Deck Strategies
Thrasios, Triton Hero and Vial Smasher the Fierce
This deck utilizes value engines, card selection, and control elements to grind out advantage. It employs wheels and spells to refill hands and maintain resources while using counterspells and disruption to control the board. The deck seeks to win through incremental value and eventually combo out or overwhelm opponents.
The Gitrog Monster
A proactive combo deck that leverages land synergies, dredge, and sacrifice outlets to generate massive card advantage and assemble a combo finish. It disrupts opponents through discard effects and aims to combo off quickly to win the game.
Tymna the Weaver and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
A disruptive midrange deck that combines wheels and soft combos to generate card advantage. It uses creatures for damage and disruption, applying pressure while controlling the game through targeted removal and counterspells, aiming for a combo or incremental damage win.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
A control-oriented deck that uses Derevi's ability to untap permanents and generate mana denial locks. It focuses on assembling stax pieces and disruption to lock opponents out of the game, winning through incremental advantage and stalling until it can secure a decisive lock or combo.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
The stack interaction involving multiple copies of Flusterstorm and Mental Misstep demonstrated the high level of spell interaction and timing precision required in cEDH games.
- 2
Wheels like Winds of Change and Dark Deal were used effectively to disrupt hand states and reset resources, showcasing their importance in maintaining card advantage and digging for key cards.
- 3
Derevi’s ability to untap lands and creatures was used to enable aggressive mana denial and stax lock strategies, forcing opponents to play around those locks.
- 4
Gitrog player’s use of discard spells like Thoughtseize combined with land sacrifice triggers maximized disruption while advancing their combo plan.
- 5
The use of Gilded Drake to exchange key threats allowed for strategic board manipulation and removal of problematic opponents’ creatures.
Notable Cards
Dark Confidant
Flusterstorm
Mystic Remora
Green Sun's Zenith
Priest of Titania
Null Rod
Thoughtseize
Demonic Consultation
Gilded Drake
Burning Inquiry
Winds of Change
Dark Deal
Summary
The game featured a high-level cEDH four-player match with Thrasios/Vial Smasher, The Gitrog Monster, Tymna/Kraum, and Derevi as the commanders. Early turns involved ramp and disruption, with players casting key mana accelerators like Arbor Elf, Bloom Tender, and Birds of Paradise to quickly develop their boards. Derevi and Tymna/Kraum engaged in disruption and tempo plays, including casting Grand Arbiter and leveraging wheels and delays to control the pace. Gitrog aggressively pursued its combo plan using land synergies, dredge effects, and sacrifice outlets, while Thrasios/Vial Smasher focused on value generation and control through spells like Ponder, Dark Confidant, and various counterspells. A pivotal moment occurred when multiple counterspells and interaction spells were cast in response to limb duel’s vault and Ella Domery’s Call, showcasing the intense stack interaction typical of cEDH matches. Gitrog's player leveraged Thoughtseize and other discard effects to disrupt opponents' hands and generate card advantage. Thrasios/Vial Smasher’s player used wheels such as Winds of Change and Dark Deal to reset the game state and dig for answers. Derevi and Tymna/Kraum continued to apply pressure with targeted attacks and disruption, aiming to assemble mana denial and control locks. The game unfolded as a tense back-and-forth with each deck leveraging its unique strengths in ramp, disruption, and combos to gain advantage, testing player skill in timing and resource management.