MTG Salvation

Prologue: Why Borborygmos?

Borborygmos is unadulterated fury and embodies that in both his card and his backstory. No challenger has ever been able to best Borborygmos when it comes to combat, and that's how his deck plays too. Using massive creatures and fast acceleration, you have one of the quicker starts at the table assuming you aren't facing down some 5-color Ad Nauseam combo deck.

The Pros:

- The deck has access to some amazing ramp: Having access to mana rocks and every single card that allows for multiple land drops per turn, your can have Borborygmos attacking with haste under optimal conditions. In this deck, Orcish Lumberjack might as well read Black Lotus with buyback.

- Fast clock: Your commander is a 7/6 with trample, meaning that he is a 3 hit KO with commander damage. Still not enough to get through? How about some Eldrazi on repeat thanks to Eye of Ugin?

- Versatility: Since you have such a high land count, you have access to some of the best utility lands in the game. In the event of your commander being halted, you still have multiple ways of achieving victory.

- Recursion: With gems like Praetor's Counsel,Creeping Renaissance, Eternal Witness, and Noxious Revival nothing stays dead for long if you do not desire it.

- Fringe: Not many people run this general, and so people may not necessarily be able to anticipate your gameplan.

The Cons:

- Fragile: Although you can overcome disruption, this deck suffers against mana denial. This is mitigated by your explosiveness, but if your area runs a lot of dedicated LD this may cause you a lot of headaches.

- Aggressive: This may not seem like a disadvantage to some, but in order to generate the speed and power this deck requires, your number of slots in the deck for removal and answers is severely hindered. No guts no glory, right?

- Disruptable: Your combo is fairly disruptable if they have the right removal at the right moment. This is why speed is of the utmost importance with this deck, but in the event of a slow start you need to analyze the board state before going for it. Never knew Gruul was so tactical, did you?

Fast vs Infinite

The only reason to go with Borborygmos over Niv is if you are actively choosing to go aggro over control. The UR build is slower but much more durable, meaning you'll likely be able to play a much safer game. However, if you like to live dangerously, GR has close to the best ramp in the format, and the deck does the same combo only several turns earlier. They function the same, but their decks couldn't play any more differently.

Other Gruul Legendaries

Obviously,there are some other options other than the leader of the Gruul clans in this color combination. Here they are.

Borborygmos: Back in Ravnica, this guy was much less angry. He was a kind of anthem for your creatures, but the problem was it was typically too slow to get there. Sorry buddy, people prefer the hulked out version of you.

Jerrard of the Closed Fist: Vanilla is good as a sundae, but bad as a commander.

Livonya Silone: Can be unblockable, but still seems rather vanilla. You could theoretically work with her first strike and do some sort of voltron shell, but there are better options.

Marhault Elsdragon: There might be a cool theme deck you could build with a Rampaging Elf Warrior, but his usefulness is fairly limited.

Radha, Heir to Keld: She's not a lady to be trifled with, but most Radha decks are fairly linear. She's either used as early ramp for a goodstuff deck, or elves.

Rosheen Meanderer: If you like Banefire, this guy is your new best friend. Also plays well with Hydras.

Ruric Thar, the Unbound: This guy will 6 anyone in the face who casts a non-creature spell. He also has vigilance. If you have a lot of control in your meta, go for this guy. Otherwise, he's better suited as a player in an Animar deck.

Stangg: Stangg is pretty cool, making a twin of himself. There are shenanigans to be had with him and Mirror Gallery, but he dies if his twin(s) do, and vice-versa. YMMV.

Stonebrow, Krosan Protector: This deck is smashy stompy fun times. If you like to just run people over, this is your deck. I prefer my decks to have a bit more dexterity to them, but I can see the appeal to the Timmies.

Sunastian Falconer: A 5 mana Sol Ring. Trust me, we can do better. It is worth noting though if one has Mana Reflection, Heartstone, and Staff of Domination they can achieve infinite mana.

The Lady of the Mountain: Again, vanilla. Good flavor, bad Commander.

Thromok the Insatiable: You like killing guys in one swing? This is your dude. Send him into battle with guys like Avenger of Zendikar and Rapacious One.

Tuknir Deathlock: Awesome name, and cool typing as a Gruul Wizard, but he ability is pretty boring.

Ulasht, the Hate Seed: One of Rasheen's BFFs, give this guy Grafted Exoskeleton or Basilisk Collar and grab a refreshing beverage as your opponents die.

Wort, the Raidmother: Yeah, the Goblin theme is evident, but you can also take advantage of her conspire ability to double damage spells and such. Might be worth exploring.

