I have from day 1 decided to go Gruul at the prerelease because red/green is awesome! Anyway I was curious as to the opinions on the Gruul cards themselves, for a sealed/draft environment. I have seen reviews for the other guilds but not the Gruul. Thoughts?
I have from day 1 decided to go Gruul at the prerelease because red/green is awesome! Anyway I was curious as to the opinions on the Gruul cards themselves, for a sealed/draft environment. I have seen reviews for the other guilds but not the Gruul. Thoughts?
Well, red looks outstanding in this set. Lots of removal and lots of efficient little beaters and combat tricks. Almost every red spell in gatecrash looks useful.
As for Gruul, the main problem will be getting 2-1ed when your opponent casts instant speed removal on the the guy you just blood-rushed. Just make sure you don't walk into that and Gruul should be solid.
I am planning on playing Simic+Gruul. So it's not my main guild, but I've been practicing with heavy Gruul sealed decks using octgn.
One thing we can do to prepare is look at the bloodrush cards and gauge whether they are typically better as a creature or better to be saved as a pump spell. As an example, Scorchwalker is almost always going to be better as a pump spell that lava axes an opponent for 3 mana. On the other hand, unless your opponent is at a very low life total a Ghor-Clan Rampager is far more powerful as a 4 drop creature with trample.
Well, red looks outstanding in this set. Lots of removal and lots of efficient little beaters and combat tricks. Almost every red spell in gatecrash looks useful.
As for Gruul, the main problem will be getting 2-1ed when your opponent casts instant speed removal on the the guy you just blood-rushed. Just make sure you don't walk into that and Gruul should be solid.
After doing a couple of drafts on cockatrice, I found that I was usually casting the creature as opposed to bloodrushing. It looks like bloodrush is great if there is that one huge blocker in the way. But from my experience thus far, it seems creatures are a little weaker in this set.
I think the 2/2 first strikers will be great. The madcap skills is absolutely amazing if you can get two or 3. Gruul Charm seems like it is going to be better than I think. Many times the board was stuffed with creatures and even fliers. Im interested if it is worth it to put in the Ragebeast or Borborygmos, since they are so high in CMC.
After doing a couple of drafts on cockatrice, I found that I was usually casting the creature as opposed to bloodrushing. It looks like bloodrush is great if there is that one huge blocker in the way.
Yup, that's the way to play. Unless you have a troubling blocker that absolutely must be dealt with, or you can deal lethal damage that same turn with an unblocked bloodrushed creature, it's better to simply enlarge your board presence with more creatures.
I expect to see a lot of little kids at the prerelease bloodrushing their guys for some extra initial damage and then finding their deck quickly out of gas.
This just hit me. What if you bloodrush and the creature lives to your second main, Miming Sliming your pumped up creature for a huge slime token? I'm not sure if thats a great play or not, but since bloodrush is so cheap you could do both in a turn.
As for Gruul, the main problem will be getting 2-1ed when your opponent casts instant speed removal on the the guy you just blood-rushed. Just make sure you don't walk into that and Gruul should be solid.
Blood rush is so inexpensive that I look forward to using it in response to cards like Killing Glare if they're foolish enough to try something during combat.
I hope I get a nice gruul package with lots of bloodrush. The unpredicatability of blood rush is concerning. I always try to memorize the cost/effect so I know what my opponents might have up their sleeves of all instants and flash creatures. This set is difficult because of the number of blood rush cards. Their cheap cost and playability in any deck using the appropriate color/s makes them auto-main deckable. I think you may end up seeing a lot of bogged down, lengthy combat phases (although it only works on attacking creatures, I'm surely going to take my time deciding on blocking due to the +5/+4 being a common and that is a lot of life... at least that one is multi-colored).
This just hit me. What if you bloodrush and the creature lives to your second main, Miming Sliming your pumped up creature for a huge slime token? I'm not sure if thats a great play or not, but since bloodrush is so cheap you could do both in a turn.
That is a great play. It would end the game quickly if your opponent didn't have a removal spell within a turn or two to deal with the huge slime token.
Blood Rush + Boros Charm (assuming you were playing three colors) could also be a surpise game ender if your opponent thinks he's safe at 10 life.
Blood rush is so inexpensive that I look forward to using it in response to cards like Killing Glare if they're foolish enough to try something during combat.
I hope I get a nice gruul package with lots of bloodrush. The unpredicatability of blood rush is concerning. I always try to memorize the cost/effect so I know what my opponents might have up their sleeves of all instants and flash creatures. This set is difficult because of the number of blood rush cards. Their cheap cost and playability in any deck using the appropriate color/s makes them auto-main deckable. I think you may end up seeing a lot of bogged down, lengthy combat phases (although it only works on attacking creatures, I'm surely going to take my time deciding on blocking due to the +5/+4 being a common and that is a lot of life... at least that one is multi-colored).
