Have you ever wanted to smack an opponent in the face with a freaking massive Volcanic Worm? Well then perhaps Thromok the Insatiable is the commander for you! Thromok has grown to be my absolute favorite commander deck. With multiple paths to victory along with a fair amount of interaction there are often many decisions to be made allowing for games to feel fresh and exciting time and time again. To kick things off lets talk about the big guy himself, Thromok.
Thromok the Insatiable
Thromok is a 0/0 Hellion creature for . What makes him so fun is his ability. He has Devour X where X is the number of creatures devoured this way. Now for those of you who may not have been playing when the Alara block came out, devour is a keyword that allows you to sacrifice creatures when you cast the creature with devour, and depending on how many creatures you eat that creature will gain an amount of +1/+1 counters. One of the more commonly seen creatures with devour Mycoloth (also included in this decklist), for example has Devour 2, which would mean for every creature you sacrifice to it on cast, it gains 2 +1/+1 counters. So for Thromok to have Devour X where X is the number of creatures devoured this way, basically means you square however many creatures he "eats" and that's how big he is. 1 Creature makes him a 1/1, 2 makes him a 4/4, 3 a 9/9, 4 a 16/16, 5 a 25/25, and so on. You can see how this can get out of hand pretty quick, especially when built around in such a way that gives you lots of things to eat. By eating 5 creatures on cast, in one swing he deals lethal commander damage (The magic number there being 21). But where will we find these sacrificial lambs? Well we need to look no further than our next subject...
Tokens
Making tokens is the easiest and most efficient way to lay out a smorgasbord for our Hellion overlord, which makes our deck have a very strong token producing theme. Now throughout the history of magic there have been countless cards in that produce tokens so narrowing them down to the ones that would be right for our deck is no small task. The biggest group we want to avoid are one off sorceries and instants akin to Hordeling Outburst. While it seems good to get 3 1/1's for 3 mana, that's really all it is and in the later stages of the game it is very much a dead draw. Now you may wonder why are we running Siege-Gang Commander then as it is a 5 mana creature that produces 3 tokens, especially when its ability seems very much wasted as it alone is our only source of Goblin tokens in the entire deck. Well there is one thing that Siege-Gang and all of our other creatures that produce tokens can do that those instant and sorceries could never. And that my friends is be eaten up by
Mimic Vat
Mimic Vat is an All-Star in commander, and it is no surprise that it would lend itself to be an excellent addition to our deck with a great many of our cards have enter the battlefield effects (ETB's) many of which are token producers. Eyeless Watcher has crazy synergy with the Vat that essentially allows you to ramp for on each activation.
Other superstar token producers I would like to touch on quick, aside from the obvious Dragon Broodmother which nets you a 1/1 Devour 2 Flyer on EVERY upkeep, Dragonlair Spider that makes opponents think twice about casting that spell in their hand, and Hooded Hydra and Hangarback Walker for being excellent mana sinks that can produce an army on their own. I want to talk about the weirdos, some of my favorite pet cards for the deck.
Nacatl War-Pride
One of the my absolute favorite cards in the deck. This card does work. 6 mana for a 3/3 seems a bit steep, but its ability to blank enemy defenses and leave them open to a lethal Thromok attack is insane. When the War-Pride attacks, it creates a token copy of itself for EACH CREATURE the defending player controls, and furthermore each copy of Nacatl War-Pride must be blocked by at exactly 1 creature if able. So while your opponent's creatures are all tangled up in kitty land, your other big hitters are free to go and slap them where it counts. And to top it all off, if you have any tokens left over after combat you can always use them to feed Thromok or Mycoloth since they stick around until the end of the turn anyway. Talk about value!
Mitotic Slime
While a 4/4 for 5 mana may be a bit under the curve, the Mitey Slime's death trigger is what is so unique about it. When Mitotic Slime dies, it creates 2 2/2 Ooze tokens that have "When this creature dies, put 2 1/1 Ooze tokens onto the battlefield". So from a 4/4 to 4 1/1s. Thematically super cool. But when you add in some token doublers like Doubling Season or Parallel Lives it gets even crazier. With one doubler out you go from a single 4/4, to 4 2/2s, then to 16 1/1s! Bring on the board wipes!
Speaking of boardwipes I did want to touch on that topic before heading into our next subject. There is one instant in the deck that is there strictly as a token generator, and I know I said earlier I didn't like those effects but this one is important because it is our hedge against a devastating boardwipe. That card is Fresh Meat. Being able to regain our board after a wipe is super important with how creature focused our deck is along with how much we will be focused with how wide we tend to go. So having some sort of insurance policy in place is very important. Thankfully Fresh Meat has another sense of utility in our deck, and that is regaining our board when we wipe it ourselves to feed our devour creatures. This becomes especially relevant when you consider our secondary win conditions.
