Sep 2009 - MDV Deckbuilding Contest! 'How Deep Is The Ocean?" [Submission Thread]

[Streetz]

MDV Deckbuilding Contest! How Deep Is The Ocean?

Originally Posted by Streetz

I was listening to one of my favorite barbershop songs recently and thought to myself, why isn’t there a deck in the MDV deck database with that title? And thus is the point of this contest. Design and build a deck intended to be named “How Deep is the Ocean?” Interesting? I think so. You could go with the ‘fish’ theme or go another direction relying heavily on blue mana or enchantments involving water, the ocean or deep-ness. How you build this deck is completely up to you. Think outside of the box! And Good luck!

This is the official submission thread. That's right, your submission has to be posted in this thread and others will be able to see it. If you want to be secretive, wait until the last minute to post your deck before the deadline.

The discussion thread can be found here. Any questions or comments can be posted in that thread. Only your submission including description and deck name goes in this thread.

This contest's card theme is:
Build a deck around the name of the deck.

Objective:
Design a 60 card, no sideboard, deck intended to have the name of "How Deep Is The Ocean?" The deck type doesn't matter. What matters is that you make this the coolest deck possible while following the rules of the contest. Whether its originality or combos or whatever.

Deadline:
Your deck must be posted in this thread with all of the requirements filled by the end of the day on 9/25/09. You may edit your entry up until that point.

Rules:
Please read these carefully as they will make or break your entry.

• All entries must include: a 60 card deck, a deck name, and a short description.
• *As a Streetz Deckbuilding Contest staple, your deck must include at least two different cards that are legendary. Think Legendary Lands and Legendary creatures that are fun in 1 of's. Planeswalkers do NOT count as Legendary cards.
• Your deck must make sense having the name, "How Deep Is The Ocean?"
• You can use cards from any set.
• If a card is specifically banned or restricted in any major format, it applies here. If in doubt, ask. (The ban also includes the Power Nine cards: The five original Moxen, Black Lotus, Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and Time Twister.)
• Do not copy any existing deck that is on MDV or considered a popular net deck. The contest judge(s) hold the right to reject any deck.
• All submissions must be posted in this thread. Do you best not to copy or borrow ideas from others that have posted before you.
• All discussion for this contest can go here.

Scoring:

• Synergy/Combo - 10 possible points. Is your deck loaded with combos and synergies that make it better than other decks? Is this a unique combo in the deck never seen before? Decks lacking any synergy at all will score low in this category.
• Playability at a glance - 10 possible points. Since I can't test each deck, I review it at a glance. Make sure you go over any key interaction of cards in your description so I don't miss it when reviewing it.
• Overall Score - 10 possible points. Again, this is at a glance, but it is my impression of your deck overall. Does it look fun? Does it look well designed? This score includes a good deck name, a good deck description and a well built deck. A deck with a low playability score could still get a higher score.

This scoring system is subject to change.

Prizes:
The winner of this contest will be sent four copies of a card yet to be announced. If there is a tie, either the cards will be split up amongst the people involved, or if I have enough of that card, I may send 4 to all winners. In the case of this card it will be split up amongst the highest scorers (in the event of a tie).

[Scouter3000]

Well this looks like fun.

Deck
Space Reserved

[taipan]

How Deep is the Ocean?

Deck
Non Creature Spells 4 Boil 4 Boiling Seas 4 Cryoclasm 4 Magical Hack 4 Expedition Map 1 Seismic Assault 4 Elsewhere Flask Creatures 4 Detritivore 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent 1 Meloku, the Clouded Mirror 3 Vendilion Clique	Lands 4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 4 Vivid Crag 4 Crumbling Necropolis 1 Magosi the waterveil 4 Scalding Tarn 5 Mountain 7 Island 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea

How deep is the ocean?
However deep you want!

This is a casual combo deck that revolves around you playing urborg and magical hacking it to make all lands islands. Then, if you have the upper hand, go ahead and nuke the board, or use elsewhere flask to make a one sided armaggedon. Arcanis and Meloku are the one ofs and they provide wincons, card advantage, and protection for your lands. You can also discard to seismic assault if you plan on blowing everything up, or if you need to kill with Meloku. Detritivore and Vendilion clique serve as more win conditions, and vendilion clique lets you mess with an opponent or dig for combo pieces. Magosi lets you take turns when you want which can be great in multiplayer.

