Deck & Commander Strategies
Kotis, Sibsig Champion
Utilizes graveyard recursion and self-mill to generate value, leveraging creatures like Skull Prophet and Taval to create token swarms and reuse lands, aiming for incremental advantage through graveyard interactions.
Zurgo Stormrender
Aggressively builds a board of goblin tokens with Anox Strike Leader to overwhelm opponents early, drawing cards from token deaths and applying constant pressure as the game's primary beatdown.
Eshki, Temur's Roar
Focuses on ramping into and casting large dragons, growing Eshki with counters to trigger damage to opponents, using powerful creatures and card draw to control the midgame and close out via direct damage and board dominance.
Felothar the Steadfast
Leverages toughness-based damage assignment to convert defenders into attackers, ramping quickly to Felothar and using sacrifice and card draw abilities to maintain resources and control the board.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Mardu's decision to prioritize early token generation with Anox Strike Leader set the pace for aggressive board presence, forcing opponents to respond quickly.
- 2
Abzan's use of Felothar's toughness-based damage allowed it to effectively trade with token swarms and blockers that normally would be less threatening.
- 3
Sultai's Taval attacks served multiple purposes: milling cards to fuel graveyard synergies, recurring lands to maintain mana advantage, and generating zombie druid tokens to bolster the board.
- 4
Zurgo's token death triggers provided consistent card draw, enabling the player to maintain options despite losing creatures in combat.
- 5
Eshki's ability to grow with each creature cast and deal damage to all opponents when powered up created a looming threat that required opponents to manage the board carefully.
- 6
Strategic blocking choices, such as Abzan eating goblin tokens with high toughness creatures, maximized Felothar's damage assignment and card draw potential.
- 7
The interplay of token generation, graveyard recursion, and toughness-based damage assignment highlighted the importance of synergistic deckbuilding in these preconstructed decks.
Notable Cards
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Skull Prophet
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Felothar the Steadfast
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Eshki, Temur's Roar
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Nyx Weaver
Gameplay Summary
The game began with each player establishing their mana base and deploying early threats aligned with their deck strategies.
The Mardu Surge player aggressively developed board presence through Anox Strike Leader, generating multiple goblin tokens and applying early pressure.
Meanwhile, the Abzan Armor deck with Felothar the Steadfast quickly ramped into its commander, leveraging Felothar's unique ability to assign damage based on toughness, turning defenders into potent attackers and setting up for card draw synergies.
The Sultai Arisen deck focused on graveyard value and self-mill, deploying Skull Prophet and the alternate commander Taval, whose attack triggered milling and token generation, steadily building board resources.
The Temur Roar deck aimed to curve into large dragons with Eshki’s counters and damage triggers, establishing a threatening midrange presence. A pivotal moment occurred when Mardu's token swarm clashed with Abzan's defensive toughness-based army, with Zurggo Stormrender drawing cards as tokens died, maintaining card advantage.
Sultai's Taval repeatedly attacked to mill lands and generate zombie druid tokens, pressuring the aggressive Mardu player.
Temur's Eshki threatened to deal significant damage through casting large creatures and accumulating counters, adding a layer of board control and reach.
The game featured dynamic combat phases where token generation, graveyard synergies, and toughness-based damage assignments shaped board states.
The interaction between Mardu's token production and Abzan's defensive utility, combined with Sultai's graveyard recursion and Temur's dragon ramp, created a multifaceted battlefield where each deck sought to capitalize on their unique strengths toward an eventual win condition based on overwhelming board presence or incremental advantage through combat and card draw.
![Tarkir: Dragonstorm PACK TACTICS ft. Teval, Felothar, Eshki, Zurgo [ EDH / Commander Gameplay ] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hZuA4Kdlt04/sddefault.jpg)
