<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon" href="#" target="_blank">Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://borjapindado.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Borja Pindado</a></em></p>
<p>When it comes to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon" href="#" target="_blank">Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, it's difficult to tell whether he's comprised of fresh water or salt water. Today, we're here to wash away any vaguery and establish that Hydro-Man's saltier than the <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/76147-saltiest-lake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gaet'ale Pond</a> in Ethiopia (from context you can guess that yes, that's the saltiest body of water in the world).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon"></div></div>
<p>But what makes our moist friend so salty? Reading the card itself up there, there's nothing particularly salt-inducing about its mechanics. It's certainly weird; that part's not up for debate. But salty? There are many worse offenders when it comes to salty commanders out there.</p>
<h2>What Does Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon Do?</h2>
<p>So what <em>does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon" href="#" target="_blank">Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></em> do? For two blue pips, we get a 2/2 Elemental Villain with two abilities, the first being considerably more normal than the second.</p>
<p>Whenever we cast a blue spell, Hydro-Man gets +1/+1 until end of turn. We've seen variations on that line of text before on cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Quirion Dryad|PLS|89" href="#" target="_blank">Quirion Dryad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and more accurately, a scarcely-seen common Merfolk from <em>Shadowmoor, </em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gravelgill Duo" href="#" target="_blank">Gravelgill Duo</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. No surprises there.</p>
<p>It's that second block of text that takes Hydro-Man from forgettable to unique. At the end of each of our turns, we untap Hydro-Man and he ceases to be a creature. Until it's our turn again, he's a land that taps for <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>. And...that's it.</p>
<p>There are some important things to remember when it comes to Hydro-Man's ability to de- and reconstitute himself depending on whose turn it happens to be. First, while he becomes a land that taps for blue, he is <em>not </em>an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Island" href="#" target="_blank">Island</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. He's not a basic land. He's just particularly wet. This is important to note when we're dealing with land-based deviance from opponents - especially <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Blood Moon" href="#" target="_blank">Blood Moon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>It's all about layers and dependency and timestamps, but at the end of the day, if Blood Moon's in play and Hydro-Man's a land, he's "Legendary Land - Mountain" and has the ability to tap for <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-r" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> <em>and </em>the ability to tap for <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>. He still shifts back to a creature on your turn, since that's a continuous effect not interrupted by Blood Moon.</p>
<p>The other important thing to remember is that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Evacuation" href="#" target="_blank">Evacuation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an instant.</p>
<p>So how do we build a Hydro-Man deck that's mostly budget-friendly, is firmly Bracket 2, and is one of the most miserable things to play against?</p>
<p>That last part isn't a goal so much as a consequence, by the way.</p>
<h2>Watery Owl Netsuke</h2>
<p>A while back (and by "a while" I mean nearly 20 years ago now) there was a Standard deck called "Owling Mine." It made waves (pun intended) at Pro Tour Honolulou in 2006 by using cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Howling Mine|9ED|298" href="#" target="_blank">Howling Mine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to fill the opponent's hand, then bounce everything they played with stuff like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Boomerang|9ED|66" href="#" target="_blank">Boomerang</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Remand|RAV|63" href="#" target="_blank">Remand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Once their hand was overflowing, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ebony Owl Netsuke" href="#" target="_blank">Ebony Owl Netsuke</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> would start dealing damage in chunks until casting <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sudden Impact|9ED|222" href="#" target="_blank">Sudden Impact</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> was lethal. It's a great deck, and probably one of the absolute worst to play against when things are going well for the Owling Mine player.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Evacuation|9ED|75"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Howling Mine|9ED|298"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ebony Owl Netsuke"></div></div>
