This is my very last build of Gruul deck, with this I've obtained a brilliant W/L ratio and -most of all- is very consistent in its performance due to the presence of many 4x/3x:



Some noticeable combos about this deck:
-Primal Huntbeast armed with a Burning Anger, protected by its Hexproof and pumped by a group of Advocate of the Beast/Titanic Growth/Enlarged is almost unstoppable.

-a couple of Kiln Fiends buffed by Advocate of The Beast for a few turns and then -one of them- Enlarged is very often a winning condition in turn 5 or turn 6

Why Howlgeist instead of Terra Stomper? Because with Howlgeist I can resist against Anger of the gods, Planar Celansing (hence a very abused cards in this meta) and I can go through an army of spiders without problem.

I try to reach 50 games with this deck to accumulate a solid statistical data, at now I'm 14W/1L (but I have to admit that in two matches I was very lucky).

EDITA (11/28/2014): 50 games achieved, 37 win/13 loss --> win/loss ratio: 74%

Howlgeist is not very good against anger of the gods. But I agree it is good against a lot of other removal. Personally I think stormbreath Dragon would be better.

Stormbreath is better by far. But, I can kind of see it with all of the devour cards out right now. (Although, this deck isn't using them, so Stormbreath)

I'd also play the third Packleader and the second Hunter's Prowess over those two copies of Enlarge.

Well... I dunno about that. Enlarge is a big effect. I'd have to test to be sure. In decks that can benefit from it, it's a pretty excellent card, imo. That's said, I think this deck needs a few more creatures, so I might agree just on principle.

Edit: I actually don't see much to like in this build. OP: have you really had much success with it? I have trouble believing 14/1. I'll add it to my next testing run.

I just like to draw cards. Enlarge punches them in the face but there isn't much payoff. Punching them and drawing five cards is just busted. And Packleader is just good in these Gruul midrange decks because there aren't many great CA engines available.

Yeah, I'm not sure looking at the deck in more detail. Weird build imo.

I'm a fanatic of statistic, so I have recorded every my game with this or different decks with great attention and I don't have any reason to lie, I'm too old for this...

Like you, I'm surpised of the actual results and precisely because they are over my expectations I have decided to share this deck with yours , but 15 matches are too few to judge this deck (or to reject this deck) so I continue with it for other 20/30 matches.

Regarding Stormbreath Dragon, it was in previous versions of this deck but I've preferred a second copy of Packleader over it; for a long time, Wrecking Ogre was in this build too (with wichh I won 2-3 matches in a very funny and spectacular way but its bloodrush doesn't interact well with Wandering Wolf and Howlgeist ability), but after reading an interesting observation about "overkill card" made by Hakeem on my Golgari Deck, I have considered to remove it.

About Enlarge vs Hunter's Prowness, I won 70% of the matches due to Enlarge, but Hunter's Prowness casted on Wandering Wolf is a great combo.

However I'd like very much reports/feedbacks of players that want to give a try to this deck, playing with it some games and helping me to fix (especially the 5-6 mana part of the curve, where I'm a bit undecided).

You're right about Anger of Gods, I have forgotten the exile condition.
But I've noticed that Howlgeist is a very understimated card.
For example I won 2 identical matches casting it with a Ogre Battledriver already displaced in the battlefield and it was a bomb due to haste/+2 in power. Undying makes almost assured that you can dispose of Howlgeist in turn 7 (if playerd in turn 6 of course) and for its peculiar ability is great target for Hunter's Prowness, Titanic Growth, Enlarge. How many creatures in this meta can block it after a Titan Growth that raises its power to 8 (or 9 after die)?

But for six mana you could have a Terra Stomper; the price tag is part of how you evaluate a card, unfortunately. I think a 4/2 Undying with a quasi-unblockable clause is a solid card in a vacuum, but I'm not paying six mana for it.

I've tried Terra Stomper in this deck and I like it because is a great card in absolute and it's a beast too, so it's perfect for my army of Advocate of the beast.

But two considerations have induced me to put Howlgeist instead.
1) It costs 6 mana but 3 forest and in 2 games I could not cast it in the right moment for green mana lacking
2) I casted it 2-3 times in the right moment, only to see my opponent destroy it using one of the several removal cards that are available in this meta (for example Flesh to dust)

With Howlgeist I have an other chance due to its Undying and its quasi-unblockable ability was nice agaist token/weenie deck, that I face very often in this 2015 edition.
But I know you are a very expert player, Hakeem, and with your suggestion I've improved a lot my Golgari deck, so I'll try +1xTerra Stomper/-1xHowlgeist change. But I can lower my cards count to 60? I'm fixed to 61 and I don't find any card to remove. I need 3 Shock and 3 Ground Assalut and I can't remove other creatures, they are already at the absolute minimum.

I think you would be better served by including Stormbreath Dragon as was suggested. Haste plus evasion plus protection with Monstrosity upside is ridiculous. It's a very strong card.

I mentioned Stomper because I was comparing two six-mana green creatures.

