Whisper vs Meren vs Kokusho vs Yidris EDH / CMDR game play for Magic: The Gathering

Deck Strategies

• 

  Whisper, Blood Liturgist

  Utilizes a sacrifice and treasure token generation engine to generate incremental card advantage and mana, supporting value creatures and spells to control the board and close out the game.

• 

  Meren of Clan Nel Toth

  Focuses on graveyard recursion combined with sacrifice outlets and tutoring, creating value through persistently recurring creatures and powerful late-game threats.

• 

  Kokusho, the Evening Star

  Leverages Kokusho’s death trigger to drain opponents’ life totals and gain life, combined with sacrifice synergies and equipment to pressure opponents while maintaining board presence.

• 

  Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder

  Employs cascade to chain into multiple spells each turn, generating card advantage and tempo while disrupting opponents and advancing its own board state.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Meren’s Birthing Pod and Razaketh combos allowed for tutoring and recurring powerful creatures, maintaining board presence and pressure.

• 2

  Whisper’s treasure generation combined with incremental card draw from Greed and Desecration Tob fueled a steady resource advantage.

• 3

  Kokusho’s repeated death triggers drained opponents’ life totals while gaining significant life, forcing opponents to carefully consider attacking and blocking.

• 4

  Yidris’s cascade triggers enabled multiple spells to be cast each turn, increasing tempo and disrupting opponents with spells like Dark Petition and Dig Through Time.

• 5

  Strategic use of wheels and mass discard effects by Yidris helped to refresh hands and disrupt opponents’ plans, while Notion Thief punished opponents for drawing cards.

• 6

  The interaction between sacrifice outlets and creatures with death triggers created a dynamic board state where players had to balance aggression with resource preservation.

Notable Cards

• 

  Birthing Pod

• 

  Razaketh, the Foulblooded

• 

  Protean Hulk

• 

  Kokusho, the Evening Star

• 

  Greed

• 

  Skullclamp

• 

  Bloodbraid Elf

• 

  Magus of the Wheel

• 

  Notion Thief

• 

  Terror

• 

  Cabal Stronghold

Summary

The game featured four distinct decks piloted by players using Whisper, Blood Liturgist; Meren of Clan Nel Toth; Kokusho, the Evening Star; and Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder. Early turns focused on ramping mana and setting up value engines, with Meren leveraging token generation and sacrifice outlets, Whisper developing a treasure and sacrifice synergy, Kokusho utilizing life drain and death triggers, and Yidris cascading into spells to maintain pressure. Key moments included Bill (Meren) using Birthing Pod and Razaketh to tutor and bring back threats, while Victor (Whisper) built up treasure generation and incremental card advantage with cards like Greed and Desecration Tob. Darren (Kokusho) repeatedly triggered Kokusho’s death ability to drain opponent life and gain life, keeping the game tense and forcing opponents to respond.