Atraxa vs The Ur-Dragon vs Arcades vs Lathliss EDH / CMDR game play for Magic: The Gathering

Deck Strategies

• 

  Atraxa, Praetors' Voice

  Utilizes proliferate triggers and artifact synergies like Lux Cannon to incrementally build counters and control the board, while Vance's Blasting Cannons provides dice-based damage to pressure opponents.

• 

  The Ur-Dragon

  Focuses on ramping mana quickly to cast powerful high-cost dragons, leveraging commander synergy and recursion to maintain board presence and overwhelm opponents with large creatures.

• 

  Arcades, the Strategist

  Builds a strong defensive board with walls and defenders, using draw engines and proliferate to gain card advantage and control, with occasional board wipes to reset aggressive threats.

• 

  Lathliss, Dragon Queen

  Aggressive mono-red dragon tribal deck that applies early pressure with direct damage and attacks, focusing on maintaining tempo and punishing slower opponents.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The use of Vance's Blasting Cannons as a dice-based damage source allowed for targeted pressure against specific opponents, influencing attack decisions.

• 2

  Slaughter the Strong by Arcades effectively reset the board and stalled aggressive dragon strategies, demonstrating the importance of well-timed board wipes in a dragon-heavy meta.

• 3

  Lux Cannon combined with artifact recursion and proliferate provided Atraxa's player a reliable method to apply incremental damage and maintain board presence.

• 4

  The Ur-Dragon player's recursion of dragons via Blade Wing the Risen maintained offensive momentum despite board wipes.

• 5

  Players balanced life total management versus board control carefully, as seen when defenders were preserved to keep attacking options open.

• 6

  Mismanagement of triggers was noted but rectified by sportsmanship, highlighting the complexity of managing multiple draw and proliferate effects.

• 7

  Defensive walls in Arcades' deck enabled sustained card draw and mana ramp, providing a contrasting control approach to aggressive dragon decks.

Notable Cards

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  Vance's Blasting Cannons // Spitfire Bastion

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  Slaughter the Strong

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  Lux Cannon

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  Nesting Dragon

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  Plasm Capture

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  Swiftfoot Boots

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  Sylvan Library

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  Command Tower

Summary

The game featured four powerful dragon-themed commanders competing in a dynamic multiplayer environment. Early turns developed the board with mana acceleration and land drops, while players carefully managed resources and triggered abilities. Atraxa’s player utilized Vance’s Blasting Cannons to deal incremental damage and control the board, frequently rolling dice to target key opponents. The Ur-Dragon player focused on ramping and casting large dragons like Kiling Mouth Dragon, leveraging the commander’s ability to swarm the battlefield with enormous creatures. Arcades, the Strategist, emphasized defensive plays with numerous walls and defenders, using proliferate and draw engines to maintain card advantage and control the board. Lathliss, Dragon Queen’s deck showed aggressive red dragon strategies, pressuring opponents with direct attacks and damage spells. A pivotal moment came when Dom (Arcades) cast Slaughter the Strong to wipe away many dragons, temporarily resetting the board and slowing down aggressive strategies. However, the Ur-Dragon player responded by returning key dragons like Nesting Dragon with Blade Wing the Risen, maintaining pressure. John’s Atraxa deck utilized Lux Cannon with artifact recursion and proliferate triggers to incrementally increase counters and control the game state. The game featured tactical blocking decisions, with players weighing life totals against attack potential. Ultimately, the interaction of dragon recursion, proliferate effects, and rolling damage from Vance’s Blasting Cannons created a tense and fluctuating board state with multiple avenues to victory still open as the game progressed.