Coming soon are more details about the big bad rock thrower that is Borborgymos Enraged. Yup! Slowly building this up to something more like a primer. Bear with me, it might take some time. The decklist, but not the other text was updated on 3/29/2016.
Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
Inroduction
Why Should I Play Borborygmos Enraged?
Borborygmos Enraged is the commander for you if like...
1. Winning games out of nowhere.
2. Playing lots and lot and lots of lands.
3. Casting big, splashy spells.
4. You like to take risks.
5. Using your graveyard as a resource.
Borborgymos Enraged is a bad choice if you...
1. Want a toolbox style deck with answers to everything.
2. Hate shuffling and top deck manipulation.
3. Want to win the game consistently on turn 4.
4. Want access to true infinite combos.
5. Dislike having no creatures on your side of the board.
Other "Gruul" Options
Spoiler alert, it's a lot of terrible Legends cards, a few guys who encourage you to turn dudes sideways and a couple alternate strategies.
Way back in 2012, I attended the Gatecrash pre-release. I selected Gruul as my guild of choice, sat down with my guidpack and opened it up. Staring my right in the face was a hilarious letter from my guild leader and, low and behold, in my first Gatecrash pack, there was Borborygmos Enraged staring right back at me. I shoe horned him into my sealed deck and proceeded to get trounced. It was on that day, I vowed to never let Borbor down again. People will already discovering synergies with the big, nasty fellow and I simply compiled them all into a cohesive whole. The deck has already gone through several reworkings from very combo-y to very land destruction based to a tool box style land deck. Who knows what the future holds, but my prediction is that it includes a few more "Wait, how did you just win?" moments.
You're primary goals in the early game are to ramp and to set up some kind of card advantage/filtering engine. Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Exploration or Oracle of Mul-Daya are essential to generating early game advantage. Once you see one of those cards Horn of Greed becomes an insane card advantage engine for us. If you can't find any significant early ramp Life from the Loam and at least one cycle land, like Smoldering Crater will allows you to move through your deck very quickly. Don't be afraid to use Wheel of Fortune or Reforge the Soul to get through your deck quickly and to disrupt your opponents early plans.
You've ramped up enough to cast Borbor, but is it the right time? It's best to save him for winning on the spot, so continuing to loot through your deck to find combo pieces. At this point, you should be looking to put together Keen Sense or Snake Umbra with Abundance for an auto win or filling your graveyard for a huge Creeping Reniassance with Borbor and Illusionist Bracers or Gratoutious Violence. This is also a great time to play some of the other win conditions in the deck. Sneaking out a Marit Lage token with Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage or threatening Inkmoth Nexus and Kessig Wolf-Run. Worst case scenario, you can use Glacial Chasm to turtle up and stay alive.
This is pretty self explanitory. Discard a land to Borbor's ability and that triggers Keen Sense or Snake Umbra for you to draw a card. Replace that draw with Abundance, choosing land obviously, and you can run through every land in your entire deck and kill as many people as you want. It is VERY important to note, that it is possible to fail to kill the whole table in this respect. Keep a mental note of your land count as you play. A cool note, copying Borbor's ability with Illusionist Bracers or Rings of Brighthearth is pretty sweet since you can draw 1 land and 1 nonland per land you discard. This helps if you need to find an answer for something preventing you from winning by obscene amounts of damage.
It's like playing Modern! Casting Scapeshift with 7 lands in play allows you to grab Valakut, the Molten Pinnicle and 6 Mountains for an immeadiate 18 damage to an opposing players face. If you've already got Valakut out, grab a Vesuva to double the damage output. Remember that both Tiaga and Stomping Ground are mountains.
In digging for combo pieces, and Life from the Loam shennanigans, you are going to end up with a lot of land cards in your graveyard. Both of these cards, put them right back into your hand to fuel a combo with Borborygmos Enraged. Never be afraid to put lands in your own graveyard. This is also a solution to failing to finish off the table with the primary Borborygmos combo.
Vexing Shusher - Permission based control is a tough match-up for us and the Shusher makes ANY spell we cast un-counter-able. When you absolutely need to stick Borbor or cast that Creeping Renaissance to win, this makes sure it goes off. Zhur-Taa Druid - It ramps, it lowers life totals and it does silly things when paired with Keen Sense or Grafted Exoskeleton. Sakura Tribe Elder - Good ramp creature is good. Azusa, Lost but Seeking - This deck wants to play as many of it's 49 lands as fast as it can, and few cards are better than Azusa for playing multiple lands per turn. Throw in Horn of Greed and this is one heck of an engine. Extra land plays also let us abuse some of our utility lands once Crucible of Worlds is online. It might not be fun to Strip Mine three times in a turn, but sometimes that's the only way to win. Yavimaya Elder - Another great ramp creature that also draws us a card. Win win. Eternal Witness - When your main method of draw is Wheel of Fortune effects, you need to be able to get some cards back. Eternal Witness is the best in the business at getting a card back into your hand to help you finish the game. Oracle of Mul-Daya - Arguably one of the strongest green creatures out there. An extra land drop AND the ability to play that land from the top of your library without even drawing it? Good on it's own, but with Sensei's Divining Top and Sylvan Library you should pretty much always hit every land drop ever while keeping you hand feel of goodies. Avenger of Zendikar - Often times he works as a finisher, but sometimes just generating a bunch of tokens for chump blocking is also a great play.