Now I'm 17W/2L, here is an example: I win in 5th turn after a shock+shock+titanic growth sequence in a row

I played a few games with your deck fosforo, I like it!
I cut it down to 60 by removing Battledriver, then I switch the 2 Enlarge for one extra Prowess and Packleader, because I love Prowess and I added the extra packleader becase it's nice with more big power creatures to trigger said packleaders. I'm still not sure I like the packleaders because they have drawn me very few cards compared to the prowess, but they are beasts so gel well with the advocate so idk. I am also not sure about the Wandering Wolf, so far it has not been useful for me, even tho I see the potential.

The biggest weakness I've noticed is that it's hard to stabilize if the opponent gets a much better board state than me.

I wouldn't cut the enlarges when making cuts for those cards.

First of all, thx for your feedback.
About Wandering Wolf, I don't like it very much too (it isn't a beast and 1 toughness is awful) but I didn't find better alternative regarding 2-mana creatures of both colors involved.
In the past, I reserved 2 slot for Jade Mage instead, but altough this latter is a strong card, Wandering wolf is better in midrange terms and it exploits better the buff instants/sorceries avalaible in this deck.

ABout the difficult to stabilize it when opponent gets a better board state and in general about Enlarge vs Hunter's Prowess, Enlarge can be very useful due to the fact that is mandatory blockable so is easy that you can kill at least 1 opponent creature (maybe the most hidden, safety placed in the second line) and -above all- +7/+7 is far superior that +3/+3 Hunter Prowess in a deck like this, designed to win in turn 5 or 6 and where it's crucial to maximixe the damage inflicted to the opponent. Therefore Enlarge is a win-move if played on a creature already equipped with Burning Ager, especially in situation of disvantage in terms of battlefield presence, and is ideal for the quasi-unblockable ability of the Wolves.

You're probably right on removing the one-of Battledrive ogre to remain in the 60 card limit but I drawn it 8 times in 17 matches and almost ever (exactly 7 of 8) allows me to win, a couple of times in a very critical situation.

Packleader is a great card, but in this deck not many creatures can trigger its card draw effect so I put only 2 of 3 avalaible; I know that in this way is too situational (but it adds to 1xHunter Prowess for a total 3 cards able to draw cards --> maybe over 50% of chance to draw 1 of them in turn 5 but I don't remind very well the hypergeometric distribution), but let me know after your test if 3x is the right number.

From a statistical point of view, with 2x Packleader & 1x Hunter's Prowness, I was able to draw extra cards 7 times in 17 matches and it was a winning/decisive move only in 3 of them. This deck suffers of cards shortage after the first 5/6 turns but it's true that if you are not able to win within the first 5/6 turns, probably you have however lost and some extra cards would be not enough to make any difference.

I'll keep you informed on results, thanks for feedback.

EDIT: after a game session tonight --> 22W/7L
EDIT: 11/25/2014 --> 29W/8L
EDIT: 11/28/2014 --> 37W/13L
50 matches achieved, 0,74% win/loss ratio
EDIT: 11/26/2914 --> 32W/9L

Here is my Gruul. Hope you all enjoy.

One last thing. I forgot to update my Gruul deck here post-DLC, so thought I'd post it so I have one of every dual-colour deck in the consortium.



An aggro aura deck with unblockable features that rely on creature power. Very simply - just load up creatures and throw in every turn, hoping you can stay above the curve of their removal and blockers. Maniacal Rage is the glue that holds the deck together, and why it didn't really work pre-DLC as well as it should have. It not only boosts your own creatures, but can make key creatures of theirs unable to block during an alpha strike.

Tracer, Wandering Wolf and Gnarlid get through unblockable damage, Hoplite gets bigger P/T boosts, and the Young Wolf, while probably the weakest option to load up, protects you from being 2 for 1'd, and thus can be loaded up again if needed. Gather Courage allows you not only a cheap, temporary boost, but the Convoke element is an important protection against Shock, and is relatively easy to cast seeing as all your creatures bar the Hoplites are Green.

Fling is a filler card to take the deck to 60 cards, but can be a good finisher. It's fine as a singleton, as you'd hardly ever want to draw into two, but can be subbed for another low cost, offensive spell if desired. I understand 4 Guildgates may seem slow for such a quick deck, but getting one of each colour is crucial, so it's sometimes worth losing a turn to ensure you can go off without a hitch.

WOW, this deck is a beast! Great speed any synergy. I played 10-15 QUICK games and the only ones I didn't win was when I mulligan myself to death because I could not find 1 land of each colour and one time because I accidentally titanic growth my opponents Rhox Faithmender. Most of the time the game was over by turn 4, if I had not already won by then the opponent concede by then.

Very consistent deck, I tested it in 3 matches and it runs very well.
I'd like to test it with Gather Courage instead of Coordinated Assault because +2/+2 maybe can be more useful of 2x+1/0 & First strike in this type of deck (I know that Coordinated assault is better on multiple Satyr Hoplites but Gather Courage allows a a lot of flexibility due to the Convoke trait).

Therefore regarding Wandering Wolf or Aura Gnarlid, the +1 power with First strike given by Coordinated assault has almost the same effect of +2 power given by gather Courage (but +2 enhance the chance to avoid a blocker) so the +2 thoughness is a sort of bonus when comparing the two spells.