I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY UNBANNED THESE CARDS | Worst Possible Commander | Happy April 1st :D #53

Deck Strategies

• 

  Kess, Dissident Mage

  Cast powerful instants and sorceries multiple times per turn, leveraging card draw punishment effects to drain opponents' life while controlling the board with disruption spells.

• 

  Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant

  Use Isochron Scepter and Time Walk to take infinite turns, locking the game and winning through overwhelming card advantage and repeated actions.

• 

  Varina, Lich Queen

  Generate zombie tokens and draw/discard cards to gain life and create board presence, then drain opponents using Gray Merchant of Asphodel and synergies with devotion to black.

• 

  Veyran, Voice of Duality

  Utilize graveyard recursion combos involving Underworld Breach and Past in Flames to cast multiple spells per turn, dealing massive damage and manipulating the deck efficiently.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Kess leveraged her ability to cast instants and sorceries twice to maximize the impact of Power Nine cards like Ancestral Recall and Time Twister, accelerating card draw and disruption.

• 2

  Jin-Gitaxias's combination of Isochron Scepter and Time Walk allowed for infinite extra turns, exemplifying ultimate control and tempo advantage in Commander.

• 3

  Varina utilized Black Market and zombie tribal synergies to convert aggressive attacks into massive life swings and board presence.

• 4

  Veyran's deck focused on graveyard recursion combos that allowed casting of multiple spells in a single turn, enabling explosive damage output and deck manipulation.

• 5

  Players used early-game hand disruption and fast mana to set up their combos quickly, demonstrating the power imbalance introduced by unbanning the Power Nine.

• 6

  Despite the overwhelming power level, players balanced aggression with interaction, making the gameplay dynamic and tense.

Notable Cards

• 

  Time Walk

• 

  Ancestral Recall

• 

  Black Lotus

• 

  Isochron Scepter

• 

  Gray Merchant of Asphodel

• 

  Underworld Breach

• 

  Past in Flames

• 

  Vampiric Tutor

• 

  Nekusar, the Mindrazer

• 

  Black Market

• 

  Lightning Greaves

• 

  Sapphire Medallion

Summary

The game opened explosively with all four players leveraging the newly unbanned Power Nine cards to devastating effect. Kess, Dissident Mage, was able to cast multiple high-impact spells like Ancestral Recall and Time Twister twice each by utilizing Kess's ability, while also inflicting continuous damage through Nekusar-style draw punishment effects. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant, paired with Isochron Scepter and Time Walk to generate potentially infinite turns, aiming to lock the game with repeated extra turns. Varina, Lich Queen, focused on zombie tribal synergies to draw and discard cards, gain life, and then overwhelm opponents with multiple copies of Gray Merchant of Asphodel, leveraging the explosive mana generation from Black Lotus and Black Market. Veyran, Voice of Duality, built around a powerful graveyard recursion and spellcasting combo involving Underworld Breach and Past in Flames to shuffle through the deck rapidly and deal massive damage with spells like Guttersnipe and multiple Time Walks. Early turns were dominated by fast mana and disruption, with players probing each other's hands and positioning for critical combos and board control. Critical moments included Kess's early Vampiric Tutor and Dissident Mage deployment, setting the tone with card advantage and disruption, as well as Jin-Gitaxias's setup for infinite extra turns using Isochron Scepter imprinting Time Walk repeatedly. Varina's Black Market and aggressive zombie attacks pressured opponents, while Veyran's use of graveyard recursion combos threatened massive damage and deck manipulation. The game showcased high-level synergy and power from the newly legal cards, with players balancing aggressive combo development and tactical interaction. The win condition centered around infinite or near-infinite combos enabled by the Power Nine and key synergy cards, creating explosive and interactive gameplay moments.