Other Options
Groundskeeper - It's almost certain you are going to end up with one of the decks 20+ basic lands in the yard, so this card is almost always generating you some form of advantage. Early game you can play those extra lands, late with Borbor out it reads 1G: Lightning Bolt. A note, it is BASIC lands. Not shenanigans with cycling lands sadly. Orcish Lumberjack - Explosive ramp at the expense of a forest. Really helpful in powering our Borbor a turn or two early. Somberwald Sage - More explosive ramp for powering out an early Borbor. Solemn Simulacrum - More ramp and draw. Fertilid - Rampant Growth on a stick is a neat trick, but most importantly it let's us shuffle our deck on demand. Don't like the top few cards on your library? Shuffle them away! Want another chance to hit your extra land drop with Oracle of Mul-Daya? Easy! Dragon Mage - Wheel of Fortune on a stick certainly seems useful. Anger - Universal haste granters are good and this one just needs to be in the graveyard to be relevant. That's not hard at all when you're casting Wheel of Fortune or Reforge the Soul. Rubblehulk - Sometimes you need a huge body and he does that fine. Other times, you want to win with general damage out of nowhere with a nearly un-counter-able trick. This also does that. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - His uses are obvious, but try animating your opponents lands in response to a board wipe. The look on their face will be priceless. Terravore - Seems good right? I prefer Rubblehulk because it has a similar vanilla-ish body with the added benefit of sometimes leading to out of nowhere kills with Borbor or Inkmoth Nexus. Liege of the Tangle - This could get out of hand really quickly just be careful you don't walk your lands into a board wipe. Budoka Gardener - Another neat effect that, essentially makes Rubblehulks on command.
Artifacts
Sol Ring -Including this in any deck really shouldn't be an argument. The deck functions without it, but there are few turn 1 plays better than "Sol Ring. Top. Peek at top 3. Go." Expedition Map - I know. One land to your hand is SO underwhelming. Wait, it's ANY land? It's a cheap unconditional land tutor. Sensei's Divining Top - This is a deck that likes to set up it's draws. Whether your digging for combo pieces, setting up draws to insure maximum land drops or simply improving your draw every turn, top is one of the best cards ever printed. Illusionist Bracers - Doing 6 damage to one target per land you discard with Borbor's ability OR 3 damage to two targets are both pretty good. Bonus, once it's equipped, that copying effect is totally free. It also lets you draw 2 cards if Borbor is enchanted with Keen Sense or Snake Umbra. Lightning Greaves - Haste and Shroud are good when you want to protect your general. Remember that if Borbor is shrouded, you can't pump him or enchant him. Scroll Rack - Does all sorts of dumb things for so little mana. Trying to win without your combo pieces, ditch your hand for a new grip to close the deal. Or just use it to dig for answer and combo pieces all game long. Torpor Orb - It disrupts so many decks. Just ruins people's days. Horn of Greed - If left unanswered, this + Azusa, Lost but Seeking will almost certainly win you the game. It applies to ALL PLAYERS though, so be aware that you will be giving a few cards to other players. Basalt Monolith - Simply goes infinite with Rings of Brighthearth. Seems good. Crucible of Worlds - Playing the lands that you dredge through with Life from the Loam is good. Reusing utility lands like Strip Mine, Buried Ruin, Glacial Chasm or Dark Depths is even better. If it needed any more breaking, remember that these are land plays, so extra ones from Azusa, Lost but Seeking can be used through Crucible as well. Oblivion Stone - Yes. It's expensive, but it gets the job done and is a great way to deter players from attacking into you once it's going. Rings of Brighthearth - This is a deck with a LOT of activated abilities. Abusing them is fun even if it costs two mana per. Cycling and Sensei's Divining Top are some of my favorites. It also works with Borbor so that's neat too. Grafted Exoskeleton - Infect is good on Borbor. This makes ending a game a lot easier. Mind's Eye - You will almost certainly draw cards off it and players almost always underestimate the threat of that. Memory Jar - Artifact based Wheel of Fortune that you use when you want and you get to keep the cards in your original hand. It's best when looking for just one piece of your combo. Storm Cauldron - People hate to see this card on the table, but that's because it's insanely powerful. It ruins other peoples game plans and barely impacts us if we have more than one land drop per turn. Even better, it lets us pick up lands from the battlefield while Borbor is in play. A lot of games end with Storm Cauldron and Life from the Loam letting us pick up, throw and the recur lands until everyone is dead.
Are you going to run Abundance to combo with your Snake Umbra? Keen Sense is also pretty awesome. Aftershock is a really cool card I keep forgetting about. You might want to consider Beast Within as well. Its a pretty good removal spell as well. Wheel of Fortune is pretty cool in a deck that can dump its hand really fast. I run Reforge the Soul as well, it might be overkill though.
Are you going to run Abundance to combo with your Snake Umbra? Keen Sense is also pretty awesome. Aftershock is a really cool card I keep forgetting about. You might want to consider Beast Within as well. Its a pretty good removal spell as well. Wheel of Fortune is pretty cool in a deck that can dump its hand really fast. I run Reforge the Soul as well, it might be overkill though.
So I just acquired Abundance and added Keen Sense as Snake Umbra #2. The second game I sleeved up I killed all three players at the table on turn 7 with it. The lack of tutors really means that cards like Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fortune are required to find your cards. I'll be running both along with Memory Jar.
I really want to add Beast Within, I just haven't acquired one yet. Deck update coming in the next couple days. Teaser, it includes non broken uses of Hermit Druid.
So I just acquired Abundance and added Keen Sense as Snake Umbra #2. The second game I sleeved up I killed all three players at the table on turn 7 with it. The lack of tutors really means that cards like Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fortune are required to find your cards. I'll be running both along with Memory Jar.
I really want to add Beast Within, I just haven't acquired one yet. Deck update coming in the next couple days. Teaser, it includes non broken uses of Hermit Druid.
Lol, that is great to hear. My list uses the Druid as well. He is a great way to fuel the general. Most of the time he reads: G, tap: Bolt. But sometimes he mills a bunch of non basics and you can get them back with Creeping Renaissance.
My deck runs about 60 lands, which is extremely high. But with a land count that high I was could take advantage of Burgeoning to great affect. Turn 3 Borbory was pretty sweet.
Lol, that is great to hear. My list uses the Druid as well. He is a great way to fuel the general. Most of the time he reads: G, tap: Bolt. But sometimes he mills a bunch of non basics and you can get them back with Creeping Renaissance.
My deck runs about 60 lands, which is extremely high. But with a land count that high I was could take advantage of Burgeoning to great affect. Turn 3 Borbory was pretty sweet.
Burgeoning is a great card that I haven't tried yet. So good in the opening hand and so bad as a top deck. If I end up adding more looters it's a shoe-in. I'll have Gatecrash Reviews in addition to the updated list this weekend or early next week.
