Deck & Commander Strategies
Vivi Ornitier
Utilize Vivi’s ability to grow counters and deal incremental damage while drawing cards with curiosity effects, fueling a storm combo that leverages Underworld Breach and Brain Freeze to mill opponents out quickly.
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh / Thrasios, Triton Hero
Ramp aggressively with cards like Gaia's Cradle and Earthcraft to generate infinite mana, then finish opponents with either an Underworld Breach and Brain Freeze combo or a large combat damage win via Finale of Devastation.
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Explode early with mana and food chain combos to assemble a protected combo finish using Thassa's Oracle and either Demonic Consultation or Tainted Pact to win the game.
Tymna the Weaver / Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
Pivot between midrange value generation and combo by leveraging card draw and efficient synergy to set up an Underworld Breach combo involving Grinding Station and Lion's Eye Diamond to combo opponents out.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Vivi’s ability triggers on casting non-creature spells, adding counters and dealing damage while drawing cards through Curiosity, enabling a manual storm count that accelerates quickly despite some mana limitations.
- 2
Early disruption such as counterspells and land destruction (e.g., deflecting Cleansing Wildfire to destroy Ancient Tomb) can slow down explosive ramp decks and force opponents to adjust their lines.
- 3
Combining Underworld Breach with Lion's Eye Diamond and rituals creates a powerful recursion engine to cast Brain Freeze repeatedly, leading to a near-instant win by milling opponents before they can respond.
- 4
The manual storm approach with Vivi requires patience and sequencing of cheap spells and rituals to maximize value from the commander’s triggered ability and card draw engine.
- 5
In cEDH, decks often balance between generating infinite mana and protecting their combo with disruption or combo protection to secure victory.
Notable Cards
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Vivi Ornitier
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Curiosity
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Underworld Breach
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Brain Freeze
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Thassa's Oracle
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Earthcraft
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Finale of Devastation
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Lion's Eye Diamond
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Cleansing Wildfire
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Deflecting Swat
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Mox Amber
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Snapcaster Mage
Gameplay Summary
The first game saw Jose piloting Vivi Ornitier leverage the new Final Fantasy commander’s ability to fuel a potent storm combo.
Vivi's ability to grow counters and deal incremental damage while drawing cards through a curiosity effect allowed Jose to chain multiple non-creature spells rapidly.
Despite an early activation of Vivi's ability limiting mana gains, Jose successfully cast rituals and zero-mana spells that kept the storm count climbing.
The pivotal moment came when Jose cast Underworld Breach alongside Lion's Eye Diamond, enabling him to recur and cast Brain Freeze from the graveyard, milling out opponents and sealing the game with Thassa's Oracle before the other players could stabilize or respond.
This demonstrated Vivi’s power to accelerate a storm combo to lethal speed, making her a formidable contender against established cEDH decks. In the second game, the field shifted to a more traditional cEDH meta with commanders like Tymna/Kraum and Rograkh/Thrasios.
Rograkh’s list focused on ramping heavily with Gaia's Cradle and Earthcraft combos to generate infinite mana, aiming to close the game either by comboing through Underworld Breach and Brain Freeze or casting a huge Finale of Devastation.
The gameplay included strategic land destruction and prevention tactics, such as deflecting Cleansing Wildfire to destroy opponents' key lands like Ancient Tomb.
The game highlighted the importance of disruption and mana denial in balancing the board against explosive combos.
Overall, the matches showcased the adaptability of storm and combo archetypes in cEDH, with Vivi proving capable of competing alongside format titans through explosive card draw and recursion.
