Not Creature? THEN DIE!

Commander / EDH Aggro Bracket 3 Casual RG (Gruul) Theme/Gimmick

gildan_bladeborn

Creature (60)

• 1x Arashi, the Sky Asunder
• 1x Augur of Autumn
• 1x Balefire Dragon
• 1x Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 1x Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest
• 1x Dragonlord Atarka
• 1x Eladamri, Korvecdal
• 1x Elder Gargaroth
• 1x Fanatic of Rhonas
• 1x Goblin Anarchomancer
• 1x God-Eternal Rhonas
• 1x Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1x Grand Warlord Radha
• 1x Gruul Ragebeast
• 1x Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea
• 1x Hateflayer
• 1x Hellkite Charger *f-etch*
• 1x Hellkite Tyrant
• 1x Homura, Human Ascendant  ^Flip
• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar *f-etch*
• 1x Jiwari, the Earth Aflame
• 1x Klothys, God of Destiny
• 1x Kogla and Yidaro
• 1x Kogla, the Titan Ape
• 1x Loot, Exuberant Explorer
• 1x Mina and Denn, Wildborn
• 1x Moonveil Dragon
• 1x Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1x Muerra, Trash Tactician
• 1x Nikya of the Old Ways
• 1x Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 1x Nylea, Keen-Eyed
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1x Ohran Frostfang
• 1x Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth  ^Flip
• 1x Omnath, Locus of Rage
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Questing Beast
• 1x Regal Behemoth
• 1x Saryth, the Viper's Fang
• 1x Savage Ventmaw
• 1x Scourge of the Throne
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1x Shefet Monitor
• 1x Silverback Elder
• 1x Stonehoof Chieftain *f-etch*
• 1x Svella, Ice Shaper
• 1x Tempting Licid
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1x Trailtracker Scout
• 1x Twinflame Tyrant
• 1x Utvara Hellkite
• 1x Vaultborn Tyrant
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie
• 1x Xenagos, God of Revels
• 1x Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

Land (38)

• 1x Amonkhet Raceway
• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Arena of Glory
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Commercial District
• 1x Copperline Gorge
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Fire-Lit Thicket
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Grove of the Burnwillows
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Sheltered Thicket
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Thornspire Verge
• 1x War Room
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Commander (1)

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas

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I worry sometimes that this deck might be too subtle.

Ruric Thar is an amusing card that I became aware of, in the early days when I was consuming long-form Magic content produced by internet comedians despite not owning any cards or actually "playing the game" (fun fact: watching those same comedians draft purposefully terrible decks on MtGO is how I actually learned to play, quite a while before I ever finally sat down to play), that caused my brain to immediately proclaim "This is your favorite card that encapsulates everything you want to do (in this game you don't even play but for some reason watch podcasts that internet comedians produce, discussing it at length)", so when I actually did start playing Magic I knew I'd love to try to make a Commander deck around him; when I noticed that the EDH points binder at my old LGS had a foil Ruric up for grabs, I promptly nabbed it and went home to do just that, and came back the next day with a horrible mess that I've been improving or otherwise modifying ever since.

The original version was more of a pile of cards pulled from what I had lying around at hand than a constructed deck, so there were a bunch of underwhelming vanilla dudes in there thanks to my limited collection at the time, and a lot of stuff that was "fine" but not amazing (I'd only started playing Magic in February of 2014 and I "built" this deck a couple weeks later and of course it is as I'm editing this paragraph currently space year 2025, so a lot of the cards on the list now weren't there back then because they did not exist yet).

The current incarnation isn't what I would consider to be hideously expensive, at least as far as decks in the format can go (in that a hypothetical version of it running all the same cards but they aren't shiny/fancy could be assembled for somewhere in the ballpark of $600 or so (with a big chunk of that just the result of particular lands you don't strictly speaking need, as is ever the case); I would be lying through my teeth if I implied the actual deck I have sleeved up is anything but very very expensive for a stack of what are at the end of the day just "cardboard rectangles", it's rammed full of shiny/fancy/shiny & fancy versions) but it's definitely no longer a budget deck slapped together literally over night (still 100% a meme I will never grow tired of though, because Ruric is as previously noted "my favorite card in all of Magic"), and now that it's about as done as a Commander deck I own ever is (aka "it changes on a semi-regular basis because Wizards keeps printing new cool stuff"), I can go into the reasoning behind why all the various cards are in there, without worrying that I'd just end up replacing them a day or two later after I did.

