<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>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="ryhiN4Jinl"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-norman-osborn-green-goblin-for-cedh/">Building Norman Osborn / Green Goblin for cEDH</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Building Norman Osborn / Green Goblin for cEDH&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-norman-osborn-green-goblin-for-cedh/embed/#?secret=0wcaFkGY4P#?secret=ryhiN4Jinl" data-secret="ryhiN4Jinl" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="xCCRWku87E"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/doctor-octopus-master-planner-deck-tech/">Doctor Octopus, Master Planner Deck Tech</a></p></blockquote>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;Doctor Octopus, Master Planner Deck Tech&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/doctor-octopus-master-planner-deck-tech/embed/#?secret=1R1aQ39tQq#?secret=xCCRWku87E" data-secret="xCCRWku87E" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="xD1dqIBezG"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/lady-octopus-inspired-inventor-deck-tech/">Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor Deck Tech</a></p></blockquote>
<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>


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

<p>Greetings to everyone, fans of Commander near and far! Dominaria is nearly upon us! Spoilers were spoiled. <a href="http://articles.edhrec.com/edhrecast-e2-top-commanders-of-all-time/">Podcasts were released</a>! Seriously, go check out the new podcast. It's a pretty great time. Joey, Dana, and myself have had a blast recording the episodes so far and are looking forward to many many more for you.</p>
<p>But today isn't a day for casting out pods. Today is a day we finally get to brew with the full and new Dominaria set! I have one so exciting and brewtastic, so incredibly snowballish and combotastic that not one but two OTHER EDHREC writers have gotten giddy about the deck. I'm not going to beat around the bush here, so we're going to dive right into this heater.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">How many licks until the center of the Owling Mine? <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffHoogland?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JeffHoogland</a> is here to find out! He sat down with <a href="https://twitter.com/Nickthos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nickthos</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCGMKE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SCGMKE</a> to talk about his interesting deck. <a href="https://t.co/EPkuPglYVC">https://t.co/EPkuPglYVC</a></p>
<p>&mdash; SCG CON (@SCGCON) <a href="https://twitter.com/SCGCON/status/982707808360525825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>You read (and saw) that right, Owling Mine. If you didn't spend the whole 8 seconds to follow that link to check out the deck, let me help the lazy...</p>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Creatures]
*4 Simian Spirit Guide
[/Creatures]
[Instants]
*4 Boomerang
*2 Cryptic Command
*1 Noxious Revival
*4 Remand
*4 Runeflare Trap
*3 Vision Skeins
[/Instants]
[Sorceries]
*4 Exhaustion
*3 Eye of Nowhere
[/Sorceries]
[Enchantments]
*2 Dictate of Kruphix
*4 Fevered Visions
[/Enchantments]
[Artifacts]
*1 Ebony Owl Netsuke
*4 Howling Mine
[/Artifacts]
[Lands]
*8 Island
*2 Cascade Bluffs
*1 Flooded Strand
*1 Misty Rainforest
*2 Scalding Tarn
*3 Steam Vents
*2 Sulfur Falls
*1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Yeah, man. The deck is almost as hilarious as the outfit Mr. Hoogland was wearing. Talk about embarrassing right!?! No, that's the outfit. Turns out the deck didn't do so hot in the tournament, but that doesn't mean that we can't take some ideas and turn them into our own 100-card pile of goodness.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Picking our Poison</h2>
<p>So it takes a lot to get me to want to play straight blue &amp; red commander decks. It's not a color combo that I'm overly fond of since it's just not my playstyle. It is a very popular color setup among Commander players though. One thing that Commander players have been clamoring for (after the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Damnation" href="#" target="_blank">Damnation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> reprint, that is) is to finally get a blue and red general that cares about artifacts. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Saheeli Rai" href="#" target="_blank">Saheeli Rai</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> almost felt like a slap in the face being a blue/red planeswalker that does that, but still no legendary creature. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Breya, Etherium Shaper" href="#" target="_blank">Breya, Etherium Shaper</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> was four colors of commander goodness, but still not the straight blue red. But now...</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="https://media.wizards.com/2018/dom/en_iJHEEQDK8a.png" alt="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" width="200" height="279" /></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Feast, nerds!</h3>
<p>Yeah buddy! Not only does the new Jhoira care about artifacts, you get to care about ALL historic spells. Historic spells are a new "batch" of card types containing artifacts, legendary spells and Sagas starting with Dominaria. Not only does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> satisfy the "cares about artifacts" theme, but she is open to even more play, which to me is win/win for Commander players and well worth the wait. In a deck where we want to draw all the cards, we have everything we need in an easy to cast 4-drop with LOADS of support.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Monster-sized Mines</h2>
