Deck & Commander Strategies
Pako, Arcane Retriever and Haldan, Avid Arcanist
Utilizes Divergent Transformations on Haldan combined with Leveler to create a powerful combo that wins instantaneously. The deck leverages fast mana and disruption to pressure opponents and protect its combo setup.
Raffine, Scheming Seer
A typical Esper Doomsday build aiming to control the board and generate card advantage with discard and interaction, eventually winning through a Doomsday pile and combo finish.
Thrasios, Triton Hero and Tymna the Weaver
Focuses on fast mana ramp and value creatures like Fastest Oracle, combined with reanimation effects such as Rasa Kev to quickly establish a winning board state through incremental advantage and combo.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Using Restore to return fetchlands and crack them for mana fixing was key to enabling combo lines and removing problematic creatures like Granite Magistrate.
- 2
Hushwing Griff effectively shut down key enter-the-battlefield based combo triggers, forcing Pako's player to reconsider their win approach or attempt to remove it quickly.
- 3
Tainted Pact was used to dig deeply into the deck, sacrificing many cards but ensuring a precise win condition was found, showcasing high-risk high-reward plays common in cEDH.
- 4
Despite early aggressive pressure from Pako, the game was ultimately decided by careful sequencing and combo execution from the Thrasios and Tymna player using Fastest Oracle.
Notable Cards
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Divergent Transformations
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Leveler
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Restore
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Tainted Pact
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Mana Crypt
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Pact of Negation
Gameplay Summary
The game started with aggressive early plays from Pako and Haldan focusing on fast mana and disruption, aiming to assemble a combo involving Divergent Transformations and Leveler to win in a single instant-speed interaction.
The early turns were marked by mana development and setting up key pieces like Lotus Pedal and Restore, with Pako pressuring opponents through combat damage while navigating around disruptive cards like Granite Magistrate.
Meanwhile, the Raffine players (two separate decks) sought to build control and value engines typical of Esper Doomsday builds, while the Thrasios and Tymna deck aimed for rapid value and combo through cards like Fastest Oracle and Reanimation strategies. A critical turning point was the use of Restore combined with fetchlands to fix mana and remove threats such as Granite Magistrate, allowing Pako to stabilize and continue building toward a win.
However, the game shifted dramatically when Francis cast Hushwing Griff, shutting down key enter-the-battlefield triggers and effectively stalling the Pako combo.
This led to a flurry of interaction and disruption including Tainted Pact from Lauren, which ripped through his own deck to find a win condition.
Ultimately, Lauren assembled the Fastest Oracle combo and won the game quickly in the late midgame, demonstrating the power of a well-timed Doomsday pile and interaction in cEDH.
![Pako's Modern Life vs Mad Farm vs Demon Chain vs Galastax [cEDH/Commander, MTG Gameplay] 2021 thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5OA3v3_ztuM/sddefault.jpg)
