Foreward Note
This article is written by Keegan, anything in red will be from the Alex, like god dropping sick knowledge (and any links you may see).
Key
BD : Banned deck
* : started the game
Banned Decks and Game Decks
| Player | Banned | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
| Jeff | Sythis | Satya | Krenko | Sheoldred |
| Keegan | Zacama | Tuvasa | Zur | Tuvasa |
| Rich | Chatterfang | Trelessara | Atraxa* | Trelessara* |
| Sean | Locust God | Codie* | Obuun | Codie |
Game 1
Satya vs. Tuvasa vs. Trelessara vs. Codie
T1 Sean hits land into an Open the Gates. Keegan played a land. Rich plays a land and casts and Authority of Consuls. Jeff hits a land.
I want to note here, that Rich’s play may seem like a simple stax play, but I would be hard pressed to find a better openiing play from his deck. This essentially means from T2 on he is going to be playing the best cards he can off the top of his deck.
T2 Sean hits a land, as does Keegan. Rich plays a land and brings out Trelessara. Jeff plays a land and cast out a Solar Transformer.
T3 Sean plays a land and casts Codie. Keegan plays a land then casts a Sol Ring into a Smothering Tithe. Rich casts an Essence Warden and swings into Keegan for 3 commander damage. Jeff plays a land and continues building his rock collection playing a Talisman of Conviction.
This is developing into a severe boardstate on just T3. A turn early tithe from Tuvasa spells impending disaster for everyone. Rich eating the board up with 2 +1/+1 counters per creature is going to snowball fast as all can be. But the dark horse (to me) of Satya rapdily getting online is threatening a nuclear impact to the board. As for Codie, the rest of the table is ramping up and puffing their chests, he is developing quietly in the shadows as he would hope. The next 2 turns should be a turning point I am interested in seeing.
T4 Sean plays a land and then Brainstorms using Codie and does the Inevitable Betrayal trick targeting Rich taking his Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines. Keegan plays a land, casts a Wrath of God then casts Tuvasa and Felidar Retreat. Rich Worldly Tutors at his draw step, and then casts a Serra Ascendant. Jeff plays a land and casts Bribery targeting Rich and taking Heliod from his deck.
T5 Sean plays a land and returns Codie to the battlefield. Keegan plays a land into Aegis of the Gods into Enchantress’s Presence into Verduran Enchantress into Exploration. Rich plays a land and then Griffin Aerie. Jeff plays a land and then Hanwier Garrison into Lightning Greaves.
T6 Sean casts Quandrix Command. Keegan casts Farewell using only treasures and chooses to exile all artifacts. Then swings 8 cmd dmg at Sean. Rich plays a land and then Daxos, Blessed by the Sun. Jeff casts Satya and swings 4 dmg into Sean.
Well, 3 turns later and it is getting spicy in the pod. Keegan is sitting playing the role of control and clap with his selective sweepers. Rich is continuing to develop his boardstate, as is Jeff. Sean taking heat from ganking creatures out of everyone’s decks and wipes leaving him open. His life total is the worst state, but rapidly followed by Keegans. Rich’s life is entering uncontrollable levels, while Jeff sits untouched. Keegan is on the backfoot slightly, and Jeff is sneaking into stability behind Rich here.
Life Totals: S-19 K-23 R-65 J-40
T7 Sean recasts Codie. Keegan casts a Mesa Enchantress then swings 7 at Sean and 6 at Jeff.
Rich casts a Ghostly Prison. Jeff Windfalls and casts a Propaganda.
T8 Sean cast Attune with Aether with Codie using the Inevitable Betrayal trick to target Keegan’s library taking Aura Thief. Keegan casts Control Magic taking back his Aura Thief and then swings 50 dmg at Sean and 40 cmd dmg at Jeff. Rich has no play.
Life Totals: Sean-DEAD Keegan-30 Rich-77 Jeff-DEAD
T9 Keegan swings board at Rich with two blockers and hits for over 300 damage.
Well this game was wild to me haahahha. I built the basis of Tuvasa, and then handed it to Keegan since he owned most the cards and he tuned it into the monster it is today. But it winning from that board state and life is crazy. Him punching lethal through a Propaganda is nefarious work, then doing the same through a Ghostly Prison is nuts. The power of tithe in action. I am most shocked by Rich not having a play post wheel on turn 8. That is some legit terrible variance in action with his deck. Well fought win for Tuvasa.
