WHO'S THE BEST SPELLS COMMANDER IN cEDH? - Play to Win Gameplay | Niv-Mizzet v Yidris v Kess v Oona

Deck Strategies

• 

  Niv-Mizzet, Parun

  A control and stax deck that uses Blood Moon and Stranglehold to disrupt opponents, counterspells to protect its board state, and leverages Curiosity for a direct damage combo finish.

• 

  Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder

  A storm-focused deck that uses powerful spells like Song of Creation and Underworld Breach to generate massive spell casts and win through a Demonic Consultation combo.

• 

  Oona, Queen of the Fae

  A combo-oriented deck aiming for infinite combos or a Demonic Consultation-based win, utilizing black and blue spells to tutor and protect its game-ending sequences.

• 

  Kess, Dissident Mage

  A control-midrange build that grinds value through cards like Ashiok, Narset, and Rhystic Study while leveraging spell recursion and disruption to outlast opponents and win via incremental advantage or combo.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The use of Demonic Consultation in combination with Tainted Pact proved crucial for circumventing countermagic and tutoring the win condition effectively.

• 2

  Players balanced aggressive storm or combo attempts with stax and control elements, demonstrating the importance of timing and interaction in cEDH spell-slinging metas.

• 3

  The game highlighted the resilience of consultation-based combos despite heavy disruption, showcasing why these decks remain top-tier in competitive formats.

• 4

  Strategic timing of spells like Wheel of Fortune and Windfall allowed players to maximize card advantage and storm count during key turns.

• 5

  The inclusion of graveyard hate and exile effects (e.g., Milfoth) demonstrated the necessity of graveyard interaction in decks relying on recursion engines.

Notable Cards

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  Demonic Consultation

• 

  Tainted Pact

• 

  Curiosity

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  Blood Moon

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  Stranglehold

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  Underworld Breach

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  Song of Creation

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  Mystic Remora

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  Dockside Extortionist

• 

  Windfall

Summary

The game started with all four players setting up their spell-heavy decks, utilizing classic cEDH staples such as lands that facilitate fast mana, tutors, and draw engines. Early turns featured typical control and value plays, including graveyard interactions, stax effects, and card draw to establish board presence and hand advantage. Notable was the heavy use of counterspells and disruption, with players attempting to slow down opponents' key combos or value engines. As the game progressed, the players began to assemble their win conditions, with a focus on either storming off with Yidris or assembling infinite combos with Oona and Kess. Niv-Mizzet’s control shell sought to clamp down on these attempts using stax elements and counterspells, aiming for a curiosity-based damage win. The pivotal moment came when one player successfully resolved a Demonic Consultation combined with Tainted Pact, effectively navigating around the opponents' countermagic and tutoring their win condition to the top of the deck, enabling a lethal combo finish. The game concluded with the demonstration of how powerful and resilient consultation-based combo decks are in a heavily interactive spell-slinging meta.