Wildborn Midrange

Commander / EDH Battlecruiser Casual Midrange Ramp RG (Gruul) Tokens

Aenderan

Creature (26)

• 1x Ancient Greenwarden
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Elvish Reclaimer
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1x Nesting Dragon
• 1x Omnath, Locus of Rage
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Rampaging Baloths
• 1x Ramunap Excavator *f-pre*
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Scute Swarm
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Tireless Tracker
• 1x Titania, Protector of Argoth
• 1x Ulvenwald Hydra
• 1x Wayward Swordtooth
• 1x Whiptongue Hydra
• 1x World Breaker

Instant (8)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Unravel the Aether
• 1x Valakut Awakening  ^Flip

Land (38)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Dwarven Mine
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 4x Forest
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Raging Ravine
• 1x Sheltered Thicket
• 4x Snow-Covered Forest
• 4x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Abundance
• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Prismatic Omen
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Zendikar's Roil

Commander (1)

Sorcery (16)

• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Decimate
• 1x Explore
• 1x Far Wanderings
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Genesis Wave
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Hull Breach
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Scapeshift
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Three Visits

Artifact (4)

• 1x Amulet of Vigor
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Horn of Greed
• 1x Seer's Sundial

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Nissa, Vital Force

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Maybeboard

Land (7)

• 1x Ghost Town
• 1x Highland Forest
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Skarrg, the Rage Pits

Creature (3)

• 1x Kodama of the East Tree
• 1x Living Twister
• 1x Scute Swarm

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Living Wish
• 1x Restore

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Court of Bounty
• 1x Tectonic Reformation

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Wrenn and Six

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Introduction

This is my casual "pet" commander deck! It's designed to do everything I love in Magic: play stupid big things and have some tokens swarming alongside them. The main reason I chose this approach to achieve that goal is simply that lands can't be countered. As long as I can get something to stick that will benefit off my land drops, I can continually return my lands to hand and replay them, usually multiple times each turn. This allows for explosive turns with little counter play without targeted spot removal.

Overview

Why Mina and Denn, Wildborn?

In the first draft of this deck, everything was based around the keyword "Landfall". This plan had two major obstacles that needed to be solved:

1. I can only play one land each turn
2. I need to be able to find more lands to play consistently

Mina and Denn, Wildborn fit this need perfectly. Their first ability allows an additional land drop each turn, which solves the first problem in the simplest way possible. Their second ability is the more important of the two, however. Since returning a land to hand is a cost of the activation, the second problem is practically solved. I can recur my lands however many times I had mana for without much drawback. There is then the added benefit of giving a creature trample with the resolution of the ability, which only further helps my game plan of throwing giant creatures at my opponents.

Pros

• Not Commander Reliant. The deck functions perfectly fine without Mina and Denn, Wildborn on the board. Their presence is useful and preferred, but by no means necessary.
• Reliable Mana. Artifact mana is easily removable. Mana dorks are easily removable. Lands? Sure there's Strip Mine , but for the most part, your 15+ lands are fine. Not to mention, your opponents can't counter your lands!
• Big Creatures!! And Lots of Them!!! Like I said, I really like big, stupid idiots, and I also really like tokens. In this build, the two meet in this beautiful middle where you have both giant attackers and a whole army to block with (or vice versa). Depending on your hand and how you play, you can either win with a swarming token strategy or a giant hulk strategy. Besides, who wants to win outside of combat?
• Easily Assembled Synergies. Most of the combos in the deck consist of around 2-3 cards, and they are never crucial to your win. In most cases, it's just card + land. The point is that most of the deck works well with the rest of it, and you're not searching for specific cards to make other certain cards work.

Cons

• Boardwipes Hurt. We are a creature (and land) focused deck (It is Gruul...). Because of this, Wraths will set us back a long way unless we have everything set up well enough, and even then we may spend a full turn or even two trying to get back to the point we were.
• No Infinite Combos. As I said in the introduction, this is a casual commander deck. I'm not trying to assemble an infinite combo to win; I'm trying to have a fun and interactive game of Magic. You will have to play for combat steps and play the whole grind.
• Low Draw, Low Removal. These simply come along with playing Gruul (). Green has some card draw, but not a ton. Red has some removal, but not a ton. We make do with what we can, but it is notable that you have to use these pieces sparingly as it won't always come back soon.

The Game Plan

General Strategy

We're going to break up the strategy into the Early, Mid, and Late Game, with more thorough explanations below.

