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Do you remember your first time? The first time that you stared down a Fleecemane Lion while your four drop generated fourteen power of creatures? Master of Waves is a farce of a Magic card. Not on the same level as, say, Treasure Cruise, but it's well within Master of Waves' range to completely turn games around against unprepared opponents.
Blue Devotion rose and fell in popularity during Ravnica-Theros Standard and, with rotation, many believe the deck is dead. It lost every reasonable creature that produces multiple devotion, it lost Cyclonic Rift... It lost Mutavault.
I also didn't see much reason to actively pursue a Master of Waves deck in Theros-Khans Standard, but then Patrick Chapin posted this:
Mono-Blue Devotion
Chapin's list is definitely rough, and this deck plays a lot of cards that are worse than the cards in Black Aggro, and that's a bad deck.
But the payoff here is higher. Kai Budde once mused that "I think Thassa, God of the Sea and Bident of Thassa are the two biggest cards to have come out of Theros," and the German Juggernaut tends to know his stuff. Black Aggro just starts to play more of the same on turn four, while Blue Devotion starts casting some serious business spells.
Chapin missed a few cards I believe this deck should really be playing, but the most important issue with his list is that Thassa, God of the Sea lost a lot of stock when Nightveil Specter and Frostburn Weird rotated out. You need several non-Thassa permanents to ever turn Thassa on in this deck, and most of those permanents die to Drown in Sorrow, Anger of the Gods and Arc Lightning, which will consequently turn off the Thassa and leave you down like four cards.
Further, losing Tidebinder Mage and Nightveil Specter made it so that every creature in the deck just attacks and blocks, and therefore the creatures in the deck are generally lower impact than every card in every other deck. Drawing multiple Thassas is very unfortunate when your other cards are all Welkin Terns.
That said, there are some things we can do to increase the power level of the deck. Military Intelligence is a serious omission and one that helps the deck hit its land drops without having to play too many lands, as again, this deck doesn't have the luxury of bricking too many times and still getting back into long games.
With Intelligence in the deck, and the fact that the deck needs to get on the board fast, I really like playing Dakra Mystic in addition to the other 8 one-drops. Dakra Mystic is a very interesting card, and one that had some buzz when it was first spoiled but then never really did anything.
I've been playing with it for the better part of the week, and I must say that it's a pretty awesome way to interact with opposing Courser of Kruphix and scry abilities. It's a much more skill-testing card than I gave it credit for, and I have to say I'm still not positive that I'm activating and attacking in the proper ration, but its ability is much more powerful than I first evaluated it as, particularly in this deck. While Blue Devotion has a few standout haymakers, you'll generally have some low-impact card like Triton Shorestalker on top of your deck to put in the graveyard along with their Siege Rhino.
When I first started playing this deck, I tried four Voyage's End and it was okay. The ability to bounce your own Master of Waves is certainly not for nothing, but over time I ended up cutting more and more copies. Ultimately what it came down to is that a lot of creatures have come into play abilities and this deck doesn't clock especially fast, so bouncing a problematic creature for one turn just isn't really worth a full card. As of now, I'm convinced that counterspells should be played over bounce spells in any slot that would be either.
After some preliminary testing on MTGO, I brought this list to a local Game Day Event:
Hopelessly Devoted to U
I went with Thassa's Rebuff as my counterspell of choice to test the idea out, and it turns out that it's okay. I chose Rebuff as it would counter an Elspeth or a Rabblemaster, but I think that this deck really needs to focus on countering the sort of spells that Disdainful Stroke counters and beating Rabblemaster with Omenspeaker into Master of Waves.
It is unfortunate that Stroke misses Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrow, but counters that hit both come in post-board where your opponent is more likely to have those cards anyway.
The biggest problem with Rebuff was that it was a counter that I wanted to side out for post-board games against controlling decks, and that's where your counters are supposed to shine.
The entire sideboard is designed to board into the wonkiest control deck you ever did see against anybody that can consistently 2-for-1 you, and having counterspells that you want to board out in this set-up is just wrong. I'd probably keep one Rebuff because when it's good, it's really good, but I plan to turn the other two into Disdainful Strokes.
