Dies to Removal

DECKLIST

[deck]Gruul Deck Wins 2.0 by Yarpus

Creatures:
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
4 Pyrewild Shaman
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager

Other Spells:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning
Strike

Planeswalkers:
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands:
10 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Forest
2 Mutavault

Sideboard:
4 Traitorous Instincts
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Skullcrack
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Pithing Needle[/deck]

Why you are playing both Burning-Tree Emissary and Ash Zealot?
Because those cards do not hate each other as many of you would thought. I don't need to be able to chain BTE into AZ to make the whole deck work.
Let's say I do have BTE and Zealot in hand. I'll just cast Zealot to put a pressure on my opponent.
Let's say I do have BTE/Firefist Striker and Zealot in hand. I'll cast BTE/Firefist Striker and depending on board/my opponent I'll also cast Ash Zealot.
They do serve completely different purposes but both are really good cards that you want as centerpiece of your deck.
Zealot has amazing synergy with Bloodrush.
Burning-Tree Emissary enables Bloodrush by giving you enough of possible targets for it.


Yarpus, stop with that Pyrewild Shaman.
I will not.
This card is a source of repetable damage as long as you have a creature to channel it through. And with 5 mana at your disposal, you are just able to grind any matchup out by taking 'trading' to next level. Not to mention other uses such as infinite chump as long as you have the ability to swing into your opponent.
Pyrewild Shaman is a good card. But I do consider lowering his count to 2 as he doesn't work too well in multiples.

Is Ghor-Clan Rampger worth splashing?
Yes, he is.

What are the changes you are currently considering about the decklist?
There are few that I seriously consider.

- Pyrewild Shaman: 2 of them is just fine
- [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card]: one of the best RDW's beaters.
- Skarrg Guildmage: mana sink of the year
- Electrickery/[card:
8in1ovix]Gruul Charm[/card]: responses to Mono Blue decks. Gruul Charm is the special kind of haymaker against them. You can destroy their board presence.
- Mistcutter Hydra: hasty response to control decks. Could be much better than Skullcrack.

What about Domri Rade?
My first thought was - hell no. Domri does not fit Aggro deck in theory. Aggro likes to play burn spells. Aggro doesn't have creatures big enough to make his Fight worth it. Some people suggested him due to Bloodrush theme. I still do think that even if I'd love to have 3CMC walker who can draw me cards, he's not for us.
Chandra offers either more reliable draw OR relevant ping/falter ability.
Xenagos on the other hand is really interesting. I'd really love to curve into T4 Xenagos against Control as even if I'll get wrath'd - I'm capable of rebuilding my field in an instant and still threaten my opponent with hasty bears.

Still, [Chandra = Xenagos] > Domri

I think you want at least 7 permanents that can be cast off of BTE to optimize the strategy. SGM, Ooze, Skills, and GHC come to mind.

Lots of testing proved it's not that bad really.
You shouldn't neglect the BTE-Magma Jet cast.
I wouldn't really like to get rid off Ashley. She's still a champ. I'd consider -2 Pyrewild +2 Skarrg though.

Random card suggestion even though I have no idea what to cut: Flesh & Blood? Seems fun with GCR/PWS as a pseudo-fling, can be played off BTE mana, etc.

Flesh is pretty sweet for killing people, and if thats what a X Deck Wins is trying to do I highly reccomend it

Ash Zealot can be uncastable at times and is hard off BTE, yeah I knorw first strike with pyrewild but still

BTE + Jet is fine as long as they have an X/2 or X/1. Against control/midrange, that's miserable.

Just as Magma Jet is. Just cast it while choosing the player as the target, fix your draw. Do the exact thing you'd do anyway.

Blood // Flesh is just really awkward card in this kind of list.
You know what is it's powerplay. Swing with Polukranos, pump him up with Ghor-Clan Rampager. Then unleash Blood pointing your opponent. By using 3 cards you have generated redecolous amounts of damage.
Swing with Ash Zealot, pump him up with Rampager - use Blood. 12 damage while using 3 cards? Not worth it.

Blood is the reach/removal option for RG midrange decks. It just doesn't fit the Aggro deck at all. I'd be far more interested in Armed // Dangerous - but still, my creatures are too bearish to actually benefit too much from it.

opp plays master of waves

you dangerous reckoner

???


NERD RAGE

Pyrewild is fine

but Yarpus, STOP WITH THAT DAMN NEEDLE IN MY SMASH DECKS

I have the feeling for that card. It's just a catch-all singleton. One day it will help me a lot, Fate-san.

a cards always going to do something

its better to have cute 1-ofs be 100% of the time blow-out "hes playing WHAT?" than "oh cute he has an answer to aetherling.... I sphinx for 5, untap, play elspeth."

