This month I've taken a few weeks to share some The Lord of the Rings commanders that I've been playing lately. I'm not generally a big fan of Universes Beyond, but I've been a fan of Tolkien since the early 1980's and it's been a lot of fun diving back into that world. I recently built decks around The Balrog, Durin's Bane, Eowyn, Shieldmaiden, and Radagast The Brown. I even had plans to build some sort of Gandalf deck, but I just haven't decided which one to build around.

Radagast The Brown has been wildly successful and my favorite by far, but today's column is about a mono-Blue list I threw together after taking apart Curie, Emergent Intelligence. Curie was fun, but my wins were on the back of Dramatic Reversal / Isochron Scepter making infinite mana and winning with Memnarch. It worked, but it never felt that great. I wanted a Blue deck that would "play fair", and be hard to accidentally pubstomp with. I eventually settled on a Krakens list led by this mysterious monstrosity.

This 4/6 Kraken costs five mana and puts me firmly in mono-Blue, but I'll likely never cast him for his listed mana cost. Monstrosity of the Lake has the equivalent of a kicker cost, allowing me to pay 5 extra mana when it enters the battlefield. If I do, I'll tap all creatures my opponents control and then put a stun counter on each of them. A tapped creature with a stun counter doesn't untap on the untap step, but instead its controller removes a stun counter from it.

If you think I'm crazy for wanting to build what is essentially a 10-mana commander, keep in mind that this deck is for lower powered tables or for sometimes playing after a game where I managed to eke out a win. I often try to power down winning just to avoid having tablemates feel like I'm constantly pushing the limits of what a table wants to deal with. It's fine to just adjust your power up or down for each game based upon what everyone is playing. It's also fun to have the challenge of trying to win with a commander like Monstrosity of the Lake. This isn't exactly the kind of commander who sets you up to be playing EDH on "easy mode", even if you are in mono-Blue.

My plan was simple. I would build a Krakens deck and include cards that might feel on theme for the scene at the Doors of Durin, the western entrance to Moria where the Fellowship of the Ring was attacked by a huge, tentacled monster, and fled into the mines.

Paths Not Traveled

It's worth noting that I didn't have a copy of The Watcher in the Water to build around, so my choice to build around Monstrosity of the Lake was somewhat dictated by what I had available to me. Building decks from what I have in my collection can lead to some interesting card choices. For example, in today's case I also didn't have a free Hullbreaker Horror to throw into the mix, and that Kraken Horror is an obvious auto-include in a Krakens deck. My target power level was "low-to-mid" so I didn't bother swapping a copy of Hullbreaker Horror in from another deck.

There's an even more interesting build path that I didn't end up pursuing, but which also deserves a mention.

The idea of playing Monstrosity of the Lake for 10 mana, tapping down and stunning my opponents' creatures, and trying to cobble together a win from there seemed like a real challenge.

The idea of doing all that and then playing enough proliferate spells and triggers to keep those creatures tapped down for long enough to win the game was really tempting. I started to game plan how I might use cards like Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, Inexorable Tide, Thrummingbird, Staff of Compleation, Karn's Bastion and the like to try to keep those creatures perpetually stunned. The next logical step would be to throw in Viral Drake, Corrupted Conscience and other ways to put poison counters onto my tablemates so that proliferate could get weaponized even further.

My problem was that the deck idea felt like it was starting to move away from the original Krakens list that would try to win games in a relatively "fair" manner.

There's nothing wrong with building high powered decks or winning with combo, infect, or anything else, but my goal was not to build that kind of deck. If nothing else, I've largely been enjoying the challenge of playing lower powered decks and I want a few in my library that aren't going to take a short cut to the finish line.

Casual EDH is one of few places in Magic where talking about the value of aiming for a lower powered build makes sense. I want to have decks I can play against precons and maybe even face an uphill battle to eke out a win against low and mid powered decks. It means those brews will lose more games, but the goal in casual EDH isn't to maximize your win percentage.

