The Feel of Greel

Commander / EDH

jpvraptor1

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Consuming Vapors
• 1x Curse of the Cabal
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Increasing Ambition

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Baneful Omen
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Dark Suspicions
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Heartless Summoning
• 1x Liliana's Caress
• 1x Megrim
• 1x Quest for the Nihil Stone
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Subversion
• 1x Wound Reflection

Artifact (18)

• 1x Black Vise
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Iron Maiden
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Phyrexian Processor
• 1x Power Conduit
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x The Rack
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Creature (25)

• 1x Abyssal Nocturnus
• 1x Body Snatcher
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Fleshwrither
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Guiltfeeder
• 1x Hex Parasite
• 1x Hollowborn Barghest
• 1x Hypnox
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1x Magus of the Coffers
• 1x Maralen of the Mornsong
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Myojin of Night's Reach
• 1x Nezumi Graverobber  ^Flip
• 1x Nezumi Shortfang  ^Flip
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• 1x Phyrexian Obliterator
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Visara the Dreadful
• 1x Viseling
• 1x Volrath the Fallen
• 1x Xathrid Demon

Land (38)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bottomless Vault
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Dark Depths
• 1x Ebon Stronghold
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Halls of Mist
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Peat Bog
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Subterranean Hangar
• 20x Swamp
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terrain Generator
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Whispers

Commander (1)

1x

---

"It's difficult to pretend I don't still feel the shadowed tendrils flaying apart my consciousness."

Okay, so whenever I get bored of one EDH/Commander deck, I hop on Gatherer and look up every Legendary Creature ever printed. Well, I was combing through and stumbled onto Greel. I love the dark feel of the art, as well as the tiny bit of flavor I picked up when researching him in the lore.

(Plus, I don't know why, but discards at random always make me smile. Maybe its the chaotic feel of it, or maybe its just that neither player has any say over it.)

Greel, Mind Raker

BACKGROUND:

I started playing magic around the time of the Onslaught block. Back then, my local game store still had a pretty good customer base (the store's gone out of business since then due to financial troubles).

Also, standard really wasn't a format any of us played, back then. Not until we started getting the newer players did standard become a contagious blight among our ranks. (No offense; I just really, really hate standard, where you almost HAVE to netdeck to win. That's not fun for me. I don't like following a formula to win. It feels like a cheaply earned win. My opinion only.)

Naturally, we had casuals, but we also had Legacy players. And in those Legacy games I learned of cards like Black Vise, The Rack, and Iron Maiden. Some of my favorite games were shut down completely by Stasis, but that's not part of this deck for obvious reasons.

For much newer players, before Liliana's Caress, there was Megrim.

And Megrim decks were rampant back then. And then there's Greel, Mind Raker.

Building Greel as a throwback to the megrim days was a blast of nostalgia for me, and it feels awesome.

I wanted a certain theme behind the deck, something every card in it could attest to; common fears. We have:

Demons

Zombies

Rats

Vampires

Black Magicians (Witches, Warlocks and the like)

Horrors

Spirits

Torture Devices

Disease

Heights & Drops (Bottomless Vault + Curse of the Cabal + Glacial Chasm )

Past Atrocities (Guiltfeeder)

Paranoia (Dark Depths + Dark Suspicions + Halls of Mist )

Now let's discuss how the deck actually works.

Well, it works in a lot of ways.

Almost everything in the deck has great synergy. Maralen of the Mornsong + Ob Nixilis, Unshackled means each turn, your opponents are losing 13 life and sacrificing a creature. Not too shabby.

On top of that, we have Greel's mind raking abilities, which could rid your opponents of whatever they tutor for, or Nezumi Shortfang + Black Vise + The Rack + Iron Maiden + Viseling all effectively make your opponents lose life no matter what they do. Mindcrank is too fun to not include, with all these damaging abilities each turn.

Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Crypt Ghast + Caged Sun + Magus of the Coffers +Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx + Nirkana Revenant all make sure you have butt tons of mana to throw at whatever you feel. (Like Exsanguinate or Pontiff of Blight's endless extortion.

Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood are always a pretty dumb two-card win.

For extra fun, Wound Reflection doubles each turn's loss of life for your opponents. And that gets pretty nasty when you have a lump sum of ten life lost an upkeep. (Not to mention what other nasties you may have.)

Contamination and Infernal Darkness effectively screw any decks that don't have black in them.

Phyrexian Processor can give you a daily sacrifice for Contamination, should the need arise.

Fleshwrither can transfigure into Phyrexian Obliterator should your opponent be so unwise as to attack with it on the field.

Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage is a quick 20/20 inde monster.

BUT WAIT; THERE'S MORE!

Why should cumulative upkeep be a bother? With cards like Hex Parasite and Power Conduit, they don't have to any longer! You'll only need to pay the base cost of the upkeep each turn before you remove the counter! And with the deck's many live-gaining and mana-pumping abilities, those base costs shouldn't be an issue.

The Greel-Feel is real, my friends.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage Maralen of the Mornsong + Ob Nixilis, Unshackled Bottomless Vault + Curse of the Cabal + Glacial Chasm Dark Depths + Dark Suspicions + Halls of Mist
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.82
Tokens	Marit Lage, Minion X/X B