Deck Strategies
The First Sliver
A turbo Food Chain combo deck that generates infinite creature mana by casting creatures from exile and leverages cascading spells to maintain card advantage and mana acceleration, aiming to win via commander damage or infinite mana combos.
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
A midrange ninja deck that controls the board and uses ninjutsu to repeatedly deal damage, triggering Yuriko's ability to drain opponents' life while maintaining pressure through evasive creatures and disruption.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools / Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
A turbo Ad Nauseam deck focused on generating massive amounts of mana and treasures using artifacts like Dockside Extortionist, reanimating key threats, and combining Ad Nauseam and Tevesh's abilities to close out the game quickly.
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
A proactive control-combo deck that uses wheel effects and high-impact spells to disrupt opponents while setting up combos such as Underworld Breach or Ad Nauseam to finish the game, including using board wipes like Cyclonic Rift to reset and gain advantage.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
The overloaded Cyclonic Rift cast by Nekusar was a game-changing play that bounced all opponents' non-land permanents, temporarily neutralizing board threats and allowing Nekusar to rebuild board presence.
- 2
First Sliver’s use of cascading spells like Rustic Study in conjunction with mana dorks maximized card draw and mana production, enabling explosive turns and maintaining pressure.
- 3
Tevesh Szat’s activation to create thrill tokens and the repeated use of Dockside Extortionist forced opponents to carefully consider resource management and treasure sacrifice decisions.
- 4
Yuriko’s ninjutsu activations effectively leveraged evasive creatures to deliver incremental damage and trigger life loss while avoiding blocks, steadily draining opponents' life totals.
- 5
Multiple reshuffles and hand dumps through spells like Time Spiral and Winds of Change kept the game dynamic, resetting hands and graveyards to enable recurring strategies.
Notable Cards
Cyclonic Rift
Dockside Extortionist
Food Chain
Mystic Remora
Vampiric Tutor
Chrome Mox
Pact of Negation
Time Spiral
Opposition Agent
Lion's Eye Diamond
Summary
The game opened with aggressive mana development and early board presence from all players. The First Sliver deck quickly established a strong mana base with multiple mana dorks and cast its commander to generate cascading triggers and card advantage. Yuriko utilized ninjutsu to attack efficiently, dealing incremental damage and triggering life loss effects on opponents. Tevesh/Kraum combined turbo Ad Nauseam strategies with artifact synergies like Dockside Extortionist to flood the board with treasures, enabling explosive mana generation and reanimation plays. Nekusar leveraged wheels, card draw spells, and disruption like Cyclonic Rift to reset the board and refill hands, aiming to combo out with Underworld Breach or Ad Nauseam. A pivotal moment occurred when Nekusar cast an overloaded Cyclonic Rift, bouncing opponents' non-land permanents and clearing the way to build advantage. The First Sliver player responded with a series of mana accelerants and token generators to maintain pressure, while Yuriko used evasive ninjas to chip away at opponents’ life totals. The game featured multiple reshuffles and heavy card draws, with each deck leveraging their unique synergies to push for a win, culminating in a tense, high-stakes board state filled with treasures, creatures, and combo potential.