Svella, Ice Shaper - Big Gruul
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Table of Contents
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A Short Introduction
Let Me introduce Myself!
My name is Tim/LaHistorica and I am a Dutch Magic: The Gathering player. I have been playing MTG off
Kumena won me quite a few standard games
I started playing EDH in 2015. It took a long time before I dived into the format that would end up becoming my favourite. EDH opened up the more social aspects of MTG for me. After all, it is a lot of fun to play with friends or drop into a pod with new people! Deckbuilding is something I enjoy too. Putting together a nice list around a theme, commander or playgroup's power level is great. I feel very comfortable with green-based strategies. In the past few years I have played Nissa, Vastwood Seer (green combo), Ezuri, Claw of Progress (combo weenies), Tuvasa the Sunlit/Estrid the Masked (enchantress), Mayael the Anima (fatties) and Atalya, Samite Master (lifegain). I have also played Liesa, Shroud of Dusk for a bit before ultimately returning to enchantress decks again. After playing only Sythis, Harvest's Hand for a few months my deckbuilding itches started surfacing again. I wanted to build a deck that embraces the Timmy side of me: enter Svella, Ice Shaper!
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Commander Analysis
Why Play Svella, Ice Shaper?
WIPCommanders similar to Svella, Ice Shaper
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Deck Philosophy
How Did I Build This Deck?
WIPDeck Attributes
Card Draw: -Resilience: -
Ramp: -
Cost: -
Linearity: -
Scare Factor: -
Combos: -
Difficulty: -
Commander Dependancy: -
Speed: -
Interaction: -
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Current Decklist
Svella Main Decklist Budget Cuts
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Svella On A €100 Budget
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Piloting The Deck
Early Game: Turn 1-3
Midgame: Turn 4-8
Building A Boardstate
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-Endgame: Turn 9+
A Commanding Presence
-Overwhelming The Opposition
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Card Choice Discussion - Main Decklist
Threats
Here I have listed all the threats I am running. Every creature in this deck does something that is valuable to the overal gameplan of the deck, be it removing opposing permanents or dealing massive amounts of damage.
Threats
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- Dragonborn Champion: An aggressively costed creature. Since all of our threats have power 5 or greater, it will pretty likely net you some card draw over the course of the game.
- Spellbreaker Behemoth: This guy is the bane of blue-based counterspell nonsense. Gruul does not like that. This four mana 5/5 will make sure all our creatures will enter the battlefield.
- Ilharg, the Raze-Boar: Ilharg comes with a very powerful effect. When he attacks we can put a creature into play and swing with it (although it sadly returns to hand at the end of our turn). Since there will very likely be a fatty in our hand, Ilharg is essentially a 6/6 + an extra big body when he attacks. Good combat value!
- Terror of the Peaks: Terror of the Peaks is removal on a stick for this deck. He can also swing in for quite a bit of damage himself. Only downside is that he does not trigger his own damage ability when he enters, but other than that he is one of the stronger cards in the deck.
- Bloodthirster: Honestly, I am not a huge fan of the frame. He was too strong not to include though. Bloodthirster can attack every opponent during your turn, so that is a possible 18 damage from a single card.
- Etali, Primal Storm: Etali is a fun include. Flipping cards is something I really like. Him being a 6 mana 6/6 is decent enough and his ability can provide a lot of value if you are lucky.
- Inferno Titan: The red giant does not get a lot of love in EDH. I have barely spotted him. He is great repeatable removal on a stick in my opinion as he takes out small blockers, utility creatures and smaller commanders.
- Kogla, the Titan Ape: Gruul does not have a lot of access to creature removal apart from 'fight' cards. Kogla fixes that. He has a good statline and can take out a creature when he enters. After that, he can destroy artifacts and enchantments when he swings. Great removal on a stick.
- Ruric Thar, the Unbowed: Ruric is the bane of spellslinging decks and decks light on creatures. He stops those decks dead in their tracks. Very strong hate option. Blue bad. Gruul strong.
- Scourge of the Throne: Scourge of the Throne is a bit on the small side for a six mana card in this deck, but he makes up for this with his powerful effect. Getting to swing twice with your creatures really helps the damage output of the deck.
- Steel Hellkite: Great card when you face an opposing army of tokens. Just pay the 0 when you dealt damage and blow their stuff up. Can also answer anything else depending on their cost and the amount of mana you have.
- Balefire Dragon: Boardwipe on a stick. Balefire Dragon can be oppressive against some decks as you can repeatedly swing at them and clear their board.
