Deck & Commander Strategies
Baylen, the Haymaker
Generate a large number of tokens, tap them to pump Baylen for a massive attack, draw cards, and overwhelm opponents with raw power.
Abaddon the Despoiler
Deal incremental damage to players and leverage the life loss to cascade into multiple spells each turn, generating value and board presence quickly.
Fynn, the Fangbearer
Use creatures with deathtouch to fight opposing creatures, distributing poison counters to opponents and aiming to win through poison damage.
Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir
Transform lands into creatures to create a wide board, draw cards on land damage, and maintain pressure through a land-creature synergy.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Baylen’s player maximized token generation and used the tokens effectively to pump Baylen with multiple +1/+1 counters and trample, allowing a large alpha strike that dealt significant damage to several opponents simultaneously.
- 2
Fynn’s fight mechanic and poison counters forced all players to consider poison damage alongside traditional damage, creating pressure to remove Fynn or risk losing to poison.
- 3
Abaddon’s cascading spells triggered by opponents losing life allowed him to chain multiple spells in a single turn, rapidly expanding his board and threatening opponents.
- 4
Jolrael’s ability to animate lands into creatures provided a steady stream of attackers and card draw, maintaining a consistent board presence and tempo advantage.
- 5
Players carefully timed attacks and spells, balancing board development with defense against both poison counters and large creature attacks, showcasing multi-dimensional threat management.
Notable Cards
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Baylen, the Haymaker
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Abaddon the Despoiler
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Fynn, the Fangbearer
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Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir
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Parallel Lives
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Destiny Spinner
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Party Thrasher
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Infectious Bite
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Walking Ballista
Gameplay Summary
The game began with each player establishing their board presence according to their deck strategies.
Baylen, the Haymaker focused on creating numerous tokens and leveraging those tokens to pump Baylen, then drawing cards and attacking for large amounts of damage.
Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir used a land-creature synergy, animating lands into creatures with haste that helped draw cards and apply early pressure.
Abaddon the Despoiler employed a cascade-based strategy that triggered cascades based on opponents losing life, aiming to cast multiple spells efficiently and apply pressure.
Finally, Fynn, the Fangbearer introduced a poison counter theme by forcing creatures to fight and spread poison counters among opponents, creating an alternate win condition through poison. Critical moments included Baylen’s token army growing and being used to give Baylen huge power with trample for a significant strike, dealing 7 damage in a turn that also caused opponents to take damage from Ctis.
Meanwhile, Jolrael’s land animation provided consistent card draw and board presence.
Fynn’s infect and fight mechanic resulted in poison counters distributed to all players, ticking the poison clock.
Abaddon leveraged cascade to create threats and maintain pressure.
The game featured a lot of interaction around combat damage and poison counters, with players balancing life loss and board control.
The poison counters and token swarms created multiple overlapping threats, pushing the game toward a fast-paced, aggressive conclusion where players had to manage both conventional damage and poison risk simultaneously.
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