Building around Eluge, Shoreless Sea in Commander

Posted on August 20, 2024

Hello awesome folks and happiest of day to each of you! Today I have something super special for you! I have one of my favorite mono-color Commanders from everyone's favorite recently released Standard legal set called Bloomburrow! This is a mono-Blue Island caring Elemental Fish called Eluge, the Shoreless Sea. Last week we built around one of my favorite leaders in gold from the set Glarb, and (https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-08142024-casting-big-stuff-with-glarb-calamitys-augur-in-commander) then a mono-black version of my real life Vhati il-Dal Commander deck trying to kill one toughness dorks here (https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-08062024-killing-one-toughness-dorks-with-maha).

Let's look at my leader!

This rough-to-cast four-drop has size equal to your Island count, so that's high size threshold and a win-con of Commander Damage stylings. Then in mono-Blue that should be easier to do. When it swings or ETBs, you can toss a Flood counter to make something an Island too in addition to it's other types to grow it if yours, or to Islandwalk foes. Then the first sorcery or instant you cast each turn costs Blue or generic less for each flood counter you control, so you'll want to self-target to grow size and reduce costs after once to make it work. Eluge is pretty good from where I am sitting! Now there are two ways you can make this deck, one nasty pricey and rough and one much nicer:

Nasty - Massive Commander Win-Con with instant/sorceries that are free or low mana that take another turn, like Time Warp and Time Stretch and then cast it, and then cast other stuff with your mana and win the game. A reduced cost Expropriate here is nasty. Islandwalk is backup win con here.

Nice - You can run pricier landwalk as primary win-con with Commander backup, remove extra turn spells and then have Commander as backup win con.

Which one will I run? Nice!

Ready for his deck? Let's get started!

Mana, Ramp, Rocks and Lands

Now let's start the deep dive with mana, rocks, and land and ramp with this mana rock pair. Since Eluge costs four mana, a second turn mana rock will enable it on the third turn. However just one of that mana cost is colorless, so your Sol Ring won't give you a two-turn reduction. So barring Sky Diamond, there aren't any mono-Blue colored two-drops, enter colorless rocks instead like the above one or Mind Stone that also give you something. You can mana sink hour counters here as well as one for free in your upkeep to get a free Timetwister for just you, nice!

Throne of Eldraine adds the perfect amount of Blue mana, and you can also tap it with three Blue mana to draw two. Another card draw in mana rock form! Caged Sun also chooses Blue, your Blue lands will tap for another mana, not just Islands. Then your Blue dorks will get bigger too, so that's a nice boost of stuff.

Since Eluge and other Blue dorks we'll be running have many Blue mana in their cost, the first land I added was Nykthos to my brew. I also love it on artifact form with the ETB tapped that doesn't use mana to tap it, just once per turn you can use it all up and down and make that choo choo sound! Love this pair loads!

Next let's turn to protection and more card draw. Maze of Ith can tap with no mana to prevent damage from an attacking source and what is dealt to it too. Then it untaps too, don't sleep on that. I am also running Labyrinth of Skopthos. War Room will tap with three to swap a life for a card. It's worth it!

Let's finish lands with this trio. I wanted to swing with a big fat dork unblockably, enter the uncommon that taps with it for four mana. Then I wanted in free proliferate since we can proliferate flood counters to have cheaper spells. Note Eluge reads"for each land you control with a flood counter." So that cannot reduce your costs, but by moving them around with the next colorless tapping land we can! It taps with one at sorcery speed to swap counters from one thing we control. Get this fun trio!

Islandwalking and Cheap Sorcery/Instants Stuff

Now let's turn to the islandwalking and reductions on powerhouses we are built around! The Leviathan costs a higher nine mana for a 7/11 islandwalking and shroud that that also has trample so double evasion there! Also shroud! Note it's an artifact dork. The smaller cheaper 2/2 three-drop legendary lady has that Islandwalk and a combat damage trigger when she smashes face to Acquire, but unlike it you have to spend the mana to cast it this turn. Enter Fellwar Stone in my mana base in case its colored and in another color, like Esper Sentinel. Note that this can get mana rocks, card draw, protection like Lighting Greaves and loads more! The Leviathan is late and great, and she's early and burly!

Let's turn to another islandwalker and our first spell. Colossal Whale is a 5/5 with an attack trigger to exile an opposing dork until it leaves play, so you can swing, exile a blocker, and hit. Nice temporary removal. Clone Legion is my best win con, just like Rise of the Dark Realms at nine mana. You can make a free token copy of every dork a player controls!

Let finish with two stealing spells. Blatant Thievery will steal any permanent from each foe, even lands! (Don't steal lands unless they are about to go off with a Gaea's Cradle or something similar). Mass Manipulation only takes dorks or planeswalkers, but you can really break this with Nykthos, Lotus, and reduced costs.

Synergies and Winning Conditions

Now let's turn to synergies and other winning conditions that weren't already here! Let's start with synergies with this recently printed Blue dork duo! The former costs four for a Hill Giant with Islandwalk. Then when it attacks, you toss a flood counter on a dork or land. Lands becomes Islands in addition just like Eluge, and dorks become copies of this. Either way? Nice since Eluge counts flood counters not Islands. Then the latter costs one less for a smaller body but is a Magus of the Moon since this will turn all nonbasics into Islands, you too. This isn't in addition, it's a replacement effect. They will still keep their Flood counters for Eluge's cost reduction and can be walked easily casting a turn early. Also, high U for devotion!

Now let's turn to the other two in color ways to make and put Flood counters on lands. The first is Aquitect's Will for one possible cantrip mana to toss one on a land and it's now an Island too plus what it was. And Quicksilver Fountain was first putting Flood counters and making them lands in upkeep for a long time. This is not in addition. Then once everything is an lsland, remove and keep it up.

Now let's turn to Island matters non-islandwalking dorks! The four-drop 0/17 legendary Crab is first! It's got ward 3 and then you can mana sink three mana to make him grow in power and shrink in toughness equal to your Island count, fast win. The Kraken costs a few more for a 6/6 body to ETB and bounce every dork with a toughness less than your Island count, so the smaller the easier to bounce.

I wanted a way to give Eluge or others Islandwalk, enter Fishliver Oil. I also tossed in classic War Barge. Then I wanted dorks with size equal to my Islands like Eluge as backup win cons. The flyer Tempest Djinn with power to your basic Island count and a 4 toughness. Just basics count here, but that flying is nasty here! The common five-drop Serpent of the Endless Sea has size equal to all Islands but cannot attack if your foe doesn't have one, well they will soon!

Now let's finish with two more ways to steal stuff! Vedalken Shackles costs three, doesn't have to untap, taps with three mana to steal an opposing dork with a power less then or equal to your Island count as long as it's tapped. Seasinger also costs three for an Islandhome 0/1. This taps for no mana to steal an opposing dork as long as she is tapped, but only while they control an Island, easily done here too!

Answers

Now let's turn to answers, and we are in just Blue, so I can run the best counters here no matter the deep cost. In the same set as Eluge is this uncommon double Blue cost counter that will counter anything, sure, but only if you give them a card, unless it's a dork. People are often less annoyed at counters when they draw a card. I can also run one of the best mono-Blue counters, the four cost instant Command that dominated many formats, and you can counter, tap, bounce or draw. I love Dismiss as a cantripping counter too, and you know Desertion and Draining Whelk will be here too.

Now let's turn to targeted removal of stuff, three at instant speed and one sorcery one. I am running the obvious Rapid Hybridization and Pongify. Instant-speed exile comes from Scour from Existence. Then Meteor Golem is here for destroying any non-land on arrival.

Now let's turn to mass removal, here in mono-Blue that means bounce, but not the nasty Cyclonic Rift that doesn't make friends at instant speed for everything not just dorks. This trio only bounce dorks, and the instants just attacking ones, although the five cost one is meaner since it tucks worse than mere bouncing. The six cost sorcery bounces all non-Blue dorks so some of your foe's might stay, like Mass Calcify, and some of your colorless stuff may bounce too like Meteor Golem, but that's still fine. Love this trio loads!

Card Draw

Now let's turn to card draw pure in the best color for it! The uncommons Flow of Ideas and Flow of Knowledge will draw you cards equal to your Island count, and then the instant will discard two since it's cheaper and faster. Worth it!

Now let's turn to spells that draw you cards smaller numbers in one go. The used to be restricted free spell in Vintage five cost draws you two, or you can bounce two Islands to cast it free if digging. With a reduced cost from Eluge, that base is fine. The other two cost base four mana to draw two and then you can recast them once with flashback or jump-start to draw another two. They are here to get two cost reductions not one.

Since my first instant/sorcery each turn can be hugely discarded, the last place I dug into were X Card draw spells like Braingeyser and they are pretty much all here! The sorcery above costs two to start, draws X, and then if it was ten mana or more, you'll shuffle your graveyard and draw it, untap some lands and have no max hand size, quite easily here with Nykthos, the Lotus, the Sun and Throne and the cost reduction from Eluge. The next one costs a rough triple Blue to start, but shuffles after resolution so you can draw it and cast it again. The next instant is a splashier three mana to start, and you can either draw X or have someone mill double X if they would die, and then if you control Eluge, quite likely, both!

Ready for my decklist?