Updates to the list and introduction are coming, but I figured I'd post up a quick review of potential Borborgymos cards right here, right now. If it's not listed here, just assume there is no reason to run it.
Gruul Guildgate - Basics lands are better in almost every regard. Borbor doesn't really want CiPT lands that are also not fetchable in most circumstances. You're playing two colors so unless you are desperate for fixers, don't bother. 1/5
Gruul Cluestone - I think the Keystones are fine budget options if you don't have a better mana rock, but I think I'd rather have Gruul Signet in the same spot. It's playable and maybe better than some people think because of it's ability to get you an extra card later in the game. Sometimes you just need to dig for a combo piece and this helps. 3/5
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed - The biggest strike against him is he doesn't do anything to further our plan. He isn't ramp, he isn't a combo piece and he paints a HUGE target on your head. On the other hand, with the damage doublers in the deck, he can single handily lock players out of the game. Even if he doesn't lock anyone out any damage he deals goes a long way to making it easier to surprise kill with Borborgymos. I'll be testing him just to see how much damage he can deal. 3/5
Savageborn Hydra - It's a mana sink, and a good one at that, but it's just not what we're looking for. I'd almost rather play Apocalypse Hydra for the pinging effect it brings to the table. 2/5
Zhur-Taa Ancient - So it doubles mana. That effect is intriguing, but it's going to be very hard to use it before your opponents get a chance to use it as well. If you could cheat it into play, double your own mana and then sac it, it might find a home, but Borborgymos doesn't really have the means to do any of that. Honestly, it's a double-edged sword that's going to get you killed more often than not. Kudos if you can find a way to abuse it. 2/5
Zhur-Taa Druid - Who'd have thought this lowly common might be the best card in DGM for us land slingers? The druid does two things we like a lot. First it's ramp. Mana dorks don't tend to stick around very long, but he's cheap and his second ability makes him more exciting. Not only does it ramp, but it pings every time it does so. This does a couple cool things in the Borbor shell. The first is it reduces the life totals around the table which is great for the non-infinite win cons in this deck. It's also a GREAT target for Keen Sense or Snake Umbra in the early game. Either way, it's the only card in the set that really synergizes with Borbor's game plan and certainly getting tested in my deck ASAP. 4/5
That's it really for DGM. The other Green and Red cards are not really worth discussing. Between Ruric and the Druid, there will be some fun stuff to play with.
Added Horn of Greed and I'm not sure what I cut for it. Adding and cutting from this deck is really challenging because of the amount of lands it needs to run. It's becoming more streamlined to run out the Borbor + Keen Sense + Abundance combo and that will probably be the direction it continues to take.
Added Horn of Greed and I'm not sure what I cut for it. Adding and cutting from this deck is really challenging because of the amount of lands it needs to run. It's becoming more streamlined to run out the Borbor + Keen Sense + Abundance combo and that will probably be the direction it continues to take.
I feel your pain. I ran about 60 lands in my version.
I really like the cuts and additions. I wish I had an Exploration. It was the best card for the deck I didn't have. It goes great with Horn of Greed as well.
Commander!
Intet, the Dreamer
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Heartless Hidetsugu
Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
Celestial Kirin
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Sir Shandlar of Eberyn
Karona, False God
I love his creature type!!!! I'm actually looking for a Korean language version. On that card, his name literally reads BOR-BOR-GI-MO-SU. Just cracks me up and since I can read Korean it's not as irratating as the other foreign language cards.
I feel your pain. I ran about 60 lands in my version.
I really like the cuts and additions. I wish I had an Exploration. It was the best card for the deck I didn't have. It goes great with Horn of Greed as well.
I traded away a Grove of the Burnwillows to get my hands on it. I can't wait to try and run out Azusa, Exploration and the Horn. With the extra play lands effects I almost feel like Lotus Cobra might deserve a test now. Makes for some really silly, explosive plays.
I traded away a Grove of the Burnwillows to get my hands on it. I can't wait to try and run out Azusa, Exploration and the Horn. With the extra play lands effects I almost feel like Lotus Cobra might deserve a test now. Makes for some really silly, explosive plays.
That sounds soo fun lol. I ran Azusa but I don't own a Lotus Cobra. That seems like a really good card for the deck. It goes great with Storm Cauldron. You get mana without tapping lands.
That sounds soo fun lol. I ran Azusa but I don't own a Lotus Cobra. That seems like a really good card for the deck. It goes great with Storm Cauldron. You get mana without tapping lands.
Lotus Cobra + Storm Cauldron board state essentially reads, tap 2 lands, play those 2 lands you have 4 mana and no real negative tempo. I like that.
I saw you added a vexing shusher, isn't Cavern of souls better?
I'll be picking up a Cavern of Souls when it leaves standard because it is good in the deck, but not as good as Vexing Susher . The shusher makes ANY spell uncounterable. Need to resolve that late game Scapeshift to kill a player? Shusher can help! Moral of the story is that Cavern of Souls has only one job in the deck. Make Borborgymos Enraged, our primary combo piece, uncounterable. The issue is that it doesn't bump up the resilence of the rest of our combo. Shusher does. Run them both if you have them.
They are similar, but not directly comparable. Hull Breach is a two for one often times, but can only hit artifacts and enchantments. Aftershock can hit creatures and lands in addition to artifacts. It can't deal with enchantments, but I think the added flexibility is more important than the 2 for 1. Honestly, both cards are good and I'd consider running Hull Breach if I had one.
In order, my damage doublers that I want for the deck are Gratuitous Violence (it's one sided for me), Furnace of Rath(It's cheaper and applied to multiple non creature sources making a Scapeshift with Valakut and Vesuva a lot more deadly)Quest for Pure Flame(VERY cheap and applies to multiple sources like Furnace, only a one time use though), Overblaze(It's verstile and a surprise), then Curse of Bloodletting. Curse is an interesting card because it gives other players incentive to kill that player, but it also makes you an enemy at the table for sure. It also only applies to the one player so it's hard to surprise kill the table with it. Actually all the damage doublers are good, so if you find space for them, run them all. They make Ruric Thar the Unbowed quite awesome as well. Furnace, Violence and Ruric pretty much locks the whole table out of the game.
