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Colossal Gruul [MTG - Standard]

Kamotz

God of Monsters
Also known as "Gruul Devotion" or "Super-Awesome-Ramp-into-Turn-2-HUGE-Green-Red" (or is that just me?), Colossal Gruul is probably the most fun deck I've played in...ever? Probably ever. It's explosive. The amount of mana you can add to your mana pool on just turn 2 is unreal. Turn 2 can leave you with 4 creatures on board and a Planeswalker. This deck generates mana like that's its job...and in a way, it is. You'll often be generating upwards of 18 mana per turn. And using monstrous the same turn you cast your creatures.

The deck was first piloted by Makihito Mihara in Pro-Tour Theros in Dublin. And since then it's put up some amazing results. It has solid matchups against other devotion decks and midrange strategies, but struggles against control decks that pack a lot of board wipes and removal.

This is essentially the progression of plays you really want to achieve:

Turn 1: Land + Elvish Mystic (2 mana)
Turn 2: Burning-Tree Emissary -> Burning-Tree Emissary (-> Burning-Tree Emissary?) (2 mana). Put Nykthos into play, use devotion ability (devotion to green = 5-7). Cast Arbor Colossus/Polukranos/Kalonian Hydra/Nylea. or cast Garruk, Caller of Beasts: -3 into the mentioned green fatties or +1 to refill your hand.

Here's the list I've been playing.

Shrine to the Monstrous

Creature (28)
2x Arbor Colossus
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x Elvish Mystic
2x Kalonian Hydra
2x Nylea, God of the Hunt
4x Polukranos, World Eater
2x Stormbreath Dragon
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Voyaging Satyr

Land (23)
9x Forest
2x Mountain
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4x Stomping Ground
4x Temple of Abandon

Planeswalker (8)
2x Domri Rade
4x Garruk, Caller of Beasts
2x Xenagos, The Reveler

Enchantment (1)
1x Hammer of Purphoros

Sideboard (15)
2x Bramblecrush
2x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Clan Defiance
1x Mistcutter Hydra
3x Mizzium Mortars
2x Nylea's Disciple
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Sylvan Primordial
1x Xenagos, The Reveler
 

the3rdH0kage

Turn my Swag on!
I really like this deck, I may put it together at some point but I'd throw in Colossus of Akros, you could ramp into him T2 earliest and Monstrous him T3.
 

Kamotz

God of Monsters
I really like this deck, I may put it together at some point but I'd throw in Colossus of Akros, you could ramp into him T2 earliest and Monstrous him T3.

I was considering it. But that's a very heavy mana investment, and you really need to have the perfect draws. The other downside is that you can't cheat the colossus into play with Garruk, which you can do with every other bomb in the deck except Stormbreath. And the colossus doesn't contribute to your devotion.

But it still isn't a terrible idea. If only the colossus had reach...

==========

There's also a Simic version that I cooked up:

Based off the RG Devotion deck, but playing Blue instead of Red. You lose things like Xenagos, the Reveler and Domri Rade, but gain some amazing cards like Prophet of Kruphix and Master Biomancer. Additionally, Prime Speaker Zegana is essentially Garruk #s 5 and 6.

It's been pretty fun.

Creature (33)
2x Arbor Colossus
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x Elvish Mystic
2x Kalonian Hydra
3x Master Biomancer
2x Nylea, God of the Hunt
4x Polukranos, World Eater
2x Prime Speaker Zegana
2x Prophet of Kruphix
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Voyaging Satyr

Land (23)
4x Breeding Pool
9x Forest
2x Island
4x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4x Temple of Mystery

Planeswalker (4)
4x Garruk, Caller of Beasts

Sideboard (15)
1x Bow of Nylea
2x Bramblecrush
2x Cyclonic Rift
1x Deadbridge Goliath
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Nylea's Disciple
2x Reverent Hunter
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Sylvan Primordial
 
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