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The Basic Conceit of the deck's construction - the Commander

Ruric Thar, the Unbowed will punch anyone who casts non-creature spells in the face, whether that's your opponents or you; they're an equal opportunity face-puncher. Rather than play around Ruric's abilities - by timing when I cast them in a more "normal" Gruul deck with the typical ratio of spells to creatures, or perhaps incorporating ways to counteract the inevitable punching of my own face for doing the thing that causes all every face to get punched - I built one where Ruric & Thar (those being the respective names of the 2 heads of the ogre with an axe for a hand), if they ever punch me at all, will only do so the one time... because there is literally only the one card in the entire deck that breaks the following design constraint:

Any effect I might want from a non-creature spell in the deck can only be included if it can be found in creature form.

It might seem like a bit of a cop-out to run a planeswalker in my gimmick deck, but that's actually just me adhering to my personal "every Commander deck runs at least 1 planeswalker" overarching deckbuilding constraint, so that's really just me being consistent; the actual cop-out was also including Bow of Nylea, back when I still did that.

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Ramping for Fun and Profit, Creature Edition (plus the lone planeswalker)

• Domri, Anarch of Bolas - This particular (and apparently, last) iteration of Domri is just a versatile little toolbox, that checks boxes across several categories.
• Fanatic of Rhonas - By itself, in a complete vacuum, it's a 1/4 for 2 that taps for {G}; alongside a single example of "the sort of creature that most of the deck consists of" it's a 2-mana 1/4 that taps for {G}{G}{G}{G}, which is nuts. Also it can come back from the graveyard as a larger creature that fulfills its own criteria to enable the 2nd mana ability, which is straight bonkers, this card is amazing.
• Goblin Anarchomancer - When every single spell in the deck meets the criteria this checks for... the Anarchomancer "essentially" functions as a mana dork that I can "tap" an arbitrary number of times per turn, while leaving it untapped to attack and/or block (because of course it doesn't make mana, it makes my spells cost 1 less).
• Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma - Given the vast majority of creatures in the deck have 4 or more power, reducing how much those spells cost by {2} is bonkers good. This card featuring additional text is just gravy (but that additional text is also quite relevant in many scenarios).
• Grand Warlord Radha - Possibly the most Gruul ramp card ever printed, attacking to make mana is just the best.
• Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea - Ramp with a condition that's almost entirely irrelevant to a deck where all but one thing is a creature, that can be potentially used multiple times per turn, and in the process it gets increasingly swole? Oh hell yes.
• Loot, Exuberant Explorer - Playing additional land per turn is great, but not being a total dead draw when in top-deck mode is why this particular extra lands creature is on the list; that activated ability certainly ain't cheap but it also ain't gonna whiff much, when I have the opportunity to activate it.
• Mina and Denn, Wildborn - As previously stated, playing more than 1 land per turn is great (highly recommend it), but it's their particular stat-line plus the activated ability that grants trample (relevant) while bouncing a land back to my hand (meaning that even without a second land in hand to play (or any land for that matter), I can still get multiple landfall triggers and/or use a particular utility land multiple times per turn)) that are why they're on the list, over various other 3-mana "extra lands per turn" creatures that I could be running instead.
• Muerra, Trash Tactician - The timing of the mana generating ability (that isn't a mana ability, in that it uses the stack) can be situationally awkward, since it forces you to do something 1st main phase or lose it (though there are of course good reasons to be doing that anyways in many scenarios), and the comparative dearth of other raccoons on the list means it won't actually scale up past 2 mana (which is still good of course)... but that isn't really why Muerra is in the deck: that's just what happens consistently, because it's the automatic bit. Incidental lifegain that will trigger on basically any turn I cast "most of the spells in this deck" also isn't why - though that's nice of course - it's the extra steam it injects into scenarios where I've popped off in terms of "having loads of mana to spend" but maybe haven't also assembled "a way to keep having things to spend it on", which Muerra neatly addresses via that 3rd ability.
• Nikya of the Old Ways - Effectively doubles mana production (from lands that tapped for a single mana, because "not actually double") with a downside that's almost entirely irrelevant to a deck running a solitary non-creature spell.
• Nyxbloom Ancient - The "Mana Chonk" seems like the sort of thing that would be "win more", but I tested this extensively - turns out tripling (actually tripling, unlike the other "doubling" effects in the list) the results of tapping anything for mana (not just lands!) is basically always good and more often than not is insanely good; you're not really having fun playing Magic until you're breaking out the calculator, science fact.
