Deck Strategies
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Ramp aggressively to reduce the cost of large dinosaur creatures and overwhelm opponents with big, high-impact threats.
Baral and Kari Zev
Utilize cost reduction and spell recursion with instants and sorceries to generate value, ramp, and create Treasure tokens for mana acceleration.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Punish opponents for drawing cards to drain life while gaining life, combined with strong value lands and enchantments to maintain board control.
Yargle and Multani
Play large vanilla creatures backed by recursion and ramp to maintain consistent board presence and apply steady pressure.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Busterkins used Blasphemous Act combined with Path to Exile strategically to clear the board while preventing Yargle’s immediate return, effectively resetting the board state.
- 2
Matt's use of Primal Amulet flipping into Primal Wellspring allowed him to flashback spells and generate additional card advantage, accelerating his ability to cast big spells.
- 3
Sheoldred’s life drain triggered multiple times due to frequent card draws from Temple Bell, steadily draining opponents while sustaining Busterkins' life total.
- 4
Kovacs prioritized ramp and recursion, using cards like Roiling Regrowth and Soul Ring to establish a stable mana base and keep his large creatures recurring.
- 5
The players repeatedly leveraged card draw and life loss triggers to gain incremental advantage, highlighting the importance of timing and interaction over straightforward aggression.
Notable Cards
Blasphemous Act
Temple Bell
Yargle, Glutton of Urborg
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Drover of the Mighty
Nest Robber
Jetmir's Garden
Summary
The game began with each player establishing their board and ramping into their strategies. J-Man on Gishath, Sun's Avatar pushed a dinosaur tribal theme, focusing on ramp and casting big creatures to pressure opponents early. Matt piloting Baral and Kari Zev used cost reduction and spell recursion to chain large instants and sorceries, generating value and ramping into powerful plays. Busterkins on Sheoldred, the Apocalypse aimed to leverage card draw triggers to drain opponents’ life while gaining life himself, supported by value lands and enchantments. Kovacs with Yargle and Multani played a straightforward but resilient strategy, deploying large creatures and using recursion effects to maintain board presence. Key turning points included Busterkins casting a timely Blasphemous Act to clear the board, preventing Kovacs's Yargle from dominating early combat. Matt made a critical sequence with his Primal Amulet, flipping it to Primal Wellspring and utilizing flashback spells to generate card advantage and mana acceleration. Sheoldred's life drain and card draw synergy steadily chipped away at opponents' life totals, while Kovacs maintained a steady presence with his large vanilla creatures and reanimation tools. The game featured multiple interactions around card draw and life loss, with players balancing aggression and resource management. The dynamic shifted often due to board wipes and spell recursion, setting up a long game of attrition and incremental advantage rather than a quick combo finish.