- Dragonlord Atarka: Removal on a stick. Atarka is a big evasive 8/8 too.
- Drakuseth, Maw of Flames: More removal on a stick. Drakuseth is pretty flexible with his damage dealing ability and he can take out multiple small creatures when he attacks, or just ping your opponents in the face for some damage.
- Gruul Ragebeast: Gruul Ragebeast is not super flashy, but he does pull his weight in this deck. When he enters, or when one of your other big creatures enter, you get to fight and take something out. Your creatures being big means that you will in practically fight anything on the board and win.
- Thorn Mammoth: Another fight option. Very similar to Gruul Ragebeast, but in this case Mammoth will always be the one fighting. Be wary of fighting and attacking with the mammoth in the same turn, as he will take damage from fighting!
- Titan of Industry: Solid threat with good keywords and a nice suite of 'choose one' abilities. All abilities can be relevant, but you probably will not gain the 5 very often.
- Archetype of Endurance: Blanks your opponents targeted removal, and makes sure that your opponents creatures cannot gain hexproof themselves. Not the strongest threat, but a solid team player.
- Terastodon: Does this card need an introduction? You get an 8/8 body that blows up three non-creature permanents. That is a good deal.
- Utvara Hellkite: Utvara Hellkite can create an army over the course of a few turns. The deck plays some other dragons too, so there is some synergy to look out for.
- Woodfall Primus: Old Primus is not as strong as Terastodon, but he does a good job as removal on a stick and he comes back to blow up a second non-creature permanent after a boardwipe or removal (that does not exile).
- Apex Altisaur: A great way to get rid of some problematic creatures. He comes into play, fights something and can then start a chain until you decide to call it quits.
- Void Winnower: One of the better Eldrazi around. He makes it harder for your opponents to play Magic and it will be harder for your opponents to block.
- Apex Devastator: I never really considered this card for many decks, but in Svella he is the nuts. Since Svella casts the creatures with her abilitiy, you will get the four cascades! Since this deck plays a lot of haymakers, you have a pretty high chance to flip some great permanents.
- Kozilek, Butcher of Truth: Very big, draws you some cards and Annihilator 4 is nothing to sneeze at. Can really devastate opposing boardstates.
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre: Also very big, removes something and also comes with the Annihilator 4. Is also Indestructible, which makes it hard for some opponents to remove it.
- Worldspine Wurm: This guy is BIG! I play it for its sheer power and the trample keyword. When the board gets wiped, it will leave behind a nice boardstate for you to rebuild and smack faces with.
Cheating
These have been included to amplify the power the deck. They make sure I can flip multiple cards which Svella, get threats out early, or flip cards into play from my deck.
Cheating
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- Illusionist's Bracers: This card is great in the deck. It can copy both abilities of Svella. In the midgame this means you can double up on your Icy Manalith creation, and later in the game you can get two triggers from Svella from a single activation.
- Defense of the Heart: This card is so much fun. When you cast it your opponents get anxious about playing too many creatures and when they already meet the clause they sometimes anxiously try to kill of their own creatures. Can flip some of the meanest creatures that Gruul has to offer into play.
- Elvish Piper: Get your threats out ahead of the curve!
- Seedborn Muse: This card is the nuts when you have 8 or more mana available. It means that you can activate Svella in your opponents turns too. If this card goes unanswered, victory is inevitable.
- Lurking Predators: A true Timmy card, because flipping cards is fun. Every time your opponents cast a spell there is a chance that you might drop a bomb. Can generate a lot of value over the course of the game.
Ramp
Since this deck has an atrociously high mana curve, it is important to play a healthy amount of ramp. This ramp package assists Svella in getting to get to a workable amount of mana. Some people like to play a lot of one drops with Svella, but I rather spread out my ramp a bit.
Ramp
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- Birds of Paradise: Playing this on curve means a turn two Svella, after which she can start producing Icy Manaliths.
- Elvish Mystic: Idem
- Fyndhorn Elves: Idem
- Llanowar Elves: Idem
- Sol Ring: Sol Ring does not need an introduction. Goes into most commander decks, because it is broken.
- Arcane Signet: Efficient ramping option.
- Farseek: Efficient Ramping option. Can grab Cinder Glade and Stomping Ground.
- Gruul Signet: Efficient ramping option.
- Nature's Lore: Efficient Ramping option. Can grab Cinder Glade and Stomping Ground.
