Raised by Giants

Legendary Enchantment — Background

Commander creatures you own have base power and toughness 10/10 and are Giants in addition to their other types.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (17)

DreadKhan on Canadian Short-King

3 months ago

Who knows if it's entirely 'good' in here, but Raised by Giants isn't an aura and it gives Wolverine +8/+8, too bad it doesn't come with Trample! There is also Belt of Giant Strength that might synergize for a handy buff.

Maybe One with the Kami? It doesn't have to go on Wolverine, and if he's strong enough you a ton of bodies. The card can go infinite with many other cards fwiw, but I've rarely seen it used for that so it shouldn't attract attention.

While it might not look fantastic at first glance, Kessig Wolf Run is a pretty useful card in most Gruul lists that feature ramp, and in this list it's even better since your Commander can regenerate if the opponent kills him due to low toughness. Since it's a land it's a safer include IMHO. Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep is a much fancier land, but First Strike seems like it'd be a nice ability to have. Final one, the new Arena of Glory, Haste is a sweet ability.

Inquisitor's Flail is a card I always look at when I build a Voltron list, if it's at all possible to be sneaky with it it's a very cheap damage doubling equipment that stacks with almost everything. Just this and and your Commander hits for 8 without any counters, and you can just regenerate him if he dies, but it's even better with double strike, then you'd hit for 16 from just those 2 things, and having even +1 power would turn it into 24, which is lethal.

As for possible cuts:

I don't love Assault Strobe, I hate that it's a Sorcery, especially when even Temur Battle Rage exists, giving double strike without trample seems like a bad idea. BTW I'm not saying run Battle Rage necessarily, I don't know if you want a one and done like this, and you for sure don't want it to be a Sorcery IMHO.

Animist's Might makes me wonder if Monstrous Onslaught is better, it doesn't have to target your own creature so it's harder to disrupt, and the ability to spread the damage out can make things very ugly for people if have a big creature. Might to me looks like it'd be cheaper to cast, but you'll only ever kill one creature with it. Similarly I don't love Contest of Claws, Sorcery speed removal isn't very good and I'm not sure that's enough upside (though it is better than Might fwiw, I'd look at better cards). If you're dead set on a card like this why not use Stump Stomp  ^Flip instead? At least it's a land if you're desperate.

Grumgully the Generous seems bad? I could be missing something, but a single +1 counter doesn't sound like it's worth a slot, especially at 3 mana, and you can only get it on ETB, so it's VERY timing sensitive; do you REALLY want to delay Wolverine a turn for this guy? I love the flavor of the card so I could see it being a pet card, so if it's a favorite keep it! Similarly I don't know about Renata, Called to the Hunt, both of these are great if you've got synergies with the counters, but if you don't they are just a one time +1/+1, and if they come down late they might just do nothing at all.

Concord With the Kami looks like a bit of a trap to me, if you are getting wiped a lot the card will do nothing, right, and that's when you want it the most!

How often do you find yourself drawing more than 3 cards with Season of Growth? I think Harmonize is going to play more consistently fwiw, but if you find you're usually drawing 3 or more cards with Season it's probably fine.

Do you really need to size of the effect for Signature Slam? It seems worse than Kamahl's Will, which costs only one more for an (arguably) much bigger effect. These lands are Indestructible and have Vigilance, so they can all safely swing (and can benefit from buffs as creatures for that turn) if you need that, but they can also work as handy blockers, I feel like killing the opponent's best creature AND making a bunch of blockers is nice upside?

I don't think you want or need stuff like Arcane Signet or Gruul Signet in Gruul, you're already vulnerable to stuff like Bane of Progress, so why increase that vulnerability? There are still Green ramp spells out there fwiw, including Three Visits. I guess the rocks are cheaper (and can add Green when you're truly desperate), but it seems more like an allowance to run more Basics (in a deck that doesn't run anything like Primal Order or Blood Moon), do you have some good payoffs for running Basics over the odd dual? I get the price point, but I feel like when you go much over $100 you have to start spending more on lands, or really lean into some kind of synergy with Basics, such as the ability to dig out a TON of Basics somehow (there are cards like Traverse the Outlands I guess).

I hope some of these ideas help, apologies if I suggested you cut any pet cards!

Nunu312 on Bealoth elfball

8 months ago

This deck is pretty cool, I love me some goad. It does run pretty good as well.

But I do feel it's also quite fragile, lacks card draw and has a bunch of deckbuilding traps in it. The only real way to protect your commander is Swiftfoot Boots, Tyvar's Stand Wrap in Vigor and two of those are instants that mean you need untapped mana. Given you are going to be getting him out on turn 4-5 and then pumping him up turn 5-6, he will be quite vulnerable to any form of damage or control. And given his ability, he is going to be a target for the whole table.

There are quite a few more instants that are good for protection, the standout being Heroic Intervention that will protect your whole board state. For ongoing protection Asceticism is a little expensive but it comes online at about the right time and is quite strong. I don't think you need much more but that goes hand in hand with the next thing.

Actually getting to these is going to be pretty unreliable though as you have 3ish sources of card draw. Given an average game might go 15 turns (lot of variance I know), that's 23 cards. You will be seeing about 1 source of card draw every 3 games. The deck thinning from dropping extra land helps, but I would recommend about 10 cards that have some form of drawing, meaning you should bump into one by at least turn 3 every game. These might just be things like Commander's Sphere, War Room or Collector's Vault, but red has some good ones like Cathartic Reunion. There are a lot of options here and it's just good to get up to a certain critical mass.

You might also be able to make yourself a little more resistant to control with some recursion (people are going to be killing Raised by Giants), Eternal Witness being the green standard but I'm sure you can find an elf like version.

