I'd highly recommend Pathbreaker Ibex. The card can easily win games by itself.

Replacing non-creatures like Lifecrafter's Bestiary with creatures (Soul of the Harvest) also tends to work well for decks like this.

Creatures that might be good inclusions would probably be stuff like:

• Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• Indrik Stomphowler
• Conclave Naturalists
• Woodland Bellower
• Fierce Empath
• Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• Gruul Ragebeast
• Spellbreaker Behemoth
• Whisperwood Elemental (less good since you don't want too many creatures on board)

Hope these suggestions helped, and good luck with your list.

Sorry to comment again so soon, but there's a few cards I forgot to list above.

Cyclops Gladiator is another Tyrant's Familiar, in case you feel your removal is lacking.

Urabrask the Hidden is a creature that gives all your other creatures haste., fantastic if you need hast, and don't want to run Fires of Yavimaya.

Stonehoof Chieftain is a big beater that can't be beat by most removal, or any combat damage. Bit on the pricey side mana-wise, but he'll do you good when he finally reaches the battlefield.

Fling is fun if you just need to end out a game and you can't get past their blockers. Or if you need emergency removal.

Avatar of Slaughter needs no description. You know why you'd want him in this deck.

Elderscale Wurm is both a good utility creature, and a decent beater. Give it a go if you want something weird.

Panglacial Wurm is a joke. At least it's got a good punch line ba dum tiss

Finally, Steel Hellkite is fantastic at clearing out enemy tokens/high threat targets as long as you have the mana for it's ability.

Sorry for the long posts, but there are a lot of really strong creatures for a deck like this, and I'm hoping you seriously consider including some (if not most) of them.

Overall I like your deck. I would definitely change out Chameleon Colossus for Heroes' Bane. I also find that for Xenagos decks Garruk, Caller of Beasts does better than Garruk, Primal Hunter. I would also consider finding a spot for Nylea, God of the Hunt and Dragon Throne of Tarkir to give your non-evasive guys trample.

Zendikar Resurgent mana ramp and card draw for lifecraster's beastiary.

Signal the Clans to grab a beater for nature's lore

Bower Passage is worth a look since you have so many flyers, not sure what to cut, probably rancor as all your flyers become unblockable.

A good combo would be Hellkite Tyrant and Mycosynth Lattice its a fun win-con while even if mycosynth gets destroyed you can still mess up a artifact deck.

Use Tooth and Nail to get Blightsteel Colossus with Xenagos, God of Revels thats allmost a guaranteed loss for someone.

Same thing with Tooth and Nail for Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts for infinite creature to insta win

Summoning Trap to mess with a blue deck and maby win or help reach that goal

Errast

Pathbreaker Ibex seems cool. I'll put him in the maybeboard. Indrik Stomphowler and Conclave Naturalists cost too much for what they do. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds seems cool too, will put in maybeboard. There aren't enough targets for Woodland Bellower. Fierce Empath has some potential, so maybeboard. Ruric Thar, the Unbowed doesn't do enough to justify his CMC, same with Gruul Ragebeast and Whisperwood Elemental. Very limited counterspells in meta (shocking, right?) so no need for Spellbreaker Behemoth.

Cyclops Gladiator is nice removal, but 3 red in a primarily green deck is a stretch. Urabrask the Hidden is a great card (I just traded it away :/) and is MUST ADD. Thank you.Stonehoof Chieftain is something to consider, I will need to think about our stonehoofed friend. Fling is funny, but not the best fit IMO.Avatar of Slaughter is SO FUNNY! I am getting this for sure! The 2 worms are blehSteel Hellkite was definitely overlooked. I need to add it in for sure.

Gidgetimer

Heroes' Bane is a great replacement, I will make the switch. I like Primal hunter over Caller of beasts because it's cheaper, provides blockers and most importantly, card draw. Nylea, God of the Hunt costs 4 for a static trample, possible creature and a weak boost. Although I see it's potential use, I will need to think about it.Dragon Throne of Tarkir I would rather use the creature I'm equipping to attack

shaftdiggity

Zendikar Resurgent seems great, I will add it inSignal the Clans is a great card, but wouldn't it make more sense to get rid of rampant growth before nature's lore?Bower Passage seems interesting but is too limited.