Deck History: The Birth of a Legend.

I remember first seeing the new Borborygmos during the spoiler season for Gatecrash. Around the same time, I was trying to branch out in my EDH decks, as I'd only played reanimator up until this point. Then, as I was looking through various resources, I came across the Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind combo with either Curioisty or Ophidian Eye. It seemed powerful, and so I started playtesting it.

My biggest source of frustration was the lack of mana ramp in the UR color combination as I was testing, and then I remembered Borborygmos, Keen Sense, and Snake Umbra. I began build the list around this shell, and saw other green decks running Abundance with draw engines that need lands.

Thus, a combo deck was born. He got the nickname "Old Painless" in my playgroup, an homage to Terry Crew's automatic shotgun from the film The Expendables. This occurred after a game where I went off without Abundance and shot down the entire table with 43 consecutive land bolts.

The deck originated as a dedicated combo deck, but as I tested and began to realize the sheer magnitude of the acceleration the deck is capable of, I was able to take a more traditional ramp approach as a "Plan B" in the event that Borborygmos is incapacitated.

Change Log

09/24/13:
- Deck posted.
09/25/13:
- Added primer information.
09/25/13:
- OUT Gruul Turf, IN Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle: Adding some additional land based win cons for the sake of consistency.
- OUT Spinerock Knoll, IN Thespian's Stage: Can serve as a 2nd Vesuva, and works in two combos in the deck.
- OUT Mosswort Bridge, IN Dark Depths: A solid win con that can be transformed into extra bolts. Both of the hideaway lands felt less than stellar here, as often I had enough mana/card advantage to just obtain the card without the hassle.
- OUT Dryad Arbor, IN Inkmoth Nexus: Seems like this guy and Kessig Wolf Run can be best friends.
- OUT Gaea's Touch, IN Scapeshift: Well, we added Valakut, right? Seems like this is the best way to do some extra damage. After cutting a forest for utility, the enchantment just didn't do enough.
- OUT Regrowth, IN Bow of Nylea: This grants deathtouch to my creatures, making land bolts more effective and at the same time provides me with ways to save cards in my graveyard plus gaining life. Regrowth felt clunky and slow, and I was almost never happy to see it.
10/07/13:
- OUT Basilisk Collar, IN Storm Cauldron: As I played with Bow of Nylea, I realized the collar was often just a useless draw. So, I gave the cauldron a shot again, and it just wins games.
10/13/13:
- OUT Scapeshift, IN Into the Wilds: Scapeshift combo wasn't really working out well for me, and we have a couple of Death and Taxes players so the search can sometimes be a liability or just a dead card. I've found Valakut still works nicely with Storm Cauldron, though.
- OUT Sylvan Scrying, IN Expedition Map: They do the same thing, except Map can be used while being without one of your colors or both. Also, since we can recur Buried Ruin, it has a better chance of being repeatable.
10/21/13
- OUT Worldly Tutor, IN Tempt with Discovery: Since adding the Tooth and Nail to the deck, the tutor has been pretty lackluster. I'm working on testing the new tempting offer card, because it has the potential to ramp us assuming someone gets greedy. Worst case, it's a free land of our choosing.
- OUT Forest, IN Opal Palace: Every time Borborygmos dies, he comes back stronger. Sounds good to me.
10/27/13
- OUT Tempt with Discovery, IN Worldly Tutor: Not all experiments work out. Tutor is better, especially going for [card]Orcish Lumberjack early.
- OUT Mountain, IN Forest: Adjusted the mana base for the heavier green ratio.

Deck Strategy

• General Strategy
The goal of the deck in general is to ramp as much as possible as quickly as possible in order to kill your opponent(s) as fast as possible. Your options for doing this are:

• Combo Kill: Win the game with Borborygmos Enraged+Keen Sense+ Abundance. The first goal is to engage this combo, hence the name of the deck. In a pinch, there are also combos such as Inkmoth Nexus+Kessig Wolf Run that might get you there.
• Commander Kill: If you can't get the combo going, swing with Borborygmos. There are multiple ways to give him deathtouch making blocking difficult in addition to the fact that he has trample. Three swings and someone's dead. Less if you get Kessig Wolf Run.
• Stompy Kill: You have some of the fattest utility creatures in the game at your disposal. Use them. Between Marit Lage, Eldrazi, and Godo's crazy knives, something should be able to stick.
The main issue is figuring out when to go into which mode. You have multiple ways to victory, but you have to have the dexterity to maneuver the game.



