THE BRITISH ARE COMING! — Lara Croft vs Sidar Jabari vs Clavileño vs Mirko - Manasplaining #03

Deck Strategies

• 

  Clavileño, First of the Blessed

  Aggressive vampire tribal deck that converts attacking vampires into demons to draw cards and generate flying vampire demon tokens, maintaining pressure through recurring creatures.

• 

  Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir

  Knight tribal focused on swarming the battlefield with knights to trigger Eminence, drawing and discarding to filter cards, and recurring knights from the graveyard to maintain a resilient board.

• 

  Mirko, Obsessive Theorist

  Token and graveyard recursion deck that builds counters on Mirko to bring back smaller creatures each turn, leveraging incremental advantage and synergy with graveyard interactions.

• 

  Lara Croft, Tomb Raider

  Aggressive legendary artifact and land recursion deck that excels at replaying powerful legendary permanents from the graveyard, utilizing haste and protection effects to apply early pressure.

Gameplay Insights

• 1

  Deploying commanders early allowed players to start leveraging their unique synergies and combat triggers quickly.

• 2

  Equipping Lightning Greaves on Lara Croft provided immediate aggression with protection, making removal difficult for opponents.

• 3

  Sidar Jabari’s combination of Eminence and card draw/discard effects enabled strong hand filtering and board presence through recurring knights.

• 4

  Clavileño’s strategy of attacking with vampires that become demons and die to draw cards maintained a steady stream of resources and board tokens.

• 5

  Mirko’s buildup of counters and graveyard recursion created a repeating value engine that pressured opponents over time.

• 6

  Players used mana ramp and land fetching early to accelerate their game plan and deploy threats ahead of curve.

Notable Cards

• 

  Clavileño, First of the Blessed

• 

  Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir

• 

  Mirko, Obsessive Theorist

• 

  Lara Croft, Tomb Raider

• 

  Lightning Greaves

• 

  Temple of the False God

• 

  Evolving Wilds

• 

  Sunken Hollow

• 

  Botanical Sanctum

Summary

The game began with players quickly establishing their board presence, with each commander being deployed early to start applying pressure and executing their unique strategies. Clavileño, First of the Blessed focused on aggressive vampire tribal synergy, turning attacking vampires into demons to generate card advantage and create flying tokens. Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir aimed to swarm the board with knights, leveraging Eminence and combat triggers to draw cards and recur knights from the graveyard, building a resilient and aggressive army. Mirko, Obsessive Theorist used a token and graveyard recursion strategy, growing in power to repeatedly bring back smaller creatures and gain incremental advantage. Meanwhile, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider played a legendary artifact-centric aggressive deck that capitalized on recurring legendary artifacts and lands from the graveyard, using haste and protection to deal damage quickly and maintain board control. Early turns saw tactical land drops, ramp spells, and the deployment of key creatures like Night Exemplar and Dem Spybug to bolster defenses and offense. Lara Croft’s player equipped Lightning Greaves onto their commander, granting haste and shroud, allowing her to attack immediately with protection from removal. Sidar Jabari's player played Knights and supported them with anthem effects, aiming to draw and discard to filter their hand and maintain board presence. Clavileño's player utilized mana acceleration and removal spells to maintain tempo. The game’s pivotal moments revolved around the commanders entering the battlefield early, setting the stage for aggressive combat and synergy triggers. The interaction between vampire token creation, knight recursion, and artifact recursion created a dynamic battlefield where card advantage and board presence were constantly in flux. The win condition centered around overwhelming opponents with tribal synergies and value engines from legendary permanents.