Xenabro

Commander / EDH* RG (Gruul)

Profet93

Creature (31)

• 1x Archetype of Endurance
• 1x Atarka, World Render
• 1x Balefire Dragon
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Carnage Tyrant
• 1x Combat Celebrant
• 1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Lifeblood Hydra
• 1x Malignus
• 1x Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1x Plated Crusher
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Savage Ventmaw
• 1x Scourge of the Throne
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1x Siege Behemoth
• 1x Somberwald Sage
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Tireless Tracker
• 1x Voracious Hydra
• 1x Wood Elves

Artifact (5)

• 1x Gruul Signet
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x The Great Henge

Land (37)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Castle Garenbrig
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dread Statuary
• 1x Fire-Lit Thicket
• 12x Forest
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Raging Ravine
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Sheltered Thicket
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Terrain Generator
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Enchantment (7)

• 1x City of Solitude
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Lurking Predators
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Zendikar Resurgent

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Decimate
• 1x Escape to the Wilds
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Nissa's Pilgrimage
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Reap the Past
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Tooth and Nail

Instant (6)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Berserk
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Momentous Fall
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Shared Summons

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Maybeboard

Creature (7)

• 1x Feldon of the Third Path
• 1x Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1x God-Eternal Rhonas
• 1x Grunn, the Lonely King
• 1x Rapacious One
• 1x Stonehoof Chieftain
• 1x Terastodon

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Price of Glory
• 1x Shapers' Sanctuary
• 1x Sunbird's Invocation

Instant (3)

• 1x Blossoming Defense
• 1x Bolt Bend
• 1x Veil of Summer

Artifact (3)

• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Skullclamp

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Selvala's Stampede

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Xenagos Beats!

Future Edits Show

Remove Lifecrafter's Bestiary for Green Sun's Zenith

Remove Tireless Tracker for Bane of Progress

Remove forest for turntimber, serpetine wood

Remove forest for Cragcrown Pathway

Remove Combat Celebrant for Sensei's Divining Top - Utility

Remove Homeward Path for Bonders' Enclave - Draw

Remove Guardian Project for Price of Glory/Skullclamp - Card draw is key

Remove City of Solitude for Force of Vigor / Quartzwood Crasher - Beater

Remove Dosan the Falling Leaf for Blossoming Defense / Nylea, Keen-Eyed - Protection

Remove Escape to the Wilds for Life's Legacy - Cheaper to play, potentially much more explosive. Only caveat is that it folds to blue, but with all the anti-blue I added, this can be mitigated

Remove Reap the Past for Harmonize - Recursion isn't needed for the deck, maintaining gas is always a priority

Remove Shared Summons for Bolt Bend / Deflecting Swat - Redirect removal and more for free

Remove Zendikar Resurgent for Terastodon - Zendikar would get blown up prior to be using it. Terastodon acts as another source of removal and another beater

Remove Plated Crusher for Kogla, the Titan Ape - Cheaper, provides interaction with creatures and artifacts and enchantments. Hexproof was super useful and plated crusher has won me a few games, but experimenting with more interaction is always nice

Remove Beast Whisperer for Elder Gargaroth - Costs 1 more but provides card draw, tokens for attackers/blocker/draw spell targets and life gain in a pinch. Has vigilance so I have a blocker, reach for pesky fliers, and trample to push damage through. Very versatile card that provides actual card draw on the turn it comes down and attacks instead of hoping beast whisperer lives through the passing of turns and then I can cast a creature to just hopefully draw 1 card

Introduction

I remember one day playing at a new store and someone pulled out Xenagos, God of Revels. Over the next few turns while I was mana screwed, he dropped down some hasty beaters and swung my way! After the table taking 16 damage from a Hydra Omnivore, I immediately became fascinated. The deck was everything I wanted.

Pros Show

• Xenagos's indestructibility and the fact that he is rarely a creature makes him very difficult to get rid of
• Gruul colors meant the deck was relatively cheap to build and could be upgraded as time progresses
• Very simple plan, play beaters and swing, very little thinking involved
• You like to make powerful plays with big creatures
• Consistent Turn 4 Xenagos with all the majority of ramp at 3 CMC, sometimes Turn 2 -3 if we get lucky!

