(Gruul Charm | Art by Zoltan Boros)

If Not Gruul, Then Why? If Not Gruul, Then You Lie. If Not, Gruul Then DIE!

The question of planeswalkers as commanders has been brought up in Magic discourse an infinite number of times. People say it would kill EDH as a format, and others say it will do nothing but give more options to an endless pool of commanders. I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. My name is Nick, and the tenth installment of Myth Realized will cover Gruul (red, green) cards and how they would each ruin (or not ruin) your favorite 100-card singleton format.

If you have stuck around with me until this article, you know what cards to look for in this color combination. If not, check out the articles I did in red and green to see the cards I've shouted out in these colors.

• Arlinn Kord - 2RG

It's taken ten articles, but we finally have a flip walker that isn't a legendary creature on the front side. I saw this card opened by my best friend at prerelease for this set (this was the only card he wanted), and it was a house in Limited. This card is easy to flip, as it only cares about what you are doing to flip the card, and the backside of this card is a game-winner in its own right. The downside is that you must wait a turn after flipping this card to use the backside abilities, delaying your ability to win the game. A solid choice for Gruul Werewolves if you want to go that way, and with its offering, this might be the way to go, especially if you do not want to deal with a mentally taxing mechanic like on our next card.

• Arlinn, the Pack's Hope - 2RG

Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn it becomes night next turn) / Nightbound (If a player casts at least two spells during their own turn, it becomes day next turn). The fix for the new-age Werewolves of the game. It's mentally taxing and often ignored in Commander when you're only playing one card with this mechanic, but it's crucial for the sake of this discussion. This card is elegant in dealing with an ability that's sometimes out of your control. Giving creatures flash and a bonus when they enter the battlefield is fantastic for a +1 ability. Making two Wolves for -3 is a bit worse. On the back side, having a +2 that adds mana makes situations more reasonable when you need to cast two spells to flip Arlinn back. The 0 to turn your Commander into a 5/5 with keywords is fine when you need it and ignorable in every other situation. This and the previous version of the card are serviceable and a welcome surprise when looking at some of the past walkers we have seen in the series.

• Domri, Anarch of Bolas - 1RG

Pop quiz time: What is the rule around 3 mana value planeswalkers? That's right, readers, we always pay attention to them. And this might sound wild, but I think this card would be hated in "casual" Commander and not quite strong enough for "competitive" Commander. Individual feelings on the words casual/competitive aside, the ability that matters to this card is the +1 adding colored mana and not allowing creatures to be countered. Lower-powered players/decks and new players often lament an opponent's counterspell, and when it's cast toward one of the giant haymaker creatures they just put in their deck it feels even worse. The card fixes that problem. Higher-powered players/decks and seasoned players often appreciate the ability to interact with cards before they hit the battlefield. This card makes that not an option. Un-counterability from the command zone in colors that prioritize creatures over most other things in the game takes this card from a strong card for playgroups that dislike interaction or have started to embrace the good side of countermagic. It's something that has the potential to be a menace in formats where countermagic is necessary, and losing to combat is often an afterthought.

• Domri, Chaos Bringer - 2RG

"Solid" might be the best adjective to describe Gruul walkers. Nothing on this card is "bad" outside of the ultimate, but the two abilities you want to use on this card are not so good that you would warp a deck to fit around this card. Making mana to cast a creature and giving that creature a bonus when it comes in solid. Creature selection on a downtick that does not immediately lose this planeswalker is also solid. At 4, say it with me now...solid. This card will never be the worst thing you have, but it might never be the best thing either, and sometimes, that is what you want in a commander.

• Domri, City Smasher - 4RG

The first...and thankfully, only time I have to say this in the article. This is a planeswalker-deck walker, and it is not very good. With that out of the way, why is it not very good? Six mana is too much for what you get from this version of Domri. The +2 is legitimately good, giving your entire team a buff, and haste is a way to win or assist in winning. The rest of this card is significantly below the curve. A -3 for a Lightning Bolt is sad, and for the equivalent of casting the card after resolving Doubling Season, -8 for those not keeping track, you get three 1/1 counters and trample on the creature(s) that get those counters. Yuck. I don't think this card is justifiable even with the +2, as there are many, many cards in this color combination that can do some or all of this effect.

• Domri Rade - 1RG

A planeswalker from a somewhat infamous block, we see another three-mana version of Domri. This card has been out for a while and hasn't made any waves, but the fact remains: this card is solid. Domri Rade might be the poster child for how many RG-but-mainly-mono-green planeswalkers operate. A plus ability that gives you a version of card draw/selection. A minus ability that lets you use your, ideally, bigger and better creatures to remove your opponents' creatures, in this case by fighting. And an ultimate that most certainly wins the game. And win the game this does. Double strike, trample, hexproof, and haste are terrifying keywords. And even more so due to this being on an unremovable emblem. Once again, solid.

