Dies to Removal

I went 3-2 and should be 4-1 if I play correctly.

2-1 Bg control - with reaper of the wilds, not desecration demon, otherwise same deck. Rampager laughts at this card, this is why I noticed this deck is extremely good vs a field (a lot of Gb devotion control in 2 and 8 man queues on Modo)
1-2 Mono b - I scewed really hard here, I had really good draw (1 drop into BTE + striker) with 2 rampagers in hand. I chose not to bloodrush with rampager when he tapped for removal (i thought casting it was better or just keeping it for blocker), however he just had 3 removal hand with no creatures, and casting rampagers were blanked by demon. He was left at 2 life, couldnt topdeck anything to kill him, however I missed damage with rampager.

Worth noting - those deck moved to Lifebane zombie in 3 spot (over some removal probably?) - methinks, as in both of those games they had it in game 1.

Esper Control - 2-0 Nuts game 1,
bloodrushed phoenix and flew over blood baron game 2.

Mono U - 2-0 agro game 1, overloaded mortars game 2 to 5 for 1 him. Had 3 rampagers and cast 2 of them, they are really good as a creatures here (hard to kill and tramp over master while zealots are on defense).

Mono U - 0-2 same guy as before, game 1 perfect draw in his part, game 2 gruul charm won (3-1 killing 2 specters and 1 raptor). Game 3 I misscounted damage - forgot mutavault was 3/3 with master on board, so lost extra creature (zealot and mutavault) instead of kiling master token. Missed killing him by 1 (had pyrewind shaman and magma jet instead of rampager and lightning strike - trolling was both of those cards were on top).

Yeah, with it's really hard to lose a game with two rampagers. If you have two at your disposal, tapping out to char someone with the first is usually the best idea. If you're gonna' play both as creatures, that demands all of your mana for turn four and most for turn five. Unless they're the beatdown, this isn't ideal.

Trying to get my hands on the lands (since its a bad investment for me)

but here is my take:

[deck]Gruul Aggro[/deck]

I like the inclusion of Loyalist. He makes a lot of things easier and better. But you have really small amount of targets for BTE. If that works for you... cool.
Titan's Strenght? Meh. I'd rather Pythoburst but could be a bit too greedy. And try out 1-2 Forests. Remember, deck is not mana-greedy.
And believe me, singleton Pyrewild Shaman fits here as fuck. Maybe drop single Titan's Strenght for it.

And then you can call yourself true "Midrange-Fucker".

The Gruul Experiment Starts today (hopefully this will include commentary and perhaps Twitch if i'm bother set-up. (HUGE shout out to hamfactorial this wouldn't be possible without him).

Rules are simple, I'm going keep running tweaks of my Gruul list until I break my $12 budget in two-mans.

Not as tilted anymore, so I want to shine some spotlight on this deck.

If DEs were still up I think I would opt for it because the MonoBlue games are disgusting, I did lose against MonoBlack but that was due to my lack of threats (had I ran Yarpus version and used Shamans, that would of been better).

Against the rest of the field which does not run DD, G provides you with nasty answers - give it a shot if you enjoy playing mind games with your opp. or enjoy stompy.

EDIT: When i said MonoU was disgusting, I mean it was disgustingly good

Do you believe Yarpus' list to be optimal?

Do you believe Yarpus' list to be optimal?

Shamans are MUCH better then Titan's Strength in any deck not running 4x YP$, 4x Firefist Striker is a must (I have no idea why I only ran 2x) I'm not sure about Ash vs Chandra’s Phoenix and Chandra, Pyromaster vs Xenagos.

I think with this deck, you want to keep the curve low, the burn spells low and the creature count high, if I had someone to borrow the cards from I'll go:

[deck=Better then MDU's Last Gruul Experiment]Lands 22
12 Mountain
2 Mutavault
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground

Creatures 28
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Pyrewild Shaman
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager

Spells 08
4 Lightning
Strike
4 Magma Jet

Walkers 2
2 Xenagos, the Reveler[/deck]

MonoB matchup is still unfavorable. You are 40-60 to them. But Mono Blue? Huh, it's really good.
Not sure if deck is worth playing to be honest, but yeah, I thought that while you played well, decklist you opted for was suboptimal. Still, I clearly understand why you decided to drop the deck.

I SHOULD be able to buy the cards now but this week is a nightmare for me. So starting from the next week, I should be able to start testing the deck.

In terms of new list, I am not sure about not including Phoenix-Pyromaster combo. It fixes your Mono B matchup a bit due to Xenagos... worth testing.

MonoB matchup is still unfavorable. You are 40-60 to them. But Mono Blue? Huh, it's really good.
Not sure if deck is worth playing to be honest, but yeah, I thought that while you played well, decklist you opted for was suboptimal. Still, I clearly understand why you decided to drop the deck.

I SHOULD be able to buy the cards now but this week is a nightmare for me. So starting from the next week, I should be able to start testing the deck.

In terms of new list, I am not sure about not including Phoenix-Pyromaster combo. It fixes your Mono B matchup a bit due to Xenagos... worth testing.

The Phoenix combo require more mana and two cards, Xenagos and Shaman can rape MonoB by themselves (if you can solve the DD issue you have a strong deck).

nP.S. when I said monU was disgusting, I meant that MonoU was disgustingly good, they can't do nothing (MonoU happens to be the MOST played deck during DE)
P.S.S. yep, agreed the deck which I did test was horrible.

The Phoenix combo require more mana and two cards, Xenagos and Shaman can rape MonoB by themselves (if you can solve the DD issue you have a strong deck).

