Howdy folks! I’m back with, what I hope will be, a new recurring feature on this site; namely my pick for deck of the week. The deck of the week will not always fit the same criteria, sometimes it will be the breakout deck from the last weekend’s main event, it may be a cool brew that I’ve stumbled across or it may just be a deck that my fellow writers really like.

This week it is all about those tentacles;

“To truly know a creature, slither a mile in its tentacles” – Renegade Doppleganger.

If there is one MTG player who knows a thing or two about tentacles it has got to be Cory Dissenger who crushed the competition in the swiss rounds of the last Star City Games Tour stop and rode the waves into the Top 8 with the following 75 cards:

Simic Tentacles – 5th Place #SCGBaltimore

Cory Dissenger

Let’s take a more detailed look at the deck and what makes it tick.

The Creatures:

The deck only plays 2 complete sets of creatures in Den Protector and Noose Constrictor, with both creatures holding pivotal roles in helping the deck cross the finishing line (or should that be shore line?). Whilst Noose Constrictor is not Wild Mongrel the two are comparable in some aspects. Both are small early creatures that can hold the ground, and in Noose Constrictor’s case the air, and both provide a useful discard outlet. Now, whilst there is not a whole lot of Madness going in this deck, at least in the sense of the mechanic, there is a secondary need to hit Delirium to enable some of the alternative later game win conditions, such as Emrakul and Ishkanah.

Speaking of Emrakul and Ishkanah, here are two of your main ways of winning the game once you have finished crushing your opponent. The real challenge of the deck is how devastated can you leave your opponent’s board and hand after you have taken their turn?

Den Protector provides the recurring value in the deck, buying back some of your one-off creatures like Void Grafter, Bounding Krasis or Elvish Visionary. It also provides the confidence to play your Crush of Tentacles on turn 4 or 5 with the knowledge that you can return it later! Den Protector also allows you to continuously loop crushes every turn once you have hit 10 mana, which is fairly easy with the deck.

The Spells:

The main aim of the deck is to stay alive long enough to set-up a Crush of Tentacles and then simply overpower your opponent from there. To that end the spells in the decks are utilised to both dig you deeper in your deck and to provide disruption to your opponent. Arguably the glue that holds the deck together is a combination of both Kiora, Master of Depths and Oath of Nissa.

We’ve all seen how strong Oath of Nissa can be, with G/W tokens demonstrating it repeatedly in the last Standard format, however Cory gave us all a masterclass in using the much maligned Kiora planeswalker. Often used for her -2 ability to give you a land and a creature, she can hang around on the board and provide a source of recurring card advantage every couple of turns, or she can tick down twice and add the Planeswalker type to your graveyard for delirium purposes.

A card that cares about delirium, alongside Ishkanah, is Traverse the Ulvenwald. This card can be a mana-fixer in the early hand, and allows you to keep mana light hands, and is a creature tutor in the late game to find a Den Protector, Ishkanah or even Emrakul. It is also a cheap spell that can set-up the surge cost on Crush of Tentacles.

Crush of Tentacles, the namesake card of the deck, has been lounging around standard and only popping its’ feelers above water every now and then in a couple of different decks, however this deck could be the leviathan of Standard. With enough ways to enable the Surge cost you will often be left with a huge 8/8 kraken whilst your opponent’s board is devastated. This card is definitely the reason to play this deck!

Sideboard:

The sideboard has been set-up to fight the most popular decks in the format and, although the deck is favoured in game one against Bant Company, you can bring in some nice sideboard cards to make sure you grab that second match win. Deathmist Raptor has been seeing somewhat of an upwards tick in play over the recent weeks. Whether it’s the potential with cards like Eldritch Evolution or Evangel of Emrakul, I am definitely happy to see the dancing raptor back, even if it’s only in the sideboard for the moment. You can still do the neat little trick of morphing your Deathmist Raptor and fooling your opponent into thinking it’s a Den Protector. Deathtouch is also a huge keyword against a lot of creature decks and warrants the additional inclusion of Gnarlwood Dryad in the sideboard.

Summary Dismissal has the potential to be a neat spell in the Emrakul mirrors that are very likley to be a real thing in the near future. It not only counters the spell but also removes all abilities from the stack. Your opponent invest 13 mana, or whatever the reduced casting cost is of Emrakul, and sits there smugly awaiting their chance to wreck your board, meanwhile you tap 4 mana and exile both their Emrakul and the take your opponent’s turn triggers! Now that’s value that I can get behind.

Moving Forward:

Moving forward I would like to see the deck splash black, not only so I could call it Salty Tentacles, but it would also allow the deck to bring in some additional cards such as Liliana, the Last Hope, Gilt-Leaf Winnower and Silumgar’s Command. The black splash would also allow you to use the activated ability of Ishknah. Whilst the addition of black may cause some complications in the mana base, it is definitely worth investigating.

Whilst this article is being written before the Pro Tour kicks off, the deck is sure to remain a firm fan favourite no matter how much the metagame shifts. How suited it is to the new meta is something that only time can tell. Be sure to check back next week for the Pro Tour review and my next choice for Deck of the Week!