Monday 14 May 2012

Griselbrand in Command!


We should all be acquainted with Griselbrand by now, big, scary, soul-sucking demon that he is. Well today we're going to build a deck around him.

There are more than a few directions you could take Griselbrand, I decided on combo since Griselbrand himself would allow us to draw into our combos and tutoring spells rather quickly, and black, as we know, pretty much has the best tutoring spells. Now I'm not usually a combo player but I figured that there is a first time for everything. So I'm gonna give it a shot!

But before we go loading up on combos, we're going to need the essential elements that every EDH deck should have in order for it to function. First up, and probably the most important (especially since we're playing combo) is tutoring/draw power:

Expedition Map
Mind's Eye
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp (Combo Piece!)
Dimir House Guard
Rune-Scarred Demon
Necropotence
Vampiric Tutor
Liliana Vess
Beseech the Queen
Demonic Tutor
Imperial Seal
Increasing Ambition
Promise of Power
(+ G-Bizzle himself!)

These cards should allow us to get our combos in a quick and orderly fashion, and with Griselbrand providing so much draw power all by his lonesome we'll throw in:

Library of Leng
Venser's Journal
Reliquary Tower
Psychosis Crawler

Next up is mana ramp, we're going to need it if we plan to get Griselbrand on the field anytime soon:

Armillary Sphere
Basalt Monolith
Grim Monolith
Sol Ring
Magus of the Coffers (Doubles as a Combo Piece!)
Nirkana Revenant
Solemn Simulacrum
Black Market (Combo Piece)
Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

One last thing the deck needs before we start adding in our combos is some removal:

Oblivion Stone
Spine of Ish Sah (Much appreciated versatility to cover for our inability to deal with artifacts or enchantments)
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Shriekmaw
Steel Hellkite (See Da Spine)
Attrition
Grave Pact
Karn Liberated (See Steel Hellkite & Da Spine!)
All is Dust (You get the point by now)
Damnation
Profane Command

Okay, now we're to the fun part, the combos:

Ankh of Mishra + Bloodchief Ascension + Mindcrank (Clunky Wincon)
Reassembling Skeleton + Skullclamp (Draw Engine... Combine with Gravepact and/or Black Market for more fun!)
Leyline of the Void + Helm of Obedience (Wincon)
Leyline of the Void + Oath of Ghouls (Recursion? Don't mind if I do!)
Emissary of Despair + Mycosynth Lattice + Whispersilk Cloak (Not an instant Wincon but I like it)
Magus of the Coffers + Umbral Mantle + Exsanguinate (Wincon)
Grave Pact + Sengir Nosferatu (Board Control)
Grave Pact + Skeletal Vampire (Board Control... Combine with Skullclamp and/or Black Market for even more fun!)
Grave Pact + Pentavus (Board Control... Between the two vampires and Pentavus I gotta find one of 'em, right?)
Bottled Cloister + Ensnaring Bridge + Maddening Imp (Moar Board Control!!)
Caltrops + Death Pits of Rath (Board Control yet again...Combine with Maddening Imp if you wish to force the issue)
Lich + Repay in Kind (Awesome Wincon)
Words of Waste + Geth's Grimoire (Full hand for me, empty hand for everyone else)
Words of Waste + Griselbrand (See Above)
Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Deserted Temple + Exsanguinate (Not a guaranteed wincon but it should work often enough)
Claws of Gix + Spine of Ish Sah (Did I say it enough times? Board Control! xD)

It should be noted that Claws of Gix is also great for theft prevention. =)

Now we just throw in our manabase and we're done:

Commander:
Griselbrand

Artifact: 23
Ankh of Mishra
Armillary Sphere
Basalt Monolith
Bottled Cloister
Caltrops
Claws of Gix
Ensnaring Bridge
Expedition Map
Geth's Grimoire
Grim Monolith
Helm of Obedience
Library of Leng
Mind's Eye
Mindcrank
Mycosynth Lattice
Oblivion Stone
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Spine of Ish Sah
Umbral Mantle
Venser's Journal
Whispersilk Cloak

Creature: 15
Dimir House Guard
Emissary of Despair
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Maddening Imp
Magus of the Coffers
Nirkana Revenant
Pentavus
Psychosis Crawler
Reassembling Skeleton
Rune-Scarred Demon
Sengir Nosferatu
Shriekmaw
Skeletal Vampire
Solemn Simulacrum
Steel Hellkite


Enchantment: 10
Attrition
Black Market
Bloodchief Ascension
Death Pits of Rath
Grave Pact
Leyline of the Void
Lich
Necropotence
Oath of Ghouls
Words of Waste


Instant: 1
Vampiric Tutor


Planeswalker: 2
Karn Liberated
Liliana Vess

Sorcery: 10
All is Dust
Beseech the Queen
Damnation
Demonic Tutor
Exsanguinate
Imperial Seal
Increasing Ambition
Profane Command
Promise of Power
Repay in Kind


+ 38 Land



In our manabase we have the dynamic duo of Coffers and Urborg as listed previously as well as High Market (More theft prevention), Volrath's Stronghold, and since we have so many artifacts, Buried Ruin. Plus a few more staple-y lands.

I'd like to add in a Filth if possible to give creatures like Psychosis Crawler, Kagemaro, and Nirkana Revenant some evasion. I'll probably end up taking out the Ankh of Mishra combo as its the clunkiest of the wincons but we'll see how it goes I guess.

One last thing I'll say is, the reason that I'm not usually a combo player is because I find that combos can easily be denied/disrupted but in this case Griselbrand is his own backup plan. If all else fails, three swings to the face should take care of any opponent.

Thats it for my take on Griselbrand, if you have any suggestions or cool combos that I may have overlooked then please leave a comment! =)

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.

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