Cool (and brutal) deck so far! From what I can tell, you have a total deck size of 105, so you may need to remove 5 cards to get to a legal deck size. I think Zurgo Helmsmasher would do better with tribal support, since Alesha, Who Smiles at Death isn't necessarily going to want to win a game through commander damage.

Tribal could work well, though I think most of the supporting pieces would be for Warriors, not Barbarians or Berserkers. Some possibly useful Warrior support cards are Herald of Anafenza, Mardu Woe-Reaper, Chief of the Scale, Obsidian Battle-Axe, Mardu Strike Leader, Arashin Foremost, Blood-Chin Fanatic, and Boldwyr Intimidator.

Some nice Warriors are Jazal Goldmane, Brion Stoutarm, Zealous Conscripts, Wrecking Ogre, Tahngarth, Talruum Hero, Furystoke Giant, and Champion of Stray Souls.

Also, one general support card that is pretty solid is Brave the Sands.

Fantastic suggestions!

This deck probably won't be put together until late this year so it is still quite in prototype mode, hence the extra cards.

Warriors are indeed very much more common than barbarians and berserkers (and often better) and more cards boost warriors only, like Raiders' Spoils, but any good barbarian or bersrker I'd like to at least consider. If I end up buying a Coat of Arms and/or Obelisk of Urd and/or Door of Destinies and/or Shared Animosity and the like I might trim back their presence and run _almost _exclusively. Not dropping Ankle Shanker just because he (or she) doesn't get all the anthem buffs! Lovisa Coldeyes loves her some Warriors anyway! She'd be the commander if she wasn't mono-red.

This might be a surprisingly good deck for Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician. I don't want to run too many goblins since I have a goblin deck but many are Mardu colors and many are Warriors. Plus, there are lots of amazing non-goblin warriors.

Indeed. I think Ib has to be completely built around.

I think this deck might need a few more rocks and ramps to get Zurgo out ASAP. Perhaps I should even make this deck slightly more mid-range and slightly less aggro. closer to 28-32 creatures perhaps. I still want a barbarian-horde feel, ya know?

Goblin Snowman + Entangler might be funny.

36 lands with only one rock might not cut it. I think you would have to cut back on the creatures unfortunately. You may be able to keep the creatures and cut back on the enchantments instead and rely more on the creatures pumping each other up.

I also wanted to say that this deck inspired me to create my first EDH deck Zurgoin goin back back to Cali. I went full Warrior and had lots of trouble cutting to 100 especially because I do love the aggro aspect.

Yeah, I totally understand that, looking for that Balduvian Horde feel? That could be a fun combo, goes well with the Lovisa theme.

I am a fan of both the focal points of this deck, so of course I love the deck as a whole!

Ib Halfheart is too tribalistic, but how about Heat Stroke?

I am a fan of Rally the Horde in any deck featuring Lovisa. It can put down a lot of power with her in play.

I'd consider Brainspoil in here, as it finds both Lovisa and the Shanker. It's a very budget-friendly tutor, too.

Excellent suggestions! Thanks!

Heat Stroke with Grave Pact and Grave Betrayal would be pretty funny. I have a deck slightly themed around the atter two but it's Rakdos so I could add Heat Stroke to it...

Heat Stroke works quite well with Zurgo but I don't want to run a ton of graveyard recursion in this deck. Palace Siege is all I have at the moment and that's just a splash.

Gotta cut a few cards but I think I'm close to finalizing this. Advice on cuts would be appreciated!

I must say Optimator, I like what you have begun here. I like it a lot. I think that is probably a combination of two things: 1) I have an under performing Ruric Thar deck The Surge King that I am struggling to get to work the way I would like it to. 2) My main deck is under the rule of Alesha Alesha, Who is Unfinished, and I am totally in love with Mardu. I think that it is a really great color scheme to work with, you have so many options to do fun evil things to your opponent. Saying that, I feel that Zurgo Helmsmasher is like a beautiful marriage of Ruric and Alesha, only better. Anyway, now that I have shamelessly promoted/asked for help with my decks on your page, on to business.

