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Gruul Beats, Feats, and Treats with Raph & Mikey

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If you're a little confused by the title, I written about this theory of Commander deck-building before. Basically, beats are things that swing into the red zone or enable big attacks, like Overrun and Glorious Anthem effects. Feats are big splashy effects that win the game, like Craterhoof Behemoth and Purphoros, God of the Forge. Treats sustain us until we can get to that game-winning place, like card draw, removal/answers, and mana ramp.

So, who are we building around today?

Beats, Feats and Treats with Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers

Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers

Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers is a seven-mana 7/7 with Trample and Haste with an attack trigger to reveal cards from the top of your Library until you hit a Creature. You get to put that Creature onto the Battlefield tapped and attacking for free. It's a big effect, so it's perfect for building a deck around.

Now, the Creature you get comes from the top of your Library, and we're fine with that being completely random. However, we could lean hard into effects like Sylvan Library, Scroll Rack, or Sensei's Divining Top if we want more control over what we flip into play off our Commander.

Worldly Tutor and Sylvan Tutor completely break the effect in half. You can go that route if you want to, but fair warning that Raph & Mikey are pretty easy to counter if you try to abuse their ability too much.

Everyone at the table will know what's coming since it's sitting in the Command Zone. There's plenty of opportunity for counterplay if you try to abuse Raph & Mikey, and your Commander could easily end up costing more than seven mana after it gets removed by a simple Swords to Plowshares or Counterspell.

So, I want to try and build this as fairly as possible so folks don't groan whenever they see it across the table.

Lands and Mana

Groundchuck & Dirtbag
Realm Seekers

As always, lets kick things off by breaking down our Creatures that produce mana. Groundchuck & Dirtbag start us off with a huge six-mana 8/8 with Trample! This duo basicallt acts as a Mana Flare or Heartbeat of Spring for our Lands, letting them tap for another mana each.

Realm Seekers enters with a number of +/+1 counters equal to the number of cards in all players hands. For 2g we can pull a counter off to search our Library for any Land and put it into our hand. I've heard repeatable Sylvan Tutor is pretty good.

Arena
Dryad Arbor

Next up is this interesting duo of Lands. Arena doesn't tap for mana, but you can pay 3 to make tap a Creature you control and target Creature of an opponent's choice they control to make them fight each other. It's a little annoying we don't get to decide who we're fighting, but our stuff is likely to be bigger, and we just don't choose an opponent with bigger Creatures than ours.

Dryad Arbor has always been a strange one, but it's neat in our deck since it counts as a Creature for Raph & Mikey to put into play while still being a Land.

Domri, Chaos Bringer
Xenagos, the Reveler
Domri, Anarch of Bolas

Next we've got a trio of Gruul Planeswalkers that each have an ability that makes mana.

Domri, Chaos Bringer costs four mana for a five-loyalty Planeswalker. His +1 ability adds a mana that gives a Creature cast with it Riot. The -3 ability digs four cards into our Library, letting us reveal up to two Creatures from among them and put them into our hand.

Xenagos, the Reveler arrives with three loyalty for four mana, but his +1 gives us mana equal to the number of Creatures we control. His 0 creates a 2/2 Satyr token with Haste.

Domri, Anarch of Bolas has a static ability that gives +1/+0 to all of our Creatures. The +1 makes a mana, and Creatures cast with that mana cannot be countered. Finally, his -2 has one of your Creatures Fight a Creature you don't control.

Synergies and Win-Cons

Hydra Omnivore
Giant Adephage

With our mana base covered, it's time to talk about the decks main synergies and how we plan to win.

Hydra Omnivore is an 8/8 Vanilla Creature that deals combat to every opponent when it hits one of them. It can be hard to force through damage in Commander sometimes, so being able to hit everyone when one opponent is 'shields down' is great.

Giant Adephage is a seven-mana 7/7 with Trample that makes a token copy of itself whenever it deals combat damage to a player. As long as we can keep hitting with it, the number of tokens will get out of hand.

Xenagos, God of Revels
Sarkhan Vol

When our main plan is attacking with Creatures, giving them Haste is super important. Xenagos, God of Revels is 6/5 Indestructible God that becomes a Creature when our Devotion to Red and Green is seven or more. At the beginning of our combat, we get to five one of our Creatures +X/+X and Haste, where X is equal to that Creature's power.

Sarkhan Vol is a four-drop four loyalty Planeswalker that can +1 to give our Creatures Haste and +1/+1 until the end of the turn. Or we can -2 him to Threaten and steal a Creature for the turn.

Yeva, Nature's Herald
Vedalken Orrery

Next to Haste, being able to Flash out threats on other players' turns is huge for this deck. Yeva, Nature's Herald is a four-drop 4/4 Legendary Creature with Flash that lets you cast all of your Green Creatures with Flash!

Vedalken Orrery is a classic four-drop Artifact that doesn't have Flash itself, but gives Flash to every spell we cast. In this deck, playing Creatures or spells at Instant speed when they attack our Planeswalkers can be a huge blowout. We can also get a surprise Enters ability or ramp at the end of an opponent's turn with Cultivate or other ramp spell.

Warstorm Surge
Unnatural Growth

This pair of Enchantments is great for helping us turn the corner and win the game. Warstorm Surge is expensive at six mana, but it only takes one Red mana to cast. Surge says that whenever one of our Creatures enters the battlefield, it deals damage equal to its power to any target. That's excellent for pinging down opponents or removing their problem Creatures and Planeswalkers.

Unnatural Growth is cheaper at four mana, but it's rougher to cast with ggg in it casting cost. At the beginning of each combat, we double our Creatures' power and toughness. Whether we're on offense or defending on an opponent's turn, our Creatures are going to be massive.