[ALEX Ryugami]

How Deep Is The Ocean?
Legacy-Casual Lands 4 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea 4 Flooded Strand 4 Polluted Delta 12 Island Creatures 4 Deep-Sea Kraken 4 Seasinger 4 Cloud of Faeries 2 Keiga, the Tide Star 2 Mist Dragon	Spells 4 Flood 4 Dream Tides 4 High Tide 4 Homarid Spawning Bed 4 Sea's Claim

This is a mono-blue control deck without using any Counterspells, which is something unique. I'll describe the cards on this deck flavorly:

Mikokoro, Center of the Sea: You found the knowledge on the center of the sea, which is something you want from it and spread that to anyone even your enemy!
Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta: The water on the ocean of course not already there by itself. Sometimes they come from the flooded strands (pardon for the bad pun ) or the deltas (even it's polluted.) You'll be on the sea if you don't mind spending some time for going through the strands or the deltas.
Island: THIS IS THE OCEAN!!
Deep-Sea Kraken: Lurking on the bottom of the sea, this time-trapped creature comes unexpected through the time rift, and its hunger of the spells could fastening the process of the rift-transfer, and unstoppable when it comes.
Seasinger: Looked like a weak being, but her magical song could turn the vicious Leviathan into a humble one.
Cloud of Faeries: How deep is the sea compared to the sky?? The faeries look at the sea, wondering if they could reach the bottom.
Keiga, the Tide Star: The guardian of the sea, which will haunt those who slay it and take control of them.
Mist Dragon: It looks like an ordinary mist that you just passed before on the sea but something that you don't realize that it comes over and eats you, then vanish instantly.
Flood: When the flood comes from the sea, nobody on the ground could escape from it.
Dream Tides: The tide isn't real, you just trapped on the dream and can't wake up.
High Tide: The tide on the ocean gives a lot of blue mana to swarm over the ground, or the air.
Homarid Spawning Bed: The mommy Homarid waiting on the bed to eat those yummy Keiga or the Kraken, which then spawning her cutey babies.
Sea's Claim: At first it doesn't even have any water, but the sea claim it and so does it becomes a part of the ocean.

[Haggis]

How Deep is the Ocean?
Lands 20 Island 2 Dark Depths 2 Teferi's Isle Creatures 4 Dandan 4 DreamWinder 4 HammerHead shark 4 Tidal Warrior 3 Vodalian Knights 3 Steambed Aquitects	Other Spells 4 Aquitect's will 4 muddle the mixture 2 Sunken City 2 Phantasmal Terrain 2 Counterspell

So I based the deck on things that need the opponent to have islands, and way s to give them islands

Teferi's Isle - Ya phasing!
Dark Depths - Theres a monster under that frozen ocean!!

Dandan & Hamerhead shark - Need the ocean to be deep enough to attack
Dreamwinder - Can make the ocean deep enough so him and the sea buddies can attack.
Tidal Warrior - One drop that makes Islands
Vodalian Knights - First Stiker, That can jump to block them nasty flying creature
Steambed Aquitects - Makes Islands, and can give his fellow merfolk a free ride to the opponents dome once he given an island

Aquitect's will - Hey have an island, and hopefully nets you another card
Muddle the mixtures - Not only counters things targeting your stuff, but in a flash its a phantsmal terrian dandan, or shark
Sunkin City - Well it this oceans suppose to be deep, it should be able to swallow up a coastal city. and hey my sea dwellers are +1/+1
Phantasmal Terrian - Here U haz Izland!
Counterspell - Well duh.

