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The Spikes FAIL to Learn How to Play Around Grafdigger's Cage in Commander | The Spike Feeders S5E5

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Commanders featured in this Gameplay Reviewed & Verified

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent card Xantcha, Sleeper Agent videos from The Spike Feeders 
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Pir, Imaginative Rascal

Pir, Imaginative Rascal

Pir, Imaginative Rascal card Pir, Imaginative Rascal videos from The Spike Feeders 
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Toothy, Imaginary Friend

Toothy, Imaginary Friend

Toothy, Imaginary Friend card Toothy, Imaginary Friend videos from The Spike Feeders 
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Atla Palani, Nest Tender

Atla Palani, Nest Tender

Atla Palani, Nest Tender card Atla Palani, Nest Tender videos from The Spike Feeders 
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Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant card Sidisi, Brood Tyrant videos from The Spike Feeders 
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Decklists

Pir, Imaginative Rascal + Toothy, Imaginary Friend Deck on TappedOut

Atla Palani, Nest Tender Deck on TappedOut

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant Deck on TappedOut

Pir, Imaginative Rascal + Toothy, Imaginary Friend Deck on Archidekt

Deck & Commander Strategies

  • Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

    Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

    Utilizes a Worldgorger Dragon style infinite mana combo with reanimation to generate massive advantage and control the board by forcing opponents to sacrifice creatures.

  • Pir, Imaginative Rascal Toothy, Imaginary Friend

    Pir, Imaginative Rascal and Toothy, Imaginary Friend

    A storm combo deck focusing on cantrips and blink effects to draw large numbers of cards and generate a high storm count, aiming to win with Laboratory Maniac.

  • Atla Palani, Nest Tender

    Atla Palani, Nest Tender

    Executes a shuffle combo involving Mirror Entity and Kiki-Jiki to create infinite tokens, supplemented by stax elements to disrupt opponents and protect the combo.

  • Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

    Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

    Leverages Food Chain and graveyard reanimation combos to generate zombie tokens for defense and incremental advantage, while pressuring opponents with continuous value.

Gameplay Insights

  • 1

    Using Carpet of Flowers to ramp opponents can backfire by enabling their fast combo decks, highlighting the importance of target selection.

  • 2

    Activating Xantcha and assigning her to another player to force sacrifices is a key interaction but requires careful timing due to the updated rules sending her to the command zone on controller death.

  • 3

    Sequencing mana rocks like Grim Monolith with spells like Seething Song enables explosive turns and accelerates storm combo execution.

  • 4

    Deploying Dockside Extortionist at the right moment forces opponents to make difficult decisions due to the sudden influx of treasure tokens.

  • 5

    Sidisi's milling to create blockers can stall aggressive strategies temporarily but may not be sufficient against high-speed combo decks.

  • 6

    Players demonstrated attention to intricate combo interactions and timing, balancing between building their own board states and disrupting others'.

Notable Cards

  • Dockside Extortionist

    Dockside Extortionist

  • Carpet of Flowers

    Carpet of Flowers

  • Food Chain

    Food Chain

  • Grim Monolith

    Grim Monolith

  • Seething Song

    Seething Song

  • Fiery Confluence

    Fiery Confluence

  • Imperial Recruiter

    Imperial Recruiter

  • Ashnod's Altar

    Ashnod's Altar

  • Noxious Revival

    Noxious Revival

  • One with Nothing

    One with Nothing

Gameplay Summary

The game featured a diverse set of combo-centric and synergistic decks, with players leveraging graveyard interactions, infinite mana combos, and token generation strategies.

Early turns saw players ramping mana aggressively and developing board presence while trying to set up their key combos.

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant utilized a Food Chain reanimator combo to generate blockers and pressure the table, while Xantcha, Sleeper Agent aimed to leverage a modified Worldgorger Dragon infinite mana combo alongside reanimation targets.

Pir and Toothy storm combo deck focused on drawing massive amounts of cards and generating storm count for a Laboratory Maniac finish.

Meanwhile, Atla Palani, Nest Tender worked towards a shuffle combo involving Mirror Entity and Kiki-Jiki to create infinite tokens, with some stax elements to disrupt opponents. A pivotal moment came when Dockside Extortionist was cast to generate a large treasure token advantage, forcing players to adapt quickly.

Carpet of Flowers was strategically used to accelerate mana on opposing players, sometimes backfiring as it aided the storm combo deck.

Sidisi's milling triggered zombie tokens, providing defensive bodies, but the board was under constant threat from multiple combo lines.

The game saw significant sequencing decisions, such as the activation of Xantcha and the use of Grim Monolith and Seething Song to ramp into powerful spells like Fiery Confluence.

Despite disruption attempts, the storm player managed to generate a threatening board state, demonstrating the fast-paced and interactive nature of the match.

The interplay around Grafdigger's Cage and other hate cards underscored the need for careful planning and adaptation in a high-level multiplayer Commander game.

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