• Oracle of Mul Daya - What's better than playing 2 lands per turn? The potential ability to play those 2 lands per turn even when no land cards are actually in hand, provided the top cards of the library are lands. Showing people all the cards I draw as a consequence is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, for what is still the exemplar of a "so you want to play multiple lands per turn, do ya?" creature that all the other ones Wizards has ever seen fit to print get measured against, and then don't surpass because this is straight up the best of the lot (it seems vanishingly unlikely indeed that we'll ever one day actually get a strictly better version, given they keep making those worse versions that only provide 1 half of this effect).
• Regal Behemoth - Semi-reliable card advantage (past the initial turn at least), combined with semi-reliable mana "essentially doubling (but in a way that, if the land normally only tapped for a single mana, actually winds up being better, since the bonus mana can be a type that the land wasn't tapped for/doesn't even make)" from lands on a decently sized body with a relevant ability = get in my deck. Enticing people to attack me with the promise of drawing more cards if they hit is barely even a downside in this deck; if anything, now I have even more excuses for attacking them back afterwards.
• Savage Ventmaw - It's difficult to classify a 6-mana creature without haste as exactly ramp per se, when the curve tops out at 8, but considering it only has to attack once to completely refund its casting cost, that I have ways to give things haste and/or generate additional combat steps per turn (one in particular that this kind of goes hand in hand with)... yeah, when I saw this spoiled it was basically a snap-include.
• Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - In a vacuum the new Selvala is broadly similar to her previous incarnation, in that she's (sort of) group-hug in the form of card draw for everyone, and conditional ramp for just me. Except this version may not actually give the people who are not me any cards at all and the ramp is incredible (albeit less impressive on an otherwise empty board state).
• Shaman of Forgotten Ways - A decently sized body who offers a very flexible mana-producing ability with a downside that's almost irrelevant in a deck that pretty much just runs creatures (a bit more relevant than the rider that Gwenna comes with, since the Shaman only allows for casting, not also activating abilities); the ability to cast "pseudo-Biorhythm that my opponents can totally see coming from a mile away in almost very possible scenario so it's definitely their fault for allowing it and I don't feel even remotely sorry" every once in a blue moon is also not nothing.
• Shefet Monitor - Essentially, this is a 4-mana instant speed ramp spell that puts a land onto the battlefield untapped and also draws a card, that is simultaneously "almost" impossible to counter, because of course it is not casting a spell at all, but rather activating an ability, so only a much smaller subset of counterspells would do the trick. Also, every once in a great while... it might be a creature instead (or "also", if someone else reanimates it after I pitch it; technically I can bring it back from the 'yard to cast it as a creature myself, but I don't wanna (unless I'm that desperate to have a body on the field).
• Silverback Elder - The ramp mode of the gorilla shaman is not the most consistent necessarily, in that it is very possible to whiff and just... put 5 cards onto the bottom of my library (which is a definite "feels bad, man" moment, when that happens), but between it digging that 5 cards down and the criteria being simply "any land", it shouldn't whiff all that much, in its ramp mode.
• Svella, Ice Shaper - This is a deck that voluntarily doesn't run any "mana-rocks" (because those aren't creatures), so a creature that creates literal mana-rocks (lith = rock) is pretty tech. Plus she's a late game mana sink that can generate card advantage - what's not to like?
• Trailtracker Scout - Makes any color of mana - though I only care about 2 of those colors, in particular - "is a racoon" - that being something that is actually relevant sure isn't something I was ever expecting to be the case - for Muerra's trigger, and the Expend ability lets me regrow... well any other card in the entire deck that happened to wind up in the graveyard, since "those are literally all permanents", because every card in my entire deck is a permanent.

Ruric says "Screw you, Blue Mages" (aka, anti-counterspell tech)

• Cavern of Souls - Cavern is a staple of tribal decks, which this is not - it's in this deck just so I can name "warrior" and laugh at the player sandbagging any number of counterspells for when I try to cast Ruric. Making a few other warriors in the deck unable to be countered is really just an added bonus.
• Domri, Anarch of Bolas - The "creature spells you cast this turn can't be countered" rider attached to the mana he generates with his +1 kind of becomes "spells you cast this turn can't be countered" when literally every other spell in the deck is "a creature spell".

