Top Of The Food Chain - cEDH Gameplay! Atraxa vs Etali vs Tameshi vs Jodah (aka SpongeBob)

Deck Strategies

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  Jodah, the Unifier

  A five-color legends-matter deck that wins by casting and attacking with large legendary creatures instead of traditional combos.

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  Etali, Primal Conqueror

  A Gruul ramp deck that uses Etali’s ability to exile and cast spells from opponents' libraries, aiming to chain free spells and find powerful win conditions or disrupt opponents.

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  Atraxa, Grand Unifier

  An Azorius artifact combo deck that uses Food Chain to generate infinite mana and draws, aiming to win with combos involving Thassa’s Oracle and other synergies.

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  Tameshi, Reality Architect

  A big mana Food Chain deck that ramps quickly, draws its deck, and uses Food Chain combos to exile libraries or find alternative win conditions from opponents’ cards.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Etali’s uncounterable nature allowed him to resolve and cast multiple spells from opponents' libraries, generating significant tempo and threat advantage.

• 2

  Atraxa’s attempt at Food Chain infinite mana was disrupted by Mindbreak Trap, illustrating the importance of counterspell protection in combo decks.

• 3

  Jodah’s large legendary creatures provided a strong offensive plan but lacked the speed and resilience of combo decks, showing the trade-off between creature-based and combo-based strategies in cEDH.

• 4

  Careful stack ordering and timing of spells like Worldly Tutor and Roaming Throne maximized the value of Etali’s triggered ability, enabling efficient cascades of spells.

• 5

  Players leveraged graveyard interactions and artifacts to enable loop combos and recursion, highlighting the synergy between mana acceleration and graveyard utility in these decks.

Notable Cards

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  Food Chain

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  Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness

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  Swords to Plowshares

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  Aether Spellbomb

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  Roaming Throne

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  Treasonous Ogre

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  Delighted Halfling

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  Worldly Tutor

Summary

The game started with a typical ramp and setup phase where each player developed their mana base and began assembling their early board states. Jodah, the Unifier (nicknamed SpongeBob) aimed to deploy large legendary creatures to win through combat damage rather than traditional combo routes. Etali, Primal Conqueror aggressively cast spells exiled from opponents' libraries, leveraging his uncounterable nature to gain tempo and card advantage. Atraxa sought to build up a strong board presence with a focus on artifacts and mana acceleration, preparing for infinite loops involving Food Chain and Thassa's combo. Tameshi Reality Architect worked on ramping explosively and assembling Food Chain to either exile opponents' libraries or find alternative win conditions from other decks' cards. A key turning point occurred when Etali resolved and began exiling multiple cards, including powerful tutors and disruptive spells, enabling him to cast multiple spells from opponents' decks in one turn. This created significant pressure on the table. Meanwhile, Atraxa attempted to establish a Food Chain loop with Mist-Hollow Griffin to generate infinite mana, but was met with disruption such as Mindbreak Trap. Jodah’s strategy of beating down with large legendary creatures provided a different axis of threat but struggled to keep pace with the combo-driven decks. The game featured complex stack interactions, with players using spells like Swords to Plowshares and Aether Spellbomb to control the board. The interplay of Food Chain combos and Etali’s spell recursion shaped the midgame, with players jockeying for control and key resources to secure a win.