Core Strategy

Early Game (Turn 1-4): Focus on setting up Pirate Ship and Anui Undine
Mid-Game (Turn 4-5.5): Expand your board presence with synergistic plays, leveraging control cards like Riptide, Pollimorph, and Drown to maintain dominance. While SPAMMING Waveshaper ability to keep your control, most games, your wont play 6 sights, but you can if the board is completely controlled.
Late Game: Push for Deaths Door using combo plays with Selfsame Simulacrum, to overwhelm opponent with ships and Anui, You will be surprised how fast you can get people to deaths door.

Key Cards

Water Core Cards

Pirate Ship: A critical card for early aggression; thrives with Floodplains and Waveshaper.
Anui Undine: Game-changing aquatic minion; combine with Flood effects for massive damage.
Selfsame Simulacrum: Copy your Ships or Anui to overwhelm.

Timeline of Updates

5/16/2024:

Replaced Sea Raiders with Sea Salt Anchormen for utility in disruption-heavy matchups.
Refined focus on Pirate Ship and Selfsame Simulacrum for consistent tempo.

6/13/2024:

Added Polar Explorers for defensive and burst-damage capabilities.
Streamlined the deck by removing Captain Baldassare and an additional Sea Salt Anchorman.

7/16/2024:

Added Mariner’s Curse to protect units and create synergy with Riptide for control.
Consolidated flood mechanics by replacing a Flood with Atlantean Fate.

9/18/2024 (50/30 Deck):

Added Common Sense (4 copies) for card search and flexibility.
Introduced Bosk Trolls and Belmotte Longbowmen to counter aggro.
Transitioned toward Earth-focused spells for additional board presence and utility.

10/5/2024:

Integrated stealth mechanics with Swindler Troupe to enhance Pirate Ship/Anui Undine damage output.
Added Guisarme + Ludbog Cat Combo for surprise burst damage (8+).

Strengths

Excels in mid-game tempo (4-6 mana), dominating the board with low-cost, high-value minions.
Adaptable to various metas through Water, Air, or Fire splashes.
Punishes core-heavy or mana-dependent decks with Stormy Seas and Waveshaper's ability.

Weaknesses

Vulnerable to disruptive cards like Infiltrate, Lethal, or heavy removal.
Aggro-heavy decks can overwhelm early game defenses without proper draws. Look for Troll Bridges, and smaller Minions such as Bosk Troll, Shellycoat, and Ludbog Cats to mitigate aggro burst

11/22/2024: Air or Fire Splashing (Currently Testing)

Currently Working of other Splash variants Water/Air and Water/Fire threshold variants for meta adaptability:
Water/Air: Emphasizes, card draw and mobility with Fade, Sir Pelleas, and Blink, Lightning Bolt - Grapple Shot
Water/Fire: Focuses on aggressive damage/ and Counter Midrange late game decks with Infiltrate and Sir Gaheris, Black Knights, Kobolds ETC
Water: Currently testing Helpful Hob, Geyser, Sea Serpent, and Green Knight in my base deck. Lastly, testing Grim Guisarme, thinking it will work really well with Ludbog Cat to swing at their avatar turn 3 or 4, or to buff ships.

3/12/2024: Won Local Tournament Using Air Instead of Earth

I took out Kettletop, Common Senses, and replaced them with Blinks and Sir Pelleas, and added some Deep-Sea Mermaids. Having Blink really adds a flex to your units and having that really made the Cats feel a lot more powerful, I also added a few Sea Serpents which did feel really well but im unsure if I want to keep them in the main deck. Having Sir Pelleas, feels op if your opponent also has water. Still play testing, and creating a more Aggro version called "Messmer".

TIPS:

Mariners Curse - You can play on top of your minions on opponents sites to protect them while hammering down with damage

Silence - Utility can use on your own ships to attack earth sites or disrupt enemy plays

Old Salt Anchorman - Prevents forced movements, BURYS and SUBMERGES are also forced movements so it adds a layer of proection, also protects against pudge, riptides ETC

Waveshaper Ability - USE THIS ABILITY, it can hit sites NEAR your body of water, and you can really F up your opponent if played correctly. By the time you have 5 sights you should be spamming this and not placing more sites. Unless you have full control in most cases.

Starting hand: Try to go for at least one lighthouse and Floodplain to help cast your spells and create a larger body of water. If you have your sites, Put any Blink/Riptide on the bottom of your deck you can fetch it later with a deep sea mermaid or a Kelp forest.

07/29/2025

Due to the recent rule changes I put in 2 Grim Guisarmes, now that they can do double damage to sites, it’s worth putting as you can lock down opponents minions with waveshapwe ability and hit extra hard with pirate ship, Anui etc

12/19/2025

added some gothic cards and Toolbox, which is very important. Only thing in testing right now is Drowned, as it can be a good counter against direct aggro from interrogators. Also overflow, may be a good option as with Waveshaper, we can ramp and control

Changed in a few more meta defined cards

08-15-2026

made some adjustments for courts and winter fee being a lot more common, I changed to mono water, I’ve been dabbling more with Winter Nyphms and they feel great in every water deck. also removed some uniques due to the court meta

Tempo Wave Lockdown

@Minkdinker