The first, the best, the favorite. Grenzo was my first ever Magic deck (as an adult. My 5-color childhood
pile-o'-cards featuring Shivan Dragon
and random old uncommons
is the other contender).
I was first inspired by an MTGSalvation post
while looking for interesting commanders. I had been watching The Command Zone and MTGMuddstah around the release of Ravnica Allegiance, and was stoked to get
into Commander, but was looking for
a first deck. I had just started college, and didn't have a job to justify buying expensive cards. So I traded in a bunch of my old Yugioh cards
to an online buylist and started picking out everything from the online list that cost $0.25 or less.
This is the deck I have blinged out the most. I have fancy foils and signed Swamps.
I even got Grenzo signed by Lucas Graciano
How is the deck built? Because Grenzo's ability pulls cards randomly off the bottom of the library, you end up wasting mana on any
card pulled that doesn't meet his criteria of "creature with power less than or equal to Grenzo". This means being very selective of the cards
you run, especially noncreatures.
The noncreature, nonland cards are all powerful enough to justify the dead hits -
Dread Return can be flashed back from the graveyard by sacrificing three creatures, an easy task once you've started building up a board.
Heartstone reduces Grenzo's ability to a 1 mana activation, and the difference is palpable. Instead of around three pulls a turn, you can
dig really deep and have a good shot at going infinite if you hit any of the combo cards. Fires of Invention is the sort of card
that I just adore in Magic - impressively powerful in one specific deck and mostly unplayable elsewhere. It allows you to cheat on substantial amounts of
mana, but restricts you to only casting two spells a turn, and
only on your turn. Thankfully for us, most of our mana is going into activating Grenzo, and Fires allows you to cast the overcosted creatures
you've drawn during the game while still using all of your mana for Grenzo. The one caveat with this card is that you generally cannot cast Grenzo with
it, as he would enter with X=0 counters.
To improve consistency of pulls, I have chosen to restrict the deck to creature with power 3 or less, so Grenzo can be cast for X=1
and pull any creature.
How does the deck play? It's a complex, instant speed combo deck that can win on your opponent's end step. Often it is correct to draw,
play a land, and pass with full mana up as long as you control Grenzo.
How does the deck lose? The largest lose condition is if Grenzo dies a bunch. The deck is very commander-centric, and casting Grenzo
more than three times is a tall order, and most of our spells are best if we only pay 2 mana for them, rather than full price. The other
way is graveyard hate. Almost every infinite combo in this deck involves looping a creature in and out of the graveyard repeatedly, so if
every creature we sacrifice is exiled, no combo. It is important to note, while a large hindrance, graveyard hate does not stop Grenzo pulls. Per the Gatherer ruling :
If a replacement effect (such as that of
Leyline of the Void) causes the card to be put from your library directly into exile,
you'll put it onto the battlefield from exile if it's a creature card with appropriate power. (2021-03-19)
But Grafdigger's Cage
will stop Grenzo, as creatures want to enter the battlefield from the graveyard. Funnily enough, if your opponents control both Leyline of The Void
and Grafdigger's Cage, Grenzo is back online, as creatures will enter from exile, not the graveyard.
If you cannot combo, there are some other ways of winning - Furystoke Giant will allow each of your creatures to ping an opponent or creature
for 2 damage, allowing you to burn them down or clear their board to swing in.
Grenzo is a pretty decisive Bracket 4 deck - infinite combos are the main gameplan, you're happy to deny mana with Magus of the Moon and
Avalanche Riders, and you can win quite unexpectedly at instant speed. It's not cEDH, but we're not playing nice, so make sure your pod
is appropriately powered.
I really love this deck. It empowers some truly terrible cards, wins with 5+ card creature combos, and can scrap its way out of tight spots.
and random old uncommons
is the other contender).
) causes the card to be put from your library directly into exile, you'll put it onto the battlefield from exile if it's a creature card with appropriate power. (2021-03-19)
will stop Grenzo, as creatures want to enter the battlefield from the graveyard. Funnily enough, if your opponents control both Leyline of The Void
and Grafdigger's Cage, Grenzo is back online, as creatures will enter from exile, not the graveyard.