Gargos, Tyrant of the Forest

Commander / EDH Bracket 1 Counters Hydra Mono-Green Trample

Red05

Card Advantage (14)

• 1x Trash the Town
• 1x Compost
• 1x Garruk's Uprising
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Lifeblood Hydra
• 1x Fruit of the First Tree
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Hunter's Prowess
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Soul's Majesty
• 1x Thickest in the Thicket
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Season of Gathering
• 1x Apex Devastator

Combat Support (5)

• 1x Rancor
• 1x Vastwood Hydra
• 1x Branching Evolution
• 1x Hydra's Growth
• 1x Kalonian Hydra

Mass Disruption (4)

• 1x Terrifying Presence
• 1x Winds of Qal Sisma
• 1x Fade from History
• 1x Bane of Progress

Fetch / Ramp Lands (3)

• 1x Arid Archway
• 1x Castle Garenbrig
• 1x Guildless Commons

Mana Sources (2)

• 1x Vernal Bloom
• 1x Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Basic Lands (28)

• 28x Forest

Combat Hydras (12)

• 1x Goldvein Hydra
• 1x Hungering Hydra
• 1x Nyxborn Hydra
• 1x Wren's Run Hydra
• 1x Genesis Hydra
• 1x Neverwinter Hydra
• 1x Primordial Hydra
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Honored Hydra
• 1x Hydra Omnivore
• 1x Oran-Rief Hydra
• 1x Ulvenwald Hydra

Special Lands (6)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Bala Ged Sanctuary  ^Flip
• 1x Detection Tower
• 1x Khalni Territory  ^Flip
• 1x Memorial to Unity
• 1x Sandstorm Verge

Targeted Disruption (5)

• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Steelbane Hydra
• 1x Voracious Hydra
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Whiptongue Hydra

Combat Tricks (2)

• 1x Sylvan Might
• 1x Invigorating Surge

Token Generators (2)

• 1x Hooded Hydra
• 1x Hydra Broodmaster

Commander (1)

Ramp (12)

• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth
• 1x Emerald Medallion
• 1x Fanatic of Rhonas
• 1x Whisperer of the Wilds
• 1x Llanowar Tribe
• 1x Nissa's Pilgrimage
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

Protection (4)

• 1x Seedling Charm
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Overprotect
• 1x Bear Umbra

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Maybeboard

Protection (12)

• 1x Carapace
• 1x Ranger's Guile
• 1x Run Wild
• 1x Snakeskin Veil
• 1x Tyvar's Stand
• 1x Vines of Vastwood
• 1x Collective Resistance
• 1x Fortitude
• 1x Jolrael's Favor
• 1x Regeneration
• 1x Boar Umbra
• 1x Gaea's Embrace

Combat Support (7)

• 1x Instill Energy
• 1x Nature's Way
• 1x Gate Smasher
• 1x Strider Harness
• 1x Visions of Dominance
• 1x Power Matrix
• 1x Biogenic Upgrade

Mana Sources (5)

• 1x Traverse the Outlands
• 1x Mana Reflection
• 1x Regal Behemoth
• 1x Virtue of Strength
• 1x Zendikar Resurgent

Removal (3)

• 1x Ram Through
• 1x Ruinous Intrusion
• 1x Monstrous Onslaught

Other Hydras (9)

• 1x Capricopian
• 1x Feral Hydra
• 1x Benevolent Hydra
• 1x Stumpsquall Hydra
• 1x Bristling Hydra
• 1x Domesticated Hydra
• 1x Ramunap Hydra
• 1x Heroes' Bane
• 1x Ironscale Hydra

Cantrip Tricks (8)

• 1x Irresistible Prey
• 1x Feral Instinct
• 1x Setessan Training
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes
• 1x Foxfire
• 1x Lace with Moonglove
• 1x Refresh
• 1x Touch of Vitae

Special Lands (6)

• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 1x Cryptic Caves
• 1x Hashep Oasis
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 1x Memorial to Unity
• 1x Tranquil Thicket

Too Expensive (2)

• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient

Supporting Cast (9)

• 1x Tenacious Pup
• 1x Duskshell Crawler
• 1x Gnarlid Colony
• 1x Pridemalkin
• 1x Tuskguard Captain
• 1x Forgotten Ancient
• 1x Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
• 1x Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi
• 1x Iridescent Hornbeetle

Card Draw (8)

• 1x Season of Growth
• 1x Up the Beanstalk
• 1x Colossal Majesty
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Greater Good
• 1x Momentous Fall
• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
• 1x Vivien, Nature's Avenger

Combat Tricks (5)

• 1x The Crowd Goes Wild
• 1x Inscription of Abundance
• 1x Crash the Ramparts
• 1x Invigorate
• 1x Ruthless Instincts

Smoothers (1)

• 1x Abundant Harvest

Tutors (1)

• 1x Uncage the Menagerie

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Gampeplay Mission: Ramp up your mana base to summon Gargos and overwhelm opponents with high-impact hydras in the late game. Topple over your opponents' creatures with trample and remove key threats by triggering Gargos to fight with cheap support spells. Keep Gargos in play with protection auras while making your other hydras even bigger with additional +1/+1 counters.

