At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Halana and Alena, Partners
- Colors: Red / Green (RG)
- Archetype: Gruul stompy/counters aggro
- Power tier: high
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
A Gruul +1/+1-counters aggro build around Halana and Alena’s combat trigger: each turn she dumps X counters (equal to her power) onto another creature and gives it haste, so a single explosive payoff ends games. The refined list leans into the OWNED earthbend ramp/counter package the old build undervalued. Cheap earthbend ramp - Badgermole Cub (a 2-mana engine that earthbends AND adds an extra G whenever you tap a creature for mana), Toph the Blind Bandit, Earthbender Ascension, and Ba Sing Se - turns lands into hasty evasive bodies while ramping a turn ahead, and counter-doublers (Sazh Katzroy doubles a creature’s counters on attack; Mossborn Hydra doubles its own counters every landfall) make Halana’s dump lethal. A wide power-4-matters shell (Ruby, Nessian Hornbeetle, Earth Rumble Wrestlers, The Earth King, The Boulder, Courageous Goblin, Bitter Work) rewards the big bodies the counters create - Bitter Work draws a card every time you swing with a 4-power creature. Five mana dorks (Llanowar Elves, Druid of the Cowl, Woodland Mystic, Ilysian Caryatid, Great Forest Druid) plus the earthbenders jump the curve. A dense red removal/burn package (Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, Abrade, Scorching Dragonfire, Fiery Annihilation, Brimstone Volley, Feed the Flames, Inescapable Blaze) and green fights (Rocky Rebuke, The Last Agni Kai, Plow Through, Earth Rumble) clear blockers so trample counters carry through. First strike + reach protect the commander on both sides of combat; Ogre Battledriver, Memorial Team Leader, Drix Fatemaker, Screaming Nemesis, and Samut give haste/anthem/trample reach to close fast.
Upgrade path
Every card verified against the owned pool - all 99 + commander are owned (own>=1) and within RG identity, exact printed names. RARE DISCIPLINE respected: zero rare/mythic SPELL crafts; the only crafted card remains the approved branch-out shock Stomping Ground (1 copy). Every rare/mythic in the 99 is an OWNED permanent, not a crafted spell (e.g. Badgermole Cub mythic own3, Mossborn Hydra rare own1, Sazh Katzroy rare own1, The Earth King rare own4, Screaming Nemesis mythic own1, Samut mythic own1, Ogre Battledriver rare own2, Toph Hardheaded Teacher rare own3, Earthbender Ascension rare own3, Drix Fatemaker/Crackling Cyclops, plus prior top-end Chandra’s Incinerator/Rampaging Baloths/Quilled Greatwurm/Prismabasher). REFINEMENT over the prior build, which buried the earthbend/counter engine the format is built around: ADDED owned hidden-power cards - Badgermole Cub (premier 2-mana ramp engine), Toph the Blind Bandit, Earthbender Ascension, Earth Rumble Wrestlers, Bitter Work (card-draw on power-4 attacks), Mossborn Hydra and Sazh Katzroy (counter-doublers that make Halana’s dump lethal), Nessian Hornbeetle (cheap snowball), Brimstone Volley (premium burn), District Mascot (1-drop counter). CUT the weakest/most off-plan slots - Mild-Mannered Librarian, Fire Sages, Burning Sun Cavalry (needs Dinosaurs), Eager Trufflesnout, Scorching Shot, Heated Argument - to make room. Count preserved: 1 commander + 99 singleton, identity subset of RG, 36 lands (untapped-heavy: Starting Town, Stomping Ground, Command Tower). Future rare upgrades if freed: untapped RG duals like Karplusan Forest / Copperline Gorge to replace the tapped Guildgate/Gongaga/Omashu.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Halana and Alena, Partners
Deck
11 Mountain
10 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
1 Command Tower
1 Secluded Courtyard
1 Capital City
1 Rockface Village
1 Starting Town
1 Gongaga, Reactor Town
1 Gruul Guildgate
1 Rugged Highlands
1 Omashu City
1 Crossroads Village
1 Thriving Bluff
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Ba Sing Se
1 Fire Nation Palace
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Druid of the Cowl
1 Ilysian Caryatid
1 Great Forest Druid
1 Badgermole Cub
1 Fanatical Firebrand
1 Frenzied Goblin
1 Ghitu Lavarunner
1 Fire Nation Cadets
1 District Mascot
1 Raucous Audience
1 Nest Robber
1 Ruby, Daring Tracker
1 Heartfire Immolator
1 Explosive Prodigy
1 Courageous Goblin
1 Nessian Hornbeetle
1 Casey Jones, Jury-Rig Justiciar
1 Toph, the Blind Bandit
1 Boar-q-pine
1 Giant Cindermaw
1 Beast-Kin Ranger
1 Mossborn Hydra
1 Howlsquad Heavy
1 Screaming Nemesis
1 Samut, Vizier of Naktamun
1 Flamekin Gildweaver
1 Ogre Battledriver
1 Battlesong Berserker
1 Ashroot Animist
1 Baloth Packhunter
1 Earth Rumble Wrestlers
1 Sazh Katzroy
1 The Earth King
1 The Boulder, Ready to Rumble
1 Toph, Hardheaded Teacher
1 Memorial Team Leader
1 Drix Fatemaker
1 Prismabasher
1 Quilled Greatwurm
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Chandra's Incinerator
1 Burst Lightning
1 Bushwhack
1 Plow Through
1 Lightning Strike
1 Abrade
1 Scorching Dragonfire
1 Rocky Rebuke
1 The Last Agni Kai
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Fiery Annihilation
1 Feed the Flames
1 Earth Rumble
1 Bitter Work
1 Earthbender Ascension
1 Inescapable Blaze
1 Crackling Cyclops
1 Elemental Bond
1 Ouroboroid
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
Card images & data via Scryfall.