I was instantly fascinated by this card. I used to have a big-mana Jund deck, headed by Vaevictis Asmadi, but it rarely got there with the commander.
With Gyrus, I feel like one could get more leeway out, as it is bigger just from casting it (instead of having to pump it every turn) and can additionally play with the graveyard.
However, I hit a mild brainstorming roadblock: what do I want to do in terms of enablers and creatures to "get back" (= exile from grave and make token copies of, important distinction) with Gyrus? The deck is already somewhat-thick with things that enable and abuse having a metric butt-ton of mana, but could probably use a handful of cards that are good for/because of Gyrus.
(The creature you 'raise' needs to have lesser power than Gyrus, but I doubt that will ever be a problem.)
One sad downside I do realize that I can't play any 0-power-in-graveyard Hydras with Gyrus. Will have to find a new home for few of those pretties.
X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
I will be building him as the head of a hydra deck with a land subtheme. By running cabal coffers, urborg tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Stronghold as my (almost) only nonbasics they will quickly produce lots of mana which will enable big X’s for the hydra’s. Add Traverse the Outlands and Boundless Realms for big time basic ramp.
Additionaly, you could run those basics as snow basics in conjunction with Glacial Crevasses and/or Sunstone for some additional protection (depending on how much land recursion you run).
While i will be sticking to almost only hydra’s, one option you could go is to run creatures with p/t based on the amount of lands you control like Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar, Molimo, Maro Sorcerer, Ulvenwald Hydra and Allosaurus Rider. Their p/t will always be lower than Gyrus’s and 1 Protean Hulk fetches them all.
I will definitly be running Altar of Dementia, both as a Sacrifice outlet and as a potential win condition. Further inclusions will be Blanket of Night (Urborg #2) and Nightmare Incursion to hammer home the mill subtheme. Reyhan, Last of the Abzan and Death’s Presence work well as well.
I’m still brainstorming some +1/+1 counter synergy for the deck (Doubling Season, Primal Vigor etc. ) but those 3 three themes (Hydra’s, +1/+1 counters and mill/power matters (Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Rite of Consumption, Fling effects?) have enough overlap to build a deck from.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I tried for a few days to consider what this guy can do.
I think the best way to pilot this thing is to not invest any mana in to the x-cost until very late game. This way you can just pay jund and still have a 3/3 that pulls back most utility junk like wood elves and whatnot.
You can fill the deck with a compliment of graveyard filling stuff like grisly salvage and satyr wayfinder and use that to try and fuel Gyrus for a few turns while you develop an actual victory condition.
I hate the feeling I get every time I have to recommend it (since it's just not a very good play), but this is a commander where you will want to buried alive a anger+brawn+filth.
The issue will be finding the balance of utility dorks and finding a way to win. You can try to copy the tokens with parallel lives for value, but eventually attacking with the 3/3 commander and small self-mill effects will fail to whatever the opponents are doing. I guess kessig wolf run for a generic wincon? Or just sac/kill Gyrus and recast him when you reach obscene amounts of mana, and hope to have a rancor effect.
Other generic jund stuff like tooth'n'nail for crater+avenger and maybe some warstorm surge stuff if you plan on going big mana. Maybe check out some old Thromok the Insatiable lists that don't focus on tokens, and add black cards lol.
I've ended up in the decision that Gyrus... might actually do just fine when the deck has a handful of potential things to revive, as an additional bonus instead of a build-around, with the main win condition being the simple-yet-works condition of casting him for 20+ and giving him trample. Failing that, the deck has enough other 'spend mana until you win' options. (Helix Pinnacle is never leaving the deck.)
If things are worth reviving, odds are by the time I could with Gyrus, I could just cast them in the first place anyway. Might as well treat the hydra's effect as a thing to do after (inevitably) my Vaevictis Asmadi/Wasitora, Nekoru Queen/Zhur-Taa Ancient/Hydra Broodmaster/Polukranos, World Eater bites the dust and bring them in for a last hurrah. Especially since Gyrus' effect sadly exiles the token at end of combat, so I wouldn't count on it too much.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
At first I thought about building Gyrus similar Karador or Grenzo but while working on my first draft I realized it was more or less a multicolor Kiki-Jiki. It should be feasible to play a value game with Panharmonicon/Parallel Lives while setting up a Purphoros or Aggravated Assault finish.
I think he would be best as a sort of dredge/ramp deck. Instead of filling the deck with powerful creatures. Instead add creatures with powerful EtBs. Round out the rest of the deck with cards like Harrow and mill effects. To top out your deck, add Jared + Lord of Extinction/splinterfright.
You can also play him as just a value aggro commander. Play creatures that can either recur themselves or are very aggressive and use the Hydra to just keep bringing back your little dudes to keep up pressure.
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This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
You want Brawn and Anger. If you have Urborg you also need Filth. (Consider blacket of Night as well.)
The hydra also needs some help, so perhaps Rancor or Sword of Feast and Famie.
One of the big problems is finding good creatures to reanimate. Grave Titan might be good. Acidic Slime and Terastodon could be fine. Bane of Progress. Avenger of Zendikar. Rune Scarred-Demon.
Purfuros, God of the Forge could ne nice. Nylea God of the Hunt is another trample enabler. Shinen of Life's Roar is good, as would other lure creatures.
