Deck History
I have a wanted a Gruul EDH deck FOREVER, but I never really could find a general that fit me. I tried brewing a
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Primal Surge
list for a while but it just was never compelling enough to follow through with.
Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
seemed kind of cool but was extremely one dimensional, so I put my Gruul aspirations on the backburner for a while. Later, I stumbled across a
Borborygmos Enraged
decklist and was instantly captivated by what was both an extremely aggressive ramp deck and a land-combo deck. I was sold after watching Tom from MTGRadio play his version live on stream.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths: This deck is explosive. Extremely explosive. This deck comes out of the gate swinging with an uprooted tree in both hands, often ramping into an early Borborgymos Enraged or
Tooth and Nail
that bullies the table for a while. Later in the game, it is possible to win out of nowhere by throwing enough lands at people to kill them. It entirely possible to kill a table of 3 other people by turn 5 with a god draw and a lot of luck.
Weaknesses: The deck is pretty weak to swarm strategies. It’s very hard to deal with a huge token swarm early in the game unless I’m lucky enough to draw into a wipe or
Fog
-effect. A big part of surviving in a table with a lot of aggressive decks is to generate as many blockers as possible to stall them out and let Borborygmos do his thing. Another weakness is targeted disruption. The combo is pretty fragile to set up, as far as combos go. Enchantment and creature removal are pretty universal includes in most competent decks, and (if used at the right time) it can really set back the game plan. That said, if no one stops me while I’m setting up, the combo is really hard to interact with.
Piloting the Deck
A strong opening hand is key to a deck’s success, and this deck is no different. Generally I like to see a land that is about half lands, some ramp, and ideally a combo piece. Due to the limited ways of searching for combo pieces in these colors, it really helps to have one from the start. The first thing I want to do in any game is ramp, ramp, and ramp. Borborygmos is kind of tricky to manage; he really needs to come out early (ideally with haste and protection) or not at all. An early Borborygmos on a table that is unprepared can be devastating. Once the mid-game hits, it generally goes one of two ways. If I was able to play an early threat and start bullying the table, then I just keep doing what I’m doing, using Borborygmos to get in hits when I can and picking off problem creatures with lands from my hand. If I wasn’t able to get an explosive start the game becomes more about survival and building up a boardstate. With the amount of wraths and boardwipes that get thrown around during the midgame, it generally isn’t a very safe place for Borborygmos to be. His initial casting cost isn’t very cheap to begin with, and he can become hard to cast if he’s removed a few times. It requires playing lands that would be better served staying in your hand to be thrown as damage. From mid to late game I try and dig through my deck and look for combo pieces or any of my backup win conditions. Even if they don’t win me the game, they put pressure on the table and buy time to keep digging for the win. From time to time I do rely on politics get rid of any overwhelming threats. My current list is pretty light on answers, by my standards, and I don’t always have removal in hand to deal with things. During the late game, I only really cast Borborygmos when I am ready to “go off” and go for a win.
Card by Card Breakdown (Organized by Function)
--------------------Ramp--------------------
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
: It’s really easy to get explosive starts with this card. With the deck being almost half lands, effects that let me put more than one into play a turn are extremely powerful.
Oracle of Mul Daya
: Another creature that allows more land drops than normal, with the added bonus of filtering lands off the top of my library. This is probably the best ramp creature in the deck, it has great interactions with tons of cards.
Lotus Cobra
: Another source of ramp that plays well with the amount of land drops I want to make. I’ve wanted to try this card out for a while and I think this is the perfect deck for it, I’m very impressed.
Yavimaya Elder
: Puts lands into my hand, which is as valuable as on the battlefield in this deck, sometimes even more so. He also replaces himself with a drawn card, which is awesome.
Zhur-Taa Druid
: It was between this and
Birds of Paradise
, but in the end this won out for its pinging ability. Enchanting this with
Keen Sense
or
Snake Umbra
provides a huge source of card draw.
Cultivate
&
Kodama's Reach
: Probably the best ramp spells in the format for Borborygmos. These cards often translate into a
Rampant Growth
with a
Lightning Bolt
attached.