ETB Pingers
Remember earlier when we were talking about the Mitotic Slime, and I said with one doubler on the field we would be left with 16 1/1s? Now consider that if a copy of Impact Tremors had been on the field, altogether just through ETB triggers Mitotic Slime would have dealt 21 damage to EACH opponent. Yeah, pingers are sweet with tokens. They also allow us to win the game with even attacking. A well fed Thromok paired with Warstorm Surge or Pandemonium can 0-100 an opponent easy without even turning sideways. Then you swing at your next victim for the easy lethal kill, and suddenly the game went from a 4 man free for all to a 1v1 with you in the driver seat with a massive Hellion. These ETB damage effects are pivotal to our gameplan because sometimes attacking isn't an option. Maybe we didn't find our Trample enabler, or perhaps our opponent has a First Strike Deathtoucher. Regardless of the case, in the game of inches, these effects give us feet.
One last note on these four cards, one of them is very unlike the others and that is Pandemonium. I have received more flack for its inclusion above all others in the deck, and for the reason being that the effect is not limited to our own creatures, but is symmetrical throughout the whole playing field. Essentially it can work against you allowing your opponents to blow up your field with their own creatures. That being said, when push comes to shove, Pandemonium is undeniably cheaper than its counterpart Warstorm Surge, and I can't tell you the number of times I have come through to win the game Gambleing for Pandemonium, slamming it followed by a well fed Thromok with 0 mana to spare and the smuggest look on my face and having an opponent nearly flip the table. Little moments like that make it all worth the risk. On a more serious note, redundancy is key in colors where tutors and card draw aren't nearly as strong, and with there only being 2 Pandemonium effects with one being the namesake card itself, we need all of the redundancy we can get.
One last thing regarding Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge is that they make up the only actual infinite combo in the deck. Which is when they are paired with Sekki, Seasons' Guide, if left unanswered you can win the game on the spot. The way the combo works, Sekki ETBs as an 8/8 with +1/+1 counters (or more depending on if you have doublers), Pandemonium triggers and you target Sekki for the damage. When he is dealt damage you remove the counters from him and place a 1/1 spirit on the battlefield for each counter removed. Pandemonium triggers for each spirit, and you use these triggers to ping your opponents. Now sacrifice 8 spirit tokens to return Sekki to the battlefield and repeat ad nauseam. Its a cute 2 card combo that can steal some games, but it is pretty fragile. With another path to victory under our belt I think its high time to talk about our other main win conditions.
Overrun Effects
The saving graces of many x Token Decks. Craterhoof and Triumph of the Hordes. Going super wide affords us the ability to steal away games with the two aforementioned cards. And because I can't imagine I have much to say about them that hasn't been said already by many people, I will just leave it at this, they are both excellent cards in this style of deck. People will groan when you play them (especially Triumph), its just the nature of these sorts of "I win now cards". Bear in mind, these cards won't save you if you don't have a decent board built up. So at least they have that going for them. Now onto our next topic.
Enabling Thromok to Eliminate the Competition
So we've gone through our different paths to victory. But I would like to go a little bit more into my favorite way to win, smashing face with a giant Hellion. To allow our hungry friend to do his job with the best possible success rate we need a couple of things, tokens, haste, and evasion, but since we're a smashy kind of deck we're going to simplify that last one down to trample. We've covered the token side of things pretty well, so lets focus on the other 2 now.
Haste Enablers
With Thromok's tendencies to become such a big body and close out incredibly quickly he will be target number 1 most of the time for your opponents removal spells. That being said if your plan is to attack with him it is IMPERATIVE that you not wait for his summoning sickness to wear off naturally, we need to speed that big worm monster up with some Haste effects and thankfully our deck is chock full of them. 3 haste enablers on lands is huge for us seeing as we can not only use them for our other creatures, but also that they are the most difficult for our opponents to remove in the case of most metas. 2 of our enablers are commander staple equipments in a couple of pairs of safety shoes. These are fantastic due to how they can protect our general while speeding him up at the same time. Lastly, our final 2 haste enablers come on creature bodies, one being a Phyrexian Praetor who slows our opponents down and makes it that much easier for us to alpha strike our way to victory, and the other a Theros God with the ability to pump up our already massive general to obscene power levels.
Trample Enablers
This next part is a little bit trickier. While there are a plethora of excellent haste enablers, trample enablers are much harder to come by while being equally if not more important (what good is a 64/64 Hellion if it can just get chumped by a 1/1 Spirit Token?). Especially good ones that aren't combat tricks. The 2 best fit for this deck I have found are lands in the form of Kessig Wolf Run and Skarrg. The biggest issue with there only being 2 repeatable trample enablers in our deck is consistency, thankfully we have some tricks up our sleeve to alleviate this issue.