The_Doughboy

I thought of that combo before and it seems hilarious as hell, but not worth running as each piece is weak on it's own. Blightsteel Colossus is great but I'm not a huge fan of infect. I don't mind if someone runs it, but I just don't like it. The Kiki combo is cool and I LOVE combos, but this is the 1 deck I'm trying to make without an inherent "insta win" because I would just tooth and nail those creatures each time. The only infinite combo I have in the deck cannot be tutored for so if it goes off, then it's more "fair" according to my LGS. Summoning Trap is limited but possibly a sideboard card.

Do you guys know what is a good CMC range for this kind of deck? I've always tried to make the CMC of my EDH decks anywhere between 2.8 and 3.4. I know the beaters in the deck skew the AVG CMC towards the higher end, but I am unsure as to what range i should try to fall into.

Thanks for the response Profet93. Good to hear that some of my suggestions are making it through, but I'd like to know what kind of meta you're in that good old Ruric Thar isn't worth being put in.

Otherwise, I really just wanted to go over my reasoning for the cards I suggested, to see if I can squeeze a few more in. I'll go through them in bulletpoint format here.

Indrik, and CN. These 2 were really just suggestions to try and stuff more creatures into a deck I felt need a ton of dudes to work really well, but if you don't think they're good enough, maybe Bane of Progress is a better choice?

Selvala, Woodland Bellower, and Fierce Empath. These guys are going together because I like to think of them as a package. Empath gets your Bellower, and he gets your Selvala. Although that's rarely how it works, I think these cards work best together.

Just going to sneak Woodland Bellower into his own section, because I really do think he's really great. He grabs your utility creatures (Reclamation Sage, Ulvenwald Tracker) and tosses them onto the field, while giving you a decent body to swing in with.

I've gone over most of the cards I wanted to address, all the others I could understand, and honestly expected to be shot down.

Finally, just to make sure this isn't just a response, I'll add in a couple cards I just thought of now.

• Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip

Arguably worse Farhaven Elf until you get to here flipside, where all the magic happens. I'd recommend picking one up if you have the cash, as she does a lot of legwork if she can flip.

• Loxodon Warhammer/Basilisk Collar

Same general idea here. Swing in with a huge dude, outgain even the most ridiculous lifegain deck in a single turn. I'd recommend Basilisk Collar if you have the cash, but the Warhammer works just as well.

• Bane of Progress

Showed him off in a pargraph above. He's your Reclamation Sage on steroids, and can wipe entire boards depending on what decks are in your meta. I've had him completely reset games with the right cards in play.

If you've read this whole thing, then thanks! I appreciate you reading my ramblings and I hope I've made my reasoning a bit clearer.

Profet93 A good CMC for green red is right around 3.8 to 4 because you have land ramp spells along with good artifact ramp, like Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, Grim Monolith.If you like combos you can use Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith with Mana Reflection for infinite mana.

People have already done a fine job of suggesting creatures (personally, I run all value-driven dudes in Gruul), so I'll reccomend some lands instead. Skarrg, the Rage Pits is essentially a free spell to grant trample, and Rogue's Passage likewise can get your guys through; ordinarily, I'm not too big on the card, but it could do some work here. Spinerock Knoll should be easy to trigger (heck- it doesn't even have to be you doing the damage), and Yavimaya Hollow is an oft-overlooked means of saving a key fatty. Being only two colors, and having access to great ramp like Skyshroud Claim, Hunting Wilds, and Ranger's Path you could cut some of your lesser dual lands for basics; and by increasing your mountain count can run Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (kills an opponent with Boundless Realms). Lastly, as you run some fat-astic monsters, a Homeward Path is a reasonable concession to the blue decks running about. Cheers and God bless. -McDeity

Creatures and Lands being handled I'd like to suggest two artifacts. Altar of Dementia lets you punish the player who dared to wipe your board by forcing them to mill a very large portion of their deck. My current record is forcing a blue player who C Rift Overloaded me to mill 78 cards.