[zupaman]

great site by the way ^_^

How Deep Is The Ocean?(Cephalid Imperial Army)
Lands 4 Cephalid Coliseum 16 Island Creatures 2 Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor 1 Callous Oppressor 3 Cephalid Broker 3 Cephalid Illusionist 2 Cephalid Inkshrouder 2 Cephalid Sage 2 Cephalid Scout 1 Kederekt Leviathan 2 Llawan, Cephalid Empress	Other Spells 4 Deep Analysis 2 Ideas Unbound 1 Think Tank 2 Alter Reality 2 Boomerang 1 Dream Tides 3 High Tide 2 Lifeline 2 Propaganda 1 Quest for Ancient Secrets 2 Unsummon

Description

...Emperor Aboshan was the ruler of the cephalid Mer Empire that controlled a large portion of Dominaria's oceans after the Phyrexian Invasion. He came to power due to a pact he made with Laquatus, who helped him replace the royal mermaid family and take their magical powers. He also secured his rule by marrying Empress Llawan in order to create a military alliance between his faction and her father's...*

The deck is based on cephalid creatures. The main strategy behind it is to get your cards into your graveyard, then play cards with flashback, threshold or unearth or "finish" with Lifeline. The rest should hopefully become clear with the card explanations.


Cards

Creatures

Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor: The Emperor. One of the key cards, because hes a combination of an Opposition and a Deluge
Callous Oppressor: Stealing the opponents creatures is always great, especially flying ones in this case. He sucks against tribal decks though
Cephalid Broker: I can draw the cards i need and the unnecessary/graveyard-using cards will be discarded
Cephalid Illusionist: The best defensive oriented creature in the deck and also supports the growth of my graveyard
Cephalid Inkshrouder: Good attacker with a self defense ability
Cephalid Sage: Like Cephalid Broker and works fine with Lifeline
Cephalid Scout: The flying cephalid who won't be tapped by Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor
Kederekt Leviathan: The thing from the depths. If there is nothing else the cephalids can do they wake up the sleeping giant to reset the battleground
Llawan, Cephalid Empress: The Empress. Great against other blue decks and with Alter Reality simply ravishing


Other Spells

Deep Analysis: Cheap card draw from graveyard, discard nominee
Ideas Unbound: Simply the deck mechanic and i love the "at the end of your turn"-part
Think Tank: Gets you a sneak preview and fills the graveyard
Alter Reality: The Empress loves it, and i love the empress' ability with a color of my choice, and it works with Dream Tides as well
Boomerang & Unsummon: I put in some classics with Boomerang and Unsummon, because they go well with the mechanics in this deck and are always cheap and useful cards
Dream Tides: Explains itself, also great with Aboshan
High Tide: It isn't the cheapest deck so some help from the tides is always welcomed
Lifeline: Simply great when half of my library is in the graveyard. Aboshan, Llawan (with the right color word) or Propaganda make the opposing creatures manageable
Propaganda: Good defensive spell
Quest for Ancient Secrets: (The rules said every set so i picked this fitting one from Zendikar, hope thats okay)The only solution if there aren't many cards left in my library


phew... that was exhausting, excuse me for my bad english ;3

*Introduction from wiki.mtgsalvation.com

[death by aggro]

Placeholder for now, I'll make something probably this weekend.

[ThunderHog]

How Deep is the Ocean?
Lands 22x Forest Creatures 3x Marshdrinker Giant 2x Spellbane Centaur 4x Amphibious Kavu 4x Bloated Toad 4x River Boa 4x Bull Hippo 4x River Bear	Spells 2x Eyes of the Wisent 3x Quicksilver Fountain 2x Seedtime 4x Choke 2x Tsunami

Description
- How Deep is the Ocean, huh? Well, everybody in the water. It's time to go swimming!!!

- I wanted to be very original. I didn't want to throw out a basic ole' water-theme'd blue deck just like everyone else. So I went with a water-theme'd green deck. Just cuz I'm cool like that.

- Basically, my deck is a blue-hoser that just so happens to be water/ocean theme'd. We're gonna drink, swim and eat our way all the down to the bottom! On top of that, we have to be ready to defend ourselves if anything decides to come out and we'll have no choice but to push it back into the depths it came from!

[bloodagate]

Deck Description
When i read "how deep is the ocean" i thought about what the ocean is to me. I have always lived by the ocean, and in my experience its a living place with its own personality, has moods, wants, and needs, so for this contest, i decided to go with something a little out of the ordinary. the Heart.
The basic idea is to keep your opponent under a soft lock with Chisei, Heart of Oceans, while trying to take advantage of the tempo loss.

