Deck & Commander Strategies
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Make zombies, sacrifice them each end step to draw cards, and replace dying zombies with decayed tokens. Reflections of Littjara copies zombie spells, Grave Pact punishes opponents for the constant sacrifices, and Arch-Ghoul of Thraben adds card advantage.
Betor, Ancestor's Voice
Build incremental value from life gain and life loss, reanimating big creatures based on life lost and spreading counters based on life gained. Cards like Dark Confidant, Mr. Negative and Tristani, Celestia's Voice enable big swings, with the aim of ending in one huge turn.
Blech, Loafing Pest
Gain life and spread +1/+1 counters across pests, bats, insects, snakes and spiders. Feral Appetite, Phyrexian Altar and Zulaport Cutthroat feed life-gain and sacrifice triggers while Hollowbark Siege draws cards.
Aragorn, the Uniter
Cast as many multicolor spells as possible so Aragorn triggers for each color: soldier tokens from white, scry from blue, three damage from red and a +4/+4 pump from green. Council of the Reeds copies spread out, and the deck goes wide before alpha striking.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
The Wilhelt player's Grave Pact stalled everyone's sacrifice-based plans and made the table hesitate to attack, but it also made everyone treat that player as the main threat.
- 2
Endless Detour on Grave Pact was only a tempo play, since the owner had to spend mana on the Cabal Coffers recast, but it let the Aragorn player build tokens in the meantime.
- 3
Taking eight each turn from Necropotence-style draws pushed the Betor player's life low enough to fuel Betor's reanimation at end step, bringing back Mr. Negative.
- 4
Swapping life totals with the highest-life opponent via Mr. Negative, then swapping back, gave a large card-draw swing and filled the graveyard with reanimation and Feral Appetite targets.
- 5
Feral Appetite turned opposing graveyard cards into pest tokens, and sacrificing them in response to Grave Pact triggers gained life and drew cards via Hollowbark Siege.
- 6
Choosing to sacrifice Blech and Essence Warden to eat Mr. Negative with Feral Appetite stopped a potential table-wide kill but fed Eerie Ultimatum's huge lifegain turn.
- 7
Thor's trigger plus Franklin's Finality doubled each creature spell's effect, dealing a lot of damage to the Betor player and creating dozens of council tokens that could block.
- 8
The Betor player's large life-gain triggers made every creature gigantic, so commander damage in the air became the only real way to win.
Notable Cards
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Grave Pact
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Reflections of Littjara
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Feral Appetite
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Phyrexian Altar
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Endless Detour
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Archangel of Thune
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Bloodthirsty Conqueror
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Eerie Ultimatum
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Thor, God of Thunder
Gameplay Summary
The game opened slowly, with everyone developing mana and small plays while Wilhelt's zombie shell, Aragorn's multicolor engine, Blech's pest package and Betor's life-swing plan came online.
Early on, the Wilhelt player's Reflections of Littjara turned zombie spells into copies, and Dirge Colossus arrived as a double.
Grave Pact then made every creature sacrifice painful for the rest of the table.
The Betor player kept paying for Dark Confidant, Words of Wilding-style card draw and Necropotence-style life loss, falling to the low 20s while building a life-loss pile that Betor could convert into reanimation.
The Aragorn player answered the Grave Pact with Endless Detour, which only delayed it, and built a growing army of Council of the Reeds copies. The midgame turned on Mr. Negative, which Betor reanimated from the graveyard.
Trading life totals with the highest-life player and then swapping back gave a huge card-draw swing, and Tristani, Celestia's Voice's lifegain triggers made the board swell.
Blech's Feral Appetite repeatedly exiled creatures from graveyards to make pest tokens, and chains with Phyrexian Altar and Hollow Marsh-style Hollowbark Siege draw triggers put counters on Blech and Gorma.
Archghoul of Thraben and Grave Pact abuse by the Wilhelt player fueled a Gary-style devotion drain that threatened to wipe out the table, and a big Gary Garrick drain pushed the Blech player to a very high life total. The endgame was a lifegain explosion.
Mr. Negative was eaten with Feral Appetite to stop a one-turn kill, but Eerie Ultimatum returned a huge number of permanents.
Archangel of Thune, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Essence Warden, Great Hinge and Orochi-style Oraoid triggers made every creature enormous.
Betor and Koa-style Kaya the Vigor Bloom threatened lethal in the air, Betor ending up big enough to kill Nathan with commander damage and Koa swinging through Zab.
The Aragorn player then countered with a large alpha strike backed by Thor, Franklin's Finality doubling triggers, and Council of the Reeds tokens, ending the game with a decisive attack.