On a note of protecting our big stompy creatures a Sword of Light and Shadow is simply fantastic protection since most creature spot removal is either Black or White. The graveyard recursion and life gain is simply icing on the cake of making people's Swords to Plowshares and Doom Blade useless against you swinging in for the kill.

Thanks for reading. The primer I have is actually outdated.

Currently, the reason I run Godo + Embercleave is because it actually does 48 damage, not 16. Godo gives himself an extra combat on his first attack making the second one do 32. This makes him one-shot any player at full health through blockers. This was tech I somehow discovered only a few days ago. The power of this is well worth the few times I draw Embercleave by itself... or worse yet, both at the same time. If I have library manipulation, I can minimize the chance of that happening.

I used to run City and Dense Foliage, but the more lean I made the deck, the more it hinged upon me simply blanking a single removal spell to do either a ton of damage or get so much card advantage that I have too much stuff. These cards are also poor against combo decks.

plushpenguin

Oh my....I just playtested your deck doing so, you are indeed correct. That is scary! I've got me some thinking to do.

City of Solitude is a double edged sword for sure, but at least in my meta/experience, it is proved to be a lifesaver. Either they counter the spell allowing me to play a beater unhindered, or they let it resolve and allow me to swing with free reign during my turn.

I was hoping you could reply back to my comment on your deck as I do want to hear your thoughts regarding removal/interaction as well as the various suggestions and if you think they are worth including.

As far as interaction and protection options go, cheaper is always better

Veil of Summer and Nature's Claim are one example of each that I'm a big fan of.

Secondly, I like replacing my 3cmc ramp by 1 options with the Crop Rotation + Sylvan Scrying + Ancient Tomb package. It basically gives you effective "ramp" while being cheaper and allowing these cards to get important lands late.

Thirdly, I think you misunderstand Joraga Treespeaker . Yes, you play it on turn 1 and level it on turn 2 and still have access to 2 mana on turn 2. However, on turn 3, you can play a land and have 5 mana. This, combined with Gamble , effectively allows you to have 4 Sol Ring s in the deck. I run Carpet of Flowers too, which in many cases turns my deck into having 5 Sol Rings. This allows me to be significantly more likely to land turn 3 god, although it does sometimes come at the cost of a little card advantage. That fact is why I run 10 sources of CA.

I believe you can make it faster while still keeping more resilience than in my current list. More 1-2cmc ramp is essential.

pmansmoney

Yo Big Daddy P, question for you. What are your thought of Bolt Bend in Xenagos? I usually have a creature with power 4 or greater so this reads, pay , change the target of a spell or ability. Works perfectly to switch removal, change extra turn spell targets, etc... Plus the art is sick AF.

It's pretty damn good. The fella who runs a dedicated Xenagos deck in our LGS uses it to great effect all the time.

Metachemist

Thank you for your input, I can't wait to test it out! What exactly do you mean by dedicated?

Oh! By that I mean he only runs like two decks ever, and he almost always runs his Xenagos. It means he has gotten really good at piloting it despite being a relatively new player to the game.

Also a couple of suggestions, Talisman of Impulse is better than Gruul Signet most times because you can tap it for mana the turn you drop it.

Guttural Response while yes it is anti-blue, having a straight up counter of your own to answer counter magic is fantastic and blue players do not expect it from the Gruul player. Further you can force them to double down and burn off another counter spell to keep down the play you're going for.

I'm surprised to see no Craterhoof Behemoth or Blightsteel Colossus granted they can be wins more cards but if they go unanswered you often win on the spot.

I'd also suggest swapping in a Windswept Heath for the Temple of Abandon but that's mainly my bias against enter into play tapped lands.