How Deep is the Ocean

Deck
Creatures.18 3 Chisei, Heart of Oceans 3 Devoted Druid 2 Glen Elendra Archmage 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Lorescale Coatl 4 Wall of Roots Spells.11 4 Brainstorm 4 Force of Will 1 Ponder 2 Repeal Enchantments.5 1 Decree of Silence 4 Mystic Remora	Artifacts.7 1 Quicksilver Fountain 3 Smokestack 2 Umezawa's Jitte 1 Vedalken Shackles Lands.19 4 Forest 4 Gemstone Mine 7 Island 4 Simic Growth Chamber

Legendary
Chisei, Heart of Oceans
Umezawa's Jitte

Card Choice
For the most part card choice is based around one thing, how well it interacts with Chisei, and while keeping that in mind additionally keep in mind the interactions with other cards.

chisei, heart of ocean: 4/4 flyer with a major drawback. or is it? ok so it is, the card cannot stand alone, it needs to interact with other cards to have any sort of staying power.

mystic remora: card advantage is big in magic, and this interacts nicely with the star, keeping both around while netting you cards at the same time. also makes your Lorescale Coatl a force to be reckoned with.

lorescale coatl: gets big on card drawing with brainstorm and mystic remora.

smokestack: blows your opponents stuff up with chisei out leaving you untouched. can also be used in combination with kitchen finks to net you life.

quicksilver fountain: a chisei interaction, making multi color hard to play, this is a one of because it does little when your opponent is playing nothing but islands. with chisei, you can keep pulling flood counters off your lands slowly making your opponent blue in the face.

umezawa's jitte: gives you two counters to be used for many useful things.

decree of silence: with chisei out this can spell game over.

glen elendra archmage: counter + persist; with chisei you can get more uses out of both.

devoted druid and wall of roots: a little bit of mana excel, and can keep chisei out indefinitly. and wall of roots provides a good early defense from one drops.

vedalken shackles: probably the least interactive card in the deck, but very useful. quicksilver fountain can give you the islands you need to take a larger creature, and jitte can make a creature small enough to take as well.

gemstone mine: in a pinch can same chisei, but really its around to provide the two colors of mana required by the deck without slowing you down every other turn taping a mirrodin's core before giving the correct color.

simic growth chamber: can return a land to keep the quicksilver fountain, flood counters from leaving, can get extra use out of gemstone mine, and is useful in keeping mystic remora around during the early turns of the game.

ponder: best used to shuffle away cards put back by brainstorm.

force of will: mana-less counter spell, check. with remora and brainstorm to get you extra cards you will have plenty to pitch to save your board.

repeal: bounces stuff and draws you a card. useful for saving your stuff for reuse.

Notable exclusions
unstable mutation: +3/+3 for U with a -1/-1 counter every turn, would make the deck rely on chisei far too much, in my opinion.

counter balance and sense's divining top: counter top is a great combo and deck type all by itself and would detract from the theme in a casual setting. if i wanted to play along this line i wouldn't be playing chisei, heart of oceans.

duel lands, fetch lands, money cards: aside form force of will, and umezawa's jitte, the deck is made of cheep cards, i don't see the need for making up excuses to run tropical islands in a deck like this. but by all means you may feel free.

choke, back to basics, propaganda, winter orb, fact or fiction, stand still, etc.: all good cards, not included for the lack of team interaction.

dark depths: has counters, gets you a big creature, keeps chisei around for a while, not included because its really not needed. the land would only really start loosing counters after chisei is established and without providing mana its a dead card till the late game.

Conclusion:
Although this deck is based around chisei, heart of oceans the card itself is the biggest drawback to the deck. its really the only card that requires the others to make it work. but with chisei in play it helps to make your locks easier to manage. yes truth be told you can get the same locks with other counter eaters. yes they would probably make for essentially easier to pull off locks, but the ocean is stubborn and has always appealed to my creative side. and its feels great when players say "wow really, i just lost to that $&*!# rare!"

