While there are countless Magic: The Gathering cards that interact with the top of your library in some way, the inverse isn’t nearly as common. The bottom of the library is largely a dead zone, the domain of cards that you don’t choose with certain draw effects. That said, one forgotten Commander from back in 2014, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, bucks this trend. Offering some seriously unique strategies, as well as wild infinite combo lines to boot, this Commander is a fascinating break from the norm.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden MTG
The big draw on Grenzo, Dungeon Warden is undoubtedly that unique activated ability. For two mana, you ‘mill’ a card from the bottom of your deck, and reanimate it if its power is less than Grenzo’s. This turns cards that put other cards on the bottom of your library from chaff to champs. Repeatable options, like Soldevi Digger and Tomb Trawler, now let you set up a grindy engine. If a key creature dies with one of these out, you can simply pop it back on the bottom and reanimate it for cheap.
Since Grenzo’s is an activated ability, you can use Heartstone to discount it and make this line even cheaper. Pair this with cards like Illusionist’s Bracers that double Grenzo’s ability, and you can fire out multiple creatures at a time with ease.
In terms of which creatures you want to run in a Grenzo deck, ideally, you’ll want high-cost, low-power options. Creatures like Herald of Leshrac and Duplicant are perfect here, and you can also run pricey Walls, like The Walls of Ba Sing Se. Keeping things to two power or less is best here, since it means you can nab everything with Grenzo right off the bat.
That said, if you do want to go a bit bigger, there are easy ways to do that. Temporary buffs, like Brute Force, can greatly expand Grenzo’s range of hits, as can Equipment like Sword of Fire and Ice. Sinking more mana into casting him is also an option, but that gets tricky with Commander tax later on.
Off-The-Wall Combos
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden’s unique ability also unlocks some very interesting MTG Commander combos. For the most part, these revolve around cheating a creature out with Grenzo, sacrificing it, then putting it back on the bottom again to continue the loop.
There are various ways to pull this off, each leading to different possible outcomes. The easiest option is to have both The Cauldron of Eternity and Ashnod’s Altar in play, and sacrifice the creature you want to loop to Altar. This will net you 2 colorless mana and put the creature back on the bottom, letting you spend the mana to use Grenzo’s ability and bring it right back.
You can also do this without Cauldron, but you’ll need a creature that generates mana and something like Soldevi Digger to put it back on the bottom. The best picks here, creature-wise, are cards like Workhorse and Priest of Urabrask. Since they both generate more than two mana, you can actually build up infinite mana here, which can get you the win if infinite enters/dies triggers can’t. Workhorse is doubly good because it can essentially ‘sacrifice’ itself, removing the need for Ashnod’s Altar.
Grenzo opens up even more options when you run it in the 99. In a Grixis deck, it creates an easy two-card infinite turn combo with Timestream Navigator. Since Navigator puts itself on the bottom on activation, you only need six mana to grab an extra turn and cheat it right back out. If you’re more of a Jund fan, Grenzo also goes infinite with Zask, Skittering Swarmlord and Ashnod’s Altar. This only works with an Insect as sacrifice fodder, but it does mill your whole deck, which opens up more win options if looping the Insect itself doesn’t get you there.
Hidden In The Darkness
What’s really great about Grenzo, Dungeon Warden as a Commander is its flexibility. You can lean into the big two-power theme and run it like a spicy Reanimator deck, but you can also spin off in different directions. With most of the best Goblins having low power, Grenzo makes an excellent Commander for a Goblin Typal deck. He can even give Aristocrats a pretty good go, with the addition of sacrifice outlets easily feeding into his combo lines.
With so many potential playstyles and huge combo potential at its disposal, you’d expect Grenzo, Dungeon Warden to be a pretty popular pick in MTG Commander. Surprisingly enough, this actually isn’t the case, as only 4,240 players run it as their Commander according to EDHREC. It’s even more niche in the 99, with only around 3,950 decks choosing to slot in this unique Goblin. Like so many great artists, it seems that Grenzo is going unappreciated in his time.
While it’s a shame that such a unique and powerful Commander isn’t more widely-played, this does mean that Grenzo is amazingly budget-friendly. Near-mint copies of this legend can be had for just $0.32 right now, for the original Conspiracy printing. Even if you want to get fancier, Grenzo won’t break the bank, as the Secret Lair printing is very reasonable at just $3.62. Add in the fact that most of the good Grenzo support cards are cheap too, due to being fairly niche, and you’ve got a recipe for a seriously entertaining budget deck for your next Commander night.
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