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Commander Versus Series: Athreos v. Vhati Il-Dal v. Jenara v. Doran [MTG Multiplayer]

SCG Commander

Commanders featured in this video Reviewed & Verified

Deck Strategies

  • Athreos, God of Passage

    Athreos, God of Passage

    Builds around enchantments and devotion to gain life and drain opponents, using recursion and enchantment synergies to sustain board presence.

  • Doran, the Siege Tower

    Doran, the Siege Tower

    Focused on a rock strategy with treefolk and big creatures, leveraging toughness-based damage and big mana to maintain a strong defensive and offensive presence.

  • Jenara, Asura of War

    Jenara, Asura of War

    Utilizes multicolor gold cards with strong mana fixing to deploy flying creatures and powerful spells quickly, aiming to control the board through tempo and evasion.

  • Vhati il-Dal

    Vhati il-Dal

    Centers around artifact synergies and survival mechanics, using reanimation and artifact recursion to maintain board advantage and disrupt opponents.

Gameplay Insights

  • 1

    Early ramp and mana fixing were crucial for enabling each deck's synergy, particularly for multicolor and enchantment-heavy strategies.

  • 2

    Survival of the Fittest served as a key enabler for graveyard recursion and board development in the artifact and green-black decks.

  • 3

    Strategic removal of enchantments was vital to counter Athreos's devotion-driven life gain and drain effects.

  • 4

    Players balanced aggression and defense, with flying commanders like Jenara pressuring opponents while others focused on building a stable board with big creatures and enchantments.

  • 5

    Discarding powerful threats like Sundering Titan to activate Survival highlighted the depth of synergy exploitation available in the custom block format.

Notable Cards

  • Survival of the Fittest

    Survival of the Fittest

  • Birds of Paradise

    Birds of Paradise

  • Underworld Coinsmith

    Underworld Coinsmith

  • Cultivate

    Cultivate

  • Sundering Titan

    Sundering Titan

  • Protean Hulk

    Protean Hulk

  • Skull of Orm

    Skull of Orm

Summary

The multiplayer Commander game featured four decks built from specific Magic: The Gathering blocks, each with unique themes and strategies. The game started with players developing their board states using mana ramp and early creatures such as Birds of Paradise and Underworld Coinsmith. Key early plays included casting Survival of the Fittest and ramp spells like Cultivate, setting up graveyard interactions and mana fixing. The board state quickly developed with aggressive positioning, including attacking for damage and deploying key enchantments and creatures to leverage each deck's synergy. Throughout the game, players sought to maximize their commanders' potential, with Athreos focusing on devotion and enchantment recursion, Doran aiming to create a rock-solid defense with treefolk and big mana, Jenara leveraging multicolor synergy and flying threats, and Vhati Il-Dal utilizing artifact synergies and survival strategies. Notable moments involved strategic removal of enchantments to disrupt Athreos, as well as attempts to capitalize on mana acceleration and graveyard recursion to establish board dominance. The game unfolded with shifting threats and tactical plays, highlighting the importance of resource management and timely interaction in a competitive four-player environment.

Description

This week, the guys have created their own Commander rules! Each person chose 3 blocks to make their Commander decks for our “Build Your Own Block” special! See how deep they’ve had to dig for card choices!

[Director’s note: For this video, the guys and myself gave the okay for Protean Hulk and Sundering Titan for play. We felt the cards would be okay in our special “Build Your Own Block” format.]

Decklists here: articles.starcitygames.com/premium/commander-vs-four-player-battle-royale

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