I played gruul for 3 prereleases went to 10-2 the whole weekend. The only deck I lost to was Dimir. That guild is a lot stronger in paper then I thought. The only issue I noted was the lack of removal to be the only issue. If I were to draft it I think I would put higher priority to removal then normal. The advantage I found most useful in playing gruul is, since all the common/uncommon creatures have blood rush creature quality is mostly a non-issue.
I focused mainly on being fast and curving from 2-4 drops. Mixing in some boros creatures though helps a lot. Firefist striker combined with act of treason is brutal to slower decks trying to stabilize. The people I noticed having the biggest issue, were people trying hold their blood rush guys in hand trying to wait for alpha strikes.
I was looking to try and do that when I got my gruul pack. Sadly, in the entirety of the packs i got, there were 5 total white cards/Red and White cards. One of them was a white denizen. It woulda been interesting, as I had 2 Boros Guildgates.
I played gruul for 3 prereleases went to 10-2 the whole weekend. The only deck I lost to was Dimir. That guild is a lot stronger in paper then I thought. The only issue I noted was the lack of removal to be the only issue. If I were to draft it I think I would put higher priority to removal then normal. The advantage I found most useful in playing gruul is, since all the common/uncommon creatures have blood rush creature quality is mostly a non-issue.
I focused mainly on being fast and curving from 2-4 drops. Mixing in some boros creatures though helps a lot. Firefist striker combined with act of treason is brutal to slower decks trying to stabilize. The people I noticed having the biggest issue, were people trying hold their blood rush guys in hand trying to wait for alpha strikes.
I was also surprised by how strong Dimir was. More than once I had a T3 Deathcult Rogue followed by T4 double Paranoid Delusions, and 12 cards gone. It was even stronger if you managed to pull Lazav. I didn't get that lucky, but I got two Shadow Slice, which made for a terrifying combo with the Dimir Keyrune.
Playing Gruul yesterday the one thing that was huge was having guys with trample. They become incredible targets for bloodrush, especially if the guy across the table does not have the beef to soak up the damage. If you have a guy with both (ex. Ghor-Clan Rampager)it's probably going to be better to cast him as a critter. Here are some other observations from my day -
- As mentioned, getting gruul 2-drops is tough. I dipped into the Boros 2 drops which worked great for me
- Madcap Skills is common and crazy good with Gruul. Plop it on a trample guy then bloodrush him for crazy damage. I had situations where I literally wiped his team with a dude pumped like this.
- Miming Slime is great to cast after you have bloodrushed one of your 4-power guys. I had a 9/9 ooze and a 7/7 ooze yesterday - booyah.
- My max casting cost was 6 - I don't see a need to have guys with a casting cost more than that since you are usually winning by round 6. The bulk of my team were the 3-5 casting cost guys (3/4s, 4/4s, etc). They do the real work.
Well, red looks outstanding in this set. Lots of removal and lots of efficient little beaters and combat tricks. Almost every red spell in gatecrash looks useful.
As for Gruul, the main problem will be getting 2-1ed when your opponent casts instant speed removal on the the guy you just blood-rushed. Just make sure you don't walk into that and Gruul should be solid.
Just remember to never bloodrush a blocked creature if they have white mana open. If you do you're gonna have a bad time.
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I was looking to try and do that when I got my gruul pack. Sadly, in the entirety of the packs i got, there were 5 total white cards/Red and White cards. One of them was a white denizen. It woulda been interesting, as I had 2 Boros Guildgates.
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I was also surprised by how strong Dimir was. More than once I had a T3 Deathcult Rogue followed by T4 double Paranoid Delusions, and 12 cards gone. It was even stronger if you managed to pull Lazav. I didn't get that lucky, but I got two Shadow Slice, which made for a terrifying combo with the Dimir Keyrune.
- As mentioned, getting gruul 2-drops is tough. I dipped into the Boros 2 drops which worked great for me
- Madcap Skills is common and crazy good with Gruul. Plop it on a trample guy then bloodrush him for crazy damage. I had situations where I literally wiped his team with a dude pumped like this.
- Miming Slime is great to cast after you have bloodrushed one of your 4-power guys. I had a 9/9 ooze and a 7/7 ooze yesterday - booyah.
- My max casting cost was 6 - I don't see a need to have guys with a casting cost more than that since you are usually winning by round 6. The bulk of my team were the 3-5 casting cost guys (3/4s, 4/4s, etc). They do the real work.
Just remember to never bloodrush a blocked creature if they have white mana open. If you do you're gonna have a bad time.