I Hate Your Deck #97 Adeline v Frodo v Nethroi v Calamity Galloping Inferno | Commander Gameplay MTG

Deck Strategies

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  Nethroi, Apex of Death

  Focuses on graveyard recursion through mutate, aiming to bring back multiple creatures whose total power is 10 or less to the battlefield, enabling combos such as Protean Hulk plus Walking Ballista for a lethal finish.

• 

  Calamity, Galloping Inferno

  Aims to quickly deploy and saddle multiple creatures to Calamity, generating multiple enter-the-battlefield triggers and creating tapped attacking token copies to overwhelm opponents with repeated value and damage.

• 

  Frodo, Sauron's Bane

  A slow, low-cost aggressive plan relying on Frodo surviving long enough to become a halfling rogue with a triggered ability that causes an opponent to lose the game upon dealing combat damage, representing a stealthy assassination win condition.

• 

  Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

  Mono-white aggressive token strategy that grows Adeline’s power based on the number of creatures controlled and generates multiple tapped 1/1 human tokens attacking each opponent or planeswalker, aiming to win through overwhelming combat damage.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Calamity’s ability to saddle multiple creatures and create tapped attacking token copies generated a powerful chain of enter-the-battlefield triggers, rapidly increasing board presence and pressure.

• 2

  Nethroi’s mutate ability was leveraged to select specific creatures from the graveyard with strategic power totals, enabling a combo finish with Protean Hulk and Walking Ballista.

• 3

  Frodo’s slow build required careful survival tactics to safely transform into a game-ending threat, making defensive plays and avoiding early removal crucial.

• 4

  Adeline's token generation forced opponents to constantly respond to multiple attacking fronts, applying consistent pressure and controlling the pace of the game.

• 5

  The inclusion of Drannith Magistrate early on effectively limited opponents’ options by restricting spell casting to only cards in hand, slowing down combo attempts and ramp strategies.

Notable Cards

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  Calamity, Galloping Inferno

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  Nethroi, Apex of Death

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  Frodo, Sauron's Bane

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  Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

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  Protean Hulk

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  Walking Ballista

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  Drannith Magistrate

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  Fiend Artisan

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  Ornithopter of Paradise

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  Winter Orb

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  Vault of Champions

Summary

The game started with a relatively slow and strategic pace, featuring four very different decks focusing on unique synergies and win conditions. Early plays included establishing board presence and ramping mana, with Frodo, Sauron's Bane providing a low-cost aggressive threat and Nethroi, Apex of Death setting up graveyard recursion with mutate. Calamity, Galloping Inferno aimed to quickly deploy and saddle creatures to generate multiple enter-the-battlefield triggers, while Adeline, Resplendent Cathar focused on aggressive token generation and leveraging her power scaling with the number of creatures on the battlefield. A key turning point was when Calamity started making copies of creatures by saddling them, creating a flood of ETB triggers to overwhelm opponents. Nethroi tried to assemble combos involving cards like Protean Hulk and Walking Ballista to close the game by resurrecting creatures from the graveyard. Meanwhile, Frodo attempted a slow but deadly approach, aiming to survive long enough to trigger his game-ending combat damage condition. Adeline pushed aggressive attacks, creating multiple tokens to pressure each opponent and slowly chip away at their life totals. The game showcased a dynamic interplay of strategies: graveyard recursion and combo from Nethroi, token swarm and aggressive combat from Adeline, incremental value and copies from Calamity, and a slow but lethal assassination plan from Frodo. The win conditions revolved around either overwhelming the table with creatures and ETB effects, executing a combo finish, or a surprise lethal strike from Frodo’s ability. Board control, timing of mutations and saddling, and managing threats carefully were pivotal throughout the match.