<p>We're taking inspiration from Owling Mine and applying it to a Hydro-Man Commander deck, in the hopes that our opponents will learn to fear the aquatic villainy of the most moist man in Manhattan.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Key Cards for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon" href="#" target="_blank">Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aetherize"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Engulf the Shore"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Perplexing Test"></div></div>
<p>The fact that our commander isn't a creature during opponents' turns means he can successfully dodge mass bounce spells cast at instant-speed. He even pitches in a mana to cast them, which really is just nice of him.</p>
<p>Like Owling Mine, we're trying to prevent our opponents from gaining momentum by repeatedly sending their permanents back to their hand, and we've got plenty of ways to do that. And it's not just creature bounce, either:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Filter Out"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hurkyl&#039;s Recall"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rebuild"></div></div>
<p>We're leaning heavily into the mass bounce spells as opposed to the targeted ones that Owling Mine used to play, since we've got three opponents trying to cast spells instead of just one.</p>
<p>And realistically, opponents who catch wind of what we're trying to do aren't going to be happy, so expect to be the table's villain whenever a game gets rolling - which, if we're being honest, is written right on Hydro-Man's card. If anything, this deck is Villain-themed. Maybe it's actually Bracket 1?</p>
<p>Anyway, we've got sorcery-speed mass-bounce too, just to really hammer home the point:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aether Gale"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Consuming Tide"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Inundate"></div></div>
<h2>How Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon" href="#" target="_blank">Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Win?</h2>
<p>So we've got that part of the game plan sorted. How do we, you know, <em>win</em>? Just like our Owling Mine inspiration, we just have to establish the punishers. Unlike Owling Mine, though, we aren't locked into a pool of cards limited to the Standard environment of <em>Ninth Edition, Ravnica: City of Guilds</em>, and the Kamigawa Block.</p>
<p>Naturally, we've got the eponymous Owl, but we can surround it with a number of other annoyingly damaging artifacts:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Black Vise"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Iron Maiden"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Misers&#039; Cage"></div></div>
<p>There are a few others, but outside of the Owl, this trio is our bread-and-butter. We want to get these down as early as we can, make copies of them with things like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sculpting Steel" href="#" target="_blank">Sculpting Steel</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phyrexian Metamorph" href="#" target="_blank">Phyrexian Metamorph</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, then rake in the benefits of having opponents with hands full of random whatever. That's step two of our plan. We've got ways to keep permanents in-hand and not in play, and we've got the means to turn the currency of cards in-hand into raw damage.</p>
<p>You may now be wondering how we don't just die through attrition, and that's valid.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Arcane Laboratory"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Propaganda"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Frozen Aether"></div></div>
<p>It's all about buying time to let Owl and Friends do their diabolical work. We're building a wall, slick with Hydro-Man's salty, salty water, that says "Yes, I've ruined this game of Commander, but it's not worth the effort of trying to make me suffer the consequences of my actions."</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aether Barrier"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dissipation Field"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thorn of Amethyst"></div></div>
<p>Really, it's everyone else's fault for building decks that rely so much on resolving and using permanents. And we've got <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thorn of Amethyst" href="#" target="_blank">Thorn of Amethyst</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in here, but be sure to point out that no, this is <em>not </em>a Stax deck, because Stax as a strategy undermines the spirit of lower bracket Commander games, and we wouldn't do that.</p>
<p>Hydro-Man wouldn't do that.</p>
<p>What Hydro-Man <em>would </em>do, though, is provide everyone with cards. People <em>love </em>drawing cards.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jace&#039;s Archivist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Prosperity"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Forced Fruition"></div></div>
<p>As you might have guessed, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Folio of Fancies" href="#" target="_blank">Folio of Fancies</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a critical card for ensuring games aren't hours-long slogfests. If everyone's discarding down to seven cards each turn, that just means it'll take longer for the Owl to hoot its heralding misery.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Folio of Fancies"></div></div>
