Last updated on March 14, 2024

Omnath, Locus of Rage - Illustration by Brad Rigney

Omnath, Locus of Rage | Illustration by Brad Rigney

Every color combination in Magic does something unique, but none do creature decks quite like Gruul (). Gruul doesn’t have access to the cantrips or proactive cards of blue, the removal of black or the protection and lifegain of white. That leaves it with one clear strategy that can function without those things: playing huge creatures.

Most players chalk creature strategies up to mediocre new player ones, and they die too easily to board wipes or removal. But with the right commander you can easily rebuild after wipes, present multiple threats that don’t die to single target removal, and overrun your pitiful enemies who have nothing but their copies of Rhystic Study to defend them.

Today I’d like to introduce you to the Gruul Clans, go over why you should play Gruul right now, rank the best commanders in the combo, and provide a great Xenagos, God of Revels decklist for you to sweep your friends with next Friday. Let’s get started!

Why Go with a Gruul Commander?

Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge - Illustration by Chris Rahn

Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Gruul is a simple color combination that players of all skill levels can enjoy and play effectively. Nearly every Gruul strategy can be chalked up to “play big thing, kill.” But that simple strategy doesn’t mean that Gruul decks aren’t incredibly fun to play.

The average game consists of you ramping out, playing some kind of theme-driving commander, and then playing huge creatures that no other color combo can match. The biggest creatures are in Gruul and so are the cards that make them great, like Rhythm of the Wild and Unnatural Growth.

If you like killing players in a single combat step, you’ve found the colors for you.

#25. Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient

Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient

Gruul wants to hit hard and generate big mana, and Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient does both. It’s a bit expensive, but haste recoups part of the mana cost as soon as you attack with it, assuming you’ve got other attacking creatures. Planeswalkers that make hasty tokens like Chandra, Acolyte of Flame and Chandra, Flamecaller are great enablers for this strategy. You can freely attack with the tokens into any board state for a burst of mana since you lose them at end of turn anyway.

X-spells are a great place to put all this mana, like Klauth's Will, Comet Storm, and Genesis Wave. These close a game in short order once you’ve got a bunch of mana, especially if you commit to the strategy with Omnath, Locus of Mana and Horizon Stone to store up mana for one explosive turn.

#24. Tahngarth, First Mate

Tahngarth, First Mate

Tahngarth, First Mate is your best minotaur for a quick game of Commander. You get to attack with Tahngarth not once but up to four times a turn cycle, provided your opponents are attacking. Luckily, Gruul has plenty of options to ensure they are. Disrupt Decorum, Agitator Ant, and Fumiko the Lowblood are a few great options to ensure everybody goes to combat every turn.

Tahngarth’s a great Voltron creature since it remains your commander regardless of who controls it. We can suit up with auras like Rancor, Audacity, and Madcap Skills to force through tons of damage. Bear Umbra and Snake Umbra are good options to keep Tahngarth safe – though your commander’s usually so bulky that trading in combat rarely happens. A bit of savvy political planning and some help from your pod go a long way towards taking out problematic opponents with commander damage.

#23. Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients

Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients

Dragons are all the rage these days, and Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients brings an army. As a cheap dragon, Vrondiss makes excellent use of typal support cards like Dragonlord's Servant and Dragonspeaker Shaman, which are designed to discount 7- and 8-mana dragons. We can play plenty of other dragons to reap these benefits as well.

We’ll need ways to ping Vrondiss to make dragons. We can get a constant source of damage from Pyrohemia and Shivan Hellkite. Caltrops is a cheeky way to make dragons and deter small creatures. We can use Goblin Bombardment to sacrifice our tokens before they die to damage Vrondiss for another token.

We also want ways to maximize the dragons’ impact as soon as they come into play. Warstorm Surge and Terror of the Peaks let them deal damage early, while Tribute to the World Tree and Elemental Bond draw cards.

#22. Jolene, the Plunder Queen

Jolene, the Plunder Queen

I love Jolene, the Plunder Queen as a commander that makes things happen. Everybody goes to combat, and there’s plenty of acceleration and mana-fixing to minimize mana troubles and maximize explosive turns. You always benefit a little more than your opponents, partially because Jolene makes an extra Treasure, partially because your opponents want to attack everybody but you.

We’ll be swimming in Treasure tokens, but we can make good use of them before we spend them. Reckless Fireweaver, Sarinth Steelseeker, and Ingenious Artillerist unleash waves of damage as we create Treasure. Treasure production will increase thanks to Xorn.

