Deck Strategies
Old Stickfingers
Utilizes graveyard recursion and reanimation spells to generate value and establish powerful board states. The deck aims to loop creatures like Brood Lord with Recurring Nightmare to overwhelm opponents and secure a win through attrition and combo.
Aragorn, King of Gondor
Focuses on aggressive board presence with creatures like Pippin and controlling the opponent's plays through counterspells and removal. The deck seeks to pressure opponents early while holding up disruption to protect Aragorn and maintain tempo.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Old Stickfingers leverages graveyard recursion effectively by setting up a recurring nightmare loop with Brood Lord, securing a near-unstoppable board state.
- 2
Aragorn's player deliberately avoided playing Pippin on curve to represent holding a counterspell, aiming to bait out key spells from the opponent, a strategic bluff that slowed down Old Stickfingers' tempo.
- 3
Despite Aragorn's reactive approach, the life loss from Toxic Deluge and the inability to stop the reanimation combo put Aragorn in a precarious position leading to defeat.
- 4
Mana management was critical, with Old Stickfingers utilizing available Golgari mana and creatures in graveyard to execute combos while Aragorn tried to maintain mana open for disruption.
- 5
The inclusion of cards like Solitude and Veil of Summer shows an emphasis on interaction and protection in Aragorn's deck, but these were ultimately insufficient to stem the tide of Old Stickfingers' graveyard recursion.
Notable Cards
Recurring Nightmare
Toxic Deluge
Force of Negation
Solitude
Veil of Summer
Summary
The final match of the ninth National Lounge League Duel Commander tournament featured a tense battle between Old Stickfingers and Aragorn, King of Gondor. Early in the game, Old Stickfingers established a strong graveyard presence with cards like Brood Lord, aiming to leverage reanimation spells to quickly regain board control and create a winning combo. Aragorn's player focused on maintaining board presence with creatures like Pippin and held counterspells in hand to disrupt the opponent's key plays. A pivotal moment occurred when Aragorn chose to hold back playing Pippin on curve, attempting to bluff a counterspell to bait a reanimation spell from Old Stickfingers, which indicated a cautious and reactive strategy. Despite this, Old Stickfingers was able to assemble the necessary pieces for a recurring nightmare loop, which proved decisive and closed out the game.
