Deck Strategies
Zedruu the Greathearted
A political and control-oriented deck that donates permanents to opponents and uses spells to disrupt and control the game, relying on drawing cards and damage through group-hate effects.
Maelstrom Wanderer
A cascade-centric ramp deck focused on casting big creatures and spells for free, leveraging infinite mana combos like Deadeye Navigator and Palinchron to generate overwhelming board presence and close out the game.
Breya, Etherium Shaper
An artifact synergy deck that uses Breya's abilities to generate tokens, remove threats, and combo off, aiming to control the board with artifact interactions and finish with combos involving artifact sacrifice.
General Tazri
An ally tribal deck that builds a wide board of allies, leveraging life gain and incremental value from life-link and ally triggers, combined with flicker effects to search and trigger more allies for advantage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Scott's use of Talis Paladin and Morassa Pyromancer to grant life-link and incrementally increase board presence was crucial in keeping Breya's and other aggressive plays in check.
- 2
David's ability to execute Tooth and Nail to place Deadeye Navigator and Palinchron onto the battlefield enabled infinite mana combos that ultimately secured his victory.
- 3
Brian's early loss of key artifacts and mana sources to artifact destruction and targeted removal significantly hindered his ability to generate value from Breya's abilities.
- 4
Scott's flicker effects with Conjurer's Closet on General Tazri allowed repeated ally tutor triggers, helping him find critical pieces like Agadeem's Cultist for board control and recursion.
- 5
The defensive posture taken by Zedruu's player slowed some aggression but lacked card draw and impactful plays to influence the late game, highlighting the importance of proactive combos or strong disruption in Commander.
Notable Cards
Tooth and Nail
Deadeye Navigator
Palinchron
Zealous Conscripts
Aura of Silence
Trading Post
Conjurer's Closet
Gilded Lotus
Goblin Welder
Copy Artifact
Lantern Scout
Chamber of Manipulation
Bane of Progress
Crystal Shard
Mindslaver
Summary
The game started with each player developing their board and casting their commanders amidst some early land struggles, particularly for David and Brian. Brian's Breya deck faced early disruption from Scott's General Tazri deck which used targeted artifact destruction and life-linking allies to control the board. Scott's ally synergies, boosted by Talis Paladin and Morassa Pyromancer, generated significant life gain and incremental value, allowing him to maintain pressure and control key threats. Meanwhile, David's Maelstrom Wanderer deck focused on ramp and cascade spells to find powerful creatures, though he initially stumbled on land drops. Zedruu's player adopted a defensive posture but was unable to draw into impactful cards to influence the game significantly. As the game progressed, David leveraged Tooth and Nail to put Deadeye Navigator and Palinchron into play, enabling infinite mana combos with Melstrom Wanderer to find and deploy Zealous Conscripts for a decisive win. Brian's Breya deck struggled due to early hate and lack of open mana to maximize her abilities, and Zedruu's control elements were insufficient to slow down the combo-heavy strategies around the table.