He’s just a silly little guy!
Art:Grolnok, the Omnivore
by Simon Dominic
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander is:
Grolnok is an amazing commander that allows us to mill our cards whenever a frog attacks and exile them to be cast later, the biggest advantage of this is protecting our important combo pieces in exile like Thassa's Oracle
or Leveler
until the turn that we need them. Grolnok is a really cool simic commander with a very interesting design this is a combo deck in every way with most of our cards helping us mill to get there! Grolnok is a really fun deck for anyone who likes quick games and combo style wins
The Deck:
Grolnok Frog Combo!
Why Grolnok, The Omnivore?
Grolnok is a key piece of our deck and is a really important piece to our combo machine. Not only does Grolnok infinite combo with a few of the cards in our deck, he also allows us to protect and get our combo pieces. Since we can mill cards whenever a frog attacks and protect those cards in exile we can effectively mill a bunch of our deck and save our combos from our opponents Praetor's Grasp
or any other exile effects like that. Grolnok is really important for us to cast and the deck operates much slower without him, with him on the battlefield we can cycle through our deck really quickly and get our combos off with relative ease! Grolnok also works with all of our mill spells so in the right situation we can mill a huge amount of cards to find our combos and set up a win!
Deck Overview:
Our creature package is where a lot of our mill effects lie as well as our frogs so we can continuously trigger Grolnok. None of our frogs are really that special ability or statwise but since they can easily trigger Grolnok they are perfect for our deck. Bloated Toad
, Halo Hopper
and Froghemoth
are some of the coolest frogs in our deck and they are all just silly little guys. For our mill package we are packing mill staples like Bruvac the Grandiloquent
who can be a great way for us to self mill with Grolnok on the battlefield or with some of our other mill creatures / spells can mill our opponents entire deck. Leveler is another great creature makes our combo win that much easier, the only caveat to leveler is that you need to have your combo win like Thassa's Oracle in hand to make this work! Spellseeker
is a great creature who can come down early and grab either Mystical Tutor
or Worldly Tutor
as well as a counterspell if you are at a counter heavy table. Zellix, Sanity Flayer
can be a great way for us to produce creatures since we are milling a ton anyway and can be great against creature decks so we can get chump blockers. Spore Frog
is a great card since not only is it a frog and can trigger Grolnok it also allows us to do a Fog
effect for a turn which in testing has saved me more than a few times!
We don’t have a ton of planeswalkers but both of them are key to our strategy, Jace, the Perfected Mind
is really only used for his -X ability since he can come down and mill 15 cards, in testing I typically targeted myself with this and never really used his other abilities. Our other planeswalker may seem familiar since it is Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
we really don’t care about any of his abilities only that he is basically a second copy of Laboratory Maniac
. Its not that Jace’s abilities are useless but we typically cast him right before a win.
Our spell package has some protection for our combos as well as some great mill spells! Increasing Confusion
is a great cheap mill spell that mills a ton of cards, it is almost always worth it to hold this and mill yourself with it! Croaking Counterpart
is a great and flavorful card that allows us to create a token of a creature its really up to you what you target but anything with an activated ability is usually the right target! Traumatize
and Cut Your Losses
are both great mill spells, who you target is really dependent on if you are setting up for a combo win or a mill-kill on your opponents. For combo protection we have An Offer You Can't Refuse
which is a great way for us to protect one of our big mill spells. Cyclonic Rift
is a great way to disrupt our opponents or protect one of our permanents, in my experience I almost never overloaded it and typically used it as a piece of a targeted bounce effect. Force of Vigor
is a great way for us to interact with our opponents artifacts or enchantments at instant speed or hard cast it, it is very effective no matter which way you cast it.
Our artifact package is full of rocks as well as great utility artifacts, the best utility artifact in our deck is Maskwood Nexus
since it makes all of our creatures frogs and in testing I was very easily able to cycle through my entire deck once I put down maskwood nexus. Mesmeric Orb
is great since it mills our opponents and us, since it triggers on permanents being untapped this can mill an absolute ton of cards! The last artifact I would like to feature is Desecrated Tomb
which is a great way for us to produce a ton of chump blockers which is especially great against token or aggressive strategies.
