Welcome back to Episode 2 of Fun & Jank with me, Plum!
Yes, you read that right. We’re playing Gyruda combo in 2024. Annnnnd we’re playing Goblin Charbelcher. Annnnnd we’re playing Grindstone combo. All in one deck!
How neat is that?
This week we have another brew of mine that combines 3 combo decks you’ve probably seen before. Gyruda combo from way back from the era of modern when companions didn’t cost 3 mana to put into your hand, Mono-Blue Belcher, and a variation of Grindstone combo. We’ll start by examining all three of our combos by themselves and how they work before showing off how to sideboard for games 2 and 3.
Let’s start with the list as it will look in game 1:
Gyruda, Doom of Depths has been outshined most of it’s life by the other companions. However, Gyruda had a few moments in the spotlight when a new combo deck featuring our favorite demon kraken burst onto the scene. Now usually you’d see Gyruda in the companion slot, meaning you’re restricted to even costed cards, but since we’re playing a MDFC mana base, we’re playing all 4 mainboard instead.
Let’s take a look at Gyruda’s text:
“When Gyruda enters, each player mills four cards. Put a creature card with an even mana value from among the milled cards onto the battlefield under your control.”
This ability, combined with numerous clone and blink effects such as Phantasmal Image or Restoration Angel allows you to chain together Gyruda triggers. With our build, we’re keeping it mono-blue, so we wanted to stick with clones only. This achieves our primary goal of making an army of Gyruda clones, but it also has the secondary effect of milling both you and your opponent 4 cards for every trigger.
Once you have enough of these triggers you can win one of 3 ways in our list.
1.) You create enough Gyruda Clones and finally mill into a Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods to give them all haste and swing out.
2.) You chain enough triggers to mill yourself and reduce the number of cards in your deck to win with Thassa's Oracle. This is made easier by the fact that each clone of Gyruda adds 2 to your devotion to blue.
3.) Similar to the above, you mill both yourself and your opponent all the way down to 0 cards in library, and then pass the turn so they draw from an empty deck and lose. No attack phase or Thassa's Oracle needed.
Your path to victory will depend on what you mill with your first few triggers. Sometimes both of your Yarus will get binned at the beginning of your combo and you’ll have to aim for a Thassa's Oracle and complete mill out, or vice versa. We’re not going all in on Thassa's Oracle because there are times where our chain fizzles after a few clones are made, meaning Yarus would allow us to win via combat damage, but an Oracle trigger wouldn’t. It’s nice to have options.
If you’d like to see the Gyruda, Doom of Depths combo in action, check out the video below! We even fizzled a couple times this game against Boros Energy but were still able to get there in the end.
Goblin Charbelcher is well known in many arena formats thanks to the addition of MH3. The set brought a new round of MDFC cards such as Sink into Stupor and Hydroelectric Specimen allowing for a “landless” mana base. With no lands in the deck, Goblin Charbelcher will always hit for x, where x is equal to the number of cards in your deck.
Grindstone is often seen along side Painter's Servant in older formats to mill out a player’s entire deck at once. However, since we have no lands in our list, we don’t have to worry about fizzling out when we activate Grindstone. Every card in our deck is blue! We get to mill our entire library (with the exception of Nexus of Fate) at once and then cast Thassa's Oracle to win the game. Plunderer's Prize is a clean tutor for our 1-of Grindstone and even puts it directly into play!
The Transformation
This is where it gets fun.
We’re playing Gyruda combo in game 1 no matter what. If we win, awesome! If we lose, awesome! Either way, we can transform into a completely different combo for game 2 (and 3).
Out: -2x Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods -3x Harbinger of the Seas -1x Thassa’s Oracle -2x Impulse
Plunderer's Prize actually does double duty in our deck. Not only do we use it to find Grindstone when playing that variation of the list, but we can also play it as copies 5-8 of Goblin Charbelcher in this configuration. Show and Tell also helps get Belcher out a turn earlier but be weary of what your opponent can drop in! We’re keeping in the Gyruda combo so its also possible to win via mill if needed.
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Gyruda Combo into Grindstone Combo In: +1x Nexus of Fate +1x Grindstone +4x Plunderer’s Prize +3x Thassa’s Oracle
Out: -2x Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods -3x Harbinger of the Seas -2x Impulse -2x Gyruda, Doom of Depths
We’re boarding into all 4 of our Thassa’s Oracles to guarantee we have one when we combo off. Since our combo is not only cheaper, but also has 4 ways to tutor Grindstone, we side out Harbinger of the Seas and a couple Gyruda (keeping 2 in allows to still Gyruda combo to win via mill) to bring down the curve and make room for our key pieces.
If you happen to make it to game 3, its dealer’s choice on what your deck transforms into. With all 3 combos available, the mental aspect of game 3 is way more fun. Maybe you ran back the same 60 in games 1 and 2, or boarded into Grindstone for game 2 instead of Belcher. It’s fun to try and keep your opponent guessing and surprise them with a whole new way to win each game.
Commandeer is a solid way to deal with other fast combo decks or busted early game plays. Our entire deck is blue so it’s easy to pay the alternate cost on turn 1, and nabbing an opponent’s key card can be back breaking for them (think Sorin, Reanimate, Dark Ritual, etc)
Harbinger of the Seas does well in it’s role here. It can stall just enough to allow us to combo off, and sometimes it just outright locks our opponent out of the game.
Show and Tell is probably what makes this deck stand a chance in Timeless. I tried many variations ramping to a Gyruda with Sapphire Medallion, Planar Genesis, and even Malevolent Rumble. All of them being too slow. Show and Tell allowing us to play our 6 drop on turn 3 is a game changer. The fact that it also lets us play out Goblin Charbelcher a turn earlier is an added bonus.
One more quick note. This deck is hilarious against Show and Tell. If they don’t have Borne Upon the Wind you can actually combo off before they do by dropping Gyruda in on turn 3 off of their Show and Tell.
Closing Thoughts
Is Gyruda-Belcher-Grindstone Combo (say that 5 times fast!) going to break the meta? Not a chance. This list is a diluted sum of all three of it’s parts. You’re better off playing a list dedicated to executing one plan really well, rather than 3 different ones just okay. Still, there’s merit to the idea of a transformational sideboard. We’ve seen Bogles to Infect, Oops! All Spells to Belcher, or even the time that time of Tamada took out all of his creatures to leave Finkel with a bunch of dead removal in hand. Sometimes catching your opponent off guard or doing something unexpected can give you the edge you need to snag a win. So try it out! Have fun with it and see if you can make your opponent scratch their heads in confusion while you play out your next match!
Feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below! Make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!
Happy Brewing!
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Plum is the creator of the Jank Tank.
He started playing at the ripe old age of 12 and immediately fell in love with the infinite possibilities that deck building could lead to.
He truly understands that jank is a mindset, and spends most of his free time brewing and concocting new and exciting deck lists to help inspire and promote creativity within the MTG community.
