Grand Warlord Radha

Commander / EDH Aggro Infinite Combo RG (Gruul) Tokens

Elderiah

Creature (38)

• 1x Anax, Hardened in the Forge
• 1x Ant Queen
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Dragonlair Spider
• 1x Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Hellkite Charger
• 1x Hyrax Tower Scout
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Magus of the Moon
• 1x Ogre Battledriver
• 1x Ohran Frostfang
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Regal Force
• 1x Runic Armasaur
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1x Soul of the Harvest
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Tendershoot Dryad
• 1x Tilonalli's Summoner
• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1x Vexing Shusher
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie
• 1x Walking Ballista

Land (34)

• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Castle Embereth
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 16x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Grove of the Burnwillows
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Instant (9)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith

Commander (1)

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Druids' Repository
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Root Maze
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Underworld Breach
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

Artifact (4)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Winter Orb

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Vivien, Monsters' Advocate
• 1x Xenagos, the Reveler

---

Introduction:

This is a spicy one. I originally built this deck to force myself to go to combat and turn creatures sideways and it has quickly become an absolute favorite of mine. It may seem simple, but there is a lot of synergy and nuance to fall in love with. If you are looking to shake up your playstyle, work out complex combat math, or simply want to play a green deck without Cultivate, this is definitely worth a look.

Strategy:

This deck seeks to aggressively ramp into Radha then have an explosive turn leveraging the mana she produces to deal incredible amounts of damage through combat, direct damage with effects like Purphoros, God of the Forge and Goblin Bombardment, or outright kill a single player or the entire table with infinite combats or infect.

This is an engine deck with high synergy and as such how our pieces fit together is the focus rather than individual card performance in a vacuum.

How the Deck Plays:

Ramp: Looking at the list you'll notice there are many one mana ramp effects focused on creatures. These are key to an ideal opening and allow us to play a three drop on turn two and then Radha on turn three. From here we can dump our hand onto the board and refill it with large card draw spells or continue to empty mana into one of our various mana sinks.

Haste: Haste is integral to our game plan, particularly giving every creature haste rather than a single target. Fires of Yavimaya, Anger, and Ogre Battledriver are all-stars since they speed up our tokens ensure we get value out of our creatures right now. Converting tokens into mana with Radha makes cards like Deep Forest Hermit "free".

Protection: Committing so heavily to the board always comes with great risk. This is why cards like Hangarback Walker to instantly refills our board, Eldrazi Monument to give our creatures indestructible, and value-oriented enchantments are key to not instantly losing to a board wipe.

Interference: Cards that slow down our opponents amplify the impact of our fast and focused strategy. Collector Ouphe can set opponents back multiple cards and turns and Magus of the Moon can bring entire decks to a halt. Root Maze may be worded as a symmetrical effect, but most of our mana is connected to creatures and combat and the tapped land entry slows down our opponents greatly with little to no effect on us.

Typically, aggro is best piloted by focusing on a single player and eliminating them as quickly as possible. Evaluating the table and choosing your target accurately and early is a skill that will continue to develop as you play more. General guidelines would be to focus a control player like a White/Blue deck as they are likely packing many board wipes and are best equipped to deal with our creatures. Big mana decks can also be great targets as their early ramp prevents them from deploying blockers and if left unchecked these big mana decks will go over the top of our strategy and close our window of opportunity for taking them out. Be sure to exercise some good politics when choosing a target, striking a deal to keep your board or a key creature not only keeps the game fresh and fun but also gives us a much better chance of winning.

How the Deck Wins:

By smacking face. Okay, there's more to it than that. Grand Warlord Radha + Hellkite Charger and Aggravated Assault + Grand Warlord Radha can create infinite combats (or Druids' Repository). Combat Celebrant + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker can make infinite combats and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts makes infinite attackers. Going infinite is strong and will likely secure the win, but it is not essential. Sometimes you pump 20 mana into Kessig Wolf Run and kill someone with commander damage. Other times you have Purphoros, God of the Forge / Impact Tremors / Goblin Bombardment in play and create a swarm of insects with Ant Queen. There are a variety of ways to close a game with this deck.

Notable Exclusions:

Goblin Rabblemaster, Legion Warboss, Hanweir Garrison - While these three cost multi-bodied creatures were in the original list, they did not make the final cut. They are strong, but usually only total to a few more damage on a single player and maybe 2 or 3 more mana with Radha out, they are not nearly as strong as the hatebear inclusions such as Collector Ouphe, Zo-Zu the Punisher, and Manglehorn. The time these more interactive creatures get you more than makes up for the slight damage loss.

Craterhoof Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar - I know it seems crazy to not include the hoof, but it is not nearly as good of a fit for this deck or strategy as it may first appear. With such a low land count and zero land ramp, it is almost impossible to cast hoof before combat, and the deck has plenty of damage to win without. Same goes for Avenger, without much land ramp and a low land count it is not as powerful here as it is in other strategies.

Savage Ventmaw - This one is very close, it almost makes the cut and nobody would hold it against you if you chose to run it. The combo with Hellkite Charger / Aggravated Assault is very powerful, and redundancy of our commander's effect is good too. However, nearly every time this gets cast it immediately dies without accruing any value. Again, this would likely be played after combat with the mana we generated from attacking, and if we have to wait an entire turn cycle to get something out of a post-combat creature I would rather it be a Dragonlair Spider or similar effect.

Rhythm of the Wild - It does seem like heresy to play a gruul deck without this, but I was not as impressed by it as I thought I'd be. The main reason the deck wants haste is to convert newly-created tokens into mana with our commander, and this does not do that. Most fatties we play (apart from when Gaea's Cradle is in play) happen post combat and thus don't benefit from the haste.

Inclusions to Consider:

These are cards that were either close to making the cut or have been suggested in the comments below.

Xenagos, the Reveler - Having access to a Gaea's Cradle effect is very powerful and should not be overlooked. This planeswalker would allow us to generate large amounts of mana, and most notably make that mana in the first main phase, negating one of the largest restrictions of the deck which is only creating large amounts of mana after combat. The 2/2 body is nice as well, but it is likely this will be +1'd the majority of the time.

Dragon Broodmother, Tendershoot Dryad - These are both powerful and consist cards, but the consistency is something that actual sways me away from them. Compare these with the other token generators in the deck and you'll notice that they either give you value immediately or function as a mana dump. If you are looking for more consistency in your list though, definitely consider these.

Awakening Zone - This was originally in my list but ultimately I took it out for reasons similar to Dragon Broodmother. This card is consistent, but a whole turn cycle can be a very long time. The card is not bad and I quite enjoy it so give it a try and see if it is right for you.

Please let me know if there are any suggested improvements to the deck or to the guide and thanks for checking it out!

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts Combat Celebrant + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Aggravated Assault + Grand Warlord Radha Grand Warlord Radha + Hellkite Charger
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.86
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Elemental 1/1 R, Insect 1/1 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Satyr 1/1 R, Satyr 2/2 GR, Treasure