As for ways to close the game, you’ll hit twenty artifacts for Hellkite Tyrant surprisingly quickly and can tutor it up with Magda, Brazen Outlaw.  You’ll also have plenty of mana to sink into big spells like Blast-Furnace Hellkite and Etali, Primal Conqueror.

#21. Hallar, the Firefletcher

Hallar, the Firefletcher

Next up is Hallar, the Firefletcher, an elf archer commander that loves +1/+1 counters. Gruul is a great color combination to mess around with +1/+1 counters. Green has great support for the mechanic while red has amazing creatures, some card advantage, and removal.

Consistent counter distribution and proliferate triggers are what make +1/+1 counter decks so good. Not only does it ramp up the pressure, it also rebuilds after the inevitable board wipe or spot removal. Halana and Alena, Partners is great here since it provides multiple counters per turn and gives more if you give some of its own. Evolution Sage is also super important. You’re going to get at least four or five triggers out of this in an average game, which means you could have upwards of 20 to 30 +1/+1 counters distributed in the long run. How great is that?

#20. Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss

Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss

Big creatures? Check. Plenty of mana? Check. Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss is Gruul, through and through. Turning all of our Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise, and other dorks into relevant creatures that get to attack and still produce mana is insane. Raggadragga works incredibly well with mana dorks like Gyre Sage and Kami of Whispered Hopes, whose mana production scales with their power. We can extend the buff to all our creatures with spells like Elven Chorus and Cryptolith Rite.

Gruul has plenty of big spells to trigger Raggadragga’s ability. Kogla and Yidaro and City on Fire are two recent additions to the roster but you can’t go wrong with classics like Craterhoof Behemoth, Woodfall Primus, and Eldrazi like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or Void Winnower. Nissa, Ascended Animist gets a special shout-out as a spell with a mana value of seven that we can cast for considerably less.

#19. Radha, Heart of Keld

Radha, Heart of Keld

Radha, Heart of Keld is in the #19 spot today as an excellent lands commander that gains +X/+X, where X is the number of lands you control with its activated ability. Radha also lets you look at the top card of your library and play it if it’s a land. This is a very aggressive lands commander which fits great in Gruul since it aligns well with your general creature-aggro strategy.

With any lands deck you want the triple threat that is Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, and Ramunap Excavator. These take your land game to the next level, giving you multiple extra red and green lands per turn and ways to get them. Pair that Excavator with some fetch lands and it’s over for your opponents!

#18. Zilortha, Strength Incarnate

Zilortha, Strength Incarnate

Zilortha, Strength Incarnate embodies the Gruul ideal of BIG. It rewards creatures with greater power than toughness like Thunderblust and Phytotitan, which are balanced around having low toughness and high power.

It’s also great with effects that only buff a creature’s power. Ogre Battledriver, Domri, Anarch of Bolas, and God-Eternal Rhonas are all far more effective with Zilortha in play. Since we’re going so big, we make excellent use of cards like Pathbreaker Ibex, Treeshaker Chimera, and Siege Behemoth to end the game.

#17. Klothys, God of Destiny

Klothys, God of Destiny

Klothys, God of Destiny lets you exile a card from any graveyard on your pre-combat main phase in exchange for mana or to drain each opponent for two damage. This is a pretty tricky card to navigate, especially in Gruul, because it doesn’t do very typical Gruul things.

Land destruction is one of the more fun ways to go with God of Destiny. It offers great mana ramping over the course of the game while also seriously inhibiting your opponents’ game plans. Land destruction can be found on a lot of different red cards, like Impending Disaster, Ruination, and Boom // Bust. These are difficult to play around and have devastating effects that a lot of decks just can’t recover from.

#16. Kibo, Uktabi Prince

Kibo, Uktabi Prince

Gruul is great at shattering artifacts, and Kibo, Uktabi Prince embodies that ideal of playful fulfillment. I’d approach this as a group-hug style deck since Kibo already hands out bananas, but we can use cards like Jolene, the Plunder Queen and Pain Distributor to hand out Treasure as well.

Then we’ll pull the rug from under their feet, using Sardian Avenger and Viridian Revel to punish them for using those artifacts. So many decks produce ample Treasure tokens these days that these are just good cards, even if our opponents don’t plan on eating our banana tokens.

