This is my idea of an abusive Xenagos list. We will be powering out fatties and beating face as hard as possible. Plan B is a lot more interesting, as we can go into a very grind mode if we cannot close out the game early with MLD and ways to abuse lands in the graveyard.
Land Destruction
Price of Glory is a fantastic rattlesnake card to slow down the spell slinging blue mage at the table. They will not want to counter your gigantic creatures, and then will die because they are not Gruul.
Ruination and Keldon Firebombers are selective MDL and are tricky to play. They can be monumental in slowing down problem placers or players with greedy mana bases (looking at you Cabal Coffers). They can be leveraged when you are falling behind to bring around pseudo-parity. They can also seal the deal when your board state is commanding and you basically remove the ability to interact with the gigantic board.
Decree of Annihilation is the hardest MLD to use, but arguably the strongest. We will be cycling it almost every time, and can be used to great effect with the next package.
Land Synergy
There is a strong synergy with our lands, even though we want to be destroying them.
Crucible of Worlds, Ramunap Excavator, World Shaper, and The Mending of Dominaria are all ways to get lands out of the graveyard to break parity when we drop our MLD.
Omnath, Locus of Rage and Rampaging Baltohs allow us to keep up pressure through the midgame as we dump lands into the battlefield. They are excellent after we wrath the lands and have one of our graveyard engines in play.
Sylvan Awakening is a great way to close out a game if we ramp every basic out of the deck with a giant Travers the Outlands. Inc a pinch we can also use it to save ourselves from an alpha strike.
Assault Combo
The deck has one combo in it in the form of Aggravated Assault.
Savage Ventmaw is one of the surefire ways to win the game from AA. Ventmaw generates more mana than it costs to active the Assault, and flyers are exceptional at evading any blockers on the battlefield.
Grand Warlord Radha and Bear Umbra are more situational ways to pull off the combo but are good in their own rights and sometimes suitable replacements for Ventmaw.
Playing the deck
From Behind Show
No matter how much rage you embrace, it in inevitable in EDH to be behind on the board. This is why we are including the MLD and ways to break parity through it. MLD is a great equalizer in a game.
We are skimping on the nonbasic lands specifically to run out Ruination in almost any board state and instantly jump to the top of the totem pole (and other peoples' shit list.)
You have two reset buttons in Worldslayer or Decree of Annihilation. These are best if paired with Heroic Intervention of course, but more often than not they reset the game and can setup an explosive "Turn 1" when needed.
You will also, depending on your play group, be able to make deals and leverage table talk to your advantage. At the end of the day you are an aggro deck, and can partner with the W/B player to use their removal to open you lanes to attack with, only to kill them a little later than initially played.
At Parity on Board Show
When playing at Parity you want to eek out mana advantage and keep the pressure high. You can ramp better than most decks at the table and will want to be powering out guys until yogurt stopped.
When playing at parity you do not want to overextend into a board wipe, but can be a little greedy if you really want. Most games you will end up with at least one or two pieces of your grind plan in your hand, and if you extend into a wipe you will be able to transition quickly after a wrath.
I feel like this is the sweet spot to be in. You are not drawing so much hate because you are not dominating the board, yet, but also pressing damage into one or two players who are behind you on the board. Eventually you can make a deal and turn tag team the dominate player, setting up a perfect opportunity to kill the weaker player after. You have a lot of options when you are not the biggest threat.
Ahead on Board Show
When you are ahead on the board, you will probably have drawn a very aggressive hand and will not be holding many, if any, of your MLD/value package. This is where it can be a very precarious position, especially if there are many board wipes in your meta. If you have gas in your hand, you want to press as much damage on board as you can without playing any additional creatures, as this is the weakest point in the deck.
When you are ahead on board with a small hand, it is very hard to pivot to the value strategy so your resources are very important. I like sandbagging big reloads in this situation like Omnath or Baloths, while running out anything with indestructible or value cards like E Wit or World Shaper.
When you are ahead on the board and have a grip of cards, you can almost always throw caution to the wind and just beat your opponents senseless. It is hard to lose when you have a giant board and card advantage to fall back on if your board gets hosed.
The Grind Show
The grind is the hardest, yet most rewarding part of playing the deck. It requires careful setup and rewards creative thinking and lines of play.
Setting up the Grind
When setting up for the grind, you want to have at least one or two of your land reanimation engines online, and at least one MLD (not counting worldslayer) in your hand. Ordering here can matter, depending on your combination of cards to build your engine. The most important part about setting up The Grind is having a line of play for when you reset the game. This can be something like The Mending of Dominaria on Chapter 2 with a fattie in hand, or something like Sylvan Awakening or Triumph of the Hoards.
Traditionally the grind starts after having your board wiped and you do not have a reload to regain the tempo you lost.
Playing the Grind
Once you play your MLD and have an engine set up, you will have to start abusing your engine and gaining value to help break parity. Assuming you can ramp faster than your opponents, you will be regaining the board rather quickly. You will want to play toward the out you set aside in the setup, giving you a real out.
It can be a major pitfall playing the deck to set up a reset without a way to close out the game. The draw power is not super strong and you can get out values by a dedicated control deck without a proper plan.
Thank you for taking the time to go through the lit, and I would love any and all feedback you have for it!
