Last updated on March 15, 2026
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade | Illustration by Lius Lasahido
While I don't normally consider myself a Gruul () player, as I prefer the card draw and removal found within the Esper () shard, Gruul commanders are often among the most interesting, with clever designs.
This extends to Gruul precons, which include an assortment of powerful, unique commanders, and strong cards to match. But which are the most impressive and play best out of the box? Let's find out.
What Are Gruul Commander Precons?
Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient | Illustration by Andrew Mar
Gruul () precons are sealed products containing 100-card Commander decks, including a legendary creature as a commander and a library of 99 cards, with a Gruul or red-green color identity. Gruul often goes big and ramps hard, though the decks here also care about artifacts and enchantments, modifying creatures, and casting cards from exile.
I'm ranking these based upon how well they play out of the box, if you were to just open them and slip them into sleeves. I consider their themes and which legendary creature is worth putting in your command zone, and I shout out any notable cards along the way, either because they're a particularly expensive reprint or because they made a mark upon their introduction to Commander.
#5. Draconic Destruction
Draconic Destruction brings scaled fury to your opponents at the behest of Atarka, World Render, and it was printed with the Starter Commander Decks from 2022.
Deck Themes
Draconic Destruction is one of two Gruul dragon-themed decks, which makes sense; it combines green ramp with red's best monsters, and dragons are just cool! Typal precons tend to be more concise than others, and this one is no exception.
Commanders
Draconic Destruction only has one commander, Atarka, World Render. It does fine work as a dragon commander since it provides a convincing finisher once you flood the skies with winged serpents.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The Starter Commander Decks share a distinct weakness: incredibly low card quality. These reprint-only decks are filled with weak, low-value cards. Draconic Destruction feels like the deck Iโd build from a bin of Draft chaff, with a few gems. Combine weak cards like Rapacious Dragon and Demanding Dragon with an atrocious curve, and you have a very bad deck. I don't really see it winning a game, ever.
Notable Cards
Draconic Destruction has some okay cards. Dragonspeaker Shaman and Scourge of Valkas (the most valuable card in the deck, at about $5) are good payoffs you want in most dragon decks.
The deck has a handful of Gruul staples like Cultivate, Talisman of Impulse, Elemental Bond, and Swiftfoot Boots. It wouldn't normally be worth the price of admission, but remember these decks originally sold for around $20, so it wasn't too bad of an investment.
- READY-TO-PLAY COMMANDER DECK FOR NEWCOMERS AND FANS: Join friends in epic battles! This Magic: The Gathering Starter Commander Deck, Draconic Destruction (Red-Green), is ready to play straight out of the box
- INTRO TO MAGICโS MOST POPULAR FORMAT: Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic! Learn how to play with your own deck, easy-to-follow rules, strategy tips, and reference card
- 100 CARD RED-GREEN DECK: With the Draconic Destruction deck, go on the attack with Atarka, World Render, and double down on dragon damage to overwhelm foes with a multiplying army
- FOIL-ETCHED LEGENDARY CREATURE CARD: Includes 1 legendary creature card with gorgeous art and a foil-etched treatment. This card serves as your "commander" with unique abilities that make plays even more powerful
- INCLUDES ACCESSORIES AND DECK BOX: Also comes with 10 two-sided tokens, a deck box for storage, and punchout counters to keep track of creature buffs
#4. Draconic Rage
The Draconic Rage deck came as part of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commander with Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients stoking the flames of war.
Deck Themes
As you might guess from the name, this is a pretty focused dragon typal deck. You have a flight of big dragons, plus a very minor subtheme of dice-rolling.
Commanders
This deck has four potential commanders: Vrondiss, Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, Atarka, World Render, and Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient.
Atarka, World Render and Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient are bad choices for the same reason: This deck has issues with its massive curve, and a 7-drop in the command zone only exasperates the issue.
Wulfgar of Icewind Dale is a fine commander, but this deck lacks the support to make it shine.
That leads to Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients. The deck could use better enrage support, but Vrondiss doesn't have the high mana cost or lack of support plaguing the other options. It provides ample pressure and gives your dice-rolling cards a little purpose.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The deck has a serious curve issue. Dragon decks always have a high curve; that's a consequence of the archetype. The trick to navigating that situation is to make sure the dragons are your only expensive cards and to load your deck with ramp, and this deck does neither.