Armed and dangerous is the shiiit

also where gruul charms?

Can't realy find a space for them. My SB except of shitty Needle is really stacked as fuck.
And I wasn't even thinking about Aetherling when thinking about Pithing Needle. More like Jace or Elspeth. I don't give a fuck about Aetherling - I can race him. Jace on the other hand screws me hard as i'm kinda horde deck.
Oh yeah, and turning off that goddamn Whip of Erebos.

Still not sure about Armed and Dangerous. While not casting it on Pyrewild/Rampgager it turns my 2-power drop into 6-damage one. I can't say that it's too impressive to be honest. I kinda wish I could play Scavenging Ooze and make it big.

also Armed PLUS GCR >>>> flesh blood+GCR given your small guys

THE WOMBO COMBOS

the thing I don't like about Pithing Needle is that people use it in aggro decks against the decks that have access to D-Sphere. (also you have Revelry for Whips, so...?)

re:12 damage over 3 cards
a) I dunno it seems okay when your opponent is at 12 or less (again, not that this may be a good card for the deck, but to be fair...)
b) didn't I read something in a redthread about cards needing to do 4 damage per card to be efficient in aggro, or was that just one-drops. because 12/3 = 4.

It's too much of a combo to say that the whole combo deals 12 damage reliably.
Most of the time Blood will probably deal 2 damage.
2-card combos are kinda fine of the parts are doing good job on their own. I'd consider Blood as great card in Midrange. Most of your guys deal redencolous damage. Here? I'd rather have a burn card due to flexxibility.

Looking awesome, Yarpus!

Have you tested it against any of the popular decks yet?

To be honest at the moment I'm poor as fuck and sucking that huge corporation's dick to get enough of milk to buy the deck.
So, Soon TM.

If I can get my hands on a few stomping grounds I might be able to test this at the next FNM sans Chandra.

Also Soon (TM) .

[deck]Gruul Deck Wins 2.0.1

Creatures:
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
3 Fanatic of Mogis
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager

Other Spells:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Planeswalkers:
2 Xenagos, The Reveler

Lands:
11 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Forest
2 Mutavault

Sideboard:
3 Act of Treason
2 Burning Earth
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Skullcrack
2 Destructive Revelry[/deck]

Will try out this slightly updated list at my FNM tomorrow, I expect it to do well as esper, bwr and mbc make up 90% of the meta.

[deck]Creatures:
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
2 Firefist Striker
4 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Pyrewild Shaman
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager

Other Spells:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands:
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
2 Mutavault
12 Mountain

Sideboard:
4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Annihilating Fire
4 Skullcrack
2 Gruul Charm
1 Destructive Revelry[/deck]

Anyone willing to test against this deck on Cockatrice?

Yarpus. . . I hadn't see this thread. I'd been screwing around with grull for a while, before I started backing the New Dos Rakis.

The last couple days I started comparing the decks tryingt o figure out what jankhy things I could add to ride the meta and I swear the first thing I thought was "What Would Yarpus do"
Today I found this. You've made quite the impression it seems. lol.

Anyway, I played a lot of Saito's 18 land grull but I couldn't ride that out slowly it became a regular 22-23 sligh style build with some unique maindeck choices by one of them has been siesmic stomp.
One thing that I ran last season that served me really well was Revenge of the hunted. So when I get back to cockatrice I'm going to definitely try out armed and dangerous.
One of the things I like to run are cards that just "Win the game" armed give me and early option but late it just says "win
the game.
Gruul charm seems like its going to be way better than seismic stomp (a card that has supremely assisted me in winning vs Elspeth, Master of waves, and G/W ground stalls) but I'm personally afraid of running lands that come into play tapped to fix my mana.
thoughts?

I want to create a trasitional sideboard. I'm having some theorys that might make it work. It would be super awesome to go huge after siding and play a grull that no one expects game 2.

I am not sure about Armed // Dangerous. It seems like a sweet haymaker for midrange decks or at least G-based aggro. We mostly play undercosted/hasty weenies that don't really benefit that much from Armed. Using Armed on our creatures turns it into 3/3 Double Strike, so the difference in damage is 4 while you risk being 2-for-1'd. it's not impressive at all. I agree that Dangerous later seems to be cool as fuck, but still, there are other cards that do this job fine.
Gruul Charm is much, much better than Seismic Stomp due to single reason. Gruul Charm gets you out of the most shitty situation Mono Blue deck can make happen - double/triple Specter. Besides of that it's still good against Midranges due to ground-falter effect. So while the card is quite situational, it for sure helps in your harsh matchups.

