Tannuk, Memorial Ensign Commander Deck Tech

Tannuk, Memorial Ensign | Art by David Auden Nash

Hello Everyone! I’m Levi from The Thought Vessel, and I’m so excited for Magic’s upcoming set, Edge of Eternities. It’ll be really interesting to see Magic approach a space theme in actual gameplay outside of Un-Sets like Unfinity.

At MagicCon Las Vegas, we got our first look at some art concepts and even a few spoilers from the new set, one of which was this beauty of a card: Tannuk, Memorial Ensign.

Since it’s an uncommon creature, I could see this being brewed up for Pauper Commander. But today, I wanted to explore this legend in regular EDH. There’s a lot to look at with this deck, but as always, let’s start with the commander.

What Does Tannuk, Memorial Ensign Do?

The first thing we should note is the creature type: Kavu. Kavus first appeared in the Invasion block back in the early 2000s and have only appeared sparingly since. It’s been an underused creature type in Magic, and I’d expect to see a lot more of them in the rest of Edge of Eternities, which is exciting.

As far as Gruul Landfall commanders go, Tannuk is the lowest mana value option we’ve had in a while, only being matched by more niche choices like Radha, Heart of Keld and Erinis, Gloom Stalker. The lower mana value lets us get our commander out earlier and more consistently if it’s removed.

It’ll also likely seem less threatening than other commanders at the table, so it probably won’t be targeted with removal as often while life totals are still high.

Unlike other Landfall options that produce tokens or let us play more lands, Tannuk deals noncombat damage to each opponent on every land played. If we can get a second landfall trigger in a turn, we also get to draw a card.

This isn’t limited to our turn, so a card like Harrow becomes a lot more valuable; it’ll ramp and cantrip at the same time. But we’ll get into that more later. For now, let’s talk about what this deck isn’t.

Comparable Commanders

When it comes to Gruul Landfall commanders, we’re not short on options. Two of the most popular for this archetype are Omnath, Locus of Rage and Mina and Denn, Wildborn. Omnath is by far the most popular, with nearly triple the deck count of the second-most popular option, Phylath, World Sculptor.

Omnath is the focal point of its deck, as every land played creates a 5/5 red and green Elemental token. These tokens are tough to deal with because when they die, they deal three damage to any target. That makes sweeping the board tricky; sometimes there are enough Elementals that a sweeper would land enough damage to take everyone out.

Tannuk differs from Omnath in that we don’t have to spend as many resources protecting our commander. There’s more redundancy in the deck, and Tannuk costs a lot less, making it easier to recast. We also get card advantage straight from the command zone.

On the flip side, Mina and Denn, Wildborn make for a solid Landfall commander by letting us play an extra land per turn and recycle lands by bouncing them back to hand. That said, they heavily rely on the rest of the deck for landfall payoffs, whereas Tannuk is the payoff. For what it’s worth, both Omnath and Mina and Denn are great cards and are, in fact, in the 99 of this deck.

The Deck Strategy

The main objective of this deck is, as my co-host Joe would say, “a meaningful reduction of life total.” We want to be consistently damaging opponents bit by bit to bring them as close to zero as possible.

To do that, we’re melding two strategies together. The first is getting damage off landfall — we want to chip away at life totals consistently. There aren’t enough land damagers out there to lean fully into this, so we’re also taking advantage of Impact Tremors-style effects.

Landfall decks can churn out creature tokens thanks to cards like Field of the Dead, Scute Swarm, and Sporemound. All those creatures entering play can trigger our Impact Tremors-style effects to push our damage output over the top.

Notable Cards for Tannuk, Memorial Ensign

The MVC

Let’s start with what might be the most important card: Snake Umbra.

We’ve recently seen a new cEDH deck from Vivi Ornitier using Curiosity, turning every spell into an extra draw-three. This is no different — with Snake Umbra, every land we play draws us three cards.

It’s rare for a Gruul deck to outpace Tatyova, Benthic Druid in card draw, but Tannuk can absolutely do it.

Let’s Make Tokens

We’re running as many landfall-based token makers as we can in these colors. Omnath, Locus of Rage is the gold standard, giving us a 5/5 from each land plus that three-damage kicker on death.

