Grenzo Mono-Red Aggro-Control

Commander / EDH* cgomes

SCORE: 11 | 28 COMMENTS | 5117 VIEWS | IN 5 FOLDERS


Guilds of Ravnica update —Sept. 28, 2018

I've finally had time to update this list and after a few comments by Pinkie_Satanas, I think it's time to take a look at the new sets and test new cards. I'll restrict my review primarily to Guilds of Ravnica though, as C18 has not been released online yet (which is probably the reason why I missed Loyal Apprentice, which is a great addition to the deck, as Pinkie pointed out). Here are the changes:

  1. Manic Vandal out and Goblin Cratermaker in: The latter is straight up better than the former. It's that simple. Plus, Cratermaker is fetchable with Goblin Matron as well as recruiter.

  2. Moggcatcher out and Legion Warboss in: As Pinkie said, catcher does cool stuff but it is pretty slow--too slow for what we are trying to do, as a matter of fact. In its place, we will add a second (and better) Goblin Rabblemaster.

  3. Pia Nalaar out and Tilonalli's Summoner in: Pia and Kiran is good but lonely Pia is kinda bad. Well, let's say I've not been super impressed with her and I think we've missed a better alternative, namely Tilonalli's Summoner. I think I misread that card when reviewing Rivals of Ixalan. She can do things like attack Opp 1, make a whole bunch of tokens, and send them to Opp 2 to goad all their creatures. She's pretty much an army on a stick. At the very least, it's better than a single flying thopter and costs less than Pia, too.

  4. Lightning Bolt out and Mizzim Mortars in: Bolt is good but Mortar gives us more flexibility as removal, and flexibility is good.

  5. Thorn of Amethyst out and Experimental Frenzy in: I don't think this deck wants to play with tax pieces, even if it's for noncreatures only. Have tested it and didn't like. One thing that we need gas, and Frenzy might be a good option. It's a worse version of Future Sight but very appealing to a deck like ours, that plays lots of rocks and cheap spells in general. Of note, it doesn't prevent us from casting cards exiled with Grenzo's ability, just cards in our hand. I want to test it, so let's wait and see.

  6. Rolling Earthquake out and Meekstone in: Now that earthquake doesn't hit walkers, I'm not super excited about playing with it. Instead, I've decided to test the good old meekstone. Our commander and most of our creatures go under its effect and works well with the idea of goad -> attack opp --> doesn't untap anymore.

Pinkie_Satanas says... #1

Hello ^^ I built this deck in paper with some proxis to play with my friends, and i'm very excited about it :D I cut mishra's workshop tho, cause i cannot realistically expect to get, and put Temple of the False God in its place instead, although i am also considering Crystal Vein there for ramp, or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Geier Reach Sanitarium cause value. Besides that, i'm playing exactly the same decklist as you, and i'd love to read your thoughts on some cards i think might be good in the deck:

Glorybringer it's kind of a hasty evasive repetible flametongue kavu for 1 more mana. Haste and evasion is relevant to get to goad or exile some cards from opponents. I know costing extra mana is huge. What do you think?

Loyal Apprentice maybe this card flew under your radar cause it came out in august, but the few times i've played it seemed super good with low to the ground commanders. The fact that she pops out thopters with haste is huge, so you can get immediate value from her with grenzo in play. She and her thopters also have haste so it could help speed up the game, which could be good considering this deck has no haste enablers. I was considering put her in instead of Young Pyromancer cause i feel the psynergy with grenzo is better, although more volatile. Young pyromancer seems like adds more value on average, but with a lower cealing. Another card i considered to cut is Moggcatcher, as it's slow, but i'm still not sure if the loss of one tutor would damage the deck.

The last card i wanted to show you is Stolen Strategy, also a fairly recent one. I see this as a "catch-up" card on theme with the deck that helps to recover after a board wipe. Like Outpost Siege would do but on steroids. The problem i see is that this effect for 5 mana feels inefficient and the fact that doesn't let you play lands is kind of an issue.