You could have Panharmonicon if you go the ETB road. Things that give you adisional combqt phases could also be good.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
Decided to go a different "big mana matters" route, with Lord Windgrace at the helm, simply because my past experience with the deck idea - problem has not been getting the haymakers, but getting there in the first place with my mana. Gyrus will have a spot among the "hydras that are also some kind of other value"-department, though, and I'll leave enough leeway for Gyrus by limiting the amount of critters that are zero p/t in graveyard.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
Depends on your creature vs non-creature ratio I guess. Since it puts creature cards in play instead of the graveyard (in multiplayer no one ever pays the life) the synergy with Gyrus specifically is not there. The only card I ever play (and have played) that requires me to discard at random is Gamble so I wouldn't play it but YMMV.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Since it puts creature cards in play instead of the graveyard (in multiplayer no one ever pays the life) the synergy with Gyrus specifically is not there.
That’s the point. Gyrus runs on many creatures with trigger effect, if no one pays life you get a free body and a free trigger, and even if they pay life you get to bring it back with Gyrus (at times in multiple copies thx to it being token).
I was instantly fascinated by this card. I used to have a big-mana Jund deck, headed by Vaevictis Asmadi, but it rarely got there with the commander.
With Gyrus, I feel like one could get more leeway out, as it is bigger just from casting it (instead of having to pump it every turn) and can additionally play with the graveyard.
However, I hit a mild brainstorming roadblock: what do I want to do in terms of enablers and creatures to "get back" (= exile from grave and make token copies of, important distinction) with Gyrus? The deck is already somewhat-thick with things that enable and abuse having a metric butt-ton of mana, but could probably use a handful of cards that are good for/because of Gyrus.
(The creature you 'raise' needs to have lesser power than Gyrus, but I doubt that will ever be a problem.)
One sad downside I do realize that I can't play any 0-power-in-graveyard Hydras with Gyrus. Will have to find a new home for few of those pretties.
Any thoughts for the big hydra?
entomb
buried alive
corpse connoisseur
fauna shaman
survival of the fittest
One good revive target:
master of cruelties
Does sundial of the infinite stop the exile trigger?
Additionaly, you could run those basics as snow basics in conjunction with Glacial Crevasses and/or Sunstone for some additional protection (depending on how much land recursion you run).
While i will be sticking to almost only hydra’s, one option you could go is to run creatures with p/t based on the amount of lands you control like Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar, Molimo, Maro Sorcerer, Ulvenwald Hydra and Allosaurus Rider. Their p/t will always be lower than Gyrus’s and 1 Protean Hulk fetches them all.
I will definitly be running Altar of Dementia, both as a Sacrifice outlet and as a potential win condition. Further inclusions will be Blanket of Night (Urborg #2) and Nightmare Incursion to hammer home the mill subtheme. Reyhan, Last of the Abzan and Death’s Presence work well as well.
I’m still brainstorming some +1/+1 counter synergy for the deck (Doubling Season, Primal Vigor etc. ) but those 3 three themes (Hydra’s, +1/+1 counters and mill/power matters (Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Rite of Consumption, Fling effects?) have enough overlap to build a deck from.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
I think the best way to pilot this thing is to not invest any mana in to the x-cost until very late game. This way you can just pay jund and still have a 3/3 that pulls back most utility junk like wood elves and whatnot.
You can fill the deck with a compliment of graveyard filling stuff like grisly salvage and satyr wayfinder and use that to try and fuel Gyrus for a few turns while you develop an actual victory condition.
I hate the feeling I get every time I have to recommend it (since it's just not a very good play), but this is a commander where you will want to buried alive a anger+brawn+filth.
The issue will be finding the balance of utility dorks and finding a way to win. You can try to copy the tokens with parallel lives for value, but eventually attacking with the 3/3 commander and small self-mill effects will fail to whatever the opponents are doing. I guess kessig wolf run for a generic wincon? Or just sac/kill Gyrus and recast him when you reach obscene amounts of mana, and hope to have a rancor effect.
Other generic jund stuff like tooth'n'nail for crater+avenger and maybe some warstorm surge stuff if you plan on going big mana. Maybe check out some old Thromok the Insatiable lists that don't focus on tokens, and add black cards lol.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
If things are worth reviving, odds are by the time I could with Gyrus, I could just cast them in the first place anyway. Might as well treat the hydra's effect as a thing to do after (inevitably) my Vaevictis Asmadi/Wasitora, Nekoru Queen/Zhur-Taa Ancient/Hydra Broodmaster/Polukranos, World Eater bites the dust and bring them in for a last hurrah. Especially since Gyrus' effect sadly exiles the token at end of combat, so I wouldn't count on it too much.
You can also play him as just a value aggro commander. Play creatures that can either recur themselves or are very aggressive and use the Hydra to just keep bringing back your little dudes to keep up pressure.
This aint your girlfriends meta! This is a man's meta! TURBO META.
Feldon of the Third Path is useful to get a one turn token out of a creature cemetery.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
The hydra also needs some help, so perhaps Rancor or Sword of Feast and Famie.
One of the big problems is finding good creatures to reanimate. Grave Titan might be good. Acidic Slime and Terastodon could be fine. Bane of Progress. Avenger of Zendikar. Rune Scarred-Demon.
Purfuros, God of the Forge could ne nice. Nylea God of the Hunt is another trample enabler. Shinen of Life's Roar is good, as would other lure creatures.
You could have Panharmonicon if you go the ETB road. Things that give you adisional combqt phases could also be good.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
That’s the point. Gyrus runs on many creatures with trigger effect, if no one pays life you get a free body and a free trigger, and even if they pay life you get to bring it back with Gyrus (at times in multiple copies thx to it being token).
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Or both. Aether Rift is cheaper by half, but is burdensome if you don't have any creature in hand to drop.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs