Deck & Commander Strategies
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Skithiryx focuses on aggressive infect attacks, using haste and equipment to quickly apply poison counters and finish opponents by delivering lethal commander damage combined with poison.
Ziatora, the Incinerator
Ziatora plays a treasure and artifact synergy deck that generates massive mana through treasures, facilitating the casting of large creatures and spells while using abilities that sacrifice creatures for additional damage and treasure generation.
Magus Lucea Kane
Magus aims to build a large board presence by casting big X-spells and copying them to create multiple powerful creatures, enhanced by Hardened Scales to increase +1/+1 counters and grow the army quickly.
Strefan, Maurer Progenitor
Strefan leverages a vampire tribal theme, draining opponents' life and generating blood tokens to cheat in large vampires, overwhelming the board with powerful attackers and draining life from enemies.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Early use of Hardened Scales significantly amplified +1/+1 counters on creatures, enhancing both Magus's and Gene Stealer's growth.
- 2
Ziatora's synergy with Dockside Extortionist combined with Skullclamp enabled rapid card draw and treasure generation, accelerating his board development.
- 3
Skithiryx's haste activation allowed aggressive infect damage in early combat phases, putting opponents on a poison clock quickly.
- 4
Magus's ability to copy large X-spells, exemplified by casting Hydroid Krasis twice, created a powerful board presence that threatened multiple opponents simultaneously.
- 5
Strefan's vampire tribal strategy was curtailed early due to targeted damage and sacrifices, highlighting the vulnerability of high mana-cost tribal strategies in a fast-paced infect environment.
- 6
Strategic use of combat damage triggers and sacrifice outlets (such as Ziatora sacrificing Dockside Extortionist) maximized treasure tokens and incremental advantages throughout the midgame.
Notable Cards
-
Hardened Scales
-
Mind Stone
-
Dockside Extortionist
-
Bloom Tender
-
Skullclamp
-
Ancient Copper Dragon
-
Hydroid Krasis
-
Diabolic Tutor
-
Diabolic Edict
Gameplay Summary
The game began with all players establishing their early mana bases and setting up key artifacts and enchantments such as Hardened Scales, Soul Ring, and Mind Stone to accelerate their strategies.
Skithiryx quickly established a threat by casting the commander and dealing early infect damage, poisoning opponents and putting pressure on the table.
Ziatora leveraged artifact synergies, particularly Dockside Extortionist, to generate treasure tokens and ramp into powerful creatures like Ancient Copper Dragon, using Skullclamp to draw additional cards and increase power.
Magus Lucea Kane aimed to cast and copy large X-spells, quickly building a formidable board with Hydroid Krasis and Gene Stealer, while taking advantage of Hardened Scales to enhance counters on creatures.
Strefan, the vampire tribalist, focused on generating blood tokens through damage dealing and sacrificing them to cheat big vampires onto the battlefield, though he was eliminated relatively early by Ziatora's damage.
![Xantcha vs Skithiryx vs Rafiq vs Edric [EDH/Commander] Gameplay 2020 thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/f9W4jUYDROg/sddefault.jpg)
![Obeka vs Varina vs Zurgo vs Skithiryx [EDH/Commander, Magic The Gathering Gameplay] 2021 thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lpVA-DQkfyc/sddefault.jpg)