Krakens, Leviathans & Sea Monsters

Oh my!

These aren't Lions, Tigers and Bears, but they are also a few steps below Eldrazi Titans, Praetors, and some of the crazy threats you commonly see in EDH games. Power creep is a thing in Magic, and while I might be underplaying my biggest creatures, it's still going to be a challenge to get to 10 mana, build a board of attackers, and then clear the table.

If Krakens have one major thing going for them, it's their ability to make waves when they enter play. Scourge of Fleets is 10 years old but it can still put in work in a mono-Blue deck. When this 6/6 Kraken enters, I'll return each creature my opponents control with toughness X or less to their hand where X is the number of islands I control. In some games that will come close to being the equivalent of an overloaded Cyclonic Rift. Six power for seven mana isn't terrible when you're also bouncing creatures, but there will definitely be games where that just king-makes another player who is already way ahead with a board of creatures too big to bounce.

This deck's dream scenario is to have multiple turns where I can attack with my small army of Krakens and Leviathans and make a 9/9 Blue Kraken tokens for each one that deals combat damage to a player. Spawning Kraken is how I'd make that dream happen, and with the right board and a 10 mana Monstrosity of the Lake to tap down my tablemates' creatures, I think it could definitely happen.

Redundancy is important when building Commander decks. We play in a singleton format so any mechanic or function that we want to lean on is going to have to be represented by multiple cards. Breaching Leviathan is a 9/9 for 9 mana that can tap all non-Blue creatures when it enters, but only if I cast it from my hand. Those creatures won't untap during their controllers' next untap steps. It's not an exact match for what Monstrosity of the Lake does, but it's close enough.

I'm also running Brine Elemental to keep my opponents from untapping for a turn, Shipbreaker Kraken as a way to tap up to four target creatures, and Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep as a way to bounce all creatures except Merfolk, Kraken, Leviathans, Octopuses and Serpents.

Staying On Theme

My deck's theme is Krakens but it goes beyond that. The scene at the west gate to Moria where the Fellowship puzzles out the riddle of "Speak, Friend, and Enter" and then gets attacked by a tentacled monstrosity was very much in my thoughts as I went through my cards and assembled this list. That shows in some cards more than in others, and I'm not above playing some odd cards to lean into that part of the theme.

One of the biggest challenges for this deck is going to be lasting until I can pay 10 mana and actually cast my commander. In some games I simply won't get there, or I'll manage to play Monstrosity just before someone combos off or kills us all. I'm playing a bunch of cards specifically to try to get to that late game where I might be able to play that 10 mana.

Walls made sense to me, as the western entrance to Moria is a hidden door in a cliff face next to a dark and foreboding lake. I've got Mnemonic Wall in the list as a way to get back an instant or sorcery spell from my graveyard, but I chose not to include Archaeomancer or any of the other creatures that can do that same trick.

I don't recall from the books whether or not it was at all foggy when the Fellowship solved that riddle and escaped into the mines, but Fog Bank felt like a pretty good fit. This 0/2 Wall has flying and can block for days, as it prevents all combat damage that would be dealt to and by it.

Whether it was foggy or not, there was definitely a door in the story and the art on the old Stronghold card Wall of Tears made me think of it. The art even has what looks like a tentacle rising up in the foreground. If my Wall of Tears blocks any creatures, I'll return each of those creatures to owner's hand at end of combat.

The door in question was most certainly a secret door, so I just had to include Secret Door. This isn't a Dungeon deck, but this 0/4 Wall will let me venture into the dungeon for four and a Blue mana. It's a legitimate wincon if I could make infinite mana, but this isn't that kind of deck. I'm more likely to squeeze out a little extra value if I've got a turn where I have the mana available and nothing else to do.

I'm not going crazy to make the most thematic LoTR deck ever assembled, but I did throw in a few other cards that either felt water themed or that made sense to me at the time. Decanter of Endless Water is one of my mana rocks. Whelming Wave and Engulf the Shore are amongst my removal options, and Wash Away is in my suite of counterspells. High Tide is in the list but I resisted the urge to throw in Isochron Scepter to be able to do it repeatedly.