Sweeper Effects and other Removal, via Creatures (and the lone planeswalker)

• Arashi, the Sky Asunder and Jiwari, the Earth Aflame - Two sides of a coin, with the option to cast them either as creatures that then provide targeted removal on a stick via "quasi-Fireball" effects, or channel them and hit everything in the air or on the ground, depending on the situation. The channel mechanic also bypasses cards that impose timing restrictions or otherwise prevent casting, whilst dodging the vast majority of counterspell effects, since using channel is activating an ability of a card and not casting a spell.
• Balefire Dragon - Even without the ability text, it's a 6/6 flier - those are quite decent, generally speaking - but of course this is a creature capable of hitting someone for 6 and then also hitting every creature they control for 6 at the same time, which by itself is a scary effect. I run him in a deck with ways to ensure it gets through pesky blockers and/or hits for a bunch more than its printed stats however; people without answers in their hands tend to visibly wince when this hits the table.
• Boseiju, Who Endures - For a paltry 2 mana - if there is no legendary creature around to reduce that to a single mana - this land has the option to function as "instant-speed but also not actually an instant (and therefore much, much better/harder to deal with) artifact, enchantment, or non-basic land destruction", instead of "an untapped source of green mana" that it would be otherwise, that also skirts a number of ways those things might be protected from being targeted and then destroyed, because it is a land, and lands are colorless; the opponent does then get to find a land "with a basic land type" (which is notably not the same stipulation as "a basic land"), but that's a downside I'll happily take.
• Domri, Anarch of Bolas - Domri's -2 ability that turns my creatures into removal (or rather "direct damage to a creature" that might result in them "becoming removed") means he fits this category as well.
• Dragonlord Atarka - I'd been telling people at my old LGS that I would windmill slam the new version of Atarka into this deck no matter what it actually did solely on the basis of it being "an elder dragon in my colors" prior to the card getting spoiled back in the day, and it wound up dealing 5 damage divided as I choose among creatures and/or planeswalkers I don't control, and then leaving an 8/8 trampling flier afterwards, so Atarka has never made me regret my blind pronouncement that I'd be playing it "no matter what".
• Gruul Ragebeast - On his own, he's a one-shot fight effect if I target something that punches back in his weight class (sometimes you just have to spend 7 mana and a card to kill something). If he lives past that initial fight though, things just get silly because then every creature I cast and any token I generate from that point on for as long as he's on the table turns into targeted removal. The fact that the effect is not optional (if it's your first time at fight club you have to fight) is also why my smaller creatures all have at least 2 toughness, as trading an actual mana-dork for some jank 1/1 token is a real "feels bad" moment.
• Hateflayer - I have a soft spot for weird old mechanics, and the Untap symbol certainly qualifies as such, but even if Hateflayer had tapped to punch any target with Wither (for whatever its power happens to be at the time, gotta love abilities that get better when you buff the creature they're attached to), the ability to remove indestructible creatures alone would probably make it worth running. But it untaps instead, so I get to attack with it, zap something, and still have it untapped to block.
• Kogla and Yidaro - "Versatility" is the word that best describes this particular of the March of the Machines "team-up" cards, where WotC mashed two creatures together in a way that broadly encompasses what they're known for in individual form: you either have instant-speed (but notably not casting nor an instant) artifact/enchantment removal that replaces itself (potentially with itself, since in the nod to Yidaro's unique gimmick it first shuffles back into the library, and then you draw the card) via the discard ability, or you have an under-costed 7/7 that fights something on ETB, or it's a big dumb (pair of) idiot(s) that turn sideways immediately if what you need is simply "to smash your opponent, immediately".
• Kogla, the Titan Ape - A non-mandatory 1-shot ETB fight effect stapled onto repeatable artifact/enchantment destruction with a solid body? Sounds good to me - in this particular deck the activated ability won't be relevant super often, but there are still scenarios where it might be since there are a handful of humans kicking around the list, so bonus value there (one of which, in the magical Christmasland scenario where I happen into all 5+ moving components because "can't search for literally any of them", does potentially allow for infinite mana/damage/just drawing and then playing the entire deck on the spot, so... that's cool (and happening just shy of approximately never, which is why I'm only vaguely alluding to it instead of spelling it out)).
• Omnath, Locus of Rage - Omnath 2.0 turns making a land drop into a free 5/5, which is sweet, but turning the death of himself or any other elemental into lightning bolts (whether the ones he makes or the few other elementals already in the deck) in addition to just spitting out those 5/5s from dropping land (in a deck that is either going to draw a creature or a land 99% of the time) makes him pretty ridiculous.
• Silverback Elder - Cast a creature? Need an artifact or enchantment to go away? The gorilla shaman delivers.
• Terror of the Peaks - It's not "exactly" Warstorm Surge, but stapled to a dragon (in that the source of the damage is the dragon, rather than the creature that ETB'd)... but it's basically Warstorm Surge, stapled to a dragon. I was so very happy when this got spoiled.

