Gnawbones horde

Commander / EDH Artifact Casual Lifegain Mono-Green Ramp Tokens Tokens

Jagg3r5

Ramp (23)

• 1x Beanstalk Giant
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Emerald Medallion
• 1x Ezzaroot Channeler
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Ilysian Caryatid
• 1x Karametra's Acolyte
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Migration Path
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Nissa's Pilgrimage
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Rhonas's Monument
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Skyshroud Claim
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Traverse the Outlands
• 1x Zendikar Resurgent

Interaction (7)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Ezuri's Predation
• 1x Rampage of the Clans
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Thorn Mammoth

Land (34)

• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Bala Ged Sanctuary  ^Flip
• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Castle Garenbrig
• 1x Command Beacon
• 22x Forest
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Underdark Rift
• 1x Whisperer of the Wilds

The Big Swing (10)

• 1x Blossoming Bogbeast
• 1x Colossus of Akros
• 1x Darksteel Juggernaut
• 1x Heroes' Bane
• 1x Hurricane
• 1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1x Molder Beast
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Ulvenwald Oddity  ^Flip
• 1x Unnatural Growth

Support (7)

• 1x Academy Manufactor
• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Fangren Marauder
• 1x Rhonas the Indomitable
• 1x Summoning Station
• 1x Timeless Witness
• 1x Verdant Sun's Avatar

Commander (1)

Draw (10)

• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Garruk's Uprising
• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
• 1x Hunter's Insight
• 1x Hunter's Prowess
• 1x Lifeblood Hydra
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Rishkar's Expertise
• 1x Soul of the Harvest
• 1x Soul's Majesty

Protection (8)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Aspect of Mongoose
• 1x Guardian Augmenter
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

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Overview

One best be careful to not rouse the ire of Old Gnawbones, lest your bones be the ones upon which he gnaws. The irritable dragon leads the charge in this mono green deck. The deck focuses on ramping hard to hit Gnawbones early, and then the beefier creatures, pumpable abilities, and combat tricks to boost your creatures into the stratosphere and flatten any opposition. The deck also has a life gain subtheme, as it feeds into several abilities and gives you the freedom to be more aggressive without worrying as much about the backswing. The deck is more for fun than to be competitive, but it is still quite dangerous.

Getting the Dragon Out of His Lair

The first thing you need to do in this deck is get Old Gnawbones out on the board so you can make use of his powerful ability. That means ramp, and lots of it. The deck leans more heavily into land ramp for more durable mana sources. Cards like Rhonas's Monument and Emerald Medallion are invaluable, and the synergy of Ezzaroot Channeler with the other life gain elements in the deck can open up some fairly ludicrous opportunities. Getting the mana to cast Gnawbones is only half the battle though. With how powerful he is, he's going to be a target the second he hits the board. This is why there are so many protecting cards. Keeping him on the board is what truly allows this deck to spiral out of control, so having these effects on standby the second he hits the board is your best bet to assuring your victory. Aspect of Mongoose is particularly effective, as the only way to truly get rid of it once it's hit the board is to force a discard after it goes back to hand or exiling it. Once Gnawbones is out of his den and not under immediate threat, the real fun can begin.

Loot and Pillage

With Gnawbones out and on the prowl, now it's time to start generating treasure. The deck has a number of creatures that come with Trample or cards that can give it to your creatures. There's also the Dragon himself, who's flying is almost sure to allow you to swing into at least one opponent unhindered. With the first chunks of damage dealt, the deck can quickly start to get out of hand. As the cycle of power continues to ramp up, your creatures can become terrifyingly powerful. Card's Like Molder Beast, Heroes' Bane, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma, and Ulvenwald Oddity   are all excellent for this, as you'll be able to get them out before Old Gnawbones and attack with them the turn he hits the board. Once you get damage through and you're able to start generating tokens en masse, you'll have the ability to explode and hit a win condition.

Spend the Hoard and Burn the Villagers

Once you've gotten a few attacks through, it's time to go to work. With all that mana it's easy to cast cards that can load your hand, and then play those cards out just as quickly. You can build a monstrous board state in short order once things get moving, and the bigger it gets the easier it becomes to reload your hand and pour fuel into it. Ending the game at this point is usually more a matter of convenience than of conundrum. This is where those pumpable effects come into play. Heroes' Bane again makes a debut here, as does Molder Beast. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is also an extremely potent card in this scenario. Cards like Darksteel Juggernaut and Colossus of Akros give you some durability so that your heavy hitters aren't requiring you to repurpose protection that you need for Gnawbones. Hurricane is also an alternate win card, and another reason why the life gain subtheme becomes important. No matter how you choose to end it, the affair tends to be a fairly brief one. It's more than possible to wipe all your opponents in one fell swoop.

Even Dragons have weaknesses

While the deck is a blast to play, it's far from invincible. It can struggle against control decks, can die to heavy aggro, and is very weak against grave pact decks. You have the potential to outpace Control decks, as if you ramp quickly enough you can outpace their ability to counter long enough to start dealing significant damage, if not with Gnawbones then with something else. If you're against a more stacks like deck though, or one with good board clear your issues compound considerably. Aggro decks are a bit easier, depending on how fast they are. As long as you live long enough to get Gnawbones out and get a swing in you'll probably be able to outlast them. Grave pact decks or ones that can consistently kill creatures are very difficult to deal with though. Your only real hope is to ramp significantly and get out Gnawbones and give him haste, or wipe the board and make a run from there.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.25
Tokens	2/2 N Creature Pincher, Beast 3/3 G, Centaur 3/3 G, City's Blessing, Clue, Elephant 3-3 G, Food, On an Adventure, Phyrexian Beast 4/4 G, Timeless Witness 4/4 B, Treasure, Wurm 6/6 G