MKM Deep Clue Sea Commander deck guide and upgrade suggestions (MTG)

Deep Clue Sea is one of the Commander decks released alongside the release of Murders At Karlov Manor. The deck is a Bant Commander deck that, as the name implies, is heavily based around Clue tokens, which are a big mechanic in the set. It was released alongside four other Commander decks, though stands as one of the best between them all. There are a few different things the deck can do, allowing for multiple playstyles to be crafted from the deck. This is the Murders At Karlov Manor Deep Clue Sea Commander deck guide. 

Deep Clue Sea Decklist

Category	Cards
Commander	Morska, Undersea Sleuth
Creatures	Academy Manufactor, Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Aerial Extortionist, Alandra, Sky Dreamer, Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Chulane, Teller of Tales, Detective of the Month, Erdwal Illuminator, Esix, Fractal Bloom, Ethereal Investigator, Graf Mole, Hornet Queen, Hydroid Krasis, Innocuous Researcher, Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse, Junk Winder, Kappa Cannoneer, Koma, Cosmos Serpent, Lonis, Cryptozoologist, Merchant of Truth, Nadir Kraken, Psychosis Crawler, Selvala, Explorer Returned, Serene Sleuth, Shimmer Dragon, Sophia, Dogged Detective, Tangletrove Kelp, Thought Monitor, Tireless Tracker, Wavesifter, Whirler Rogue
Planeswalkers	Tezzeret, Betrayer of Flesh
Sorcery	Farewell, Finale of Revelation, Follow the Bodies, Fumigate, Organic Extinction
Instants	Confirm Suspicions, Disorder in the Court, Swords to Plowshares
Artifacts	Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Idol of Oblivion, Inspiring Statuary, Magnifying Glass, Nettlecyst, Ransom Note, Simic Signet, Sol Ring, Talisman of Curiosity, Talisman of Progress, Talisman of Unity
Enchantments	Armed with Proof, Killer Service, Knowledge Is Power, Mechanized Production, On the Trail, Ongoing Investigation, Search the Premises, Teferi’s Ageless Insight, Ulvenwald Mysteries, Wilderness Reclamation
Lands	Azorius Chancery, Canopy Vista, Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, Forest (5), Irrigated Farmland, Island (6), Krosan Verge, Lonely Sandbar, Path of Ancestry, Plains (3), Prairie Stream, Reliquary Tower, Scattered Groves, Seaside Citadel, Secluded Steppe, Selesnya Sanctuary, Simic Growth Chamber, Skycloud Expanse, Spire of Industry, Sungrass Prairie, Temple of Enlightenment, Temple of Mystery, Temple of Plenty, Temple of the False God, Tranquil Thicket

✓ Johnny’s Annotation:

Johnny’s Annotation:

Deep Clue Sea has a lot of value when it comes to reprints. Since the deck makes a lot of tokens, many payoffs for token strategies were included in the deck. The most notable reprints include Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Farewell, Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Chulane, Teller Of Tales, and Koma, Cosmos Serpent.

Deep Clue Sea Themes And Archetypes

The primary theme of Deep Clue Sea is investigate. Investigate is an ability that creates a Clue token that can be sacrificed for two mana to draw a card. The deck includes plenty of ways to investigate, including the commander Morska, Undersea Sleuth which creates a Clue token every upkeep. 

The sub-theme to this strategy is drawing extra cards in a turn. There are multiple cards that benefit from drawing your second card a turn, including the commander and Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse which creates a 2/2 Cat token whenever you draw a second card each turn. 

The secondary commander in the deck is Sophia, Dogged Detective which wants you to sacrifice tokens to put a +1/+1 counter on all Dogs you control, and when a Dog deals combat damage, you create a Food token and a Clue token. There are no Dogs in Deep Clue Sea, but Sophia will create a Dog token when it enters the battlefield so you can actually use its effect, even if it only affects one Dog. 

The last archetype found within Deep Clue Sea is token doubling. Multiple cards will create more tokens whenever one would be created such as Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Esix, Fractal Bloom, and Academy Manufactor. Almost every card in Deep Clue Sea can make tokens, making it one of the best archetypes in the precon. 

Deep Clue Sea Deck Analysis

The deck can create a ton of Clue tokens with each, and as such, can draw multiple cards on each of your turns. There are many cards that care about your second card being drawn, such as Detective Of The Month, Alandra, Sky Dreamer, and Ethereal Investigator. 

As for Clue generators, there are plenty of cards that do so just by playing the game. Tireless Tracker creatures a Clue whenever a land enters the battlefield, Search The Premises investigates whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, and Ongoing Investigation investigates whenever one or more creatures deal combat damage to a player. 

While Clues can be used to draw extra cards, Deep Clue Sea has a few cards that can use them for other means. Armed With Proof turns all of your Clue tokens into Equipment that can be equipped for two mana to give a creature a +2/+0 stat boost while retaining its old abilities. Lonis, Cryptozoologist can sacrifice Clues to put a nonland permanent from an opponent’s library onto the battlefield under your control as a way to trade them off for a powerful card an opponent has rather than for card draw. Merchant Of Truth is a payoff for not sacrificing your Clues as it gives them all exalted, meaning when a creature attacks alone they get +1/+1 for every permanent that has exalted. 

