Deck & Commander Strategies
Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Combines goblin and orc tribal synergies with reanimation to amass a large army and generate multiple combat phases, overwhelming opponents through aggressive combat and recurring threats.
Marneus Calgar
Produces token armies and draws cards through combat damage triggers, aiming to swarm the board and maintain card advantage to control the battlefield.
Szarekh, the Silent King
Mono-black artifact synergy with reanimation and token generation, using sacrifice outlets and spells that create numerous artifact creature tokens to dominate through attrition and board presence.
Urza, Chief Artificer
Builds a wide board of artifact creatures, creating Construct tokens and using spells like March of Progress to double the board, aiming to overwhelm opponents with a large artifact army.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Sauron's ability to amass Orcs and trigger multiple combat phases early gave Skylar a significant tempo advantage.
- 2
Marneus Calgar's use of Entrapment Maneuver to sacrifice an attacking dragon and create a large token army effectively turned off a major threat while building his own board.
- 3
Szarekh's synergy with Illuminor Szeras allowed for explosive black mana generation and token creation, enabling the casting of a high-impact X spell to flood the board with Necron tokens.
- 4
Urza’s deployment of March of Progress doubled his artifact creatures, significantly increasing his board presence and pressure.
- 5
The interaction where Grishnakh took control of Illuminor Szeras temporarily to sacrifice Sauron and generate large black mana allowed a powerful reanimation loop and board development.
- 6
Players prioritized developing their mana and board states over early aggression in some cases, leading to a build-up of threats and board-wide tension.
Notable Cards
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Scourge of the Throne
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Relic of Sauron
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Feed the Swarm
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Digsite Engineer
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Illuminor Szeras
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Thrill of Possibility
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March of Progress
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Their Number Is Legion
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Entrapment Maneuver
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Triumph of Saint Katherine
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Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Gameplay Summary
The game began with all four commanders ramping quickly using mana rocks, setting up early board presence.
Sauron leveraged his reanimation ability early, milling cards and returning creatures like Scourge of the Throne, enabling multiple combat phases and aggressive attacks that put significant pressure on opponents.
Marneus Calgar focused on tokens and card draw, creating a growing army of soldiers and utilizing combat triggers to maintain card advantage.
Szarekh used artifact synergies and reanimation with a build that generated a wide board of Necron tokens through spells like Their Number is Legion.
Urza, Chief Artificer, went wide with artifact creatures and created multiple Constructs, capitalizing on March of Progress to double his army, building a threatening board state.