[Kinggidorah]

How Deep Is The Ocean?
Lands 4 Dark Depths 2 Darkwater Catacombs 2 Drowned Catacomb 2 Sunken Ruins 4 Watery Grave 5 Island 5 Swamp Creatures 1 Tidal Kraken 1 Deep-Sea Kraken 1 Drowned 1 Vodalian Zombie 3 Gravelgill Duo 3 Inkfathom Infiltrator 2 Inkfathom Witch 2 Merrow Bonegnawer 1 Sygg, River Cutthroat 2 Hollowsage 1 Nemesis of Reason	Other Spells 4 Aether Snap 4 Glimpse the Unthinkable 2 Diabolic Vision 2 Dire Undercurrents 3 Memory Plunder 3 Mind Shatter

Description
I determined, at the outset of this project, that I would, in my own curiosity, discover the true depths of the Ocean. I did soundings, made use of robotic submersibles, and engaged in many journeys via the bathysphere. I, unsatisfied with my findings, did take the advice of an old salt. I made my way to Arkham, and the libraries of Miskatonic University. Through painstaking research that no sane man would undertake, I found the horrible truth…

“Hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world until the time when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in the mighty city of R'lyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth again beneath his sway.” – H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

As you can guess by now, my deck was inspired by the darkest depths of the oceans and its association with the Mythos of Howard Philip Lovecraft.

Card Choice

Land: When I first began creating this monstrosity, I knew I wanted to build a deck around Dark Depths, because the name fits the theme, and what's a Ocean themed Lovecraft deck without a Cthulhu. (And if you don't think Marit Lage isn't Magic's very own Great Old One, something is wrong with you.) Darkwater Catacombs, Drowned Catacomb, Sunken Ruins, and Watery Graves all fit my R'lyeh inspired sea-scape quite well, and gave me some flexibility in my mana production.

Creatures: The Tidal Kraken (Father Dagon) and the Deep-Sea Kraken (Mother Hydra) and the Nemesis of Reason (Ghatanothoa) were givens, but I spent quite a while determining who else should populate the darkest of the dark depths. I settled on a slew of menfolk, and not just because they were merfolk, but the images on the cards absolutely screamed Deep Ones. The Gravelgill Duo, the Inkfathom Infiltrators, and Merrow Bonegnawers I feel represent the rank and file Deep One Cultists quite well. The Inkfathom Witches and the Hollowsages represent the priests of Cthulhu while maintaining that lightless crushing depths feel I wanted for the theme. And what is a Cult without a Cult Leader? I thought that Sygg, River Cutthroat filled that role nicely. I threw in the Vodalian Zombie and the Drowned, because no trip to R'leth is complete without seeing a zombie or two wandering the ink-drenched ocean floor.

Other Spells
I started with the Dire Undercurrents, Memory Plunders, and Glimpse the Unthinkable, because they fit the theme so well, and had some great synergy. The Diabolic Visions gave the deck a bit of deck manipulation and card draw, and with the Mind Shatters rounded out the themes of black spiraling seas mirrored in the black spiraling madness.
And the Æther Snaps? Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! The Stars are Right! The Great Old Ones rise! Bwah-hahahahhahaha!

[Akir94]

It's my first post so show mercy please.

How Deep is the Ocean
Lands 4 Tropical Island 22 Island Creatures 2 Inkwell Leviathan 3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking 4 TideWalker	Spells 4 Wand of the Elements 3 Honden of the Seeing Winds 3 Flow of Ideas 4 Foil 3 Ensnare 4 Flooded Shoreline 4 High Tide

My idea is an island based deck.

Inkwell Leviathan- the finisher. You see,I couldn't find a good island based finisher, so I used this.
Azusa- legendary creature that get my lands into the battlefield.
Honden and Flow of Ideas- ways to draw more cards.
High Tide- accelerator.
The rest- ways to use Islands.

[Goldenboy]

How Deep Is The Ocean? (Deep Enough To Drown In)
Lands 4 Moonring Island 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Shelldock Isle 1 Dark Depths 10 Island Creatures (Merfolk) 4 Drowner of Secrets 4 Grimoire Thief 3 Puresight Merrow 4 Merrow Reejerey 2 Wake Thrasher 1 Ambassador Laquatus 4 Cursecatcher 4 Merrow Harbinger	Other Spells 3 Lantern of Insight 2 Merrow Commerce 4 Cryptic Command 2 Sanity Grinding

This is basically a Merfolk deck built around Drowner of Secrets to mill your opponent. You drown them and then they wash up on the shore defeated after you have drowned out every card in their deck.

