Christmas Commander! Shilgengar vs Fynn vs Hakbal vs Jared Carthalion - EDH gameplay video

Deck Strategies

• 

  Shilgengar, Sire of Famine

  Sacrifice creatures, especially angels, to generate blood tokens and then use those tokens to mass reanimate creatures from the graveyard as vampires, creating a powerful board presence.

• 

  Fynn, the Fangbearer

  Utilize deathtouch creatures to infect opponents by dealing poison counters, aiming to win through poison damage before traditional combat damage can take effect.

• 

  Jared Carthalion

  Play a five-color planeswalker commander that creates large multicolor creature tokens and distributes +1/+1 counters based on creature colors, enhancing board presence and ramping with treasure tokens.

• 

  Hakbal of the Surging Soul

  Leverage merfolk scouts that explore at the beginning of combat, enabling additional land drops or card draws each turn to ramp and maintain card advantage.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Fynn’s use of deathtouch creatures to apply poison counters quickly put pressure on opponents, forcing them to address the threat or risk losing to poison damage rather than combat damage.

• 2

  Shilgengar’s strategy of sacrificing angels to create multiple blood tokens built a strong resource engine for a large-scale reanimation play, threatening a sudden and overwhelming board state.

• 3

  Jared’s five-color planeswalker commander allowed for diverse ramp and token generation, enhancing board presence significantly and providing multiple avenues for adding counters to creatures.

• 4

  Hakbal’s explore ability on merfolk scouts provided consistent card advantage and mana ramp, enabling him to keep pace with aggressive strategies while developing his board.

• 5

  The interaction between poison counters and deathtouch creatures created a unique win condition that diverged from typical commander combat, emphasizing alternate forms of player elimination.

Notable Cards

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  Shilgengar, Sire of Famine

• 

  Fynn, the Fangbearer

• 

  Jared Carthalion

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  Hakbal of the Surging Soul

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  Vicious Rumors

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  Command Tower

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  Temple of the False God

Summary

The game started with each player setting up their mana base and early board presence, with Shilgengar focusing on sacrificing creatures to generate blood tokens and eventually reanimating creatures as vampires. Fynn aimed to leverage infect and poison counters with deathtouch creatures to pressure opponents quickly. Jared Carthalion utilized his planeswalker abilities to produce powerful multicolor creature tokens and enhance creatures with +1/+1 counters, ramping into a dominant board state. Hakbal's strategy revolved around exploring with merfolk scouts to ramp and draw cards, aiming to develop a strong board with lands and creatures. Early turns saw a cautious buildup, with Fynn quickly establishing a threat by playing poison counter-generating creatures and applying pressure through deathtouch and infect mechanics. Shilgengar steadily developed his board, preparing for a potential mass reanimation. Jared contributed to the board with a mix of tokens and counters, while Hakbal focused on land drops and card advantage. A key moment was Fynn's aggressive application of poison counters, forcing opponents to respond or risk losing to infect damage. Meanwhile, the synergy between Shilgengar's blood tokens and sacrifice outlets promised a powerful late game, though it remained to be seen if the reanimation would reach a critical mass. The game featured a tense balance between poison damage racing and board development, with each player seeking to execute their unique win condition.