<p>Since the name of the game here is not let ourselves be restrained by the smallest/most efficient <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Howling Mine" href="#" target="_blank">Howling Mine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>-type effects, we finally have a use for all those <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>s that you might have leftover from your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Leovold, Emissary of Trest" href="#" target="_blank">Leovold, Emissary of Trest</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> decks. One of my favorite cards in the family of "everyone draws cards" in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Temple Bell" href="#" target="_blank">Temple Bell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> gets its time to shine. The fact that we just happen to be in blue with all sorts of ways to abuse it is just peachy! Whether we go nutso with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Paradox Engine" href="#" target="_blank">Paradox Engine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mind Over Matter" href="#" target="_blank">Mind Over Matter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is nobody else's business but our own! <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Font of Mythos" href="#" target="_blank">Font of Mythos</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is just another glob of icing on this delicious cake of forcing everyone to draw cards. Take a quick look at the top played cards in decks playing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Font of Mythos" href="#" target="_blank">Font of Mythos</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and you'll see that everyone tends to have the same idea.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17473" src="http://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Capture.png" alt="" width="700" height="296" /></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Lot of synergy there folks</h3>
<p>In a deck like this, there has to be some sort of a payoff for letting our opponents draw fistful after fistful of cards. We know from our 60-card counterpart that <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> can punish opponents for having too many cards, especially if they have their own <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Reliquary Tower" href="#" target="_blank">Reliquary Tower</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. That damage is fixed at four though, so our nocturnal shaped artifact certainly can be improved upon. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fevered Visions" href="#" target="_blank">Fevered Visions</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> also does a fine job of filling their hand AND pinging them a bit but we still need to go bigger. This is where <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Iron Maiden" href="#" target="_blank">Iron Maiden</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Viseling" href="#" target="_blank">Viseling</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> come into play. Being extra sources of damage speeds up the clock and gives us extra redundancy as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-17504" src="http://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Capture-1.png" alt="" width="201" height="306" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-17505" src="http://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Capture-2.png" alt="" width="199" height="306" /></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Little numbers, but big impacts</h3>
<p>One thing I will say is that sometimes opponents can be...unreliable. You never know what they're going to do. Sometimes they will make sure all the work you go through is for nothing. Talk about unappreciative jerks! So that's why sometimes we just have to do things ourselves. Since everyone at the table will be drawing several cards a turn we may as well have a payoff for ourselves, right? One of my newly discovered loves right now is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Locust God" href="#" target="_blank">The Locust God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Every deck draws cards, that's just something that happens. The question becomes why wouldn't we reward ourselves for drawing a ton of cards ourselves? Once <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Locust God" href="#" target="_blank">The Locust God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is down we can assemble an army VERY quickly due to all of our extra draw effects. Combine the group draw effects with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> herself and we instantly have a blueprint for a pain train to Pound Town. Or something like that.</p>
<hr />
<h2>On the Drawing Board</h2>
<p>Since we're on the topic of patting ourselves on the back for drawing so many cards (nice job us!) there are other very real win conditions we can jam that play right into the gameplan. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychosis Crawler" href="#" target="_blank">Psychosis Crawler</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one that I forget about fairly often despite actually being in over 10,000 decks reported to EDHREC. And what are some highly synergistic cards with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychosis Crawler" href="#" target="_blank">Psychosis Crawler</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> you ask? <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Howling Mine" href="#" target="_blank">Howling Mine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>! Duh! Seriously, lets try to keep up with what this whole article is about.</p>
