Deck & Commander Strategies
Thorin, Mountain-King
Aggressively equips his creatures with artifacts to trigger damage and remove opposing creatures, utilizing equipment synergy to push through combat damage with trample.
Bard, King of Dale
Builds a wide board with men and token doubling effects, leveraging reach and vigilance to defend while drawing extra cards to maintain advantage and outvalue opponents.
Thranduil, the Elvenking
Utilizes graveyard elf synergy to gain access to all elf activated abilities in the graveyard, drawing and discarding to find key cards, and growing a formidable elf army.
The Great Goblin
Focuses on creating and benefiting from goblin and orc armies, dealing damage to opponents when counters are placed on creatures, and capitalizing on creature deaths to exile and play cards.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Thorin’s use of his commander’s ability to immediately remove Orcish Bow Masters was a crucial tempo shift, slowing The Great Goblin’s card draw and damage potential.
- 2
The Great Goblin’s synergy with counters and creature deaths allowed him to steadily chip away at opponents while generating card advantage, making him a lurking threat.
- 3
Bard’s doubling of tokens and extra card draw kept him resilient against board wipes and attrition, enabling sustained pressure.
- 4
Thranduil’s graveyard interactions and activated abilities created a flexible and scalable threat that could adapt as the game progressed.
- 5
Mystic Remora’s cumulative upkeep imposed a taxing cost on non-creature spells, influencing players’ spellcasting decisions and resource management early in the game.
Notable Cards
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Thorin, Mountain-king
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Mystic Remora
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Knucklebone Witch
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Bothersome Noisemaker
Gameplay Summary
Early skirmishes included The Great Goblin deploying mass goblin tokens and triggering damage on opponents, while Thorin's timely removal and equipment support kept pressure on key creatures.
Bard's token generation and card draw allowed him to keep pace, and Thranduil's elf synergy created a growing army and card advantage.
The interaction between cumulative upkeep on Mystic Remora created tension for non-creature spells, affecting players' resource management.
The game’s tension rose as players jockeyed for board control, with Thorin focusing on direct creature damage and equipment synergy, Bard expanding his army and drawing cards, Thranduil leveraging graveyard elf abilities, and The Great Goblin sneaking in damage and card advantage through creature deaths, setting up for a potentially explosive mid-game.
