Christmas Commander!

The game began with each player unveiling their specially tailored Christmas-themed Commander decks, designed to reflect their playstyles and histories.

Ryan piloted a graveyard-focused deck led by Sivriss, Nightmare Speaker, emphasizing card selection and graveyard recursion to leverage powerful spells from the yard.

Matt played Rakdos, Lord of Riots, focusing on dealing damage to opponents to unleash demons and gain value from the inflicted pain.

Zack's deck, led by Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, revolved around aggressive mono-red pirate tribal strategies with a focus on early threats and stealing opponents' cards to maintain pressure.

Drew brought a unique Esper deck with Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain, centered on copying equipment and auras to create a beatdown army of modified creatures. Early turns saw Ragavan quickly establishing board presence with Patches the Pirate, applying immediate pressure.

Meanwhile, Sivriss utilized lands like Undergrowth Stadium and strategically filled the graveyard to set up for midgame plays, including cards like Journey to Eternity for recursion.

Creeping Blood Sucker provided incremental life gain and damage, helping stabilize Ryan's position.

Matt's deck capitalized on damage dealing and sacrifice outlets, preparing to bring powerful demons into play.

Throughout, players balanced aggression and board development, with graveyard interactions and treasure token generation adding layers of complexity and synergy.

The game was marked by a dynamic tempo shift where Ragavan's early aggression clashed with the graveyard strategies and Rakdos's damage-focused value engine.