March of the Machine The AFTERMATH! #MTG gameplay | WNL97

Deck Strategies

• 

  Karlach, Fury of Avernus

  Utilizes aggressive red creature burn and dragons to deal damage quickly, supported by mana acceleration to cast impactful spells and maintain board pressure.

• 

  Akiri, Fearless Voyager

  Focuses on equipping creatures with powerful equipment to enhance their combat capabilities, drawing cards through combat damage and maintaining tempo through equipment synergies.

• 

  Rocco, Street Chef

  Centers around creating and sacrificing food tokens for value, generating plus one plus one counters on creatures, and leveraging the exile-and-play mechanic to continually develop the board.

• 

  Arni Metalbrow

  Aims to cheat creatures into play and enable aggressive attacks through creature synergy, supporting the board presence to overwhelm opponents with a combination of force and synergy.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The sacrifice of Urza's Saga upon reaching the third lore counter was a crucial moment that provided a significant advantage and mana acceleration.

• 2

  Playing Soul Ring early enabled faster ramp into more powerful spells and commanders' abilities, accelerating the deck’s tempo.

• 3

  Rocco, Street Chef's ability to exile cards from libraries and allow players to play them from exile created ongoing value and encouraged synergistic plays with food tokens and +1/+1 counters.

• 4

  The use of equipment to boost creatures and enable card draw through combat damage was central to Akiri’s strategy, emphasizing aggressive board development.

• 5

  Players prioritized mana base development and incremental advantage through card draw and token generation rather than immediate all-out aggression, setting up for a more strategic mid-game.

Notable Cards

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  Urza's Saga

• 

  Trail of Crumbs

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  Rocco, Street Chef

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  Sram, Senior Edificer

• 

  Clifftop Retreat

• 

  Arcane Signet

Summary

The game began with each player establishing their board presence and developing their strategies centered around their commanders. Early turns saw the deployment of key permanents such as Urza's Saga, Trail of Crumbs, and Rocco, Street Chef, which set the stage for resource generation and incremental advantage. Players focused on building their mana bases and leveraging their commanders’ abilities to gain tempo and card advantage. A pivotal moment occurred when Urza’s Saga reached its third lore counter, allowing its sacrifice for a powerful effect, and the play of Soul Ring accelerated mana production, enabling bigger plays. Throughout the game, players exchanged attacks and built board states with creatures and counters, preparing for more impactful turns ahead. The game’s win condition revolved around aggressive equipment-led Boros combat, food token synergies, and cheating creatures into play for Arni Metalbrow’s deck, all while managing the threats posed by Karlach’s dragon-based burn and Akiri’s equipment synergy. The interaction between resource generation, incremental card advantage, and tempo swings defined the flow of this multiplayer Commander match.