Cons Show

• Despite the "low curve," Xenagos decks average between 4-5+ CMC which makes the deck slow, sometimes despite 1/4 of the deck being ramp
• The deck folds to removal and is weak against control and tempo decks. Given we spend most of our resources on a big beater, most removal spells cost 1 -3 CMC so we lose out on that exchange, while other opponents beat us to death because we are perceived as threatening (AS THEY SHOULD!)
• Little interaction to deal with threats, you need to politic your way, which is difficult.
• Card draw can be an issue given we draw based on the power of our creatures. If an opponent counters a Momentous Fall/Life's Legacy, or uses removal in response to Rishkar's Expertise/Return of the Wildspeaker, then we are going to have a very very bad time
• Very linear

Example of Good Opener

The best openers include some kind of ramp, card draw, beater and utility. A good start would include....

• 2x Forests

• Mountain

• Sol Ring

• City of Solitude

• Shapers' Sanctuary

• Carnage Tyrant

• Draw into a Life's Legacy

That way you can ramp into tyrant, with solitude on field and sac it to legacy to maintain gas.

How to Play the Deck

• Use Kessig Wolf Run prior to combat to ensure that Xenagos doubles the buff as well

• If you are expecting to draw a bunch of cards, do not play your land drop as you might be able to dig into a Reliquary Tower

• Play Xenagos prior to your beater, as you will be perceived as a greater threat by showing your hand. Moreover, it becomes more susceptible to removal since it isn't hasted.

• Always be cautious of who has mana open for removal or counterspells, they should be your top priority to kill

Notable Synergies

• Tooth and Nail + Eternal Witness = Beater + Reuse T&N

• Ilharg, the Raze-Boar + ETB Creature = Value (assuming they don't block and kill the ETB creature)

• Combat Celebrant + Beater = Extra Buff from Xenagos on beater due to extra combat step

• Lifeblood Hydra + Berserk = Card Draw

• Malignus + Berserk = GG

• Selvala, Heart of the Wilds + Berserk/Rancor = Ramp

Notable Exclusions

Aggravated Assault - Functions as a combo with Savage Ventmaw and I don't want this deck to have any combo potential, just straight beating face (this is the deck I play when people say they don't like combos). Moreover, my meta will kill me immediately regardless of my boardstate if I play aggravated.

Nature's Will - Would rather have ramp that isn't reliant upon me beating face

Rapacious One - Can ramp extremely hard, but given all of the spot removal in the meta, I opted for more hexproof creatures

Extra Combat Steps such as Seize the Day, Savage Beating, Relentless Assault, World at War are the definition of winmore. They can be very powerful, but unnecessary to the game plan

Hydra Omnivore - I'm already a threat, don't need another reason for them to kill my creatures

Chandra's Ignition - Almost always my creature got removed in response, feels way too bad

Strionic Resonator - We don't need extra Xenagos triggers

Nylea, God of the Hunt - Goreclaw is much better since it is a creature and cost reducer as well

Elvish Piper/Sneak Attack - I would rather ramp into threats that way I am not as reliant upon these cards, no room as well

Prowling Serpopard/Vexing Shusher - Already run City of Solitude and Dosan the Falling Leaf for anti-spot removal/blue. Too much anti-blue takes away from what the deck is supposed to do

Tyrant's Familiar - Too expensive, not impactful enough

Hunter's Insight/Temur Battle Rage/Soul's Fire - Requires dealing combat damage which isn't always an option. Moreover, it's difficult to play a beater and this card the same turn.

See the Unwritten - Would fail too often

Traverse the Outlands - The definition of winmore. If I am already at 5-6 mana, extra ramp is nice but not necessary, early game ramp is priority. Moreover, this would be 2 for 1

Soul's Majesty - 2 for 1, replaced with card:return to the wildspeaker to use in response to removal to still draw

Hunter's Prowess - See above

Asceticism - Same CMC slot as Xenagos. I would spend my turn playing this, only for my opponents to destroy it and get ahead while doing so. Then dropping a beater only to get it removed. If I play the beater earlier instead of Asceticism, then they were less likely to have removal

Hideway lands - Too slow and fringe benefit that rarely helped

Deck Strengths

• Can beat face and get damage in despite blockers

• Lots of card draw to ensure gas

• Crazy ramp to thin deck and ensure consistent T4 Xenagos

Deck Weaknesses

• Consistent spot removal becomes a big issue

• Can be out tempoe'd easily, especially against blue

• Little interaction with opponent's board

• Faster decks usually win out unless we politic

Top Ranked	Achieved #3 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH RG (Gruul) 4 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.05
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Clue
Folders	Maybe decks, Possible EDH Deck Ideas