- Sakura-Tribe Elder: Good old Elder. Can also chump in a pinch.
- Talisman of Impulse: Efficient ramping option.
- Three Visits: Efficient Ramping option. Can grab Cinder Glade and Stomping Ground.
- Cultivate: Not flashy, but it is a great way to ramp and hit your land drops. If you have Svella on board and five mana, you can create an Icy Manalith and then cast this.
- Kodama's Reach: Idem
- Migration Path: Solid ramping option. Makes sure you get to big mana.
- Skyshroud Claim: A double Nature's Lore. One of my favourite ramp cards.
- Beanstalk Giant: The giant can fullfil the role of ramp card as well as fatty. He is not superb at either of them, but I want to try him for his versatility.
Other
The 'Other' category... It consists of some removal spells, card draw and cards that do not really fit in anywhere else.
Other
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- Worldly Tutor: The only tutor I am playing in the deck. I usually use it to fetch either Seedborn Muse or to flip a fattie relevant to the boardstate with Svella (cast the tutor in response to the Svella trigger).
- Sylvan Library: A staple in green decks. Also lets us check whether we have something useful for Svella to flip.
- Garruk's Uprising: This card is useful to the deck in two ways. It grants our creatures a form of evasion (trample) as well as drawing us some cards. All but a few of our creatures have power 4 or greater.
- Rhythm of the Wild: Screw blue mages! This card makes our creatures uncounterable, as well as providing them with either haste or a +1/+1 counter.
- Guardian Project: Simple card but efficient card. I could play Beast Whisperer, but the body is not super relevant and I prefer the card draw to dodge board wipes.
- Sarkhan's Unsealing: This card can act as target removal, face damage or even as a boardwipe when I cast my bigger creatures. Can be pretty oppressive against certain decks.
- Possibility Storm: This card is very spicy/annoying/strong depending on who you ask. It is a great fit for Svella. The ability from Svella dodges the Possibility Storm, and if you cast a big creature from hand you are extremely likely to get a big creature back. It will hinder opponents far more than you.
- Where Ancients Tread: Whenever we cast a fattie, we get to shoot 5 damage.
- Warstorm Surge: Idem, but scales with the power of the fattie.
- Sandwurm Convergence: A nice value enchantment. It makes it so that flying creatures cannot attack us and it creates a nice 5/5 every turn. Also a good card to flip with Svella.
- The Great Henge: Since a lot of our creatures are really big, we can often cast this for 3 or 2 mana. Solid draw option that makes our creatures slightly bigger, and it gains us a bit of health.
Lands
Here you can find the utility and special lands of the deck.
Lands
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- Castle Garenbrig: Great land that ramps us a bit. The mana can also be used to activate Svella's ability.
- Yavimaya Hollow: The only utility land that I am currently running. I had one in my collection, and I think it is an efficient way to protect creatures from a boardwipe or a removal spell in the lategame.
Notable Exclusions
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Notable Exclusions
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- Kodama of the East Tree: I own one and I will probably add it in since it synergises nicely with Svella's ability. What to cut though...
- Insert random big fattie: I have skimmed through lists and lists of fatties. I prefer fatties that do something immediately to advance or control the boardstate, or are just very potent threats on their own. A lot of fatties do not make the cut because they are just that... a fattie. They need to bring something extra to the table to make the cut in this list!
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Credit & Thanks
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Primer History
Dear Diary,
March 7th, 2023I ordered most cards for the deck a few days ago! I hope they are all in by Friday, so I can test the deck in my LGS. Pretty excited about this commander, as a true Timmy I think it is a blast to play
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Changelog & Set Reviews
Changelog
Changelog 16/03/2023
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The Changes:
REMOVED
REMOVED
- Nature's Claim: Cut for another land.
- Beast Within: Cut for ramp.
- Reclamation Sage: Cut for ramp.
- Xenagos, God of Revels: Xenagos was a bit... awkward. I rather run creatures that are creatures immediately. I do not really have the luxury to run too many 'do nothing' cards I feel. He is awesome as a general though.
- Copperline Gorge: Not the greatest dual land, but it allows me to play an on-curve Svella.
- Fyndhorn Elves: A solid one mana ramp option.
- Llanowar Elves: And another one!
- Beanstalk Giant: Beanstalk Giant is not the greatest ramp card or fatty, but the fact that he can fullfil both roles makes me want to try him.
*****Credit for this Primer Template belongs to all members of the Primer Committee*****
