Commander Adventures #24 - Varina v. Trostani v. Kynaios and Tiro v. Torbran

Deck Strategies

• 

  Varina, Lich Queen

  A graveyard-centric combo deck that leverages Varina's ability to mill cards and reanimate creatures like Grave Crawler and Corpse Knight for incremental life drain and card advantage.

• 

  Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

  Focuses on populating creature tokens and gaining life through token synergies and anthem effects, using populating and life gain to stabilize and outlast opponents.

• 

  Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

  A group hug deck that ramps and draws cards for all players, aiming to leverage political advantage and value generation through land plays and token creation.

• 

  Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

  A mono-red burn deck that amplifies damage with Torbran’s ability, aiming to burn down opponents quickly with efficient spells and aggressive creatures.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Spencer used Varina’s ability with Grave Crawler and Corpse Knight to create a recurring life drain combo that also generated card advantage through discarding and reanimating creatures.

• 2

  Josh’s use of group hug cards like Smothering Tithe and exploration effects enabled strong ramp and card draw for multiple players, fueling his and allies’ strategies.

• 3

  Devin’s Trostani deck capitalized on populating tokens and protecting creatures with Route Born Defenses to stabilize against aggressive damage from Torbran.

• 4

  RJ’s Torbran deck kept up constant pressure with burn spells and creatures boosted by Torbran’s damage amplification, forcing opponents to respond quickly or lose life rapidly.

• 5

  The interaction between Altar of Dementia and Corpse Knight allowed Spencer to mill opponents while maintaining board presence, but opponents coordinated land destruction to delay his combo execution.

• 6

  The Helm of the Host on Movin-Walled Hydra created a lethal token army with haste, enabling Devin to perform a massive mill on RJ, showcasing how token doubling can shift the game state dramatically.

Notable Cards

• 

  Varina, Lich Queen

• 

  Corpse Knight

• 

  Altar of Dementia

• 

  Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

• 

  Helm of the Host

• 

  Manabarbs

• 

  Sunbird's Invocation

• 

  Smothering Tithe

• 

  Momentous Fall

• 

  Harsh Mentor

• 

  Comet Storm

Summary

The game started with standard ramp and board development, with Spencer's Varina, Lich Queen deck focusing on digging through the library and setting up a combo involving graveyard recursion. Early plays saw land drops, mana acceleration, and token generation from Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Kynaios and Tiro's group hug style deck. RJ’s Torbran deck applied pressure with consistent burn damage, leveraging Torbran's ability to amplify red damage spells and creatures. A key turning point was Spencer successfully assembling a combo with Grave Crawler and Corpse Knight, allowing him to drain life from opponents while replenishing his hand. However, opponents coordinated to set Spencer back by destroying important lands and disrupting his resources.