Explosive Vegetation
: A very strong 4-CMC ramp spell in a deck that runs an abnormally high amount of basics.
Garruk Wildspeaker
: A great early source of ramp. Garruk has an especially nice interaction with
Temple of the False God
, netting an extra two mana per activation. Can also produce blockers later in the game, and his ultimate can be used to help finish someone off with combat damage.
Into the Wilds
: I wasn’t too sure about this card and initially included it because I really enjoyed the art. So far it has far exceeded my expectations; it is an absolute beast in a deck that is almost half lands. I am constantly surprised on how many hits I get with this every game.
Sol Ring
: Considered an auto-include in any EDH deck, it can really help come out of the gate swinging.
Storm Cauldron
: Kind of a weird card to consider “ramp,” but in this deck it certainly is. Often times I’ll end up with 3-5 legal land drops a turn, something that most other decks can’t keep pace with when
Storm Cauldron
is on the field. The primary function, however, is to return lands to hand so that Borborygmos has more to throw.
--------------------Card Advantage and Tutors--------------------
Green Sun's Zenith
: I really like the utility this card brings. I generally go for
Oracle of Mul Daya
or
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
in the early game, but if I draw it later in the game it is amazing for searching up any of the utility creatures in the deck. The fact that it shuffles itself back in for another use is just gravy.
Gamble
: This is pretty unreliable, as tutors go (I can’t tell you how many times I discarded the card I was tutoring for when I was playtesting with it) but both Green and Red don’t have any real tutors to find Enchantments, which is the most consistent win condition of this deck. It gets progressively worse as my hand size gets smaller, since the chance of discarding what I am looking for increases.
Life from the Loam
is the one exception, it’s actually great whether discarded or not.
Harmonize
: This is one of the best Green draw spells ever printed. It is great for refilling my hand after I’ve ramped and chucked away all my lands.
Reforge the Soul
: Wheel-Effects are one of the best ways I have of quickly digging through my deck looking for combo pieces. One of the best feelings ever is to discard a hand full of lands to Borborgymos and then cast this with no downside.
Reforge the Soul
serves double duty against control and combo decks, since it makes them dump their hands full of removal or combo pieces.
Memory Jar
: Another great Wheel-Effect, with the added bonus that it’s pretty asymmetric if activated on my turn.
Tooth and Nail
: My favorite secondary win condition is searching up
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
and
Avenger of Zendikar
, but there are a bunch of other combinations of creatures that are good too. Ramping into an early
Tooth and Nail
can sometimes win the game on the spot.
Knollspine Dragon
: This is almost always cast as a means of continuing to combo-off with Borborygmos after discarding all of my lands. It can draw pretty insane amounts of cards. In addition, it’s a 7/5 with flying, which is almost worth seven mana just on its own.
Crop Rotation
: Since I am running so many lands, I have the luxury of running quite a few utility lands as a toolbox of sorts. Land tutors, especially instants, help my find the correct one at the correct time. Lately I have been tutoring for
Cavern of Souls
almost every time I can, just to ensure Borborygmos will stick when I cast him and that he doesn’t get tucked with
Spell Crumple
or something.
Expedition Map
: I chose to run this over
Sylvan Scrying
for the nightmare scenario of an opening hand with no Forests. Since it is colorless, I can use it to fix my mana regardless of what lands I start with (although it has yet to happen). More commonly, this is used to search up great utility lands when I need them.
--------------------Removal--------------------
Beast Within
: Instant speed permanent removal. That includes Planeswalkers, which is just so good. The 3/3 Beast is usually negligible. This is easily the best removal spell Green has access to.
Chaos Warp
: This is a great, flexible removal spell. It can be used to tuck generals and get rid of troublesome indestructible permanents. Sometimes it spits something out that is worse than what I’m trying to remove but, like
Gamble
, Red has a lot of risky spells.
Starstorm
: An instant-speed damage spell which I can use to clear the board of weaker creatures while keeping Borborygmos alive, or just straight up clear the board. This deck generally can create enough mana to do either.
Chain Reaction
: This is a pretty conditional boardwipe and somewhat of a meta call. It works extremely well against token swarms though.