The Enchantment Suite (of Creatures)

• Homura, Human Ascendant   - Homura is a just terrible creature (4/4 for {4}{R}{R} that can't block? Bleh!) that is actually completely awesome; if opponents can't continuously chump block or block with a creature that won't die and won't kill Homura in turn (or have some other shenanigans), then that's 4 damage they're just eating every turn, as I turn him sideways. Because when he dies (and oh do I ever want him to), he comes back as an enchantment giving all my stuff +2/+2 and flying and also fire-breathing, all without ever needing to cast it as an enchantment and consequently take 6 from Ruric, the equal-opportunity face puncher. Homura is the one creature I'm always extremely happy to have on my board when someone goes to board-wipe.
• Klothys, God of Destiny - Graveyard hate that's also ramp or damage + lifegain - Klothys is going to do "something" useful almost all of the time (provided there is actually "something" in "anyone's graveyard"), and in a deck with a single way to get anything back from my graveyard (that doesn't just come with that ability stapled onto itself), it essentially comes with no downside whatsoever (for me, it's straight downside all day long for the people who are not me).
• Nylea, God of the Hunt - Worst case scenario, OG Nylea is an indestructible enchantment that gives my team trample and lets me dump surplus mana into bolstering a creature's power & toughness, and Ruric doesn't punch me for casting her because Gods are always creatures in every zone except the battlefield; best case scenario I get all that and a 6/6 body to attack and block with.
• Nylea, Keen-Eyed - Cost reduction for creature spells? An activated ability that lets me get more creatures into hand (or the land I was going to draw into the bin, so I hopefully then draw a creature)? On an indestructible enchantment that bypasses Ruric's face-punching clause? There was no way I wasn't running this.
• Purphoros, God of the Forge - As with OG Nylea, at worst he's an indestructible mana-sink that does a relevant thing - specifically "turn creatures ETBing into doming out my opponents" - and sometimes he gets to attack and/or block.
• Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded - Indestructible "haste for the team (but not himself)" stapled to "somewhat overpriced and more conditional Sneak Attack" is pretty sweet, all things considered; being a 7/6 some of the time is just gravy really.
• Tempting Licid - I get a repeatable Lure effect that Ruric will never punch me for because it's always cast as a creature and then turns into an enchantment (and possibly back into a creature to later enchant something else), what's not to love? It's also essentially immune to any form of targeted enchantment removal that doesn't also hit creatures provided I have {G} available while it's in enchantment form, even spells with Split Second like Krosan Grip don't do the trick (because paying the cost to end the effect that changes its type is a special action, which doesn't use the stack; people forget that you do still always get PRIORITY even with Split Second, you just usually can't do anything when you have it), something a few opponents have learned to their cost). Obviously though "a board wipe" just wrecks it, unless it was attached to something indestructible that remains a creature when all the ones that are not indestructible go bye bye, but that's true for most of my stuff.
• Xenagos, God of Revels - Doubling any creature in my deck's power (and possibly its toughness, it depends on the base stats) and giving it haste every turn is pretty rad; doing that to my commander is just mean, so that's generally what I do when I get the option. I'm never ever sorry to see Xenagos around, even if I never get to turn him sideways, as there's really no scenario apart from "Xenagos is my only non-land permanent (and then I draw nothing but a series of lands)" where he isn't doing something useful basically every turn, without needing to turn sideways (but of course he can also do that too, and often does).

Other Spell Effects, stapled onto Creatures (or the lone planeswalker)