The biggest reaction I got from anybody while I cobbled the deck together from the store's bulk box was the inclusion of Dragon's Eye Savants in the sideboard. I haven't cast one yet, but it seems pretty strong against the black and red aggressive decks, where you can play it facedown to trade with any of their guys. And if you're lucky enough to have them Magma Jet it, you're rewarded with a blocker that will still survive blocking any creature in their deck for the turn and a free Peak. Well, you don't draw a card, but you can't have everything. It's experimental, but the deck needs something that fills a role similar to this, as the maindeck cards don't exactly shine against decks with similar mana curves to its own.
So is this deck actually playable?
I ended up 2-1 in a 10 person game day with the deck, and it was super fun to play. I beat up on two Abzan decks, which seems like a good place to be in the current metagame, and there isn't any matchup where I just feel like I'm dead, particularly with the "transformational" sideboard.
I'm going to continue to gamble my tickets with the deck on Magic Online, and if it continues to be enjoyable for me, which by my standards includes having a reasonable win percentage, then I will very likely play it at the SCG Open in Minneapolis this Saturday. If not, then I'll play some version of Jeskai, but I'm really hoping to raise some eyebrows with crappy 1/1s.
Financial Relevance
If there is actually a build of this deck that is good, then that has interesting applications for Master of Waves and Hypnotic Siren, which are the only four-of rare cards in a dirt cheap deck. You're not gambling much on either, but I'm not sure how high either card can really go. Getting Sirens close to bulk just seems smart, as it's a really cool card and it belongs in every Edric, Spymaster of Trest EDH deck and has casual appeal beyond that, so foils could be good to pick up.
Master of Waves at one point in time saw a $20 price tag, but that was when it was probably in the best deck in the format and wasn't easily hated out by cards that a lot of people have access to. If this does turn out to be a real deck, however, Master is likely to mature somewhat, though I'm not sure if the potential is much higher than $10 for a one-trick pony.
I would definitely be more interested in Sirens. In particular, the card has seen some weird movement on MTGO. It shot up to nearly a ticket recently, then dropped to around .6 tickets, and is currently ticking back towards a ticket. There might be some money there if you can find cheap copies.
~
I will fully admit that this is more of a pet deck than anything, but it's one that I see potential in, and I'm usually an extremely dismissive person.
This deck is a lot worse on the draw than on the play--like a lot. But every change I make makes it stronger and I feel like this is getting close to the best version. I'm still figuring out how to sideboard and the deck is generating almost exclusively close games when it loses, and a number of runaway games when it wins.
Further, it likely draws more cards than any other deck in Standard, and that's just plain awesome. If that's your thing, definitely give it a try.
Thanks for reading.
-Ryan Overturf
@RyanOverdrive on Twitter
I’ve also been playing a Master of Waves list at FNMs:
4 each: Ornithopter, Springleaf Drum, Dakra Mystic, Stubborn Denial, Omenspeaker, Ensoul Artifact, Dissolve, Master of Waves, 2 Nullify, 2 Phyrexian Revoker, 3 Hour of Need
21 lands (4 Darksteel Citadel, 1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon)
Here the main plan is Ensoul Artifact or Hour of Need with Stubborn Denial backup, whereas Master of Waves is Plan B. You usually don’t have more than 2 devotion, but Master of Waves is good enough anyways, especially on turn three with the help of Springleaf Drum.
My sideboard has the same plan as yours: transform into a sort of draw-go deck.
2 Nullify, 3 Negate, 2 Gainsay, 2 Dig Through Time, 2 Jace’s Ingenuity, 2 Font of Fortune, 2 Phyrexian Revoker.
I feel like quickling might have a place here with the Master of Waves, Omen Speaker, maybe even the bestow creatures. Definitely not a 4-of, but I like the idea of replacing a Siren or a Vaporkin. The only problem is that two in the wrong hand could wreck your clock, and this deck needs that 1-drop consistency to get as many attackers per step for cards. Still, it’ll save your Master of Waves from removal on occasion, and obviously that’s even better with a hall of heroes on board.
