Commander Collection: Trailblazer

Commander / EDH Counters Kicker RG (Gruul)

Jurrane

Land (34)

• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures P
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Copperline Gorge
• 10x Forest
• 1x Forge of Heroes
• 1x Game Trail
• 1x Hall of Oracles
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Mossfire Valley
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Rockfall Vale
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Throne of Makindi
• 1x Timbercrown Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x War Room
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow P

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Atraxa's Fall
• 1x Breath of Darigaaz
• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Decimate
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Grow from the Ashes
• 1x Increasing Savagery
• 1x Jeska's Will P
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Primal Growth
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Reclaim the Wastes

Creature (18)

• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Flametongue Yearling
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Giggling Skitterspike
• 1x Goblin Anarchomancer *f-etch*
• 1x Halana and Alena, Partners
• 1x Immaculate Magistrate
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Untamed Kavu
• 1x Verduran Emissary
• 1x Verdurous Gearhulk
• 1x Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

Artifact (12)

• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mask of Avacyn
• 1x Mithril Coat
• 1x Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Commander (1)

Instant (16)

• 1x Archdruid's Charm
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Gift of Growth
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Inscription of Abundance
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Snakeskin Veil
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Wild Magic Surge
• 1x Worldly Tutor
• 1x Wrap in Vigor
• 1x Zoyowa's Justice

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Branching Evolution
• 1x Doubling Season P
• 1x Evolutionary Escalation
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Retreat to Kazandu
• 1x Stocking the Pantry

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{R}{G} Introduction: Can I Kick It?* {R}{G}

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Welcome to my primer for “Trailblazer”, an EDH Gruul deck with Hallar, the Firefletcher as its Commander.

When making a RG deck, the obvious approach is to take the Gruul Smash route. I didn't want to do that as I'd already done a similar thing with Jund Dragons and Naya Dinosaurs (although I thought about making a Ruric Thar, the Unbowed punisher list). So I dug a bit deeper on EDH.rec and was reminded of Hallar, the Firefletcher, which seemed like a fun build-around card.

The basic premise of the deck is to load Hallar, the Firefletcher with as many +1/+1 counters as possible and then cast enough kicked spells to take out your opponents. It sounds straightforward in principle but can be quite tricky to execute effectively. Historically, kicker spells have been somewhat underpowered although Zendikar Rising finally gave us some decent cards with a kicker cost. More importantly, Duskmourn was very kind to us and gifted us Giggling Skitterspike as a secret second Commander and a passable Plan B option if our opponents remove Hallar.

Our Commander(s)

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Hallar, the Firefletcher is a pretty unique card. He's a 3/3 with trample for {1}{R}{G} which is a decent cost for respectable stats and a relevant keyword. However his real value is his ability to deal damage to each opponent equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on him if his controller casts a kicked spell (the kicked spell also puts a +1/+1 counter on him). So he synergises well with sources that generate +1/+1 counters and we want to run a reasonable number of kicker spells to trigger his damage ability. Plus, with enough +1/+1 counters on him, he can be a viable source of Commander damage if we use him as an attacker in combat.

So that's Hallar. Traditionally he's meant that this deck has been a bit of one-trick pony and completely reliant on him surviving to do its thing. Fortunately, with the release of Duskmourn, we now have access to Giggling Skitterspike, our unofficial second Commander. Skitterspike works in a very similar way to Hallar: it rewards us for putting +1/+1 counters on it, it has a built-in counter generation ability by having Monstrosity {5} and it triggers for damage to each opponent whenever it attacks, blocks or is targetted by any spell (including our own). In many ways it's far more powerful than Hallar and, crucially, it reduces our reliance on Hallar to win the game. It's also indestructible and is therefore much more difficult to remove.

In summary, our goal with the deck is pretty simple. Play Hallar, the Firefletcher or Giggling Skitterspike, get as many +1/+1 counters on them as we can and trigger their direct damage abilities enough times to take out multiple opponents. Is it a viable strategy? Good question.