Hull Breach
: I’m currently running this over
Krosan Grip
because of the potential to two-for-one someone, but I have yet to really see how reliable that is. It is very flexible enchantment/artifact removal though.
Terastodon
: In a similar vein as Sylvan Primordial, although with this I can pick and choose whose permanents I destroy. The 3/3 Elephants are usually not a big deal in a format with such splashy spells as EDH. The 9/9 body is nothing to sneeze at either.
Oblivion Stone
: The only “true” boardwipe I have. I generally cast it and activate it immediately, but if I don’t fear removal getting a few Fate Counters on my permanents can make it rather one-sided.
--------------------Recursion/Graveyard Shenanigans--------------------
Eternal Witness
: This is excellent for fishing cards I accidentally discard with Borborygmos or Dredge with
Life from the Loam
out of my graveyard. Additionally, it is a creature, so I can find it with any tutor I have.
Creeping Renaissance
: I’d say nine out of ten times, this is cast naming “Lands.” It’s often the last nail in the coffin and having flashback makes it even more versatile if dredged.
Nostalgic Dreams
: I often have an excess of lands in hand, and this card allows me to convert some of those lands into useful cards trapped in the graveyard. I have to be a little careful however, as blue players love to counter this, since discarding the cards is an additional cost.
Life from the Loam
: This is an excellent card-advantage engine with the cycling lands in the deck., or for reusing lands with Borborygmos over and over again.
Praetor's Counsel
: This serves a similar purpose to
Creeping Renaissance
, as more often than not the cards I get back from my graveyard are overwhelmingly land cards. Having no-maximum hand size is a huge bonus too.
Groundskeeper
: Once my opponents figure out what this guy does he eats removal, but that is removal not sent at Borborygmos, which I’m okay with. Often translates to a 1G
Lightning Bolt
but it can also function as an inefficient card advantage engine with a cycling land or two.
--------------------Combo Pieces--------------------
Keen Sense
&
Snake Umbra
: Some of the strongest cards in the deck. After enchanting Borboygmos, it’s quite possible to kill an entire table by discarding lands if your luck is good enough.
Snake Umbra
has the added benefit of protecting Borborygmos from removal. These enchantments are also great sources of card advantage on
Zhur-Taa Druid
, but their primary target will always be Borborygmos.
Abundance
: This card is excellent on its own, allowing me to filter my draws for exactly what I need at the time, but the real synergy lies with
Keen Sense
and
Snake Umbra
. With this in play, I can throw a land at someone with Borborgymos, triggering a draw from either of the auras, and then choose another land with
Abundance
. Depending on how much I’ve ramped, there are generally enough lands in the deck to kill two, maybe three players. This becomes much easier with a damage-doubler on the field, though.
Illusionist's Bracers
: Makes Borborygmos deal double damage, and if enchanted with
Keen Sense
/
Snake Umbra
, I draw two cards instead of one. It’s often easy to win without
Abundance
if I have this instead.
Grafted Exoskeleton
: This card is just nuts if you can get it to stick. Borborygmos can kill with just 4 lands or with 2 combat steps instead of 3. It really helps for more consistent kills.
Gratuitous Violence
&
Furnace of Rath
: These enchantments make it much easier to kill players with Borborygmos, through General Damage or from throwing lands.
Furnace of Rath
does have its drawbacks, however, so I generally only play it when I’m going for a kill. It does play very nicely with
Scapeshift
, however.
Scapeshift
: Sometimes all it takes to knock someone out is casting
Scapeshift
and dropping enough Mountains with
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
. I’ve also used this just to dump a ton of lands into my graveyard to set up a huge
Creeping Renaissance
or
Praetor's Counsel
. It also plays really well with the Landfall effects in the deck as well. The card is proving to be more flexible than I initially thought.
--------------------Finishers & Utility Cards--------------------
Borborygmos Enraged
: The main win condition and the most important card in the deck. He’s incredibly versatile, either as a combo piece or just a straight up commander kill. If left unblocked, it takes only three attacks to finish someone off.
Constant Mists
: Super great for helping survive the early game. Generally, sacrificing a land is negligible for this deck, and when it’s the difference between survival and losing, it’s an easy choice to make.
