During the spoiler season for MTG Spider Man, we were really excited about Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon. This card looks like the perfect recipe for a classic Blue Tempo deck, but the downside of being unable to block ended up being a lot more impactful than expected. Even in Limited, which seems like a great environment for an evasive threat, the inability to block ended up being too great a cost.
Fortunately, Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon seems to have finally found a strong home in Duel Commander. The creature offers the perfect helmsman for a traditional Blue tempo-control deck with some absolutely disgusting interactions.
Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon in Duel Commander
After winning a 44-player event and reaching top 4 of another on Magic Online, Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon has made its stamp on the format. This deck aims to take full advantage of Hydro-Man’s unique abilities by using a classic blue control package and combining it with stax elements to slow the game to a crawl.
Hydro-Man’s ability to push exponential damage, dodge sorcery-speed removal, and support your interaction all at once amplifies everything this deck is trying to do. To fully take advantage of Hydro-Man, many of Magic’s best blue instants make appearances in this deck. You’ll find tons of classic counterspells like Daze, card draw and cantrip options like Consult the Star Charts, and blue board wipes to restart the game. Instant speed board wipes, in particular, like Engulf the Shore, synergize extremely well with Hydro-Man.
Not only does Hydro-Man ramp Engulf the Shore out ahead of time if necessary, but it counts as an extra Island towards the card’s effects during your opponent’s turn. Since Engulf the Shores won’t bounce Hydro-Man itself, you get to swing into an empty board on your next turn.
Considering that Hydro-Man is the perfect threat for a blue control deck, the cards we’ve talked about so far probably aren’t too surprising. That said, this new Hydro-Man archetype also utilizes a Stax package that may look somewhat familiar.
Urza Stax
The everclassic and forever hated Urza, Lord High Artificer and Winter Orb combo appears in all the high-placing Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon decks. While there are a few other artifacts in the deck, Urza mostly seems to be in the deck to steal games with Winter Orb. Because Urza can tap Winter Orb for mana, you can essentially lock down your opponent’s lands while untapping your own. Even if Urza isn’t in play, however, Winter Orb synergizes extremely well with your Commander. Because Hydro-Man essentially functions as a land that untaps itself, you’ll have twice as much mana to work with as your opponent.
While the Urza and Winter Orb combo should always win your games, you can’t rely on drawing these two cards consistently. This deck has very few tutors in it, meaning that a combo kill isn’t the core game plan for this list. To that end, Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon runs a few creatures to try and get across the finish line while the rest of the deck stops their plans.
True Name Nemesis and Murktide Regent are cheaper threats equipped to win the game on their own, while many of the other creatures in this deck, like Snapcaster Mage, function as both interaction and a threat. You can even Flashback effects like Withdraw to get additional value out of your enters effects. Between bucket loads of interaction and nasty Stax effects, even one creature is enough to limp over the finish line over a longer series of turns.
A New Wave of Control
Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon creates the perfect shell to allow a mono-blue tempo-control deck to flourish in Duel Commander, amplifying every aspect of the deck with a two-mana creature. Considering how many strategies in the format now involve explosive interactions, waiting for your opponent to make a move is looking better and better. Hydro-Man has been performing well since it broke out on the scene, and there’s a good chance its run isn’t over yet.
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