Golos Combo vs. Ratchet Affinity [Duel Commander-EDH]

Decklist

Deck & Commander Strategies

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Ramp quickly into powerful artifact and land synergies to assemble combos involving cards like Foundry and Underworld Breach, leveraging graveyard recursion and infinite mana to close out the game.
Ratchet, Field Medic // Ratchet, Rescue Racer
Aggressively build a board of small creatures and equipment with affinity synergies, using life gain and card draw from the initiative mechanic to outlast opponents and win through combat damage.

Gameplay Insights

1
Golos player prioritized ramp and artifact synergy to assemble a multi-piece combo while maintaining board control with recursive spells and protective elements.
2
Ratchet player used life gain and card draw from initiative triggers to generate incremental advantage and resilience against Golos's combo setup.
3
Exiling key pieces like Packing Needle on The Foundry disrupted combo attempts and delayed Golos's win condition.
4
Golos exploited artifacts that could untap lands and generate infinite mana combos, enabling repeated activation of color fixing and combo enablers.
5
The interplay between creature recursion and exile removal created a dynamic tension requiring careful sequencing and resource management.

Notable Cards

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Underworld Breach
Glacial Chasm
Chromatic Lantern
Pact of Negation
White Plume Adventurer
Coalition Relic
Unlicensed Hearse
Solitude

Gameplay Summary

The game started with both players developing their board states cautiously, with Ratchet affinity focusing on assembling equipment and creatures to apply pressure while generating card advantage through the initiative mechanic.

The Golos combo deck aimed to ramp mana quickly and set up various artifact and graveyard synergies.

Early turns saw both players exchanging minor attacks and applying incremental pressure.

Key moments included Golos fetching powerful artifact combo pieces like Foundry and setting up graveyard recursion with cards such as Underworld Breach and balance-oriented cards like Glacial Chasm to stabilize against aggression. As the game progressed, Golos leveraged multiple combos involving artifact synergies and recursion to generate infinite or near-infinite mana and card advantage, attempting to close out the game through combo finishes.

Ratchet, meanwhile, utilized life gain, card draw, and resilient creatures with equipment to survive and keep pace.

The interplay of exile effects, creature recursion, and equipment interactions created a tense back-and-forth.

Eventually, the Golos player was able to establish a dominant combo lock, using cards like Pact of Negation and Chromatic Lantern to maintain mana consistency and protect the combo while ratcheting up pressure to secure the win condition through overwhelming board presence or infinite damage output.

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