The first was three players vs Riku and Rith. Honestly, it was just a turn 4 Sylvan Primordial that ended it.
The second game was three players vs Riku, Rith and Glissa. Ended up killing a player with Rings of Brighthearth, Gratuitous Violence and Borborgymos. The next turn I Praetor's Counciled for everything back and toasted the table. Honestly, I was alarmed at how slow the deck worked when it didn't draw any of it's combo pieces. I never saw Memory Jar or any of my other filter effects. I gambled on turn 1 for an Oracle of Mul-Daya which was great, but it took FOREVER to find combo pieces. Still took it, but I would have been toast against better decks.
I try not to focus the deck so much on the combo pieces. I run a fair amount of utility dorks like Flametongue and Acidic Slime while playing some early ramp (Oracle of Mul Daya, Keeper of Progenitus, etc.) into Molten/Sylvan Primordial, Inferno Titan, Rampaging Baloth, and even Borborygmos himself as a beater. You don't necessarily need to combo the board off if you're applying a lot of creature pressure and a full grip, threatening throw rocks at your opponents blockers/key creatures. Just has proven easier for me to aggro/bully the table than to pure combo out.
I need to get my hands on a reforge the soul, but in the mean time Dragon Mage is pretty nice. Will probably run them both beside Memory jar.
I had a question, how often do you actually attack with Borbor? And how often does he get through?
The Mage is a solid card and especially if you can throw something like Whispersilk Cloak on him. I would try to trade up for a Wheel of Fortune in the long run. The Mage's only real advantage is he does beat face alright.
As far as attacking with Borborgymos, I do it on the regular, but very cautiously. If you are playing a combo-y version of the deck, getting him tucked to a Condemn is pretty awful. If he's wearing Lightning Greaves and a player has no real blockers of note, I'll swing with him. He fuels himself for combo stuff and with the damage doublers in the deck, he can sometimes outright win the with general damage. In fact, with two damage doublers out (IE Furnace of Rath and Gratuitous Violence, he is a one shot kill.
I try not to focus the deck so much on the combo pieces. I run a fair amount of utility dorks like Flametongue and Acidic Slime while playing some early ramp (Oracle of Mul Daya, Keeper of Progenitus, etc.) into Molten/Sylvan Primordial, Inferno Titan, Rampaging Baloth, and even Borborygmos himself as a beater. You don't necessarily need to combo the board off if you're applying a lot of creature pressure and a full grip, threatening throw rocks at your opponents blockers/key creatures. Just has proven easier for me to aggro/bully the table than to pure combo out.
A slightly different style deck, but just as effective. Even my version needs ways to kill a table without the combo so I run Sylvan Primordial and Avenger of Zendikar in those slots. You do need other threats and Borborgymos Enraged plays a pretty solid beatdown/voltron style if you want to go that route. I've found it's not too hard to kill off the table with combo, but a solid beatdown backup plan is good. I'm considering finding a home for the Rampaging Baloth soon as Avenger #2.
I played one more game last night and after a long game against Riku, Sen Triplets and Sharuum, Borborgymos Enraged prevailed again. Riku got hit by a Terminus and Sharuum got Hindered. I spent most of the game digging for cards with Life from the Loam and I eventually stuck Borbor and proceeded to draw Praetor's Council to draw my 45 card graveyard. Life from the Loam and a couple cycle lands really REALLY make a difference. Before the two games last night, I had never cast the Council and was considering dropping it for something more practical. That won't happen now since in a lot of instances, it simply says "Win the Game".
Currently considering the following things. Let me know your opinions...
Finding options for better recursion of any card. Codex Shredder is an option, but I want a better way of pulling useful stuff out of my Graveyard if it gets loamed.
Finding a tutor option for green permanents/enchantments. I need a way to find Keen Sense or Abundance in a pinch.
First card on the chopping block is probably Rites of Spring. It's insanely useful in theory, but I'm finding that I never have an instance where I really want to cast it. In a couple games, it's simply sat in my hand waiting for the right moment to use it and that moment never comes. It's probably going to become Furnace of Rath in my next update.
Finding options for better recursion of any card. Codex Shredder is an option, but I want a better way of pulling useful stuff out of my Graveyard if it gets loamed.
Regrowth, Restock, Nostalgic Dreams and Recollect are probably the best, in addition to the Witness you already have.
Regrowth, Restock, Nostalgic Dreams and Recollect are probably the best, in addition to the Witness you already have.
Those are all viable, but hard to reuse. At least with the Shredder, you can bring it back with Trading Post. I'm also considering Past in Flames. Most of what I want out of my Graveyard is going to be a spell, like Scapeshift, so it has the benefit of hitting all of those AND not being turned off if I mill through it on my way to combo pieces. If only it got Enchantments back...
Creeping Renaissance is pretty sweet and has flashback. Awsome if you want to refill your hand with lands for Borborygmos or get back all those ramp spells, or all creatures, etc.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Building:
WUBGR - Enchantment Realms - WUBGR
An all-enchantment EDH deck: 0 creatures, 0 artifacts, 0 instants and sorceries.
Creeping Renaissance is pretty sweet and has flashback. Awsome if you want to refill your hand with lands for Borborygmos or get back all those ramp spells, or all creatures, etc.
I'm already running it! It is pretty sweet though. Not sure I'll ever use it for a reason other than to kill a player or the table as a combo piece, but it's great that you get at least two uses out of it.
I think nostalgic dreams has potential, since we can discard lands and bring 'm back with almost every other card...
Honestly, that's probably the best of the instant/sorcery recursion spells for us. Being able to bin some of our extra lands late game to recur multiple combo pieces out of the yard would be good. Works really well with Life from the Loam as well. Dredge 3, cast discarding 3 lands and Loam for combo pieces, cast and win seems like a play I would enjoy making.
Why Should I Play Borborygmos Enraged?
Borborygmos Enraged is the commander for you if like...
1. Winning games out of nowhere.
2. Playing lots and lot and lots of lands.
3. Casting big, splashy spells.
4. You like to take risks.
5. Using your graveyard as a resource.
Borborgymos Enraged is a bad choice if you...
