Greetings fellow gamers. Well, I'm at it again. Over the years I've tinkered around with Gruul a number of times. First with Wort, the Raidmother, then with Mina and Denn, Wildborn, and finally with Omnath, Lotus of Rage. With the fairly recent purchase of the Commander 2017 Draconic Domination, I was really aiming to put together a dragon tribal deck of some kind. However, my meta is full of 5 colour dragon tribal at the moment and I didn't want to over-saturate. I figure the perfect general to introduce would have been Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund, though I don't have a copy of him at this moment; so I'll settle for Dragon Gruul, led by Atarka, World Render - a fair balance between power, effectiveness, and....I have the cards.
I call the deck: Dragon Gruul
Would love to hear from the community on ways I can further push this theme. Comments, suggestions, and criticisms are always welcome.
All my decks try to adhere to these guidelines:
1) Be able to win.
2) Be mostly true to a flavor and a theme.
3) Be good against one or multiple opponents.
5) Be fun to pilot or to play against and interactive.
6) Have multiple paths to victory.
7) Have lots of cool interactions and synergy.
8) Play out differently every game to keep it fun over a long time.
9) Be streamlined and fast to play without excessive upkeep, time-consuming play or overcomplicated boardstates.
10) Integrate the Commanders abilities into the strategy at least a little, but be able to win without ever playing the commander.
The number in front of the card will denote CMC of the creature/spell.
Does this deck churn out tons of mana? Seems like that is vital for dropping dragons.
Unless your meta loves LD, I think green decks should not use artifacts for mana unless they have other relevant uses. CRift hurts even more. Ergo... Nature's Lore over signet Into the North over keyrune Rampant Growth over ingot Farseek over cluestone Crop Rotation over Harrow (this one is up to you if you have other lands to search out)
Those CIPT duals can be cut (or at least one replaced with Temple of Abandon). EWilds and TExpanse work better in decks that reuse them from the GY, have topdeck manipulation, or get landfall triggers; is their only use currently as deck-thinning?
Is Opal Palace the best pick? I'd use Scavenger Grounds and High Market instead.
Why are you running storage lands? I see those cards in decks that was to abuse the counters.
Shamanic Rev works best with tokens; how many creatures do you average on the board?
I'm not a fan of those little dragons or TMauler (no evasion!).
Warmonger Hellkite seems risky.
I'd cut Hellkite Igniter for Mana-Charged Dragon. Scourge of the Throne seems a good pick. Hoarding Dragon over Hoard-Smelter.
I call the deck: Dragon Gruul
Would love to hear from the community on ways I can further push this theme. Comments, suggestions, and criticisms are always welcome.
All my decks try to adhere to these guidelines:
1) Be able to win.
2) Be mostly true to a flavor and a theme.
3) Be good against one or multiple opponents.
5) Be fun to pilot or to play against and interactive.
6) Have multiple paths to victory.
7) Have lots of cool interactions and synergy.
8) Play out differently every game to keep it fun over a long time.
9) Be streamlined and fast to play without excessive upkeep, time-consuming play or overcomplicated boardstates.
10) Integrate the Commanders abilities into the strategy at least a little, but be able to win without ever playing the commander.
The number in front of the card will denote CMC of the creature/spell.
7 Atarka, World Render
//Dragons (18)
3 Taurean Mauler
4 Skyship Stalker
4 Territorial Hellkite
4 Thunderbreak Regent
5 Scourge of Valkas
5 Thundermaw Hellkite
6 Flameblast Dragon
6 Hellkite Charger
6 Dragon Broodmother
6 Hunted Dragon
6 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
6 Savage Ventmaw
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Warmonger Hellkite
7 Bogardan Hellkite
7 Knollspine Dragon
7 Skyline Despot
7 Tyrant's Familiar
8 Utvara Hellkite
//Non-Dragons (6)
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
2 Dragonlord's Servant
3 Dragonspeaker Shaman
4 Drumhunter
4 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
//Card Advantage (7)
3x Genesis Wave
3 Elemental Bond
3 Hunter's Insight
4 Harmonize
4 Momentous Fall
5 Hunter's Prowess
5 Shamanic Revelation
2 Dragon Tempest
2 Bower Passage
3 Fires of Yavimaya
3 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Flameshadow Conjuring
4 Bear Umbra
4 Gruul War Chant
4 Crucible of Fire
5 Sight of the Scalelords
5 Where Ancients Tread
6 Warstorm Surge
//Control (7)
1x Banefire
2x Clan Defiance
2 Deglamer
2 Unravel the Aether
3 Arcbond
4 Aftershock
4 Decimate
//Ramp (12)
1 Sol Ring
2 Gruul Signet
3 Atarka Monument
3 Commander's Sphere
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Gruul Keyrune
3 Harrow
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
4 Hedron Archive
4 Explosive Vegetation
7 Zendikar Resurgent
0 Command Tower
0 Path of Ancestry
0 Cinder Glade
0 Kazandu Refuge
0 Rugged Highlands
0 Flamekin Village
0 Kessig Wolf Run
0 Rogue's Passage
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Fungal Reaches
0 Opal Palace
0 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
0 Crucible of the Spirit Dragon
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 Temple of the False God
11 Mountain
10 Forest
100 cards so far...
2 Primal Rage
4 Spellbreaker Behemoth
4 Nylea, God of the Hunt
5 Stonebrow, Krosan Hero.
7 Baleful Hellkite
2 Dragon Breath (cut?)
2 Dragon Hatchling (cut?)
4 Furnace Whelp
7 Hellkite Igniter (cut?)
3 Exuberant Firestoker (cut?)
6 Vengeful Rebirth (cut?)
3 Heat Shimmer (cut?)
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Collective Voyage (cut?)
3 Gruul Cluestone (cut?)
6 Death by Dragons
Feb 24 2018:
Fervor >> Genesis Wave
Tempt with Discovery >> Explosive Vegetation
March 15 2018:
Loxodon Warhammer >> Flameshadow Conjuring
Fatal Frenzy >> Thundermaw Hellkite
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
Unless your meta loves LD, I think green decks should not use artifacts for mana unless they have other relevant uses. CRift hurts even more. Ergo...
Nature's Lore over signet
Into the North over keyrune
Rampant Growth over ingot
Farseek over cluestone
Crop Rotation over Harrow (this one is up to you if you have other lands to search out)
Those CIPT duals can be cut (or at least one replaced with Temple of Abandon). EWilds and TExpanse work better in decks that reuse them from the GY, have topdeck manipulation, or get landfall triggers; is their only use currently as deck-thinning?
Is Opal Palace the best pick? I'd use Scavenger Grounds and High Market instead.
Why are you running storage lands? I see those cards in decks that was to abuse the counters.
Shamanic Rev works best with tokens; how many creatures do you average on the board?
I'm not a fan of those little dragons or TMauler (no evasion!).
Warmonger Hellkite seems risky.
I'd cut Hellkite Igniter for Mana-Charged Dragon.
Scourge of the Throne seems a good pick.
Hoarding Dragon over Hoard-Smelter.
You could add Aggravated Assault, Nature's Will, and Sword of Feast and Famine as additional options for the Hellkite Charger/Bear Umbra combo.
(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'