For board wipes, Deep Clue Sea has some solid ones. Organic Extinction costs ten mana to destroy all nonartifact creatures, but it has improvise which lets you tap artifacts to pay for the generic mana costs. Since you make so many Clues, Organic Extinction can often be played for just two mana. Fumigate is a five-mana board wipe that gains you life for all creatures that get destroyed. It’s a bit basic for a board wipe, but incidental life gain is always appreciated. The last board wipe in Deep Clue Sea is Farewell, which can exile all creatures, enchantments, artifacts, and graveyards. You can pick and choose which ones you want to exile, and short of a counterspell it is hard for others to stop their permanents from getting exiled with Farewell. 

Budget Cards To Upgrade Deep Clue Sea With

While Deep Clue Sea is both playable and very strong out of the box, it can still be upgraded with other cards to make the strategy more consistent. Most precons have weaker cards that are meant to be removed and replaced with a more powerful card, be it from the main set or from older ones. For Deep Clue Sea, there are a few notable exclusions that make for great budget upgrades for the deck. The cards in this section are cheaper, and meant to be easily accessible for anyone looking to improve their precon. 

Tamiyo’s Journal

One such upgrade is Tamiyo’s Journal. For five mana, you get an artifact that investigates at the start of every upkeep. Having an extra way to get Clue tokens is something that Deep Clue Sea greatly appreciates. While this would be good on its own, Tamiyo’s Journal can also be tapped to add any card from your library to your hand so long as you can sacrifice three Clue tokens when you activate its effect.

Tireless Provisioner 

Tireless Provisioner is a great addition to Deep Clue Sea. Whenever a land enters the battlefield, you can create either a Food or a Treasure token. While it doesn’t produce Clues, this helps ramp you with Treasure tokens so you can cast your higher mana value spells. In addition, it’s great combined with Academy Manufactor as it leads to three tokens being created for simply playing a land.

Martha Jones

Another choice for a budget upgrade is Martha Jones. It will investigate when it enters the battlefield, but when you sacrifice a Clue, both Martha Jones and another creature can’t be blocked that turn. This effect isn’t once per turn, so it’s a great way to get in for massive damage with your most powerful creatures. 

Forensic Gadgeteer

Forensic Gadgeteer is a card from the main Murders At Karlov Manor set, and is a great inclusion for Deep Clue Sea. It creates a Clue token whenever an artifact spell is cast, and discounts all artifacts’ activated abilities by one generic mana. While it can’t reduce it to less than one mana, Forensic Gadgeteer it does make it much easier to sacrifice your Clue tokens without needing to dedicate much mana to doing so. 

Jaheira, Friend of the Forest

The last upgrade you should find space for is Jaheira, Friend of the Forest. It makes it so all tokens can tap themselves to add a green mana. This turns all of your Clue tokens into mana rocks that can feed into their own effects since Clue tokens don’t need to be tapped to use their effects unlike other similar tokens. Since you can create so many Clue tokens, giving them the ability to tap for mana is a fantastic way to quickly cast your biggest spells while always having mana to use. 

Cards to remove from Deep Clue Sea

Sophia, Dogged Detective

You do need to cut cards in order to upgrade Deep Clue Sea, and with how strong the precon is this can prove challenging. The easiest card to cut is Sophia, Dogged Detective. While it’s a solid commander, it doesn’t work well in Deep Clue Sea. It’s better removed and used to build a deck with more Dogs included, as there simply aren’t enough for it to be worth keeping around. 

Hornet Queen

Hornet Queen is another card the deck doesn’t need. It’s a seven-mana creature that creatures four 1/1 Insect tokens with flying and deathtouch when it enters the battlefield. While the card is passable, it doesn’t do anything to support the strategy outside of token doubling, but there are simply better options to make it not needed in Deep Clue Sea. 

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge Is Power is another cuttable card. For five mana, you can give all creatures a +X/+X stat boost where X is the number of cards you’ve drawn. While you can draw multiple cards, it requires a high mana investment to do so. As such, dedicating mana to drawing cards from Clues on top of the actual spell Knowledge Is Power proves to be too much to be worth it. 

Confirm Suspicions

The final card you can cut is Confirm Suspicions. While it does feed into your strategy by investigating three times, it costs five mana to do so. It does counter a spell, but five mana counterspells need to be winning the game, not creating Clue tokens. It simply costs too much for not enough reward, especially considering how many Clue tokens Deep Clue Sea can make without it. 

Upgrading a precon is always ultimately optional, and there are players who enjoy playing exclusively with precons against other precons. Deep Clue Sea is one of the strongest from Murders At Karlov Manor, and is a great choice if this variant of Commander sounds fun to you.