1. Want a toolbox style deck with answers to everything.
2. Hate shuffling and top deck manipulation.
3. Want to win the game consistently on turn 4.
4. Want access to true infinite combos.
5. Dislike having no creatures on your side of the board.
Other "Gruul" Options
Spoiler alert, it's a lot of terrible Legends cards, a few guys who encourage you to turn dudes sideways and a couple alternate strategies.
Jerrard of the Closed Fist - Really?
Livonya Silone - It's unblockable if they have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth!
Marhault Elsdragon - RAMPAGE!
Radha, Heir to Keld - More turning dudes sideways, but this time you generate some mana. Goody...
Rosheen Meanderer - A mana dork for X spells as a general. Great...
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed - Screams build a creature based deck around me. Lends itself to punishing agro/control as opposed to combo. Ruric also makes a mean "STAX" and land destruction general.
Stangg - This at least gets you points for being awesome.
Stonebrow, Krosan Hero - Turning dudes with trample sides yields a benefit. I'm noticing a trend with these generals.
Sunastian Falconer - More mana dorks!
The Lady of the Mountain - YAWN.
Thromok the Insatiable - The Gruul token general.
Tuknir Deathlock -That is an AWESOME name and a really mediocre ability.
Ulasht, the Hate Seed - Another option for tokens and a cool pinger general. Deathtouch or infect makes him kind of awesome.
Wort, the Raidmother - Generate tokens, cast big spells, copy. Repeat.
Xenagos, God of Revels - Big guys get big and fast, turn sideways.
Deck History
Way back in 2012, I attended the Gatecrash pre-release. I selected Gruul as my guild of choice, sat down with my guidpack and opened it up. Staring my right in the face was a hilarious letter from my guild leader and, low and behold, in my first Gatecrash pack, there was Borborygmos Enraged staring right back at me. I shoe horned him into my sealed deck and proceeded to get trounced. It was on that day, I vowed to never let Borbor down again. People will already discovering synergies with the big, nasty fellow and I simply compiled them all into a cohesive whole. The deck has already gone through several reworkings from very combo-y to very land destruction based to a tool box style land deck. Who knows what the future holds, but my prediction is that it includes a few more "Wait, how did you just win?" moments.
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Fertilid
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Courser of Kruphix
5 Yavimaya Elder
6 Eternal Witness
7 Oracle of Mul Daya
8 Titania, Protector of Argoth
9 Greenwarden of Murasa
10 Omnath, Locust of Rage
11 Avenger of Zendikar
Artifacts
12 Sol Ring
13 Expedition Map
14 Sensei's Divining Top
15 Illusionist Bracers
16 Lightning Greaves
17 Scroll Rack
18 Horn of Greed
19 Crucible of Worlds
20 Oblivion Stone
21 Basalt Monolith
22 Rings of Brighthearth
23 Grafted Exoskeleton
24 Memory Jar
25 Storm Cauldron
Enchantments
26 Exploration
27 Burgeoning
28 Keen Sense
29 Sylvan Library
30 Snake Umbra
31 Song of the Dryads
32 Abundance
33 Stranglehold
34 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
Instants
35 Crop Rotation
36 Realms Uncharted
37 Harrow
38 Beast Within
39 Chaos Warp
40 Comet Storm
Sorceries
41 Gamble
42 Life from the Loam
43 Rampant Growth
44 Sylvan Scrying
45 Wheel of Fortune
46 Kodama's Reach
47 Cultivate
48 Nissa's Pilgrimage
49 Decimate
50 Chain Reaction
51 Creeping Renaissance
52 Reforge the Soul
53 Wave of Vitriol
54 Green Sun's Zenith
Lands
55 Command Tower
56 Cavern of Souls
57 Taiga
58 Wooded Footfills
59 Stomping Ground
60 Rootbound Crag
61 Cinder Glade
62 Fire-Lit Thicket
63 Temple of Abandon
64 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
65 Vesuva
66 Thespian's Stage
67 Glacial Chasm
68 Dark Depths
69 Kessig Wolf Run
70 Inkmoth Nexus
71 Terramorphic Expanse
72 Evolving Wilds
73 Tranquil Thicket
74 Forgotten Cave
75 Blasted Landscape
76 Smoldering Crater
77 Strip Mine
78 Tectonic Edge
79 Dust Bowl
80 Blighted Woodland
81 Petrified Field
82 Forest
83 Forest
84 Forest
85 Forest
86 Forest
87 Forest
88 Forest
89 Forest
90 Forest
91 Mountain
92 Mountain
93 Mountain
94 Mountain
95 Mountain
96 Mountain
97 Mountain
98 Mountain
99 Mountain
97 Mountain
Early Game
You're primary goals in the early game are to ramp and to set up some kind of card advantage/filtering engine. Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Exploration or Oracle of Mul-Daya are essential to generating early game advantage. Once you see one of those cards Horn of Greed becomes an insane card advantage engine for us. If you can't find any significant early ramp Life from the Loam and at least one cycle land, like Smoldering Crater will allows you to move through your deck very quickly. Don't be afraid to use Wheel of Fortune or Reforge the Soul to get through your deck quickly and to disrupt your opponents early plans.
Awesome Gamble Targets
2. Exploration
3. Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4. Oracle of Mul-Daya
5. Sylvan Library
Mid Game
You've ramped up enough to cast Borbor, but is it the right time? It's best to save him for winning on the spot, so continuing to loot through your deck to find combo pieces. At this point, you should be looking to put together Keen Sense or Snake Umbra with Abundance for an auto win or filling your graveyard for a huge Creeping Reniassance with Borbor and Illusionist Bracers or Gratoutious Violence. This is also a great time to play some of the other win conditions in the deck. Sneaking out a Marit Lage token with Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage or threatening Inkmoth Nexus and Kessig Wolf-Run. Worst case scenario, you can use Glacial Chasm to turtle up and stay alive.
Awesome Gamble Targets
2. Abundance
3. Creeping Reniassance/Praetor's Council
4. Illusionist Bracers
5. Gratoutious Violence/Furnace of Rath
The End Game
Currently, the deck functions with a couple different win conditions.
