Deck & Commander Strategies
Bello, Bard of the Brambles
Generate elemental creature tokens from noncreature artifacts and enchantments with mana value four or greater, then use those tokens to draw cards and apply steady pressure through combat damage.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Ramp aggressively to cast Gishath early and repeatedly trigger her ability to cheat large dinosaur creatures onto the battlefield when she deals combat damage.
Grolnok, the Omnivore
Mill self with frog attackers to exile permanents with crow counters, gaining access to a secondary hand of exiled cards to replay and generate card advantage and continuous pressure.
Balthor the Defiled
Sacrifice own creatures to fill graveyard quickly and mass reanimate black and red creatures from all graveyards, aiming to win through enter-the-battlefield effects and overwhelming board presence.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
The decision by Grolnok to flash in Frog Befuddler to reduce damage taken from Bello’s elemental token demonstrated proactive defense to extend the frog-mill engine.
- 2
Bello’s use of Lightning Greaves on elemental tokens ensured that these creatures could attack each turn safely, maximizing card draw potential.
- 3
Bronze-Beak Foragers' exile effect targeted key permanents like Frog Befuddler to disrupt Grolnok’s milling and graveyard recursion strategy.
- 4
Balthor’s choice to hold off on casting his commander until he could maximize the mass reanimation effect showed careful timing to avoid premature overextension.
- 5
Players demonstrated restraint in combat, avoiding attacks on players with threatening boards, reflecting a meta-awareness of potential explosive plays and combos.
Notable Cards
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Bello, Bard of the Brambles
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Gishath, Sun's Avatar
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Grolnok, the Omnivore
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Balthor the Defiled
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Lightning Greaves
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Outpost Siege
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Golgari Thug
Gameplay Summary
The game began with players establishing their mana bases and early ramp, setting the stage for their respective strategies.
Bello (Bells) focused on assembling a board with noncreature artifacts and enchantments of mana value four or greater to create elemental tokens with haste and indestructible, aiming to overwhelm opponents with incremental card draw and board presence.
Grolnok (Gabe) employed a frog-mill strategy, using his commander’s ability to mill cards and exile permanents with crow counters, creating a secondary resource zone to replay cards and gain card advantage.
Gishath (Mar) used ramp spells to accelerate into big dinosaurs, leveraging Gishath's ability to cheat large creatures into play upon dealing combat damage.
Balthor (Nic) took an aristocrat approach, sacrificing creatures to fuel graveyard recursion, planning to mass reanimate black and red creatures from all graveyards to generate overwhelming board states and exploit enter-the-battlefield effects for a potential game-winning swing. Early interaction included removal and disruptive plays such as Bronze-Beak Foragers exiling key permanents and Grolnok flashing in Frog Befuddler to mitigate damage.
The game featured a tense atmosphere as players judged threats and chose targets carefully, with Bello equipping Lightning Greaves on his elemental tokens and Grolnok developing a graveyard engine with Golgari Thug and Fraxian Altar.
The presence of Outpost Siege added card advantage and pressure, while Balthor's graveyard strategy slowly built up through dredge and sacrifice outlets.
Key moments involved Grolnok losing his frog attacker to exile effects but continuing to leverage his graveyard recursion, and Bello creating a growing elemental army that drew cards upon striking players.
Combat phases were cautious, with players avoiding unnecessary aggression against the strongest board states, building tension toward decisive turns.