Results: Keegan: 1 Rich: 2 Sean: 3 Jeff: 4
Game 2
Krenko vs. Zur vs. Atraxa vs. Obuun
T1 Rich plays a land. Jeff plays a land and casts a Travelers Amulet. Sean plays a land into a Sol Ring. Keegan hits a land.
T2 Rich hits a land. Jeff hits a land and casts Sting. Sean plays a land into a Harden Scales. Keegan plays a land into a Sol Ring.
T3 Rich plays a land into a Chromatic Lantern. Jeff plays a land and casts a Shared Animosity. Sean casts a Evolution Sage into a Sylvan Advocate. Keegan plays a land.
T4 Rich plays a land and casts Atraxa. Jeff plays a land and casts a Warren Instigator then swings 4 damage into Keegan. Sean casts a Reap and Sow. Keegan plays a land and plays a Contamination. Is this a raw dog Contamination??? Bold move cotton
T5 Rich plays a land. Jeff plays a land and casts Dolman Gate, he swings his Instigator and puts out Muxus, he then finds Pashlik Mons, Legion Loyalist and Grenzo. Sean swings 2 damage at Rich. Keegan plays a land and casts Zur, then protects him with Curators Ward.
As someone who is currently struggling through goblins, this turn is crazy as all can be and amplifies why I love gobbos so much. The play pattern of Instigator forces a full blown wipe the next turn often. Everyone is developing well, but unless Jeff is wiped before he untaps the table is most likely cooked.
T6 Rich plays a land. Jeff casts Krenko, equips Sting to Krenko and swings 70 damage into Keegan (l o l). Sean casts Roaring Earth.
Life Totals: R-34 J-40 S-39 K-DEAD
T7 Rich casts Atraxa Jeff builds his giant goblin horde. Sean casts a Sol RIng into Obuun and Roaring Earth.
T8 Rich plays a land into a Triumph of the Horde, he swings 5 cmd damage at Sean. Jeff casts Dolman Gate and swings out at both Rich and Sean winning the game.
This is a textbook beater game from the gobbos. I love this deck and commander for a handful of reasons, but the power came from instigator being able to deploy heaters on command. Great showing for Jeff here.
Results: Jeff: 1 Rich: 2 Sean: 3 Keegan: 4
Game 3
Sheoldred vs. Tuvasa vs. Trelessara vs. Codie
T1 Rich plays a land into Ajani’s Welcome. Jeff plays a land. Sean casts a Chrome Mox with a red card underneath, and a land. Keegan plays a land.
T2 Rich plays a land, casts Trelessara. Jeff plays a land into Duathi Voidwalker. Sean plays a land into a Codie. Keegan plays a land and casts an Enlightened Tutor searching out a Smothering Tithe.
T3 Rich plays a land into an Authority of Consuls and Shadowspear, swinging 3 damage into Keegan. Jeff casts an Underworld Dreams swinging 3 damage at Keegan. Sean plays a land. Keegan plays a land and casts a Propaganda.
Early on here it is evident that the table does not want Keegan to win, which makes total sense hahahahahha. Tuvasa also just showed up heavy game 1. Going to be uphill for Keegan from here. That voidwalker is a huge issue for Sean as well with his deck running on a sole axis.
T4 Rich hits a land and swings 4 cmd damage at Keegan. Jeff swings 3 damage at Rich then casts Teferi’s Puzzle Box. Sean cast Edge of Autumn. Keegan casts Wrath of God.
T5 Rich casts a March of Otherworldly Light at Teferi’s Puzzle Box then plays a land. Jeff casts Sheoldred, Sean recasts Codie. Keegan casts a Control Magic at Sheoldred.
T6 Rich casts Talisman of Unity and then an Auriok Champion. Jeff casts a Duathi Voidwalker. Sean casts Emerge Unscathed with Keegan responding with a Path of Exile at Codie, Sean then casts Pull from Eternity to cast Inevitable Betrayal targeting Jeff’s deck and stealing his Rankle, Master of Pranks. Keegan casts Tuvasa and then All that Glitters.
Lotta action, but with a recast Voidwalker, is Sean’s Inevitable Betrayal exiled?