<p>If budget weren't a concern, we'd be playing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Anvil of Bogardan" href="#" target="_blank">Anvil of Bogardan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in a heartbeat. (Does Hydro-Man even <em>have </em>a heart?)</p>
<p>In all reality, what we're building here is precarious at best, and any deck that tries to simultaneously flood the game with resources while trying to limit the implementation of those resources is really just trying to plug 11 leaks with ten fingers.</p>
<p>But if everything comes together, it's all worth it - at least it is for us. It's probably important to note that while the deck features no <a href="https://edhrec.com/top/game-changers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game Changers</a> and is exactly Bracket 2 in power level, it's at a 60.8 on <a href="https://archidekt.com/decks/15744424/hydroman_fresh_or_salty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Archidekt's Salt Scale</a>.</p>
<p>For context, the median Salt Score for decks is 38. So if you sleeve this bad boy up, you know what you're doing.</p>
<hr />
<h2><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon" href="#" target="_blank">Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Commander Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Hydro-Man, Owling Brine" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon
[/Commander]
[Creature]
*1 Archaeomancer
*1 Dreamscape Artist
*1 Fog Bank
*1 Jace&#039;s Archivist
*1 Peregrine Drake
*1 Phyrexian Metamorph
*1 Spellskite
*1 Viseling
*1 Zenith Chronicler
[/Creature]
[Artifact]
*1 Black Vise
*1 Crawlspace
*1 Ebony Owl Netsuke
*1 Folio of Fancies
*1 Geth&#039;s Grimoire
*1 Iron Maiden
*1 Meekstone
*1 Misers&#039; Cage
*1 Sapphire Medallion
*1 Sculpting Steel
*1 Skullcage
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Teferi&#039;s Puzzle Box
*1 Temple Bell
*1 Thorn of Amethyst
*1 Vedalken Orrery
*1 Vedalken Shackles
[/Artifact]
[Instant]
*1 Aetherize
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Counterspell
*1 Displace
*1 Engulf the Shore
*1 Evacuation
*1 Filter Out
*1 Ghostly Flicker
*1 High Tide
*1 Hurkyl&#039;s Recall
*1 Negate
*1 Perplexing Test
*1 Pongify
*1 Rapid Hybridization
*1 Rebuild
*1 Remand
*1 Shadow Rift
*1 Snap
*1 Vision Skeins
[/Instant]
[Enchantment]
*1 Aether Barrier
*1 Arcane Laboratory
*1 Dissipation Field
*1 Forced Fruition
*1 Frozen Aether
*1 Imprisoned in the Moon
*1 Mana Breach
*1 Mirrormade
*1 Propaganda
*1 Psychic Vortex
*1 Words of Wind
[/Enchantment]
[Sorcery]
*1 Aether Gale
*1 Consuming Tide
*1 Inundate
*1 Prosperity
*1 Wash Out
*1 Windfall
[/Sorcery]
[Lands]
*1 Academy Ruins
*1 Archway of Innovation
*1 Emergence Zone
*1 Fabled Passage
*27 Island
*1 Lonely Sandbar
*1 Maze of Ith
*1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
*1 Mystic Sanctuary
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<hr />
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>As I mentioned, there aren't any Game Changers in here. But what if we wanted some?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cyclonic Rift"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fierce Guardianship"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Intuition"></div></div>
<p>Really, Game Changers aren't going to do a whole lot for us. Sure, being able to include <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cyclonic Rift" href="#" target="_blank">Cyclonic Rift</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> would be immensely helpful, but in our deck we're using it for its intended purpose of bouncing things. It just bounces things better than the stuff we're already using to bounce things.</p>
<p>We'd also be playing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sunder" href="#" target="_blank">Sunder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which is considered "mass land denial" and is thus relegated to higher bracket - a card especially well-suited for Hydro-Man since we can play it on our turn while he's a creature, then be up a land when he melts back into a puddle.</p>
<p>As mentioned before, one of our self-imposed constraints with this list is price, which is why we're not running <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Anvil of Bogardan" href="#" target="_blank">Anvil of Bogardan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. If you've got a well-worn collection already, though, what else could we find room for?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Anvil of Bogardan"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Font of Mythos"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wheel and Deal"></div></div>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Time Warp"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mind Over Matter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Scroll Rack"></div></div>
<p>Is there anything we're missing here? Anything you'd add?</p>
<h3>More <em>Spider-Man</em>:</h3>
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<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor Deck Tech&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/lady-octopus-inspired-inventor-deck-tech/embed/#?secret=9wcoaEKnwM#?secret=xD1dqIBezG" data-secret="xD1dqIBezG" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>


hydro man

Owling Mine Returns With This Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon Deck