I’ve thought about it, but the cost is real. This deck runs pretty tight on mana and sometimes you just end up needing to more or less pay 3 for a 2/2 with Quickling. It’s a fine card though. If anything, I’d cut the Flitterstep, as it hasn’t really performed. 2 mana might just be too much for Shorecrasher Triton.
I agree, I built this deck today on Modo with two quicklings subbing for two hypnotic sirens (really not ideal, but I was short two sirens)… it made me feel a lot more vulnerable to hand disruption, and it was an unsurprisingly awful topdeck if things came to that. Maybe it has a place in the sideboard, but more likely I’ll just keep it as a one-of to replace the Eidolon like you suggest. It mostly just felt like a lame shorestalker, and the only bestow target that ever stood out to me was Master of Waves.
Bestow happens more often than you’d think, and I probably wouldn’t play this deck without four Siren.
I built this for about 20 tix minus the sideboard dig through time. Testing this out today as I want a Standard deck that isn’t my 2 ticket Minotaur deck.
The Dig is definitely something you can live without. Did you sub Treasure Cruise? Let me know how you like the deck!
I’m definitely going to be lurking in this comment section, because I’m really enjoying this deck!
Standouts so far have been been the hypnotic sirens, hall of heroes and bident of thassa. One drop evasion is what this deck needs, and I definitely noticed when I was only running two sirens (although I rarely end up using the bestow). Shorestalkers really work well here too.
Bident feels great just because it’s a permanent with two devotion; dropping master of waves after the bident usually works out for the best, especially if you managed to hit hall of heroes on turn three. The active has actually won me a few games recently too, so I’m probably just riding off that high. I’ve decided to run two and cut one of the military intelligence.
Banner effects like hall of heroes and blue paragon feel strong in this deck, especially given their interaction with master of waves (and how often he ends up being removed). Late-game draws like shorestalker feel much more threatening too. Unfortunately, it takes two for most of my creatures to squeeze by drown in sorrow, which has really been the bane of my deck. A hand without counter-magic against a deck with red/black always seems incredibly risky. But hey, Reid Duke suggests running four of these in his version of the deck, so maybe it’s a key piece after all.
I have mixed feelings about the omenspeakers. One the one hand, a non-evasive two drop (and a 1/3 at that) always feels like it slows me down… but it does allow me to keep much more aggressive hands, so I’ll probably keep them all in or experiment with three for a while.
Treasure cruise seems like a fine replacement for dig through time. The minimum-cost scenario feels really good with the cards you draw; often it enables you to drop one more devotion for the master of waves you just drew.
The only other notable differences in my deck are a single aetherspouts and polymorphists jest in the sideboard. The first is there because this deck actually has a relatively weak matchup against the cheesy heroic decks running around on modo, and the second because it’s a pet card that I desperately want to be effective.
Thanks for any input you guys have! I’ll keep following this deck. It’s worth noting that for the first time in several weeks, both Master of Waves and Thassa have begun to creep up in price. This deck might not stay cheap for long!
p.s. Vaporkin is an Elemental! How cool is that!?
Thanks for the comments! I’m glad you’re enjoying the deck!
My (granted, limited) experience with the deck has led to very few games where Paragon would be good where I wasn’t already winning, but the Hall is definitely randomly absurdly powerful, and usually good.
I like the second Bident. I was using the same logic that I use to only play one Thassa on Bident, but seeing as it’s like a draw twelve having a second copy probably doesn’t matter all that much.
The biggest draw to Omenspeaker is that a 1/3 is a very respectable body against the red decks, where most of your non-Master of Waves cards match up pretty poorly. They get boarded out a lot though, so I could certainly support at least trimming.
I’ve also started to try AEtherspouts in the sideboard to combat the midrangy-aggressive decks, as Omenspeaker is way better against Satyr Firedrinker than against Fleecemain Lion. Costing five is awkward, but it seems like the best tool available.
Master is creeping up! And Siren is still seeing weird movement. Hard to say what Siren will end up doing on MTGO, but Master is unlikely to just be bad for as long as it’s in Standard and it seems like a great buy still under 5 tix.
And, yeah, Vaporkin is sweet.