• Augur of Autumn - Potentially being able to both play lands off the top and cast creatures from the top of the deck is a heck of a thing to put on a single card (hence the hoops to turn on that last part), particularly when you are playing a gimmick deck where there is only a single card in that deck that is neither of those things; my jaw dropped when I spotted this during spoiler season.
• Domri, Anarch of Bolas - Domri's static banner effect boosting my creature's power brings the total number of categories he slots into to 4.
• Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest - In a complete vacuum the bird dragon provides a straight up better version of Chandra, Torch of Defiance's 1st ability - in that you get to the end step of the current turn to use the exiled cards, rather than "right then as the ability resolves", and it uses the "you may play" wording, so lands don't just definitely stay exiled (then get turned into damage) - on ETB and then attack... but that's in a complete vacuum: with any other example of "the sort of creature this deck plays loads of" - aka "things with 4 or more power" - it will actually be multiple cards getting exiled and then either utilized or turning into table-wide burn, stapled onto a 5/5 flier that is also dragon (and a bird, but that's less relevant) that I'd want to turn sideways regardless.
• Eladamri, Korvecdal - Casting creatures from the top of the library = hell yes, get in my deck (if a creature is what is allowing that, of course). Doing that plus also having the option of paying a paltry {G} (and tapping 3 creatures total, worded in that funny ole' way that totally lets you tap creatures that are themselves summoning sick) to drop "literally any creature that is in my hand/on top my library" = even more hell yes, get in my deck, Eladamri is bonkers (which is of course why he was "injected directly into Modern" rather than a Standard-legal set).
• Hellkite Charger *f-etch* - This is a deck that I'd absolutely love to run Aggravated Assault in, but that is of course "not a creature". So a dragon that does roughly the same thing for 2 more mana while also being a dragon (in the sense that it flies and also "is a dragon", a not irrelevant detail given a particular other creature within the list) seems like a natural fit for a deck that wants to win via "attacking with creatures".
• Moonveil Dragon - This absolute gem from OG Innistrad block is like having an enchantment that reads "Pay {R}: creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn", except that enchantment is of course a 5/5 flier, and also a dragon.
• Ohran Frostfang - Provides the same effect I could only get previously via running Bow of Nylea, something I used to do in the days before Ohran Frostfang existed, except even better because it also turns all my creatures attacking with deathtouch into card draw engines, should my opponents not block the things they won't want to block because of that bit where they all have deathtouch. Everyone wins (where "everyone" = "just me")!
• Questing Beast - There is just so much great text on this creature (the text box of Questing Beast is 'an meme' for a reason), but the specific line of upside on this creature that is just nothing but upside, aka "why this is in the deck now" is specifically the part where it says "Fogs don't work anymore". Well it doesn't actually say that in as many words, but that is what "Combat damage that would be dealt by creatures you control can't be prevented" actually means, when Questing Beast is around, fogs simply do not work anymore.
• Saryth, the Viper's Fang - Giving other untapped creatures hexproof while "essentially" (but not actually) giving attacking creatures deathtouch (because attacking without tapping "is a thing that is possible"), when combined with the flexible "untap" ability, is just an interesting little suite of options - it is specifically the way she interacts with creatures that tap to deal direct damage though (plus that other stuff) that convinced me to put her on the list (giving deathtouch to your removal on a stick is immensely satisfying).
• Silverback Elder - Need to gain life? Just cast a creature.
• Toski, Bearer of Secrets - Judged as a creature, Toski is... well he's pretty bad - a 1/1 for {3}{G} that has to attack is distinctly unimpressive, to say the least. But that's the wrong way to evaluate the legendary squirrel, because he's essentially an enchantment that turns "my creatures hitting opponents" into "me drawing cards", that can't be countered and can't be destroyed. For {3}{G}. Also it's not actually an enchantment so Ruric no punch me. Also also... it comes with this derpy 1/1 that has to attack each combat.
• Twinflame Tyrant - This sort of 1-sided damage doubling effect has existed in creature form for a while - though the wording on Angrath's Marauders is different in a way that can be significant, in that the adjusted wording means the doubled damage can only ever apply to "not me (or my stuff)" - but that difference in wording isn't why Twinflame Tyrant is on the list now, and why the Marauders had never made the cut in the years they've existed: it's the part where, to borrow the parlance of one Benjamin Wheeler, the Marauders are just "a big donkey", that cost 7 whole mana. This is a dragon that flies and costs a measly 5.
• Vaultborn Tyrant - It's the most relevant part of Garruk's Uprising - ie "the card draw bits" - but instead of granting trample it has it itself; also lifegain is stapled onto that card draw, and it comes back (in token artifact form) the first time it dies? Get in my deck!
• Vizier of the Menagerie - When your deck list has only 1 non-creature spell in it, effects like what the Vizier provides really get to shine. Letting me just disregard mana costs to cast stuff and deal in raw mana value is also super helpful, but it's the ability to cast 1 or more creatures without necessarily needing any in hand to start with that is the real draw here.
• Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus - It's Unnatural Growth, stapled to a body, that also comes with a way to (potentially) dodge removal. The way it interacts with turns in which there are multiple combat steps is bonkers (even if it's an opponent generating those, since it is of course "each combat").

