WE SUPERCHARGED THE TARKIR PRECONS – Teval vs Zurgo vs Ureni vs Elsha – Manasplaining #24

Deck Strategies

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  Teval, the Balanced Scale

  Focuses on milling cards into the graveyard and leveraging graveyard synergies to gain incremental advantage, with a solid base of Sultai colors that support value and control.

• 

  Elsha, Threefold Master

  Creates a swarm of prowess-boosted one-one tokens by casting many cheap instant and sorcery spells, applying continuous pressure through combat damage triggers.

• 

  Ureni of the Unwritten

  Utilizes a heavy dragon tribal build with cost reduction and card draw from powerful dragons entering the battlefield to generate explosive plays and maintain card advantage.

• 

  Zurgo Stormrender

  Generates multiple attacking token warriors each turn, leveraging token sacrifice to draw cards and ping opponents, aiming to wear down opponents quickly with aggressive combat.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Zurgo's ability to create attacking tokens that trigger card draw when sacrificed during combat proved pivotal in maintaining pressure and resource advantage.

• 2

  Elsha's prowess triggers stacked well with casting multiple cheap spells each turn, allowing rapid token production and escalating combat threats.

• 3

  The synergy between dragon tribal cost reducers like Dragonlord Servant and card draw enchantments like Elemental Bond enabled Ureni to sustain card advantage and keep threats coming.

• 4

  Players prioritized efficient mana development and clean board states early, which accelerated the pace of the game and allowed for explosive mid-game turns.

• 5

  Combat damage triggers and token generation were central to the game flow, with players making tactical decisions about blocking and sacrificing tokens to maximize card draws and damage output.

Notable Cards

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  Elemental Bond

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  Young Pyromancer

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  Arcane Signet

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  Enduring Courage

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  Anax, Hardened in the Forge

Summary

The game started with each player deploying their upgraded Tarkir preconstructed decks, each with distinct strategies. Early turns were focused on ramping mana and setting up key creatures like Elsha, Threefold Master and Zurgo Stormrender. Elsha generated numerous prowess-boosted tokens by casting cheap spells, while Zurgo flooded the board with goblin warriors and warrior tokens leveraging his ability to generate card advantage and incremental damage. Teval, the Balanced Scale, focused on milling and benefiting from graveyard synergies, though his deck saw fewer changes from its precon build. Ureni of the Unwritten aimed to capitalize on a heavy dragon presence and powerful spells, with cards like Dragonlord Servant reducing dragon spell costs and Elemental Bond drawing cards off large creatures entering the battlefield. A major turning point was when Zurgo and his token swarm threatened multiple opponents simultaneously, forcing difficult blocks and setting up significant life losses. Elsha’s ability to create tokens with prowess and trigger multiple prowess boosts from casting spells put continuous pressure on the table. The board state saw aggressive swings with numerous tokens being created and sacrificed, triggering card draws and life pings that kept the pace fast and punishing. The game’s momentum leaned heavily on combat damage triggers and token generation, with players trying to maintain board presence while disrupting others. The win condition revolved around overwhelming opponents with either a massive token army or leveraging dragon synergies and spell combos to outvalue and outlast opponents.