Eluge, the Shoreless SeaEluge, the Shoreless Sea | Art by Antonio José Manzanedo

They say that sea levels are rising, but I didn't expect to see evidence of it in my favorite card game...

Welcome back to Fire and Ice, the data-driven series where I go over cards that are becoming more or less popular for different Commander decks. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data, and I'm super excited to jump into today's article!

We've got a ton of data here at EDHREC. In this series, we draw conclusions from that data about how certain commanders' decks have changed over time, give insight into how the format's players are thinking about new cards, and hopefully provide some tech for your favorite commander's list.

Today, we're focusing on a particularly frightening fish: Eluge, the Shoreless SeaEluge, the Shoreless Sea! This mono- commander lets us cast expensive spells for pennies on the dollar, and makes any opponent with thalassophobia concede the game immediately! Let's see what it can do.

Eluge, the Shoreless SeaEluge, the Shoreless Sea

What's Hot and What's Not for Eluge, the Shoreless Sea?

Eluge decks want to use their commander to put flood counters on their lands, reduce the cost of one big spell each turn, and draw way too many cards. Some pilots even choose to blink their commander to distribute extra flood counters with its ETB ability!

Among Eluge's most popular cards are Finale of RevelationFinale of Revelation (58% inclusion rate), Wavebreak HippocampWavebreak Hippocamp (60% inclusion rate), and The Flood of MarsThe Flood of Mars (48% inclusion rate).

What's Fiery for Eluge Decks?

Wisdom of AgesWisdom of Ages - Fire Score of 15.66

This is exactly the sort of big, game-changing spell that Eluge pilots look for. Wisdom of Ages, usually, is meant to be a way to spend a whole turn to rebuy all of our instants and sorceries from the graveyard.

We typically spend a lot of mana for this sort of effect, due to the strength inherent in reusing counterspells and card draw spells, but Eluge lets us cast this spell for much cheaper than intended.

With our commander, we can put dozens of cards back in our hand for just two or three mana. If we use Eluge to reduce the cost of this spell and put a bunch of gas back into our hand, we can then continue to use those spells at a reduced rate on future turns!

Wisdom of Ages keeps the wheels turning, and it's a great fit for these decks. It's also earned one of the highest Fire Scores we've ever seen in this series.

Irma, Part-Time MutantIrma, Part-Time Mutant - Fire Score of 4.39

One fish, two fish. Red fish, blue fish. Well, Irma won't be making Eluge into a Red HerringRed Herring, but she will be transformed into a copy of our commander quite often.

As a second Eluge, she lets us place twice the number of flood counters on lands. She also lets us double the cost reduction that we receive on our first instant or sorcery each turn.

Combined, this represents a huge increase to our mana efficiency. It's remarkable that Irma costs just , because she has a huge impact on the game every time she hits the board.

Here Comes a New Hero!Here Comes a New Hero! - Fire Score of 3.93

Here Comes a New Hero! is a neat spell to spend our cost reduction on. It refills our hand with more valuable cards while also giving us tangible, on-board advantage.

It's great that this spell lets us make a token copy of any creature, not just one that we own (especially when considering the fact that there's less than 20 creatures in the average Eluge 99).

This card is in just 0.76% of all eligible -based decks on EDHREC, but that number deserves to be much higher.

MathemagicsMathemagics - Fire Score of 1.99

Mathemagics is a similarly potent card advantage spell, but it has the potential to kill a player outright. If we manage to cast this spell with an value of , we can force a player to draw 128 cards and lose the game on the spot.

But, putting that aside, we can also use this spell to refill our own hand. If we spend 12 mana to cast this spell with an value of , we'll draw enough cards to last us the rest of the game!

This spell becomes even scarier with Eluge around. Killing a player with Mathemagics seems much easier when Eluge reduces the cost of our spell significantly.