The dice roll cards are also bad. They're good if you control Vrondiss since they come with 5/4 Dragon Spirits, but they're over-costed without. Those cards plus random includes like Anger and Chameleon Colossus litter the deck with dud draws.
That said, there's power here. Most of these dragons are effective threats, and even the weaker ones like Shivan Hellkite are large flying bodies. A good draw that shows you ramp and dragons takes it homeโyou just need to evade the duds or draw past them via Rishkar's Expertise.
Notable Cards
What the deck lacks in a good curve, it makes up for in value. The most valuable card in the deck is Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient, a powerful ramp target that's seen only a small reprint on The List.
Wulfgar of Icewind Dale boasts a fine price for its value as a commander outside the precon.
Aggressive decks love Dragonborn Champion for card advantage, and Druid of Purification scales well in Commander as artifact and enchantment hate.
Dragonspeaker Shaman and Scourge of Valkas are critical parts of dragon decks across the format.
Maddening Hex hangs out in the sideboard of Legacy Dragon Stompy lists, among others, as a powerful source of damage to punish slower decks.
Kindred Summons goes great in any typal deck, especially ones like goblins or elves that go wide.
- 100-card ready-to-play Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (AFR) Commander deck
- Deck includes 2 traditional foils plus 98 nonfoil cards
- 1 foil etched Display Commander
- 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box
- Reduced-plastic packaging
#3. Exit from Exile
Exit from Exile exploits Magic's most traversed zone with the aid of Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, from the Baldur's Gate Commander expansion.
Deck Themes
Exit from Exile wants to cast spells from exile and employs a variety of mechanics to do so, including impulse draws, cascade, and adventures.
Commanders
Exit from Exile has three potential commanders: Faldorn, Grumgully, the Generous, and Durnan of the Yawning Portal with the Passionate Archaeologist background.
We can discount Grumgully as a fine support piece for the token-producing commander but an underwhelming leader.
Durnan and the background has potential. Passionate Archaeologist is among the best payoffs in the deck, and Durnan offers a steady stream of card advantage. I won't fault you for running it, but the face commander has my vote.
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald is simply one of the strongest cast-from-exile commanders in Magic. It floods the board with Wolf tokens and even turns excess lands into additional impulse draws. Its payoff/enabler combo is on par with Durnan and the background but at 3 mana instead of 6, so you come online faster.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck has some curve issues; not quite as bad as Draconic Rage, but noticeable. There are awkward draws where you stare at a clutch of expensive cascade cards. The commander helps a little, as Faldorn ensures you have at least one early play, but the deck needs more rampโespecially 1-mana accelerants for your 3-mana commander.
But the deck is still very strong. This is partially due to Faldorn itself, but itโs also because the cast-from-exile archetype has a high floor. The core mechanicsโadventures, cascade, impulse drawsโare all sources of card advantage. This is basically a card draw themed deck, and it sees so many cards. Toss in Wizards providing constant support for this archetype, and you have an easily upgradable list with cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Party Thrasher, to name a few.
Notable Cards
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald offers Gruul a powerful token commander and is one of the best cast-from-exile commanders.
Passionate Archaeologist sits next to it as one of the best cast-from-exile payoffs, and Nalfeshnee and Wild-Magic Sorcerer have similar acclaim.
Jeska's Will is by far the most powerful and most expensive card in the deck, and it makes this precon a Bracket 3 deck because it's a Game Changer. Jeska's Will is one of Commander's best draw spells as card draw and a ritual in one package.
Delayed Blast Fireball sees frequent play in decks like this; cascading into it or flipping it off Light Up the Stage gives you the cast-from-exile value without paying 8 mana to foretell it. And even at 8 mana, a one-sided board wipe that deals 15 damage to your opponents hits hard.
#2. Upgrades Unleashed
Upgrades Unleashed shows off the modified mechanic from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty with Chishiro, the Shattered Blade to oversee all upgrades.
Deck Themes
This deck casts a wide net to encompass modified creatures, including support for equipment, auras, and +1/+1 counters, which stretches things unfortunately thin.
Commanders
The deck has four potential commanders: Chishiro, Grumgully, the Generous, Kaima, the Fractured Calm, and Ulasht, the Hate Seed.
Grumgully, the Generous is too weak to be a commander, especially in this list.
Ulasht, the Hate Seed similarly lacks support in the 99; youโd need to build around it in a way this deck simply doesn't.
