Deck Strategies
Etali, Primal Conqueror
A fast, aggressive deck aiming to cast Etali to attack opponents and generate value by exiling cards from their libraries, often ramping with artifacts and tutors to find Etali quickly and close out the game.
Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
A warrior tribal and combat-focused deck that uses Najeela’s ability to generate multiple attacks, often combined with mana acceleration and combo lines to produce infinite combat phases and win through combat damage.
Thrasios, Triton Hero & Vial Smasher the Fierce
A midrange control-combo deck using blue and red spells to control the board and generate value, leveraging Vial Smasher’s damage triggers alongside Thrasios’s card advantage and ramp to find and assemble combo pieces.
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Thrasios, Triton Hero & Dargo, the Shipwrecker
A storm-based combo deck focused on artifact mana, graveyard interactions, and spells like Brain Freeze and Dockside Extortionist to generate large storm counts and finish games quickly with lethal combos.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Using multiple Demonic Tutors early to find critical combo pieces and set up the game-winning board state.
- 2
Leveraging Defense Grid to protect key spells from counterspells during the early turns to maintain tempo.
- 3
Exiling lands with Lion's Eye Diamond and Underworld Breach to enable graveyard recursion and storm count increases.
- 4
Timing Brain Freeze after generating sufficient storm count to mill opponents aggressively and trigger lethal draws.
- 5
Casting spells from the graveyard with Underworld Breach to maximize the value of each card and extend combo lines.
- 6
Careful management of mana sources like Lotus Petal and Mana Crypt to accelerate into combo turns quickly.
Notable Cards
Demonic Tutor
Lion's Eye Diamond
Defense Grid
Brain Freeze
Dockside Extortionist
Underworld Breach
Lotus Petal
Mystic Remora
Dark Ritual
Spellseeker
Summary
The game begins with all players setting up their mana bases and deploying early ramp spells like Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, and fetch lands to accelerate into their key combo pieces. Players like Ian with Etali and Joseph with Thrasios/Vial Smasher focus on quickly assembling resources to tutor for powerful spells or start combo lines. Evan, piloting Thrasios/Dargo, develops his board state with a focus on graveyard resources and combo enablers such as Brain Freeze and Dockside Extortionist, aiming to generate storm count and mana advantage. Key interactions revolve around casting Demonic Tutor multiple times, leveraging Mana Crypt and Lion's Eye Diamond to maximize mana availability and card draw, and using defense grid to protect early plays from disruption. A pivotal moment occurs when Evan uses a combination of Underworld Breach and Brain Freeze to set up a lethal storm-based combo, exiling lands and casting spells from the graveyard to generate a massive draw and storm count. The pressure mounts as other players attempt to disrupt or race, but Evan's Thrasios/Dargo deck capitalizes on the synergy of artifact mana, graveyard recursion, and storm spells to secure the win. The game showcases the importance of resource management, timing of tutors, and resolving critical combos before opponents can respond.