Glen Elendra's AnswerGlen Elendra's Answer - Fire Score of 2.25

This counterspell reminds me of Mindbreak TrapMindbreak Trap. Crucially, though, this spell costs mana. That fact has kept it out of competitive spheres. Eluge pilots, though, can cast this spell for free with ease.

Putting aside the mana cost of this spell for a moment, though, Glen Elendra's Answer lets us counter spells and abilities while also making a small number of 1/1 flying creature tokens.

This is the perfect counterspell. It provides answers to all the game actions our opponents can take while also giving us something in return. It's a natural fit in Eluge's 99.

The Unagi of Kyoshi IslandThe Unagi of Kyoshi Island - Fire Score of 1.97

While it's not quite as good as Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, this Serpent is a very powerful card advantage engine. It'll often let us draw six cards per turn rotation, while also being difficult for opponents to remove.

This creature's best feature is flash. Being able to hold up until an opponent casts a pivotal spell means that we have flexibility in how we choose to spend our mana, ensuring that this creature is less likely to get countered and that we're more likely to actually draw cards with it.

That fact also lets us flash it in as a blocker to kill a small attacking creature!

Ironically, its ward cost becomes harder to pay for in higher power pods, where creatures are less common. The Unagi is a fantastic card, and a great piece for a deck as light on creatures as this one is.

Agna Qel'aAgna Qel'a - Fire Score of 1.96

As a mono- deck, we're running enough IslandIslands to allow this land to enter the battlefield untapped the vast majority of the time.

With that in mind, this land is basically a strictly better Island. If we've got nothing better to do with our mana, or enough cost reduction on board to ignore mana costs entirely, we might as well invest into this land to it and loot once!

What's Icy for Eluge Decks?

Cryptic CommandCryptic Command and Archmage's CharmArchmage's Charm - Ice Scores of -2.30 and -1.97

If we hold either of these spells up until an opponents' turn, we get to interact with their board in a large number of great ways (or just draw some cards). Eluge lets us do that for free very often!

But if we don't have enough flood counters reducing the cost of these spells, they're a bit too expensive for the effect they provide.

Other counterspells like Swan SongSwan Song, Strix SerenadeStrix Serenade, and An Offer You Can't RefuseAn Offer You Can't Refuse can be cast for free with just the flood counter that our commander produces on ETB.

It's important to be able to react to opponents' game actions at any moment, and these spells' high mana costs make that much more difficult.

PongifyPongify - Ice Score of -1.92

Pongify is a classic removal spell, and one of very few ways that decks can permanently deal with opposing creatures. I'm a bit puzzled by its decline, as I consider it and Rapid HybridizationRapid Hybridization to be staples.

It's possible that Eluge pilots are leaning harder into countermagic, leading to a decline in the use of on-board removal. If you've got a firmer grasp on why this spell may be declining in popularity, please drop a note in the comments!

Flow of KnowledgeFlow of Knowledge - Ice Score of -1.82

This is a great burst card draw spell, and it'll often let us sculpt a hand full of gas while discarding just a pair of less-useful cards.

But, as we saw with Here Comes a New Hero!Here Comes a New Hero! and MathemagicsMathemagics, there's some cool new card advantage options out there.

Newer spells may be pushing Flow of Knowledge to the side. This spell may even be getting swapped out directly for The Unagi of Kyoshi IslandThe Unagi of Kyoshi Island, which often provides more cards over the course of the game for the same amount of mana!

What's in a Eluge, the Shoreless Sea Deck?

Here's an Eluge deck with all of its Fiery cards and none of its Icy cards:

Conclusion

Eluge is by far the coolest of Bloomburrow's calamity creatures. All five of these legends make for awesome leaders in their own right, but Eluge sits head and shoulders (or gills and fins) above the rest.

It's an interesting take on cost reduction, and feels just a bit more unique than the others. Plus, we get to play with old flood counter cards like Aquitect's WillAquitect's Will. What more could you ask for?

I'll be back next week with another cEDH-focused Fire and Ice, so be sure to tune in for that! I'll see you all soon.