That's all ^^ i'll be testing the deck and see how it goes. For now i had a bunch of 1vs1 games with and one multiplayer that was a blast, although my attackers only exiled lands with the grenzo triggers xd Thank you very much for putting so much effort in this list, explained it and showcasing it. I really wanted to have a good grenzo deck and i felt kind of helpless to build it.

September 17, 2018 1:39 p.m.

cgomes says... #2

Pinkie_Satanas: Hey, thanks! It's pretty sweet to find out that my list has inspired you to create one of your own. I still play this deck every once in a while but I've not had much time to update it. I think many of your suggestions make a lot of sense. As a general rule of thumb, anything that creates tokens is something we should always consider adding to this deck because tokens mean extra grenzo triggers. Loyal Apprentice is definitely a good suggestion (I think there's another token generator goblin now, too) and I'd play it in addition to Young Pyromancer--might cut Moggcatcher instead of pyro tho. I also like Stolen Strategy as another way of keeping up with our opponents in grindy games but think we should play it in addition to Outpost Siege--would probably cut Thorn of Amethyst, which I honestly don't think belongs to this deck (I tried a tax theme once but it just doesn't work as well as I wanted).

I'm not sure about Glorybringer. I don't think the haste thing matters a whole lot and the 4 dmg is not an ETB ability, so our opponents might kill it (path, swords, black removals) bfore we get a chance to deal 4 dmg to a creature. Also, you definitely do not want to play Geier Reach Sanitarium and valakut. Geier enables reanimate strategies and you cant do shit about it and with all the moon and land destruction spells, we'll rarely get to use valakut multiple times (it also has bad synergy with Extraplanar Lens). Other than that, I completely agree with your suggestions and as the other sets come out, feel free to chime in with new suggestions.

As I said in my last update, I don't have a lot of time to play mtg anymore, owing to my job responsibilities and family. So, if you really enjoy this deck, I can add a link in the description to your version of it (a more up-to-date version), as long as you keep the general principles. Best of luck testing your list! It's high variance but it's pretty fun when it gets out of control.

September 22, 2018 4:07 p.m.

Pinkie_Satanas says... #3

Hello ^^ I haven't put my version in tappedout yet, but I'll do it as soon as I can! The changes I tried over your version are minimal for now. I'll list them one by one:

1) in Loyal Apprentice, out Young Pyromancer. The few times I've played pyromancer I haven't been impressed at all, while the apprentice have been an overperformer. Maybe it's a matter of playstyle, but I've come to appreciate haste a lot. I was also considering taking out Thorn of Amethyst so it's probably worth to have pyromancer instead, as cheap token producers are very good in this deck, although I'm still not quite sure if pyromancer scales as well as apprentice as the game goes on; apprentice topthers having haste and flying is huge to push in grenzo triggers.

2) Took off Moggcatcher for Glorybringer. As an standard red player I've been consistently impressed with the dragon. The way I see it, it's a heavy hitter, able to push in damage and get grenzo triggers on late game fast, that sometimes kills stuff. I haven't drawn it yet so I'm gonna consider this a flexible slot, and try some other alternatives over time. Stolen Strategy feels also like a good replacement for moggcatcher, as both are grindy cards.

3) took off Sandstone Oracle for Chandra, Flamecaller. I see why the oracle is here: helps catching up, can't be easily casted with our colorless fast mana, has a nice flying body, and can be quite grindy with Daretti, Scrap Savant or Goblin Welder. However, in my experience it rarely does enough if you are not in a dedicated Daretti deck. 7 mana is a lot and unless you have some player going crazy on the table, the draw etb is not that good if you can't consistently recurr it. The fact that it dies to artifact removal is huge too. Put in Chandra instead cause is 1 mana less, the 0 ability is a very consistent way to get you cards, the tokens she produces have haste and help with grenzo triggers (they are also great sac fodder, and as Spawning Pit has been super good the few times I've play it, I'm super happy to have more psinergy with it), they close games very quickly too. Chandra also is a board wipe in a pinch and very good to have in play when you Jokulhaups. I still haven't got to draw an play the card but as the deck generates lotta tokens to defend her, I feel it's gonna be decent, what do you think?