I was also thinking, could it be possible to have a deck full of creatures, with bloodrush being your combat tricks, filling the instant slots? SO just 23 creatures and 17 land? What do you think about frenzied tilling? It seems like for 5 mana I want to be doing something else, but some of those Gruul cards are mighty expensive. Granted, I would rather play a keyrune. I am also in love with the guildmage. Sooo good!
Are any bloodrush creatures unplayable? They all look playable to me including Skinbrand Goblin and Scab-Clan Charger. I have also wondered about a deck that is all creatures with bloodrush as the mechanic to get them through. In sealed it's unlikely to be possible, but in draft it would be.
Are any bloodrush creatures unplayable? They all look playable to me including Skinbrand Goblin and Scab-Clan Charger. I have also wondered about a deck that is all creatures with bloodrush as the mechanic to get them through. In sealed it's unlikely to be possible, but in draft it would be.
Yeah, I think they are all playable. Then again, my high opinion of goblin pikers is well known, lol.
The piker is amazing and the centaur is great as a roadblock. What are the thoughts on the 3/1 first striker? I think its better than what people are saying.
Looking at some simulated pools I think Gruul's main problem is going to be having enough low drops (2 drops in particular). Get enough early pressure and I think you are golden.
Bloodrush requires you to have creatures in play to attack with and becomes significantly better the more creatures you have/less life your opponent has.
Looking at some simulated pools I think Gruul's main problem is going to be having enough low drops (2 drops in particular). Get enough early pressure and I think you are golden.
Bloodrush requires you to have creatures in play to attack with and becomes significantly better the more creatures you have/less life your opponent has.
Wow, I hadn't noticed this, but this is absolutely true. Gruul hasn't got that many common one-or-two drops - Skinbrand Goblin, Disciple of the Old Ways, Greenside Watcher, Wasteland Viper - that seem generally playable, and some of those I'm not actively excited about. I'm not sure if that's really an aberration, but it feels a bit low.
Wow, I hadn't noticed this, but this is absolutely true. Gruul hasn't got that many common one-or-two drops - Skinbrand Goblin, Disciple of the Old Ways, Greenside Watcher, Wasteland Viper - that seem generally playable, and some of those I'm not actively excited about. I'm not sure if that's really an aberration, but it feels a bit low.
I would like to say that, as a slower format, maybe Gruul won't need them as much? It seems like they are meant for mid-range but thats just a guess. Use removal to take out boros and just shoot for the long game. By all means I would love to have some decent two drops and one drops, but it might not happen! What do you think?
As a fellow agruul player I feel a bit disappointed with the quality of our green drops. Where are the efficient green fatties? Red seems to get them, and Boros have great 2 drops that Gruul match most likely in their 4 drop slot.
Seems that best strategy to Bloodrush is not to bloodrush Expecialy against white - Opponents will wait to 2 for 1 with smite etc and if you dont bloodrush opponent with untapped lands they 1. wait what will never come, 2. loose chance to extort
I agree that you should play carefully. Ideally you would pump when they're tapped out (they play a creature, you get to untap and attack into it free of worries of their combat tricks). But being sealed this weekend, they shouldn't have a ton of removal (at least not as consistent as draft). And if you were going to lose the creature anyway (i.e. they block your 2/2 with their 3/3 and you blood rush it, then they kill it in response), then you're really losing your bloodrush spell to their creature removal spell. Maybe in game 2 if I saw like 2 Smite game one I might try to play around it, but I think that with the number of blood rush, you gotta use it (it's not like you only have 1 Giant Growth in your deck).
I see Armored transport kinda friendly with the Bloodrush ability, since the opponent wouldnt be so likely to block it.
What do you guys think about Crackling Perimeter? Is it useable in sealed? (Ofcourse it depends on how much gates are you running)
Im little bit disapointed about gruul 1, 2, and 3 drops. Is more worth to splash third color (like boros) for having better drops in the beginning or to try a ramp as much as possible to reach the "big gruul guys" quicker?
I have really low expiriences in limited, so I would like to know your opinions on which direction to run the gruul.
Thanks
Armored Transport misses banding! That would be sick.
I wouldn't play Crackling Perimeter because it doesn't effect the board at all. It's like playing life gain only spells (ones that aren't attached to creatures): if you're losing, you'll lose a little later. And Crackling Perimeter says if you're winning, you'll win a little faster. However neither of them do what you need them to do if you're in the opposite situation.
MY QUESTION IS: Is Hindervines main deckable? I never main deck Fog effects, but presuming you have a bunch of evolve, it might be worth it. However the evolve creatures aren't that big to start off so basically it's just buying you time (not preventing a trade, but a slaughter of your weak creatures). I probably won't main deck it, and definitely consider when to sideboard (how many +1/+1 counters did I see on their creatures?). But it is an interesting twist on Fog. It's certainly not Safe Passage, which is what you want it to be (main deckable).
