cEDH with friends on the Combat Step Discord

Deck Strategies

• 

  Urza, Lord High Artificer

  Uses artifact ramp and synergy to generate mana and card advantage, aiming to assemble combos or overwhelming board presence with constructs and artifact interactions.

• 

  Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker

  Grows larger through combat damage dealt, often supported by control elements and evasive creatures to close out the game via commander damage.

• 

  Jeska, Thrice Reborn

  Generates tokens and uses aggressive combat steps combined with red-based burn and haste to apply pressure and close games quickly.

• 

  Breya, Etherium Shaper

  Leverages artifact sacrifice and token generation to control the board and combo off or win through incremental advantage.

• 

  Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh

  Aggressive red-based commander focused on combat damage and fast mana to overwhelm opponents quickly.

• 

  Silas Renn, Seeker Adept

  Artifact recursion and value engine enabling reuse of powerful artifacts and disruption to maintain control and advantage.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Countering Ristic Study with Trapped in the Screen was a pivotal interaction, delaying card draw and tempo advantage for the player relying on it.

• 2

  Playing Winter Orb early locked down nonbasic land untaps, forcing players to be judicious with mana and stall aggressive plays.

• 3

  The decision to let a valuable creature like Mystic Rora die showed adaptive board state evaluation, prioritizing long-term resource management over short-term defense.

• 4

  Using Merchant Scroll to fetch War of Invention demonstrated proactive deck manipulation and setup for future turns.

• 5

  Deploying Ishai and growing her through combat damage provided a persistent threat that pressured opponents to respond or risk losing to commander damage.

• 6

  Players carefully balanced feeding fish (cards drawn from a specific effect) and managing mana costs to avoid running out of resources too quickly.

Notable Cards

• 

  Gemstone Mine

• 

  Force of Negation

• 

  Trapped in the Screen

• 

  Winter Orb

• 

  Scalding Tarn

• 

  Polluted Delta

• 

  Ancient Tomb

• 

  Arcane Signet

• 

  Jeweled Amulet

• 

  Merchant Scroll

Summary

The game opened with typical cEDH fast mana development, including early plays like Gemstone Mine and fetchlands to ramp and fix mana. Players focused on setting up their mana bases while holding back counterspells and interaction. A key moment early on was the casting of Ristic Study, which was promptly neutralized by Trapped in the Screen, removing the crucial draw engine temporarily and signaling the high level of interaction in play. Winter Orb was deployed to lock down opponents’ mana bases, further escalating the tension and forcing careful resource management. As the game progressed, players started to deploy their commanders and artifact/enchantment synergies. Jeska generated thopters for defense, while Ishai grew larger via combat damage dealt. There was a notable combat exchange where a significant attack dealt six commander damage, shaping board dynamics. The players balanced drawing cards, countering spells, and deploying threats with precision, while key spells like War of Invention were fetched to dig deeper into their decks. The game was a grind for advantage with careful mana and interaction management, setting the stage for explosive turns powered by artifact synergies and commander damage finishers.