Table of Contents
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has been around for a few weeks now and the metagame is already starting to solidify with the top contenders of the format showing up again and again. However, it’s not so set in stone that we can’t see some new, cool decks shine as well!
While Gruul Aggro has taken a hit in popularity, that didn’t stop Takehiro Fujimoto from trying a new spin on the archetype! Gruul has been struggling in the new metagame for a host of reasons. The card quality isn’t super high, it’s not as fast as the other aggressive offerings, and it doesn’t have many (if any) inherent synergies to help get the absolute most out of each of the cards. However, what if Gruul could be made synergistic? That’s exactly what Fujimoto was able to solve.
Decklist
Creatures (18)
Instants (3)
Sorceries (2)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (10)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$257.28
Sideboard
15 Cards
$41.97
Deck Information
Rather than just focusing on playing the best available cards in each color, Fujimoto decided to leverage the Modify mechanic from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty to add some much needed synergy to the deck. How will +1/+1 counters help? You have friends new and old that work excellently with modified creatures and +1/+1 counters in general.
To start us off, Upriser Renegade is a cool draft build around that has some serious legs in this deck. With even one modified creature this is a 2 mana 3/3 which is a great rate, but if you’re able to play multiple, then you have an insanely oversized beater. Oran-Rief Ooze is an old favorite from Zendikar that can not only “modify” a creature, but help grow all your modified creatures as well.
To top us off with the creature synergies, Thundering Raiju also enables our modify plan, but does so while dealing an insane amount of damage with each attack! To wrap up the payoffs, this deck also gains access to Kami's Flare which is extremely reminiscent of the insanely powerful Searing Blaze from our first foray to Zendikar!
Now having cool payoffs is all well and good, but payoffs are nothing without their enablers. Thankfully for this deck, we have an absolute abundance of them.
Almost all good aggro decks start at one, and for this list, having six 1 drops is definitely solid. Swarm Shambler can be a bit clunky, but having a turn 1 modified creature that also has a non-negligible ability for the rest of your modified creatures shouldn’t be underestimated. That said, the real gem is Kumano Faces Kakkazan. Acting in a similar way to Tenacious Pup in Alchemy, this one drop gives us a free damage, modifies a creature for free, then leaves us with a hasty 2/2 to wrap it up!
How about ways to constantly accrue +1/+1 counters (apart from Thundering Raiju)? Ranger Class has been a staple in Green decks since its release and it’s second ability adding a counter to any attacking creature is obviously invaluable in this strategy while also providing an additional body to modify.
Want to go even deeper? Another great draft build around with Upriser Renegade, Invigorating Hot Spring gives you four counters to use AND functionally gives all your creatures haste. That is an unbelievable amount of utility on just a 3 drop and having 4 shots to grow your creatures as well is simply icing on the cake.
Beyond all the interconnected pieces and synergies, we still have the underpinnings of a simply powerful deck. No matter how synergistic you’re going, you can’t just not play Esika's Chariot and Goldspan Dragon if you’re in the colors, right? Furthermore, with access to the plentiful board options Gruul was accustomed to, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the new direction Gruul will take to come back into prevalence.
Source
Takehiro Fujimoto took this list to a 5-1 Swiss record (6th seed) into a 5th place finish in the Japan Championship 2021 Finals. I unfortunately couldn’t find too much information on Fujimoto, but was able to discover that he has a wealth of strong finishes in a host of Japanese tournaments, predominately with other aggro decks. Seeing his creativity with this list that converted into another strong finish, its clear that we haven’t heard the last of the aggro deck expert, Takehiro Fujimoto.
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