The Deep Clue Sea deck is one of 4 preconstructed Commander decks released alongside the Murders at Karlov Manor set. It’s a Bant (Green, White, and Blue) color identity deck with a heavy investigating and Detective theme.
Upgrading the Deck
This deck out of the box is solid, and Morska, Undersea Sleuth is a fine commander. However, how could I possibly turn down the opportunity to build around the real star of the deck, the goodest boi Retective Rog? I suspect that the unmodified deck still runs okay with making Scrappy, I mean Tiny, and using him as a Voltron piece with the native trample and cards like Merchant of Truth, but I’d much rather go as wide as possible with Dogs and +1/+1 counters cause that’s way more fun.
There aren’t a ton of Dogs to begin with, and of those not many are powerful enough to run. On the surface this might seem to make the tribal approach not worth it, but we have a couple of advantages. One is that there are some really solid changelings like Realmwalker and Masked Vandal, and two is that we have multiple cards like Maskwood Nexus and Arcane Adaptation to turn all of our synergy pieces into Dogs and really supercharge things. Once I played this deck for a while I would likely be looking for a couple of cards that underperform to cut for things like Idyllic Tutor and Mystical Tutor so you can reliably find those pieces, but I like to test the widest range I can when I first build a deck.
Speaking of synergy pieces, we’re in great colors to have a whole host of +1/+1 counter pieces, doubling effects like Doubling Season and Ozolith, the Shattered Spire, and utility effects like reach, trample, flying, or straight up unblockability. We also get our pick of some of the best defensive and removal spells in the game which is excellent. I’m probably running a little bit light on them for this first pass but there’s a ton of leeway to tweak as desired.
The mana ramp in the deck is quite solid to start with so for the most part I left those as is – because we’re a 3 color deck we have 3 talismans and 3 signets all at 2 mana which is really where I want to be with acceleration. Depending on your meta you may want to swap some of these for land ramp like Rampant Growth but I’m not overly concerned about it. Similarly the mana base wouldn’t be hurt by swapping in some shocks and fetches either but the deck should play just fine in the meantime with the suite it comes with.
Cut List
- 1 Aerial Extortionist
- 1 Alandra, Sky Dreamer
- 1 Detective of the Month
- 1 Essix, Fractal Bloom
- 1 Tangletrove Kelp
- 1 Selvala, Explorer Returned
- 1 Ethereal Investigator
- 1 Innocuous Researcher
- 1 Graf Mole
- 1 Hornet Queen
- 1 Morska, Undersea Sleuth
- 1 Koma, Cosmos Serpent
- 1 Hydroid Krasis
- 1 Psychosis Crawler
- 1 Kappa Cannoneer
- 1 Serene Sleuth
- 1 Thought Monitor
- 1 Seaside Citadel
- 1 Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse
- 1 Lonis, Cryptozoologist
- 1 Wavesifter
- 1 Killer Service
- 1 Junk Winder
- 1 Merchant of Truth
- 1 Disorder in the Court
- 1 Nettlecyst
- 1 Ransom Note
- 1 Idol of Oblivion
- 1 Magnifying Glass
- 1 Mechanized Production
- 1 Knowledge is Power
- 1 Armed with Proof
- 1 Finale of Revelation
- 1 Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh
- 1 Confirm Suspicions
- 1 Follow the Bodies
- 1 Organic Extinction
- 1 Ulvenwald Mysteries
- 1 Nadir Kraken
- 1 Shimmer Dragon
- 1 Whirler Rogue
Add List
- 1 Pack Leader
- 1 Mowu, Loyal Companion
- 1 Selfless Savior
- 1 Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
- 1 Ainok Bond-Kin
- 1 Floodhound
- 1 Loyal Warhound
- 1 Spirited Companion
- 1 Mischievous Pup
- 1 Release the Dogs
- 1 Mushroom Watchdogs
- 1 Tanuki Transplanter
- 1 Ainok Survivalist
- 1 Boros Mastiff
- 1 Iron Mastiff
- 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
- 1 Longshot Squad
- 1 Animal Sanctuary
- 1 Masked Vandal
- 1 Mirror Entity
- 1 Realmwalker
- 1 Doubling Season
- 1 Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
- 1 Abzan Falconer
- 1 Inspiring Call
- 1 Maskwood Nexus
- 1 Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
- 1 Lightning Greaves
- 1 Vanquisher’s Banner
- 1 Hardened Scales
- 1 Anointed Procession
- 1 Arcane Adaptation
- 1 Kindred Discovery
- 1 Guardian Project
- 1 Counterspell
- 1 Cyclonic Rift
- 1 Damning Verdict
- 1 Heroic Intervention
- 1 Lae’Zel, Vlaakith’s Champion
- 1 Kodama of the West Tree
- 1 Herald of Secret Streams
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