The Combo Out
Borborygmos Enraged + Keen Sense\Snake Umbra + Abundance
The Scapeshift Special
Valakut, the Molten Pinnicle + Scapeshift
So It Does Go Infinite
Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith + Comet Storm
Win's From Beyond the Grave
Creeping Reniassance or Praetor's Council + Lands in your Graveyard
Utility Lands FTW
Kessig Wolf Run+Inkmoth Nexus or Thespians Stage+Dark Depths
Creatures
Vexing Shusher - Permission based control is a tough match-up for us and the Shusher makes ANY spell we cast un-counter-able. When you absolutely need to stick Borbor or cast that Creeping Renaissance to win, this makes sure it goes off.
Zhur-Taa Druid - It ramps, it lowers life totals and it does silly things when paired with Keen Sense or Grafted Exoskeleton.
Sakura Tribe Elder - Good ramp creature is good.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - This deck wants to play as many of it's 49 lands as fast as it can, and few cards are better than Azusa for playing multiple lands per turn. Throw in Horn of Greed and this is one heck of an engine. Extra land plays also let us abuse some of our utility lands once Crucible of Worlds is online. It might not be fun to Strip Mine three times in a turn, but sometimes that's the only way to win.
Yavimaya Elder - Another great ramp creature that also draws us a card. Win win.
Eternal Witness - When your main method of draw is Wheel of Fortune effects, you need to be able to get some cards back. Eternal Witness is the best in the business at getting a card back into your hand to help you finish the game.
Oracle of Mul-Daya - Arguably one of the strongest green creatures out there. An extra land drop AND the ability to play that land from the top of your library without even drawing it? Good on it's own, but with Sensei's Divining Top and Sylvan Library you should pretty much always hit every land drop ever while keeping you hand feel of goodies.
Avenger of Zendikar - Often times he works as a finisher, but sometimes just generating a bunch of tokens for chump blocking is also a great play.
Other Options
Groundskeeper - It's almost certain you are going to end up with one of the decks 20+ basic lands in the yard, so this card is almost always generating you some form of advantage. Early game you can play those extra lands, late with Borbor out it reads 1G: Lightning Bolt. A note, it is BASIC lands. Not shenanigans with cycling lands sadly.
Orcish Lumberjack - Explosive ramp at the expense of a forest. Really helpful in powering our Borbor a turn or two early.
Somberwald Sage - More explosive ramp for powering out an early Borbor.
Solemn Simulacrum - More ramp and draw.
Fertilid - Rampant Growth on a stick is a neat trick, but most importantly it let's us shuffle our deck on demand. Don't like the top few cards on your library? Shuffle them away! Want another chance to hit your extra land drop with Oracle of Mul-Daya? Easy!
Dragon Mage - Wheel of Fortune on a stick certainly seems useful.
Anger - Universal haste granters are good and this one just needs to be in the graveyard to be relevant. That's not hard at all when you're casting Wheel of Fortune or Reforge the Soul.
Rubblehulk - Sometimes you need a huge body and he does that fine. Other times, you want to win with general damage out of nowhere with a nearly un-counter-able trick. This also does that.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - His uses are obvious, but try animating your opponents lands in response to a board wipe. The look on their face will be priceless.
Terravore - Seems good right? I prefer Rubblehulk because it has a similar vanilla-ish body with the added benefit of sometimes leading to out of nowhere kills with Borbor or Inkmoth Nexus.
Liege of the Tangle - This could get out of hand really quickly just be careful you don't walk your lands into a board wipe.
Budoka Gardener - Another neat effect that, essentially makes Rubblehulks on command.
Expedition Map - I know. One land to your hand is SO underwhelming. Wait, it's ANY land? It's a cheap unconditional land tutor.
Sensei's Divining Top - This is a deck that likes to set up it's draws. Whether your digging for combo pieces, setting up draws to insure maximum land drops or simply improving your draw every turn, top is one of the best cards ever printed.
Illusionist Bracers - Doing 6 damage to one target per land you discard with Borbor's ability OR 3 damage to two targets are both pretty good. Bonus, once it's equipped, that copying effect is totally free. It also lets you draw 2 cards if Borbor is enchanted with Keen Sense or Snake Umbra.
Lightning Greaves - Haste and Shroud are good when you want to protect your general. Remember that if Borbor is shrouded, you can't pump him or enchant him.
Scroll Rack - Does all sorts of dumb things for so little mana. Trying to win without your combo pieces, ditch your hand for a new grip to close the deal. Or just use it to dig for answer and combo pieces all game long.
Torpor Orb - It disrupts so many decks. Just ruins people's days.
Horn of Greed - If left unanswered, this + Azusa, Lost but Seeking will almost certainly win you the game. It applies to ALL PLAYERS though, so be aware that you will be giving a few cards to other players.
Basalt Monolith - Simply goes infinite with Rings of Brighthearth. Seems good.
Crucible of Worlds - Playing the lands that you dredge through with Life from the Loam is good. Reusing utility lands like Strip Mine, Buried Ruin, Glacial Chasm or Dark Depths is even better. If it needed any more breaking, remember that these are land plays, so extra ones from Azusa, Lost but Seeking can be used through Crucible as well.
Oblivion Stone - Yes. It's expensive, but it gets the job done and is a great way to deter players from attacking into you once it's going.
Rings of Brighthearth - This is a deck with a LOT of activated abilities. Abusing them is fun even if it costs two mana per. Cycling and Sensei's Divining Top are some of my favorites. It also works with Borbor so that's neat too.
Grafted Exoskeleton - Infect is good on Borbor. This makes ending a game a lot easier.
Mind's Eye - You will almost certainly draw cards off it and players almost always underestimate the threat of that.
Memory Jar - Artifact based Wheel of Fortune that you use when you want and you get to keep the cards in your original hand. It's best when looking for just one piece of your combo.
