Deck & Commander Strategies
Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon
Grow Hydro-Man large and make it unblockable with spells and mutate effects to win through commander damage.
Breena, the Demagogue
Control the table by directing attacks among opponents, growing Breena and other creatures through combat damage triggers, and utilize proliferate to strengthen threats.
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame
Attach multiple cheap auras and enchantments to Valduk to generate a horde of 3/1 tokens and deal commander damage with a trampling Valduk.
Winter, Cynical Opportunist
Fill the graveyard with diverse card types, then use Winter’s powerful reanimation with finality counters to generate value and tokens for board presence and incremental advantage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Hydro-Man was made unblockable multiple times with Distortion Strike and grew large with +1/+1 counters, showing an effective commander damage strategy despite mana issues.
- 2
Breena thrived on combat damage triggers and proliferate, encouraging players to attack each other and growing herself and other creatures to become a serious threat.
- 3
Matt’s Culling Ritual was a pivotal board wipe that also ramped him significantly, enabling him to reanimate creatures with Winter’s triggered ability and generate a token army.
- 4
Sam leveraged aura synergies on Valduk to create multiple 3/1 tokens, then used combat tricks like Monstrous Rage to grant trample and push through damage to multiple opponents.
- 5
Jason’s use of targeted removal and graveyard hate like Bajuka Bog effectively disrupted Matt’s graveyard strategy, applying pressure at critical moments.
- 6
The game featured several moments where combat damage was carefully directed to maximize Breena’s triggers and spread damage across opponents, showing the power of political combat control.
Notable Cards
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Hydro-Man, Fluid Felon
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Breena, the Demagogue
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Valduk, Keeper of the Flame
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Winter, Cynical Opportunist
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Distortion Strike
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Culling Ritual
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Adaptive Automaton
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Solemn Simulacrum
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Monstrous Rage
Gameplay Summary
The game started with Jason on Breena, quickly establishing board presence and ramp while encouraging player conflict through Breena's ability to grow with opponents' combat interactions.
Shelby on Hydro-Man aimed to make his commander large and unblockable but struggled early with land drops, limiting his tempo.
Sam on Valduk focused on enchanting his commander with cheap auras to create a board of tokens and pressure with commander damage.
Matt on Winter utilized graveyard interactions, milling cards and leveraging Winter's powerful reanimation ability to generate value and tokens. Key turning points included Matt's well-timed Culling Ritual, which wiped the board and flooded his mana pool, allowing him to reanimate powerful creatures like Overlord of the Haunted with Winter’s finality counter trigger.
Jason's use of proliferate and removal spells such as Lauren of the Third Path and Bajuka Bog disrupted opponents' boards and graveyards, applying pressure.
Sam capitalized on enchantments to create multiple tokens and trample threats, swinging aggressively to chip away at opponents.
Shelby's Hydro-Man eventually became a significant threat but was somewhat hindered by early mana issues and pressure from multiple opponents.
The game unfolded with dynamic combat phases and strategic removal, centered around maintaining board control, growing commander threats, and leveraging graveyard recursion.
The win conditions primarily revolved around commander damage through large, evasive commanders and token swarms supported by aura enhancements.
![Commander VS S14E1: Muldrotha VS Valduk VS Tatyova VS Arixmethes [EDH] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N6grgj3VwDM/sddefault.jpg)
![This Time, It's Personal! [Commander VS] | Magic: the Gathering Commander Gameplay thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VibCoKEPrWU/sddefault.jpg)
