Last night I decided that I really wanted to play a deck centred around Garruk's Packleader and a whole bunch of fat to trigger him. I've been playing it all morning and haven't lost a game, though I've definitely played less than ten. Here is the deck, followed by notes on my individual card choices:



Wild Nacatl - This guy is great to play early because he attacks well against slow opponents and defends well against aggro. The fact that he enters as a 3/3 if you topdeck him late gives him tremendous value because you can trigger Garruk's Packleader for just one mana.

Satyr Wayfinder - This deck has a fairly high curve without a ton of early plays and some strict mana requirements to meet. I chose Wayfinder over Visionary because we basically get a guaranteed land and the fixing goes a long way towards enabling that T3 Woolly Thoctar. Replaced these guys with Elvish Visionary because topdecking them was absolutely horrid.

Ground Assault - I didn't want to play too many spells in a deck built around the Packleader, but removal this strong can't be passed up.

Woolly Thoctar - This guy is insane value for the mana cost and was the reason to add white to the deck.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos - Another cheap creature that triggers the Packleader and can take over a game all on his own.

Cultivate - Ramp and mana-fixing are very important to this deck because it has a high curve, is three colors, and has , , , and requirements.

Darksteel Ingot - The fifth Cultivate. I added it because three-mana ramp is critical to the deck and I don't think four is enough.

Ogre Battledriver - In a deck full of fat, giving freshly-cast creatures haste can be completely crushing. It is great with just about everything here but completely unfair with Inferno Titan and Pelakka Wurm.

Vengevine - Just a very efficient creature in a deck that wants to win with efficient creatures. Considering we have Wild Nacatls, Satyr Wayfinders, and a suite of three drops, it is possible that we recur this guy from time to time. Dropping him into the graveyard off Wayfinder is just some extra value if you can manage to cheat him into play.

Garruk's Packleader - The deck's card advantage engine and a core piece. For each Packleader, there are 23 other creatures that will trigger it (plus Soul of Zendikar's activated ability) so it's tough not to get a lot of value here.

Arbor Colossus - This deck has a lot of green mana and fixing so this guy is quite castable on curve or ahead of it. He has a huge body and the monstrosity ability adds to the deck's removal suite by swatting Baneslayers, Griselbrands, and their ilk.

Baneslayer Angel - This is just obvious.

Stormbreath Dragon - So is this.

Inferno Titan - And this.

Soul of Zendikar - Another 6/6 reach body to stymie opposing Baneslayers and the activated ability is a nice mana sink that has the upside of allowing repeated triggers of Garruk's Packleader. He also has a bit of use if you bin him off a Wayfinder, but that's marginal upside at best.

Pelakka Wurm - Probably the one of the single best cards in the format and it's an uncommon. Run them wherever possible.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - We're ramping and binning a lot of stuff with Wayfinders, so this thing wins games and recycles the graveyard.

Thoughts and opinions?