Creatures that are just plain ole' AWESOME

• Bonehoard Dracosaur - It doesn't reliably ramp or spit out bodies each turn after it hits the table - that being why this is not listed in the ramp section - but it will always do at least one of those things each turn, if not both, since the qualities it checks for in the 2 cards it exiles and allows me to play for the duration of that turn (which is like drawing 3 cards each turn, if you squint a whole bunch) are just "land" or "not land" (those being the 2 broad categories that all Magic cards fall into, lands and "not lands"). Also it's an on-rate dragon (and dinosaur, but that's not actually relevant to anything else in the deck (but it is cool)) with first strike.
• Elder Gargaroth - The only downside to this creature is that it doesn't have an ETB, so it's a removal magnet without an immediate impact on the board state on the turn it comes down. If I get to attack or someone is just dumb enough to attack into and therefore let me block with it though, well that's just a 1-way ticket straight to "value town"! There's rarely ever going to be a scenario where at least one of the 3 things it lets me pick from isn't something I'll want to do at any given point in a game, over and over again.
• God-Eternal Rhonas - Solid stats, comes with its own recursion, has deathtouch - all good things - but that bonkers ETB is why ole' zombie Rhonas is in the deck (and will likely never ever leave). Doubling the team's power and attacking with vigilance is the sort of thing that ends games (or at least breaks up what was otherwise a board stall).
• Hellkite Tyrant - The alternate win condition is pretty much never happening (in that to date it has literally never happened across every game it featured in), but punching someone to take all of their artifacts without there being a corresponding clause to at any point give them back? Yeah, that's well worth running all on its own, just in general; stealing all the mana-rocks I purposefully don't myself include is hilarious.
• Ilharg, the Raze-Boar - Combining a solid & slightly under-costed recursive creature with the ability to "bring a friend" (potentially over, and over again) made this a very easy include, when it was spoiled.
• Moraug, Fury of Akoum - Yes I would like to have bonus combat steps per turn - that first untap all of my creatures - for every land that I play, thanks for asking. Moraug also being a "lord" and thus making creatures progressively hit harder each time they attack per turn (starting with the 1st!) is just icing.
• Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth   - Cheating stuff into play via the most Gruul method possible - punching your opponents - with the sort of stipulation you love to see (aka "and/or", so... you can just get both) that comes back as a land when it dies, with an easily met condition to turn back into a creature again? Oh hell yes.
• Scourge of the Throne - The only downside to this creature is that eventually the player with the most life, should it stick around to do its thing, is just going to be me... and then I don't get to "do the thing" anymore. Until that point though, extra combat phases for doing something I was going to do anyways is rad. Also it gets progressively bigger if people keep having the temerity to have more life than I do, as it does the thing.
• Stonehoof Chieftain - An indestructible trampling 8/8 for {7}{G} is fine on its own, albeit a tad boring, but it's the part where it also makes any of my other creatures gain trample and indestructible when they attack (and thus can come down and have immediate impact on the board) that is why this immediately went into the deck & is unlikely to ever get cut, because that is kind of bonkers.
• Utvara Hellkite - A 6/6 flier that makes other 6/6 fliers whenever it attacks would be pretty rad, in a vacuum, but it's the fact that it actually just cares about dragons attacking - not just itself, so... real good when "here be dragons" is already a true statement - so those tokens themselves + all the various other dragons in the deck all themselves also make tokens for attacking, well that's almost gilding the lily. Things quickly get out of hand in a generally game-ending fashion if it gets to stick around for even a couple turns.

Noteworthy Lands (that I didn't already mention in another section)

