Deck & Commander Strategies
Celestial Kirin
Cast spirit and arcane spells to trigger symmetrical destruction of permanents with matching mana value, aiming to control the board by repeatedly wiping opponents' boards while preserving your own.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Use sacrifice outlets and exile abilities to remove opposing creatures, generate zombie tokens, and incrementally build a resilient board presence that can dominate through attrition and token swarms.
Verdeloth the Ancient
Create and pump a large number of saproling tokens to overwhelm opponents, potentially leveraging infinite token combos for massive board states.
Iname, Death Aspect
Fill the graveyard with spirits quickly and reanimate them to generate value and board presence, focusing on a graveyard recursion theme with spirits.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Celestial Kirin's ability to destroy permanents with matching mana value was used repeatedly to disrupt token and creature-heavy strategies, showcasing the power of symmetrical board wipes in EDH.
- 2
Kalitas's exile and sacrifice mechanics provided a steady advantage by turning opponent creatures into zombie tokens, enabling a resilient and growing board state despite repeated wipes.
- 3
Players had to carefully balance aggression and board development due to the threat of Celestial Kirin's mass destruction, influencing timing and sequencing of plays.
- 4
The inclusion of cards like Opposition Agent and Profane Tutor highlighted attempts to tutor key pieces and disrupt opponents' tutoring strategies, adding layers of interaction.
- 5
Managing resources such as lands and tokens was crucial, as Celestial Kirin's destruction effects threatened both players' resources, requiring strategic plays to mitigate damage.
Notable Cards
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Essence Warden
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Profane Tutor
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Damnation
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Opposition Agent
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Tireless Tracker
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Champion of Lambholt
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Dark Ritual
Gameplay Summary
The game opened with players showcasing their decks built around underrated commanders, each with fewer than 200 EDHREC deck submissions.
Celestial Kirin started strong with a focus on generating spirits and arcane spells to trigger its board-clearing ability, aiming to control the board by blowing up permanents matching the mana value of cast spells.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet deployed a resilient strategy centered on sacrificing creatures and generating zombie tokens, leveraging its ability to exile opposing creatures and build a threatening board presence through persistent zombie creation.
Verdeloth the Ancient focused on token generation and pumping those tokens to overwhelm opponents, while Iname, Death Aspect aimed to fill the graveyard with spirits and reanimate them for value, playing a graveyard-centric reanimation strategy.
As the game progressed, Celestial Kirin’s board wipes and removal spells repeatedly disrupted token-heavy boards, notably challenging Verdeloth’s and Kalitas’s strategies.
Kalitas’s ability to exile creatures and create zombies provided a consistent threat that pressured opponents steadily.
The interaction between Celestial Kirin's symmetrical destruction and Kalitas’s sacrifice and exile effects created tense board states, with each player attempting to leverage their commander’s strengths to outlast the others.
The game’s momentum shifted with well-timed removal and recursion plays, setting the stage for a late-game battle of attrition between zombie tokens and spirit-based control.
