Grumgully, the GenerousGrumgully, the Generous | Art by Milivoj Ćeran

Ho-Ho-Hobgoblin

Well, it's two days from Christmas, and I think I have just the commander for the occasion. This is the season of generosity, so who better to lead our deck than Grumgully, the GenerousGrumgully, the Generous. A red and green goblin handing out +1/+1 counters on a whim, with a big bushy beard to boot.

Yup, that's gotta be Santa Claus. I need an alter of this guy with a Santa hat ASAP!

Of course, at the helm of our deck, he's gonna be a lot less generous. In fact, we're gonna be using his gift giving abilities to take life away from our opponents as fast as we can.

Grumgully is a very basic commander. We play a non-human creature, and that creature enters one size up. But while Grumgully is very simple, the game of Magic is not. There's a million things we can do just with +1/+1 counters, or the fact that it's an enter the battlefield trigger. And while non-Human is a restriction, we can use it to theme the deck.

Plus, there's even some infinite combos we can play here!

Santa's Little (Or Big) Helpers

But lets start with those +1/+1 counters. Our non-Humans are gonna enter with one every time, and if we play cards that make multiple non-Humans, we can maximize this ability.

Writhing ChrysalisWrithing Chrysalis is the perfect specimen. It creates two Scions on cast, meaning we get a total of +3/+3 power and toughness when it's played. Then it can even grow on its own, generating more and more counters that will be very important to other cards later on.

Rapacious OneRapacious One is another very powerful card. Because it checks about its own power, Grumgully will let it create seven Scions instead of six on impact, which will all come in with their own counters of course. An absolute smattering of buffs.

The Eldrazi and Goblin kindred types end up being the most helpful here. In Pauper at least, they're some of the best at mass propagation, churning out tens of tokens in single turns. Emrakul's HatcherEmrakul's Hatcher and Kozilek's PredatorKozilek's Predator practically vomit up Scions and Spawn, while Hordeling OutburstHordeling Outburst and Krenko's CommandKrenko's Command do the same for Goblin tokens.

But one counter just ain't enough on all these creatures. Luckily, there's a mechanic made for expanding those numbers, proliferate. Just one instance of that word, and we can grow every single one of our creatures. Even better, proliferate comes tacked onto one- and two-mana spells all the time, like Thirsting RootsThirsting Roots and Pollenbright DruidPollenbright Druid. Those are fantastic here, but we can even play cards like Adaptive SporesingerAdaptive Sporesinger and Carnivorous CanopyCarnivorous Canopy because that mechanic does so much in our deck. It's just a bonus point if our proliferators are creatures that gain a counter from Grumgully themselves.

Then there's Fairgrounds TrumpeterFairgrounds Trumpeter, which doesn't proliferate, but does add a ton of counters on itself.

Ok, Sleigh

So what are we gonna do with this veritable hoard of counters? Attack? Well yeah, duh, but we can make those attacks even stronger if we play some cards that care about the counters. PridemalkinPridemalkin, for instance, gives every creature with a +1/+1 counter trample. Fantastic, and there's a million copies of the card, from Duskshell CrawlerDuskshell Crawler to Crowned CeratokCrowned Ceratok to Drix FatemakerDrix Fatemaker.

It's actually a surprisingly common ability, with there being seven similar cards that I could play in this deck alone. Trample will be no problem.

Bag of Goodies

That's the meat of the deck, but there's a few tricks up my sleeve that I feel I ought to highlight. Take a peek at Sporeback TrollSporeback Troll, a way to regenerate every creature we've got for two mana. Not an unbeatable card, but one that's sure to annoy our opponents and disrupt plans.

FertilidFertilid is quite snug here, snatching three lands on its own, but nabbing many more if we can proliferate a few times. Or, we can choose to boost it with Ivy Lane DenizenIvy Lane Denizen, another handy card that can selectively buff our army.

The best of the bunch, however, has to be Evolution WitnessEvolution Witness. A way to reliably return creatures from the graveyard, over and over again? There's an endless number of threats that our opponents should be scared of, and if we can play them multiple times with Evolution WitnessEvolution Witness, it might be game over.

Of course, this deck needs some removal, and since we're playing a good number of big scary monsters, the best way to check this box is with fight spells. Titanic BrawlTitanic Brawl is lovely, costing only a single mana thanks to our plethora of counters. Smell FearSmell Fear kills two bird with one stone, proliferating and fighting.

Lastly, Horrific AssaultHorrific Assault is just one mana to deal damage without even risking our creature, and it might just gain us three life.

Persistently Naughty

Finally, this deck has one grand firework: an infinite combo. It's pretty obvious, really - simply the combination of Grumgully and persist. Persist is this strange mechanic that lets a creature die twice, returning it to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it if it didn't have one previously. And because of how Magic works, if we put a +1/+1 counter over a -1/-1 counter, they cancel out.

Essentially, if Grumgully, the GenerousGrumgully, the Generous is on the board, Scuzzback MaraudersScuzzback Marauders can die an infinite number of times. Toss a Skirk ProspectorSkirk Prospector into the mix, and you've got infinite mana.

Now the thing about this combo is that it's not very good. There are only two creatures with persist that we can play in this deck, plus Goblin MatronGoblin Matron, who can fetch the aforementioned Marauders. Already those are bad odds, and there's also only three viable sacrifice outlets: Skirk ProspectorSkirk Prospector, Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar and ThermopodThermopod.

Then, even if we do get those all on the battlefield, there's actually not much we can do with the combo. Infinite mana is useless without a FireballFireball, and infinite ETBs is useless without a Witty RoastmasterWitty Roastmaster. But we're not gonna play either of those cards because our odds of assembling the combo are so low, and those payoffs are worthless without it.

We are going to run Aerie OuphesAerie Ouphes and Scuzzback MaraudersScuzzback Marauders, but only because blockers that never die are extremely handy. I'm not even gonna bother with a sacrifice outlet; it's just not worth it. You could totally design this deck to focus on the combo, but I think that for once, a straightforward combat game plan is gonna be the most effective.

Grumgully, the Generous Pauper Commander Deck List

And to All, a Good Night!

Happy Holidays, ladies and goblins! That's our deck, about as generous as the Grinch when all is said and done. Still, I think it's the perfect way to end this year, with a strong budget deck ($22!).

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Years, y'all, and I'll be back next year with more Pauper!