Magic: The Gathering Commander Gameplay EDH | Halana/Alena v Prosper v Araumi v Mishra, Eminent One

Deck Strategies

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  Halana, Kessig Ranger and Alena, Kessig Trapper

  A creature-focused aggressive deck utilizing the partner commanders’ abilities to ramp mana and deal incremental damage. The deck leverages creatures with high power, trample, and card draw when controlling the largest creatures, aiming to overwhelm opponents with large, efficient creatures and combat tricks.

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  Prosper, Tome-Bound

  A spellcasting and treasure generation deck that exiles cards to cast them later, ramping mana and generating treasure tokens. Prosper’s Encore ability allows for powerful multi-token board presence by copying creatures from the graveyard, supported by storm and artifact synergies.

• 

  Araumi of the Dead Tide

  A graveyard-centric deck focusing on milling with Mesmeric Orb and recurring creatures using Araumi’s Encore ability. This deck creates multiple token copies of creatures in the graveyard, aiming to overwhelm opponents through repeated attacks and graveyard manipulation.

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  Mishra, Eminent One

  An artifact synergy deck that generates artifact creature tokens by copying artifacts, including Mishra War Form tokens. The deck uses vehicles and artifact recursion to create repeated threats and pressure opponents with flying and aggressive artifact creatures.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Ashley’s use of Iguana Eyes of Gaia to generate additional mana specifically for creature spells accelerated her deployment of high-power creatures, enabling explosive turns.

• 2

  Cliff’s timing on casting Prosper and utilizing the Encore ability to bring back multiple Doomwake Giants resulted in a devastating board wipe that significantly weakened opponents’ boards.

• 3

  Will’s Mesmeric Orb combined with Araumi’s Encore created repeated value from the graveyard, generating multiple token attackers and applying constant pressure.

• 4

  The Mishra player maximized artifact synergies by creating Mishra War Form tokens and effectively crewed vehicles like Thunderhawk Gunship to deal significant aerial damage.

• 5

  Ashley’s use of Salvala, Heart of the Wilds allowed her to draw cards whenever she played the biggest creature on the battlefield, maintaining hand advantage throughout the game.

Notable Cards

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  Goldspan Dragon

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  Mesmeric Orb

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  Doomwake Giant

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  Thunderhawk Gunship

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  Galvanic Relay

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  Beast Within

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  Archetype of Aggression

Summary

The game started with each player setting up their mana base and early board presence, with Ashley establishing a strong creature-based board using the partner commanders Halana, Kessig Ranger and Alena, Kessig Trapper. Ashley ramped with spells like Soul Ring and Iguana Eyes of Gaia, enabling explosive plays and drawing cards based on having the highest power creature. Cliff, piloting Prosper, Tome-Bound, leveraged his ability to exile and cast cards from exile, generating treasure tokens and playing impactful spells like Goldspan Dragon and Galvanic Relay to accelerate his game plan. Will, on Araumi of the Dead Tide, used graveyard synergies and Mesmeric Orb to mill opponents and create token copies of creatures via Araumi's Encore ability. Meanwhile, the Mishra, Eminent One deck focused on artifact synergy, creating temporary artifact creature copies and using vehicles like Thunderhawk Gunship to maintain pressure. A pivotal moment came when Cliff used Prosper's Encore to bring out multiple Doomwake Giants, creating a massive board wipe effect that heavily reduced all opponents' creatures, swinging the board state drastically. Ashley responded by utilizing aggressive creatures with trample and card draw engines, further supported by her partner commanders' abilities to deal damage and generate mana. The Mishra player also maintained board presence by recurring Mishra War Form tokens and crewed vehicles for significant aerial damage. Will's Araumi strategy revolved around graveyard recursion and creating multiple attacking tokens, creating pressure from multiple angles. The game featured several key interactions involving artifact recursion, graveyard milling, and combat damage distribution, with each player capitalizing on their commander’s strengths and synergies to push their win conditions.