Card Choices
Lands
Moonring Island: look at the top card of your opponent's deck so you can set them up for a dead draw.
Drowned Catacomb: This one is mainly for flavor. It will basically act as an island. If this is the only land you have from the start then you probably want to mulligan.
Shelldock Isle: Odds are, your opponent is going to be below 20 cards eventually.
Dark Depths: Legendary Land. It's always fun when you actually manage to remove the final ice counter and a giant indestructable avatar rises from the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean to swallow your opponent whole.
Island: blue mana

Creatures (Merfolk)
Drowner of Secrets: Controlled mill every turn makes it easy to control your opponent's next draw.
Grimoir Thief: This card works almost too well with Drowner of Secrets. 1 Card to the Graveyard, 3 Cards exiled, plus a counter spell.
Merrow Reejerey: +1/+1 to all my creatures is nice, and its untap ability allows for more milling or to tap down your opponent's creatures.
Ambassador Laquatus: Legend, Merfolk, Mill...need I say more?
Puresight Merrow: It plays like Horseshoe Crab except in Merfolk form and works verly well with Drowner of Secrets, and its ability lets you thin your deck.
Cursecatcher: Merfolk and a counter target noncreature spell.
Wake Thrasher: With all of the tapping and untapping in this deck, this guy gets huge. Beatstick!
Merrow Harbinger: This guy can seek out every card except lantern of insight, Cryptic Command, Sanity Grinding, and my lands.

Other Spells
Lantern of Insight: Allows you to see your opponent's next card so you can set them up for a dead draw.
Merrow Commerce: Merfolk Enchantment, untaps all of my creatures, what's not to like?
Cryptic Command: Overpowered counterspell to deal with any threats that your opponent may throw at you before you are set up to feed them dead draws.
Sanity Grinding: Heavy mill in an all blue deck.

[Cashew]

How Deep Is the Ocean?
Lands (25) 22 Island 2 Ice Floe 1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea Creatures (20) 4 Gomazoa 4 Living Tsunami 4 Windrider Eel 3 Merfolk Wayfinder 2 Avizoa 2 Fylamarid 1 Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor	Spells (15) 4 Deluge 4 Gush 4 Vedalken Shackles 3 Explorer's Scope

I was orginially going to do a sea creature control deck. However I found that all of Zendikar is in gatherer now and offically spoiled. Ha! The entire deck is a fun play on the fact that none of these creatures are things you'd expect to fly. Yet they do. Our one non-flier is there to lock down all other non-fliers.

The deck is decent fun and probably won't win you a tournment, but who cares. Gamazoa is an awesome fun new card (one of my favorites from Zendikar) and the syngery on much of the deck driving the eel's landfall is a bonus. Sometimes you just gotta theme it up.

[hells33kerd]

how deep is the ocean?
Creatures (20) 2 Benthic Behemoth 2 Chisei, Heart of Oceans 3 Deep-Sea Kraken 3 Devouring Deep 1 Great Whale 2 Lord of Atlantis 3 Pirate Ship 3 Serpent of the Endless Sea 1 Thing from the Deep Spells (11) 4 High Tide 4 Inundate 3 Research the Deep	Enchantments (3) 3 Quicksilver Dagger Artifacts (6) 3 Quicksilver Amulet 3 Quicksilver Fountain Lands (20) 2 Dark Depths 11 Island 3 Seafloor Debris 4 Volcanic Island

