Magic THe Gathering: Gruul Aggro Standard Updated List IMpressions and FNM Recap

Last weekend, I took the updated Gruul Aggro deck list from my previous post to a Friday Night Magic event. I made a slight sideboard edit by dropping The Immortal Sun for a Banefire. The FNM event was at The Mighty Meeple with 23 players participating. The recent metagame for this shop is about 50% of the players with aggressive decks, 40% on control decks, and 10% for mid-range decks. There is a nice mix of casual, competitive, and, semi-competitive players at The Might Meeple. I will cover an updated sideboard guide, deck strategies, and FNM recap.
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Updated Gruul List

Updated Sideboard Guide:
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Esper Control: -2 Lava Coil, -4 Collision // Colossus, -1 Lightning Strike, -1 Nullhide Ferox, +1 Vivien Reid, +1 Domri, Chaos Bringer, + 3 Cindervines, +2 Legion Warboss, +1 Banefire

Reclamation: -2 Lava Coil, -3 Collision // Colossus, -2 Nullhide Ferox, -2 Pelt Collector, +1 Vivien Reid, +1 Domri, Chaos Bringer, + 4 Cindervines, +2 Legion Warboss, +1 Banefire

Mono Blue: -3 Nullhide Ferox, -2 Pelt Collector, +1 Shivan Fire, +2 Lava Coil, +2 Legion Warboss

Mono Red: -2 Collision // Colossus, -1 Kraul Harpooner, -1 Pelt Collector, +2 Lava Coil, +2 Shivan Fire

White Aggro: -3 Collision // Colossus, -2 Kraul Harpooner, -1 Pelt Collector, +2 Lava Coil, +2 Shivan Fire, +2 Fiery Cannonade

Sultai Mid-range: -2 Kraul Harpooner, -2 Pelt Collector, +2 Lava Coil, +1 Vivien Reid, +1 Domri, Chaos Bringer

Gruul Aggro Mirror: -3 Kraul Harpooner, -1 Lightning Strike, +2 Lava Coil, +1 Vivien Reid, +1 Domri, Chaos Bringer

Nullhide Ferox is a beating against many decks in the format for game one. However, you need to expect more board wipes  and other answers for games 2 and 3. I like to take one or two Nullhide Ferox out when bringing in the Planeswalkers and Banefire. Pelt Collectors are probably the weakest creature because they do not scale well later in the game. I like trading them out for Legion Warboss against control decks and Mono Blue. Shivan Fire and Lava Coil are all-stars against other creature strategies. Fiery Cannonade is used against go-wide match-ups such as Mono White or Azorious Aggro. You should not bring in Fiery Cannonade against Mono Blue. Cindervines are excellent against control and reclamation strategies. 

Deck Strategies:

• Do not keep 4 land or higher hands. The likelihood to draw more lands or non-impact creatures is higher than it would seem. I believe it is correct to keep 3 lands and a Llanowar Elves.
• Try to sideboard out red spells for other red spells. The mana base does not support an influx of red on top of the current deck configuration. Siding out Collision // Colossus counts as a red spell.
• It may be correct to sideboard out one Skaargan Hellkite on the draw if you plan to bring in Vivien Reid and Domri, Chaos Bringer. I have had awkward hands and draws where I see too many four and five mana cards.
• Mulligan slow and non-aggressive hands. You really want to make plays on curve or at least turns two, three, and four. Games I lose are when my starts are not impacting the board quick enough. You do not have enough card draw to come back from behind without casting Domri Chaos Bringer or Vivien Reid.
• Ideal hands contain two forests and a dual color land. Be careful keeping hands without a red source when you have red cards on the play. The worst position to be in is having dead cards in hand due to mana screw.
• I never sideboard out Steel Leaf Champion, Llanowar Elves, Gruul Spellbreaker, or Grove-Chamber Guardian. These creatures are the centerpieces of the deck. I also like keeping in at least one Collision // Colossus, except against control.
• You should have an answer to Lira Dawnbringer, Shalai, Voice of Reason, and other large flyers for games 2 and 3. Control decks like to bring them in out of the sideboard. I have found Vivien and Kruul Harpooner are great answers. 

My favorite goblin tokens, Nixon & Bowie

​Friday Night Magic Tournament Report: 3rd out of 23 Players
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Round 1: Win 2-0 against Mono Blue
This match was over in two quick games. My opponent was playing Sphinx of Foresight in his deck. While it was strong scrying an extra three cards both games in the opening draw, Sphinx of Foresight is not good. My opponent was punished tapping out every time casting it on turn four or five. Gruul Aggro runs 8+ answers to every creature in Mono Blue. In addition, Mono Blue has no way to block or remove large creatures. My opponent sided in Deep Freeze for game two, but it was not enough to stop all of my threats.

Round 2: Win 2-0 against 4-Color Reclamation
The first game was over quickly as my opponent flooded out without finding card draw. The second game went much better for them as they landed a Cleansing Nova and Wilderness Reclamation. My opponent then played a Lyra Dawnbringer, but had no protection for it. I luckily drew Vivien Reid to take out Lyra Dawnbringer. Vivien Reid provided enough card advantage to close out the match. 

Round 3: Loss 1-2 against 4-Color Gates
This was a tough match that I was unprepared to face. Gates Ablaze is incredibly strong against Gruul Aggro. In addition, the incremental life gain buys enough time for the Gates deck to find their pieces. I lost game one to double Gates Ablaze and a 10/10 Gatebreaker Ram. Game 2, my opponent stumbled on card draw and mana. I was able to close out the game before they could find a Gates Ablaze. Game 3 was quite close. I unfortunately drew two Skaargan Hellkite and Domri, Chaos Bringer in my first few turns. I got stuck on four lands and could not cast Domri, Chaos Bringer and play a Growth-Chamber Guardian on the same turn. I needed to do this to protect Domri from a Gatebreaker Ram on my opponents board. I believe my opponent should have played more aggressively this game. However, he found an Expansion // Explosion at the right time to draw four cards and close out the match. 

Round 4: Win 2-1 against Sultai Mid-range
I quickly lost game 1 getting stuck on two mana for multiple turns. I let the game play out a while just to see what my opponent had in their deck. I was smart not to show a Nullhide Ferox or any combat tricks while I was losing the game. For game 2, I had an amazing start and my opponent stumbled on four mana. They were unable to hit six lands for a Find // Finality to wipe the board. Game 3, my opponent did not draw answers to a large Nullhide Ferox played on turn three. They tried to stabilize with a Hydroid Krasis, but I had creature removal in hand to get through the final points of damage. I was one turn ahead of them casting a Find // Finality to re-gain board control.