Let's not forget Ghor-Clan Rampager. It is an extremely solid body as a 4/4 trampler for 4 mana as well as providing that nice bloodrush effect for another creature.
MY QUESTION IS: Is Hindervines main deckable? I never main deck Fog effects, but presuming you have a bunch of evolve, it might be worth it. However the evolve creatures aren't that big to start off so basically it's just buying you time (not preventing a trade, but a slaughter of your weak creatures). I probably won't main deck it, and definitely consider when to sideboard (how many +1/+1 counters did I see on their creatures?). But it is an interesting twist on Fog. It's certainly not Safe Passage, which is what you want it to be (main deckable).
In Gruul? I very much doubt it. Even if the card were literally Safe Passage, Safe Passage is merely okay-ish, plus or minus a little depending on the format. Even if all of your creatures had +1/+1 counters on them all the time and none of their guys ever did, the card would still be worse than Safe Passage in significant ways, and it's obviously not the case that it's going to be that asymmetrical every time. I think it's a card that I'm unhappy to play but at least potentially willing to play in a deck that's extremely favorable to it, and I don't think any Gruul deck will ever match that description.
Safe Passage is a card whose stock has varied a lot, and if this is a very Safe Passage-friendly format then maybe a bad Safe Passage becomes okay, but I'm having a hard time putting together a picture of a situation where my RG-based deck wants this effect.
Don't forget you get all the G cards from simic and R from the boros. This greatly increases you early presence. Also I'm going to make the straight creature deck with BR as my tricks, look at it the shake my head and add a couple instant kill spells, maybe even a sorcery or 2
Seems that best strategy to Bloodrush is not to bloodrush Expecialy against white - Opponents will wait to 2 for 1 with smite etc and if you dont bloodrush opponent with untapped lands they 1. wait what will never come, 2. loose chance to extort
I did the opposite. I played Gruul like a control deck, stabilizing the board, staying alive, and crafting my hand until the opportune moment when I would blow my opponent out. Granted, I had a boros charm whose double strike led to some insane kills. My deck's weak point was not enough early pressure/defense against the fastest aggro.
The 2/4 is also a great way to make sure that your creature survives the fight so it can attack again.
There's so a many 2/2 and 3/2 creatures that I found playing the centaur was a huge roadblock for Boros. But, I also did use it often to kill the blocker and save my attacker. The versatility is the key with blood rush, and this centaur is surprisingly good.
I played a Gruul/Simic combination, but limited myself to creature and burn exclusively. If it wasn't a creature, it did damage. Period. I was pleased by the way it performed. I had 2 x Ivy Lane Denizen and the Sapphire Drake, plus the Nimbus Swimmer. Combined with the very efficient low cost Gruul creatures, Bloodrush, and removal, it gave me great aggressive curve early while giving me staying power and bombs late game. Most games ended very quickly.
I played gruul for 3 prereleases went to 10-2 the whole weekend. The only deck I lost to was Dimir. That guild is a lot stronger in paper then I thought. The only issue I noted was the lack of removal. If I were to draft it, I think I would put higher priority to removal then normal. The advantage I found most useful in playing gruul is, since all the common/uncommon creatures have blood rush creature quality is mostly a non-issue.
I focused mainly on being fast and curving from 2-4 drops. Mixing in some boros creatures though helps a lot. Firefist striker combined with act of treason is brutal to slower decks trying to stabilize. The people I noticed having the biggest issue, were people trying hold their blood rush guys in hand trying to wait for alpha strikes.
Well, red looks outstanding in this set. Lots of removal and lots of efficient little beaters and combat tricks. Almost every red spell in gatecrash looks useful.
As for Gruul, the main problem will be getting 2-1ed when your opponent casts instant speed removal on the the guy you just blood-rushed. Just make sure you don't walk into that and Gruul should be solid.
One thing we can do to prepare is look at the bloodrush cards and gauge whether they are typically better as a creature or better to be saved as a pump spell. As an example, Scorchwalker is almost always going to be better as a pump spell that lava axes an opponent for 3 mana. On the other hand, unless your opponent is at a very low life total a Ghor-Clan Rampager is far more powerful as a 4 drop creature with trample.
After doing a couple of drafts on cockatrice, I found that I was usually casting the creature as opposed to bloodrushing. It looks like bloodrush is great if there is that one huge blocker in the way. But from my experience thus far, it seems creatures are a little weaker in this set.
I think the 2/2 first strikers will be great. The madcap skills is absolutely amazing if you can get two or 3. Gruul Charm seems like it is going to be better than I think. Many times the board was stuffed with creatures and even fliers. Im interested if it is worth it to put in the Ragebeast or Borborygmos, since they are so high in CMC.