My creature list also includes Tidal Barracuda, Sigiled Starfish, Reef Worm, and Stinging Lionfish, and I'm running two Merfolk in Thada Adel, Acquisitor and Coralhelm Guide. I've even got a Salamander Wizard in Amphin Pathmage, but I wasn't really all that strict in keeping with water-themed cards. I'm using both sea and lake creatures as I just don't have enough options to start getting picky.

Where I Go Off-Script

Remember when I said this was going to be a low-to-mid powered list with a focus on Krakens and a relatively fair game plan? I meant it, but I've also got a decade long weakness for cards that punch above their weight. My Curie, Emergent Intelligence list had a bunch of strong cards in it, and when I put this list together I didn't exactly go out of my way to ditch them all.

I had a Gilded Drake from taking apart a cEDH list and I was able to resist the urge to throw that headache into the mix, but I didn't resist the urge to include Force of Will, Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift, Ancient Tomb, or Mystic Remora. The reality is that powerful spells are fun and effective, and when I'm working to get to, and to protect a relatively modest wincon of attacking with Krakens, it's not that big a deal to run a few very good cards. That doesn't mean someone might not get a little salty if I Force a Craterhoof Behemoth that would have led to a Green stompy deck killing the table.

My creature package also has plenty of cards that don't work with my theme. Faerie Mastermind, Ledger Shredder, Silver Myr, Solemn Simulacrum, Pilgrim's Eye, and Skittering Surveyor are all a bit out of place, but I have a hard time not addressing the basics of EDH deckbuilding and an equally hard time not using staples for those basics. If I could have found six creepy Fish cards that could have duplicated what those six cards do, I'd run them in a heartbeat. The bottom line is that I want to be able to keep up with decks that are going to be running all of those staples and much more.

I could replace Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Swan Song, and Strix Serenade with more mana intensive spells that are more on theme, and eventually I might just do that. For now I'm comfortable with my mix of old, reliable spells that are efficient and effective, and cards that fit my odd little theme of Krakens at the western gate of Moria. My Ancient Tomb even fits that theme quite nicely, as Moria was very much an ancient tomb. I slightly regret not having a Balin's Tomb variant to put into the list, but the castoff foil Ancient Tomb from my old cEDH deck will do the job just as well.

Early Results

I was able to get in a few games with this list and even managed to win one of them.

The lone victory was on the back of a Rhystic Study that I was able to play very early and simply never got removed. My promise that I wasn't playing some broken fast Blue combo deck was genuine, and the genuinely huge number of cards I drew mostly ensured that I hit my land drops and was able to keep up with the table.

I never really got ahead and was never a huge threat except for my endless "do you pay the 1" that would have been just cause for killing me first just to shut me up. The thing is - I needed that draw because I needed those land drops, and I was eventually able to both repel key attacks and outlast other greater threats until we got to the late game.

Once there were only two of us left, I was able to tap down and bounce creatures enough times that I could get lethal in and win. I was very lucky that nobody was gaining huge amounts of life, because the deck isn't really equipped to present a commander damage threat. I was also lucky that nobody tried to combo off, because even with a lot of card draw, my counterspells were nowhere to be seen.

Murky Depths

I struggle with playing the right power level sometimes, and this deck is definitely the kind of deck that will make me cranky if I shuffle it up against the local tryhards that are rocking decks that are just markedly faster and more powerful than what I'm playing. The solution of just always playing my best decks might seem tempting, but I also don't want to be seen as "That Guy," pubstomping casuals whenever I get the chance.

There will always be mismatches when you play enough Commander Games. It's just the nature of the beast, and a byproduct of how incredibly wide the power range is in the format. Playing decks like this is a way I try to cope with that. If I play a deck that's way too much, I like to have decks that can be a clear downgrade and which will give other players the time and space to have their fun before we get to the end game.