Our enchantment package is full of utility, we have the EDH staple Rhystic Study
as one of our best draw engines in the deck which is never a bad card. Frogify
and Song of the Dryads
are flavorful pieces of soft “removal” and can be great against opponents with sticky creatures. Fraying Sanity
is another one of our combo pieces but is also amazing in the early stages of the game! Leyline of Anticipation
that can let us combo off and win the game at instant speed!
Our land base is what you would expect from a simic landbase but has a few interesting lands. Alchemist's Refuge
is a great land that can be really helpful in the late game when we have a ton of mana or want to Traumatize someone at instant speed. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
is a great piece of fixing and is just overall an amazing card. Otawara, Soaring City
is just an ordinary land in the early game but in the late game is a great land to hold in hand to use to bounce an opponents permanent or bounce on of ours, in testing I bounced Grolnok to my hand to protect him from a kill spell multiple times.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Combo wins can happen quite early
- Easy to quickly cycle through the deck
- Croak counter exile allows us to protect our combo pieces
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Deck gameplan is slower without the extra mill from Grolnok
- Not a ton of interaction
- Extremely weak to reanimator strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We are in every way a combo deck a lot of our combos involve the same cards but there are an absolute ton of ways for us to combo off and end the game. Below you will find a list describing all of the combos and their requirements, steps and how to do them!
Hermit Druid
+ Thassa's Oracle
Result: Win the game.
Requires: Hermit Druid on the battlefield. Thassa’s Oracle in hand. Hermit Druid does not have summoning sickness. You have no basic lands in library. UUG available.
Steps: Activate Hermit Druid by paying G and tapping it, reveal cards from the top of your library and then putting them into your graveyard. Cast Thassa’s Oracle by paying UU. Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, winning you the game.
Hermit Druid + Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Result: Win the game.
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. Hermit Druid does not have summoning sickness. You have no basic lands in library. G available.
Steps: Activate Hermit Druid by paying G and tapping it, reveal cards from the top of your library and then putting them into your graveyard. Activate Jace’s first loyalty ability by putting a loyalty counter on it, causing target player to mill two and drawing you a card. Jace triggers, winning you the game.
Hermit Druid + Laboratory Maniac
Result: Win the game.
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. Hermit Druid does not have summoning sickness. You have no basic lands in library. G available.
Steps: At the beginning of your upkeep, activate Hermit Druid by paying G and tapping it, reveal cards from the top of your library and then putting them into your graveyard. Laboratory Maniac triggers, winning you the game.
Hermit Druid + Laboratory Maniac + Thassa's Oracle
Result: Infinite self-mill. Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. You control another creature. Steps: Activate Lightning Greaves’ equip ability by paying 0, targeting Cephalid Illusionist. Cephalid Illusionist triggers, causing you to mill three cards. Resolve the Lightning Greaves ability, attaching it to Cephalid Illusionist. Activate Lightning Greaves’ equip ability by paying 0, attaching it to any other creature you control. Repeat.
Grolnok, the Omnivore + Cephalid Illusionist
+ Lightning Greaves
+ Thassa's Oracle
Result: Win the game
Requires: Thassa’s Oracle in library or in exile with a croak counter. All other permanents on the battlefield. UU available.
Steps: Activate Lightning Greaves by paying 0, attaching it to Cephalid Illusionist. Cephalid Illusionist triggers, causing you to mill three cards. Whenever a permanent card is put into your graveyard, exile it with a croak counter. Activate Lightning Greaves by paying 0, attaching it to Grolnok. Repeat step 1 through 4 until your devotion to blue is greater than or equal to the number of cards in your library. Cast Thassa’s Oracle from exile by paying UU. Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, winning you the game.
Basalt Monolith
+ Mesmeric Orb + Thassa's Oracle
Result: Infinite self-mill. UU for Thoracle win
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps: Activate Basalt Monolith’s first ability by tapping it, adding 3. Activate Basalt Monolith’s last ability by paying 3, untapping it. Mesmeric Orb triggers, causing you to mill a card. Repeat.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
+ Basalt Monolith + Pull from Tomorrow
Result: Infinite colorless mana. /
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. UU available
Steps: Activate Basalt Monolith’s first ability by tapping it, adding 4. Activate Basalt Monolith’s last ability by paying 3, untapping it. Repeat.