Scute Swarm is fantastic for both sides of our strategy. At six or more lands, it begins cloning itself. After three landfall triggers, the next land produces eight creatures, hopefully dealing plenty of damage through Impact Tremors. And when players are close to zero life, we can swing in wide to finish them off.

Avenger of Zendikar gives us a burst of creatures and can buff them too. In a perfect world, we bestow Springheart Nantuko onto Avenger to produce 8+ creatures with each land drop. That, with any Impact Tremor effect in play, is a win condition.

We’re light on creature tutors, so we won’t do this consistently, but it’s worth exploring.

Zendikar's Roil is mana-intensive, but producing a 2/2 for each landfall helps build a board. Plus, as an enchantment, it survives wipes. And we even got a second copy in Final Fantasy with Chocobo Racetrack.

Taking Advantage of Tokens

Since a lot of our tokens are 1/1s, Skullclamp is a must. For one mana, we can turn a 1/1 into two cards. At our land drop rate, we might see an extra 6–8 cards per turn.

Nesting Dragon is another great token maker — its 0/2 Eggs make excellent chump blockers, and when they die, we get 2/2 flying Dragons with firebreathing. Those also trigger Impact Tremors on entry.

Stretching the Synergy

As I mentioned earlier, we’re running Harrow, Entish Restoration, and Roiling Regrowth. These ramp spells give us two landfall triggers at instant speed, letting us draw cards on other players’ turns. With Ancient Greenwarden, we can even replay the sacrificed land later.

We also have Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might and City on Fire as damage doublers. City on Fire triples damage to opponents, so Tannuk deals three to each opponent per land. Ojer Axonil upgrades red noncombat damage up to its power (four), and if it’s removed, it comes back as a land we can flip back over.

Xenagos, the Reveler is solid here too, making tons of mana from our tokens and giving us a Satyr if we need to keep triggering damage. And that ultimate? Not game-breaking, but solid value.

Redundancy is Our Friend

Besides Ancient Greenwarden, we’re running Traveling Chocobo for doubling landfall triggers. It also lets us play Birds and, more importantly, lands from the top of our deck. With 41 lands including MDFCs, that’s serious card advantage.

We’re also playing Sabotender and Tunneling Geopede — cheap commander clones (minus the card draw) that deal one damage to each opponent per land. Both cost three mana or less and under $1, which is great for a deck with a high curve.

The Impact Tremors

We’ve got eleven cards that output noncombat damage, many of them creature-based. Agate Instigator, General Kreat, the Boltbringer, and Molten Gatekeeper are functional Impact Tremors clones.

Terror of the Peaks and Warstorm Surge scale the damage based on creature power. And of course, Purphoros, God of the Forge is here, dealing two damage per creature and being indestructible.

How Are We Going to Win With Tannuk, Memorial Ensign?

We win by getting everyone to zero. No infinite combos, no alt-win conditions. Just damage. That said, we do have three “finisher” cards: Awaken the Woods, Reshape the Earth, and Scapeshift. Each lets us stack a massive number of landfall or creature triggers.

Awaken the Woods gives us Forest creatures (they won’t have haste, but can finish the job later). Reshape the Earth is the safest at nine mana, grabbing Field of the Dead and other lands to seal the deal. Scapeshift is the cheapest, but it sacrifices lands, which this build doesn’t fully capitalize on.

Game Changers

Our one true Game Changer is Field of the Dead, but others could easily slot in. Crop Rotation makes sense — it grabs Field or any utility land. Gaea's Cradle is another big one. With all the creatures we’re producing, we can cash that in for huge mana swings.

Alternate Routes

One honorable mention: a Primal Surge build with no other instants or sorceries. It would dump our whole deck onto the field and deal lethal damage almost every time. You’d just need to watch for effects like Teferi's Protection blanking the damage.

We’re playing a fair number of fetch lands to get extra landfall triggers, but we could add more if we really want to lean into it. The deck’s also light on creature tutors — if your pods are more powerful or if you want a more consistent build, adding a few could help.

Wrapping Up

And there we have Tannuk! I’m super excited to see Kavu back in Magic and can’t wait to see what else Edge of Eternities brings.

Feel free to copy this deck list, take it as inspiration, or pull pieces from it — it’s all yours at the end of the day. Until next time, happy brewing.

Tannuk, Memorial Ensign Commander Deck List