Tutors and Card Draw
To find our enablers we can enlist the help of our tools we have to get through our deck. First we have our tutor package which includes,
Tempt with Discovery can be used to find ANY land in the deck, with the possibility for more if your opponents are so tempted. My recommendation for your initial pick would be either Wolf Run or Skarrg if you don't currently have either on the field. Haste enablers you are much more likely to draw into and shouldn't need to be tutored up as often.
Traverse the Ulvenwald with delirium active can find any land or any creature. Again, unless you already have your trample enabler or you are looking for a specific creature to do something, I would suggest getting Wolf Run or Skarrg.
Gamble can find ANYTHING with the caveat that you might lose it to the random discard. Try to use this to find Wolf Run as a last resort as it is much better suited to finding Pandemonium for the insta-kill or a token doubler.
We then have a rather extensive card draw package. I often find myself surprised at how well I can draw through my deck with a lack of and being at my disposal.
Heartwood Storyteller ~ an excellent political tool that can shift the focus away from you in the early turns of the game as you begin setting up for your great sacrifice to the Hellion overlord.
Regal Force ~ a mid-lategame superstar that truly shines when your token army is approaching its peak.
Shamanic Revelation ~ another mid-lategame superstar that can not only draw a ton of cards but can also help to heal some old battle wounds. A+
Sylvan Library ~ insane card draw and filtering for a mere 2 mana. Just be careful not to go overboard on the life payments...
Skullclamp ~ with so many x/1 tokens being made in our deck this card is a repeatable "Draw 2" for 1 mana. Insane value.
And while we talk about card draw this is the perfect opportunity to segue into our brief but very important
Planeswalker Package
First off we have big Garruk, a 5 CMC walker who enters with 3 loyalty. His +1 fits our token theme by making 3/3 beasts for us to use however we like. His -3 is what landed him the spot in our deck, being able to draw based on our creatures power is insane with a commander such as Thromok, and having other big creatures in our deck like Greenwarden of Murasa and Vigor doesn't hurt either. Garruk's -6 I very seldom find myself using, but that isn't to say it hasn't come in handy in a pinch, an army of 6/6 Wurms is nothing to scoff at.
Next of the docket is OGW Nissa. Again her +1 got her the interview making a 0/1 plant each turn, which fits the bill for our decks token theme perfectly. Her -2 is good as well, allowing you to pump your forces, made even better by a Doubling Season or Primal Vigor. But if you can get Nissa to a point where you can -7 her that's where she really starts to pay dividends. In a green based EDH deck with many effects to ramp you ahead of your opponents, being able to ult Nissa often means drawing 8 or more cards and gaining an equal amount of life, which in the mid game can really set you up for some huge turns.
Xenagos enters the deck as first and foremost an incredible ramp card with our token framework and his +1 ability. His 0 is very much par for the course, creating 2/2 satyr tokens. His -6 unfortunately is not so useful in my opinion. While yes you can hit some big creatures and some lands off of it, the chance of hitting a token doubler, or ETB pinger is to great of a risk for such a small payoff percentage. Keep him for ramping and satyr production.
Domri is a quirky little walker. His +1 helps to filter through your deck and should you not hit a creature, allows you the foresight to know what is coming in your next draw. His -3 helps to remove troublesome creatures your opponents may control. His -7 is a game changer. Doublestrike, Trample, Hexproof, and Haste for all of your creatures on an emblem. Very unlikely to happen but so sweet when it does.
Interaction
Talking about Domri's ability to remove enemy creatures by forcing them to fight your own is a great way to lead into our next topic of interaction. While we might not have the targeted creature removal of a or deck we do have some excellent interaction when it comes to artifact and enchantment removal along with a couple of other tricks up our sleeve.
While I won't go into much detail here as most of these inclusions are self explanatory, I would like to note that I do keep a small sideboard of Guttural Response, Vandalblast, Reclamation Sage, and Decimate. I don't find myself boarding out often but when I do it helps a ton in certain metas.
Final Thoughts
So is Thromok the next big tier 1 deck for CEDH? Hell no. But he is a freakin' blast to play and is moderately easy to pilot. As with all EDH decks, this one is always in a constant state of evolution, the most recent additions to the deck being Hanweir Battlements and Hanweir Garrison for the oh so janky chance at melding into a Hanweir, the Writhing Township. I can definitely see swapping out Garrison for a card of much better value (probably Nylea, God of the Hunt or even possibly Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter) But I think Battlements is here to stay as it adds another excellent Haste enabler for our big friendly Hellion.
Anyways that's all for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my write-up on Thromok the Insatiable. Please feel free to leave any comments and questions in the comments section below, I would love to hear what you all think of the deck!
