As my username suggests, I have a lot of love for creature-oriented skies decks and I really enjoy thinking up alternate versions of this old archetype. This said, this build is part of my recent effort to brew within the unique deck-building constraints of Pioneer, Magics "dying" format. As someone who is very much interested in card design and the logic of the color pie, I've long mulled over the potential of control decks in Gruul colors. While anyone familiar with Magic's competitive scene, past and present, may balk at the idea of purposefully (and perhaps unnecessarily) leaving out blue, white, and black (i.e. Magic's "controlling colors"), I'd argue that recent development's in Red and Green's respective shares of the color pie have paved the way for builds that muster card advantage, instant-speed interaction, and complex decision trees in ways that enable traditional control to function in Gruul despite Pioneer's comparatively shallow card pool.
On the one hand, its perfectly obvious to me that Gruul excels at both aggressive and midrange strategies in Pioneer (think of cards like
Questing Beast
,
Embercleave
,
Gruul Spellbreaker
, and
Bonecrusher Giant
), while Temur, Grixis, and to a far lesser extent, Jund control decks have all existed in the format at one point or another and make two-color G/R appear underpowered in comparison. So why, you might ask, would one fix what isn't broken with "inferior" parts? For me, doing so is all about the challenge of building new and interesting decks under complex, self-imposed limitations. With this caveat in mind, the Gruul colors appeal to me, first and foremost, because their potential for control is all too infrequently explored.
Red's capabilities in this respect are somewhat more obvious than Green's. Indeed, efficient, instant-speed damage spells that target creatures and/or planeswalkers (
Soul Sear
,
Scorching Dragonfire
, etc.) are becoming more abundant in the format, while high-power walkers like
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
and
Chandra, Awakened Inferno
easily lend themselves to gaining card advantage, pressuring opponents, or controlling the board as the situation requires. However, in contrast with most Red decks, this one doesn't care about my opponent's life total whatsoever until the late game and my card choices at the lower end of the curve largely reflect this unorthodox philosophy. At the same time, this ethic has also informed my decision to use finishers like
Glorybringer
and
Dragonlord Atarka
which wreak havoc on my opponent's board first and threaten their life total second.
Green may be Magic's least controlling color, yet Wizards' decision to push the "fight" and "bite" mechanics to essentially serve as Green's "creature removal" suite is what initially piqued my interest in playing for Green's reactive and interactive strengths, understated as they may be. Green also ramps better than any other color, and the availability of instant-speed land tutors like
Omen of the Hunt
and
Roiling Regrowth
effectively allows one to hold up mana in the early game for either removal or ramp spells in response to whatever your opponent decides to do with their turn. Moreover, Green's critical mass of good blockers with flash, and especially those with valuable static abilities, further permits one to play a completely reactive game that can be swapped for an aggressive one as soon as a few well-timed surprise moves grant you sufficient control of the board.
The intersection of Red and Green as a multi-color suite also yields interesting possibilities for control that are worth mentioning here. One is the ability of creatures with the haste mechanic to generate card advantage by coming down "out of nowhere" and putting opponents in unfavourable combat situations they may not have sufficiently planned for (i.e. think
Glorybringer
and
Samut, Voice of Dissent
). Furthermore, the rare presence of ETB or attack-trigger damage that can be "divided as you choose" on a few cards in Red and Green lends itself to maximizing card advantage at low levels of investment that transcend the benefits of either fight or bite. (In all honestly, if
Inferno Titan
was legal in this format, this deck would have a much higher ceiling. I don't think a build like this would make much sense in Modern, where the titan is legal, and the overall power-level of so many of Modern's cards and deck archetypes makes me doubt that I'd enjoy transporting this deck to that format. I find very powerful cards to be a little boring (though I completely understand if you don't) and that's why I like Pioneer. Also, in case you've never seen it before, allow me to introduce
Butcher Orgg
).
To be sure, it may be problematic to try and bend Green and Red to the standards of other colors' major strengths. Why play "protect the queen" control in Gruul, when U/W or Esper will always be "better" at this same game? (Indeed, as my playtesting has progressed, it is increasingly clear that this deck wants to be far more midrangy at times that I had initially imagined). that While this may be true, I've thoroughly enjoyed trying to make straightforward control work in these colors using Pioneer's comparatively narrow tech. After all, Her Imperial Majesty
Dragonlord Atarka
is just too splashy (and too much fun!) to remain underplayed in the format, and a Gruul control shell gives one the opportunity to rapidly turn games around with her without resorting to more linear, ramp-based strategies. While fast mana in Green is always very powerful (as a whole slew of broken cards printed in 2019-2020 have more than proven), I find such play patterns to be less rewarding than more unorthodox, if less competitive options, such as those I've tried to showcase here.
Hence, in contrast with traditional Gruul decks that seek to be aggressive or ramp in the early turns, with this deck I'm trying to outcard my opponent in the early AND late games by playing instant-speed, damage-based removal early on and applying mid and late-game pressure with powerful finishers that are conducive to two, three, or four-for-ones if left unchecked for any length of time. So far, my initial rounds of testing have indicated that Red's small share of the scry mechanic is what enables a deck like this to function. Strange as it sounds, fringe cards like
Jaya's Greeting
,
Temple of Abandon
, and even
Fire Prophecy
are arguably the deck's All Stars because they allow you to trade with aggressive decks in the early game while ensuring that your future draws will see you curve out and/or ramp into your finishers.
Llanowar Visionary
has also significantly over-performed as a mid-game Swiss Army Knife that fits nicely into the curve once things are reasonably stable and can net you much-needed mana ramp AS WELL as card advantage through cantripping.
As always, let me know what you think (especially if you have thoughts on Gruul control in general). Also, if anyone knows any good creatures with build-in fight or bite abilities that I may have overlooked here, I'd love to hear about them!
-SBS