The first thing that I would like to say is that Palace Siege is not your only source of graveyard recursion. You have an amazing engine with Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, and a decent number of your creatures can be brought back with her. I know you said that was not something you really wanted to focus on with your deck, but it is a really fun bonus. It just makes your horde that much more enjoyable!

For cuts, the first three that jump out at me are Assault Suit, Underworld Connections and Vandalblast, and I'm on the fence with Archetype of Aggression. I suggest these cards because to me, they are fairly low impact in the scheme of the deck. I feel like it is very aggro. While yes, Vandalblast is a great card, I feel like it can be very situational. I think that the odds of you drawing it and being happy are fairly low. Also, it's your only anti-artifact card in the deck unless I missed something, and I like having a couple different ways of doing something in my decks. On that note, I know I am suggesting cuts, but if you are wanting a way to deal with artifacts/enchantments I would highly highly highly recommend Duergar Hedge-Mage. Especially since you are running Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Back to cuts. With Underworld Connections, I am just not a fan. I had it in my Alesha deck and decided to cut it because it was taking up one of my mana resources, which I needed because she is a surprisingly mana hungry general. I feel like you will probably need more mana with Zurgo than I need with Alesha. For Assault Suit, I suggest cutting it because your deck is about the farthest thing from group hug I have ever seen. I know that it is on the suggested card list, but I feel like you will be a fairly big threat on the table anyway, so I don't think this card will really stop someone from attacking you if they want to. And Archetype of Aggression trample is always fun, and yes you have a TON of ways to pump up your creatures, but I am on the fence with him. I feel like he would be a good creature to take out and kind of run the deck to see how big your creatures get, then maybe main board him, I just don't feel that he would do enough work for you. But, it's your deck, I'm just giving my opinion.

I tried to come up with a 5th cut, but I must say that I like how everything is fitting together so I don't really know what to suggest. Anyway, I wish you luck with your build, it looks like a ton of fun! I'm not going to lie, I will probably be using your build to make my own I like it that much. And the price is lovely! If you have the time, I would really like and appreciate your input on my decks. Until next we meet.

Thank you so incredibly much UnleashedHavok for your kind words, support, and advice!! I genuinely appreciate it! Few people recommend cuts so it's always nice to hear an outside opinion!

That's a good point about Alesha and graveyard recursion! I guess in my head I was thinking I wasn't basing my deck around resurrecting power 2 warriors so it wasn't in mind. There are plenty of targets for her though--no wonder she's in, eh? :P

I have a hard time imagining Assault Suit not being in. It's literally made for Zurgo. Group-hug nothing--if I can squeeze in 9+ commander damage to an opponent on every opponent's turn and maintain his indestructibility I think I'll be sitting quite pretty. Plus it protects against things like All Is Dust and Sheoldred, Whispering One. Seems like a no-brainer but I have yet to see it in play.

I always like having at least two staple card types, as in creature removal/ artifact destruction, card draw, etc. I need some sort of decent card draw and neither red, black, nor white do it particularly well. I've always found things like Divination quite underwhelming in EDH (as in "draw a few cards for card # +1 mana) so things like Read the Bones, Faithless Looting, Wild Guess, Sign in Blood, Tormenting Voice, etc are underwhelming. Then again, they are nice early-game and , due to the deck's colors, almost mandatory. I really prefer 3-4+ cards drawn, even if the CMC is higher. Phyrexian Arena is one of the best options but it's a little pricey for my budget decks--I try to keep almost all cards under $1 on the initial version 1.0 build. It's a no-brainer once I start upgrading (and it's price has dropped!) but Underworld Connections is the poor-man's version. I don't think the conversion is that bad: One mana and one life for a card. It's possible that this deck won't need much card draw though so I'll definitely consider cutting it.

Duergar Hedge-Mage is awesome! Perfect for this and indeed meshes with Alesha. Vandalblast is so good in Commander though... Artifacts abound, you know? I might have too many creature-removal cards but Orzhov/Mardu does it so well...