#15. Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

In the #15 spot we’re greeted by Chishiro, the Shattered Blade. This commander has quickly grown in popularity after being released in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander, and for good reason. Chishiro creates a 2/2 Spirit whenever an equipment or aura enters the battlefield then gives every modified creature a +1/+1 counter on your end step.

Shattered Blade is so strong because it helps go wide in an equipment deck and prevents you from being weak to spot removal like you normally would be. If you just add in some more +1/+1 counter support and cheaper equipment you can have an army of modified creatures that grow on your end step. That becomes really scary very fast and you won’t be far off from killing your opponents in a single swing after turn 5 or 6.

#14. Neyith of the Dire Hunt

Neyith of the Dire Hunt

In the #14 spot is Neyith of the Dire Hunt, which is interestingly a commander all about using your creatures to fight others. I don’t mean through regular combat, but through the fight mechanic on cards like Ulvenwald Tracker. Neyith’s second ability is essentially the fight mechanic, but it forces it through the combat step as opposed to whenever a spell is cast. Neyith also lets you draw a card whenever your creatures are blocked, which gives excellent card advantage for a Gruul creature deck.

Your creatures are often the biggest ones in the game so your fight spells are basically removal spells that draw a card. But sometimes your opponents are playing green or have some other big creature and you need some ways to buff your creatures ahead of time. Not only is this good for the fight mechanic, it’s just good practice when playing creature decks.

This is where cards like Primal Might, Inscription of Abundance, Halana and Alena, Partners, and Unnatural Growth come in.

#13. Svella, Ice Shaper

Svella, Ice Shaper

In the #13 spot is the legendary snow creature, Svella, Ice Shaper. Svella creates mana rocks and casts spells from the top four cards of your library for free. This is a classic big mana commander that wants to be in a deck full of green’s ramp and Gruul’s massive creatures and spells.

Ice Shaper offers some nice ramp in the mid- to late-game, but don’t neglect your early game acceleration. You still want to play the average number of rocks (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Gruul Signet), but also as many dorks as you can. The deck will consist of mostly top-end spells like Artisan of Kozilek and Etali, Primal Storm, so you want the full array of acceleration to get you to that end-game point before anyone else.

#12. Grumgully, the Generous

Grumgully, the Generous

Next up in the #18 spot is Grumgully, the Generous. Grumgully is a simple +1/+1 counters commander who gives your non-human creatures an extra +1/+1 when they enter the battlefield. Gruul already doesn’t have a lot of humans so this hits just about everything you’d want to play anyway.

Like any +1/+1 counter deck you want as many targets and ways to get +1/+1 counters as possible. Going tall on a single creature over going wide is the biggest mistake and leaves you open to single-target removal knocking the wind out of your sail. You’ll still be open to the occasional board wipe if you go wide, but that’s still a rarer threat than Doom Blade.

#11. Meria, Scholar of Antiquity

Meria, Scholar of Antiquity

Meria, Scholar of Antiquity is one of my favorite commanders because it pushes what Gruul cares about as a color pair. We'll start with artifacts we can tap for mana and value. Howling Mine becomes a personal card draw engine if we tap it on our turn, while we can lock our opponents down with friendly Magic: The Gathering cards like Static Orb and Winter Orb.

Now that sounds an awful lot like an Urza, Lord High Artificer deck. That’s because the two are so related that ignoring the other’s strategy would be detrimental. Gruul gives us tools mono-blue could never dream of. Sanrith Steelseeker, Goblin Engineer, and Reckless Fireweaver form unique win conditions after locking our opponents down with a bit of Urza’s advice.

#10. Halana and Alena, Partners

Halana and Alena, Partners

Starting off the top 10 today is Halana and Alena, Partners. I think Halana and Alena is a super underrated commander and I’m honestly shocked it doesn’t see more play. Giving something haste and two +1/+1 counters each turn is great, especially when you run some other power-increasing effects to add to the counters.

Green has plenty of support for +1/+1 counters and so does red to a lesser extent. As long as you occasionally toss some towards the Partners then you’re going to see great returns. Proliferate also goes a long way in this kind of deck. As the game goes on and you’re spreading your counters onto different creatures, a single Smell Fear can make things nasty.

#9. Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness

The comparison of Etali, Primal Storm and Etali, Primal Conqueror is one of the most blatant examples of power creep in Magic as of late. This commander is a solid five-for-one, with a bit of a whiff rate since you could hit a counterspell or board wipe or something you aren’t interested in casting. But five spells for seven mana is utterly insane value.