<p>A card that has been the topic of many heated debates among the EDHREC writers is one that I would 100% jam in this deck, so I'm going just go right out and say it: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Laboratory Maniac" href="#" target="_blank">Laboratory Maniac</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Controversial or not, the card is played in over 11,000 decks on the site and that number will certainly grow when you think about what <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlisth Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlisth Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> will do for the Commander crowd. Is it a boring win-condition? Maybe. Is it original? Obviously not. But I am a fan of always having a way to win games in your deck, and this is the sort of payoff card that we can work with.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-17518" src="http://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Capture-4.png" alt="" width="200" height="303" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-17519" src="http://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Capture-5.png" alt="" width="201" height="301" /></p>
<p>Lastly, sort of a pet card for many of my own decks comes in the form of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Altar of the Brood" href="#" target="_blank">Altar of the Brood</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. If you're into the whole #mtgfinance thing you'll have noticed this card has started to take off in price recently which makes me very happy. The "other," altar has been slow to take off in popularity, but with all the cheap mana producers we play in this deck along with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Locust God" href="#" target="_blank">The Locust God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> sure to crank out insects every turn our milling capabilities goes through the roof when this is in play.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-17517 aligncenter" src="http://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Capture-3.png" alt="" width="205" height="303" /></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">*insert grubby hand-wringing motion here*</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now then, let's just show you the entire list!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Creatures]
*1 Artificer&#039;s Assistant
*1 Nin, the Pain Artist
*1 Howling Golem
*1 Diligent Excavator
*1 Kefnet the Mindful
*1 Laboratory Maniac
*1 Viseling
*1 Psychosis Crawler
*1 Consecrated Sphinx
*1 The Locust God
[/Creatures]
[Instants]
*1 Arcane Denial
*1 Blink of an Eye
*1 Vision Skeins
*1 Unwind
*1 Whir of Invention
*1 Cryptic Command
*1 Paradoxical Outcome
*1 Mystic Confluence
[/Instants]
[Sorceries]
*1 Fiery Confluence
*1 Baral&#039;s Expertise
*1 Hour of Devastation
*1 Reforge the Soul
*1 Karn&#039;s Temporal Sundering
*1 Blasphemous Act
[/Sorceries]
[Artifacts]
*1 Mana Crypt
*1 Tormod&#039;s Crypt
*1 Altar of the Brood
*1 Elixir of Immortality
*1 Expedition Map
*1 Mana Vault
*1 Relic of Progenitus
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Anvil of Bogardan
*1 Ebony Owl Netsuke
*1 Howling Mind
*1 Izzet Signet
*1 Lightning Greaves
*1 Swiftfoot Boots
*1 Thought Vessel
*1 Coalition Relic
*1 Cultivator&#039;s Caravan
*1 Darksteel Ingot
*1 Iron Maiden
*1 Izzet Keyrune
*1 Mirage Mirror
*1 Oblivion Stone
*1 Sword of Feast and Famine
*1 Temple Bell
*1 Whispersilk Cloak
*1 Aetherflux Reservoir
*1 Font of Mythos
*1 Thran Dynamo
*1 Gilded Lotus
*1 Paradox Engine
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
*1 Jace&#039;s Erasure
*1 Blood Moon
*1 Fevered Visions
*1 Sphinx&#039;s Tutelage
*1 Time of ice
*1 The Mirari Conjecture
*1 Forced Fruition
*1 Mind Over Matter
*1 Vicious Shadows
[/Enchantments]
[Lands]
*1 Ash Barrens
*1 Cascade Bluffs
*1 Command Tower
*1 Forgotten Cave
*1 Halimar Depths
*1 Highland Lake
*13 Island
*1 Izzet Boilerworks
*1 Lonely Sandbar
*1 Maze of Ith
*1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
*4 Mountain
*1 Myriad Landscape
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 Riptide Laboratory
*1 Shivan Reef
*1 Steam Vents
*1 Sulfur Falls
*1 Swiftwater Cliffs
*1 Temple of Epiphany
*1 Wandering Fumarole
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<hr />
<h2>Connecting the Dots</h2>
<ul>
<li>If your opponents don't want to draw cards, there is always a way to MAKE them draw cards. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nin, the Pain Artist" href="#" target="_blank">Nin, the Pain Artist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> could be your backup commander if you wanted to go another direction, but she's certainly welcome in the 99 here. Sorry <a href="http://articles.edhrec.com/author/masalpert/">Sam Alpert</a>, Jhoira is just my bae. Whatever "bae," means. I think I used it right...</li>
<li>I never thought I would want to build a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Paradox Engine" href="#" target="_blank">Paradox Engine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck but here we are. This deck is the right kind of deck to get out of control with the controversial artifact to pull in this ol' Selesnya player.</li>
<li><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Artificer&#039;s Assistant" href="#" target="_blank">Artificer&#039;s Assistant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> might be the player's choice from Dominaria as the favorite meme card but <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diligent Excavator" href="#" target="_blank">Diligent Excavator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> decks might be the most popular route to go. Since we're trying to drain the opponent of all their resources, this lady gets the nod over the birb of the moment.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And there we have it! A brand new brew for a brand new legendary creature! What do you think! Is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain" href="#" target="_blank">Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> the blue/red commander you've been waiting for or is she still not quite what you were hoping for? Is this type of deck event the right deck for her? Let me know what you think and what other Dominaria cards you're excited about!</p>
<p>Also, keep the suggestions coming for what brews you want to see covered. Thanks everyone!</p>


owling mine

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

60 to 100 — Jhoira and Her Mine-Ful Companions