New MTG Nauctis Whale God Commander Can Create Infinite Tokens, Mana, and Bounce

MagicCon: Atlanta’s spoiler panel just came and went, and, honestly, it kind of sucked. While players got an incredible first look at Nauctis: The Sunken Realm, there was certainly a lot of filler otherwise.

The good news, at least, is that Nauctis: The Sunken Realm’s spoilers looked absolutely incredible for Commander and Constructed alike. Among them, Salinae, the Ocean Mother might be the coolest Commander to build.

Salinae, the Ocean Mother

As we learned in the MagicCon: Atlanta preview panel, the Whale Gods play a massive role in Nauctis: The Sunken Realm. Because they literally imbue types of Magic into the world, the realm’s seasons are dictated by how close these Whales are in proximity to any given location.

Considering the lore, Salinae, the Ocean Mother’s Devotion mechanic is particularly flavorful. Notably, this is a cameo mechanic in Nauctis, with Salinae being the only confirmed card to have the mechanic in the set.

Devotion is pretty crucial here, since it helps offset Salinae’s massive mana value. This means we’ll want cards with a lot of blue pips, like Eluge, the Shoreless Sea Eluge, the Shoreless Sea Eluge's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Islands you control.
Whenever Eluge enters or attacks, put a flood counter on target land. It's an Island in addition to its other types for as long as it has a flood counter on it.
The first instant or sorcery spell you cast each turn costs {U} (or {1}) less to cast for each land you control with a flood counter on it. or Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea Callaphe's power is equal to your devotion to blue. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.)
Creatures and enchantments you control have "Spells your opponents cast that target this permanent cost {1} more to cast." , who both fuel Devotion and get payoffs related to it.

If you’re lucky, Leyline of Anticipation Leyline of Anticipation If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
You may cast spells as though they had flash. can give your Devotion a head start while granting all your spells Flash.

The best Devotion payoffs to pair Salinae with, however, are cards like Master of Waves Master of Waves Protection from red
Elemental creatures you control get +1/+1.
When this creature enters, create a number of 1/0 blue Elemental creature tokens equal to your devotion to blue. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.) that trigger on entry. Salinae’s copy effect essentially functions as a Panharmonicon Panharmonicon If an artifact or creature entering causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time. , allowing you to flood the board with tokens.

Notably, Salinae’s tokens will also boost your Devotion, making cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}: Choose a color. Add an amount of mana of that color equal to your devotion to that color. (Your devotion to a color is the number of mana symbols of that color in the mana costs of permanents you control.) produce nauseating amounts of mana.

Kicking things up a notch, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling Thassa, Deep-Dwelling Indestructible
As long as your devotion to blue is less than five, Thassa isn't a creature.
At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one other target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
{3}{U}: Tap another target creature. adds yet another perfect card for a Salinae deck, as it cares about Devotion AND blinks your entry effects! Thassa, God of the Sea Thassa, God of the Sea Indestructible
As long as your devotion to blue is less than five, Thassa isn't a creature. (Each {U} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to blue.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, scry 1.
{1}{U}: Target creature you control can't be blocked this turn. is another great addition, fixing your draws and making Salinae unblockable for Commander damage kills.

Unfortunately, while Devotion cards do a lot of work with Salinae, there just aren’t a lot of them. With this in mind, we’ll need a few other tricks to make this Whale work.

Copying Up a Storm

While Devotion shenanigans help get Salinae into play, the payoff is copying all of your creature and artifact spells. For that reason, you’ll want plenty of powerful ETB creatures as payoffs, plus cards to flicker them.

Massive ETB bombs like Agent of Treachery Agent of Treachery When this creature enters, gain control of target permanent.
At the beginning of your end step, if you control three or more permanents you don't own, draw three cards. , Diluvian Primordial Diluvian Primordial Flying
When this creature enters, for each opponent, you may cast up to one target instant or sorcery card from that player's graveyard without paying its mana cost. If a spell cast this way would be put into a graveyard, exile it instead. , and Astral Dragon Astral Dragon Flying
Project Image — When this creature enters, create two tokens that are copies of target noncreature permanent, except they're 3/3 Dragon creatures in addition to their other types, and they have flying. are perfect examples of the cards that Salinae wants to copy. Throw in flicker engines like Displacer Kitten Displacer Kitten Avoidance — Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, exile up to one target nonland permanent you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. and Conjurer’s Closet Conjurer’s Closet At the beginning of your end step, you may exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control. , and you can get tons of ETB triggers from creatures like this.

Of course, Salinae can also copy your flicker engines, adding a ton of critical mass.