We want ways to re-trigger Etali. Flickering isn’t something red is known for, but Conjurer's Closest gives us the means to do so. Red’s best way to reuse Etali is with copies. Cards like Twinflame, Jaxis, the Troublemaker, Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink, and Cursed Mirror all make copies of Etali that die to the legend rule (unless you want to throw in a Mirror Box). They’ll still produce that all-important trigger so you can bury your opponents beneath their own spells while investing a fraction of the necessary mana.

#8. Wulfgar of Icewind Dale

Wulfgar of Icewind Dale

Up next is Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, a 4/4 human barbarian with melee and the ability to double the number of triggered abilities that happen as a result of a creature attacking. With the melee keyword, three opponents, and the ability to double triggered abilities, Wulfgar is basically a 10/10 for 5 mana.

This combination of abilities and the overall Gruul theme makes Wulfgar of Icewind Dale an excellent extra combat commander. One extra combat and you can successfully kill an opponent with commander damage in a single turn. Make that more than one extra combat through Wulfgar’s ability or cards that give you them and you’re looking at multiple fatalities.

#7. Wort, the Raidmother

Wort, the Raidmother

In the #6 spot is Wort, the Raidmother, a little goblin shaman that lets you tap untapped creatures to copy your instants and sorceries. This is a little out of place in Gruul, but I’m not complaining.

Red is the main supplier of the instants and sorceries here as along with the cards that synergize with them. As for the spells you’re going to copy, draw spells like Unexpected Windfall and Thrill of Possibility make for great targets. So do high mana value green spells that get exponentially better, like Second Harvest.

And don’t forget to include some synergistic creatures, like Young Pyromancer, that supply more tokens to use for your conspire triggers if your original goblins drop dead.

#6. Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes

Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes

Tales of the legendary exploits of Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes have traveled well beyond the Commander format as the planeswalker proved to be a Legacy and Cube all-star. This deck is all about the counters, using Evolution Sage, Branching Evolution, and Doubling Season to stack obscene numbers of +1/+1 counters on Boo and any other creature worthy of strength.

Taurean Mauler is a great card to bear counters since you can also sacrifice it to draw cards. Halana and Alena, Partners, Forgotten Ancient, and Defiler of Vigor are just a few great ways to spread counters around your team. This deck is hungry for mana acceleration like Orcish Lumberjack and Tinder Wall to force our commander out as quickly as possible – the right start leads to a turn-two Minsc & Boo, which quickly leads to a win.

#5. Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald is a commander that reaps the benefits of casting spells from exile. Cards like Reckless Impulse and Wrenn's Resolve have become red’s go-to source of card advantage. Those are essential includes for this deck, as are Light up the Stage, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and other effects that let you cast spells from exile like Etali, Primal Conqueror and Plargg and Nassari.

As for benefits, Wild-Magic Sorcerer nets you an extra token from Faldorn, Passionate Archaeologist burns your opponents, and Nalfeshnee doubles the value you’re already getting. Throw in a couple of cards that benefit you from having a board full of wolves, like Craterhoof Behemoth or Overwhelming Stampede, and you’ll bury your opponents beneath a surprising amount of card draw in the least-blue color pair in Magic.

#4. Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

In the #4 spot is good old Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. Ruric Thar is your classic creature beatdown commander that strongly dislikes noncreature spells. You’re literally just running 50+ creatures, some lands, and a few mana artifacts and calling it a day. Gruul isn’t exactly known for its sweet cantrips or board wipes so you’re not missing out on much.

Ramping into the Unbowed gives excellent returns if your opponents are short on hard removal. Six damage is no joke and either delays their game plan or save you some time killing them. Either way you’re happy.

There are some worthwhile enchantments to run that you can play before casting Ruric Thar (or that are worth losing six life over). Warstorm Surge is just amazing and you’d gladly pay six life for this if the rest of your deck are midrange creatures. Garruk's Uprising is another great inclusion that can be played earlier in the game to dodge the toll. If you want to get really spicy with things you can try running Fiery Emancipation, which makes just about every big creature a one-shot threat.

#3. Tovolar, Dire Overlord / Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge

In the #3 spot is Tovolar, Dire Overlord. I think this commander is sort of overhyped and the representation of it online is thanks to its recent release. But Tovolar is by far the best werewolf commander, and overall one of the most powerful in Gruul.

