Deck & Commander Strategies
Thranduil, the Elvenking
Focuses on elf tribal synergies, filling the graveyard with elves to steal their abilities, and assembling combos that leverage legendary permanent interactions for card draw and value generation.
Smaug the Impenetrable
An indestructible dragon deck that turns damage into treasure tokens, repeatedly using fire and sacrifice effects to generate ramp and overwhelming board advantage.
Bard, King of Dale
Token generation and doubling effects to flood the board, creating overwhelming numbers of creatures to control the game through incremental buffs and life gain.
Beorn the Fierce
Transforms creatures into massive bears, leveraging +1/+1 counters and card draw triggers to maintain board dominance and card advantage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Elrond, Moon Reader’s ability to blink legendary permanents and draw cards became a critical combo piece for Thranduil, enabling repeated ability activations.
- 2
Bard’s synergy between Adeline and Beledros Witherbloom allowed for simultaneous token creation, life gain, card draw, and board-wide buffs, significantly enhancing board presence.
- 3
Beorn’s strategy of turning creatures into huge bears combined with +1/+1 counters and card draw kept consistent pressure on opponents and improved resource flow.
- 4
Smaug’s potential infinite combo involving damage and treasure generation made him the primary threat, forcing other players to prioritize disruption to prevent his explosive plays.
- 5
Emerald Medallion and Sol Ring ramp helped accelerate early game development, allowing players to cast key threats and combos earlier.
- 6
Token producers with additional triggers, such as Marionette Apprentice, contributed to incremental life loss for opponents and increased board control.
Notable Cards
-
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
-
Beledros Witherbloom
-
Fauna Shaman
-
Emerald Medallion
-
Sol Ring
-
Marionette Apprentice
Gameplay Summary
The game featured four commanders from the Middle-earth themed set, each showcasing unique strategies.
Early turns saw ramp and board development, with Beorn aggressively establishing a bear-centric board while Bard focused on token generation and incremental value through doubling effects.
Thranduil utilized elf synergies and graveyard interactions, assembling combos to leverage creature abilities and card draw.
Smaug, the indestructible dragon, was a looming threat, capitalizing on damage-to-treasure conversions and self-synergizing fire effects. A pivotal moment occurred when Thranduil played Elrond Moon Reader, enabling repeated activation of legendary permanents and drawing cards with each ability activation, hinting at a potential infinite loop.
Bard's use of Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, combined with Beledros Witherbloom, created a massive board presence with life gain, card draw, and wide creature buffs.
Meanwhile, Beorn's strategy to turn creatures into large bears and generate card advantage remained a constant pressure.
Throughout, Smaug's presence forced players to disrupt his plans before he could leverage his combo, making the stalemate tense.
The game revolved around managing Smaug’s explosive potential while building synergies and board states, with each commander pushing their strengths in ramp, tokens, and combos.
![Smaug! In cEDH? Which One? [cEDH GAUNTLET] SMAUG v KINNAN v TYMNA\DARGO v ROG\THRASIOS thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F4CbX8zwRME/sddefault.jpg)