With so much copying going on, cards like Twinning Staff Twinning Staff If you would copy a spell one or more times, instead copy it that many times plus an additional time. You may choose new targets for the additional copy.
{7}, {T}: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. are natural inclusions with Salinae, copying all your copied cards and occasionally getting copied itself. Strionic Resonator Strionic Resonator {2}, {T}: Copy target triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A triggered ability uses the words "when," "whenever," or "at.") and Peter Parker’s Camera Peter Parker’s Camera This artifact enters with three film counters on it.
{2}, {T}, Remove a film counter from this artifact: Copy target activated or triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. can do something similar, albeit at a much less efficient rate.

You can also use copy effects like Sakashima the Impostor Sakashima the Impostor You may have Sakashima the Impostor enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except its name is Sakashima the Impostor, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it has "{2}{U}{U}: Return Sakashima the Impostor to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step." or Spark Double Spark Double You may have this creature enter as a copy of a creature or planeswalker you control, except it enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it if it's a creature, it enters with an additional loyalty counter on it if it's a planeswalker, and it isn't legendary. here, doubling up on all your nasty ETB effects. Of course, Salinae’s copy trigger just compounds the value here, as it does everywhere else.

Strangely, there is some Whale Typal stuff for Salinae to use, namely H.M.S. Bounty, Unlikely Timeship H.M.S. Bounty, Unlikely Timeship When H.M.S. Bounty enters, you may search your library for a Whale card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Station
8+ | Flying
Whenever H.M.S. Bounty deals combat damage to a player, draw a card. If you control a Whale and haven't begun an extra turn this game, take an extra turn after this one. from MTG Star Trek, which is basically a draw engine attached to an extra turn.

This also searches for Salinae in the 99 of other strategies, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this Spacecraft saw some demand thanks to this reveal.

It’s easy to forget, but there are a lot of payoffs to being a mono-colored deck, too. Throne of Eldraine Throne of Eldraine As Throne of Eldraine enters, choose a color.
{T}: Add four mana of the chosen color. Spend this mana only to cast monocolored spells of that color.
{3}, {T}: Draw two cards. Spend only mana of the chosen color to activate this ability. , Caged Sun Caged Sun As this artifact enters, choose a color.
Creatures you control of the chosen color get +1/+1.
Whenever a land's ability causes you to add one or more mana of the chosen color, add an additional one mana of that color. , and High Tide High Tide Until end of turn, whenever a player taps an Island for mana, that player adds an additional {U}. can make a ridiculous amount of mana, helping get your massive payoffs into play early. Sapphire Medallion Sapphire Medallion Blue spells you cast cost {1} less to cast. is also easily worth running, reducing the cost of all kinds of cards.

Going Infinite

As you may expect with a triggered ability as broken as Salinae’s, this card can unlock some powerful infinite combos. Peregrine Drake Peregrine Drake Flying
When this creature enters, untap up to five lands. and Shrieking Drake Shrieking Drake Flying
When this creature enters, return a creature you control to its owner's hand. , two extremely infamous combo cards, go infinite with Salinae, creating infinite mana, bounces, and tokens.

With Salinae in play, start off by casting Peregrine Drake, netting a copy. You’ll float ten mana by untapping lands, following that up with a Shrieking Drake.

Since Salinae makes a copy of Shrieking Drake, you’ll get two bounce triggers instead of one. You can bounce your original Shrieking and Peregrine Drakes, and recast them to create a loop. You’ll get infinite mana and infinite copies of your creatures, which will generally be enough to win the game.

You can also bounce all of your other ETB effects with this combo, too, creating obscene amounts of value, as well as infinite copies of all of those artifacts and creatures from Salinae.

Notably, you can replace Shrieking Drake with other bounce creatures since Salinae’s trigger gets around many other cards’ individual downsides. Aether Channeler Aether Channeler When this creature enters, choose one —
• Create a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying.
• Return another target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
• Draw a card. , for example, works for this combo since the token copy can bounce the original, and offers a much more helpful ETB outside of combo scenarios.

If you’d rather just line up a two-card infinite combo, Palinchron Palinchron Flying
When this creature enters, untap up to seven lands.
{2}{U}{U}: Return this creature to its owner's hand. goes infinite with Salinae on its own. As long as Salinae is in play when casting Palinchron, you’ll be untapping 14 mana with the two copies of Palinchron you make, provided you have seven lands to untap.

This gives you enough mana to bounce Palinchron with its ability and recast it, creating yet another copy with Salinae. You can’t bounce your other ETB cards with this combo, but it’s still infinite mana and infinite 1/1 Palinchron tokens.

A Whale of a Time

Whether you want to focus on Devotion, ETB effects, or comboing off, Salinae, the Ocean Mother looks like an extremely powerful build-around coming out of Nauctis: The Sunken Realm. I’ve even seen some early lists focus on artifact cost reducers like Foundry Inspector Foundry Inspector Artifact spells you cast cost {1} less to cast. , which play well with the Commander’s copy ability.

With all this in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if Salinae was one of the chase cards in Nauctis: The Sunken Realm.

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