Pako's Modern Life vs Mad Farm vs Demon Chain vs Galastax [cEDH/Commander, MTG Gameplay] 2021

Deck Strategies

• 

  Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

  Utilizes Food Chain and Razaketh lines to generate infinite mana and combo off quickly. Korvold serves as a card advantage engine and a finisher by sacrificing food tokens.

• 

  Pako, Arcane Retriever

  A disruptive midrange deck that aims to play Pako early, stealing opponents' key spells and controlling the board with removal and extra turn spells to outvalue opponents and close the game.

• 

  Haldan, Avid Arcanist

  Paired with Pako in a Temur shell, focusing on deploying spells from opponents' libraries and using extra turns to maximize tempo and disruption.

• 

  Jeska, Thrice Reborn & Tymna the Weaver

  Mad Farm deck that generates massive card advantage via Tymna and utilizes infinite mana combos with Jeska to deal lethal damage to all opponents.

• 

  Galazeth Prismari

  An Izzet Stax deck leveraging Galazeth's ability to generate treasures and ramp into powerful stax artifacts such as Trinisphere, Winter Orb, and Underworld Breach combos for a storm finish.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Using Trinisphere early to tax opponents' spells and slow down combo decks is effective but vulnerable to artifact removal like Fragmentize.

• 2

  Dockside Extortionist can rapidly generate a large treasure army to accelerate mana production and break stax locks.

• 3

  Casting Swan Song in response to Vampiric Tutor prevents tutors from resolving and protects key stax pieces.

• 4

  Blood Moon shuts down non-basic lands but can be circumvented by decks with basics or mana fixing.

• 5

  Using Galazeth Prismari to generate treasures each turn synergizes well with artifact mana and stax lock pieces, enabling powerful combos.

• 6

  Midrange disruption combined with extra turn spells in Pako's deck can effectively slow down faster combo decks while maintaining pressure.

• 7

  Food Chain and Mad Farm decks rely heavily on early mana acceleration and creature tutors to assemble infinite mana combos quickly.

• 8

  Maintaining a balance between board control and combo assembly is crucial in a multiplayer cEDH game with multiple interactive decks.

Notable Cards

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  Dockside Extortionist

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  Trinisphere

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  Blood Moon

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  Jeweled Lotus

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  Vampiric Tutor

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  Swan Song

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  Survival of the Fittest

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  Skirk Prospector

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  Underworld Breach

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  Lion's Eye Diamond

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  Brain Freeze

Summary

The game begins with a competitive opening where players quickly establish their mana bases and early board presence. The Izzet Stax player employs Trinisphere and Blood Moon to disrupt opponents' mana and slow down faster combos. Meanwhile, the Food Chain deck piloted by Korvold focuses on assembling its infinite mana combo through creatures like Elves of Deep Shadow and Manic Crypt. Tymna/Jeska's Mad Farm deck aims to generate large card advantage and assemble infinite mana to win through Jeska's damage trigger. Pako's Modern Life deck plays a midrange game, using Pako, Arcane Retriever to steal key spells from opponents and deploys extra turn spells to maintain tempo and control. A pivotal moment occurs when Calvin's Mad Farm deck casts Dockside Extortionist, generating a large number of treasure tokens and using them to break apart the Izzet Stax player's Trinisphere, thus regaining access to low-cost spells and ramp. This allows the Mad Farm deck to accelerate its combo assembly. Concurrently, the Food Chain deck pressures opponents with efficient creatures and tutors for key combo pieces. The Galazeth Prismari player leverages treasures generated by their commander to ramp into Underworld Breach combo lines, aiming for a quick storm finish. The game sees multiple layers of disruption, with artifact destruction, counters, and stax elements forcing players to adapt their strategies. Ultimately, the game revolves around players balancing disruption and combo assembly. The Food Chain and Mad Farm decks push for infinite mana combos supported by tutors and efficient creatures, while the Stax deck tries to lock down the board and win through Underworld Breach storm combos. The Pako deck plays a controlling midrange role with disruption and extra turns, stealing key spells from opponents. Key plays such as casting Dockside Extortionist and breaking Trinisphere shift the tempo and open windows for combo wins.