(Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep| Art by Chris Rallis)

The name's Pond, James Pond

Greetings and salutations from, for once, someplace different than good old Paris, near the sea, the sand, and surprisingly tame weather. My name is Arnaud, and I'm thrilled to take you on a journey of uncanny sea monsters, tentacles galore and cheap briny cardboard.

Just before Bloomburrow season kickstarted, we parted with what I felt would be a difficult choice. Truth to be told, I hadn't glanced at the results prior to sitting down to my desk (much too late for the taste of my dear editors) and getting ready for some hefty trimming. Third came Arvad the Cursed, with 40 votes (20%). Apparently, Legendary-Matters in Orzhov colors did not inspire most of you. Second place befell onto Izoni, Thousand-Eyed, with a respectable 72 votes (37%). We'll however forego Insects in favour of Sea Monsters, as our winner, Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep, earned a teensy bit more, with 84 votes (43%). Let's see what her Majesty has to offer, shall we?

Seeing how generally disliked the (and with good reason if you ask me) March of the Machine: The Aftermath experiment was, I can't help but feeling slight regret, as there were many fun toys to tinker with in this microset. Kiora is one of them. 4/5 with vigilance and Ward 3 for a puny is already more than decent value. But the clear accent put on all the scariest sea-life representatives is more than a cherry on top, it's a cake on top of a cherry! On a more serious note, Kiora does what Simic does best: turn value into more value. And with the creature types she favours, I get the feeling we're going to have a lot of fun toys to play with, as these rarely fetch amazingly high prices. Without further ado, let's dive in!

First Trim - The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre

Well then. Kiora's EDHREC page boasts a nice 252 cards to play with. That being said, you know the drill. We're all about budget here, and thus shall any card above $1 suffer the axe (with some potential leniency for great cards up to $1.10).

As usual, let's have a look at our honorary mentions, cards that were just a smidge too expensive while still remaining below the $2 threshold:

• Crush of Tentacles: What if I told you I've had a crush on this since its inception? Granted, it's mana-intensive, especially if you're looking into that surge cost, but the benefits? Mwah!
• Kenessos, Priest of Thassa: A logical auto-include focusing on the creature types relevant to us.
• Soul's Majesty: Sea monsters are now renowned for being puny and small. This will usually net plenty of cards.
• Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and Outcaster Trailblazer: I'm a huge fan of Elemental Bond-like effects, and these are no exception.
• Traverse the Outlands: This is hands down my favourite ramp spell, the one I add whenever I'm building something with big bodies or with a decently massive commander. It rarely nets less than 5 lands when I play it.
• Benthic Anomaly: Two for one, and it's a Serpent? Yes please!
• Double Major: Lovely doubler for two mana. Granted, your monsters are likely to already cost a bunch, but we're in Simic, I'm expecting ramp to be a central part of our strategy here.
• Fisher's Talent: Sure, it won't trigger off our commander. But flavor-wise? It's up there.

This leaves us with a surprisingly high number of cards betweeen $1 and $1.10:

• Botanical Sanctum: I've never been a huge fan of these lands in commander. The odds of playing this in your first two turns are not great. I feel like they are some sort of glorified Guildgates. Out.
• Skyshroud Claim: Two forests, not necessarily basic, entering the battlefield untapped? No wonder this is my second favorite ramp spell. In.
• Up the Beanstalk: Have I told you before of my love for Elemental Bond. In, in and in.
• Beast Within: Classic among classics of universal removals in green. In.
• Thran Dynamo: Colorless, but gets the job done. In.
• Thassa, God of the Sea: Scry is never useless, and the ability to turn your army unblockable is a huge boon. Plus, she's highly thematic. In.

And with that, we're down to 158 cards. Looks like this is going to be a quick one. Deeper.

Second Trim - Cardward Scissorhands

We've already cut about a decent chunk of cardboard, time for the homework.

Can't say I'm really surprised, seeing the colors we're tinkering with. I'm going to lean heavily on the Ramp part, probably keeping around 17-20 spells or so, since most of our creatures are likely to be quite expensive. I'll also retain a significant chunk of draw spells, as we want to keep our hand filled with gas. We need to get our mana count to 8-10 as quickly as possible, in order to start chucking big monster after big monster.

This is what we'll part with:

I feel like this commander wants me to go on vacation rather quickly. Wouldn't you know it, we're already down to the last stretch, as this major trim brought us to 110 cards, after giving the land base a healthy makeover. Let's finish this deep dive then.

Final Trim - Heart-Wrenching Choices

It's been a quick ride. Usually, at this point in the article I'm addressing the thematic issues, the general direction the deck wants to go, with usually more than one. Not here. This is all about the monsters of the deep sea and their savagery. At the moment, we have 28 of these beauties, not counting the ones in the already trimmed categories. As such, I feel like we can safely cut 10 of them. This all comes down to a matter of personal taste. This is my take:

• Icebreaker Kraken: We're not running any Snow lands. We could have, but even basics are fairly expensive. Hence the cut.
• Brinelin, the Moon Kraken: Cute, but soooo expensive...
• Nadir Kraken: A bit underwhelming compared to the rest of the bunch
• Reservoir Kraken: I'm usually not a fan of leaving our opponents any choice, and this is no exception. The payoff is simply not worth it.
• Sword Coast Serpent: A tad expensive for the effect, even on a 6/6 body.
• Tolarian Terror: Might be cheap to cast, but I'm not a fan of a body with no other effect.
• Kederekt Leviathan: Eight mana is a lot for that effect.
• Tidal Terror: Feels a lot like draft chaff. I'm all for janky cards, but this just feels... unjustified.
• Mesmerizing Benthid: I like the tokens, I kinda like the built-in protection, I don't like the stats.
• Tolarian Kraken: At least Prof will be safe...?

And with that, all that's left is singing a nice sea shanty for good fortune!

Conclusion

It's midnight, I drove for close to 7 hours today prior to getting close to hitting myself (and being bonked by my beloved editors) for almost forgetting to write my article. Therefore, these last few words are unlikely to be the bearers of any form of sanity. I hope you'll forgive me.

At any rate, thank you very much for sticking with me until the very end. No poll this time, as I'll be heading to a totally white zone in a couple of days, with little to no access to internet. I'm free, freeeeeeeeeee!!!

See you in September!

Read more:

From the Brim to the Trim - Budget Engines and Grounded Opponents

Recross the Paths - Building a Merfolk Deck with Kumena

Arnaud Gompertz

Arnaud Gompertz has been playing Magic since 4th Edition, back in 1995. He's been an assiduous EDH enthusiast since 2012, with a soft spot for unusual and casual Commanders. He'll always favour spectacular plays against a boring path to victory. Aside from mistreating cardboard, he's a dedicated board games player, loves a challenging video game and occasionally tries to sing with his choir.