Deck & Commander Strategies
Dark Confidant
Aggressive value engine drawing extra cards at the cost of life, but hampered by a bad mana base and awkward splashes, relying on incremental advantage and synergy with creatures like Tarmogoyf.
Menark
Control-combo hybrid leveraging Mindslaver to lock opponents and force them to self-destruct with a Storm combo, aiming to disrupt opponents' plays and win through combo or board control.
Veteran Motorist
Vehicle-centric aggressive deck with minimal black removal, relying on vehicles and aggressive creatures but lacking deep synergy or powerful finishers, focusing on tempo and incremental damage.
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Not fully detailed, but likely a flicker-based value deck using Yorion's ability to repeatedly reuse enter-the-battlefield effects and build board presence over time.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Mindslaver was used in a pivotal moment to force a Storm opponent to combo off on their own turn, effectively causing them to lose by their own combo.
- 2
The awkward splash for Tarmogoyf in the Dark Confidant deck created significant mana issues, demonstrating the pitfalls of off-theme inclusions in deck building.
- 3
The Veteran Motorist deck included minimal black removal (one Fatal Push and one Unlicensed Disintegration), illustrating a lack of synergy but a willingness to include powerful removal spells for utility.
- 4
Players embraced the challenge of piloting historically poor decks, leading to unique and often suboptimal board states that required creative play and adaptation.
- 5
The game highlighted how decks that are competitive in one format or time period can struggle drastically when used outside their intended context or with poor synergy.
Notable Cards
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Dark Confidant
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Tarmogoyf
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Mindslaver
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Fatal Push
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Unlicensed Disintegration
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Veteran Motorist
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Yorion, Sky Nomad
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Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier
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Sundering Titan
Gameplay Summary
The game features four players piloting decks built around some of their worst professional tournament performances, resulting in an eclectic and suboptimal metagame.
Jim Davis leads a Dark Confidant deck inspired by a 2007 US Nationals list that was hampered by an awkward splash for Tarmogoyf, resulting in a poor mana base and subpar synergy.
Brian Braun-Duin pilots a Menark deck based on a Modern Pro Tour list that struggled heavily in competitive play, famously using Mindslaver in a clutch interaction to force a Storm opponent to combo off on themselves in a crucial match.
Brad Nelson plays a Veteran Motorist deck with minimal black splash, focusing on vehicles but lacking powerful synergy, and Cory Baumeister's Yorion deck is implied but not deeply detailed in the transcript.
The gameplay revolves around navigating these inefficient decks, with key moments including Mindslaver locking down opponents and players reflecting on their historically poor tournament runs.
The game showcases creative but flawed deck construction leading to unique and often difficult board states.
![Teysa vs Kwain vs Xantcha vs Yorion [EDH/Commander, Magic The Gathering] MTG Gameplay 2021 thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nK7YTEdjk0I/sddefault.jpg)