Elvish Piper
Citanul Flute

Elvish Piper simply taps for g to put a Creature from our hand onto the battlefield at Instant speed. Citanul Flute can be tapped for X mana to tutor up a Creature that costs X or less into our hand. Combined with the Piper, you can put it into play right away for just one additional Green mana. A Piper and their pipe are a match made in heaven.

Elvish Regrower
Moon-Vigil Adherents

Elvish Regrower Enters and returns a permanent from our Graveyard to our hand. Unfortunately it's not a true Eternal Witness since it can't get non-permanents, but most of our important cards are permanents so the bigger body is appreciated.

Moon-Vigil Adherents's power and toughness are equal to the number of Creatures we control in play and in our Gravyard. It's like Lhurgoyf and Keldon Warlord combined. We have plenty of Creatures in our deck, so this is going to be massive most of the time.

Pyrewood Gearhulk
Ancient Adamantoise

Pyrewood Gearhulk is a 7/7 with Menace and Vigilance too. It has a game-winning Enters ability to give our Creatures +2/+2, Menace and Vigilance. Ancient Adamantoise is a huge 8/20 with Vigilance and Ward 3 to protect itself. It's a strange one, since damage isn't removed from it during cleanup steps, and all damage that would be dealt to you and your other permanents is dealt to it instead. The upside is that it makes ten Treasure tokens when it dies!

Rhythm of the Wild
Hellkite Charger

Rhythm of the Wild makes all of our Creatures uncounterable, and it gives all of our nontoken Creatures Riot. That means they'll either enter with Haste or a +1/+1 counter. Hellkite Charger is a 5/5 Flying Hasty Dragon that, when it attacks, lets us pay seven mana to untap our attacking Creatures for another combat.

Aggravated Assault
Savage Ventmaw

Speaking of extra combats, I tossed in Aggravated Assault as an Enchantment version of Hellkite that's cheaper to activate. And this is where Unnatural Growth breaks in half. Doubling our Creatures' power and toughness for multiple combat steps in the same turn is brutal.

I also included Savage Ventmaw that makes rrrggg when it attacks, which is perfect for activating Aggravated Assault for an infinite number of combats. It's a combo that relies on having both permanents in play and getting to attack, which is easier to shut down than Sylvan Tutor or Sylvan Library. So, this combo gets the pass.

Raphael, Tag Team Tough

Raphael, Tag Team Tough has a combat damage trigger to untap our Creatures and get another combat. I like the redundancy with Aggravated Assault, but it's a little safer than Assault since it can only give you one extra combat per turn.

Answers

Decimate
Terastodon

Now we move to our answers, The Treats. We're starting with Decimate, a four-mana Sorcery that destroys one Artifact, one Creature, one Enchantment, and one Land. Being able to do this at Instant speed is a huge blow-out with Vedalken Orrery.

Terastodon Enters and destroys up to three non-Creature permanents, leaving behind a 3/3 Elephant token for each one. That's not a bad swap depending on what we destroy.

Titan of Industry
Kogla, the Titan Ape

Titan of Industry is a seven-man 7/7 with Reach Trample, and when it Enters we get to choose two. We pick two from Naturalize, gain five life, make a 4/4 Rhino Warrior Creature token, or toss a Shield counter on a Creature we control, like our Commander.

Kogla, the Titan Ape Enters and Fights another Creature. Then when he swings, we can Naturalize something. Big bodies and removal all in one!

Domri Rade
Ezuri's Predation

The Original Domri Rade costs three mana for three loyalty. He can +1 to draw the top card of our library if it's a Creature, and then we can -2 him to have two Creatures Fight.

Ezuri's Predation is mass removal that makes a 4/4 Green Beast for each Creature an opponent controls and them makes them Fight. I also tossed in Mizzium Mortars to Overload and hit all opposing Creatures for 4 damage.

Card Draw

Toski, Bearer of Secrets
Ohran Frostfang

Finally, we take it home with card draw. Toski, Bearer of Secrets is an Indestructible Legendary 1/1 Squirrel that must attack each turn if able. Whenever a Creature we control deals combat damage to a player, we draw a card.

Ohran Frostfang gives all of our attackers Deathtouch, making them really difficult to tangle with in Combat. On top of that, we also get to draw a card for each one that gets in for damage.

Up the Beanstalk
Greater Good

Up the Beanstalk is so good it was banned in Standard. It draws a card when it Enters, and then we draw more cards when we cast spells that cost five or more mana.

Greater Good lets us sacrifice a Creature to draw cards equal to their power, but we do have to discard three cards. In a deck full of big Creatures, we're almost always going to be up cards when we activate this.

Hunter's Insight
Hunter's Prowess

Hunter's Insight targets a Creature we control, and lets us draw cards equal to the combat damage it deals this turn to a player or planeswalker. At Instant speed, mind you.

Finally, Hunter's Prowess does the same thing at Sorcery speed for two more mana, but it also gives the Creature +3/+3 and Trample. It's slower and more telegraphed, but it's a great way to force through the damage with the addition of Trample.

My Gruul Beats Brew

Here's the full decklist for Gruul Beats, Feats, and Treats.

Gruul Beats, Feats, and Treats Brew | Commander | Abe Sargent

Card Display


Conclusion

There we have it. I filled out the Land base with some Scry Lands, but I stayed away from including too many Lands like Path of Ancestry or Isolated Watchtower that have to tap to Scry. I feel like it might make things too consistent, but you can include them if you want to.

There are tons of ways to improve the list, like adding Sylvan Library, Worldly Tutor, and Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack. You can also dial the power level back by pulling Relentless Assault and Savage Ventmaw to remove the infinite combat combo.

Adjust to your preference and power level needs! Either way, I hope you enjoy the list.

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