Fried to a Grixp

Commander / EDH Burn Group Slug Midrange Ramp Spellslinger UBR (Grixis)

Pile-O-Homonculii

Land (37)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Dreadship Reef
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 2x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Molten Slagheap
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Ever-Watching Threshold
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Revenge of Ravens
• 1x Swarm Intelligence
• 1x The Mirari Conjecture

Instant (19)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Countersquall
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Electrodominance
• 1x Expansion / Explosion
• 1x Flaring Pain
• 1x Increasing Vengeance
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Teachings
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Reiterate
• 1x Swan Song

Creature (11)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Embodiment of Agonies
• 1x Fetid Imp
• 1x God-Eternal Kefnet
• 1x Malakir Familiar
• 1x Melek, Izzet Paragon
• 1x Nightveil Predator
• 1x Pestilent Kathari
• 1x Tidehollow Strix
• 1x Treasure Nabber
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk

Commander (1)

Sorcery (17)

• 1x Banefire
• 1x Burn from Within
• 1x Cut / Ribbons
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Doublecast
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Jaya's Immolating Inferno
• 1x Kaervek's Torch
• 1x Mana Geyser
• 1x Molten Disaster
• 1x Mystic Retrieval
• 1x Past in Flames
• 1x Quiet Speculation
• 1x Rakdos's Return
• 1x Recoup
• 1x Titan's Revenge
• 1x Torment of Hailfire

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip
• 1x Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thran Dynamo

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Maybeboard

Creature (7)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Bone Picker
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Echo Mage
• 1x Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Notion Thief

Artifact (2)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Mirari

Instant (6)

• 1x Breath of Malfegor
• 1x Calculated Dismissal
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Turnabout
• 1x Whirlwind Denial

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ral, Storm Conduit

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Rolling Earthquake
• 1x Runic Repetition

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Collective Restraint
• 1x Thousand-Year Storm

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100% homebrew. The goal with this deck is to ramp and once critical mass is reached win the game by burning all three opponents with an X spell, and likely using a copy spell effect on that X spell to increase damage. In play testing it so far it seems like it takes too many turns to reach this point, and so I am looking for help on how to ramp faster and/or how to dump a huge amount of mana in to an X spell earlier. It seems to reach that critical mass around turn 10, but of course that is without any interaction from opponents. I am newer to commander and haven't had success with Grixis yet so far, so I am seeking your help! :D

X spells

• Banefire
• Burn from Within
• Comet Storm
• Cut / Ribbons
• Electrodominance
• Expansion / Explosion (seems like a likely cut, 2nd half is expensive)
• Exsanguinate
• Jaya's Immolating Inferno (probably needs to go due to the restriction)
• Kaervek's Torch
• Molten Disaster
• Rakdos's Return
• Titan's Revenge
• Torment of Hailfire

Notes on X spells Show

The list here is pretty straightforward. Expansion only copies small spells and Explosion is expensive to cast, plus the deck has a variety of tutors to draw out critical pieces, and I am thinking that standard draw spells aren't appropriate. Jaya's Immolating Inferno requires the commander on the field which as I play test the deck appears to be an unduly heavy restriction. Kess is entirely uncritical to the win condition here.

Copy Spells

• Doublecast
• God-Eternal Kefnet
• Increasing Vengeance
• Melek, Izzet Paragon
• Narset's Reversal
• Primal Amulet  
• Pyromancer's Goggles
• Reiterate
• Swarm Intelligence
• The Mirari Conjecture (seems weak and thinking it should go)

Notes Copy Spells Show

The list seems straightforward to me... Thinking that Swarm Intelligence should go, and possibly add Thousand-Year Storm, which I considered initially but also don't like it for its high cost, plus as a permanent is relatively easy to remove as compared to instant/sorcery copy spells.

Don't Attack Me

• Baleful Strix
• Embodiment of Agonies
• Ever-Watching Threshold
• Fetid Imp
• Malakir Familiar
• Maze of Ith
• Nightveil Predator
• Pestilent Kathari
• Propaganda
• Revenge of Ravens
• Tidehollow Strix
• Vampire Nighthawk

Notes Don't Attack Me Show

Straightforward. Need to keep those aggro decks at bay while I build board state. Flying + deathtouch has proven to be an effective deterrent at least through mid-game, certainly in my meta.

Ramp

• Arcane Signet
• Black Market
• Dimir Signet
• Fellwar Stone
• Izzet Signet
• Mana Geyser
• Rakdos Signet
• Sol Ring
• Thran Dynamo
• Treasure Nabber

Notes on ramp Show

This is where the deck needs the most help. It seems that Mana Geyser + a Copy Spell fed in to an X spell is the most likely win condition. Imagine turn 8, three opponents with a total of, say 16 untapped lands, a copied mana geyser gets 32 red mana, fed in to a Comet Storm, Exsanguinate, or Aftermath should end the game. Total activation cost would be 5 for mana geyser, 2 for copy spell, and another 2 for the X spell activation cost. To be effective however you would really need to hold up at least 2 more mana for your own counter magic to counter the counter magic that is coming from one of your opponents, who will likely know what's coming. So this is a total of 11 mana needed to generate the win con. More on that countermagic in the next section. What can be done with this ramp section to accelerate the ramp, and to achieve that critical mass of mana earlier in the game? Are there other options to generate huge amounts of mana other than this sort of standard ramp package that I included? Cabal Coffers is too monetarily expensive for me, and spells like High Tide and Caged Sun only affect mana sources of one color, so in a three color deck the value would be limited.

