Deck & Commander Strategies
Winota, Joiner of Forces
Utilizes aggressive combat and stax effects to trigger Winota multiple times, summoning impactful human creatures from the deck to overwhelm opponents and close out the game quickly.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator & Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh
Focuses on casting the commanders and leveraging polymorph effects to cheat massive combo creatures into play for a quick and decisive finish.
Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper & Krark, the Thumbless
A Jund turbo Ad Nauseam build that abuses Krark’s coin flips to generate massive storm counts, aiming to combo off with Witherbloom, Underworld Breach, or Dualcaster Twinflame combos.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
A midrange value deck that slows the game down and leverages multiple untap triggers and mana acceleration to assemble a powerful combo with Emiel and Gaea's Cradle to finish the game.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Mike expertly maximized Winota triggers to flood the board with multiple creatures, including stealing Derevi to untap his permanents and gain additional value.
- 2
Okami’s repeated Krark coin flip failures severely limited his ability to generate storm and execute his combo, demonstrating the variance risk in Krark-based storm decks.
- 3
Aven Mindcensor was strategically flashed in by Mike to shut down Ryan’s land fetches and disrupt his polymorph combo setup.
- 4
Andrew’s use of Finale of Devastation with Gaea's Cradle provided strong ramp and board presence, but it was insufficient to halt Mike’s aggressive token swarm and life gain.
- 5
Ryan’s use of Snap to bounce Moggcatcher in response to its trigger was a key tempo play to slow Mike’s treasure generation and delay his explosive turns.
Notable Cards
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Winota, Joiner of Forces
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Krark, the Thumbless
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Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
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Dockside Extortionist
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Aven Mindcensor
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Combat Celebrant
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Zealous Conscripts
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Mana Vault
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Jeweled Lotus
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Faithless Looting
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Legion Warboss
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Gaea's Cradle
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Finale of Devastation
Gameplay Summary
The game featured an intense multi-player battle between aggressive and combo-oriented decks, with Mike piloting a Winota, Joiner of Forces deck focused on stax elements and aggressive token generation, Ryan on a Malcolm/Rograkh polymorph combo deck, Okami on a Jund turbo Ad Nauseam deck with Krark, the Thumbless to enable massive storm turns, and Andrew playing a value-driven Derevi, Empyrial Tactician deck aiming to assemble a combo involving Emiel, Derevi, and Gaea's Cradle.
Early turns saw explosive developments, particularly from Okami who quickly cast Krark and set up multiple loot triggers, although multiple failed coin flips slowed his progress.
Mike aggressively leveraged Winota's multiple triggers to flood the board with impactful creatures like Combat Celebrant, Rick, Steadfast Leader, and Zealous Conscripts, even temporarily stealing Derevi to generate additional value and untaps, resulting in a massive life swing and elimination of Okami.
Andrew's Derevi generated incremental advantage with multiple untaps and mana acceleration, but Mike’s overwhelming board presence and life gain proved decisive in this phase of the game.
Ryan attempted to disrupt and set up his polymorph combo but was largely stifled by early disruption and Aven Mindcensor.