Deck & Commander Strategies
Rick, Steadfast Leader
Builds a wide board of humans enhanced by lifegain and anthem effects; wins through combat damage by leveraging vigilance, lifelink, and buffs to overwhelm opponents.
Glacian, Powerstone Engineer & Ravos, Soultender
Utilizes artifact creatures and graveyard recursion to maintain board presence, combining energy generation and artifact synergy to control the game and outvalue opponents.
Sakashima of a Thousand Faces & Gyruda, Doom of Depths
Mill opponents' libraries while cloning and reanimating creatures to manipulate the board state, aiming to grind down opponents through card advantage and repeated ETB effects.
Doran, the Siege Tower
Focuses on creatures with high toughness and lifelink, using double strike and various buffs to dominate combat and steadily drain opponents' life totals.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Beth's early establishment of a wide human board aided by anthem effects and equipment created significant combat pressure.
- 2
Quinn's use of mill combined with cloning and reanimation (notably Gyruda and Sakashima) generated repeated value and disruption, especially with Mindcrank interactions.
- 3
Fitz's strategic destruction of Mindcrank and subsequent deployment of heavy hitters like Angel of Destiny and Shadrix Silverquill shifted board control strongly in his favor.
- 4
The synergy between Doran's toughness boost and double strike enabled Fitz to close out the game decisively through combat damage despite multiple threats on the board.
- 5
Kelly's artifact and graveyard recursion deck maintained steady pressure with efficient artifact creatures and reanimation, but struggled to keep pace with the explosive combat damage from Fitz's deck.
- 6
The interaction of various equipment and anthem effects across decks highlighted the importance of timely combat steps and board state recognition in high-power multiplayer Commander.
Notable Cards
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Glacian, Powerstone Engineer
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Ravos, Soultender
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Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
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Gyruda, Doom of Depths
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Doran, the Siege Tower
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Consecrated Sphinx
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Mindcrank
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Noxious Gearhulk
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Angel of Destiny
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Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
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Breena, the Demagogue
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Fellwar Stone
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Shadrix Silverquill
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Leinore, Autumn Sovereign
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Wurmcoil Engine
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Myr Battlesphere
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Stunt Double
Gameplay Summary
The game featured four competitive Commander decks facing off in a dynamic and interactive match.
Beth piloted a Human tribal and lifegain deck led by Rick, Steadfast Leader, focusing on assembling a wide board of humans with vigilance and lifelink buffs, leveraging anthem effects and combat damage to whittle down opponents.
Kelly played a graveyard-centric artifact deck with Glacian, Powerstone Engineer and Ravos, Soultender, utilizing artifact creatures like Wurmcoil Engine and Myr Battlesphere, combined with graveyard recursion and energy mechanics to generate board presence and card advantage.
Quinn ran a mill and clone strategy with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces and Gyruda, Doom of Depths, aiming to mill opponents and manipulate the board with clones and reanimation effects.
Fitz handled a toughness-focused Doran, the Siege Tower deck emphasizing big creatures with double strike and lifelink to dominate combat phases. Early on, the players developed their board states cautiously, with Beth establishing a strong human presence and Quinn milling opponents while deploying powerful artifact creatures.
Fitz's Doran deck steadily accrued incremental advantage through combat and creature synergies.
Key turning points included Beth's aggressive human combat step and Quinn's use of Noxious Gearhulk and clone effects to disrupt opponents, notably destroying Beth's Rick Steadfast Leader temporarily.
Fitz's board-swinging plays with flying creatures like Angel of Destiny and Shadrix Silverquill enabled significant life gain and pressure.
Ultimately, Fitz leveraged heavy combat damage with Doran's toughness-based strategy and flying double-strikers, supported by multiple buffs and equipment, to close out the game decisively.