Napoleon Bonaparte once said "Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel," and that's a quote I rather like. Napoleon was a font of pithy aphorisms and some of them can apply to Magic, like "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake," or "Victory belongs to the most persevering." Napoleon was big on persistence; after all, he didn't take exile for an answer, which is something Magic commanders seem to have learned from. Persistence pays dividends; and, with that in mind, I wanted to look at a commander from Throne of Eldraine that has gone a bit overlooked but which won't let that keep him from persisting. I'm referring, of course, to a very good fit for Persist creatures in Commander - Grumgully, the Generous.

Grummy, as he likes to be called, seems like a good fit for both Goblin and Shaman tribal decks but I want to abuse his ability as much as possible. Making regular creatures bigger is cool, but Grumgully can infinitely loop creatures with the Persist ability, meaning you can close games out very quickly. Gruul colors can allow you to keep your spells from getting countered while you set up and if you need sacrifice outlets, you've come to the right place because Gruul has you COVERED. It isn't just Persist creatures, either - Green has quite a few creatures that benefit a ton from coming into play with +1/+1 counters on them, such as Incubation Druid and Hangarback Walker.

I think it's tempting to run a ton of tutors for our Persist creatures and it's up to you whether you want to run such a package. I'm going to present a list without it, but if you were inclined to run, say, Tooth and Nail, there are a few different packages you could snag such as Zealous Conscripts and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker or Woodfall Primus and Thermopod (Yes, Thermopod!). You have access to myriad tutors for a combo piece - Finale of Devastation, Green Sun's Zenith, Natural Order - the list goes on. I personally tend to eschew cards that end up feeling like second copies of the same card - I'd likely always get Woodfall Primus and try to blow up the whole board. I am going to try to rely on drawing a bunch of extra cards because I'll get to a creature with persist eventually and instead of the creature mattering and the sac outlet not mattering, I like the idea of the creature not mattering and the sac outlet determining how things go. Woodfall Primus could end up being a fairly problematic card because if you can blow up the whole board but not win quickly, you're going to generate a ton of misery and end up being the reason the game is no fun. For that reason, I think it's better to go off with generic Persist card and Goblin Bombardment versus going off with Woodfall Primus and generic sac outlet. The deck is still powerful and explosive that way but there is a degree of variance. Luckily there basically isn't a "bad" sac outlet here - your "worst case scenario" is you're able to generate infinite mana and not be able to use it all that effectively. Since eschewing tutors is an optional way to build 75% decks, I like the idea of running Captivating Crew in case you don't have enough outlets for infinite mana - Insurrection on a stick can't win the game on turn three but it sure can end a boring, protracted board battle and that's what we want. In a deck with a lot of sac outlets, being able to swipe creatures at will is never bad and this is a very good home for Captivating Crew.

Since I don't want to run tutors in the build I submit here, the 4-5 slots that would likely be taken up by tutors should have ways to filter a ton of cards. Luckily Green and Red have a lot of options. If we're cutting my non-tutor cards to add in tutors as you very well may want to do, these card-selection cards are what you cut. In lieu of Finale, Zenith, Natural Order, Worldly Tutor and Fauna Shaman/Survival of the Fittest, I think we have a lot of good options. The first card I'd like to discuss is Greater Good. This is both a sac outlet and card-drawing engine and it needs to go in this deck if we're not running tutors. It can be tricky to use properly, but with our creatures coming into play with additional counters, it makes it easy to hit that 4 power threshold needed to not just mill ourselves. Sylvan Library also gets a look - it doesn't do double duty like Greater Good but it is great for drawing cards and ordering our library. Order matters when we have another card selection tool and sac outlet like Dark-Dweller Oracle. It costs mana to use but mana shouldn't be a huge problem and digging a few cards deeper to find a card we want to use to end the game makes it worth the mana. Gate to the Afterlife and Fecundity are a little less efficient but get the job done. These are the cards I'd axe to put in a tutor package.

One aspect I don't often focus on in 75% decks is countermagic. I think using countermagic to stop opponents from playing things can be pretty toxic - long-time readers of this column will remember the Talrand player who brought him girlfriend to tears with Forbid loops. However, we don't have too many counterspells at our disposal that resemble Forbid. We do, though, have cards like Vexing Shusher, Guttural Response, Veil of Summer and other spells that counter counters. It feels pretty good to be able to say "Hang on, Mr. Blue Mage - I'm playing Green" and prevent them from stopping your combo, and a few of those cards, especially permanent ones like Vexing Shusher, warrant a look since we're playing what amounts to a combo deck.

What would a Grumgully deck focused on Persist shenanigans look like?

Grumgully, the Generous | Commander | Jason Alt

• Commander (1)
• 1 Grumgully, the Generous

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Aerie Ouphes
• 1 Arbor Elf
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Bloodspore Thrinax
• 1 Captivating Crew
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Dark-Dweller Oracle
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Evolution Sage
• 1 Furystoke Giant
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Hangarback Walker
• 1 Incubation Druid
• 1 Lesser Masticore
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
• 1 Mycoloth
• 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1 Scuzzback Marauders
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Steelbane Hydra
• 1 Thermopod
• 1 Thunderblust
• 1 Vexing Shusher
• 1 Woodfall Primus
• 1 Walking Ballista

• Instants (6)
• 1 Commune with Lava
• 1 Guttural Response
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Inspiring Call
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Veil of Summer

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Decimate
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Hull Breach
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Life's Legacy

• Enchantments (10)
• 1 Elemental Bond
• 1 Evolutionary Leap
• 1 Fecundity
• 1 Goblin Bombardment
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Guardian Project
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Rhythm of the Wild
• 1 Sylvan Library

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Altar of Dementia
• 1 Altar of the Brood
• 1 Animation Module
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Blasting Station
• 1 Cauldron of Souls
• 1 Gate to the Afterlife
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Mimic Vat
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spawning Pit
• 1 Talisman of Impulse

• Lands (35)
• 15 Forest
• 7 Mountain
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Gruul Guildgate
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 High Market
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Kazandu Refuge
• 1 Llanowar Reborn
• 1 Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple of Abandon

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This deck looks a little rough but I think the final version will be within 3 or 4 cards here, which is more than I can say for a lot of first drafts. What I like about this deck is that it has a lot of ways to win. You can combo off and if you can do it early, the deck can compete with decks that are a bit more tuned and attempt to win before turn six, which you might need in a 75% situation against unknown decks. Not only that, you can get a bit midrange and grind them out with cards that add counters. Champion of Lambholt in particular is excellent for winning through clogged board states and there are lots of ways to add more counters just by playing your mana dorks. Creatures coming into play and dying draw you cards which means you should always have a full grip and some options. The mana base probably needs some work but I at least think I added the important utility lands.

There are quite a few sac outlets that win on different axes whether it's mill or damage and that diversification should help keep you from getting stymied by an Eldrazi or something.

All in all, this is a deck I'm more excited about potentially building than I thought I would be at the outset and I'm in the market for a foil Grumgully at minimum. I don't have a ton of Gruul decks built but this is right up my alley and it allows me to play a lot of Simic-feeling cards I love like Champion of Lambholt, Gyre Sage, and Walking Ballista. This deck is capable of grinding out a longer game but has the ability to be very explosive and win early, especially with some luck. You may need the exact right mix of land, ramp, a sac outlet, a Persist creature and maybe a Guttural Response for good measure, but we're not trying to win on turn three ever game, anyway, so some variance is a good thing for a 75% deck.

That does it for me. Leave me some of your best Grumgully tech in the comments section and don't forget to share this on social media. Thanks for reading, everyone. Until next time!