In a brand new segment we’re calling Deck Doctors, Kevin and Aryeh are taking a look at a deck submitted by one of our viewers!
Click here to check out the full episode!
Ryan writes:
“Dear Kevin and Aryeh,
I have a deck I built centered around Tatyova, Benthic Druid. The idea is that I get as many lands onto the battlefield as possible to trigger her landfall ability and then use all of that mana to kick Slinn Voda, The Rising Deep in order to bounce everything except my merfolk. But I rarely get both pieces of my combo at the same and when I don’t the whole deck sort of falls apart, I’m not particularly attached to Slinn Voda, but I’d love to see a fun deck built around Tatyova that lets me ramp super fast and generate tons of card advantage. It doesn’t need to be competitive but I’d like it to be standard legal.
Best,
Ryan”
Ryan’s full decklist includes:
Creatures (31)
3 Academy Drake
4 Baloth Gorger
2 Cloudreader Sphinx
3 Elfhame Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Merflok Trickster
2 Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar
2 Sentinel of the Pearl Trident
2 Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
3 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
2 Thorn Elemental
2 Untamed Kavu
Lands (24)
12 Forest
2 Hinterland Harbor
7 Island
3 Woodland Stream
Sorceries (2)
2 Grow from the Ashes
Artifacts (1)
1 Gilded Lotus
Enchantments (2)
2 In Bolas’s Clutches
After careful review, Kevin and Aryeh prescribed a nuanced treatment that improved the consistency of the deck without compromising the original intent.
The first thing to go was the kicker theme. It seemed that a few cards were only included to make the pay-off from Elfhame Druid work, a card that isn’t pulling it’s weight anyway. Removing cards like Academy Drake, Untamed Kavu, and Baloth Gorger creates room for cards that will allow us to put more lands into play per turn which is exactly what this deck wants.
Next on the chopping block were cards like Thorn Elemental, Sentinel of the Pearl Trident, and Merfolk Trickster. These cards weren’t helping accomplish the goal of the deck but were likely included for tribal synergy or just having something to spend mana on. In place of these cards went a cards that allowed us to interact with our opponent and cards that manipulate our deck.
Here’s a look at the final decklist!
Creatures (25)
2 Dream Eater
3 Druid of the Cowl
3 Jadelight Ranger
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar
1 Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
4 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
2 Wayward Swordtooth
4 World Shaper
Lands (26)
4 Evolving Wilds
11 Forest
4 Hinterland Harbor
7 Island
Enchatments (5)
2 In Bolas’s Clutches
2 Search for Azcanta
1 The Mending of Dominaria
Sorceries (4)
1 River’s Rebuke
3 Scapeshift
Get YOUR Deck Doctored:
If you’d like to have your deck featured on Deck Doctors, click here to join our Facebook group ‘Game Talk For Gamers’ and post it with the headline DEAR DECK DOCTORS with a link to your deck list. We’ll reach out to you if you’re selected with further details.
