Deck & Commander Strategies
Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
A merfolk tribal deck focused on untapping creatures and lands to generate card advantage and board presence, leveraging lords and anthem effects to build a large, threatening army that wins through commander and combat damage.
Slogurk, the Overslime
A land recursion deck that uses its commander's sacrifice ability combined with buyback spells to repeatedly return lands from the graveyard, generating card advantage and mana ramp to outvalue opponents.
Ghoulcaller Gisa
A zombie aristocrats deck emphasizing ping effects and sacrificing creatures to generate zombie tokens, combined with graveyard recursion and powerful lords to drain opponents’ life and control the board.
Isshin, Two Heavens as One
An attack trigger focused deck that aims to double combat triggers to maximize damage output, running all four Titans and other powerful attackers to close the game rapidly through combat damage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Kumena's player skillfully stacked triggers from Forerunner of the Heralds and other lords to tutor and draw cards in sequence, maximizing card advantage before combat.
- 2
Ghoulcaller Gisa's player cleverly sacrificed Phyrexian Dreadnaught to their commander to generate a large zombie army and negate the Dreadnaught's ETB effect, showcasing a powerful aristocrats interaction.
- 3
The Slogurk player used Constant Mist with buyback to protect their board during combat, demonstrating the deck's resilient land recursion and control elements.
- 4
Isshin’s player utilized Sun Titan to repeatedly resurrect key threats such as Isshin himself, maintaining pressure and board presence despite removal attempts.
- 5
Kumena’s flash-in lords and untap synergies allowed for explosive turns where multiple creatures were tapped to put +1/+1 counters on the board and draw multiple cards, accelerating their win condition.
- 6
The interaction of Growing Rites of Itlimoc flipping into a powerful mana producer enabled Kumena’s player to ramp quickly and cast multiple threats per turn.
- 7
A late game board wipe was anticipated but did not immediately occur, allowing the players to build up complex board states and combos.
- 8
The game featured significant multi-step plays with sequencing of triggers and spells to maximize the value of tribal synergies and recursion effects.
Notable Cards
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Seedborn Muse
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Merrow Reejerey
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The Great Henge
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Sun Titan
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Bolas's Citadel
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Necropotence
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Twilight Prophet
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Ayara, First of Locthwain
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Lord of the Accursed
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Master of the Pearl Trident
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Herald of Secret Streams
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Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun
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Retreat to Kazandu
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Nissa, Who Shakes the World
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Thada Adel, Acquisitor
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Wake Thrasher
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Thrasios, Triton Hero
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Wrenn and Seven
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Blood Artist
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Forerunner of the Heralds
Gameplay Summary
The game began with each player developing their board state according to their deck's primary strategy.
Kumena's player focused on building a strong Merfolk tribal synergy, leveraging untap effects and lords to generate card advantage and big creatures.
The Slogurk player established a land recursion engine using sacrifice and buyback mechanics, generating value through repeated land drops and landfall triggers.
Ghoulcaller Gisa's player deployed a zombie aristocrats-style strategy with ping effects and graveyard recursion, while Isshin's player aimed to double attack triggers with powerful combat-focused threats including the Titans. A key turning point occurred when Kumena's player assembled a critical mass of Merfolk, tapping multiple creatures to place +1/+1 counters and draw cards, enhancing their board presence significantly.
Meanwhile, Ghoulcaller Gisa's player utilized Bolas's Citadel with Necropotence for card advantage and reanimated threats like Twilight Prophet, generating a swarm of zombies.
The Slogurk player leveraged land drops and cards like Constant Mist to protect their board and maintain tempo.
Isshin's player repeatedly used Sun Titan to resurrect threats and maintain pressure.
The game saw dynamic interactions such as Gisa sacrificing creatures to create zombies in response to removal, Kumena flashing in key lords to boost the team, and Slogurk recurring lands to fuel their engine.
Ultimately, Kumena's powerful tribal synergies and card draw engine enabled consistent pressure and value generation, putting them in a strong position to close the game through commander and combat damage.
![Commander VS: Ghoulcaller Gisa VS Torbran VS Chulane VS Sisay [From SCGCON] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D0eveMMHDz0/sddefault.jpg)
![Commander Versus Series: Gisa (Justin Parnell) Vs. Geralf (Stephen Green) [Magic: the Gathering] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8TXXQpAgGfk/sddefault.jpg)
