Crabs vs Minions vs Detectives vs Plants

Commanders featured in this Gameplay Reviewed & Verified

Deck & Commander Strategies

Morska, Undersea Sleuth
A detective-themed deck focused on clue generation and card advantage through investigating and surveilling. It uses clues to fuel card draw and control elements while maintaining a steady board presence with detective creatures.
Kirri, Talented Sprout
A plant tribal deck that emphasizes ramp and token generation alongside pump effects. It plays defensively with creatures that have defender but boosts their power to prepare for a late-game offensive, recycling lands and creatures from the graveyard to maintain tempo.
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
A minion tribal deck aiming to dominate the board by playing numerous minions, sacrificing minions for value, and leveraging synergies that reduce opponents' board states through shadow and removal effects while applying consistent aggression.
Red Death, Shipwrecker
A crab tribal deck that supports a group hug style by forcing opponents to draw cards when targeted by the commander’s ability, while simultaneously applying pressure with evasive creatures and leveraging card advantage to outpace opponents.

Gameplay Insights

1
Exploration enabled the Plant player to accelerate land drops, allowing a strong early board presence and increased options through multiple land plays per turn.
2
Red Death’s ability to force opponents to draw cards created a subtle form of resource denial and group hug, which helped the Crab player maintain card advantage while staying relatively safe.
3
The Minion deck used sacrifice outlets and shadow creatures to control the board effectively, making blocking difficult while chipping away at opponents.
4
The Detective deck capitalized on clue generation and surveilling to maintain card flow and control the pace of the game, leveraging the synergy between clues and card draw to keep options open.
5
Early aggression from multiple decks prompted calls for board wipes, highlighting the fast-paced pressure each tribe applied.

Notable Cards

Novice Inspector
Cabal Trainee
Red Death, Shipwrecker
Overgrown Arch
Patchwork Automaton
Priest of Gix
Magnifying Glass
Tinder Wall
Exploration

Gameplay Summary

The game featured four distinct tribal decks focused on janky creature types: Detectives, Minions, Crabs, and Plants.

Early turns saw players ramping aggressively, with the Plant player leveraging Exploration to accelerate land drops and the Minion player deploying key minions like Cabal Trainee and Priest of Gix to build board presence.

The Crab deck's commander, Red Death, Shipwrecker, facilitated a unique group hug effect by forcing opponents to draw cards when targeted, enabling a slow card advantage while applying pressure with its aggressive 1/3 body.

Meanwhile, the Detective deck established early clue generation and card draw engines, utilizing cards like Novice Inspector and other clue synergies to dig through the deck and control the board tactically.

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