• Notable Synergies.
Borborymos+Keen Sense/Snake Umbra+Abundance= Damage equal to the number of lands in your deck.
Sylvan Library+Abundance=Free cards. The replacement effect on Abundance allows you to keep all 3 cards without losing life.
Thespian's Stage+Dark Depths= Instant 20/20.
Borborygmos+Bow of Nylea= 1 land/1 kill thanks to deathtouch.
Borborygmos/Inkmoth Nexus+Kessig Wold Run= Instant kill depending on mana available.



• Other Possibilities
Borborygmos lends himself to either a combo deck or a Ramp/Midrange list. If you didn't care for the combo aspect of him, you could just build a G/R midrange list with more removal. However, at that point, you would probably be better off with another general to be honest.

For other people's perspectives on Borborygmos, check out these lists:
- alfindeol's List

Breakdown of Cards Choices

Mana Accel

Burgeoning: In a 4 player game of EDH, this accelerates you exponentially. Think of this one as a green Rhystic Study.

Exploration: The land acceleration this provides gives you a significant boost in the early game. The only requirement is that you have lands in hand, and when your deck is over 50% lands, I'd say there's a good chance of that.

Crucible of Worlds: With all of the cards that ramp our mana and give us additional land drops, this in combination with Fetchlands gives us an additional land drop that we didn't even have to draw.

*NEW* Into the Wilds: Ramps us nicely, considering our deck is over 50% lands.

Mana Crypt: This is a free Sol Ring. Cards like these are how we achieve our most degenerate starts, leaving our enemies broken and bleeding before they know what happened.

Mox Diamond: Again, our list is 50% land. Ditching 1 land isn't a big deal for this, especially since we could very well get it back or draw a replacement.

Sol Ring: I don't think anything needs to be said about this. Commander staple.

Asuza, Lost But Seeking: Gives us an extra 2 land drops every turn. Combine this with Crucible and the lands may never stop flowing.

Budoka Gardener: Ramps us early game, and in the late game makes Rubblehulk tokens. Solid utility in this type of deck.

Lotus Cobra: This in combination with fetches is nearly a Dark Ritual every turn. Combined with our extra land drops, the value just keeps rising.

Orcish Lumberjack: This guy is our Black Lotus. Repeatable and ramps us 3 mana every turn he's alive. You will not believe how broken the game state gets when you see this guy in the first 3 turns.

Oracle of Mul Daya: Extra land drops, the ability to play lands off the top of the library, and the ability to see your top card in the event you want to shuffle it away. Seems solid to me.

Sakura-Tribe Scout/Skyshroud Ranger: Provide extra land drops in the early game, serves as back up to Exploration.

Sylvan Primordial: This is removal and ramp, all tied into one. Not to mention it has reach, so it is capable of blocking any pesky fliers that might otherwise bother us.

Draw, Recursion, and Tutors

Crop Rotation: The ability to tutor for any land, say Cavern of Souls or Boseiju, Who Shelters All at instant speed is powerful. Excellent card for setting up a kill turn.

Noxious Revival: At instant speed a free Reclaim is pretty strong, not to mention versatile. This card can save reanimation targets or even key cards about to be exiled. I've been playing with it for a while and it has definitely pulled its weight.

Abundance: This enchantment by itself mitigates the volume of bad draws you'll get in a game. However, we both know we have much more sinister purposes for this little gem. Still, as a standalone card, it prevents mana problems by either pushing them away or bringing them forth.

*NEW* Expedition Map: Land tutor that we can recur thanks to Buried Ruin.

Greater Good: This deck has a lot of creatures that range from 1/1s to 12/12s. Obviously, this guy is intended to interact with the latter category. It can also ditch an eldrazi at instant speed to save your graveyard, which is nice.

Keen Sense: Hopefully this will be on our commander, but in the event something gos horribly wrong, putting on a beater to draw some cards is still not terrible at the end of the day.

Snake Umbra: Much the same as Keen Sense, only this grants something totem armor as well as a buff. Sounds pretty good to me.

Sylvan Library: The grandaddy of all green card draw, this relic from days gone by hails from a time when WotC didn't really have a concrete idea of "color identity." We've been abusing this little gem ever since.

Creeping Renaissance: 90% of the time you're going to call land. However, remember this isn't the only permanent type you can call if the situation calls for it. This card has been responsible for a 190 point landbolt volley in past games. Must have for this type of deck.

Gamble: Lets you search for any card, at the slight chance of discarding it. If it's a land, we can just play it off of Crucible of Life from the Loam.

