Deck & Commander Strategies
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive
Deals incremental damage through repeated small hits, leveraging assassins and stealth to chip away at opponents and win via poison or damage over time.
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer
Generates wizard tokens each turn and deals damage to all players whenever a non-creature spell is cast, applying constant pressure with incremental burn.
Ms. Bumbleflower
Plays a control/stall game with taxing effects like Ghostly Prison and generates card advantage to outlast opponents.
Baylen, the Haymaker
Creates a large army of tokens to overwhelm opponents, focusing on board presence and straightforward combat damage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
The decision to quickly kill Rocco, Street Chef, highlighted an important tactical choice to prevent opponents from abusing the exile-and-play mechanic that could accelerate their game plans.
- 2
Kuja’s incremental damage via wizard tokens and non-creature spells created consistent pressure that shaped opponents’ pacing and forced reactive plays.
- 3
Playing multiple tap lands early slowed down development but also reduced vulnerability to early removal or disruption, affecting tempo in a subtle way.
- 4
The exile of the top card of each library introduced complex decisions on which cards to prioritize playing temporarily, influencing resource management and tempo.
- 5
The interplay between incremental damage strategies (Etrata and Kuja) and token-based strategies (Baylen and Bumbleflower) created a dynamic where controlling board presence and managing life totals were equally critical.
Notable Cards
-
Rocco, Street Chef
-
Kuja, Genome Sorcerer // Trance Kuja, Fate Defied
-
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive
-
Birds of Paradise
-
Devoted Druid
-
Three Visits
-
Chaos Warp
-
Ghostly Prison
-
Talisman of Indulgence
Gameplay Summary
The game started with a slow early pace, with most players setting up their mana bases and casting early utility creatures.
Crim on Etrata, Deadly Fugitive focused on an assassin and incremental damage strategy, aiming to deal one damage repeatedly to whittle down opponents.
Lydia on Kuja, Genome Sorcerer established a steady source of token wizards and incremental damage through non-creature spells, planning to burn the table slowly.
Joel on Ms. Bumbleflower aimed to stall and protect by generating card advantage and imposing taxing effects, while Dom on Baylen, the Haymaker worked towards creating tokens to overwhelm opponents. A key turning point was the play of Rocco, Street Chef, which exiled the top card of each player's library and allowed those cards to be played temporarily, enabling a surge of spells and interactions.
However, this engine was promptly targeted and destroyed by Crim, recognizing its potential to feed opponents.
Despite this, the exile and play-from-exile effects continued to influence decisions.
Kuja’s ability to create wizard tokens and burn everyone each time a non-creature spell was cast kept constant pressure on the table, forcing players to react carefully.
The game revolved around managing these incremental effects, with the threat of slow but steady damage from multiple sources.
The interaction between exile mechanics and burn effects defined the flow, pushing players to balance board development with damage mitigation.
