Meren VS Niv-Mizzet VS Child of Alara EDH / CMDR gameplay for Magic: The Gathering

Deck Strategies

• 

  Meren of Clan Nel Toth

  Focuses on sacrificing creatures to gain experience counters, using recursion to bring creatures back from the graveyard, and assembling combos with creatures like Necrotic Ooze and Triskelion to win through incremental damage and life drain.

• 

  Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

  Ramp quickly into powerful spells and draw engines such as Psychosis Crawler and Thought Reflection, aiming to out-value opponents with card advantage and direct damage through Niv-Mizzet's triggered abilities.

• 

  Child of Alara

  Utilizes land ramp and token generation through cards like Worm Harvest, aiming to control the board and leverage land-based effects like Seismic Assault to clear opponents’ creatures and deal damage.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Meren's player effectively used sacrifice outlets and recursion to build experience counters and set up a lethal combo.

• 2

  Child of Alara's Seismic Assault was a key board wipe that temporarily shifted control by clearing Meren's creatures and sending Meren back to the command zone.

• 3

  Niv-Mizzet's reliance on card draw engines and ramp was strong, but a failure to counter key combos allowed Meren to win.

• 4

  The misplay involving Winter Orb and Nature's Claim against Misdirection demonstrated the importance of anticipating opponents' reactive cards.

• 5

  The final combo leveraged Necrotic Ooze's ability to gain activated abilities from creatures in the graveyard, combined with Triskelion’s pinging and Fleshbag Marauder’s sacrifice effect to drain opponents' life totals.

Notable Cards

• 

  Necrotic Ooze

• 

  Triskelion

• 

  Fleshbag Marauder

• 

  Psychosis Crawler

• 

  Thought Reflection

• 

  Seismic Assault

• 

  Worm Harvest

• 

  Winter Orb

• 

  Animate Dead

• 

  Carrion Feeder

Summary

The game featured three commanders: Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, and Child of Alara. Early on, Niv-Mizzet aggressively ramped and established card draw engines with spells like Psychosis Crawler and Thought Reflection, while Child of Alara focused on land-based ramp and value plays, including repeated use of Worm Harvest to generate tokens. Meren's player developed a slow but steady engine using experience counters from sacrificing creatures like Carrion Feeder and leveraging recursion effects. A pivotal moment occurred when Child of Alara used Seismic Assault to clear Meren's board and send Meren back to the command zone, temporarily shifting momentum. However, the board state swung back as Meren rebuilt with a combination of creatures and key artifacts, culminating in a lethal combo involving Necrotic Ooze, Triskelion, and Fleshbag Marauder. By animating Necrotic Ooze and using the triggered abilities of creatures in the graveyard, Meren was able to drain life and deal damage to opponents, securing the win.