Kodama and Blinking: A Match Made In Heaven | Kodama/Ishai (Commander/EDH Gameplay)

Deck Strategies

• 

  Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker / Kodama of the East Tree

  This deck aims to generate massive value by blinking multiple permanents and taking advantage of Kodama's ability to cheat additional permanents into play.

• 

  Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

  This deck focuses on creating a value engine with low-power creatures dying and being returned to the battlefield, creating a loop of recurring effects.

• 

  Zevlor, Elturel Exile

  This deck leverages card advantage mechanics and protection for its commander to generate value over time.

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  Beledros Witherbloom

  This deck aims to generate tokens and drain life from opponents, using a combination of token generators and life-sapping effects.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  The Beast Within play on Shirei was a key strategic decision that disrupted a potentially game-warping value engine.

• 2

  The Kodama/Ishai player’s decision to cast Kodama before having a way to immediately generate value was risky, but it set them up for potentially explosive future turns.

• 3

  The decision by the Shirei player to keep back their Carrion Feeder, despite it not being able to block, might have been a missed opportunity to apply pressure to the Zevlor player, who was already losing life from their Phyrexian Arena.

Notable Cards

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  Beast Within

• 

  Mindless Automaton

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  Zulaport Cutthroat

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  Phyrexian Arena

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  Awakening Zone

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  Bitterblossom

Summary

The game kicked off with the decks showing their core strategies, such as the Kodama/Ishai deck seeking to generate value through blinking multiple permanents, and Shirei's deck aiming to generate value from creatures with power 1 or less dying. The Zevlor deck focused on card advantage, and the Beledros deck seemed to focus on token generation and sapping life from opponents. A key turning point was the Beast Within played by the Beledros player to disrupt Shirei's value engine before it could become too strong. This move bought the other players more time and reshaped the flow of the game. Despite the disruption, Shirei's deck was quick to rebuild with the casting of Mindless Automaton. However, the game's outcome was still uncertain at this point, with the Kodama/Ishai deck's strategy just starting to unfold.