Deck Elements

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For the deck to function effectively, it needs to balance a number of elements that each contribute to its game plan. This has been the hardest thing to get right and, in all honesty, I don't think I've cracked it yet.

In summary, we need to ramp effectively so we have enough mana to cast (and re-cast) Hallar, the Firefletcher, Giggling Skitterspike and our kicked spells; we need sources of +1/+1 counters to power them up; we've got to run some protection ready for when opponents try to remove them; we want enough kicker cards to reliably trigger Hallar; plus we have to build in the necessary amount of card draw and removal spells to compete in a typical EDH game. Finally, given the importance of Giggling Skitterspike, it's a good idea to have a few tutors to find it if needed.

Having sufficient options in each of these categories has been difficult to achieve from a deckbuilding perspective. Based on experience playing the deck, it's also rare for the stars to align and to draw into the right combinations of cards at the right time to pull off a win.

The following section lists the cards we have in each category.

Card Categories

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As mentioned above, balancing the right number of cards in each of the categories below has been tough to get right. I'd love to hear from other Hallar players about how you've achieved it - and any suggestions you have for cards I'm missing.

Ramp
Having plenty of ramp sources is vitally important for this deck. Most of our kicker spells are quite mana intensive and it's likely that Hallar, the Firefletcher willl be removed at least once during the game so we need plenty of mana to recast him. Right now we're running Jeska's Will, Rampant Growth, Nature's Lore, Farseek, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Primal Growth, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Goblin Anarchomancer, Kami of Whispered Hopes and Exploration, along with the ubiquitous Sol Ring. The goal is to have at least one ramp source in your opening hand.

+1/+1 Counters
We want to put enough +1/+1 counters on Hallar, the Firefletcher or Giggling Skitterspike in as efficient a way as possible, to turn them into a game-ending threat. Cards chosen for this purpose are Forgotten Ancient, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire, Halana and Alena, Partners, Immaculate Magistrate, Pir, Imaginative Rascal, Verdurous Gearhulk, Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Increasing Savagery, Inscription of Abundance, Solidarity of Heroes, Blade of the Bloodchief, Kami of Whispered Hopes, Branching Evolution, Doubling Season, Evolutionary Escalation, Hardened Scales and Retreat to Kazandu. It doesn't generate +1/+1 counters itself but The Ozolith is a staple for this deck.

Protection
We need to protect Hallar, the Firefletcher at all costs as opponents will target him. We run a couple of different ways of keeping him alive: either one-shot instants; or multi-use permanents. Cards in the former category are Heroic Intervention, Inspiring Call, Vines of Vastwood, Gaea's Gift, Snakeskin Veil and Wrap in Vigor (I might also add Deflecting Swat to that list if I can find room for it). Our multi-use permanents are Darksteel Plate, Lightning Greaves, Mask of Avacyn, Mithril Coat, Swiftfoot Boots and Whispersilk Cloak. As with our ramp sources, ideally we want to see at least one protective card in our opening hand.

Kicker Cards
Our kicker cards are chosen to be as mana efficient as possible. Ideally we're looking for a maximum total mana value of {5} for their combined casting cost and kicker cost. If they have relevant or impactful effects then all the better, but efficiency is the priority here. We also want to run enough of them that we can reliably draw into them to power Hallar, the Firefletcher. At the moment we're running 12 cards with a kicker ability: Flametongue Yearling, Breath of Darigaaz, Untamed Kavu, Verduran Emissary, Vines of Vastwood, Grow from the Ashes, Primal Growth, Reclaim the Wastes, Comet Storm, Gift of Growth, Inscription of Abundance and Everflowing Chalice. Whether these are enough is something to be evaluated.

Card Draw/Tutors
This is where most of the recent development of this deck has been focused. We run Beast Whisperer, Inspiring Call, Stocking the Pantry, War Room and Bonders' Enclave as sources of card draw and I'm also planning to add Sylvan Library soon. Jeska's Will also acts as pseudo-card draw. Worldly Tutor, Imperial Recruiter and Archdruid's Charm are our tutor cards to find Giggling Skitterspike as our plan B Commander if Hallar, the Firefletcher is removed.

