Halloween Commander Gameplay Like You've NEVER Seen Before #mtg

Deck Strategies

• 

  Kaalia of the Vast

  Focuses on cheating large Angels, Demons, and Dragons onto the battlefield to apply pressure through powerful flying attackers and overwhelm opponents quickly.

• 

  Mr. House, President and CEO

  Utilizes a gambling and dice-rolling mechanic combined with energy generation and life gain/loss interactions to control the pace of the game and survive longer.

• 

  Reaper King

  Leverages a tribal scarecrow synergy to destroy opponent permanents as more scarecrow creatures enter the battlefield, controlling the board through incremental removal.

• 

  Maha, Its Feathers Night

  A mono-black deck that uses sacrifice outlets, token generation, and graveyard recursion to maintain board presence and disrupt opponents’ plans.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The Reaper King player prioritized ramping mana and deploying scarecrow tokens to trigger Reaper King's ability to destroy key opponents' permanents, effectively controlling the board.

• 2

  Kaalia’s player used her commander’s attack trigger to cheat out large flying creatures, creating immediate threats that opponents had to address quickly or risk taking heavy damage.

• 3

  Mr. House's deck effectively used energy and life manipulation through Gonti's Machinations, gaining life while dealing damage to all opponents, showcasing efficient multiplayer control.

• 4

  Illusionist's Bracers were noted for doubling activated abilities, providing significant value when paired with utility creatures or other powerful activated effects.

• 5

  Generous Gift was deployed strategically to remove problematic permanents, while generating a 3/3 token to maintain board presence.

• 6

  Helm of the Host allowed for creating haste-enabled token copies of equipped creatures, significantly increasing offensive pressure.

• 7

  Players carefully managed their mana colors and costs to maximize their commander deployment and maintain flexibility in casting spells.

• 8

  There was negotiation and temporary truces, such as the agreement to not attack if a powerful threat like Reaper King was dealt with, showing diplomacy as part of multiplayer strategy.

Notable Cards

• 

  Reaper King

• 

  Kaalia of the Vast

• 

  Mr. House, President and CEO

• 

  Maha, Its Feathers Night

• 

  Illusionist's Bracers

• 

  Gonti's Machinations

• 

  Reassembling Skeleton

• 

  Generous Gift

• 

  Helm of the Host

• 

  Bronze Guardian

• 

  Serra's Emissary

Summary

The game featured four players piloting uniquely themed Halloween decks, each leveraging their commanders' strengths to push their strategies. Early on, the game saw resource development with players establishing mana bases and deploying utility creatures and enchantments. One pivotal moment was when the player controlling Reaper King successfully cast their commander, enabling a board presence that threatened opponents by destroying permanents whenever new scarecrow creatures entered the battlefield. Meanwhile, the Kaalia of the Vast player focused on cheating out powerful Angels, Demons, and Dragons, leveraging her ability to bring high-impact creatures onto the battlefield swiftly. This strategy pressured opponents with aggressive flying threats. The player with Mr. House, President and CEO, employed a dice-rolling and gambling theme, utilizing energy generation and life manipulation with cards like Gonti's Machinations to control life totals effectively. Another player running Maha, Its Feathers Night, utilized a mono-black strategy that focused on incremental advantage and disruption through sacrifice mechanics and creature tokens, including Deathspore Thall and Reassembling Skeleton, to maintain board presence and chip away at life totals. The game saw interactions involving Illusionist's Bracers doubling activated abilities, the use of board wipes like Generous Gift, and strategic token generation from artifacts such as Helm of the Host. Ultimately, the game revolved around managing threats and resources while each player sought to leverage their commanders’ unique mechanics to dominate the battlefield.