Legendary
Chisei, Heart of Oceans
Dark Depths


Card Reasons including Flavor fitting
Benthic Behemoth- Large islandwalker plus the flavor text is fitting "The sea has many secrets, but some are too big to be kept."
Chisei, Heart of Oceans- Part of my lock combo plus its the heart of oceans
Deep-Sea Kraken- Great 6/6 unblockalbe plus he's from the deep-sea
Devouring Deep- cheap 3 cost islandwalker plus i think it describes the sea pretty well with the name.
Great Whale- 5/5 comes into play untap 7 lands, works well with high tide for more mana plus think moby dick explains how islands are made in flavor text "As a great whale dies, it flips onto its back. And so an island is born. -Mariners' legend"
Lord of Atlantis- 2/2 for 2 plus as long as we're going to the depths atlantis is a great place to stop
Pirate Ship- pinger, "islandhome" plus on the sea we're bound to see pirates
Serpent of the Endless Sea- nice fatty that grows through out the game plus just how deep is the sea? according to this guy endless
Thing from the Deep- 9/9 Leviathan for 9 plus name, creature type and flavor text are fitting "Seafarers fear sailing off the world's edge not so much as down its gullet."
High Tide- more blue mana makes it easier to cast some of the fattys plus when the tide gets high is when atlantis is swallowed
Inundate- returns all creatures but mine plus the flavor text is fitting to the ocean swallowing land "For years, the landfolk have emptied their refuse into the waters. It's time to return the favor."
Research the Deep- Card draw plus to know how deep the sea is you have to research it.
Quicksilver Dagger- pinging and card draw plus quicksilver is the ocean on mirrodin.
Quicksilver Amulet- Drop the fattys into play for cheap plus quicksilver is the ocean on mirrodin.
Quicksilver Fountain- part of the lock with Chisei, Heart of Oceans and floods the lands plus quicksilver is the ocean on mirrodin.
Dark Depths- fits legendary requirement, gives me other counters to remove with chisei and pumps out the dreaded Marit Lage
Island- ....i don't really need to explain do I?....oh i do....well then produces the mana i need plus in the ocean you'll find islands
Seafloor Debris- can produce for the Quicksilver dagger plus at the bottom of the ocean your bound to find debris and the picture kinda looks like it could be atlantis...
Volcanic Island- produces both and plus in the ocean you'll find islands and some will have volcano's.

combos
Quicksilver Fountain + Chisei, Heart of Oceans= All your opponents lands are islands and the counters never get removed
Chisei, Heart of Oceans + Dark Depths= 10 Turn minimum for the Marit Lage
high tide + great whale= lots of extra mana

[George G]

I told this story in discussion earlier, after this contest was announced I was eating chinese food and this was the message in my fortune cookie, since the only sponge in the game is horrible I joked about using cards that let you produce types of your choice and choosing sponge. After a suggestion of changelings by Haggis and the further talk of mistforms, Kinggidorah was singing "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?...."

So there's my "hook"(pun intended), I'm answering the question "How deep is the Ocean?" with another question...How much deeper would the ocean be without SpongeBob SquarePants!?!?

How deep is the Ocean?

Characters 1 Walking Sponge (Spongebob) 1 Giant Crab (Mr. Krabs) 1 Sand Squid (Squidward) 1 Spiny Starfish (Patrick) 1 Killer Whale (Pearly) 4 Chronozoa (Plankton Multiples(see "plot")) 4 Horseshoe Crab (Krabs Family) 1 Barrin, Master Wizard (definitly looks like the pirate guy) Spells(plot twists!) 4 Psionic gift 3 Charisma (whos more charismatic than the Sponge?) 4 High tide 4 Force of Will (Krabs is stubborn and determined...) 4 Rewind (To get to the beginning of the episode when your done watching it) 2 Opposition (Mr. Krabs vs. Plankton) 4 Gaseous form (Patricks flatulance will keep any creature at "bay"(PUN!))

Lands(setting) 1 Tolaria 20 Islands

Honorable Mentions:
Form of the squirrel Could incorporate green, but I like the "plot", and this isn't necessary anyway.
Spatula of the agesThis is the my biggest regret...I wanted it as sideboard, but since they aren't allowed I can't really maindeck it. I'm not even sure if un-cards are allowed. There is no time for Spongebob to work anyway, Sandy is in trouble!!

Plot:

Your opponent has kidnapped Sandy!!! *GASP!!!!* Spongebob and friends must stop your opponent, meanwhile, Plankton has made a plan to replicate himself in hopes that it will be easier to get ahold of a Krabby patty. Mr. Krabs in response to this has called in his family(horseshoe crabs), who with the help of their "psionic gift", will become even more powerful and help Spongebob get Sandy back in the process.
If Spongebobs charisma rubs off on them to help bring your opponents creatures over, even better!

Combo: Horseshoe Crab + Psionic Gift + Charisma will make your opponents scream "OH, TARTER SAUCE!"

Combo: Horseshoe crab + Opposition = Victory

Legends----Barrin as the pirate who sings the theme song(perfect casting!), and Tolaria that adds to the same abilities as the Walking Sponge himself.

P.S. Gary died.....that's why he's not in there, cause he's dead. Pets die all the time, deal with it. Yes, his tombstone reads "Meow"