Tamanoa is a creature I've loved for a long time, but was never quite sure what to do with. The foil is gorgeous, and the effect is really unique, but it is sadly missing the legendary stamp I'd love for it to have. That was a big turn off, until I just realized people play Nephilim as if they were legendary, why can't I just pretend too?
So, with our new perspective on this very interesting creature, what becomes exciting? Obviously big-burn is a direction to go: as the title attests, Lightning Bolt is a lot cooler when it's actually a Lightning Helix. Plus we could invest into a good amount of ramp and just plan on going all-in on a large burn spell to end the game.
However, we have a bit more information to work with here. Tamanoa doesn't care about creatures - creatures just do normal damage. Unlike a lot of Naya-colored decks, this one actively pushes you away from using a lot of damage through the red zone as your win condition. This gives us access to a lot of very interesting strategy normally made undesirable in these colors: Lightmine Field, Chain Reaction, and Pyrohemia as examples. Basically, we can think of this deck as the Naya Control deck, which is pretty neat.
Plus, we get interesting interactions with some otherwise very punishing cards. Heavy ramp decks typically hate effects like Manabarbs, but as long as Tamanoa sticks around, all of that is completely mitigated, and turns into profit for us when others start casting spells. Similarly, City of Brass and Karplusan Forest et.al. become incredible lands with Tamanoa's effect.
With that, here is my current list. It should be noted, however, that this is very much under construction still. This deck is kind of weird to play with, and figuring out which cards are worth playing and which need to be cut is sometimes hard to determine. I also haven't fully invested into lands and such that I know should be in here, so there are a few notable exclusions.
To wrap things up, here are a list of cards I'm not convinced should stay:
- Mark of Asylum - This card was mostly put in because it saves Tamanoa from one of our many damage-based board wipes. However, given the number of creatures this plays, I think it's rarely anything but a dud draw, and typically Tamanoa is cheap enough to be recast after the wipe rather than needing to survive.
- Cyclone - There are many effects that do this much more quickly, and since this is such a mana-hungry deck, having to pay for cumulative upkeep costs like this seems a bit sketchy.
- Palisade Giant - There are a number of times this guy is very impressive. For example, he combos with pain lands to make them GAIN life rather than lose, which is pretty awesome. However, like Mark of Asylum, I think he may be a dud most of the time I draw it, and at 6 mana it ends up eating a turn very frequently.
- Sufurous Blast - This can certainly do a lot of damage and gain me a lot of life assuming there are enough creatures out, but it's nowhere near as impressive as Chain Reaction or Blasphemous Act. Starstorm would likely be a better inclusion.
- Bloodbraid Elf - Honestly, this guy only made it into the 99 because I wanted to use them after it got banned from Modern. There's very little that's exciting enough to cast of it to make it worth including, and especially considering creatures are such a small focus for this deck, cutting it is probably better overall.
- Rough // Tumble - If this card could be fused, it would be amazing (or at least decent). As it is, Pyroclasm is probably just a better card, since that does 2 to everything regardless, or Volcanic Fallout for being uncounterable.
- Fanning the Flames - I was initially excited about the premise of flashing back this spell and dealing damage to someone every turn, but the front investment of 5 mana is pretty hefty, for fairly minimal gains. Finding a better end-game win con is probably a better plan.
- Magmatic Core - As with Cyclone, cumulative upkeep is very expensive for this deck. I still really love the effect, but it's ultimately less damage than Cyclone, and Cyclone is hard enough to work with.
And a handful I'm thinking of putting in:
- Well of Lost Dreams - This deck is pretty greedy for cards after a certain point, and this is a pretty great option considering the amount of life gain that's going to happen.
- Sol Ring - This deck originally didn't get one because it was built from scraps. Sol Ring is less impressive here, because colored mana is pretty important, but it's obviously good, and getting some more ramp is probably in this deck's best interest.
- Kodama's Reach - See Sol Ring.
- Solumn Simulacrum - See Sol Ring.
- AEther Flash - I love the idea of extending this deck into an even more controlling position, and flat out killing small creatures seems very strong. I've loved AEther Flash in other decks, and only ever cut it because there were stronger options, but without black and blue, I think this card could easily shine.
- Boon Reflection - Go big or go home!
- Sulfuric Vortex - Although this is a pretty big nonbo with Tamanoa, this makes for a very strong end-game card. Once you get yourself to a huge life total (say, 200+), popping this down stops lifelink dudes and other life gain shenanigans from stopping you in killing them.