Kaima, the Fractured Calm is an easy no since the deck again lacks the requisite support. Kaima is one of many alternate commanders printed into precons not because they enhance the deck, but to get a cool commander into the format.
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade feels like the only choice, and it's a solid one. Though this deck doesn't support it as well as I'd like, the board presence Chishiro provides makes it an excellent commander.
Strengths and Weaknesses
In trying to embody all aspects of modified, the desk spreads itself too thin. The +1/+1 counter cards specifically go too far, which leads to an unfortunately low count of auras and equipment to trigger Chishiro. Cards like Grumgully and Rishkar, Peema Renegade don't add enough to the deck. It needs to be more concise.
Notable Cards
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade is a strong and popular commander, with a lot to offer a more dedicated build.
Akki Battle Squad is one of the strongest modified payoffs from Neon Dynasty, with Kami of Celebration not too far behind.
Komainu Battle Armor might be the best reconfigure card in Commander; it certainly helps to end games.
Rampant Rejuvenator is an interesting ramp creature.
Bear Umbra is probably the most significant reprint in the deck as a popular mana doubler; a few other notable reprints include Rhythm of the Wild, Blackblade Reforged, Kodama's Reach, and Rishkar's Expertise.
- 100-card ready-to-play Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander deck
- Deck includes 2 traditional foils plus 98 nonfoil cards
- 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker
- Introduces 15 MTG cards not found in the main set
- Mod your creatures with epically enhanced abilities
#1. Animated Army
Animated Army calls upon Bello, Bard of the Brambles to bring life to artifacts and enchantments. The deck was part of the Bloomburrow Commander line-up.
Deck Themes
This deck focuses on expensive artifacts and enchantments, and it has a subtheme of high-power matters since Bello makes your expensive artifacts and enchantments into 4/4s.
Commanders
You have three potential commanders: Grumgully, the Generous, Wildsear, Scouring Maw, and Bello.
I don't know why Wizards puts Grumgully into all these precons, but it still isn't worth putting in your command zone. It's at its worst in this deck without a token-producing commander.
Wildsear, Scouring Maw is fascinating as an enchantress commander without white, but you have too many artifacts and too few enchantments to properly support it.
Between Bello, Bard of the Brambles working with artifacts and enchantments plus cards like Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma and Garruk's Packleader that need Bello to shine, the raccoon bard is the clear choice.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck can be rather like a glass cannon since Bello only animates permanents on your turn, which leads to great attacks and mediocre blocks, but Bello more than makes up for it with raw power. It's even better when you remember that these 4/4s have meaningful abilities, like Spine of Ish Sah and Sunbird's Invocation.
Now, this deck has a high curve, like all the other Gruul Commander precons decks, but this one has the ramp to support it! With 17 ramp spells that cost 3 or less, this deck can support numerous 5+ cost cards, and you should look to it as a great template for how to build a ramp-centric Commander deck.
The deck isn't without flaws. The bad blocks become problematic because youโll make enemies, and the traditional precon flaws like too little interaction and mediocre tapped lands slow it down. But it plays better out of the box than the others, and Bello is just a more interesting commander than the rest.
Notable Cards
Bello, Bard of the Brambles is notable all on its own as the most popular Gruul commander, per EDHREC.
Most mana dorks suck when you top deck them in the late game, but Trailtracker Scout shirks this with its recursive expend ability.
Evercoat Ursine pairs nicely with cast-from-exile cards, which green often dabbles with in conjunction with red.
Alchemist's Talent provides a powerful Treasure payoff that sets up explosive, potentially game-winning turns.
Thereโs also some decent reprints like Kodama of the East Tree, Tendershoot Dryad, Warstorm Surge, and Greater Good.
Commanding Conclusion
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald | Illustration by Jason A. Engle
Gruul Commander precons often focus on big mana and bigger creatures, but they also contain a bevy of powerful and unique commanders. Whether you want to ramp into giant dragons or draw a ton of cards, there's a Gruul precon for youโand it probably has some valuable cards.
What's your favorite Gruul precon? Which would you be most likely to play? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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2 Comments
The disdain for Grumgully is so thick it can be cut with a knife. It makes me want to build a grumgully deck.
Let us know how it goes! Just feels like the filler card they’re obligated to throw in every Gruul deck.
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