Deck Strategies
Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn
Focuses on life gain and creating large flying creatures with lifelink, using enchantments and spells to pump counters and maintain board presence.
Ziatora, the Incinerator
A value-oriented deck that utilizes Deathrite Shaman for early utility, ramping into powerful creatures and spells to control the board and generate treasure tokens for additional resources.
Lord Windgrace
A landfall deck that accelerates mana and triggers landfall abilities, often sacrificing lands for value and distributing +1/+1 counters to stabilize and apply pressure.
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Elf tribal deck that ramps mana with Priest of Titania and generates massive board presence by pumping +1/+1 counters on Lathril and creating numerous elf tokens.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Hugo's use of Bolas's Citadel combined with Heroic Intervention to protect Lathril allowed him to put ten +1/+1 counters on his commander, significantly shifting board control.
- 2
Martin's decision to sacrifice Bolas's Citadel and elves to trigger Nylea's fallen planeswalker ability caused a major life swing, damaging all players and placing multiple +1/+1 counters, effectively weakening Hugo's board.
- 3
Jack's utilization of treasure tokens generated from Ziatora to cast powerful spells like Galtir, Primal Hunger and Crows' Grasp disrupted opponents' resources and board states.
- 4
Michael's life gain engine with Sarah Ascendant and subsequent double strike buff through Duelist's Heritage allowed for high damage output and sustain in combat phases.
- 5
The interaction between elf tribal synergy and counter placement was pivotal in controlling the tempo and eventual damage output in the game.
Notable Cards
Bolas's Citadel
Priest of Titania
Deathrite Shaman
Explosive Vegetation
Nylea, God of the Hunt
Heroic Intervention
Duelist's Heritage
Solemn Simulacrum
Circle of Dreams Druid
Summary
The game begins with all four commanders setting up their respective strategies, with an early focus on ramp and board development. Michael's Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn deck quickly establishes a strong life-gain engine with Sarah Ascendant, which grows into a formidable flying lifelink threat. Hugo's Lathril, Blade of the Elves elf tribal deck aggressively builds an army of elves, utilizing Priest of Titania and Bolas's Citadel to generate massive mana and pump counters onto his commander, leading to a devastating attack that creates a large board presence and multiple elf tokens. Jack's Ziatora, the Incinerator value deck leverages Deathrite Shaman for early utility and ramps into value creatures like Solemn Simulacrum and Nissa, Vastwood Seer, eventually deploying Ziatora to control the board by dealing damage and generating treasures.