Deck Strategies
Tayam, Luminous Enigma
An enchantress-style deck focused on casting multiple enchantments to draw cards and gain incremental advantage, aiming to control the board while out-valuing opponents.
Siani, Eye of the Storm / Eligeth, Crossroads Augur
A scry and draw tribal strategy aiming to convert scry effects into card draw, maintaining card advantage and controlling the flow of the game through repeated value from spells and creatures.
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Zombie tribal focused on creating numerous zombie tokens, enhancing them with zombie lords, and overwhelming opponents with large, synergistic zombie attacks.
Svella, Ice Shaper
A Gruul ramp deck aiming to generate mana with artifacts like Icy Manalith and cast large, impactful creature spells cheaply, leveraging mana acceleration and board presence.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Targeting Cemetery Reaper early with Elsbeth, Conqueror of Death was a key threat removal to prevent zombie buffs and board growth.
- 2
Flashback of Ancient Grudge on Thought Vessel disrupted mana fixing and ramp, significantly slowing down Eligeth’s development.
- 3
Players focused attacks on the player with the strongest board presence to prevent snowballing, demonstrating good threat assessment.
- 4
Generating multiple Icy Manaliths allowed Svella to ramp efficiently despite budget limitations.
- 5
The use of amass mechanics by Wilhelt helped maintain a growing board presence while managing life totals effectively.
Notable Cards
Thought Vessel
Ancient Grudge
Cemetery Reaper
Icy Manalith
Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr // Katilda's Rising Dawn
Warden of Evos Isle
Silver Raven
Summary
The game started with players developing their boards cautiously, focusing on ramp and early plays to establish their strategies on a $50 budget. Svella aimed to generate mana with Icy Manaliths and cast large Gruul spells for free, while Wilhelt focused on creating a zombie army and leveraging zombie lords to boost them for lethal swings. Tayam’s deck played an enchantress-style game plan, drawing cards through enchantments, and Eligeth/Siani utilized scry and draw synergies to maintain card advantage and board presence. Early turns featured minor skirmishes, with players targeting key threats like Cemetery Reaper and Thought Vessel to disrupt opponents’ plans. As the game progressed, board states grew more complex with token generation and incremental value plays, such as amassing zombies and making multiple Icy Manaliths. Players engaged in selective aggression, picking off weaker targets and protecting their core strategies. Flashback of Ancient Grudge on Thought Vessel was a pivotal disruption, slowing down ramp and mana fixing for Eligeth. Combat focused on chipping away at opponents, particularly targeting the player with the strongest board presence or threatening combos. The gameplay highlighted budget constraints but still delivered meaningful interactions and tension, with players balancing threat assessment and resource management.