Storm Cauldron - People hate to see this card on the table, but that's because it's insanely powerful. It ruins other peoples game plans and barely impacts us if we have more than one land drop per turn. Even better, it lets us pick up lands from the battlefield while Borbor is in play. A lot of games end with Storm Cauldron and Life from the Loam letting us pick up, throw and the recur lands until everyone is dead.
Change Log
5-10-2013
Acidic Slime ---> Chaos Warp
Chain Reaction ---> Oblivion Stone
Heartless Hidetsugu ---> Abundance
Goblin Welder ---> Seismic Assault
Walking Atlas ---> Vexing Shusher
Tilling Treefolk ---> Keen Sense
Duplicant ---> Exploration
Countryside Crusher ---> Hermit Druid
5-15-2013
Aftershock ---> Beast Within
6-16-2013
Forest ---> Strip Mine
Comet Storm ---> Furnace of Rath
7-27-2013
Deck overhaul! Change log will continue as normal after this point.
5-22-2014
Deck Overhaul! Hopefully this is back under control.
This is the current deck, but there are a lot of changes in the pipe-line. That's coming along shortly, but, until then, let me know what you think.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
So I just acquired Abundance and added Keen Sense as Snake Umbra #2. The second game I sleeved up I killed all three players at the table on turn 7 with it. The lack of tutors really means that cards like Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fortune are required to find your cards. I'll be running both along with Memory Jar.
I really want to add Beast Within, I just haven't acquired one yet. Deck update coming in the next couple days. Teaser, it includes non broken uses of Hermit Druid.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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Lol, that is great to hear. My list uses the Druid as well. He is a great way to fuel the general. Most of the time he reads: G, tap: Bolt. But sometimes he mills a bunch of non basics and you can get them back with Creeping Renaissance.
My deck runs about 60 lands, which is extremely high. But with a land count that high I was could take advantage of Burgeoning to great affect. Turn 3 Borbory was pretty sweet.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Burgeoning is a great card that I haven't tried yet. So good in the opening hand and so bad as a top deck. If I end up adding more looters it's a shoe-in. I'll have Gatecrash Reviews in addition to the updated list this weekend or early next week.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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Gruul Guildgate - Basics lands are better in almost every regard. Borbor doesn't really want CiPT lands that are also not fetchable in most circumstances. You're playing two colors so unless you are desperate for fixers, don't bother. 1/5
Gruul Cluestone - I think the Keystones are fine budget options if you don't have a better mana rock, but I think I'd rather have Gruul Signet in the same spot. It's playable and maybe better than some people think because of it's ability to get you an extra card later in the game. Sometimes you just need to dig for a combo piece and this helps. 3/5
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed - The biggest strike against him is he doesn't do anything to further our plan. He isn't ramp, he isn't a combo piece and he paints a HUGE target on your head. On the other hand, with the damage doublers in the deck, he can single handily lock players out of the game. Even if he doesn't lock anyone out any damage he deals goes a long way to making it easier to surprise kill with Borborgymos. I'll be testing him just to see how much damage he can deal. 3/5
Savageborn Hydra - It's a mana sink, and a good one at that, but it's just not what we're looking for. I'd almost rather play Apocalypse Hydra for the pinging effect it brings to the table. 2/5
Zhur-Taa Ancient - So it doubles mana. That effect is intriguing, but it's going to be very hard to use it before your opponents get a chance to use it as well. If you could cheat it into play, double your own mana and then sac it, it might find a home, but Borborgymos doesn't really have the means to do any of that. Honestly, it's a double-edged sword that's going to get you killed more often than not. Kudos if you can find a way to abuse it. 2/5
Zhur-Taa Druid - Who'd have thought this lowly common might be the best card in DGM for us land slingers? The druid does two things we like a lot. First it's ramp. Mana dorks don't tend to stick around very long, but he's cheap and his second ability makes him more exciting. Not only does it ramp, but it pings every time it does so. This does a couple cool things in the Borbor shell. The first is it reduces the life totals around the table which is great for the non-infinite win cons in this deck. It's also a GREAT target for Keen Sense or Snake Umbra in the early game. Either way, it's the only card in the set that really synergizes with Borbor's game plan and certainly getting tested in my deck ASAP. 4/5
That's it really for DGM. The other Green and Red cards are not really worth discussing. Between Ruric and the Druid, there will be some fun stuff to play with.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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So many cards I want to play, so few slots!!!!
Mountain ---> Realms Uncharted
Acidic Slime ---> Chaos Warp
Chain Reaction ---> Oblivion Stone
Heartless Hidetsugu ---> Abundance
Goblin Welder ---> Seismic Assault
Walking Atlas ---> Vexing Shusher
Tilling Treefolk ---> Keen Sense
Duplicant ---> Exploration
Countryside Crusher ---> Hermit Druid
Added Horn of Greed and I'm not sure what I cut for it. Adding and cutting from this deck is really challenging because of the amount of lands it needs to run. It's becoming more streamlined to run out the Borbor + Keen Sense + Abundance combo and that will probably be the direction it continues to take.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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I feel your pain. I ran about 60 lands in my version.
I really like the cuts and additions. I wish I had an Exploration. It was the best card for the deck I didn't have. It goes great with Horn of Greed as well.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Intet, the Dreamer
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Heartless Hidetsugu
Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
Celestial Kirin
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Sir Shandlar of Eberyn
Karona, False God
I love his creature type!!!! I'm actually looking for a Korean language version. On that card, his name literally reads BOR-BOR-GI-MO-SU. Just cracks me up and since I can read Korean it's not as irratating as the other foreign language cards.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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I traded away a Grove of the Burnwillows to get my hands on it. I can't wait to try and run out Azusa, Exploration and the Horn. With the extra play lands effects I almost feel like Lotus Cobra might deserve a test now. Makes for some really silly, explosive plays.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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That sounds soo fun lol. I ran Azusa but I don't own a Lotus Cobra. That seems like a really good card for the deck. It goes great with Storm Cauldron. You get mana without tapping lands.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Lotus Cobra + Storm Cauldron board state essentially reads, tap 2 lands, play those 2 lands you have 4 mana and no real negative tempo. I like that.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
Turn your junk into something great with PucaTrade!
I'm working on brewing a decklist myself and I see a lot of great cards to play.
