I Hate Your Deck #110 Mazirek v Jolrael v Yorion v Gavi || Commander Gameplay MTG EDH Magic

Deck Strategies

• 

  Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

  A Golgari sacrifice deck that grows creatures larger whenever any player sacrifices permanents, aiming to force opponents to sacrifice and benefit from the resulting counters on creatures for a powerful board presence.

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  Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir

  Utilizes lands as creatures to attack and draw cards, combining landfall with aggressive land-based combat to generate card advantage and pressure opponents.

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  Yorion, Sky Nomad

  A flicker and mill deck that repeatedly exiles and returns permanents to generate value and accelerate milling opponents' libraries, while controlling the board through repeated ETB triggers.

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  Gavi, Nest Warden

  A cycling-focused deck that pays reduced costs for cycling, generating card draw and creating 2/2 dinosaur cat tokens to swarm the board and overwhelm opponents.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Using Bag of Holding to exile cycled cards and then returning them later to maintain card advantage and continuous cycling.

• 2

  Casting Alter of the Brood early to synergize with permanent entries and trigger opponent milling repeatedly.

• 3

  Naming 'serpent' with Cavern of Souls to protect key creature spells from being countered and ensuring reliable board development.

• 4

  Leveraging Mesmeric Orb to exponentially increase milling by untapping permanents, creating a strong mill engine combined with Yorion's flicker.

• 5

  Mazirek's ability to capitalize on opponents sacrificing permanents (like treasures and clues) to grow creatures larger and apply board pressure.

• 6

  Jolrael's strategy of turning lands into creatures that draw cards upon dealing combat damage, providing a unique land-based card draw engine.

• 7

  Yorion's flicker effect not only disrupts opponents' plans but also accelerates the milling and ETB effects, creating a resilient board state.

Notable Cards

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  Bag of Holding

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  Mesmeric Orb

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  Cankerbloom

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  Cavern of Souls

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  Enlightened Tutor

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  Nature's Lore

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  Curator of Mysteries

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  Undergrowth Stadium

Summary

The game started with players ramping and setting up their mana bases while establishing their early strategies. Jolrael aimed to leverage lands as creatures, drawing cards when those land creatures dealt damage. Yorion utilized flicker effects to exile and return permanents, synergizing with a mill theme. Gavi focused on cycling cards to draw and create dinosaur cat tokens, aiming to swarm the board. Mazirek pursued a Golgari sacrifice strategy, growing creatures bigger whenever any player sacrificed permanents, capitalizing on treasures, clues, and other sacrifice fodder. Early plays included tutors to find key artifacts like Alter of the Brood, which synergized with the milling theme by forcing opponents to mill cards whenever another permanent entered the controller's battlefield. The game featured strategic cycling with cards exiled under Bag of Holding to be later recovered and used, enabling continuous card draw and resource advantage. There were multiple instances of mill triggers, land creatures attacking for card draw, and the use of board flicker to accelerate both ramp and milling. Key moments involved casting Mesmeric Orb to exponentially increase milling whenever permanents untapped, further pressuring opponents' libraries. The dynamic between sacrifice triggers and counter growth with Mazirek created tension on the board, while Yorion's flicker effects kept resetting the board state and advancing the mill plan. The game revolved around resource management, incremental advantage through card draw and milling, and building a board presence to close out the game.