Deck & Commander Strategies
Owen Grady, Raptor Trainer
A dinosaur tribal deck that uses Owen’s ability to grant menace, haste, reach, or trample counters on dinosaurs, combined with Blue, Loyal Raptor to propagate these counters across all dinosaurs entering the battlefield, enabling aggressive attacks and card draw through creatures like Curious Altisaur.
Neheb, the Eternal
A mono-red big mana deck that generates huge amounts of red mana each turn to cast powerful spells and deal direct damage to opponents, aiming to close out the game quickly with burn and large creatures.
The Locust God
A blue-red deck focused on drawing cards and generating insect tokens through The Locust God's ability, with a secondary win condition involving Starve the Extinction to clear opponents’ creatures and finish with token swarms.
Etali, Primal Conqueror
A theft and combo deck that uses Doomsday Extortionist and Temur Sabertooth to generate infinite mana, allowing Etali to be cast repeatedly to steal opponents’ decks and cast their spells for free, overwhelming the table.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Using Owen Grady’s ability to put menace counters on Blue, Loyal Raptor enabled aggressive attacks that pressured opponents and synergized with Blue’s ability to grant counters to all entering dinosaurs.
- 2
Card draw engines like Curious Altisaur rewarded dealing damage with dinosaurs, fueling further plays and board development.
- 3
The combo potential of Etali with infinite mana combos created a looming threat that forced opponents to prioritize disrupting her setup.
- 4
Neheb’s mana generation and burn spells created a constant threat of high damage output that could end the game quickly if left unchecked.
- 5
Players balanced between aggressive board development and holding back to disrupt potential infinite combos and theft strategies.
Notable Cards
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Owen Grady, Raptor Trainer
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Blue, Loyal Raptor
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Curious Altisaur
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Neheb, the Eternal
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The Locust God
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Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness
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Temur Sabertooth
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Mana Crypt
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Ruby Medallion
Gameplay Summary
The game started with a slow setup from all players, featuring ramp and early plays to establish board presence.
Owen Grady and Blue, Loyal Raptor synergized well to empower dinosaurs with counters granting menace, haste, and trample, leveraging cards like Curious Altisaur to draw cards upon dealing damage.
Neheb, the Eternal aimed to generate large amounts of red mana to fuel big spells and damage output, while The Locust God planned to win through token generation and a combo with Starve the Extinction.
Etali, Primal Conqueror focused on stealing cards and generating infinite mana through combos involving Doomsday Extortionist and Temur Sabertooth, aiming to cast Etali multiple times to overwhelm opponents by exiling their decks and casting spells for free. Key turning points included Owen Grady teaching Blue, Loyal Raptor to be more menacing and hasty, enabling aggressive attacks that drew cards and pressured opponents.
Neheb's explosive mana generation threatened to deal significant damage, while Etali's combo potential loomed as a major threat to the table.
The interactions between dinosaur tribal synergies and Etali's theft combos created tension, with players needing to balance aggression and defense.
The win conditions varied: Owen and Blue aimed to swarm with large, aggressive dinosaurs; Neheb sought to burn down opponents with massive mana and damage spells; The Locust God relied on drawing and creating tokens; and Etali planned to lock down the game by stealing entire decks and casting spells infinitely.
The gameplay showcased thematic synergy, combo potential, and strategic combat decisions revolving around protecting key creatures and leveraging powerful tribal and infinite mana combos.
![Commander VS S16E7: The Locust God VS Horde of Notions VS Tatyova VS Balan [EDH] thumbnail](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yqrnU70Qx6I/sddefault.jpg)