Yup, that's the way to play. Unless you have a troubling blocker that absolutely must be dealt with, or you can deal lethal damage that same turn with an unblocked bloodrushed creature, it's better to simply enlarge your board presence with more creatures.
I expect to see a lot of little kids at the prerelease bloodrushing their guys for some extra initial damage and then finding their deck quickly out of gas.
Blood rush is so inexpensive that I look forward to using it in response to cards like Killing Glare if they're foolish enough to try something during combat.
I hope I get a nice gruul package with lots of bloodrush. The unpredicatability of blood rush is concerning. I always try to memorize the cost/effect so I know what my opponents might have up their sleeves of all instants and flash creatures. This set is difficult because of the number of blood rush cards. Their cheap cost and playability in any deck using the appropriate color/s makes them auto-main deckable. I think you may end up seeing a lot of bogged down, lengthy combat phases (although it only works on attacking creatures, I'm surely going to take my time deciding on blocking due to the +5/+4 being a common and that is a lot of life... at least that one is multi-colored).
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That is a great play. It would end the game quickly if your opponent didn't have a removal spell within a turn or two to deal with the huge slime token.
Blood Rush + Boros Charm (assuming you were playing three colors) could also be a surpise game ender if your opponent thinks he's safe at 10 life.
I was also thinking, could it be possible to have a deck full of creatures, with bloodrush being your combat tricks, filling the instant slots? SO just 23 creatures and 17 land? What do you think about frenzied tilling? It seems like for 5 mana I want to be doing something else, but some of those Gruul cards are mighty expensive. Granted, I would rather play a keyrune. I am also in love with the guildmage. Sooo good!
Yeah, I think they are all playable. Then again, my high opinion of goblin pikers is well known, lol.
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Bloodrush requires you to have creatures in play to attack with and becomes significantly better the more creatures you have/less life your opponent has.
I would like to say that, as a slower format, maybe Gruul won't need them as much? It seems like they are meant for mid-range but thats just a guess. Use removal to take out boros and just shoot for the long game. By all means I would love to have some decent two drops and one drops, but it might not happen! What do you think?
I agree that you should play carefully. Ideally you would pump when they're tapped out (they play a creature, you get to untap and attack into it free of worries of their combat tricks). But being sealed this weekend, they shouldn't have a ton of removal (at least not as consistent as draft). And if you were going to lose the creature anyway (i.e. they block your 2/2 with their 3/3 and you blood rush it, then they kill it in response), then you're really losing your bloodrush spell to their creature removal spell. Maybe in game 2 if I saw like 2 Smite game one I might try to play around it, but I think that with the number of blood rush, you gotta use it (it's not like you only have 1 Giant Growth in your deck).
Armored Transport misses banding! That would be sick.
I wouldn't play Crackling Perimeter because it doesn't effect the board at all. It's like playing life gain only spells (ones that aren't attached to creatures): if you're losing, you'll lose a little later. And Crackling Perimeter says if you're winning, you'll win a little faster. However neither of them do what you need them to do if you're in the opposite situation.
MY QUESTION IS: Is Hindervines main deckable? I never main deck Fog effects, but presuming you have a bunch of evolve, it might be worth it. However the evolve creatures aren't that big to start off so basically it's just buying you time (not preventing a trade, but a slaughter of your weak creatures). I probably won't main deck it, and definitely consider when to sideboard (how many +1/+1 counters did I see on their creatures?). But it is an interesting twist on Fog. It's certainly not Safe Passage, which is what you want it to be (main deckable).
*Mayreturn*
I have some EDH cards and rare Magic basic lands (APAC, EURO, ARENA, etc) so message me if you're looking.
Number of members banned after I posted a BTR: 7
Looking for honest buyers, sellers, and traders.
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Safe Passage is a card whose stock has varied a lot, and if this is a very Safe Passage-friendly format then maybe a bad Safe Passage becomes okay, but I'm having a hard time putting together a picture of a situation where my RG-based deck wants this effect.
I did the opposite. I played Gruul like a control deck, stabilizing the board, staying alive, and crafting my hand until the opportune moment when I would blow my opponent out. Granted, I had a boros charm whose double strike led to some insane kills. My deck's weak point was not enough early pressure/defense against the fastest aggro.
There's so a many 2/2 and 3/2 creatures that I found playing the centaur was a huge roadblock for Boros. But, I also did use it often to kill the blocker and save my attacker. The versatility is the key with blood rush, and this centaur is surprisingly good.
I focused mainly on being fast and curving from 2-4 drops. Mixing in some boros creatures though helps a lot. Firefist striker combined with act of treason is brutal to slower decks trying to stabilize. The people I noticed having the biggest issue, were people trying hold their blood rush guys in hand trying to wait for alpha strikes.