Partner Party with Maldhound and ZMain | EDH Gameplay Ep 46

Deck Strategies

• 

  Ukkima, Stalking Shadow

  Utilize unblockable attacks and the damage/life gain triggered when Ukkima leaves the battlefield, supported by haste and shroud equipment to maintain board presence and pressure opponents.

• 

  Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos

  Leverage coin flip mechanics to generate value and build large creatures while controlling the board state with random effects and synergies from coin flips.

• 

  Silvar, Devourer of the Free and Trynn, Champion of Freedom

  Create numerous 1/1 tokens and use token synergies to grow the army, coupled with abilities that benefit from creatures dying or being sacrificed.

• 

  Rhoda, Geist Avenger and Timin, Youthful Geist

  Focus on tapping and controlling opponents’ creatures to limit their options, combined with a toolbox of cards to punish tapped creatures and draw cards.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Equipping Ukkima with Lightning Greaves early on was crucial to enable swift unblockable attacks and protect it from removal via shroud.

• 2

  Dockside Extortionist was played conservatively with only one treasure token initially to avoid overextension but still provide ramp and card advantage.

• 3

  Token generation from Trin was leveraged each turn to build a board that could be pumped or sacrificed for value, creating a flexible threat base.

• 4

  Ghostly Pilferer and Toshiro Umezawa enhanced card draw through combat damage, which synergized well with aggressive board states and continuous attacks.

• 5

  Hooded Crown of Winter was highlighted as a versatile card for tapping down blockers and drawing cards from opponents’ tapped creatures, reinforcing the tap-control theme.

• 6

  Smuggler's Share rewarded players for drawing multiple cards per turn, incentivizing card draw and generating treasure tokens for acceleration.

• 7

  Combat damage was used strategically not only to reduce opponents’ life totals but also to trigger card draw engines and maintain pressure.

Notable Cards

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  Ukkima, Stalking Shadow

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  Dockside Extortionist

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  Ghostly Pilferer

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  Tavern Scoundrel

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  Lightning Greaves

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  Smuggler's Share

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  Toshiro Umezawa

Summary

The game began with all players establishing their board states and setting up their strategies around their partner commanders. Ukkima, Stalking Shadow was deployed early with haste and shroud, allowing its controller to apply immediate pressure and threaten damage through its leave-the-battlefield effect. Meanwhile, the player piloting Trin, Champion of Freedom focused on generating a steady stream of 1/1 tokens each turn, leveraging token synergies and incremental growth. Another player used Dockside Extortionist to generate treasure tokens for ramp and card advantage, facilitating the deployment of their partner commanders. The tempo was maintained by various utility creatures like Ghostly Pilferer and Toshiro Umezawa (referred to as Toshi Bear of Secrets) to enable additional card draws through combat damage, further accelerating the game.