Scheming with Raffine | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Monstrosity of the Lake

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Amphin Pathmage
• 1 Breaching Leviathan
• 1 Brine Elemental
• 1 Coralhelm Guide
• 1 Deep-Sea Kraken
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Fog Bank
• 1 Harbinger of the Seas
• 1 Kraken of the Straits
• 1 Ledger Shredder
• 1 Mnemonic Wall
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Reef Worm
• 1 Scourge of Fleets
• 1 Secret Door
• 1 Shipbreaker Kraken
• 1 Sigiled Starfish
• 1 Silver Myr
• 1 Skittering Surveyor
• 1 Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Spawning Kraken
• 1 Stinging Lionfish
• 1 Stormsurge Kraken
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1 Thought Sponge
• 1 Tidal Barracuda
• 1 Trench Behemoth
• 1 Tromokratis
• 1 Wall of Tears

• Instants (15)
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Aetherspouts
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 1 Engulf the Shore
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 High Tide
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Strix Serenade
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Wash Away

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Rite of Replication
• 1 Whelming Wave

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Leyline of Anticipation
• 1 Mystic Remora
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Treachery

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Glaring Spotlight
• 1 Sapphire Medallion
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Thran Dynamo

• Lands (38)
• 37 Island
• 1 Ancient Tomb

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If I were to power this list up, I'd probably look at infect and proliferate as a possible game plan, but I'd be pulling my attention away from all of those cool Krakens, Leviathans, and Sea Monsters. Another option might be to add fast mana and ways to make infinite mana. Deadeye Navigator combo would work beautifully to make lots of mana, but I'd want a way to bounce Monstrosity of the Lake to my hand so that I could replay it and put a zillion stun counters on my opponents' creatures. That could be fun, but it wasn't what I was aiming for with today's list.

To drop the power and budget of this list down, it would be easy enough to lose some of the more powerful cards and lean even more into water and/or fog themed cards. That could wind up being a super flavorful and fun deck. I'd end up playing cards I don't normally play because I do tend to lean on staples. I have no good thematic explanation for why Monstrosity of the Lake has a Pongify and Rapid Hybridization in the list. I don't need one, but I appreciate that I could have leaned into my theme much harder than I did.

Final Thoughts

As I write this, I recently got word that one of the local game stores I have been playing at will be closing at the end of the year. This isn't a news leak - that group's discord has gotten word already so it's public knowledge. The store is Queen's Gambit in Haverhiill, MA, and I had really enjoyed spending some of my time there lately, as the Saturday scene at my usual LGS had been skewing towards cEDH over the past year.

It's worth taking a moment as we head into the holiday season to remind you all to cherish and support any LGS you enjoy playing at. Spend your money there. Support them. Running an LGS is often living on the edge, at the whims of the ups and downs not only of the games they sell and support, but also the normal challenges of running a business. Rents and utilities go up and down (mostly up) and it's just an incredibly difficult thing to run a successful and profitable game store in 2024.

For me, this means I'll probably fall out of touch with a bunch of cool people I've been enjoying playing with for the past few months. I'm turning 55 this year, so it's not like I really share that much in common with your average EDH player. It's been great to get to know a new community, and I'll miss having them as part of my weekly Commander experience. I'm already aiming to buy a few extra board games as gifts from them this holiday season before they close their doors.

If I wind up playing more at other game stores, the power level of the decks I'm building (and writing about here) may change. I'm still not that keen on cEDH, but if that's what's being played where I end up, I may dip my toes back into that end of the power level spectrum.

Who knows what lies ahead for any of us? Maybe I'll start playing online, or take up woodworking, or find a progressive political group to get involved in? I'd kid about finding a local chapter of the Weather Underground, but in this day and age maybe it's not the best time to be joking about joining a militant Marxist organization that engaged in bombing campaigns back in the 1970's.

At any rate, that is all I've got for today. Thanks for reading, support your LGS, and I'll see you back here next week!