As for the traps I mentioned... Those are things like:

Guild Artisan, Which requires you to attack with your commander, and gives you two mana. Your commander might attack 2-4 times after turn 8? It's not hard to replace, but its surprising how slow some cards that seem good can be.

Farhaven Elf is similarly pretty good, but your deck doesn't benefit from having it over Llanowar Elves, which only costs 1. The only difference is that land doesn't die easy... but unless someone is trying wipe the board or you really need a blocker, neither do the 1/1 elves.

Same for Kodama's Reach and co compared to the 2 cost versions like Three Visits. The extra land in hand is nice, but the one land in play a turn earlier is often nicer. These could speed the whole deck up by at least a turn.

Hope this helps

jarncards on Sleeping Elves Kill

1 year ago

Collected Company is one of the better cards in a deck like this.

If you run Green Sun's Zenith, I think you should run Dryad Arbor 100% of the time. Having the option to 1 mana ramp tutor as needed is the best in the game, even if it's fragile.

If you want to do the whole tap ten elves thing Benefactor's Draught, Vitalize, and Mobilize are useful. And as long as you're using mana dorks, they are good throughout the game. Birchlore Rangers is also a good mana dork for getting either color as needed if it matters. Like some of the others you have it can use creatures with summoning sickness.

Add Regal Force, you'll have the mana, and it draws infinity. Toski, Bearer of Secrets is also amazing at this.

Consider Patriarch's Bidding for when your ridiculous board state earns the response it will deserve. Also Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant

I cant build a green/black deck without Gaze of Granite and Pernicious Deed. They are great

Timberwatch Elf for the commander, or maybe Gempalm Strider might be better than Overrun. Trample isnt so important with so many creatures that will likely outnumber blockers, and the extra card from cycling and utility of another creature is worth considering. Ezuri, Renegade Leader is already in your deck and he's definitely the best option though. Beastmaster Ascension also works like a really inexpensive overun and turns on really easily.

Some of the green and black backgrounds area awesome Criminal Past, Cultist of the Absolute, Haunted One and Raised by Giants will stick around for the next cast even after your commander gets removed.

Consider Constant Mists or even instead of Fog, however I really don't think you need any of the fog effects. Honestly, you might actually need to worry about other people's fogs instead. Questing Beast is the only card that is capable of piercing though a Teferi's Protection or The One Ring in these colors. THrow in a Natural Order and you can get that, or a Craterhoof Behemoth when it matters most

Viridian Zealot, Reclamation Sage, Nullmage Shepherd, and Elvish Lyrist are useful for removal. You already have Glissa, but I dont think she's enough.

Elvish Champion might be your best lord. Pair it with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. Also definitely want to add Shizo, Death's Storehouse. Having lathril connect is important.

If you keep the tyvar planeswalkers, Harald Unites the Elves does a lot.

Kithkin Mourncaller might draw cards to use with your excessive mana. Leaf-Crowned Visionary, Skemfar Avenger, Miara, Thorn of the Glade do too, at a cost.

consider Crop Rotation. It can get nythkos, yavimaya.

Looking at your list you have almost nothing that turns on lathril in combat. look at Alpha Authority, Familiar Ground, Alpha Status, Gift of Doom, Rancor, Spider Umbra, Alpha Authority, Canopy Cover, Vorrac Battlehorns. Fallen Ideal is possibly my favorite with the die/sacrifce synergies you already have. Im not a fan of token doublers. I think youd be better off powering up lathril to make more tokens in the first place.

I would dump any ramp card that costs more than 3

DreadKhan on BBEG Deck Ideas

1 year ago

If you want a more control oriented Goad deck there is Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer, he's really silly with Raised by Giants as his Background. Baeloth's 'show' was to kidnap random people and force them to fight in his gladiatorial matches, it's not especially hard to raise Baeloth's power even higher, and as long as everything is Goaded he becomes fairly hard to block, and with Raised out he's a fairly hard hitter, though probably smaller than Thantis with the same amount of effort.

shock7123 on The Refined One

1 year ago

Since Wilson has "Choose a Background," you can move Raised by Giants into your command zone. That would allow you to more consistently pump the best bear boy during your games. Just mark RbG with the same tag you used to mark Wilson as your commander.

raincoat on Wilson, Refined Grizzly

2 years ago

Played a couple of rounds with this deck & I'm a big fan - for casual pods this is a very reliable/consistent Voltron commander. For a budget deck, I was pleasantly surprised with how effective it is. Well done!

Thoughts on running Raised by Giants in the 98? Six mana for +8/+8 on Wilson sounds like a pretty solid deal.

KBK7101 on What to do with Sisay

2 years ago

One take on Sisay I've seen a few times on here is having her be a Background voltron commander. It's kind of like a shrine deck but with backgrounds instead.

Inspiring Leader

Dragon Cultist

Raised by Giants

etc

Gidgetimer on Renata, Called to the Hunt …

2 years ago

The CDA is applied first and then the P/T setting effect from Raised by Giants, meaning that the commander is a base 10/10. Layer 7 is the layer in which P/T changes are applied. CDAs are applied in layer 7a, base P/T setting effects are in layer 7b.

613.4. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described below. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order. (See rule 613.7.) Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a sublayer. (See rule 613.8.)

613.4a Layer 7a: Effects from characteristic-defining abilities that define power and/or toughness are applied. See rule 604.3.

613.4b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.

613.4c Layer 7c: Effects and counters that modify power and/or toughness (but don’t set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.

613.4d Layer 7d: Effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness are applied. Such effects take the value of power and apply it to the creature’s toughness, and take the value of toughness and apply it to the creature’s power.