Community

3 x Arbor Elf
1 x  Wasteland Viper
2 x Skarrg Guildmage
2 x Burning-Tree Emissary
2 x Disciple of the Old Ways
1 x Pyreheart Wolf
3 x Slaughterhorn
2 x Viashino Shanktail
2 x Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 x Golgari Decoy
2 x Zhur-Taa Swine
1 x Rubblehulk
1 x Gruul Ragebeast
1 x Hamletback Goliath
1 x Giant Adephage

2 x Rancor
2 x Alpha Authority
1 x Madcap Skills
1 x Mark for Death
1 x Volcanic Geyser
1 x Cleaver Riot
1 x Predatory Rampage
2 x Pit Fight
2 x Ground Assault

3 x Gruul Guildgate
9 x Forest
8 x Mountain

As I said, standard legal. Thanks for the help!

Feb 11, 2013 -- 7:04PM, pyromancer244 wrote:

I'd keep both gruul ragebeast and giant adephage as 1 offs. I play the ragebeast, he has saved me a few late games. to be blunt you've posted a deck thick with singletons in a casual format forum, I think we can assume that your play group isn't dedicated to a turn-4-win-or-bust mentality. this means that by either draw or design the game will probably last till turn 7 (at least part of the time) and you want nothing more than to have something to spend that mana on other than skinbrand goblin s.

In an aggro deck playing 20 lands whose only ramp is 3x arbor elf somehow he's going to be able to play a CMC 7 spell? I don't see it happening. A CMC 7 spell in this deck will not be played on turn 7. Average turns it will take to get 7 mana in this deck is more than 10. It really doesn't matter what the "environment" is, if your aggro deck doesn't win in 10 turns or less then it needs some serious tweaks.

If the OP really wants to play CMC 6+ creatures there are a few options;
1st cards like rubblehulk which have alternate casting costs so you can use them as needed early, middle or late game even if you don't have the full 6 mana to pay for the creature.
2nd adding ramp spells such as farseek and adding more lands will change it from an "aggro" deck to a "midrange" deck. It would allow for consistently dropping the fatties turns 4-8 when they will still be relevant creatures.

Feb 11, 2013 -- 7:04PM, pyromancer244 wrote:

ok, I'm gonna have to disagree with the other guys at least on some points.

I strongly recomend no less than 3 madcap skills in your build. gruul has access to a lot of very cheap pump, you want it to hit the player as often as possible. the other tricks you have, to make sure you hit, suffer from a severe case of diminishing returns. unblockable effects simply don't stack very well in most cases. it is simply more useful to remove the enemy critters than it is to sneak around them but leave them free to hit you back. as such both searing spear and ground assault are needed (unless you add other colors; which I doubt you will).

madcap skills has won me several games. several. its fantastic early on and even makes things challenging for your opponent when multiple creatures are enchanted with it. yes, your likely to take some hits from your opponent, but if you can't swing back harder then they can, you don't have a good gruul deck at all. since this is aggro you shouldn't be running a lot of land, so ground assault really doesn't belong here (you should be winning by the time ground assault does 6 damage). more lightning bolt s would be a good idea or even stuff like arachnus web so you can still get your lethal damage in

Feb 12, 2013 -- 9:34AM, pyromancer244 wrote:

fair point. I forgot to look at the mana base and you're right he needs more than 20 land with no ramp to play the big stuff. that being said, I have trouble seeing gruul do well in a mana tight agro anyway. it's not white weeny, it's not boros, it's not even black weeny. bloodrush, the core mechanic, has you sacrifice board presence for bursts of power. in mid to late game while pretty much every other deck is still building power gruul runs the risk of having most of its critters in the graveyard instead of the field.  so the only thing I can really suggest is to slow down enough to make that sacrifice count and plan for the now inevitable mid game rounds.
2 more lands and 4 caravan vigil s should be enough, but I'd need to playtest to be sure.

and please don't put wrong ideas in people's heads. rubblehulk has no business being in any deck that averages 5 mana in the course of a game. for 1 thing zhur-taa swine is empirically better at lower mana turns. for another rubblehulk has enough trouble justifying itself next to dungrove elder and primal bellow without being hamstrung by a lack of lands to power it. doing so is a blatant violation of the first rule of green; go BIG or go home.

also act of treason is easily 1 of the most profitable forms of unblockable you can get, and you want more vipers.

I think it's true that gruul fits better as a midrange kind of deck but I could see a gruul aggro deck being possible.

I chose a bad example in rubblehulk . My point was to use spells of variable casting costs. zhur-taa swine and primordial hydra are more powerful examples of a (potentially) high CMC card that would fit into a decklist at variable mana costs and/or functions. Cards that can fit into an aggro deck and still provide a giant threat if the beatdown slows down and the opponent stablizes with some bigger creatures. Cycling creatures and creatures with kicker are other examples.