Countermagic

• Arcane Denial
• Counterspell
• Countersquall
• Dispel
• Flaring Pain
• Muddle the Mixture
• Negate
• Pyroblast
• Red Elemental Blast
• Swan Song

Notes on countermagic Show

Straightforward. The biggest threat to this deck's wincon is a cheap counterspell. This is most likely to come from a blue source, thus the inclusion of Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast. (Side note is the joy felt when you see the look on your opponents' face when their best effort is thwarted by such a restrictive and uncommon commander spell, lol). I think that holding up a few mana for one or two of these spells is necessary to ensure victory. Even the first time facing this deck most opponents will know what is coming.

Card Advantage

• Demonic Tutor
• Mystic Retrieval
• Mystical Teachings
• Mystical Tutor
• Past in Flames
• Quiet Speculation
• Recoup
• Kess, Dissident Mage (commander)

Notes on card advantage Show

The focus here is on tutors that will grab specific pieces and answers (from libarary or graveyard) rather than simply drawing a lot of cards off the top of the deck. A drawback to this however is that multiple of these tutors require you to reveal the chosen card to the table, making it easier for opponents to detect when the deck is going to go off.

I have included Kess in this section because Kess' ability to repeat instant and sorcery cards out of the graveyard is her sole purpose. Kess was actually the very last card that I selected for the deck. She is totally unnessesary to the win condition, and her (relatively) high cost of 4 mana in order to retrieve burn spells from your graveyard renders casting her at all to be less desirable than all of the other options used for this same purpose. However, the fact that her ability does pull spells out of the graveyard made her seem like the only choice. It occurs to me though that it might be better to select a Grixis commander to be used as a rattlesnake to distract opponents while you build board state. Any suggestions for something better? Something to serve as a distraction or something that makes attacking in to you more risky for opponents? I considered Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge as well but Kess seemed more appropriate based on the win con.

Removal

1 Cyclonic Rift

Notes on removal Show

The rest of the removal is the burn spells which can be easily used as spot removal.

Lands

//Lands
• Blood Crypt
• Bojuka Bog
• Command Tower
• Crumbling Necropolis
• Dimir Aqueduct
• Dragonskull Summit
• Dreadship Reef
• Drowned Catacomb
• Evolving Wilds
• Fabled Passage
• 2 Island
• Izzet Boilerworks
• Luxury Suite
• Molten Slagheap
• Morphic Pool
• 7 Mountain
• Rakdos Carnarium
• Reflecting Pool
• Smoldering Marsh
• Steam Vents
• Sulfur Falls
• Sunken Hollow
• Swamp
• Temple of Deceit
• Temple of Epiphany
• Temple of Malice
• Temple of the False God
• Terramorphic Expanse
• Watery Grave

Notes on lands Show

I am thinking that the inclusion of so many duals is not necessary. Its not critical to get particular creatures out on any given turn. What is critical is that on turn 8 there is enough mana available to power the win con, and at that point in the game there will be a premium on red sources. Molten Slagheap and Dreadship reef seem like good includes for their ability to store mana. Are there others like this? What else can be done to boost available mana through land choices?

Didn't make the cut: Show

• Archaeomancer
• Blasphemous Act
• Bone Picker
• Breath of Malfegor
• Calculated Dismissal
• Collective Restraint
• Commander's Sphere
• Dark Ritual
• Dualcaster Mage
• Echo Mage
• Increasing Ambition
• Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
• Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• Mirari
• Notion Thief
• Ral, Storm Conduit
• Rolling Earthquake
• Runic Repetition
• Terminate
• Thousand-Year Storm
• Turnabout
• Whirlwind Denial

Notes on these: Archaeomancer seems expensive for what it does, much cheaper options included instead. Dark Ritual ramps, but only by 2 mana and at that rate seems like it doesn't belong in the 99. Increasing ambition is expensive at 5 mana to get one card to hand, and played for its flashback cost even worse. The exception would be if Kess is on the field, grabbing 2 cards to hand for 5 mana is a good rate but then depends on Kess being on the field which, as mentioned earlier, is a restriction that I don't want to deal with. Mirari seems expensive. Ral (and other planeswalkers) will generate fast hate in my meta, so I left them out. Rolling Earthquake would work extremely well, as long as your life total is higher than your opponents, and seems like the most likely to go in the deck. Thousand-Year Storm is expensive at 6 mana, and is vulnerable to removal. Should any of these replace any of the 99 that I selected?

So, I'd love feedback here. Please let me know what you think!

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 24 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.70
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U