Result: Infinite mill for target opponent.
Requires: Traumatize in hand. Fraying Sanity on the battlefield. Fraying Sanity is attached to any opponent who has an even number of cards in their library. 3UU available.
Steps: Cast Traumatize by paying 3UU, causing the opponent enchanted by Fraying Sanity to mill cards equal to half their library size, rounded down. At the beginning of your end step, Fraying Sanity triggers, causing the opponent to mill cards equal to the number of cards put into their graveyard this turn.
Fleet Swallower
+ Fraying Sanity
Result: Infinite mill for target opponent.
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. Fleet Swallower does not have summoning sickness. Fraying Sanity is attached to an opponent.
Steps: Declare Fleet Swallower as an attacker. Fleet Swallower triggers, causing the opponent enchanted by Fraying Sanity to mill cards equal to half their library size, rounded up. At the beginning of your end step, Fraying Sanity triggers, causing the opponent to mill cards equal to the number of cards put into their graveyard this turn.
Leveler + Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Result: Win the game.
Requires: Jace, Wielder of Mysteries on the battlefield. Leveler in hand. 5 available.
Steps: Cast Leveler, exiling your library. Activate Jace’s +1 ability, drawing a card, and you win the game.
Result: Win the game.
Requires: Laboratory Maniac and on the battlefield. Leveler in hand. 5 available.
Steps: Cast Leveler, exiling your library. The next time you would draw a card, win the game.
Result: Win the game.
Requires: All cards on in hand. 5UU available.
Steps: Cast Leveler, exiling your library. Cast Thassa’s Oracle. Your devotion is greater than the number of cards in your library, so you win the game.
Cut Your Losses + Fraying Sanity
Result: Infinite mill for target player.
Requires: Cut Your Losses in hand. Fraying Sanity on the battlefield. Fraying Sanity attached to any player with an even library size. 4UU available.
Steps: Cast Cut Your Losses by paying 4UU, causing the player enchanted by Fraying Sanity to mill half their library, rounded down. At the beginning of your end step, Fraying Sanity triggers, causing the player to mill the rest of their library.
Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Traumatize
Result: Infinite mill for target opponent.
Requires: Traumatize in hand. Bruvac the Grandiloquent on the battlefield. An opponent has an even library size. 3UU available.
Steps: Cast Traumatize by paying 3UU, causing target opponent with an even library size to mill their entire library.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy + Birds of Paradise
+ Freed from the Real
+ Pull from Tomorrow
Result: Infinite colored mana. Infinite Draw
Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. Freed from the Real attached to Birds of Paradise
Steps: Activate Birds of Paradise by tapping it, adding two UU. Activate Freed from the Real’s second ability by paying U, untapping Birds of Paradise. Repeat. Once you have infinite blue mana, you may repeat for infinite colored mana. Once you have infinite colored mana cast pull from tomorrow to kill an opponent
Paradigm Shift
+ Thassa's Oracle
Result: Win the game. Exile your library.
Requires: All cards in hand. The number of cards in your graveyard is less than two plus your devotion to blue. 1UUU available.
Steps: Cast Paradigm Shift by paying 1U, exiling your library and shuffling your graveyard into your library. Cast Thassa’s Oracle by paying UU. Thassa’s Oracle enters the battlefield, causing you to win the game.
Bruvac the Grandiloquent + Maddening Cacophony
Result: Infinite mill. Requires: Bruvac the Grandiloquent on the battlefield. Maddening Cacophony in hand. 4UU available. Steps: Cast Maddening Cacophony with kicker by paying 4UU, causing each opponent to mill their entire library.
Conclusion:
While frogs may not be the most prevalent creature type in EDH or in magic in general. Grolnok is a really fun commander who can cycle through our deck at extreme speeds and allows us to grab and protect our combos. Grolnok is a really fun deck for anyone who likes quick games and combo style wins. Grolnok is a very slept on commander who is a ton of fun to pilot!
Thanks for reading to the end!