Deck & Commander Strategies
Toph, the First Metalbender
A land animation and earthbending theme that leverages lands turning into creatures and gaining multiple triggers to create huge combat threats, often supported by doubling damage or granting double strike effects to finish opponents quickly.
Fire Lord Ozai
An artifact and token synergy deck focused on combat damage triggers, creating tokens that force opponents to sacrifice non-token permanents, and recurring creatures to maintain board control.
Aang, at the Crossroads
A flicker and enter-the-battlefield value engine that chains multiple creature blinks to generate incremental value, board presence, and eventually transform Aang for powerful late-game effects.
Katara, Water Tribe's Hope
A control and card advantage deck emphasizing clue tokens, incremental card draw, and disruption through graveyard hate and targeted removal.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Meta's use of earthbending to repeatedly activate and animate lands and artifacts was instrumental in creating lethal threats that synergized well with Toph's ability to grant double strike.
- 2
Max's flicker chain involving Aang, Restoration Angel, Clever Impersonator, and Sakashima generated significant value and board presence but was ultimately slowed down by board wipes and poison damage.
- 3
Arja's strategy of sacrificing tokens generated by Fire Lord Ozai to force opponents to sacrifice non-token permanents disrupted their board states and provided card advantage through forced discards.
- 4
Kuzno's steady clue token generation provided card advantage but was unable to prevent loss from poison damage inflicted by an Ink-Moth Nexus empowered with earthbending triggers.
- 5
The final combo involving Shifting Woodland animating into a creature and receiving double strike from Toph created a massive damage output that concluded the game dramatically.
Notable Cards
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Toph, the First Metalbender
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Green Sun's Zenith
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Shifting Woodland
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Fire Lord Ozai
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Thran Dynamo
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Beast Within
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Lightning Greaves
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Tireless Tracker
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Coercive Recruiter
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Toxic Deluge
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Restoration Angel
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Clever Impersonator
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Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Gameplay Summary
The game began with all players developing their board states through mana ramp and early creatures, such as clue generators and Air Apparents creating token pressure.
Early interaction included graveyard hate and land destruction, but the game remained fairly balanced until a critical moment where Meta (Toph, the First Metalbender) successfully cast his commander and began utilizing earthbending triggers to repeatedly activate lands and artifacts.
Meanwhile, Arja (Fire Lord Ozai) leveraged artifact synergies and combat damage to put pressure on opponents, even generating token creatures to force sacrifices and disrupt board presence. Max (Aang, at the Crossroads) utilized flicker effects extensively, chaining multiple creature enters and leaves the battlefield triggers to generate value and board presence.
Kuzno (Katara) focused on clue tokens and incremental card advantage but was eventually overwhelmed by poison counters from an Ink-Moth Nexus combo with earthbending synergies.
The turning point came when Meta used Green Sun's Zenith to cheat in a powerful creature, then copied it with Shifting Woodland, which had been transformed into a creature.
Toph's ability granted double strike to this creature, resulting in a massive 32 damage hit that ended the game decisively in Meta's favor.
The victory showcased the strength of land animation and double strike combos in this deck archetype.