• Amonkhet Raceway - It isn't as reliable as the other handful of land-based ways to give creatures haste that this deck could play (which is basically all of them, that effect not being particularly common) - in that "it doesn't do that at all initially" until you jump through the (admittedly not significant) hoops to attain max speed - but this sort of effect shines the most during the late-game/while operating in top-deck mode, the Raceway doesn't have any actual drawbacks, beyond that whole "needing to make opponents lose life across 3 of my turns after playing it" mini-game, and the cost to activate once max speed is attained is just "tapping it". So that's cool.
• Ancient TombGC - There is a reason this card gets flagged as a "game changer" for the new Commander Bracket system and that reason does a lot to explain why every single one of the subsequent iterations of "a land that taps to add {C}{C}" - without any sort of restriction on what you can spend it on - "are much, much worse" then the OG version from Tempest: Ancient Tomb is busted in half and allows for frankly disgusting(ly awesome, for me) lines of play (such as "Ruric, on turn 3") in exchange for a downside that matters even less than it normally does, because your starting life total in Commander is 40. You definitely don't need it (if you're building your own version of this deck or using it as a starting point for your own take on the concept, as many people have over the years) and could easily substitute one of the worse versions - like Arid Archway - with an upfront initial downside (but then... no more downside, so that's nice at least) that can do a passable, if still definitely worse impression of Ancient Tomb (or just play Gruul Turf, actually, because putting any of the bad Ancient Tombs on the list instead of Gruul Turf "would be stupid", since it's just as bad but actually makes 2 colors of mana)... but if you can stomach the price tag/just don't mind proxying (and aren't shooting for Brackets 1 or 2 where you are restricted to "no game changers") then you should play Ancient Tomb: it's busted in half.
• Arena of Glory - One of those other land-based ways to give creatures haste that does have drawbacks - potentially (but still not definitely, so that's nice) entering tapped & definitely can't be used 2 turns in a row on account of how exerting it is a necessary part of making it "do the thing" - that is worth those drawbacks because it grants haste to creatures in a completely mana-neutral way when it does do the thing, via generating {R}{R} in exchange for a payment of {R} and tapping, that then staples haste onto creature spells when it is spent to cast them; attaching that rider to the mana in that specific fashion also means that the Arena can potentially give haste to 2 dudes (or if mana is for some reason getting tripled and what it actually generates is 6 mana with that rider, as many as 6 dudes!) on the turns it is used to do the thing, which is neat.
• Bonders' Enclave - Repeatable card draw for not all that much mana with an absurdly easy hoop to jump through, in a deck full of big stompy creatures that meet the condition it checks for? This was a snap-include if I ever saw one when it got spoiled.
• Grove of the Burnwillows - This piece of fixing has a downside that in this deck is either basically irrelevant, or actually becomes an upside that you'll purposefully trigger because Dethrone is a thing that exists now that a particular dragon on the list has. Enjoy your life gain suckers!
• Kessig Wolf Run - It's essentially a fireball effect on a land, when you think about it.
• Mosswort Bridge - There are times when I play this and swear I'm going take it out of the deck, and then there are times I get to cast 8-drops at instant speed for a single green mana, and so I never wind up cutting it; when it works, it really works.
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - This is a staple of mono-color decks, but my entire deck is comprised of permanents and literally all of them that have a mana cost have at least 1 if not 2 or more colored pips in their mana cost, so even in a 2-color deck where one might think the devotion-land wouldn't have a home it actually winds up tapping for some truly absurd amounts of mana, by the time in the game where it is being tapped for colored mana.
• Rogue's Passage - This plus Ruric = win condition (albeit not necessarily a one-turn win condition, given Ruric does not intrinsically come with a game-ending amount of power nor hit every opponent simultaneously), but even if they're not around making something unblockable is a very relevant effect with funny edge case applications (take note that the words "you control" don't feature anywhere on it).
• Scavenger Grounds - Graveyard hate on a colorless permanent isn't new, but attaching it to a land that my gimmick deck can actually tutor for and place directly onto the battlefield at instant speed (and then potentially use right away, also at instant speed)? That's kind of rad. The effect itself is technically repeatable but in actual practice won't be, as this is the only desert included in the deck, deserts in general being what I consider "not good (enough for an already purposefully hamstrung gimmick deck)", absent the edge cases where I somehow wind up in control of lands that I don't own (that happen to be deserts). Still worth it though!
• Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep - Basically a mountain, in that it is a red source of mana that enters the battlefield untapped (but can't be fetched for, because not actually a mountain), but with additional utility stapled on that lets me screw with combat math sometimes (you would think people would see on-board tricks coming, but experience teaches otherwise).
• War Room - Repeatable card draw for not all that much mana stapled to a land, with no hoops to jump through (apart from "having more then 2 life" so that activating it doesn't just kill me), is very useful indeed.

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General deck strategy

Smash all the things. Also, be sure to cast Ruric as soon as you possibly can in 99% of scenarios, because Ruric is just super good at making friends; you can tell that it's working by the resounding groans and overt threats, aka, "the sounds of friendship". Spread the love!

Top Ranked	Achieved #38 position overall 6 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Aggro 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Casual 4 years ago
Date added	11 years
Last updated	3 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	43 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 5 - 0 Uncommons 2 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.87
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Dinosaur 3/1 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Elemental 5/5 RG, Fanatic of Rhonas 4/4 B, Icy Manalith, Start Your Engines!, The Monarch, Treasure
Folders	Commander decks that exist, Commander, Ruric EDH, milldeck, Cool EDH Decks, Commander, Clever EDH Concepts, EDH, EDH Deck Ideas, EDH (ELITE)