Thalia vs Tymna/Sakashima vs Elsha vs Brallin/Shabraz | CEDH Gameplay

Deck Strategies

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  Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

  A Death and Taxes style stax deck that disrupts opponents with taxing effects and efficient creatures to slow down their combos and establish board control.

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  Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

  A midrange Ad Nauseam deck that uses Tymna's card draw and Sakashima's copying ability to draw large hands and find combo pieces, aiming to win through a fast combo finish.

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  Tymna the Weaver

  Paired with Sakashima, this deck focuses on drawing cards through combat damage and leveraging Ad Nauseam to rapidly refill the hand and assemble combos.

• 

  Elsha of the Infinite

  A midrange combo deck centered around the Sensei's Divining Top and cost-reduction to draw the entire deck and combo out using various artifact and spell interactions.

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  Brallin, Skyshark Rider

  A curiosity wheel deck that exploits Brallin's ability with curiosity to wheel cards, generating card draw and value while accumulating counters on Shabraz for a lethal commander attack.

• 

  Shabraz, the Skyshark

  Partnered with Brallin, this deck uses wheel effects to continuously refill hands and grow Shabraz with +1/+1 counters to close out the game via commander damage.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Adam leveraged Shabraz's ability with multiple wheel effects to quickly amass +1/+1 counters, enabling a lethal commander attack to eliminate Mike early.

• 2

  Charles' use of Kataki, Wars Wage and Blind Obedience effectively stifled artifact-based strategies, disrupting key engines like Dockside Extortionist and Lion's Eye Diamond.

• 3

  The turn order heavily influenced the game, especially with taxing effects and mana denial from Thalia's deck applying pressure on faster combo decks.

• 4

  Ryan's early use of Force of Will and other counterspells helped protect his combo assembly, but the continuous tempo pressure from other players limited his window.

• 5

  Mike's inability to find lands early and the pressure from Adam's aggressive attacks hindered his Ad Nauseam combo plan, leading to an early exit.

• 6

  Adam's strategic use of windfall effects in response to opponents' plays maximized card draw while replenishing his hand and growing Shabraz rapidly.

• 7

  The stax elements deployed by Charles forced players to sequence their spells carefully, leveraging disruption to maintain control over the board.

Notable Cards

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  Shabraz, the Skyshark

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  Brallin, Skyshark Rider

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  Sensei's Divining Top

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  Blind Obedience

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  Dockside Extortionist

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  Force of Will

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  Lion's Eye Diamond

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  Windfall

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  Wheel of Misfortune

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  Mana Crypt

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  Thalia's Lancers

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  Spirit of the Labyrinth

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  Hero of Bladehold

Summary

The game began with a highly interactive early phase where mana acceleration and disruption shaped the board state. Adam, piloting the Brallin/Shabraz curiosity wheel deck, established early pressure with creatures like Draenoth Magistrate and Shabraz, leveraging Shabraz's ability alongside repeated wheel effects like Windfall and Wheel of Misfortune to generate value and incrementally grow his board presence. Ryan on Elsha of the Infinite aimed to assemble the Sensei's Divining Top combo with cost reducers and artifacts to draw his deck and combo out. Charles on Thalia focused on a Death and Taxes archetype, using disruptive creatures and hate cards such as Blind Obedience and Kataki, Wars Wage to slow opponents and control the pace. Mike with Tymna/Sakashima executed a midrange Ad Nauseam strategy, drawing large hands and seeking to combo off, while the interactions between partners Tymna and Sakashima fueled card advantage. The early turns featured forceful counterspells and creature deployment, with Adam successfully resolving creatures despite disruption, and Charles establishing a taxing board presence.