Dosan the Falling Leaf
: This is another way to make it difficult for opponents to interact with the combo. Shuts down counterspells and instant-speed removal.
Lightning Greaves
&
Swiftfoot Boots
: Equipping these on Borborygmos is extremely important, both for protection and for getting in an early attack and activating his ability to put some lands into my hand.
Avenger of Zendikar
: Easily the most powerful secondary win condition available for this deck. It generally comes down with a huge amount of tokens that are very easy to pump. Sometimes it is just enough to provide blockers and keep the heat off while Borborygmos does his thing.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
: Amazing with any token producer I manage to stick but still pretty good on his own. I'm considering adding more dudes that fetch a land as opposed to ramp spells so they can eventually become threats with Kamahl. Eventually the deck gets enough mana to just start animating lands and pumping them, so he's even good purely on his own with enough mana.
Rampaging Baloths
: Another Landfall Token-Producer, although not as strong as
Avenger of Zendikar
. The beasts produced with this guy usually stick around on defense, but they can beat face as well as anyone.
Rubblehulk
: At worst,
Rubblehulk
is a huge beater or blocker, but the real utility from this card is discarding it for massive pump, either to get a kill with commander damage or a sneaky infect kill with
Inkmoth Nexus
.
Vexing Shusher
: I did not expect this card to be as incredible as it is. An uncounterable creature that makes any spell uncounterable (for a small cost) is so amazing in the control matchup. This is becoming a more frequent tutor target as more of my playgroup turns to playing blue decks.
--------------------Lands--------------------
Cavern of Souls
: This card is amazing and I name “Cyclops” 100% of the time. Protects the general from counter-tuck, which is one of the deck’s biggest weaknesses. I tutor for this whenever I can.
Command Tower
: The best mana-fixing land in the format. This is an essential part of any flexible manabase.
Dust Bowl
: I often have a surplus of lands, and this turns them into pretty useful removal.
Forgotten Cave
,
Smoldering Crater
,
Tranquil Thicket
, &
Slippery Karst
: I generally dislike cycling lands because they come into play tapped and overall feel too slow, but they are amazing with
Life from the Loam
or any of the other land recursion engines I have, so they make the cut.
Glacial Chasm
: Another way of stalling out against aggro decks, the cumulative upkeep is generally less than the damage I would be taking from attacks. If dropped at the right time, this card can be game-changing. Land recursion is super easy for this build as well, so it can be reused a bunch without incurring a high cumulative upkeep.
Inkmoth Nexus
: This is a backup win condition and can be used as a blocker in an emergency. With
Kessig Wolf Run
or
Rubblehulk
it has the potential to become a one hit kill. My throwback to the days of Wolf Run Ramp.
Kessig Wolf Run
: One of my favorite lands ever, it helps creatures get more damage across if I have a bunch of extra mana. Combos very well with
Inkmoth Nexus
and
Borborygmos Enraged
.
Reliquary Tower
: There is a potential to end up with a huge amount of cards in hand, so
Reliquary Tower
is a natural inclusion.
Rootbound Crag
: I’ve never had this come into play tapped yet thanks to the super high amount of basics in the deck. It is great mana fixing in any situation.
Strip Mine
: Sometimes my opponents have an annoying land like a
Gaea's Cradle
or a
Maze of Ith
, and this takes care of that.
Temple of the False God
: It took me a while to add this to the list, but it is a solid land that really helps accelerate into the mid- to late-game.
Thespian's Stage
: This is included as basically another copy of
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
, although it is still useful when Valakut isn’t around for copying interesting utility lands, or just straight up mana fixing when needed.
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
: Mostly a backup win condition. Also turns Mountains into removal if needed.
Forest
&
Mountain
: All of the ramp in the build targets basics, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a lot of them. I wish I had more Mountains for
Scapeshift
+
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
but it makes it really hard to find green mana, and with almost 75% of the deck requiring green I didn’t want to risk it. I chose my favorite art from Odyssey for the Forest and my favorites from Portal and Odyssey for the Mountains. They are beautiful.
