The primary opening play we are looking for post mulligan would be polar explores + either
a) Aqua core + any water site
b) Deep sea + any 1 from aqua core , Amy core , or Key to the city
This allows us to drop a land + mana rock on turn 1 , Polar explorers on turn 2 and then move and attack opponents home site and destroy it.
If you go 1st this can result in a stun lock where opponent is forced to play sites to home square , and we can eat the site every turn, we are stuck on 2 mana so at some point we will want to play a 2nd site and then overflow another water site out and start advancing our board
Key consideration playing overflow. There is a non zero chance of not drawing a water site off the top from overflow (around 17%) so you should always try to be holding a water site in hand before casting overflow. That way you can never whiff.
Usually we will not get this combo in starting hand so more usual game plan is to drop sites 1st and 2nd turn. If opponent plays site in front of their home we can do the same and use blink or riptide to free move eater forward, putting it in range to attack undefended site on turn 3 ( turn 3 don't drop site ) use 2mana move cantrip then attack site in front to get the party started. I recommend drawing atlas 1st turn so you know what your site options are early and can plan accordingly.
When advancing board we can move utility weenies to opponent sites and then give them blight stone to blank the site. Land deed and blight stone are effectively land destruction spells with caveats and allow us to break mana parity in close games. Ruler of Thul , polar explores and Aino holding these can be pretty backbreaking. Blight-stones are a good swap target as well, same with a minion holding deed
Helpful hob may seem like a weird inclusion , 4 mana 1 power is usually a terrible deal, but here its best to think of him as a utility spell that leaves behind a body. He can speed up a digest allowing a surprise attack a turn early , play multiple sites a turn, or draw an extra site, all commonly useful applications. Sometimes it even makes sense to fey changeling your own hob to have the option to replay it. (EDIT He got benched - sorry hobby bro)
Another good way to get around is using the air spells. Grapple can be cast turn 2 using a tower but its usually not a great idea to go deep turn 2 unless u have a poison dagger to back you up. Whirling blades need no introduction but is especially good when combined with poison daggers. You really like to see poison daggers in opening hand. Fine courser plays as a movement spell that can occasionally clear a defender. Later in the game it makes a good blight / deed holder.
Once you are able to pull ahead on resources , keep the pressure on with resource denial , drop a cat, stag, vamp or archangel and start cleaning house and getting opponent to door. Weenie chip damage can also work , especially if buffed by ruler of Thul.
Most of the sites are self explanatory. Trilands are for extra Water Air duals. Maelstrom for manipulating defenders away from avatars. Floodplains for spiders and water trickiness. Troll bridges and thin ice for the usual shenanigans. Towers for acceleration as usual. Wuthering Heights for free move tricks. Same for Undertow but also includes avatars which is neat
Sink holes are extra land destruction in the atlas. Very good against opposing water decks.
Heirloom lost is threshold denial in the atlas, and a good counter to annoying sites like garden of Eden, or for killing submerged units
Collection has 4x zap and 4 x disenchant to counter legion of Gall
UPDATE 29/062026
A few changes to list
Played around with Magellan's globe. Its good especially off a tower but my gut feeling is to cut it due to being dead in mid to late game. Polar explores don't have this issue because they are great deed / blight holder and ok damage
Deck needed some more beef. Hob I love ya but ya gotta go
OUT 2 x tors trinkets , 3 x hobs and 1 x toolbox
IN 3 x luggboat cats , 2 x sacred stags for chonky beef
1 x Tabula rasa ( removal* in a pinch - more importantly has the odd effect of letting realm eater move and attack without digesting )
3 x vamps have been in and out. Decided they must stay if I want to use the poison dagger plan
SITES
OUT 2x River rapids, Innsmouth docks and Garden of Eden
IN 3 x Undertow and 1 x floodplain
undertow can move your avatar - that's all I need to hear
Eden can be annoying to my plan too often so we part ways. It might go back in because I can play around it by drawing a site with main draw and drawing off the blink or riptide but that's not ideal even then
UPDATE 02/07/2026
OUT 2 x Heirloom Lost
IN 1 x Garden Of Eden and 1 x Innsmouth Docks
Was finding Heirloom pretty awkward in this deck, in a way that Sinkhole never is, and I wanted a higher density of water sites vs Non water sites
TL:DR if you want a staxxy deck that will annoy the opponent by not letting them play and enjoy tight resource management then this might be the deck for you!
That's about it