Removal
Gruul isn't the strongest colour combination for destroying permanents as it tends to try and remove players instead. Beast Within, Chaos Warp and Wild Magic Surge are our most versatile options, plus we're running Atraxa's Fall, Boseiju, Who Endures, Decimate, Verduran Emissary and Zoyowa's Justice to take care of specific card types. Breath of Darigaaz is a kicker card that also comes about as close to a boardwipe as we have (along with Chandra's Ignition).

Other Payoffs
We run a couple of other miscellaneous cards, mainly as game-ending finishers to augment Hallar, the Firefletcher or Giggling Skitterspike's abilities. Grafted Exoskeleton is amazing because it turns their damage into poison counters, therefore only needing to deal 10 to each player. Chandra's Ignition can also be explosive and will effectively trigger twice if we're using it on Giggling Skitterspike.

*Yes You Can (Just)

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So let’s cut to the chase. Does the deck work? Yes it does - just about. It actually won its first game, which was before Giggling Skitterspike was added, proving that a Hallar, the Firefletcher strategy is viable, albeit at lower-powered tables (see the following section). But it’s lost plenty of games too, each of which served to illustrate its shortcomings.

Common issues are: (1) opponents removing Hallar, often multiple times, so that accumulating a critical mass of +1/+1 counters - or even recasting him - becomes unviable; (2) not having access to the right spells at the right time (eg. a hand full of kicker spells but very few counter generation sources, or vice-versa); (3) faster or more aggressive decks running over us; or (4) our limited ability to remove problematic permanents that enable our opponents to win the game, or build an unassailable game state. Often two or more of these issues will happen in combination.

Somewhat atypically for a Gruul build, I've found our best chance of winning is to be the quiet deck in the corner, left alone to do our thing while our enemies focus on each other. Hallar's by no means a kill on sight Commander but, as soon as he has a bunch of +1/+1 counters on him, opponents will take notice and we need to have our protective spells ready. The same goes for Giggling Skitterspike but being indestructable helps and other players will be hesitant to attack into it - or try to remove it - once it has any more than a handful of counters on it.

Power Level

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I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

This is probably the weakest deck in my collection. Although it contains some individually powerful cards, basing a deck around Hallar, the Firefletcher is a pretty janky strategy and, in my experience, isn’t particularly effective. I would only play it against other low powered casual decks or against opponents running precons. I keep thinking about replacing it with another Gruul build but, until I do, it's definitely one of my Tier 4 lists.

Budget

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In line with its low power, this is a fairly cheap deck to build. It averages about $350 on Card Kingdom and that's because it includes some high value cards like The Ozolith, Sword of Truth and Justice, Mithril Coat and Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider. I'm also running proxies of Boseiju, Who Endures, Doubling Season and Yavimaya Hollow to keep the cost down, as I have multiple copies of them in decks elsewhere. But everything else is very cheap so you can easily build a Hallar, the Firefletcher deck on a budget if you want to. Whether it'll be successful is another matter.

Upcoming Changes

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After a lot of tweaks, the latest iteration of this deck is now complete. I don’t think it’s perfect yet - it’s still weaker than I’d like for card draw and I want to somehow find room for Sylvan Library (and possibly Vigor) but hopefully it’s become a bit more balanced. I’ll update this primer after its next playtest games. Thanks for reading!

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All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Talrand, Sky Summoner {U}
Blue Streak: Mono-Blue Spellslinger

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Goodstuff

{B} Syr Konrad, the Grim {B}
Black Hole: Mono-Black Sacrifice/Aristocrats

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Stax

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IV {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Hallar, the Firefletcher {R}{G}
Trailblazer: Gruul Kicker

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Font of Blessings {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Momir Vig, Simic Visionary {U}{G}
Wicked Twister: Simic +1/+1 Counters

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Marchesa, the Black Rose {U}{B}{R}
Revenge of the Mummy: Grixis Dethrone/Combo

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Spirits Tribal

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

Date added	5 years
Last updated	1 week
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.47
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G