To Burn or to Burn: Gruul and Izzet

Posted on May 20, 2014

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the guilds in my Cube. Between some sweet Drafts and making some changes, I’ve had to leave my Ravnican friends behind for the time being. Today, I took the road back to the city and am visiting those who live on the outskirts and then the mad scientists in the urban center. These guilds might share a color, but the decks they produce are anything but similar—

—unless you count the burning of things. In that case, Gruul and Izzet are siblings from the same year.

Starting with the greener of the two, Gruul can present a conundrum for Cube designers. The red-and-green combination as a reputation for being a bit of a mindless aggressor. While not as throw-everything-at-you-on-fire as Rakdos aggro can be, Gruul has to look toward nontraditional forms of card advantage to keep up with the grindy nature of black or the pure card-draw of blue. How does Gruul accomplish this?

Go Big or Go Home

Red and green are home to some of the largest creatures available at common. While these cards also tend to be on the expensive side, we can pick the best options (read: most cost-effective) to include in a Cube. These large beatsticks act as a source of card economy for Gruul. Take Sentinel Spider: This 4/4 finds its home in multiple green decks, but in Gruul, it becomes a way to trade one of your cards for two of the opponent’s (namely, creatures). Being aggressive with such a large monster means that, to take it off the board, an adversary is going to have to throw resources away.

Gruul tends to shine against restricted removal because of this. Anything that isn’t point-and-click might have a hard time taking down things with 4 or more toughness. In fact, if this color combination is struggling in a Cube, it might be time to adjust the strength of removal down a notch or two. Large creatures to keep an eye out for include Nessian Asp, Durkwood Baloth, Zhur-Taa Swine, Scuzzback Marauders, and Ill-Tempered Cyclops.

Out of the Gates

Gruul wants to seek advantages through its creatures. One way to accomplish this is to bring them out faster than normal. Using Elvish Mystic and Zhur-Taa Druid (and friends), those that dwell in the Rage Pits can come out a full turn faster than normal. Considering that Gruul has access to some of the largest creatures in the game, an early monster is very likely to outclass the normal turn-two bear. While creature-based accelerants are best (since they can also attack), Cultivate and Kodama's Reach have merit since they double as true card advantage.

Pump It Up

While all colors can make use of pump in creature combat, it is Gruul that wields this weapon with greatest skill. This is aided by the presence of Symbiosis and Wild Hunger—two spells that help spell “blow out” for any defender. While it only appears on four cards in my Cube, bloodrush provides potent split cards for decks that want creatures and creature buffs. Any of Skinbrand Goblin, Rubblebelt Maaka, Slaughterhorn, and Zhur-Taa Swine are high picks once you are committed to a Gruul deck.

The Branches of the Trees

While removal is important to any deck, I want to highlight Branching Bolt in Gruul. This card is a beating of the highest caliber. While it sometimes is just going to be an overcosted Lightning Bolt, it is still going to be a straight-up two-for-one often enough that it should make the deck—every time. Heck, if you’re base-green, this spell is strong enough to warrant a splash. Gold cards have very high thresholds to be selected since they are so hard to cast, but Branching Bolt is one that is so strong it maybe is deserving of a first pick overall.

A typical Gruul deck is decidedly midrange. It places high value on bringing out large monsters early and backing them up with burn and pump. Gruul will eventually smash, but not before establishing a solid army.

Sample Gruul ? Cube | Alex Ullman

Lands (17)
8 Forest
8 Mountain
1 Gruul Turf

Because Gruul has access to green, it also takes to splashes very well. One common splash is black to play Jund. Jund plays similar to Gruul except it trades some pump in for more absolute removal and access to discard. Here’s a sample Jund list from a Draft last month:

Sample Jund ? Cube | Seth

If Gruul is the brute force of a mosh pit, Izzet is the grace of ballet combined with the frenetic speed of a three-year-old on Pixy Sticks. Izzet’s goal is to hit from different angles with strong spells and to push through damage with modest creatures. As this was the way Magic was played for many years, it is a favorite of people looking for a little nostalgia.

Izzet has two main modes of attack. First, there is the value Izzet, which wants to use many strong spells to generate an avalanche of card advantage. The secondary Izzet deck focuses more on tempo and using bounce to clear a path for the meager beaters—before sealing the deal with burn spells.

Monthly Pass to Value Town

Izzet has some of the smallest creatures in my Cube, but it more than makes up for this with access to some of the best possible spells. Arc Lightning, Pyrotechnics, and Firebolt all can take out multiple creatures. Foresee and Compulsive Research are strong cards in any deck but are supernova-bright in Izzet thanks to cheap burn like Lightning Bolt. There is little like drawing extra cards then burning out a potential threat.

Izzet also places a priority on creatures with strong enters-the-battlefield abilities. Mulldrifter runs circles around the next cards on this list, but Ghitu Slinger, Mist Raven, Sea Gate Oracle, and Skirk Marauder are all aces as well. Izzet Chronarch and Steamcore Weird are also standouts that can go late. Speaking of the former . . .

Jilt

There’s not much else to say here. Jilt is another virtual gold card that has earned first-pick status. Jilt’s utility comes not just from its ability to clear away two creatures on the other side of the board, but from the ability to also Shock a creature and return a value creature to your own hand. This becomes an expensive and effective machine gun with Izzet Chronarch or Archaeomancer. Jilt is an all-star in Izzet and slots in very nicely in both versions of the deck.

That Looks Dangerous; Set It on Fire

Blue and red decks need to place a higher emphasis on burn than some other archetypes since its creatures will rarely win in combat. This makes Flame Slash and Chandra's Outrage a notch above 3-damage spells since they can handle threats that otherwise would go untouched.

Get Out of the Way

Izzet also has access to bounce. Silent Departure, Repulse, Into the Roil, and the army of Man-o'-War–style creatures can keep the enemy’s gate down. Not only does this let all those 2 power beaters through, but it also increases the value of red creatures with haste. Minotaur Skullcleaver, Pouncing Kavu, Fervent Cathar, Suq'Ata Lancer, and Gerrard's Irregulars can come down immediately and push through quite a bit of damage.

Bounce, as mentioned, also allows Izzet to reuse its own creatures with potent abilities. Ninja of the Deep Hours is a lynchpin of the deck, as it not only advances the card-advantage plan, but also lets an Izzet mage double-dip on some value creatures. Pro tip: You can let a creature with first strike deal first-strike damage to an opponent then use the ninjutsu ability on Ninja of the Deep Hours to push through 2 extra points of damage and draw a card. Yay timing rules.

So, where does that leave Izzet? Someplace around here:

Value Izzet ? Cube | Alex Ullman

Lands (17)
8 Mountain
9 Island

A run-of-the-mill, value-based Izzet deck just so happens to run some of the best spells in my Cube.

Tempo Izzet ? Cube | Alex Ullman

Izzet is a powerhouse archetype that is largely contained due to fragile creatures. Gruul is a slower, less obvious deck that shines due to robust monsters. These two guilds represent opposing philosophies but are inextricably linked thanks to their reliance on red cards. The best part is that they need similar cards most of the time, so what is good for the exo-urban raider is good for the ecumenical mad scientist.

Or goose and gander—take your pick.

Keep slingin’ commons—

-Alex

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