Life from the Loam: To anyone who's played eternal formats, this one should be pretty obvious. Seismic Assault+Loam has been a strategy for years, and it's only fitting that a living assault weapon get the same courtesy. Considering the amount of ramp this deck has, it's conceivable that one could cycle/dredge loam back with Borborygmos in play until the opponent stops moving. Brutal.

Praetor's Counsel: This is the card Renaissance wishes it was. I've had 87 card hands after casting this guy. 40 of which were lands. That's math I can get behind.

Tooth and Nail: There aren't any creature combos in here currently, but a pair of Eldrazi hasted or Primordial/Terastodon seem pretty scary on their own.

Wheel of Fortune: This card can be used offensively and defensively. If your opponent has been hand sculpting, this is a good way to throw a wrench into that.

Worldly Tutor: Grabs any creature you need in a pinch. Recommended targets are Orcish Lumberjack (Early), Godo, Bandit Warlord mid, Terastodon/Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (Late).

Eternal Witness: This girl knows what she wants and how to get it.

Genesis: Sometimes, creatures die. This guy fixes that.

Godo, Bandit Warlord: Equipment tutor to the stars. In a pinch, he can pick up that equipment and serve as a win con.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: His fatness is lovely, but just by the virtue of casting this guy we get 4 cards. Sounds sweet to me.

Yavimaya Elder: Color fixing, recurrable with Genesis, and cantripping all in one. A utility creature after my own heart. *Swoons*

Bow of Nylea: Utility in weapon form, this card can either gain you life, pump your creatures, or save your graveyard. Oh, and passively gives every creature you control deathtouch. That's good, right?

Memory Jar: This card can be a game winner. If you have abundance out, it gets stupid.

Scroll Rack: Want free cards? Rack away 3 lands before combat damage, net 3 cards. Tada.

Utility Spells

Beast Within: Instant speed Vindicate for the cost of 1 land. Convenient that it's only a 3/3.

Chaos Warp: Sometimes, you have to roll the dice. How bad do you need that permanent gone? Sometimes, bad enough to risk a one-sided Show and Tell.

Constant Mists: If someone beats you to the punch on damage, this little bullet can save you for as long as you have lands. I will give you hint, that is a long time.

Starstorm: Sometimes, you need a board wipe. However, sometimes you do not, and so this also has cycling.

Batterskull: Lifelink and Vigilance, this makes Borborygmos an 11/10. That's scary. Oh, and Godo can just make a 4/4 magically appear with this guy.

Lightning Greaves: Haste and shroud for the alpha striker on the go.

Swiftfoot Boots: Serves the same function as Greaves, but is more combo friendly.

Storm Cauldron: Despite its appearance, this isn't ramp. Its purpose is to give Bobo more fuel.

Avenger of Zendikar: This guy can make a fleet of 5/6s in a hurry in this deck. Or chump blockers for the next century. Or both. I like both.

Terastodon: Blow up 3 things? Sweet! Oh, they get some 3/3s? Well, I suppose that's fine. Block with my 6/8?

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Vindicate for simply casting him. If he sticks? Have fun with that.

Exclusions

I intentionally left out any "group hug" effects because of the competitive nature of my meta such as Rites of Flourishing and Horn of Greed. If your group is more casual, feel free to give these a shot. Your mileage may vary.

Budget Options

For those who are on more of a budget, I will take this opportunity to mention some budget options. I will only be referencing cards that are over 20 USD, as most things under 20 are obtainable through trading.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth-> Harmonize. This change allows you to retain card draw, but loses you a shuffle effect and the power associated with the eldrazi.

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre-> Spine of Ish Sah. This allows you to retain castable removal that can be repeated. This again loses you a shuffle effect, so if you cut both eldrazi then you may want to consider Loaming Shaman as a back up plan.

Exploration-> Explore: This is not nearly as effective, but can still give you an early boost. You could also consider Rites of Flourishing or Rampant Growth.

Crucible of Worlds: I'm not sure you can exclude this card. Maybe try Groundskeeper instead?

Mana Crypt->Gruul Signet: You lose some speed from this, but it still provides some solid ramp.

Mox Diamond-> Talisman of Impulse: Again, sacrificing speed, but still provides some ramp.

Fetchlands-> Panoramas: Replacing the fetches with the Panoramas/Basics might be an effective way to cut costs.

Dark Depths: Can be replaced easily. You might look into Mosswort Bridge or Spinerock Knoll if you're slowing down a bit anyway.

Taiga-> Mountain: This loses some color fixing, but allows for the amount of Mountains to stay the same for Valakut.

Remember, the deck does have some customization options. Find a style that fits you best. There is no "correct" way to build Borborygmos, just bring the pain and he will be pleased.