Let me know when you finish the deck and I'll pop in and take a look at it.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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I'll be picking up a Cavern of Souls when it leaves standard because it is good in the deck, but not as good as Vexing Susher . The shusher makes ANY spell uncounterable. Need to resolve that late game Scapeshift to kill a player? Shusher can help! Moral of the story is that Cavern of Souls has only one job in the deck. Make Borborgymos Enraged, our primary combo piece, uncounterable. The issue is that it doesn't bump up the resilence of the rest of our combo. Shusher does. Run them both if you have them.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
Turn your junk into something great with PucaTrade!
They are similar, but not directly comparable. Hull Breach is a two for one often times, but can only hit artifacts and enchantments. Aftershock can hit creatures and lands in addition to artifacts. It can't deal with enchantments, but I think the added flexibility is more important than the 2 for 1. Honestly, both cards are good and I'd consider running Hull Breach if I had one.
In order, my damage doublers that I want for the deck are Gratuitous Violence (it's one sided for me), Furnace of Rath(It's cheaper and applied to multiple non creature sources making a Scapeshift with Valakut and Vesuva a lot more deadly)Quest for Pure Flame(VERY cheap and applies to multiple sources like Furnace, only a one time use though), Overblaze(It's verstile and a surprise), then Curse of Bloodletting. Curse is an interesting card because it gives other players incentive to kill that player, but it also makes you an enemy at the table for sure. It also only applies to the one player so it's hard to surprise kill the table with it. Actually all the damage doublers are good, so if you find space for them, run them all. They make Ruric Thar the Unbowed quite awesome as well. Furnace, Violence and Ruric pretty much locks the whole table out of the game.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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The first was three players vs Riku and Rith. Honestly, it was just a turn 4 Sylvan Primordial that ended it.
The second game was three players vs Riku, Rith and Glissa. Ended up killing a player with Rings of Brighthearth, Gratuitous Violence and Borborgymos. The next turn I Praetor's Counciled for everything back and toasted the table. Honestly, I was alarmed at how slow the deck worked when it didn't draw any of it's combo pieces. I never saw Memory Jar or any of my other filter effects. I gambled on turn 1 for an Oracle of Mul-Daya which was great, but it took FOREVER to find combo pieces. Still took it, but I would have been toast against better decks.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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The Mage is a solid card and especially if you can throw something like Whispersilk Cloak on him. I would try to trade up for a Wheel of Fortune in the long run. The Mage's only real advantage is he does beat face alright.
As far as attacking with Borborgymos, I do it on the regular, but very cautiously. If you are playing a combo-y version of the deck, getting him tucked to a Condemn is pretty awful. If he's wearing Lightning Greaves and a player has no real blockers of note, I'll swing with him. He fuels himself for combo stuff and with the damage doublers in the deck, he can sometimes outright win the with general damage. In fact, with two damage doublers out (IE Furnace of Rath and Gratuitous Violence, he is a one shot kill.
A slightly different style deck, but just as effective. Even my version needs ways to kill a table without the combo so I run Sylvan Primordial and Avenger of Zendikar in those slots. You do need other threats and Borborgymos Enraged plays a pretty solid beatdown/voltron style if you want to go that route. I've found it's not too hard to kill off the table with combo, but a solid beatdown backup plan is good. I'm considering finding a home for the Rampaging Baloth soon as Avenger #2.
I played one more game last night and after a long game against Riku, Sen Triplets and Sharuum, Borborgymos Enraged prevailed again. Riku got hit by a Terminus and Sharuum got Hindered. I spent most of the game digging for cards with Life from the Loam and I eventually stuck Borbor and proceeded to draw Praetor's Council to draw my 45 card graveyard. Life from the Loam and a couple cycle lands really REALLY make a difference. Before the two games last night, I had never cast the Council and was considering dropping it for something more practical. That won't happen now since in a lot of instances, it simply says "Win the Game".
Currently considering the following things. Let me know your opinions...
Finding a home for Rampaging Baloth, Furnace of Rath, Quest for Pure Flame and Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. If I can stick Furnace and Violence, Ruric would do 24 damage per non creature spell someone wants to cast. That seems good.
Finding options for better recursion of any card. Codex Shredder is an option, but I want a better way of pulling useful stuff out of my Graveyard if it gets loamed.
Finding a tutor option for green permanents/enchantments. I need a way to find Keen Sense or Abundance in a pinch.
First card on the chopping block is probably Rites of Spring. It's insanely useful in theory, but I'm finding that I never have an instance where I really want to cast it. In a couple games, it's simply sat in my hand waiting for the right moment to use it and that moment never comes. It's probably going to become Furnace of Rath in my next update.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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Regrowth, Restock, Nostalgic Dreams and Recollect are probably the best, in addition to the Witness you already have.
My Trade Thread
Those are all viable, but hard to reuse. At least with the Shredder, you can bring it back with Trading Post. I'm also considering Past in Flames. Most of what I want out of my Graveyard is going to be a spell, like Scapeshift, so it has the benefit of hitting all of those AND not being turned off if I mill through it on my way to combo pieces. If only it got Enchantments back...
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
Turn your junk into something great with PucaTrade!
WUBGR - Enchantment Realms - WUBGR
An all-enchantment EDH deck: 0 creatures, 0 artifacts, 0 instants and sorceries.
GBUWR - The Necrotic Teenager and its 1,000,000 Combos - GBUWR
A deck built around Necrotic Ooze and its many friends.
I'm already running it! It is pretty sweet though. Not sure I'll ever use it for a reason other than to kill a player or the table as a combo piece, but it's great that you get at least two uses out of it.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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Honestly, that's probably the best of the instant/sorcery recursion spells for us. Being able to bin some of our extra lands late game to recur multiple combo pieces out of the yard would be good. Works really well with Life from the Loam as well. Dredge 3, cast discarding 3 lands and Loam for combo pieces, cast and win seems like a play I would enjoy making.
Quick and painless swap.
Aftershock ----> Beast Within
I forgot I had a Beast Within and it's pretty much a straight improvement over Aftershock.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
Turn your junk into something great with PucaTrade!