Werewolf tribal became much more potent with the release of Midnight Hunt, which supplied us with excellent new werewolf creatures to enjoy like Tovolar's Huntmaster and Geier Reach Bandit. Combine these with some of the O.G. classics like Huntmaster of the Fells and tribal-supporting artifacts like Herald's Horn and Vanquisher's Banner and you’ve got yourself a sweet tribal deck.

#2. Xenagos, God of Revels

Xenagos, God of Revels

In the #2 spot is Xenagos, God of Revels from Born of the Gods. This Gruul god gives another creature haste and +X/+X where X is its power. Xenagos is a pretty simple beatdown commander that excels at executing your opponents one player at a time. Since its ability triggers at the beginning of combat you can go with an extra combat theme to maximize value and damage.

There are plenty of extra-combat cards in Gruul to make it a consistent occurrence in your deck. You can get it on sorceries like Seize the Day, World at War, and Relentless Assault as well as enchantments like Aggravated Assault. Once you have that out of the way it’s just a matter of filling your deck with great attacking creatures like Ilharg, the Raze-Boar and Hellkite Charger.

#1. Omnath, Locus of Rage

Omnath, Locus of Rage

In first place is big daddy Omnath, Locus of Rage. This version of Omnath is yet another amazing landfall commander, making a huge 5/5 elemental every time a land enters the battlefield. If you manage to ramp out and quickly take advantage of this ability then you’re bound to run over all three opponents shortly after.

Naturally you’ll be running cards like Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Lotus Cobra, and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove to help you deploy Omnath, Locus of Rage as soon as possible. This is when the deck really comes online. Landfall triggers from other enchantments and creatures are good, but none stack up to making a 5/5 with each land.

As always, try to include Crucible of Worlds and Ramunap Excavator with some fetch lands in your budget. They’re what makes the strategy so extremely powerful.

If you're really into Omnath and landfall, be sure to check out our Omnath, Locus of Creation deck guide here.

Decklist: Halana and Alena, Partners in EDH

Halana and Alena, Partners - Illustration by Jason Rainville

Halana and Alena, Partners | Illustration by Jason Rainville

Halana and Alena decklist

”Smashy” is a simple concept in Magicthat predates the term “Gruul” as a descriptor for the color pair. This Commander deck, featuring Halana and Alena, Partners, takes that concept to its simple conclusion.

We want to power out our commander as soon as possible to start getting value. The +1/+1 counters are useful, but haste is what we really want. Giving creatures like Etali, Primal Conqueror, Ancient Copper Dragon, and Bloodthirster haste makes them even more threatening.

All this power gets backed by extra combat steps. Bloodthirster and Port Razer pull double duty as threats and extra combat enablers, but we’ve also got World at War, Relentless Assault, and Seize the Day. This deck is so focused on attacking that these spells are practically Time Warp.

It’s tricky to close a game of Commander with just combat damage, so we snuck a few combos in to tie things up. We can slap Helm of the Host onto Godo, Bandit Warlord or Combat Celebrant for infinite combats. It also works with Port Razer, though it’s less reliable. The combination of Herd Baloth and Ivy Lane Denizen creates infinite 4/4s, asking your opponents if they have a board wipe or if they want to scoop to the might of the Gruul.

Commanding Conclusion

Halana and Alena, Partners - Illustration by Jason Rainville

Halana and Alena, Partners | Illustration by Jason Rainville

That’s everything I have for you today! Gruul is one of my favorite color combos in Magic, even if it doesn’t have my all-time favorite color (blue). I really enjoyed researching and writing these rankings up, and I hope you enjoyed reading them!

If Gruul isn’t your cup of tea, may I interest you in the commanders from the other 2-color combos?

Rakdos | Orzhov | Selesnya | Simic | Izzet | Azorius | Golgari | Boros

Were there any commanders listed (or not listed) today that you wished were placed differently? Let me know in the comments or chat about it in the official Draftsim Discord.

Thanks again for reading. Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!


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1 Comment

  • Avatar
    Cameron Crane February 24, 2024 1:02 pm

    My favorite Gruul commander I’ve played is Ulasht, the Hate Seed. I play him in a go wide, +1/+1 counter deck with Doubling Season, Parallel Lifes, Elven Chorus, lots of proliferate, some auras or equipment to give trample, and a few big guys with convoke.

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