Further this sort of deck begs for Selvala's Stampede which most people will always respond with "Free" so you just wait to cast it until you've got plenty of permanents in hand, which can allow you to build a massive board state.

Metachemist

Thank you for your suggestions. The difference between gruul signet and talisman are minimal. Note under the future edits section, I will be testing out Dockside Extortionist in it's place due to all of the artifacts and enchantments in the meta. It can sometimes whiff, but it's worth trying. It also boosts my creature count.

Guttural Response - I'm not trying to make the deck anti-blue at the moment. The few anti-blue cards I have like Dosan and City of Solitude not only stop blue, but more importantly spot removal on my turn. Moreover it's only for instant spells. I would run Ricochet Trap prior to this as it is more flexible and still stops blue for the same cost.

Craterhoof Behemoth - Better in decks that go wide. This deck acts like a sniper, one powerful bullet as opposed to many smaller shots.

Blightsteel Colossus - If I were to add it, I would cut Kozilek, but the draw 4 is super useful and I am not a fan of infect, or else i would add Putrefax as well. Nothing wrong with the strategy, just not my cup of tea. Note I took out Aggravated Assault to ensure this deck is more fair.

Selvala's Stampede - Interesting, very interesting. I'm curious to see how this would play out. Thank you for bringing it to my attention

Fair enough, after reading over your primer (which incidentally is great!) I had a feeling that would be your response to most of my suggestions just based on how you feel about other cards.

Selvala's Stampede almost always pays off handsomely for me after I learned to just make sure I had a couple of lands/other perms in hand that I would be able to get good value off of. Getting a creature and three land drops for 6 mana isn't a bad deal and that usually the worst outcome I get from it. At best I've used it to drop my entire hand onto the table (it was a big pod) and still get a creature to boot

Selvala's Stampede

I definitely see all of the benefits. But if I have a couple cards in my hand and I vote for wild, then wouldn't my opponents know I don't have much in my hand? Moreover, if I only have this and a sorcerry(ies) in my hand, I essentially only get 1 wild vote. I've been very cautious about adding cards that have whif potential, but the upside as you so clearly stated, is too good to ignore.

But it's always to your benefit for you to vote "Wild", and always to your opponents benefit for them to vote "Free" and feel free to play politics by even telling them that.

It's kinda like Tempt with Discovery ideally everyone at the table should tell the caster no, or everyone agrees to go pull Strip Mine style lands to go blow up all the extra lands the caster gets.

Also again, timing is important in playing the Stampede, unless I was really in a bind for a creature, any creature, I wouldn't play it with nothing in hand to benefit from it.

Fair points. I'll be sure to test it out and let you know how it goes!

Yo Profet!!

Bolt Bend ?!?! I didn't even know that card existed! Certainly seems interesting, but why don't you run some good old-fashioned permanent protection pieces like Swiftfoot Boots ? Seems like you don't have a ton of back up haste enablers in case someone deals with your xenagos. It's too bad Xenagos, God of Revels doesn't work with Lightning Greaves which is what I initially thought of, but I'll defer to you because it's certainly true that someone can target your creature in response to the equip. Equipment like that just seem pretty dang powerful in a deck like this.

pmansmoney

Because swiftfoot boots doesn't stop the issue I am facing, responding to the equip/attack with removal as you said.

I generally don't need backup haste because Xenagos is so hard to get rid of. If someone gets rid of him, thats fine. I'll cast him again, and that's 1 less removal spell I need to deal with. Better to not include a haste slot for something that happens in less than 15% of games (approximation).

Regarding equipment, Godo, Bandit Warlord and Embercleave was a fun synergy I've seen in a few Xenagos decks. It reads, cast Godo, swing for a shit ton of trample damage. I've been very tempted to run it as a fun option to deal a lot of trample damage at once. Don't forget, Xenagos's ability would trigger twice, making it very very fun.

You've deal with the deck, you know how much one piece of spot removal sets me back if I have nothing else in hand.