Deck Strategies
Obeka, Brute Chronologist
Utilizes Obeka's ability to end turns early to avoid drawing cards and potentially decking out, buying time to find answers or further mill opponents. This deck focuses on controlling the game tempo while gradually milling opponents.
Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Employs Szadek’s combat-triggered milling along with incremental mill spells to steadily chip away at opponents’ libraries while growing Szadek into a large flying threat that can continue to apply pressure.
Lord Xander, the Collector
Leverages Lord Xander’s milling ability combined with sacrifice outlets to maximize mill output without dealing damage, aiming to grind opponents down through repeated milling while maintaining board presence.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Capitalizes on creatures being milled to create zombie tokens, generating a growing army while simultaneously depleting opponents’ decks. This deck combines milling with token production to build board advantage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Obeka’s ability to end the turn before drawing is a pivotal survival tool in a mill-focused game where drawing can accelerate decking out.
- 2
Leyline of the Void was used early to exile all cards that would go to graveyards, effectively countering graveyard recursion strategies and graveyard-dependent mill combos.
- 3
Persistent Petitioners served as a thematic and potentially combo-enabling card, representing classic mill synergy in the meta.
- 4
Szadek’s combat damage replaced by milling allowed for incremental library depletion without dealing lethal damage, fitting perfectly into the mill-only victory condition.
- 5
Sidisi’s synergy with milling creatures to generate zombies added a secondary threat dimension, forcing opponents to manage not just their libraries but also the growing board state.
Notable Cards
Leyline of the Void
Persistent Petitioners
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Curse of the Swine
Midnight Clock
Summary
In this unique Commander Clash episode focused solely on milling as the win condition, four players faced off with mill-centric decks led by Lord Xander, the Collector; Obeka, Brute Chronologist; Szadek, Lord of Secrets; and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. The game featured strict rules disallowing any form of lethal damage or alternative win conditions, emphasizing pure deck depletion to claim victory. Early plays involved setting up defensive and disruptive enchantments like Leyline to protect against graveyard shuffles and critical mill combos, as well as some players leveraging their commanders’ unique abilities to extend turns or generate tokens from milled creatures. The interaction of these abilities and cards created a tense meta where players had to balance offensive milling pressure with defensive strategies to avoid being the first to deck out.