Xenagruul (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Xenagruul

Commander / EDH* RG (Gruul)

Zeven

Creature (36)

Land (38)

Enchantment (5)

Artifact (5)

Instant (3)

Commander (1)

Sorcery (8)

Planeswalker (4)

GOAL Unexpected high levels of damage. (Though my play group is very much aware now.) I have a good number of cards that add or double power or damage. Add in creatures that are medium to high in size or ramp in size. And added effects such as trample, double strike, haste. (Trample to hit your opponents, double strike is doubling, and haste to add to the element of surprise.)

PLAY This is a casual deck to play against advanced/mid level decks in multiplayer EDH. I do not expect to win any tournaments. This deck doesn't bare any teeth until turn 5 or 6. The main goal is to get Xenagos, God of Revels on the table, then pop out a creature to make scary. Many players will try to get rid of the creature. If you have two nice sized creatures in hand, I would get the lesser of the two on the table first. The next goal is to buff up the creature's damage and abilities. When attacking, I usually will try to bring the biggest threat down first, if possible. Going after the easy target is tempting, but if you can, you want to cripple the advantage of anyone off to a good start.

Trample is what is going to win you games. This deck has some creatures that are scary by themselves, but you usually have only one feature creature with all of the buffs. When I first built the deck, I was losing fairly regularly because my big scary creature was being blocked by 1/1s. By adding in more trample, my deck has been able to build quite the reputation in my play group. They now know that a 4/4 on my battlefield is not to be underestimated.

I know this deck is weak to control and removal. I also expect this deck to trigger board wipes. My hope is that I can be prepared to rebuild a strong board quickly. So mana ramp is a must. A nice effect with this deck is that while it usually makes a giant threat that will get targeted early, it is not hard for something to rise in its place. Most of the scary creature's strength comes from outside sources. (Xenagos, Enchantments, Equipment, other permanent's abilities) And, so far, a lot of players target the the big scary creature coming over to eat them. Sure they remove it. but I then bring in a new creature and apply all the same effects to it and my opponents are back in the same boat.

I am open to suggestions, what you would take out or what you would add. The main goal is to make my opponents surprised at how much damage is coming their way.

Emperor - In Emperor it has performed really well as a lieutenant when the emperor plays some creature buffs and support/removal to help double your efforts. (having the the other lieutenant play something defense/control to buy time.)

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New Cards Added — Sept. 30, 2019

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Alright, I may have bumped my average CMC up a bit but I added in Embercleave, Rowan, Fearless Sparkmage, and Balefire Dragon. I took out Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Subterranean Tremors, Ravager Wurm

Grenzo was kind of nice, but when it came down to it, he wasn't focused on what I was trying to do. Ravager Wurm was nice but at 6 cmc it was ok, the fight ability is good when I have double damage, but it is not always the case. Subterranean Tremors I found sitting in my hand doing nothing a lot more often than expected. I figure that, while it could help in a bind, I should really be focused on accomplishing the goal of stomping face.

With Rowan, Fearless Sparkmage added, I can add on power each round to my main attacker prior to doubling with Xenagos, God of Revels. in other words, for +1 loyalty the creature basically gets +6/+0. (the First Strike is also a nice bonus) Then if my opponents are not bright enough to remove her, her ultimate is sure to take out a few opponents if not win the game.

I brought on Balefire Dragon because I have a number of ways to make it hit players, and since I am increasing damage exponentially, I could easily damage an opponent for an amount that will more than likely wipe all of their vulnerable creatures. Balefire is a bit pricey but could easily give me the advantage.

Embercleave helps ensure my deck is doing what it is suppose to do. With cards like Xenagos, God of Revels and Dictate of the Twin Gods doubling damage, I need my creatures to have trample additionally doubling the damage with double strike... yeah I am sure you get the idea.

So, for fun - Lets say I have Xenagos, God of Revels, Rowan, Fearless Sparkmage and Dictate of the Twin Gods out and Balefire Dragon out. Embercleave attaching it to Balefire to give +1/+1, Double Strike, Trample. Rowan +1 loyalty to give Bale +3/+0. (10/7) Xenagos doubles Balefire's power at the beginning of combat, making Balefire a 20/17, Flying, Double Strike, Trample. with Dictate doubling damage dealt, that is 40 potential damage happening twice, for about total 80 damage. Any amount of that that reaches the player then is applied to each of that players creatures. Delicious.

Some Slight adjustments — Aug. 28, 2019

Edit

Second wave of swaps — May 10, 2019

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First planned swaps — April 24, 2019

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Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.87
Tokens	Beast 4/4 RG, Construct X/X C, Copy Clone, Emblem Domri, Chaos Bringer, Emblem Vivien Reid, Insect 1/1 G, Morph 2/2 C, Satyr 2/2 GR, Servo 1/1 C
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