draw creatures), you win the game. Or Shipwreck Dowser/Salvager of Secrets/Archaeomancer on top if Blue Sun's Zenith is in the grave.
• Flickering Sunscorched Desert infinitely kills all of your opponents.

3 Peregrine Drake + Deadeye Navigator ({5}{U}{U})

How does it work?

Play Peregrine Drake untap 5 lands, then play Deadeye Navigator and soulbond them together. Pay {1}{U} to use Peregrine Drake's new Soulbond ability. When Peregrine Drake enters the battlefield again, untap up to five lands (one of the lands will need to produce {U}). Tap 5 lands, use {1}{U} to use the soulbond again, floating 3 mana while doing so. Repeat as many times as you want, generating infinite mana.

Alternatives

Palinchron can replace Peregrine Drake floating even more mana.

Make it a wincon

This time you'll need to have one of those draw creature's in your hand. Once you have {INFINITY}, you can cast one of them. Soulbond with deadeye navigator, and start blinking them with their new ability. Or you have Blue Sun's Zenith or Capsize to dump your mana into.

4 High Tide + Palinchron (6x{U})

How does it work?

Cast High Tide. The remaining 5 or more islands tap for twice the mana now. Tap all your lands to cast Palinchron, you should have at least three blue mana left over. Untap up to 7 lands. Tap all lands and activate Palinchron's ability to return him to your hand. Repeat all steps, floating at least {U} everytime.

Make it a wincon

This time we can't abuse ETB's. So we'll need either Capsize or Blue Sun's Zenith to make this a wincon.

5 Panharmonicon + Palinchron (at least 6 lands in play)

How does it work?

• Cast Palinchron from your hand with Panharmonicon already in play.
• Palinchron enters the battlefield. Two instances of it’s untap trigger go onto the stack.
• Float at least 6 lands in response to the first untap trigger (Minimum mana floating: 6).
• Let the first trigger resolve, lands untap.
• Second untap trigger goes onto the stack.
• Float at least 6 lands in response to the second untap trigger (Minimum mana floating: 12).
• Let the second trigger resolve, lands untap.
• Activate Palinchron's ability to return it to your hand (Minimum mana floating: 8).
• Cast Palinchron from your hand to repeat the loop (Minimum mana floating: 1).

** Make it a wincon **

This also works as a win condition by first producing infinite mana, and then casting Venser with his two ETB triggers being an opponents permanent of choice + Venser. Repeating this loop will allow you to bounce all opponents' permanents to their hands.

Infinite Draw/Mill Show

1 Illusionist's Stratagem, Naru Meha, Master Wizard ({5}{U}{U}{U})

How does it work?

Cast Illusionist's Stratagem with at least one target. Do note that Illusionist's Stratagem has to have at least one target for Naru to successfully copy it, as you can change targets, but not the number of targets. Be sure to retain Priority when casting this, or this line of play will not work. With Priority retained, flash in Naru Meha, Master Wizard targeting Illusionist's Stratagem. With the Illusionist's Stratagem copy on the stack, target Naru Meha. Let the copy resolve, exiling then returning Naru Meha, and draw your card. With Naru Meha entering, you target the original Illusionist's Stratagem.

Repeat these steps until your library contains less cards then your devotion to blue, and you win the game through Thassa's Oracle.

Alternatives

You can achieve the same by using Displace, only now you need one of these creatures on the battlefield:

• Overwhelmed Apprentice to mill our opponents.
• Watcher for Tomorrow, Cloudkin Seer, Sea Gate Oracle or Mulldrifter to draw our deck and win due to Thassa's Oracle.

Creatures

Almost all creatures that are included in the deck are involved in a certain combo. They work on their own just fine, but have combo potential as well. However some of them are not combo-wincon material and here I'll take a closer look on why they are included:

