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As you’d expect in any murder mystery, sometimes the clues aren’t all on land.Murders at Karlov Mannorbrings a tale of murder toMagic: The Gathering, where a string of grisly slayings has struck the plane of Ravinca. It’s up to you to figure out who done it, and that means getting wet.
Just because the suspect wore a pair of concrete shoes doesn’t mean the evidence is out of reach. In the Deep Clue Sea commander deck, you’ll find that water is no impediment to a thorough investigation, and a single clue can bust a case wide open.
Deep Clue Sea Commander Deck List
Here’s the fullDeep Clue Sea deck listbroken down by card type.
Adrix and Nev, Twincasters
Detective of the Month
Disorder in the Court
Tranquil Thicket
Deep Clue Sea Commander Deck Themes
As the name suggests, the key theme of Deep Clue Sea is the investigation keyword.This deck wants to inundate you with Clue tokensto the point where you’ll be managing your Clues in a separate pile most of the time. The rest of the deck is largely built aroundenabling your Clue generation to do some silly things, like making Kappa Cannoneer unblockable, or turning your Clues into a rhinoceros wait staff with Killer Service.
Secondary to the overall Clue theme isa token theme, with cards likeAcademy Manufactor,Adrix and Nev, andBennnie Bracksprovidingadditional benefits regardless of the type of tokengenerated. Indeed, you may find yourself managing quite a few tokens in Deep Clue Sea.
There are three potential commanders in Deep Clue Sea, butonly Morska, Undersea Sleuth enables the deck’s core theme. In fact, one could say Morska is absolutely necessary as the deck’s commander as she’s the only reliable and consistent Clue generator. She also can be played early and represents an escalating threat the longer she stays on the board.
Sophia, Dogged Detectiveis next in line, and while she provides a single Dog token, she only provides one, and the rest of her abilities only benefit other Dogs. She’s an interesting card thatdeserves her own Dog-themed deckbut doesn’t make a great commander for Deep Clue Sea.
Chulane, Teller of Talesis a great card for his own deck, but hedoes nothing to enable the token generationin Deep Clue Sea. Morska is the commander you see on the cover of Deep Clue Sea, and she should remain so after you crack open the box.
Deep Clue Sea Commander Deck Analysis
There are a few things that Deep Clue Sea does well out of the box. The deck hasthree solid board sweepersinFarewell,Fumigate, andOrganic Extinction. It has a lot oframping artifactsand a bunch ofenchantments that empower your Clue generation. And it has asolid core of offensive and defensive creatures.
Mechanized Production can be an automatic win conditionfor this deck if you happen to draw it with eight clues already on the table.
What it doesn’t have is on-demand, instant-speed answers. You have all these Clues allowing you to draw a ton of cards almost whenever you want, but all the cards in the world won’t matter if you can’t get rid of the Darksteel Colossus that’s barging through your front door.
Evencasual commander decks need the flexibility to respond to threats as they arise. Deep Clue Sea has one excellent instant-speed removal spell in Swords to Plowshares, and two less-good spells in Confirm Suspicions and Disorder in the Court. It needs more, and much of the suggested upgrades will go towardsBant-flavoredanswers.
Deep Clue Sea also has a few cards that aren’t all that great, and a few cards that are decent on their own but don’t really fit the Clue theme.The recommended upgrades will streamline the deck and give it a slight power bump.
Finale of Revelation
Killer Service
Aerial Extortionist,Selvala, andHornet Queenare good cards that don’t really do anything for the investigation theme of Deep Clue sea, so they’re cut.Whirler Rogue,Nadir Kraken,Wavesifter, andSerene Sleuthdo help the theme, but there are more potent Clue cards out there.
Thought Monitoris at best a 2/2 flyer that draws extra cards on the cheap, and we’ve already got so much card draw from Clue tokens that we probably don’t need to spend a card on a dedicated card drawer.Sophia, Dogged Detectiveis so good, but really deserves her own deck to shine.
Confirm Suspicionsmight generate three Clue tokens, but five mana for a counterspell is way too much mana to leave open.Magnifying Glassis too expensive for a mana rock that investigates, andRansom Notedoesn’t do anything to help the deck at all.Follow the Bodiesis really only useful after you wipe the board, and the odds of you having it in your hand after doing so are too small to bother including.
Finale of Revelationis a good card, but we already have Hydroid Krasis for X-based card draw, even if it’s half of X, and we could really use more answers. And finally,Killer Serviceis on brand for the deck, but there’s a far better card we could be using to turn Clues into 4/4 creatures.
Deep Clue Sea Commander Deck Budget Upgrades
This deck needs answers, and we’re going to give it to her. This deck could also use somemore Clue-enablingand a fewother sources of Clue-based mayhem, which we’ll also be adding.
Reason
Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth
Turn your Clue tokens into a whole bunch of cards and life points. Alquist is a great replacement for Finale of Revelation as you get to use him more than once (hopefully).
Beast Within
Our first instant-speed answer is agreat green removal spellthat replaces the problem with a 3/3 beast, something that’s much easier to deal with. A staple card for a reason.
Counterspell
Two blue mana is your signal to the table that they need to ask permission before they do anything. Anotherstaple answer cardfor pretty much any blue deck.
Cultivate
Cultivate (and Kodama’s Reach, which is essentially the same card) offersmana fixing,ramp, anda stable mana pool for future turns. It does so much that not including it in a deck running green should be considered a crime.
Duggan, Private Detective
With all the cards you’ll be drawing from clues, Duggan is likely to bea big beefy detective who will be able to punch exactly one problem to death. He also investigates, which is nice.
Ezrim, Agency Chief
Ezrim canturn Clues into survival, which is a great thing for a 5/5 flyer to do.
Five Hundred Year Diary
A huge ramping artifactthat turns your Clues into blue mana sources. Expect this card to power out a big Hydroid Krasis.
Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
Every Clue becomes a green mana sourcewith Jaheira on the field. Basically same concept as Five Hundred Year Diary, but from a cheaper creature.
Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy
Kellan not onlyhelps ramp and investigate, but he later comes back to become arepeatable source of artifact hateand a cheaper way to crack your own Clue tokens. A solid add for Deep Clue Sea.
Negate
It’s not quite as all-encompassing as Counterspell, butNegate will still hit a lot of cardsthat you’d rather not become problems.
Rise and Shine
Turn your Clues into an army with Rise and Shine. A way better kill card than Killer Service.
Sharp-Eyed Rookie
Sharp-Eyed Rookie is both anescalating threatand agreat source of Clue tokensin the early game.
Stroke of Midnight
Like Beast Within, but better because now you just have to deal with a 1/1 human.A great instant-speed answerto a problematic non-land permanent.
Tamiyo’s Journal
Turn three Clues into a tutoris quite possibly the best thing you can do with your Clues. Plus, you get another consistent source of Clue tokens. A must-add to Deep Clue Sea.
Wojek Investigator
You’re not always going to have the most cards in hand, and when you don’t, Wojek Investigator is on the case! Plus, it’s anefficient 2/4 vigilant flyer that investigatesfor three mana. Hard to argue there.
