AND HEMLOCK FEAT. @missingtriggers - cEDH - S14E2 - ANIMAR v KINNAN v KROXA/KUNOROS v MALCOLM/KEDISS

Deck Strategies

• 

  Animar, Soul of Elements

  Ramp quickly into big creatures and spells, leveraging Animar's ability to reduce spell costs and grow larger. The deck uses efficient creatures and card draw to enable combos and maintain pressure.

• 

  Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

  Focus on generating treasures and ramping mana aggressively to cast large spells early. Kinnan's ability to generate additional mana from nonland permanents accelerates the deck's combo and value engines.

• 

  Kroxa and Kunoros

  Utilize graveyard recursion and disruptive creatures to pressure opponents, while leveraging sacrifice outlets and value triggers to maintain board presence and advantage.

• 

  Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

  Leverage creatures with synergy and efficient removal to control the board and support combo or value plays. Malcolm's ability to look at and manipulate the top of the opponent's deck helps with disruption and planning.

• 

  Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar

  Aggressive tribal strategy focused on elementals and synergy with sacrifice and damage triggers to overwhelm opponents quickly.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The player manipulating Animar leverages card draw from Archivist of Oghma and powerful tutors like Demonic Tutor to find combo pieces rapidly.

• 2

  The key combo involves sacrificing Archivist of Oghma repeatedly with cards like Culling the Weak and Cabal Ritual to generate infinite one-one tokens and mill opponents out with Altar of Dementia.

• 3

  Players use early counterspells and removal to disrupt threats, but the infinite combo is resilient and difficult to stop once established.

• 4

  Scroll Rack was used strategically to cycle through the deck and find the necessary combo pieces quickly.

• 5

  The synergy between treasure generation and mana acceleration allowed for explosive turns, enabling high-cost spells and combos earlier than usual.

Notable Cards

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  Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

• 

  Survival of the Fittest

• 

  Swan Song

• 

  Archivist of Oghma

• 

  Cabal Ritual

• 

  Altar of Dementia

• 

  Scroll Rack

• 

  Demonic Tutor

• 

  Dockside Extortionist

Summary

The game started with players developing their boards cautiously, deploying mana acceleration and early threats such as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Survival of the Fittest. Tim, playing Animar, quickly set up card draw engines and ramp, while Kinnan on treasures also gained value early. The game escalated when one player executed a powerful combo involving Sacrificing Archivist of Oghma with Cabal Ritual and other spells, generating infinite one-one tokens. This combo was crucial as it allowed the player to mill opponents out using Altar of Dementia. Throughout the game, players reacted to each other's threats with counterspells like Swan Song and removal, but the infinite combo proved decisive. The game concluded with the player successfully executing the combo and winning through milling, showcasing the power of a well-timed infinite token generation and sacrifice loop.