Deck & Commander Strategies
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Ramp mana aggressively using creatures and artifacts to enable multiple activations of Kinnan’s ability, snowballing mana production to cast large spells or activate combos early.
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
Utilize ninja creatures and evasive combat tricks to deal incremental damage, triggering Yuriko’s ability to draw and reveal cards, disrupting opponents while building card advantage.
Unctus, Grand Metatect
Assemble combos that allow drawing through the deck quickly, often by generating massive card advantage and locking opponents out with interaction and combo pieces.
Animar, Soul of Elements
Ramp up mana and cast creatures to add +1/+1 counters on Animar, increasing mana production and enabling the casting of powerful threats and combo pieces efficiently.
Gameplay Insights
- 1
Kinnan’s multiple activations in a single turn allowed casting high-impact threats like Lodestone Golem, which significantly increased opponents' spell costs, disrupting their tempo.
- 2
Yuriko’s use of Ninjutsu combined with evasive creatures enabled small but consistent damage, triggering her commander’s ability for card draw and revealing disruptive cards at key moments.
- 3
Animar’s synergy with creatures that add counters and mana producers accelerated his game plan, allowing for early deployment of threats and combos.
- 4
Players adjusted their mulligans and kept hands with slower starts due to the need for key mana colors and interaction, highlighting the importance of mana consistency in cEDH.
- 5
The interplay between ramp and disruption defined the midgame, with players balancing between going wide on board presence and holding interaction to respond to threats.
Notable Cards
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Carpet of Flowers
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Lodestone Golem
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Thousand-Year Elixir
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Skullsnatcher
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Sylvan Library
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Basalt Monolith
Gameplay Summary
The game began with all four players developing their mana bases and setting up their initial strategies.
Kinnan focused on ramping mana quickly using mana dorks and artifacts to enable powerful activations by turn three.
Yuriko employed a ninja tribal strategy, leveraging evasive creatures and Ninja tricks like Ninjutsu to chip away at opponents while drawing cards through her commander’s ability.
Unctus aimed to assemble combos to draw through their deck and find a win condition, while Animar sought to ramp and deploy creatures to gain value from his commander’s counters and mana production bonuses. Early turns saw some slow mana development and missed opportunities, but key plays such as casting Carpet of Flowers and activating Kinnan multiple times accelerated the game state rapidly.
Animar’s use of Loadstone Golem and Thousand-Year Elixir helped him ramp mana and deploy threats efficiently, while Yuriko’s ninjutsu strikes and Skullsnatcher revealed from the top of the deck pressured opponents by dealing damage and forcing discards.
Kinnan’s mana explosions and multiple activations of his ability enabled casting powerful spells and deploying a Lodestone Golem, which increased the cost of opponents’ non-creature spells. As the game progressed, Animar used his mana advantage to cast his commander and other threats, while Kinnan kept snowballing mana to perform lethal activations.
The board state became tense with multiple players holding interaction, and life totals started to drop quickly due to repeated damage and synergy-driven attacks.
The game was poised on a knife’s edge with Kinnan and Animar both threatening decisive plays, and Yuriko applying steady pressure through evasive damage and disruption.
The interplay of mana acceleration, card draw, and combat tricks defined the midgame, highlighting the importance of tempo and resource management in cEDH.