• Augury Owl is a low-cost repeatable scry 3, with flying. It helps us manipulate the top of our deck massively, early in the game.
• Tribute Mage can tutor for Arcane Signet,Pyre of Heroes, Sapphire Medallion... let's ramp!
• Stern Proctor removes enchantments/artifacts for a while. This can be crucial to regain stolen things, or to bounce dangerous ones.
• Naban, Dean of Iteration double's all our ETB's, meaning we can abuse those even more. If our opponents allow him to stay on the battlefield, then they are in big trouble.
• Vedalken AEthermage is there to search for that one wizard that you still need in your combo: Naru Meha, Master Wizard, Archaeomancer. Or any wizard you need at that time.
• As previously mentioned: Patron Wizard can help you a great deal with controlling the board. We have enough wizards in our arsenal to make him work.
• Spellseeker is present in alot of very competitive decks, because it can fetch you almost all counter-/removal- spells that you need. Only they mostly get to use it only once. However, we can abuse this ETB in multiple ways to fetch a lot of our counterspells. Our opponents won't be too happy about this.
• Did one of our opponents just tutor for something, and do you want to get rid off it? Do you want to know their next moves? Then Vendilion Clique will help you a great deal. Having the ability to flash it in, right after a tutor, makes it even more powerful.
• Every deck needs ramp, Solemn Simulacrum is often used to just ramp one land. Imagine us ramping one land every turn. They surely don't want that to happen. So they need to get rid off Solemn Simulacrum. If they do, we get to draw. What a powerful card in this deck.
• Sower of Temptation can steal your opponents creatures. If you blink that opponents creature with thassa. You release it from the Sower of Temptation leave trigger. Then next turn, you get to do it again. Sure this is slower then Agent of Treachery, but for {2}{U}{U} you can't ask for more.
• Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir gives us the ability to enter our creatures at flash speed. This can give us a huge timing advantage for our combo's, and a way to abuse our ETB's even more. As an additional bonus, our opponents don't get to interrupt anymore. How lovely.
• Still haven't found what you are looking for? Consecrated Sphinx will for sure help you to dig deep. Especially in this format, you get to draw alot. An auto-include.
• Repeatable spotremoval and getting around indestructable makes Amphin Mutineer a needed card in this deck. A nice welcome for any eldrazi on the board.

Artifacts

Ramp

Most artifacts are there to ramp. Unlike green, blue doesn't provide us manadorks. So for this deck to be relevant, artifact ramp is most needed.

Colorless ramp

Format staples Mana Crypt and Sol Ring are ofcourse included. Thought Vessel can help us keeping those cards drawn by Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study, whilst ramping us as well.

Blue ramp

Another format staple: Arcane Signet and Sky Diamond help us with {U} ramp.

Other ramp Sapphire Medallion will reduce the cost of almost all our spells. Wayfarer's Bauble if you don't know this card, and don't understand why it is included. You should check this video, where Mitch from The Commander's Quarters will explain it to you.

Utility

The rest of our artifacts mostly double your opponents trouble. Let's take a closer look:

• Panharmonicon is a well known card in blink decks. Doubles all our ETB's.
• Strionic Resonator can double any triggered ability for just {2}. However this can only be done once per turn.
• Crystal Shard gets mostly used to bounce our own creatures to our hand, to respond to removal, to block and then get them out before damage or to bounce expensive threats back to an opponents hand. The ability to do this only once, is it's downside.
• Is your opponent about to destroy all creatures? Or maybe just one? Cauldron of Souls will make you take advantage of that, by bringin them back. Ofcourse this will trigger all of our ETB's again.
• Scroll of Fate always gets some questioning looks and great reactions, when people realize how the interaction between Thassa and manifests work - essentially, you are able to ‘Show and Tell’ any permanent once a turn into play, by manifesting your desired card from hand onto the battlefield, and flickering the manifest with Thassa at the end step. Since permanents enter the battlefield face up after being exiled, we get our ETB as well. Uncounterable additional ramp, utility pieces, or perhaps an early Agent of Treachery or Consecrated Sphinx? Count me in!

Birthing Pod? Show

Pyre of Heroes can help us a lot in searching for the right creatures at the right time. Upgrading a Overwhelmed Apprentice to Naban, Dean of Iteration for example. Or Sea Gate Oracle to Archaeomancer. There are a vast number of options when it comes to finding lines, but it's also very game specific.

Enchantments

We don't have that many, but they sure can impact the game alot:

• Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study help us to gain a massive card advantage or to slow our opponents down.
• Mirrormade can enter as a copy of any artifact or enchantment. This can target Sol Ring, Smothering Tithe, Sensei's Divining Top, Mirari's Wake or any other powerful enchantment or artifact that your opponents come up with.

Changes

30/8/2022 - DMU Changes

• Sea Gate Oracle -> Aether Channeler. Having more options is just better.

11/8/2022

• Duplicant -> Amphin Mutineer , cheaper removal + encore!
• Mnemonic Wall -> Shipwreck Dowser, one more wizard!
• Leyline of Anticipation -> Pyre of Heroes, Leyline has been a dead draw mostly. Since we mostly want to get our creatures in on our turn to abuse their ETB with thassa twice. The creatures that need flash, have flash. The one thing that this deck was lacking was tutoring for the right creatures at the right time, this 'birthing pod'-type card helps, since we run a lot of creatures with the same creature type.
• Conjurer's Closet -> Time Warp An extra combo piece, and conjurer's closet is good, but we have better/cheaper double ETB possibilities.
• Nephalia Academy -> Sunscorched Desert, helps us more to win. We can now do damage to each player with venser. Ping ping!
• Nyx Lotus -> Scroll of Fate. Instead of ramping, let's cheat in expensive creatures! Due to Thassa, Deep-Dwelling's end-step blink, the manifested card comes back face up! Nyx Lotus entering tapped was a major flaw, as well as it's cost and inconstancy in producing mana.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.03
Tokens	Bird 1/1 W, Copy Clone, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Manifest 2/2 C