Deck & Commander Strategies
Elminster
A control-oriented deck that leverages Elminster's abilities to generate value through fairy tokens and consistent card advantage, while controlling the board with removal and disruption to outlast opponents.
The Reality Chip
An artifact synergy deck that utilizes The Reality Chip's ability to cast spells from the top of the library, focusing on assembling artifact-based combos and equipment to gain tempo and control the board.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Using Pithing Needle early to shut down Elminster's abilities significantly hampered the control player's options.
- 2
Elminster's use of flash creatures with ETB effects and token generation helped break through artifact lock pieces like Bridge.
- 3
The Reality Chip's high mana cost to equip and cast spells from the top sometimes backfired, slowing down the affinity deck's tempo.
- 4
A missed opportunity to cast Subtlety at a critical moment cost the affinity player potential board control and tempo advantage.
- 5
Deploying removal and bounce spells in response to Bridge effectively loosened the affinity player's grip on the game state.
- 6
Elminster's planeswalker activations provided sustained card advantage, crucial against the artifact combo strategy.
Notable Cards
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Pithing Needle
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Subtlety
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Solitude
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The Reality Chip
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Thought Monitor
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Fractured Identity
Gameplay Summary
The game featured a matchup between an Elminster control deck and a Reality Chip affinity deck.
Early game revolved around the affinity deck assembling artifact synergies and equipping The Reality Chip to cast spells from the top of the library, though this strategy was mana intensive and sometimes risky.
The Elminster player used control tools effectively, including Pithing Needle to shut down key abilities and disruptive cards like Subtlety and Solitude to manage threats.
An important moment was the deployment of a bridge that threatened to lock down the affinity player's board, but Elminster's fairy tokens and planeswalker activations helped break the lock.
The affinity player struggled to keep pace as Elminster's card draw and removal tempo increased, culminating in the affinity deck falling behind with limited answers to Elminster's board.
![Reality Chip Affinity vs. Kyodai Tempo [Duel Commander-EDH] - Magic: The Gathering thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jBLB-3xnmFE/sddefault.jpg)
![Will & Hopper vs Beckett Brass vs Hinata vs The Realty Chip [EDH/Commander, MTG Gameplay 2022] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Iz5vZjuwt0g/sddefault.jpg)
![Ruric Thar vs Edgar Markov vs The Reality Chip vs Abdel Adrian [EDH/Commander, MTG Gameplay 2022] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KO7WvnfZ20k/sddefault.jpg)
