Gavin Verhey Faces His Own Creations | Commander Gameplay Ep 29

Deck Strategies

• 

  Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

  Leverages odd mana costs to cast spells for free, focusing on tempo and value through efficient casting and protection to maintain board presence.

• 

  Blim, Comedic Genius

  A quirky deck centered on giving opponents unwanted permanents and using combo interactions involving reanimation to force opponents to lose the game.

• 

  Captain N'ghathrod

  Utilizes Horror creatures to mill opponents and steal their permanents, turning their resources against them for control and advantage.

• 

  Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

  Focuses on distributing counters to creatures, with synergies that ping opponents for damage over time, while manifesting creatures as a backup plan.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The use of Slicer Hired Muscle to force opponents to take control temporarily created political pressure and forced targeted attacks early in the game.

• 2

  Haral, Horn of the Abyss enabled MTG NerdGirl to reduce the cost of Horror creatures, speeding up the deployment of threats and card advantage through upkeep triggers.

• 3

  Psychosis Crawler’s ability to drain opponents whenever its controller draws cards synergized well with Omarthis’s ping damage plan, amplifying incremental life loss.

• 4

  Yennett’s deck leveraged protection spells and careful sequencing to maintain board presence despite early aggression, using cards like Giver of Runes.

• 5

  Players demonstrated awareness of mana efficiency and tax costs with cards like Arcane Signet and paying the one-mana tax to avoid losing tempo or board presence.

• 6

  The humorous and unique design of Blim’s deck provided unexpected interactions that could disrupt opponents' strategies by forcing unwanted permanents and creating combos to end the game.

Notable Cards

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  Psychosis Crawler

• 

  Giver of Runes

• 

  Witch's Clinic

• 

  Ash Barrens

Summary

In this four-player Commander game, each participant piloted a deck designed or co-designed by Gavin Verhey, leading to a unique clash of innovative strategies. Early turns involved standard ramp and setup plays, with players establishing their mana bases and deploying synergistic creatures to build momentum. Slicer hired muscle was a key early threat with its double strike and ability to force opponents to take control temporarily, putting pressure on Gavin's Yennett deck. Meanwhile, MTG NerdGirl's Captain N'ghathrod deck focused on deploying Horrors to mill opponents and leverage stolen permanents for advantage. Veggiewagonyee’s Omarthis deck built around counters and ping damage with creatures like Psychosis Crawler generating incremental life loss for opponents. Airball’s Blim deck incorporated humorous elements and permanents that imposed unwanted effects, with a combo potential involving reanimation of creatures to cause losses.