Pursuing Perfection, Part 9: Gruul Commanders
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Oct. 9, 2021, 4:04 p.m. by Mana_Mythic_Legendary
In the last article, I referenced the opinion that Heath Ledger’s Joker is a Rakdos player. Here, I further submit that Godzilla is a Gruul player, or would be if you could find cards big enough. Big, stompy, and gloriously unsubtle, if you like mind games then maybe this isn’t for you. The rest of us will have a grand old time stampeding over you in the true Rhythm of the Wild.
Parsing out themes within Gruul commanders was a little more challenging than the past color pairings. While there are obvious trends like ramp and damage, I’d prefer to discuss things that are more in line with both colors rather than one or the other. To that end, we’re discussing X, Power, and Unsubtlety. As always, please bear in mind that the point isn’t a discussion of the competitive but rather a celebration of the thematic.
X
Bear with me. There are only six legal Red-Green spells with X in the cost, and not all of them are playable. However, there are currently eighty red X spells in print, sixty-eight in green. The other colors all have less. Of those 148 cards, 71 do some sort of damage. My point is this: In the Green corner, we have the undisputed champion of ramp, while in the Red corner we see, by inference, the most willing color to serve as a mana dump. Klauth's Will is probably the only Gruul X spell I’d play, but there are lots, and I mean LOTS, of mono-colored choices for channeling your inner flamethrower.
A 4/4 for four? Not bad. That taps for four? Woot! Heck, I run every Gilded Lotus I own, and that’s only good for three mana! If you like X spells, Rosheen is a nice, reliable bet that probably won’t draw much hate.
This guy? Unlike Rosheen, he might draw hate, and in spades. Doesn’t look relevant to X at first glance, does he? All that draw is magnificent, and an excuse to finally go tribal werewolves is well and good. Come nightfall, though, and he suddenly turns into a Kessig Wolf Run. Crack enough mana and you can kill everyone with one wolf token each. Good times.
This card was made for Goblin Bombardment and all it’s disgusting relatives. Sweet mercy, what a load of combo this is. Crack infinite, Make a pile of tokens, play it, empty it, play it again.
Power
Green’s fatties tend to be just that: well-rounded. Most of them have equal power and toughness, or near to it. In Red, however, you see things like Spark Elemental frequently: potent attackers made to die quickly, loudly, and messily. Both colors, though, have a passion for dominating in the combat phase. From Runes of the Deus to Fires of Yavimaya, there’s a fine sweep of support for storming enemy lines, and there are a number of Gruul commanders who do the same.
Whoa nelly, let them fight is right! Suddenly all those glass cannons Red gave you are made mighty, mighty thick by offense being, after all this time, the best defense. Flowstone Slide is suddenly tempting to play, frighteningly so. I don’t know what other chicaneries you might get into, but this is something I’d love to see played.
Omnath, Locus of Mana had a flying, hasty baby. I’m just going to leave this here and remark that any other commentary I would have made is being drowned out by maniacal laughter.
You like command damage, right? Of course you do. Well, that’s not the point here. However, playing big toys is strongly endorsed, especially when paired with Unnatural Growth and all those delightful parallels to the Pathbreaker Ibex. Get tall, go wide.
Unsubtlety
One could argue for the elegance of simplicity, but there’s nothing elegant about clubbing your opponents with chonks or hosing them down with napalm. Black, now, black’s plenty elegant. Blue is stupid elegant. Green and Red, though, lean towards an extremely direct approach. Here, we’re talking commanders that reward simplicity, encouraging unorthodox deck construction in order to reap some sort of reward.
Lands and critters, critters and land. And SUCH land! I always loved Heartbeat of Spring, but most similar effects double everyone’s stuff, or a particular kind of stuff. Not Nikya. Nikya gives only to you, provided you want to spend it on creatures. Props if you start pulling crazy tricks with Ashaya, Soul of the Wild.
Always swing? Ok. Reach and Vigilance? With two heads, I’m not surprised. 6 damage to anyone not playing a proper spell? Gloriously unsubtle, and less prohibitive than Nikya. Faced with the prospect of self-immolation in seven spells, Blue is going to be very, very cross with you, to say nothing of artifact decks.
The big guy puts me in mind of a line from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. “I'm coming for blood; no law, no code of conduct. You put me in the right direction, you get the hell out of my way.” This looks hard to pull off, but lordy the work it’ll do when you manage! I know from experience that green has all the kit necessary to fill a hand with land: give ol’ Borbor a deck excessively stocked with lands, a few choice options to shuffle your graveyard back in, stick him with Basilisk Collar and get to work.
And, for my personal favorite...
We HAD to discuss him at some point. Nobody is going to look at this guy piloting your deck and wonder what’s going to happen. You are going to spam land drops like nobody’s business until you can afford to plunk his expensive ass on the field, and then you are going to start making an EFFORT. You are going to throw thiccness at absolutely everyone. And, above all, there will be a delightedly murderous glint in your eye whenever someone suggests boardwiping. I know because this is an old, old deck of mine; there’s a bare-bones toolkit, then 40-odd lands and a massive pile of land-rush and “whenever you play a creature.” Think Warstorm Surge, Animist's Awakening, and an excessive collection of the actual token.
That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for a real favorite of mine, Selesnya!
Prior Articles:
Green, with links to the other mono-colors
brandonplaysmagic says... #3
Always a pleasure to read these! Thanks for posting!
RoarMaster says... #2
Good Read.
October 10, 2021 4:21 a.m.