Despite being surrounded by a couple of short-lived controversies, Mystery Booster: Commander Edition looks like a true love letter to MTG players. Not only are there tons of deep lore cuts across the 60 new cards, but many of them are seriously strong too. Some, like Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero, in fact, are in contention for being the best-in-slot option for some archetypes.
MTG Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero
While Grizzlegom might not have an actual Landfall ability, like Aesi, it’s nevertheless one of the best Landfall Commanders printed. By rewarding you for having tons of lands, not just playing them, Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero is a constant value engine. The value it provides is obscene too, with bodies, card draw, life gain, counters, and life loss all covered.
Realistically, the only downside with Grizzlegom is that you need each type of land in play for the relevant ability. While this is facilitated by its Rulebreaker ability, playing non-Gruul lands can seem like dead mana. Thankfully, there are a fair few cards in MTG that solve this problem, allowing Grizzlegom to thrive.
Ideally, playing Prismatic Omen or Dryad of the Ilysian Grove unlocks Grizzlegom’s full potential. With either of these, attacking with Grizzlegom on curve gets you eight bodies and cards, while presenting a 44-life swing. Thankfully, with this deck’s core focusing on getting lands into play as fast as possible, you can be far ahead of the curve.
Between Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Exploration, and Oracle of Mul Daya, you can easily get tons of lands in play ahead of schedule. With tons of extra redundancy here, too, this deck can operate remarkably quickly, especially with Grizzlegom providing card draw. If this still isn’t enough lands for you liking, Through the Forest Gate or Boundless Realms should dump tons onto the board.
Should this somehow not be enough, Roaming Throne or Wulfgar of Icewind Dale can double Grizzlegom’s triggers for insane value. Alternatively, Desert Were-Worm and Karlach, Fury of Avernus can give you more combats for additional attacks.
Oops All Landfall
While Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero might not have any Landfall abilities, the rest of your 99 definitely can. Landfall staples like Scute Swarm, Tireless Provisioner, and even Tannuk, Memorial Ensign are all auto-includes here. Alongside cards like Ashaya and Avenger of Zendikar, you can take over games without ever playing Grizzlegom.
Thanks to the sheer density of lands you’ll have, Grizzlegom can also run cards like Lumra, Bellow of the Woods. With Cultivator Colossus and Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar fulfilling a similar niche, the top of this 99 is surprisingly beefy. To make these truly massive, you can even run Abundance to play every land in your deck alongside Cultivator Colossus.
Realistically, the only trouble with Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero is whittling down the 99 since there’s so much good support. Not only is Landfall stacked in this way, but you could even run Domain staples like Scion of Draco. Thankfully, this is hardly the worst problem to have in Commander, especially if you prefer one strategy over another.
Thanks to this, Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero is already proving rather popular, despite not being released for months. Right now, this legend is the seventh-most brewed Mystery Booster Commander Edition legend, according to EDHREC. For now, this only accounts for just under 900 decks, but that will likely change dramatically once this card is released.
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