A Band of Bloodsoaked Battlers- Marhault EDH

Commander / EDH* RG (Gruul)

TheAmazingSteve

Redundancy (13)

• 1x Assembled Alphas
• 1x Battle Strain
• 1x Berserk Murlodont
• 1x Cave Tiger
• 1x Elvish Berserker
• 1x Gorilla Berserkers
• 1x Heat of Battle
• 1x Pygmy Troll
• 1x Rabid Elephant
• 1x Retaliation
• 1x Sparring Golem
• 1x Spined Sliver
• 1x Viashino Weaponsmith

Ramp (9)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dreamstone Hedron
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Nissa's Pilgrimage
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Sol Ring

Interaction (6)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Bonds of Mortality
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Rampage of the Clans
• 1x Terastodon

Solid Memes (1)

• 1x Tempting Wurm

Land (36)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 16x Forest
• 1x Game Trail
• 10x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Sheltered Thicket
• 1x Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Throne of the High City

Draw (10)

• 1x Benefactor's Draught
• 1x Fruit of the First Tree
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Infiltration Lens
• 1x Life's Legacy
• 1x Momentous Fall
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Soul's Majesty

"Board Wipes" (3)

• 1x Elven Warhounds
• 1x Engulfing Slagwurm
• 1x Sylvan Basilisk

Other (3)

• 1x Akroan Horse
• 1x Goblin Spymaster
• 1x Hunted Troll

Commander (1)

Taunt (11)

• 1x Armed / Dangerous
• 1x Barreling Attack
• 1x Bloodscent
• 1x Grand Melee
• 1x Invasion Plans
• 1x Jangling Automaton
• 1x Lure
• 1x Nemesis Mask
• 1x Noble Quarry
• 1x Roar of Challenge
• 1x Shinen of Life's Roar

Haste (7)

• 1x Chariot of Victory
• 1x Fires of Yavimaya
• 1x Hammer of Purphoros
• 1x Lightning Mauler
• 1x Mass Hysteria
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Sword of Vengeance

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Maybeboard

Considered (43)

• 1x Acorn Catapult
• 1x AErathi Berserker
• 1x Alluring Scent
• 1x Arcbond
• 1x Awakening
• 1x Balduvian War-Makers
• 1x Beastmaster's Magemark
• 1x Broodhatch Nantuko
• 1x Burning Sands
• 1x Cockatrice
• 1x Craw Giant
• 1x Cyclops of Eternal Fury
• 1x Declare Dominance
• 1x Dingus Staff
• 1x Druid's Call
• 1x Flameblade Angel
• 1x Frost Giant
• 1x Gang of Elk
• 1x Horrible Hordes
• 1x Hunted Dragon
• 1x Hunting Wilds
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Mammoth Harness
• 1x Melee
• 1x No Quarter
• 1x One-Eyed Scarecrow
• 1x Peema Aether-Seer
• 1x Predatory Rampage
• 1x Rabid Wolverines
• 1x Revenge of the Hunted
• 1x Rock Basilisk
• 1x Saber Ants
• 1x Seton's Desire
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1x Stuffy Doll
• 1x Tangle Asp
• 1x Teeka's Dragon
• 1x Tempting Licid
• 1x Thicket Basilisk
• 1x Venom
• 1x Venomous Breath
• 1x Venomous Dragonfly
• 1x Wolverine Pack

Out of Budget (8)

• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Dolmen Gate
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
• 1x Helm of Kaldra
• 1x Taunting Challenge
• 1x Tempt with Vengeance
• 1x Varchild's War-Riders

Un-set (2)

• 1x Stone-Cold Basilisk
• 1x Yet Another Aether Vortex

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Marhault Elsdragon . Yup. He sure is a card. I made this deck as part of my quest to make a deck for every possible commander, and as I was building it, I decided that I really liked it, and I decided to buy it in paper. So he is now my main commander. I have not been playing him for very long, but I have already had a few fun games, and I hope anyone who decides to pick up the decklist does too.

NOTE: This deck is definitely still a work in progress, and any suggestions for either the deck or the primer would be appreciated! (Also, the name could use some work.)

--Commander Breakdown--

Marhault Elsdragon

Now, at first glance Marhault may look like just another unremarkable Legends legend, and, well, he is. However, there are a few interesting things going for him. His rampage ability really favors the Taunting Elf style strategy where you get many buffs by being blocked by your opponent's creatures. The only other legendary creatures with rampage are Chromium and Gabriel Angelfire , both of which do not have the best color identity and Chromium even having flying as a non-bow. This means that Marhault is the perfect man for the job.

