Deck & Commander Strategies
Atreus, Impulsive Son and Kratos, Stoic Father
Focuses on gaining experience counters and proliferating them to strengthen creatures and unlock powerful abilities, aiming to overwhelm opponents with incremental value and combat pressure.
Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer
A defensive, healing-focused deck that prevents damage to itself while accumulating plus one plus one counters, stabilizing the board and outlasting opponents.
Dihada, Binder of Wills
Centers around reanimating creatures from the graveyard to build a resilient board presence, leveraging Mardu Legends synergies and recursion for continuous value.
Tannuk, Steadfast Second
Utilizes warp mechanics to generate tempo advantage and maintain board presence, focusing on incremental value and adaptability during combat phases.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Early deployment of Ancient Copper Dragon with land drop triggers on attack creates early board pressure and resource advantage.
- 2
Experience counters combined with proliferate mechanics provide a steady ramp of creature strength and abilities, forcing opponents to respond quickly.
- 3
Anti-Venom’s damage prevention and counter growth enables it to act as a defensive wall, buying time to stabilize or set up win conditions.
- 4
Dihada’s reanimation strategy adds resilience to the board, allowing recovery from board wipes and generating incremental value through graveyard recursion.
- 5
Warp mechanics from Tannuk provide tempo swings and flexibility, enhancing board control and surprise interactions.
- 6
Managing the timing of board wipes and removal is critical to prevent any one player from snowballing out of control given the incremental counter synergies.
Notable Cards
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Ancient Copper Dragon
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Atreus, Impulsive Son
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Kratos, Stoic Father
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Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer
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Dihada, Binder of Wills
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Tannuk, Steadfast Second
Gameplay Summary
The game opens with a festive holiday theme featuring five commanders: Atreus, Impulsive Son paired with Kratos, Stoic Father; Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer; Dihada, Binder of Wills; and Tannuk, Steadfast Second.
Zach pilots the experience counters and proliferate-focused Atreus/Kratos deck, focusing on enhancing creatures and leveraging experience counters for incremental advantage.
Tom's Anti-Venom deck plays a defensive style focused on healing, preventing damage, and gradually growing counters to stabilize the board.
Joel's Dihada deck is a Mardu Legends Reanimator strategy, centering around reanimation and graveyard recursion to generate value.
Dom pilots Tannuk, which leverages warp mechanics for tempo and incremental advantage, tying in with the holiday theme creatively.
The game features some early interactions with threats like Ancient Copper Dragon, which benefits from land drops on attacking, putting pressure on opponents early. As the game progresses, players focus on building board presence, using their unique strategies: proliferate and experience counters from Atreus/Kratos, damage prevention and counter growth from Anti-Venom, reanimation and recursion from Dihada, and warp-based tempo plays from Tannuk.
Key turning points revolve around managing these synergies and board wipes or removal that can stall or reset the board state.
The interplay of counters—whether experience, plus one plus one, or other types—creates dynamic board states with potential for explosive growth or resilience.
The game’s win conditions vary by deck, but generally involve overwhelming opponents with value engines, resilient creatures, or incremental boosts from counters and recursion, culminating in decisive combat or combo turns.
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