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Wednesday Brawl – February 2020 – Week 3 – The Gitrog Monster, Uro, Gideon Blackblade, and More!

Welcome to another week of Wednesday Brawl, where players can battle each other using their Brawl decks featuring their favorite Commanders! As a reminder, from today, Wednesday Brawl will start at 8 AM PST (1600 UTC, or 1500 UTC after March 8) instead of the usual 12 AM PST since its inception to match other event start times.

Today we have updated two Brawl decks and four new ones were added by sidetraK (be sure to follow his Twitch stream), continuing from last week, including a write up on the new Frog Lizard Commander that was added along with the February update – The Gitrog Monster. Also be sure to check out the previous weeks’ Brawl decks, or the full collection right here:

MTG Arena Brawl Decks of the Week

Here are six new Brawl decks for this week, all brewed by sidetraK with a writeup on The Gitrog Monster below. Enjoy!

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The Gitrog Monster Brawl Deck

Welcome back Brawlers! Today we are gonna talk about The Gitrog Monster. This is a “throwback” Commander, and man am I happy it’s here to spice up Brawl!

soi-245-the-gitrog-monster
Commander
1 The Gitrog Monster (SOI) 245

Deck
1 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241
1 Witch's Cottage (ELD) 249
9 Forest (THB) 254
1 Wishclaw Talisman (ELD) 110
1 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77
1 Murderous Rider (ELD) 97
1 Massacre Girl (WAR) 99
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General (WAR) 97
7 Swamp (THB) 252
1 Castle Garenbrig (ELD) 240
1 Ilysian Caryatid (THB) 174
1 Incubation Druid (RNA) 131
1 Paradise Druid (WAR) 171
1 Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (THB) 169
1 Loaming Shaman (M20) 180
1 Omen of the Hunt (THB) 192
1 Questing Beast (ELD) 171
1 Cavalier of Thorns (M20) 167
1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World (WAR) 169
1 End-Raze Forerunners (RNA) 124
1 The Great Henge (ELD) 161
1 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253
1 Jungle Hollow (M20) 248
1 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 249
1 Temple of Malady (M20) 254
1 Finale of Devastation (WAR) 160
1 Assassin's Trophy (GRN) 152
1 Polukranos, Unchained (THB) 224
1 Deathsprout (WAR) 189
1 Vraska, Golgari Queen (GRN) 213
1 Casualties of War (WAR) 187
1 Command Tower (ELD) 333
1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
1 Nissa's Triumph (WAR) 170
1 Arboreal Grazer (WAR) 149
1 Elvish Reclaimer (M20) 169
1 Leafkin Druid (M20) 178
1 Once Upon a Time (ELD) 169
1 Field of Ruin (XLN) 254
1 Evolving Wilds (RIX) 186
1 Arcane Signet (ELD) 331
1 Lotus Field (M20) 249
1 Blast Zone (WAR) 244
1 Field of the Dead (M20) 247
1 Labyrinth of Skophos (THB) 243

The name of the game is ramp here, and boy are we gonna do it! I think this is a pretty tight 75, considering we are running 31 lands, the most I have ever put in a Brawl deck, by far! Luckily every land after 6 turns into a free “cycle” to draw us a card.

We have a 5 mana commander we can play on 3 and 4 very often – a 6/6 creature with deathtouch and two relevant abilities. Not a bad deal to begin with, and with the deck synergies, we can really get going here.

For our ramp package we have, Aboreal Grazer, Ilysian Caryatid, Incubation Druid, Leafkind Druid, Paradise Druid (that’s a lot of Druids), Arcane Signet, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Omen of The Hunt, and Nissa’s Triumph. Now thats what I call ramp! Nissa is not traditional ramp by itself, but since we can always play more than one land per turn, so it is effectively ramp for us.

thb-169-dryad-of-the-ilysian-grove

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is a house in this deck, with 31 lands and Gitrog itself, we are always going to be able to play two to three lands per turn.

We are running an interesting choice for a Gitrog deck: Loaming Shaman. After we sacrifice all our lands, lose our Planeswalkers, or creatures to a board sweeper, we can shuffle them all back in! Value all game long!

m20-180-loaming-shaman

Our first all star is Elvish Reclaimer, a decent beater, but he’s really here to say pay two mana, get a utility land, and draw a card. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. We can get Castle Locthwain, Witches Cottage, Castle Garenbrig, Blast Zone, Field of Ruin, Lotus Field, Fabled Passage, Evolving Wilds, Field of the Dead and Labyrinth of Skophos – whatever we need at that point of the game.

m20-169-elvish-reclaimer

Lotus Field is great, because with our Commander out, we get to draw two cards when we fetch it. And with the fetches next turn, we can use them to get another card draw! Field of the dead is also a free roll in this deck, we have enough unique land types that it’s just an auto include. Field of Ruin is great for taking out enemy Field of the Deads or Castles of any color.

You smell that, thats the smell of The Rock! The Rock is the name of a traditional Magic deck (well before the times of MTG Arena) which has been less defined by the cards it uses but more by the strategy it employs. In general, it is a black and green aggro-control deck which attempts to generate card advantage over longer periods of time and finish the opponent off with a big creature.

We generate value via Midnight Reaper, Vraska, Golgari Queen, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, and The Great Henge. We love the Great Henge – every creature we play gets a buff, and draws us a card! With Gitrog out, it only costs three mana, what a deal!

eld-161-the-great-henge

Our big beaters are Plukranos, Unchained, Cavalier of Thorns, Questing Beast, and End-Raze Forerunners. Cavalier of Thorns also draws us a card with Gitrog out, and ramps, the best of all deals. Speaking of the big boar, we are running the Finale of Devastation package, allowing us to tutor him up, and win the game on the spot most times.

Last up is our removal package: Assassin’s Trophy, Murderous Rider, Death Sprout, Vraska, Golgari Queen, Massacre Girl, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, and Casualties of War. Casualties of War is so ridiculously good in Brawl, this card can not be understated. Always a 3 for 1, many times a 4 or 5 for 1.

war-187-casualties-of-war

And thats the Gitrog Monster, he’s a house in Brawl, almost a mansion. Ramp, removal and big value creatures, thats THE ROCK!

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