We Played Commander With Santa 🎅 | The Cozy Magic Show 08 | EDH Magic: The Gathering

Deck Strategies

• 

  Brenard, Ginger Sculptor

  Generate food and golem artifact tokens through sacrifice triggers, buffing these tokens to apply pressure with trample and sustain life gain, creating a resilient and wide board presence.

• 

  Galadriel, Light of Valinor

  Build a strong elf tribal synergy by playing elves to trigger Will of the Council votes, gaining either board control through tapping opponents’ permanents or card advantage, while growing Galadriel with +1/+1 counters.

• 

  Baylen, the Haymaker

  Ramp aggressively using land sacrifice and token generation to create a large army of insect tokens with Scoot Swarm, aiming to overwhelm opponents with wide board presence.

• 

  Gandalf the White

  Utilize historic spells and artifact synergies to create clues for card draw, maintain board presence with creatures like Filigree Familiar, and control the game through incremental value generation.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Baylen’s use of Cabaret Courtyard to cheat multiple lands onto the battlefield triggered Scoot Swarm twice, rapidly expanding the token army and accelerating board presence.

• 2

  Brenard’s sacrifice mechanic to create food golem tokens allowed for sustained pressure and life gain, making attacking safer and providing resilience against board wipes.

• 3

  Gandalf’s player maximized the value of historic spells by generating clues and drawing cards, maintaining card advantage and board control.

• 4

  Galadriel’s Will of the Council mechanic introduced a political and strategic layer by forcing votes each combat phase, impacting opponents’ permanents and providing card advantage.

• 5

  The interplay of token generation and sacrifice synergies across multiple decks created a dynamic and interactive game state focused on incremental value and board presence.

Notable Cards

• 

  Filigree Familiar

• 

  Sarah Jane Smith

• 

  Elvish Archdruid

• 

  Arcane Signet

• 

  Chromatic Star

Summary

The game began with a festive atmosphere as four players piloted holiday-themed decks led by commanders Galadriel, Light of Valinor; Brenard, Ginger Sculptor; Baylen, the Haymaker; and Gandalf the White. Early turns saw players developing their mana bases and setting up board presence with token generation and ramp. Baylen focused on generating insect tokens with Scoot Swarm, ramping aggressively by sacrificing lands to Cabaret Courtyard, while Brenard created food and golem tokens that synergized with sacrificing non-token creatures. Gandalf’s player utilized historic spells and clues to draw cards and gain incremental advantages, playing creatures like Sarah Jane Smith and Filigree Familiar to generate value. Galadriel aimed to leverage elves entering the battlefield for voting on Will of the Council and building counters on her commander to grow her board state.