Our Most Expensive Commander Game EVER | Big Deck Energy | Magic: the Gathering Commander

Deck Strategies

• 

  The Ur-Dragon

  Reduce the cost of dragons and draw cards whenever dragons attack to maintain card advantage and cheat powerful dragons and other permanents onto the battlefield for a dominant late-game board presence.

• 

  Kozilek, the Broken Reality

  Manifest creatures from multiple players' decks to generate an ever-growing army of colorless Eldrazi creatures, buffing them with Kozilek’s anthem effect, aiming to overwhelm opponents with raw power and disruption.

• 

  Círdan the Shipwright

  Leverage artifact synergies and mana acceleration to generate large quantities of artifact creature tokens and ramp into expensive spells quickly, capitalizing on high-value artifact interactions.

• 

  The Scarab God

  Control the board through life loss and scrying based on the number of zombies controlled, while recurring creatures from graveyards as zombie tokens to maintain a resilient and incremental advantage.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Kozilek’s manifest ability was pivotal in generating board presence by flipping creature cards from opponents’ decks, synergizing with his anthem effect to buff colorless creatures.

• 2

  The Scarab God applied steady pressure with life drain and scrying tied to the zombie count, balancing aggression and card advantage while maintaining resilience through graveyard recursion.

• 3

  The Ur-Dragon player’s deployment of The One Ring provided protection and card draw, enabling a strategy that balances aggressive board development with card advantage at the cost of incremental life loss.

• 4

  Círdan’s artifact ramp and token generation via Simulacrum and Sim Synthesizer helped accelerate the mana base and board development, enabling the casting of expensive spells sooner.

• 5

  Players prioritized ramp and setting up synergies early, with minimal early aggression, indicating a focus on establishing a strong mid- to late-game presence rather than early board control.

Notable Cards

• 

  The One Ring

• 

  Champion of the Perished

• 

  Simulacrum

• 

  Sensei's Divining Top

• 

  Gemstone Caverns

• 

  Path of Ancestry

• 

  Graveborn Muse

• 

  Talisman of Dominance

• 

  Ornithopter

• 

  Darksteel Citadel

Summary

The game began with each player deploying their respective strategies centered around their powerful, expensive commanders. The Ur-Dragon player focused on reducing the cost of dragons and drawing cards through attacks, setting up for a late-game board presence by cheating out permanents. Kozilek, the Broken Reality aimed to manifest creatures from multiple players' decks, buffing his colorless army while seeking big threats. Círdan the Shipwright combined artifact synergy and mana acceleration, leveraging expensive artifacts to generate construct tokens and ramp mana. The Scarab God player established a zombie theme, utilizing life loss and card advantage through zombie tokens and repeated graveyard recursion. Early turns were spent ramping mana with fetch lands, mana dorks like Birds of Paradise, and utility lands, while setting up key creatures such as Champion of the Perished and Simulacrum. Kozilek's manifest ability and Scarab God's graveyard interactions began to shape the board state with zombie tokens and flipped creatures. Notably, the Ur-Dragon player deployed The One Ring, providing protection and card draw at the cost of incremental life loss, indicating a plan to outvalue opponents. The game featured a mix of developing board states, with players carefully navigating threats and resources. The Scarab God’s upkeep life drain and scry effects applied pressure, while Kozilek’s ability to manifest and buff creatures threatened to overwhelm. The key turning points involved the incremental advantage gained by these continuous effects and the build-up of mana and cards, setting the stage for explosive plays later in the match.