"You Burn. I'll Pillage."
My good people!!! Are you ready to raise some havoc?!!! Welcome to Grenzo, Havoc Raiser. "Redric" and Master of Goad.
Goad is an incredibly fun mechanic, and people have called Grenzo "Redric" or "Red Edric" because of his potential to play off the top of your opponnents' decks. The first iterations of this deck played around alot of Goblin synergies. However, as this deck has evolved through being played, alot of the goblins were replaced by higher impact cards. It seems that the goblin tribal (without Krenko at the head) is underwhelming in a format where players have fourty life. With all the new tribal synergies, perhaps this is a good route to go!
Playing a mono red deck comes with many challenges, and I'm sure you've all heard it all before. bla bla bla, card draw, no enchantment removal. Grenzo is great in the way you can play these cards off the top of your opponnents' decks. However, one should not depend on these filling these gaps with the exile ability. It's important to have these cards in your main deck.
Strategy
In most games that I have played, the primary use of Grenzo is to "goad" your opponents' creatures. The goal of this deck is to get a chain of goading in, so your opponnents are always attacking eachother, and their creatures remain tapped. When there are extra triggers, or you have some strong evasion enchantments, Grenzo's secondary ability of exiling your opponents cards is very powerful. Not only can this give you extra cards and play, but it can remove powerful combo cards from opponnent's decks.
This deck is very low to the ground, and alot of these low cmc creatures are important for getting the goad going early. At it's core, this is a mono red token deck. Alot of the enchantments help your creatures get into "the red zone." While there are alot of great two drop goblin and goblin token generators, I've decided to limit this slot, because Grenzo is very often played on turn two.
Central Themes of the deck
Evasion
This can be hard to get in red, but many cards shore up this weakness.
Bedlam is incredibly powerful, especially since your opponents will be forced to be attacking eachother.
Break Through the Line and
War Cadence
are very well suited for this deck.
Goblin War Drums is another great choice for getting into the red zone.
Keep the Goad Going
Often times the goad chain can end when your opponent plays a big fatty that gets in the way of your creatures. It's really important to get these creatures out of the way so you're not throwing away your own creatures.
Frenzied Goblin
does double duty here by being an early attacker, as well as ensuring that your weenies can get through to keep the goad going.
Uphill Battle
will ensure that these creatures come into play tapped.
But hey, need a reset? The new "wrath of goad" or
Disrupt Decorum
Will get you there!
Keep People Attacking
Fumiko the Lowblood
Puts in some heavy lifting by keeping your opponents attacking, and keeping them tapped!
Curse of Opulence seems like a great fit for this deck, as it will not only encourage attacks, but also give you extra mana!
Grand Melee
and
Invasion Plans
were originally in the list, but the clauses that affect blockers made it difficult to play. Often, tokens without haste would be turned into chump blockers.
Card Draw
While Grenzo has built in card draw with his attacks, it's important to have some draw to ensure that if your board is empty, your not sitting there with an empty hand as well.
Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fate Reforge the Soul all help refill your hand while disrupting opponnents' game plans.
Mind's Eye Is incredibly powerful for keeping up with other blue mages!
Skullclamp enough said.
Outpost Siege and Chandra, Torch of Defiance do a half bad phyrexian arena impression.
Mana Ramp
Even though the curve is low, ramp is important for playing the spells that you exile with Grenzo.
Caged Sun and Extraplanar Lens Do great work in any mono colored deck.
Mana Echoes Is not just for the goblins. This card does some great work with thopters too! Any token generator is going to return alot of colorless mana, which is very powerful for playing post combat after a number of exile triggers.
Mind Stone was chosen to add some extra card draw to the deck.
Unstable Obelisk Helps remove troublesome enchantments or creatures that may get in your way.
Finishers
While I dont often like winning the game with combos, I decided to include two. The card choices were powerful in the deck on their own, and this deck needed a little higher power level to compete with my local meta.
Kiki-Jiki, the Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts is a classic combo that creates infinite creatures.
Neheb, the Eternal and Aggravated Assault With Bedlam and another creature creates infinite combat steps.
Insurrection is good in any red deck looking to close the game.
Purphoros, God of the Forge When this card drops, it quickly creates a clock. The firebreathing isn't half bad.
Marton Stromgald
a mono red bad Craterhoof Behemoth!!!!
Weaknesses
This deck can really suffer from any stax deck or pillow fort decks.
propoganda
type effects can really mess up your game plan (especially since your mono red.)
Grenzo and his friends are also vulnerable to board wipes, and this is a reason to play even more card draw to keep the hand full!
Thanks For Reading!
Well folks, that's all I'm going to write up for now. While this deck isn't intrisically the most powerful, Grenzo is an incredibly fun commander to play. I am very open to suggestions, as this deck is continuing to evolve. If anyone has any questions about specific card choices, I would be very happy to answer those questions as well! Cheers, and thanks for reading!