The thing is: Xenagos is the rape-train against Mono B and Control decks. He does nothing in midrange matchups and helps at stretched-out games in aggro mirrors. His position against Mono Blue is okay, but we don't care - we buttfuck them.
What I mean is: Chandra is faf more versatile. She's good in any matchup. She probably has no really bad matchups, just the average ones (she's not spectacular against MonoB for example as you falter the demon and then he kills your Chandra).
Still, to fix the issue - I think yeah, we could try out the Xenagos way.

Phoenix was a good card for the deck as he at least tried to make removal feel blank against you which is important as people can break your deck with appropriate (=absurd) amounts of
removal. Phoenix was creature often found in the depths of your deck during attrition wars. Or you just played MJ to get back two of these badboi's. Still, I get the reasoning behind throwing him away. I like the new decklist as 95% of the deck (except Xenagos) can be played for 2 mana.
Xenagos opens up the possibility of using Clan Defiance. I'd maybe even risk singleton Nykthos. But that's just me being silly.

Also, I am a terrible human being for ever considering Mono Red version of the deck with...


Also, how Plummet felt when playing against Mono B?

Also, I am a terrible human being for ever considering Mono Red version of the deck with...

Yes you are...

Also, how Plummet felt when playing against Mono B?

I was tilted beyond repair at that point so I didn't get a chance to test it on Monoblack.

I was tilted beyond repair at that point so I didn't get a chance to test it on Monoblack.

Hey dude, that happens.
I believe card could be good in case of "We are really good against anything except of MonoB", basically meta would have to be forgiving enough to sacrifice 2 slots of SB with card so fucking narrow. It could be also used against Mono Blue and occasionaly Stormbreath Dragon. Welp, could solve the problem.

Yes you are...

I'm a dude with Terribalt sig, y'know.

If we do decided to take the plummet route (god I feel bad running that card) going back to Chandra and Phoenix wouldn't be so bad...

Just like I did when I tried out Tumble Magnet and/or Vapor Snag first. Hueh.
EDIT: okay, that's not actually the case here. Mentioned cards were as overall strong as fuck, but underrated by pros. Plummet is not strong - it's just obscure solution to fix deck's gap.

G4: Blue-Black Devotion Win ($5.20 Budget - $2.00) +$3.60 = New Budget $5.80

You need to recount your budget and earnings: $5.20 - $2.00 +$3.60 = $6.80

G4: Blue-Black Devotion Win ($5.20 Budget - $2.00) +$3.60 = New Budget $5.80

You need to recount your budget and earnings: $5.20 - $2.00 +$3.60 = $6.80

Fixed, thanks mate

Did you see this Yarpus? Gruul Aggro works http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27 ... Blitz.html

Did you see this Yarpus? Gruul Aggro works http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27 ... Blitz.html

i have tried this deck at a local IQ and went 3-3 losing to Mono blue 2-0, U/W control 2-1 and a burn deck 2-1. i beat a red AIR Deck, mono black, and green/black dredge.

overall i think its a good deck but it is missing something. I have been switching back between tom ross's R/G gruul blitz and a version of tom ross's boss sligh deck. not sure whats better yet.

any opinions?

I played Boss Sligh a few times and quite enjoyed it. I haven't run the Gruul version (don't have all the cards) to compare the 2 though.

playing around with gruul sligh I think 20 lands is way too little

with all the scry you can avoid flooding, and curving into armes+gcr is too good

Man this is gonna be so fun come next week with the fanatic and the archetype of aggression

could we slam both of them into this deck or would that be unreasonable?

any updates on this list with Fanatic of Xenagos?

Here's what I have::


[deck]4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Fanatic of Xenagos

2 Armed // Dangerous
4 Titan's Strength
4 Madcap Skills
4 Lightning Strike

22 Land
11 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Mutavault


SB: 2 Skullcrack
SB: 2 Shock
SB: 1 Gruul Charm
SB: 2 Skarrg Guildmage
SB: 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
SB: 1 Xenagos, the Reveler
SB: 4 Boros Reckoner
SB: 3 Skylasher
SB: 2 Xenagos, God of Revelry
[/deck]


The SB is obviously bleh, but I took Tom's list and shaped it up a bit. You DEFINTIELY don't want 19 land... you NEED to curve out into 4, just like with hellrider. Double ghor-clan or madcap skills armed or armed+ghor-clan all require 4 mana, and you can't be screwed. They'll just play their better cards out and you'll miss your window.

The only
way to go under mono black is to go under them and "combo out" when they play some slow 4-drop or lifebane zombie.


I like how this deck is resillient to lifebane zombie which mono black plays 4x INSTEAD of the nightveil spectre that blanked all of our guys. You can even run Chandra in the SB for more reach, blocker clearage, etc.

Tom Ross basically posted the same thing.

[deck]
Creatures (26)

2 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Fanatic of Xenagos
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Skylasher

Lands (19)

2 Forest
9 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon

Spells (15)

3 Madcap Skills
2 Giant Growth
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan's Strength
2 Armed

Sideboard
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Ranger's Guile
3 Shock
2 Skullcrack
2 Domri Rade
2 Peak Eruption

[/deck]

yeah I just said I took his list and shaped it up a bit >_>

Giant growth is a card I'd play around with because the toughness can save things from bile blight and its effectively a ranger's guile against certain decks.


But definitely need more land


Skylashers are from when Nightveil spectres where the terror. Now that lifebane zombie is in ash zealot is much better even with the BTE nombo

I WAS TOLD I COULD FIND NECRO HERE