If you'd like some kind of "fuck you I win" card, I'd say the best bet would be on Madcap Skills. You
can just ride 5/2 Cackler for the win. Of course, you are still vulnerable to removal on that - but at least the payoff is big enough to make it worth.

Scrylands are more than just "tapped" lands. Their capability of drawing you a card (sending topdeck land into bottom) is good enough to make them sure inclusion. While in theory this deck could be played as Mono Red - it looses shitload of it's power which is held by Ghor-Clan Rampager. Either +4/+4 trample buff or 4/4 trample beast for 4 are fine. Don't try to compare him to Rubblecrap Shitmaaka.

Still, seems like you'd actually prefer to play Mono Red Devotion. It has no taplands and is defined by haymaker.

[deck]Creatures (28):
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis

Planeswalkers:
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Other Spells:
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Lands:
2 Mutavault
20 Mountain[/deck]

It would be super
awesome to go huge after siding and play a grull that no one expects game 2.

Not sure if we do have enough of slots to do that.
What you'd need to throw away: 8 cards: 4 Cackler 4 Satyr
You'd side in: 2 Mountain, 2 Stormbreath, 4 Mortars
Hmh. If that'd be enough then we might consider it fine.

Damn, I wish I could play SB Anger of the Gods. While it's hard to play it in PyroRed - I guess it's impossible to play it in such a creature-heavy deck.

Considering my meta (mostly control and mono B shenanigans) I have strayed away from Chandra and have replaced her with Xenagos. Testing has proven him to be a real boss in those matchups, especially vs decks with sweepers.

Yep, Xenagos excels in these matchups (at least for sure Control).

I am still undecided on the sideboard, as I still love my Boros Reckoners but I feel like the deck does the 'game 2 switch to burn control' thing a lot worse than traditional RDW (and by extention, my mogis aggro list) in the mirror match.

Well, deck is creature-based so you can easily play 4 Reckoners in SB. Card's too expensive for me so I always keep forgetting about it.
What I miss the slot for is Skarrg Guildmage. This boy is just nuts. Anyone who has driven Hellion Crucible ftw at least once will always tell you that. Trample enabler is just cream of the topping.

I'm thinking about Warrior's Lesson. In deck like that, it's 1-mana divination that can be used only during good times. Not sure if worth, requires testing.
If MonoB and MonoU are a pain in the ass, Plummet could be considered. It also hits Stormbreath Dragon.
I always liked Savage Summoning against permission control but I doubt it's needed.

I was lured here by the promise of MonoU scalps, would you say your trample and Charm makes you the favored player in the MU?

Charm fucks them sideways.
You can swing into their ground-based boardstate.
You can kill multiple Specters with one spell.
You can say "gimme dat" after they have domesticated something.
It's good - but you already know that.

Pyrewild and Rampager are great against decks with little to no removal.
If you'd like to go hard on'em, you can consider Fade into Antiquity to say "fuck you Thassa, you blue cunt".

As overall, the idea of Gruul Deck Wins seems solid. For some reason I can't hit the right spot yet - but with some testing, I believe it's not gonna be harsh.

And Skarrg Guildmage. I was so hyped when I saw him first, I'm still in love.
Gruul War Chant might get it's chance one day... one day.

Xenagos vs. Chandra
I think Chandra is better. That might mostly come from the fact that I do like Chandra's Phoenix in this deck. This deck lacks of hasty evasion that can make Bloodrush hit the dome - CP provides that. To work, CP needs some recursion engine. We don't play that many spells, right? So basically that leaves us with Chandra, Pyromaster.
Xenagos is better in Control matchups. Do we need those matchups to be that better? I don't really think so.

Shock vs Magma Jet
Magma Jet is cool card, digging cards is stronk. Still, we have low 1-CMC drops density and we want some protection against Aggro. Could be worth consideration.

Madcap Skills
I disliked this card before, as I tried to squeeze it into maindeck. It's a powerfull SB card against decks that have little to none removal (looking at you Mono Blue). It's also good in
unfavorable matchups when you need some kind of blow-up potential. Nut up or shut up.

Gruul Charm
All 3 modes were designed to say "fuck you Mono Blue". Use it and abuse it.
It's also good against RG Midrange. Fuck stall.

Skarrg Guildmage
I'm willing to play 4/4/2 split between BTE Firefist Striker and Skarrg Guildmage. He is one of the most insane mana sinks ever seen. Making 4/4's for 4 is nothing to scold off, especially while strapped onto bear for 2. And giving your team's trample enables those sweet Shamans.