3) Alternatives to Mishra's Workshop. Put in Temple of the False God cause it felt similar, but it leds to some feel bad moments so I'm considering taking it off. Crystal Vein is always a mana source that can give you a burst when needed, and Scavenger Grounds doesn't ramp you but it's such and easy inclusion to hate on graveyards, something the deck lacks.

General considerations! Man I miss Chaos Warp so much in this deck. It's an answer to Ghostly Prison effects that are very bad for us, walkers that bolt can't hit, indestructible eldrazis, stuff that our damage base removal can't kill... I feel those represent the three things this decks is weaker against: ramp to big creatures strategies, dedicated token strategies (with green) and pillow fort. The last feels less problematic cause generally pillow forts are annoying to everyone on the table so other players are gonna also throw removal at them. But I feel we are kinda hopeless against lotta big dudes cause almost none of our removal can si anything about them and our creatures are to small to trade. Token strategies present a wall of chunk blockers that's hard to attack into, that eventually get very big and ran over you quite easily.

I'm putting cards like glorybringer or chandra in the deck to be able to disrupt those strategies and kill them as quickly as possible. I just wanna as much cards that can act as removal as I can get Xd so I have Mizzium Mortars, Subterranean Tremors and Umezawa's Jitte in my radar. The freaking jitte is in my binder looking at my with puppy eyes asking me to play it, such a great card, does so much! Bolt is the card I'd maybe take off for any of those but I'm still not sure at all. And sorry for the wall of text. I love the deck and I'm putting a lot os thought and work into it :P Tell me what you think. Did you consider any of these cards?

September 24, 2018 12:46 p.m.

cgomes says... #4

Pinkie_Satanas, I agree that loyal apprentice is better than young pyromancer here but I'd definitely try to play both instead of one or the other. Regarding Sandstone Oracle, I like it in most multiplayer decks that play Mishra's Workshop, sol lands, and fast rocks. As you mentioned, it has good synergies with cards in the deck (namely, welder and daretti), which is why I keep it. That Chandra let's us accomplish multiple things--get additional grenzo triggers with her +1 and draw cards with her 0--but I'd say it's harder to get her on the board than it's to get Oracle, and Oracle is immediate card advantage. I'd test her (have not done that in the past, I don't think) but honestly think that Oracle is better in multiplayer. (I don't ever think it's correct to build an edh deck either bottom-up or top-down. I tend to build my decks balancing bottom-up and top-down ideas, so that I can use a few things that synergize well with my commander when it's available but when I cannot rely on my commander, I also have a few things that can keep me in the game, and Oracle goes in the latter direction.)

Yeah, I don't like Temple of the False God and I think it should never be played in a competitive list because you want things rolling way before you get other 4 lands into play. It also doesn't work well with bombers and ruination. The only real alternatives to workshop are sol lands--ancient tomb and city of traitors. Scavenger grounds might be a good option against gy-based strategies but that's meta-dependent.

I've had way too many bad experiences with Chaos Warp and decided I'd never play it again. It's probably okay against cEDH decks, as most run a whole bunch of nonpermanents but holy damn, it feels bad to remove something and put something way worse into play. Enchantment-based decks are a pain in the ass for this deck, and if your opponent starts sitting on prison effects, your best bet is to plan on burning him (I've killed many players that way with a spikeshot elder behind a mana doubler, like Gauntlet of Might, and a sword) or hit another opponent to find mass bounce/removal spells to cast. We've bad matchups, and that's one of them. Don't think it's a reason to play Warp because chances are that the Ghostly Prison will become something much more troublesome, like Mirari's Wake.

Mizzium Mortars is an interesting replacement for Rolling Earthquake, now that it doesn't hit walkers anymore. Tremors is horrible with all our artifacts, and personally, I don't think Jitte belongs to any multiplayer list. It's great in 1v1 but doesn't do enough in multiplayer. Stay with the swords, especially feast and famine.

September 27, 2018 12:56 p.m.