Deck & Commander Strategies
Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
A midrange value build utilizing creature tokens and +1/+1 counters to generate incremental advantage, leveraging Thrasios for card selection and resilience.
Thrasios, Triton Hero
Paired with Yoshimaru, Thrasios provides card draw and mana filtering to support value plays and combo potential, aiming to out-resource opponents.
Gwenom, Remorseless
Aggressive, low-curve deck focused on disruption and early pressure through removal and targeted spells to clear the way for swift damage.
Norman Osborn // Green Goblin
Combo-centric deck leveraging artifact mana acceleration like Lion's Eye Diamond and Underworld Breach to generate massive mana and perform game-winning combos.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Combo ramp deck that uses Kinnan's ability to accelerate mana production from creatures, aiming to assemble critical combos quickly to close out the game.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
The multiple copies of Chain of Smog created a significant board reset by emptying players’ hands, which shifted the game’s pace and forced players to rebuild resources carefully.
- 2
Norman Osborn’s decision to wait and build mana before casting Faithless Looting and engaging in a complex graveyard recursion sequence allowed for a powerful combo setup rather than a risky early play.
- 3
The early use of Force of Will to counter Gwenom’s Spellseeker prevented a key search for Green Sun's Zenith, temporarily hindering combo assembly and demonstrating the importance of timely interaction.
- 4
Targeted removal on Devoted Druid showed a clear understanding of threat levels, as removing combo enablers was prioritized to slow down opponents' win conditions.
- 5
Players balanced aggressive attacks with careful resource management, especially in the midgame where mana acceleration and card advantage spells dictated who could capitalize on combo opportunities first.
Notable Cards
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Force of Will
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Chain of Smog
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Lion's Eye Diamond
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Underworld Breach
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Mana Vault
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Arcane Signet
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Devoted Druid
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Spellseeker
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Cabal Ritual
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Faithless Looting
Gameplay Summary
The game began with players quickly establishing their board presence and cycling through early-game interactions.
Tyler on Kinnan faced some early land drop struggles but managed to stabilize with mana acceleration and card draw engines like Arcane Signet and Mana Vault.
The group saw early interaction with counterspells and removal, notably a Force of Will countering Gwenom’s spellseeker play, and targeted removal on Devoted Druid to slow down combo setups.
A pivotal moment unfolded when a Chain of Smog was cast and copied multiple times, effectively emptying players' hands and resetting the board state, creating a tense midgame where card advantage and resource management became critical.
As the game progressed, Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) leveraged his abilities to generate explosive mana turns using cards like Lion's Eye Diamond and Underworld Breach, setting up potential combo lines.
The decision to wait on some plays allowed him to build a more threatening board state.
Meanwhile, the Yoshimaru/Thrasios deck focused on incremental value with creatures and counters but faced pressure from the aggressive plays of others.
The game’s tempo swung heavily around these resource-heavy turns, with players balancing disruption and combo assembly attempts.
The win condition leaned towards combo finishers enabled by mana acceleration and graveyard recursion, with Underworld Breach and Lion's Eye Diamond being central to explosive turns.