• Lukka, Bound to Ruin - 2R(R/2 life/G)G

This card is not solid, and this character is not well-liked in the community. Compleated, another mechanic not yet seen due to when I started writing the series, is featured on this card. Compleated allows you to pay the appropriate color or two life (thanks Phyrexia), and if life was paid, this card enters with two fewer loyalty. At five mana and five loyalty, having this card come in with only three counters is a killer. Losing the ability to the -4 if you pay the reduced cost is a bad look for this card, and the other abilities aren't looking so good that I would want this at four mana and two life instead of just five mana. This is also the only Gruul walker that restricts what the mana it produces can be used on. The two other Domri, Arlinn, and a walker to be named later, have either no restrictions or grant a bonus if used on a creature. Mix all this together, and we get a very unimpressive planeswalker.

• Samut, the Tested - 2RG

The first appearance of Samut falls somewhere between Lukka and Domri. The +1 is fine, and the -2 is lackluster. The ultimate has game-winning potential, and with another four mana cost in the top right corner, this card can find its place among the masses. The biggest knock against this card is that the creature versions of this card do things just a bit better. Samut, Vizier of Naktamun and Samut, Voice of Dissent push the aggression a bit better than the planeswalker version. However, we can always run those cards as commanders; we cannot in the case of Samut, the Tested.

Samut, Tyrant Smasher - 2RR/2GG/2RG

Another solo appearance of a planeswalker from a particular product, in this case War of the Spark (WAR). And with it, I'll continue to declare another appearance of a four-man Gruul commander being solid. A static ability that gives all your creatures haste is never going to be bad to have access to. A quick Scryfall search gives me 56 cards with this particular combination of words, 55 if you remove Immediate Action because it is a conspiracy. So it's not as if this is unheard of, and outside of mono-blue and mono-white, there's an effect in all mono colors, colorless, and a variety of color combinations. This is a wanted effect, even more so in the color combination most likely to turn things sideways. Now, like the uncommon walkers from WAR, we only have one ability, reducing loyalty and limiting the uses. But this can stick around at five starting loyalty and a -1 downtick. For reasons I cannot explain, the downtick gives +2/+1 to a creature, gives you a scry, but for some reason provides the creature with haste. The corner case for using this ability on an opponent's creature to activate its ability on your turn to somehow benefit you makes my head hurt.

• Sarkhan Vol - 2RG

If a trend hasn't emerged amongst the cards already discussed, it has now. We know the drill here: four mana value and an uptick ability that pumps creatures and gives haste. A way to "remove" your opponent(s) creature on the downtick, but instead of fighting, we get a Threaten effect. However, the ultimate on this card isn't as game-winning as some others in the rundown. A total of 20 power of flying lizards is good, but not coming in with haste is unfortunate. To complete the trend, this card earns another solid grade from me.

• Wrenn and Six - RG

If you thought my earlier statement about Domri, Anarch of Bolas was outrageous, get ready. This card would do nothing but give you situational ramp out of the command zone. Is that bad? Not at all. Is it good? I am not so sure. For a card banned in Legacy and format-warping in Modern; the landscape is very different when not in a 1v1 setting. One damage to any target won't do much when stapled to a planeswalker. Having a land in your graveyard to reuse is good, but there are many ways to do this in green, often in easier ways. The ultimate has to be built around if that's your plan, and it is an ultimate far-off in the distance, even if this comes down on turn two. A 1v1 menace and, for a point in time, the best card in the format. When taken to a free-for-all though, some things do not stack up.

• Xenagos, the Reveler - 2RG

There's one big difference between Xenagos, the Reveler, and all the other four mana walkers who can add mana with an uptick. This one goes up exponentially. This card is so much better than it looks, and as a person who learned that after playing it, do not underestimate the Reveler. What makes this even better is this card makes its creatures who happen to have haste as a bonus. Now, the ultimate of this card can win a game, but it will either win you the game randomly or with prior setup. Either way, there should still be some value gained from it, even if it is not game-winning. A card that is more fun than the first look and the final card to be given a solid grade.

Wrap Up

What else to say but "solid"? Gruul is solid. These walkers are the most medium, good in specific builds, better than they look walkers I've covered up to this point. The only question marks for me would be, is my evaluation of Domri, Anarch of Bolas correct, and is Wrenn and Six better than I am giving it credit for? Nothing on here jumps out to me as bannable or dangerous for the health of the format, but I don't think there would be many of these showing up in games anyway. I don't expect to be correct in every evaluation across all the various colors I have covered and will cover. Still, I either have a massive blind spot for the Gruul color combination, or I've found the barometer for the rest of the series.

As stated earlier, if not Gruul, then die. Still, another option for you is to catch my next article focusing on a color combination that is possibly the most opposed in ideologies to this one, Selesnya. Thanks to everyone for reading my tenth article in the tenth month of the year, of all things, and I hope to see you for our halfway point traveling the colors of the guilds.

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