It's Joe Manganiello & Jimmy Wong! Aragorn | Frodo & Sam | Ziatora | Esior & Ardenn MTG EDH GAMEPLAY

Deck Strategies

• 

  Ziatora, the Incinerator

  Uses sacrifice and graveyard interactions with spooky creatures like werewolves and zombies to deal damage, generate treasures, and control the board.

• 

  Sam, Loyal Attendant & Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit

  Focuses on creating food tokens and gaining life to stabilize while using thematic support from The Lord of the Rings characters to generate value and sustain in combat.

• 

  Ardan, Intrepid Archaeologist & Esior, Wardwing Familiar

  Leverages artifact equipment to grant ward and protection to commanders, enhancing their survivability and enabling aggressive attacks.

• 

  Aragorn, the Uniter

  Cast multicolor spells to produce soldier tokens, building a wide board and attacking aggressively to overwhelm opponents.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Using food tokens generated by Sam, Loyal Attendant to repeatedly gain life and stabilize against aggressive decks was a key defensive strategy.

• 2

  Casting Reckless Stormseeker to grant haste and boost the power of key creatures helped in applying timely offensive pressure.

• 3

  The artifact equipment synergy in the Ardan and Esior deck made commanders significantly harder to remove, allowing for sustained board presence.

• 4

  Ziatora's sacrifice of thematic creatures like Jack-o'-Lantern to generate mana and fuel graveyard recursion showcased an effective resource loop.

• 5

  Choosing to attack with Frodo to trigger combat effects despite potential retaliation demonstrated calculated risk-taking to maximize value.

Notable Cards

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  Sam, Loyal Attendant

• 

  Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit

• 

  Ziatora, the Incinerator

• 

  Esior, Wardwing Familiar

• 

  Aragorn, the Uniter

• 

  Dark Confidant

• 

  Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher

• 

  Jack-o'-Lantern

• 

  Misty Rainforest

• 

  Wasteland

Summary

The game began with players setting up their boards with thematic creatures and utility lands, establishing their early game presence. Frodo and Sam focused on generating food tokens and leveraging life gain mechanics, steadily building up defenses and resource advantages. Ziatora's player used a variety of spooky-themed creatures and removal effects to control the board while generating treasure tokens for mana ramp. The blue-white artifact-focused deck aimed to assemble a suite of powerful equipment to protect and buff their commanders, while the Aragorn deck sought to flood the battlefield with soldiers through multicolor spells and aggressive combat strategies. Key turning points included the casting of powerful commanders such as Sam, Loyal Attendant and Ardan, Intrepid Archaeologist, moving the game into a phase where utility and synergy cards started to take effect. Combat interactions with Frodo attacking and generating food tokens to sustain life helped stabilize the board, while removal spells and card advantage engines began to shift momentum. The use of Reckless Stormseeker to grant haste and pump creatures indicated attempts to apply pressure and close out the game through combat damage. The interplay of equipment granting ward and tactical advantage made certain commanders difficult to remove, contributing to critical board control. The game continued with strategic sacrifices, token generation, and incremental advantages aiming toward each deck’s unique win condition.