Life Totals: R-43 J-34 S-26 K-22
T7 Rich casts Trelessara. Jeff activates Duathi Voidwalker casting an exiled Enlightened Tutor to find his Bolas Citadel then casts Sign in Blood and Bog Witch. Sean Swings Rankle at Jeff choosing to use the modes Sacrifice and Draw. Keegan casts a Darksteel Mutation on Rankle, then swings 4 damage at Jeff.
T8 Rich casts a Birds of Paradise into a Finale of Devastation searching out Heliod. He then swings 9 damage at Jeff. Jeff casts a Doomsday Excruicator. Sean hits a land. Keegan casts Ethereal Armor and swings 9 (cmdr?) damage at Rich.
Extremely close race coming into the final bend of the game I can only assume. A lot of great boardstate interactions and plays from the whole pod. I wonder what pile Jeff setup with his doomsday lad??
Life Totals: R-30 J-6 S-13 K-27
T9 Rich casts Spike Feeder and does infinite damage into Jeff and Sean.
I do not not fully understand how both Jeff and Sean died. From my notes the board for Rich should be Ajani’s Welcome, Authority of Consuls, Shadowspear, Talisman of Unity, Trelissara, Birds, Heliod, and Spike Feeder. Infinite life off the Spike Feeder is classic (and sick btw, love seeing Premodern cards putting in work), but I do not equate out how this works to two infinite large creatures. Trelessara will be infinite which is awesome. But there is no way on board to net +1/+1 counters onto the BoP. Cause you remove a +1/+1 and then gain 1 from Heliod, and there does not seem to be any scales effects on board to then distribute. Extremely confused from the notes given.
Keegan casts Corrupted Conscience at Spike Feeder into a Replenish returning Darksteel Mutation which targets Rich’s BoP, Control Magic returns and is attached to Trelessara.
T10 Rich casts Scurry Oak. Keegan using Hall of Heliod’s Generosity returns Corrupted Conscience to the top of his library. He casts it onto Scurry Oak.
So here is another point of confusion for me. I assume that the rankle sac was Sheoldred for Keegan since he was growing his Tuvasa. She swung for I believe 9 cmdr damage on Turn 8 into Rich. So he is at 9 at the start of turn 9. Rich does not have any attack taxes up. Keegan’s replenish and Conscience should have net him out at +3 enchantments, which with both all that glitters and tuvasa’s passive she gets a +6. And he had an ethereal armor on her, which lets her blast through for 15 damage, putting Rich at 24 commander damage and ending the game.
Additionally, I do not fully understand how corrupted conscience ended up in the graveyard between T9 and T10. If Rich sacrificed his spike feeder in response (what I would do), then it would have been in Keegan’s graveyard for the Replenish. But it seems that ordering is not what happened. Cause if it was, then Keegan had commander and / or poison lethal with his Ethereal Armour creature if it was Tuvasa.
T11 Rich casts a Beast Within at Control Magic, returning Trelessara to his board. Keegan using Hall of Heliod’s Generosity returns Control Magic to the top of his library, recasts it onto Trelessara.
T12 Rich casts a Ghostly Prison into Abiding Grace. Keegan hits a land and passes.
T13 Rich casts Felidar Sovereign. Keegan casts Swords to Plowshares at Scurry Oak.
T14 Rich wins off of Felidar Soveriegn’s ability because Keegan did not know that Rich had infinite life at the time.
So there was an issue with Rich not marking on his life pad that his life total was north of 40, which led to Keegan forgetting that he was a infinite life. This is a grey area in EDH due to it being a collaborative game. Rich is in charge of correctly representing his life total and Keegan is supposed to ensure that it happens. 3 intense turns elapsed between infinite and when Keegan needed to make his swords play. Def a bummer of an ending due to the answer being in hand and mutliple factos leading to the wrong conclusion being drawn, especially after the insane control play that occurred between T9 and T14. These things will happen, and we have added some contingencies to ensure it doesnt happen anymore. It was settled as a Rich win after they played a 60 card match another day and Rich won.
This is a match that I really, really wish I had video coverage for. There were a ton of points where from notes I cannot find how events unfolded. The double kill on Sean and Jeff does not seem feesible from the notes I have here. Keegan, I think, should have had lethal on the turn he Replenished as well, but that is uncertain as well. Some super intense matches and a solid night of Magic on the macro, which is what I love to see personally.