As for Archetype of Aggression, the deck certainly doesn't need trample that bad. He's still a 3/2 trampler Warrior for 3 CMC so he's still decent as fodder IMO. Definitely not vital, as you noticed.

I'm at work and it's been busy and I have to close up but I have plenty to say about the other decks you commented on so I'll get back to it in a few days.

Thanks again!

You are most welcome sir! As you know, I have my own version of your build and I have play tested it a couple times now prior to going to buy the cards I need to finish it. I must say, it appears to top deck really well. I'm not sure I will really need tutors, it all depends on the direction I ultimately take the deck in. That's just my two cents on whether or not this deck needs card draw like Underworld Connections.

For Assault Suit, I have apparently been reading it or interpreting it all wrong. The way it was working in my head was as a political card that got passed around the table, but no one could attack you with whichever creature was being passed around.

Oh! So I was cruising along some other Zurgo deck lists and found these guys:

Paragon of Fierce Defiance

Paragon of New Dawns

Paragon of Open Graves

I must say that I really like them and think that I might try to find a place for them in my deck. Just wanted to share!

I feel like I need more wrath effects. It goes against the Warrior Tribal theme but is Zurgo bread and butter. The warriors are there to clear a path and act as backup damage if Zurgo is (rightfully) targeted down. They can use equipment too! Just not as well. If I could afford a Boros Charm it would be a different story. Or Avacyn, Angel of Hope, or Eldrazi Monument with token generators, or Soul of New Phyrexia. Frontline Medic could work.

Am I weakening the deck too much by having a medium-sized backup army? Many of the warriors provide anthems for Zurgo so they aren't dead weight. I guess I'll find out once I build the deck. Probably late October or early November at this point. I was going to make this deck this month but I got inspired and made Magitek Machinations. Glad I did but I can't wait for the horde to arrive!

So I just learned that if a creature has Vigilance, it can attack a second time with Godo, Bandit Warlord since he explicitly grants a second attack phase. I figured that part was wasted and I included him for his tutor effect.

Perhaps Always Watching , Serra's Blessing, Herald of Dromoka, Heliod, God of the Sun, and/or Brave the Sands are worth it?

I just had an epiphany: If I want to combine Ankle Shanker and Lovisa Coldeyes, isn't Alesha, Who Smiles at Death the natural Commander? I set out to make a Zurgo deck because I like him tons and wanted a commander-damage deck to go head-to-head with my friend's Silvos, Rogue Elemental and Thraximundar decks. I also just wanted to use Ankle Shanker really bad.

Ankle Shanker and Lovisa are great for going wide and Zurgo is kinda the opposite. I figured the partial commitment to going wide-ish would be good back-up in case I can't get Zurgo out. That's why I focused on warriors that have effects that boost Zurgo--such as Arashin Foremost, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer, and Lovisa Coldeyes--or have special effects--such as Ash Zealot, Mardu Woe-Reaper, and Butcher of Malakir. Seems like a sound idea to me and I'm clearly not going nuts with my creature count.

I'm just nervous that, in my attempts to diversify, hybridize, and cover my bases, I'm diluting Zurgo's strengths. One thing to keep in mind is my budget; I can't fully play to anyone's strengths regardless!

If I convert this deck to a Alesha, Who Smiles at Death at a later time I'm out $20--tops. Not a big deal!

One reason I didn't want to run Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is I already had a reanimation-heavy deck with Boggart Avalanche. I have a new one now with Magitek Machinations as well so it would be nice to switch it up.

I'd definitely run the Greaves to protect him off-turn.

It's more a money thing than anything. Lightning Greaves are definitely on the short-list for upgrades.

Great deck! I like the idea of giving him "armor" and "weapons" and making him a powerhouse. I just wish there was more ways to keep him from being sacked and keep him from being targeted. Also, exactly how fast is it? if you could get him out with haste on turn 2-3 with haste it would be really good. Overall it is a great deck though!