NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE | XP Commanders

Decklists

Deck & Commander Strategies

Minthara, Merciless Soul
Generate numerous small tokens to sacrifice, triggering experience counters and recurring creatures from the graveyard to grow and deal large swings.
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Recursively return creatures to the battlefield to maintain pressure, apply toxic counters to opponents, and use proliferate effects to poison them out while increasing experience.
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
Deploy large creatures, protect them with equipment and buffs, wipe opponent boards, and finish by flinging these giants for massive damage.
Ezuri, Claw of Progress
Create and grow tokens and creatures with +1/+1 counters, leveraging experience counters to enhance the board and overpower opponents.

Gameplay Insights

1
Equipping Sword of Truth and Justice to Bloated Contaminator created a powerful synergy by granting protection and doubling proliferate triggers, rapidly escalating poison counters and experience counters on the board.
2
Minthara’s token generation combined with sacrifice outlets like Bastion of Remembrance allowed for incremental life drain and experience gain, applying steady pressure despite slower board development.
3
Players targeted the player with the most ramp and board presence early, indicating awareness of key threats and prioritization in combat decisions.
4
Proliferate strategies synergized well across decks, enabling multiple players to enhance their counters and poison effects simultaneously, making board wipes less effective.
5
Adeline’s ability to create multiple tokens on attacks combined with vigilance and toughness made her a recurring threat that could chip away life totals while enabling synergy with sacrifice and life gain effects.

Notable Cards

Bloated Contaminator
Sword of Truth and Justice
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
Bastion of Remembrance
Esper Sentinel
Plague Myr
Tainted Observer

Gameplay Summary

The game features four players piloting experience counter-themed decks, each with distinct strategies.

Early on, the board develops slowly with players setting up their mana bases and deploying key creatures such as a bloated contaminator with toxic and proliferate synergies, and Azuri, Claw of Progress aiming to build counters on creatures.

Minthara generates token creatures to sacrifice for experience triggers, while Meren leverages recurring creatures with toxic and proliferate effects to poison opponents.

Kalemne focuses on casting and buffing large creatures, planning to finish opponents by flinging these giants with damage doubling effects and equipment. A pivotal moment occurs when a Sword of Truth and Justice is equipped to the bloated contaminator, granting protection and doubling proliferate triggers, rapidly increasing poison counters on opponents and experience counters on the player.

This interaction shifts the game's tempo, threatening multiple players simultaneously.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar creates multiple tokens when attacking, synergizing with life drain and sacrifice effects.

The game progresses with proliferate and poison counters mounting, forcing players to navigate around these escalating threats.

The tension builds around the toxic and proliferate combo as the primary win condition, supplemented by large creature damage and token swarms.

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