Xenagos SMASH

Commander / EDH RG (Gruul)

Arik92

Creature (35)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Atarka, World Render
• 1x Balefire Dragon
• 1x Carnage Tyrant
• 1x Combat Celebrant
• 1x Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
• 1x Elvish Piper
• 1x Feldon of the Third Path
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Giant Adephage
• 1x Hellkite Charger
• 1x Hellkite Tyrant
• 1x Hydra Omnivore
• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Malignus
• 1x Moltensteel Dragon
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1x Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1x Plated Crusher
• 1x Prowling Serpopard
• 1x Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Savage Ventmaw
• 1x Scourge of the Throne
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Siege Behemoth
• 1x Somberwald Sage
• 1x Stalking Vengeance
• 1x Vigor
• 1x Woodfall Primus
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Land (35)

• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 13x Forest
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Raging Ravine
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Sheltered Thicket
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Abundance
• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Lurking Predators
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Sneak Attack

Instant (5)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Berserk
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Soul's Fire

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x See the Unwritten
• 1x Seize the Day
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x World at War

Artifact (3)

• 1x Gruul Signet
• 1x MImic Vat
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter

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Maybeboard

Creature (6)

• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Honored Hydra
• 1x Nylea, Keen-Eyed
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia

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Hi, this is my take on a Xenagos commander deck. It is one of my very first commanders, and has been battle tested and hardened throughout the years. In terms of power level it is not competitive, but high powered and demands respect. I guess this is a primer of sorts, or at least me sharing my experience and insights playing this deck. Suggestions are welcome, revel hard!!

Deck's goal

This part is mostly straightforward - you want to ramp early, cheat big creatures into play, get Xenagos to +X/X them, and swing sideways(Sometimes with a spell pre/post combat). Basically what Gruul is all about. The deck does not rely on infinite combos to win but can achieve them, due to the individual cards being good enough and synergistic with Xenagos on their own(see combo section).

Note that as a Xenagos deck you can take a player out very quickly, sometimes from a nearly empty board state. However it might not be enough to kill the rest of the table at the same time, so you will need to plan carefully and assess which deck is your biggest threat early on.

Notable combos

• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts
• Combat Celebrant + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• Aggravated Assault + Savage Ventmaw

Tips(general and card specific):

• When playing garruk/greater good/Rishkar's expertise try to play your land drop after drawing as you may draw into reliquary tower.
• Malignus: With xenagos' ability it will 1 shot ANY player if unblocked. It is also your workaround for fog/spore frog type effects(prevent damage < damage cannot be prevented rules wise).
• Wurmcoil Engine is your only source of lifelink in the deck, use this to your advantage. Also pairs wonderfully with Kiki-Jikki/Feldon/Mimic Vet.
• In a pinch Berserk can be used on opposing creatures as removal.

Possible swaps:

Acidic slime -> Bane of progress: Usually when I want to destroy something with the ooze there's more than one troublesome artifact/enchantment on the field. Another option: force of vigor.

soul's fire -> Nylea, keen eyed: On an empty board and early/mid game soul's fire is a dead card, where Nylea is possibly an indestructible creature that discounts creatures and brings me more gas post boardwipes + Plus flavor reasons :3 the Gruul god has both Purphoros ad Nylea at his command. Might test

Giant adephage -> new elder gargaroth: This beast comes way earlier and only slightly smaller, and draws me cards. Which is better? attacking with 12/12 and drawing a card/3 life/ 3/3 beast or 14/14 that creates a 7/7 that might create more copies?

Date added	6 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts Aggravated Assault + Savage Ventmaw Combat Celebrant + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	21 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.40
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink, Wurm 6/6 G