Reap the Tides Upgrade (EDH / Commander)

This deck is an upgrade from the commander deck Reap the Tides while still trying to keep it budget.

I wasn't sure what direction to take it so in the end I decided to go all in on the Sea Monsters theme it has going while removing some chaff and smoothing out draw & ramp.

It is by no means the strongest way to build Aesi, there's a ton of Tatyova decks out there of varying strength and Aesi can be built essentially the same. A quick search should find you a deck of that kind.

The game plan is simple: ramp like crazy & use Aesi as a source of constant value until you've attained a critical mass of sea monsters.
Since the deck has such a solid foundation of value I've decided to not run a whole lot of protection for the big buds as opponents are more likely to run out of answers before we run out of threats.

The amount of ramp is a bit experimental; the idea is that the 2cmc ramp is good early, and cycles later in the game with Aesi out. The 3cmc ramp all have considerable upside with Aesi on the board (as they all get us 2 lands one way or another). However it's possible some of the ramp should be replaced with regular lands.

If the big beats aren't enough to end the game there's a few cards that help a lot: Serpent of Yawning Depths, Return of the Wildspeaker, Rogue's Passage, Whelming Wave, Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep and Breaching Leviathan. Most of these lets you tap down or trample over opponents' boards.

Weaknesses of the deck is first and foremost our reliance on our commander as the engine to the deck. Aesi does sort of "pay" for some of the commander tax as we get to play another land but that's only if Aesi resolves & if we have additional lands to play.
We're also a bit weak to removal in general. Paying 7+ mana for a creature that's answered by a 1 mana spell is terrible tempo and can put us too far behind. Similarly we have almost no protection against boardwipes which can slow down the deck considerably.

I think Reap the Tides is a fantastic commander product to build upon as there's a ton of ways you can build it. Landfall, combo, big buds, etc. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how I built this version, please let me know!