• Early Game: Ramp, Set Up Engines
• Mid Game: Resolve Landfall Activator, Begin Assembling Army (or Hulk)
• Late Game: Continue Grinding Value, Win in Combat

Early Game

Overview:

• Ramp
• Set Up Engines

Right from the beginning of the game, we're trying to accelerate our mana as quickly as possible. Most, if not all, of these effects will throw more lands onto the battlefield for later use. As soon as we have enough to get to our mid game's threat (we'll cover what that is there), we hold onto the rest of our ramp for that later assembling of army/hulk (again, we'll get there).

When we've ramped enough, we start putting in our synergistic pieces to maximize our efficiency post-threat. These would be your Crucible of Worlds , Lotus Cobra , etc.

Mid Game

Overview:

• Resolve Landfall Activator
• Begin Assembling Army/Hulk

First priority is to resolve that threat. Whether it's generating tokens ( Zendikar's Roil , Omnath, Locus of Rage , etc.) or just some giant dude ( Ulvenwald Hydra , Terastodon , etc.), we need that to hit the battlefield before we can move forward.

As soon as the threat is on the table, start building it up. Generally this is done through landfall triggers, hence why we held onto the excess ramp. Just start generating as much value as we can through that engine through as many synergies as possible.

Late Game

Overview:

• Continue Grinding Synergies
• Win in Combat

Don't stop grinding those synergies. You only have so many land drops per turn, and only so many ramp spells left. The larger you can get that army or hulk over time, the better off you are. You're not wasting resources in the end because you can use your commander to recur it all and reuse it in a pinch.

In the late game, you're working on closing out the game as quickly as possible. Start picking off vulnerable targets while their defenses are low so you'll have as much left over to trample over the larger threats. Soon enough, you'll whittle away at their defenses until you can trample through and win.

Mulligans

You're basically just looking for an early ramp play and something to tell you what plan you should be looking at pursuing. Luckily, there are plenty of redundant effects for such broad goals, so you won't have to mulligan very hard. Generally everything will fall into place for you as long as you hit those land drops.

Key Cards & Synergies

Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

One of the biggest reasons to be a Red Landfall deck is for Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle . In this deck, we use Valakut as both a key removal piece for creatures and as a strong source for chip damage every turn.

We have Vesuva in the deck primarily to be a second Valakut, doubling the damage output per land. Thespian's Stage is still being considered in order to make a third.

With Mina and Denn, Wildborn , we don't need to run a lot of Mountains to make use of Valakut. With just 6 Mountains, we can continuously bounce one and replay it again and again for value, triggering the Valakut each loop.

Scapeshift

Because of Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle , Scapeshift and be a game ending card. Just by grabbing Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle , Vesuva , and a couple of Mountains, the damage output of this card is high.

The later the game goes, the less Mountains we'll have to use this card to that effect. It can also be used as a one card way to generate a large number of Landfall triggers. Don't be afraid to use Scapeshift for that purpose.

Prismatic Omen fixes the problem stated above. The combination of those two cards is devastating.

Cycle Lands

With Mina and Denn, Wildborn 's bounce ability, we can bounce a cycle land to our hand and cycle it in a pinch. The Onslaught cycle lands ( Forgotten Cave and Tranquil Thicket ) pay for themselves in this regard, while Sheltered Thicket will need an additional mana. This turns cycle land + Mina and Denn into , "sac" the land, draw a card.

This becomes repeatable with Crucible of Worlds or Ramunap Excavator , as you can then replay the land you just cycled away.

With Modern Horizons' Tectonic Reformation , this can be done with any red source.

Gruul Turf

We don't need to continually dig for land drops or pay for them with Mina and Denn if Gruul Turf bounces itself with its ETB effect. Often times, this card isn't used for mana.

In tandem with Amulet of Vigor , we can use Gruul Turf for 2 mana before it bounces itself for each land drop. The synergy between these two cards is a powerhouse for accelerating out threats.

Burgeoning

Usually, Burgeoning is strongest in the early game, and dies out as the game goes on. In this deck however, Mina and Denn, Wildborn allow us to bounce a land in response to the trigger on Burgeoning to get another Landfall trigger on our opponents' turns.

Gruul Turf makes this free and does not require Mina and Denn if you choose to bounce itself when it enters the battlefield.

Conclusion

Thank you for checking out my favorite commander deck of mine. Its nothing competitive or impressive, but it gets the job done in casual playgroups and it's a ton of fun the entire way through.

If you liked the list be sure to give the deck an Up Vote, and feel free to leave a comment with any questions and suggestions!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.53
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Beast 4/4 G, City's Blessing, Clue, Copy Clone, Dragon 2/2 R, Dragon Egg 0/2 R, Dwarf 1/1 R, Elemental 2/2 G, Elemental 5/3 G, Elemental 5/5 RG, Elephant 3-3 G, Emblem Nissa, Vital Force, Insect 1/1 G, Plant 0/1 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander/EDH, Interesting Decks, Fun stuff