--Play Breakdown--

What I have found through my games is that this deck wants you to hang back and wait for the perfect moment to strike. If you find yourself with some of the more dangerous cards that are easily telegraphed, ( Infiltration Lens , Greater Good ) WAIT. Your opponents will almost assuredly realize what you are doing and try to stop you. The biggest advantage of this deck is that the commander is complete jank, and playing these more powerful cards could spook your opponents a bit.

Now, what kind of board state would you want in order to strike? I find that you usually want one creature with a rampage-esque ability along with a taunt enabler and a payoff, preferably some card draw or a way to kill. This also depends on opponent board state, and if there are control decks you may need to wait longer.

To kill your opponent you have to build up a sufficiently large board state for your opponent that your rampage triggers give you more power than their creatures toughness and trample in. Not especially hard against most token decks.

--Card Choice--

Redundancy

- Assembled Alphas - One of the easier kill options. - Battle Strain - Mildly annoying. - Berserk Murlodont - One of the weaker on its own due to its, but with other beasts can be meh - Cave Tiger - Low drop redundancy. - Elvish Berserker - Low drop redundancy. - Gorilla Berserkers - Rampage 2 is tremendously helpful. - Heat of Battle - Mildly annoying. - Pygmy Troll - Low drop redundancy. - Rabid Elephant - Ultra rampage 2 on a literal rabid elephant is always nice. - Retaliation - Adds rampage to all of our creatures. - Sparring Golem - Low drop redundancy. - Spined Sliver - Low drop redundancy. - Viashino Weaponsmith - Probably the best rampage creature in this deck.

Ramp

- Cultivate - Just a solid ramp spell. - Dreamstone Hedron - Ramps while allowing draw into more fuel later in the game. - Explosive Vegetation - Another solid ramp spell. - Hedron Archive - Similar to Dreamstone. - Kodama's Reach - Second copy of Cultivate. - Mind Stone - Similar to Archive and Dreamstone. - Nissa's Pilgrimage - Third copy of Cultivate. - Skyshroud Claim - Second copy of Explosive Veg. - Sol Ring -

Interaction

- Beast Within - Important for flexibility as well as giving our opponents creatures. - Bonds of Mortality - CUTTING - Chaos Warp - See Beast Within - Nature's Claim - Low cost artifact removal - Rampage of the Clans - ULTRA BEAST WITHIN - Terastodon - Targeted ultra beast within.

Draw

- Benefactor's Draught - Now your opponents cant even attack to save themselves! - Fruit of the First Tree - Suicide one of your rampagers in, and draw a boatload of cards. - Gamble - Catchall tutor. - Greater Good - Permanent that uses your creature's absurd power levels. - Harmonize - Just a good card. - Infiltration Lens - Your opponent has now just given you 50 cards. - Life's Legacy - One time use Greater Good - Momentous Fall - One time use Greater Good with some needed life gain. - Rishkar's Expertise - Keeps our creature around. - Soul's Majesty - Less good Rishkar's Expertise.

"Board Wipes"

- Elven Warhounds - Removes creatures without actually killing them, can be useful in some situations. - Engulfing Slagwurm - Helpful when you are at a low life total. - Sylvan Basilisk - Kills the creatures before damage in order to hunt another day.

Taunt

- Armed / Dangerous - Gives a solid buff to our creatures while doubling as a taunt effect. - Barreling Attack - Trample along with an extra bit of rampage. - Bloodscent - Just an instant speed taunt effect. - Grand Melee - Sticks around and just causes carnage. - Invasion Plans - Sticks around without forcing opponents to attack when they may not want to. - Jangling Automaton - Now your opponents cant even attack to save themselves! - Lure - The classic taunt effect. - Nemesis Mask - Reusable taunt is very good. - Noble Quarry - Lure but can be a creature itself if we need one. - Roar of Challenge - Keeps our creature alive, and lines up perfectly with Marhault. - Shinen of Life's Roar - See Noble Quarry

Haste

- Mass Hysteria - Can come down early for value or late as a surprise. - Chariot of Victory - The collection of keywords is very nice along with the haste. - Hammer of Purphoros - See Mass Hysteria. - Fires of Yavimaya - Along with haste, can pump for some of our draw spells. - Lightning Mauler - A creature that enables haste. - Rythmn of the Wild - Protects against counterspells as well as being a solid and flexible haste enabler. - Sword of Vengeance - Even more keywords than the chariot!

Other

- Akroan Horse - Sticks around and continuously gives bodies to feed on. - Goblin Spymaster - See Akroan Horse, but speeds up the game. - Hunted Troll - Gives a burst of creatures while being a solid beater on its own. - Tempting Wurm - Don't run this. Please.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	29 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.41
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Centaur 3/3 G, Elephant 3-3 G, Enchantment Golem 3/3 C, Faerie 1/1 U, Goblin 1/1 R for Goblin Spymaster, Soldier 1/1 W, Monarch Emblem