WaterGPT
WaterGPT is a mono-Water positional control/midrange deck built around Waveshaper.
The deck is not trying to win by simply playing the biggest minion at every point on the curve. The goal is to build a connected body of water, manipulate where fights happen, tap down the part of the opposing army that matters most, and then turn that tempo advantage into pressure with efficient 4-power bodies and a handful of powerful finishers.
At its best, WaterGPT makes the opponent feel like they have plenty of minions in play but very few that can actually participate in the game.
The main principles are:
The most important lesson from playing the deck is that having plenty of sites and mana development is not enough.
WaterGPT wants a meaningful play by turn three.
A strong opening usually has:
Be cautious about keeping hands that contain several sites, a Core or Mix Aqua, and multiple removal spells but no real body. Several of the deck's worst losses have come from developing mana successfully while the opponent simply builds a larger army.
Against aggressive decks, prioritize:
Waveshaper's ability is the central tempo engine of the deck.
Flooding a site and tapping the non-Submerge minions there can effectively remove several enemy units from combat for a turn. The goal is often not to destroy those minions immediately. It is to make them irrelevant while the rest of your army attacks elsewhere.
The important drawback is that Waveshaper can tap your own non-Submerge minions too.
Before flooding a contested site, check whether you are also disabling:
Try to place your Submerge units where you expect to use Waveshaper repeatedly, while keeping your surface army in adjacent attack lanes.
WaterGPT has conventional removal, but many of its strongest plays come from simply putting something in the wrong place.
Coy Nixie is one of the most important cards in the deck.
Use Nixie to:
Multiple Nixies can create extremely oppressive positions.
Riptide is much stronger when the movement itself matters.
Good Riptide plays include:
The draw makes these plays especially efficient.
Always check for Swap before assuming something is safe.
It can:
Fire Harpoons! has repeatedly been one of the deck's most useful Toolbox options.
It is not only removal.
It can:
It only targets minions, not Avatars.
One of the biggest changes from the original build was increasing the number of reliable bodies that can simply fight.
Failed Mutation has become one of the most important cards in WaterGPT.
It provides:
The deck originally had too many small utility minions and too few creatures that could simply march forward and swing.
Failed Mutation helps fix that.
These have also proven that WaterGPT does not need every threat to be a huge Unique.
A sequence of Lugbog Cat, Stag and Failed Mutation can create a very effective midrange assault while the opponent's larger or more complicated cards are being tapped and repositioned.
Pufferfish should usually be treated as stored removal, not a disposable 1-mana blocker.
An early Pufferfish sitting underwater can make an opposing large minion unwilling to enter your water at all.
Avoid trading it into a small attacker simply because you can.
Especially avoid giving the opponent a valuable Deathrite, such as Kettletop Leprechaun's, unless the immediate trade is necessary.
The threat of Pufferfish is often more valuable than the actual fight.
Before casting Selfsame, look at every nearby opposing minion.
Do not automatically copy your own nearest body.
Some of the strongest Selfsame plays have been copying:
Selfsame is at its best when it becomes whatever card the matchup requires.
Mariner's Curse is normally used to punish opposing surface minions entering your Water sites, but Giant Shark creates an additional interaction.
If one of your minions enters a cursed Water site and also triggers Giant Shark, you can sometimes resolve the Shark movement first. If Shark then enters the cursed site, Mariner's Curse can trigger on the Shark.
Because Giant Shark already has Submerge, this can allow Shark to absorb the Curse while preserving the original surface minion.
The exact sequencing matters, but it is worth looking for whenever Shark and Mariner's Curse are both active.
Overflowing Court has become one of the most important Atlas cards in the current environment.
Courts have appeared constantly.
They can:
Overflowing Court gives WaterGPT a turn where the opponent's Court is disabled while still:
When possible, use that window to cast the premium card that was being stranded:
Two Overflowing Courts currently feels appropriate for the local environment.
Toolbox is not just a way to find removal.
It is an emergency button that changes based on the game.
Use Drown when you need the straightforward answer.
It is particularly useful when:
Fire Harpoons! overlaps with Drown against surface minions, so Drown does not always need to be the first option.
Ice Lance is primarily a finisher.
Once the opponent reaches Death's Door, start thinking about whether you can establish the correct firing line.
Do not casually spend your only Ice Lance on a small creature if it is your best way to finish an Avatar that can retreat across the board.
This is especially important against Ironclad, where the first hit may need to be large enough to overcome damage reduction.
Extinguish is one of the strongest Toolbox cards against Fire.
It is particularly useful against:
The fact that it banishes is also very valuable against Deathspeaker, since the removed minions do not become cemetery resources.
Return to Nature is primarily for:
Makeshift Barricade has earned its Collection slot.
It can turn a Toolbox topdeck into an entire extra turn.
Use it to:
It is particularly useful when the opponent has ranged or projectile-based finishing pressure.
The Collection Overflow is there as an emergency development option.
It is useful when:
Because only two Toolboxes exist, this is backup access rather than the deck's primary mana plan.
Snowball is both a board-control spell and a finisher.
Do not evaluate it only by its damage.
Before casting it, check:
Snowball can:
Against Ironclad, Snowball can be especially valuable. If Ironclad hides on a site such as Gnome Hollows, Snowball may be able to move the Avatar away and potentially create a large enough damage event to overcome Ironclad's damage reduction.
Dodge Roll looks narrow until you need it.
It has already proven useful as insurance against:
Because it costs no mana under normal circumstances, you can continue committing resources to your own turn while still holding defensive protection.
Final Thoughts
WaterGPT is strongest when it plays like a control deck for the first half of the game and a midrange deck for the second half.
Build the water.
Put enough bodies on the board to avoid falling behind.
Use Pufferfish, Coy Nixie, Riptide, Swap, Undertow and Waveshaper to make combat happen on your terms.
Use Overflowing Court to fight the Court-heavy meta.
Use Failed Mutation and the other 4-power bodies to turn tempo into actual damage.
Save the specialized Toolbox answers for situations they truly solve.