Deck Strategies
Raffine, Scheming Seer
Control and combo-focused deck that uses enchantments like Rule of Law to slow opponents and tutors like Enlightened Tutor to find combo pieces such as Nauseam for a fast and lethal combo finish.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator / Tana, the Bloodsower
Aggressive creature-based deck leveraging early creatures and combat damage to pressure opponents while ramping into larger threats and synergies.
Thrasios, Triton Hero / Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
Value-oriented deck that uses creature tutoring and recursion (e.g., Birthing Pod) to generate incremental advantages and combos with creatures like Corridor Monitor to overwhelm opponents.
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Landfall-centric deck focusing on ramp and value generation through land drops and synergistic elemental tokens to control the board and finish the game with overwhelming board presence.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Casting Rule of Law early disrupted opponents' ability to cast multiple spells per turn, forcing more careful sequencing and slowing down combo attempts.
- 2
Raffine’s use of Enlightened Tutor to fetch Nauseam demonstrated a classic cEDH combo setup aiming for a fast kill through infinite or near-infinite card draw.
- 3
Birthing Pod enabled a creature combo with Corridor Monitor, allowing for multiple copies and the creation of overwhelming board states.
- 4
Players balanced aggressive attacks with resource management, including sacrificing creatures to Birthing Pod to maintain board presence while developing combos.
- 5
The interaction of mana acceleration (Soul Ring, ramp lands) and tutoring spells was crucial to maintaining tempo and enabling combo sequences.
Notable Cards
Rule of Law
Enlightened Tutor
Birthing Pod
Corridor Monitor
Chain of Vapor
Birds of Paradise
Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
Summary
The game began with a fairly standard ramp and setup phase as players developed their mana bases and deployed early creatures such as Birds of Paradise and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker. Key early plays included casting survival and ramp spells that allowed the players to accelerate their game plans. The first significant turning point was the casting of Rule of Law by Raffine, Scheming Seer, which severely limited instant and sorcery plays, slowing down the game and forcing players to adapt their strategies. Another critical moment was the use of Enlightened Tutor by Raffine to fetch Nauseam, setting up a potential combo finish. As the game progressed, the synergy between creatures and spells became apparent, especially with Birthing Pod enabling creature tutoring and recursion, which was leveraged by Thrasios/Ishai to generate value and pressure opponents. The use of corridor monitors to copy creatures and generate multiple threats was a notable combo attempt. Despite aggressive attacks and board development, the game ended after a series of interactions where one player successfully leveraged their combo pieces and board state to close out the game decisively.