Power Cards ($>10): None

Sleeper Cards: Hydra's Growth

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Possible Edits

Parking Lot (7): N Lore, T Visits, T Stand, C Resistance, M Reflection, E Lens, Overgrowth

CONSIDER A/E Removal, R Armasaur, O Haze, V Strength, T Outlands, V Dominance, B Umbra, A Elf, all the mana sources

CONSIDER replacing the two combat tricks (S Might and I Surge) and two of the weaker Hydras

LOOK FOR payoffs for casting big spells, more protection to replace some of the Gargos triggers? (MTG doesn't have many redundancy sources for Gargos)

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During Game

Note that spells that target a single creature multiple times will only trigger Gargos once, but spells that target multiple creatures will trigger Gargos each time

Keep in mind that “additional counter” effects like Branching Evolution also apply when counters are first placed on a hydra as it ETB’s

Trash the Town can be used on opponent’s creature in a pinch to draw two cards

Remember to say “go to combat” to give opponents a chance to respond before declaring attackers

Hydra abilities like Reinforce and Monstorsity can be activated at instant speed as a combat trick

Typically attack -before- casting spells in 2nd main phase to see what happens during combat (Apex Devastator is an exception)

Save some instants for use on opponents' turn since Gargos will “reset” at each end step

Use Ulvenwald Hydra to tutor for Detection Tower or Arcane Lighthouse in most cases

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Stats

23 hydras + 18 spells that can trigger Gargos

21 cards dealing with +1/+1 counters

17 cards with trample (9 hydras + 8 spells)

13 “X” spells (Tyvar’s Stand + hydras)

All but 4 of the ramp work with Virtue of Strength

Only 4 of the hydras have <4 generic mana (maximizes discount from Gargos)

78% of lands are forests (helps with Nissa, Virtue of Strength, Vernal Bloom, Extraplanar Lens, and Oran-Rief Hydra)

37 lands + 16 ramp + 4 mana sources = 57% of deck

5 lands that ETB tapped (14% of total)

4 colorless non-fetch lands (11% of total)

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Deck Notes

Deck theme is built around Gargos getting to decide who gets to stay in the forest through fight triggers

Semi-battlecruiser theme since A/E removal is very limited but has lots of creature removal through Gargos triggers

Includes some spells that can target multiple creatures (= multiple Gargos triggers)

Some of the Gargos triggers include ramp, card draw, and removal

Most of the triggers are instants and auras (sorceries are primarily for ramp)

Has multiple cards >$5 because hydras are fairly limited

Average CMC is understated because of the 12 hydras with X in casting cost (plus others w/ monstrosity etc) - actual is approx 3.51 based on the spells with fixed casting cost and the 10 "X" hydras at 6 CMC each

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Card Notes

Apex Devastator might cascade into an “X” spell during its four triggers (13/62 = 21% chance), but still worth the casting cost discount from Gargos

Genesis Hydra can find 28 non-land permanents with mana value 6 or less when it is cast at X = 6

Emerald Medallion helps with 84% of the spells (deck has ten 1-mana instants and artifacts it doesn’t discount)

Gargos serves as ramp for all other hydras and additional removal

Bear Umbra also serves as ramp

Khalni Territory and Collective Resistance can also be removal spells

Doesn't run regeneration b/c it preserves counters and auras but removes the creature from combat, taps it, and doesn't help with exile, bounce, flicker, or -1/-1 effects

Maybeboard has some supporting cast that give other creatures trample, but these don't trigger Gargos

Uses Branching Evolution instead of Unbound Flourishing b/c 21 cards relate to +1/+1 counters vs. only 12 “X” spells that are permanents

Doesn't run Mossborn Hydra b/c it would take three turns to become a 4/4 (better suited to landfall decks)

Doesn’t run Mana Reflection or Virtue of Strength b/c these are so mana-intensive that can’t be cast before Gargos and push back the clock on casting any other spells for a whole turn

Date added	3 years
Last updated	5 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.16
Tokens	Bear 2/2 G, Beast 3/3 G, Emblem Nissa, Who Shakes the World, Fanatic of Rhonas 4/4 B, Honored Hydra 6/6 W, Hydra X/X G, Morph 2/2 C, Snake 1/1 G, Treasure
Folders	Commander, Tyranid