Gruul War Chant
If you don't like madcap skills, consider this. It's better against Midranges/Control but doesn't really do much against Aggro and has lesser blow-out potential.

Funny that Boros Reckoners are out of your budget range but you play Chandra which is almost 3x as expensive

Got Chandra when it was cheap.
Got Reckoners when they were cheap (2$ at at the Gatecrash release) but sold them for moniez.

Lucky you

I have to play all my red list Chandra-less cause she's at a healthy 30 euros in the shop right now and nobody has her/is willing to trade her so fml. (which is why I'm testing Xenagos instead...)

Im interested in seeing how the B/R matchup pans out though, I'd say both decks have an even amount of speed, but they have evasion and we don't.

The key to win the matchup is to use Bloodrush in the smart way, protecting your creatures using it.

Good point.

I'm also debating changing MJ to shock as I did with my devotion aggro deck, makes the aggro mirror much better.

Hi there, first tie posting here.

I will try this deck today probably, which complete deck should I test? I think I will start with 8 1 drops, BTE, FFS and 2 skarg guildmage, 8 burn (magma jet looking at you) and 6 bloodrushers + 2 chandra.

I like having access to Xenagos in SB (good vs control and mono black methinks), reckoners, some gruul charms, skullcracks, mortars and probably some destructive revelery.

Is Rod of Ruins needed vs mono blue, or it is one of more favorable matchups?

- Consider Shock instead of MJ. It should generally help against fast-paced Aggros (with recent outbreak of AiR)
- Xenagos in SB is not really needed. Chandra is also good against Control, and unlike Xenagos, she's more versatile. Maybe if you'd be in the meta full of UW, you could make them feel pain wih 2/2 split between Chandra and Xenagos just to screw with their board control spells.
- Against Mono Blue.... you side in Skullcracks. At least 2. RoR is IMO too crappy to be considered, but well, maybe it works for ya. I'd just go for Skullcrack and slam it onto board when swinging. I'd also consider Legion Loyalist in SB for this matchup.

You really sb Skullcracks vs mono blue? oO Wow.

What about reckoners? Not needed or you just dont have them? What kind of sb should I start with vs MTGO field (big boros, Wx wheenie, mono black, esper, Gxx devotion) - I dont like changing too much without playing with the stock list first.

You really sb Skullcracks vs mono blue? oO Wow.

What about reckoners? Not needed or you just dont have them? What kind of sb should I start with vs MTGO field (big boros, Wx wheenie, mono black, esper, Gxx devotion) - I dont like changing too much without playing with the stock list first.

SkullCrack works in RG because they are always under threat of a huge Alpha, keep in mind the Pyro list and smash list play rather differently.

Yeah played 5 matches of RG beats, went 3-2 (should be 4-1 but I screwed with rampager vs mono black) and was confused sometimes. Dont know if rampager is good in solid spot removal based meta, however deck was extremely powerful.
However I was confused about sideboard and didnt know how to do it most of the time...

Then went back to PyroBoros (with 1 dragon in sb) and went 8-3 which made me happy Even won vs mono blue twice!

This deck is kind of difficult to play as it's one of those decks that offer you many possibilities. Bloodrush-deck played this way is really decision-intensive.
Yeah, SB is kinda' harsh here. Both because deck seems "complete" on it's own and additionally RG doesn't have access to many clear responses.
I'd opt for Mizzium Mortars/Skullcrack/Legion Loyalist/Gruul Charm/Flames of the Firebrand.

4 Mizzium Mortars
4 Skullcrack
4 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Gruul Charm
1 Legion Loyalist

Mortars/FotF against Red decks and aggro. Why not Reckoner? PyroWhite knows how to deal with Reckoner. BR deals with Reckoner. Everyone deals with Reckoner for fuck's sake.
Skullcrack is for UW, Mono B and Mono Blue.
Gruul Charm is optional, mostly a hate-card against Mono Blue.
Legion Loyalist is good against Mono Blue, UW with Elspeth, PyroRed.

I'd say this kind of SB is good.

Also Pedro, would you mind writing
a bit more about games played with the deck? Would love to get some feedback on it as I've didn't played MTG for a while to be honest except of multiple Cockatrice shit-games.

Also, I started to think about turning this deck into Mono Red, swapping Ghor-Clan Rampager for Madcap Skills - but then you actually become vulnerable to removal. The whole philosophy of playing GCR is punishing opponents for choosing 'the obvious target' for removal. Madcap doesn't allow for that.