mdbook wiki

Gladiolus Amicitia

7 min read

Gladiolus Amicitia

At a glance

  • Commander: Gladiolus Amicitia
  • Colors: Gruul
  • Archetype: Gruul landfall value/tokens
  • Power tier: mid-high

Cards

Commander

Gladiolus Amicitia — , Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (5/5)

When Gladiolus Amicitia enters, search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, another target creature you control gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn.

Two things to internalize about the real card (the scout’s note said “+1/+1 counter buff” — that’s WRONG; the buff is a temporary +2/+2 + trample until end of turn, no permanent counters). So:

  1. The ETB tutors any land tapped — it ramps you a turn ahead the moment it lands, and that land also triggers landfall payoffs already on board.
  2. The landfall trigger is a combat trick on a stick. Each land you drop gives another creature +2/+2 and trample. Stack two or three land drops in a turn (extra-land spells, fetch-ramp) and you’ve handed one attacker +6/+6 trample for free, every turn, with no card investment.

This is a beatdown value engine, not a counter-snowball. The plan is: ramp + extra land plays → multiple landfall triggers per turn → Gladiolus turns one creature into a trampling haymaker while the rest of the landfall board (tokens / pingers) grinds the table down.

Gameplan

  • Early (T1-4): Mana dorks and fetch-ramp (Llanowar Elves, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Rampant Growth, Nature’s Lore, Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach). Every fetch that puts a land onto the battlefield is a landfall trigger later; early it just accelerates Gladiolus out a turn or two ahead.
  • Mid (T5-7): Land Gladiolus (its ETB fetch is itself a landfall trigger for everything in play). Now deploy landfall payoffs and start chaining land drops. Spitfire Lagac / Sabotender / Cosi’s Ravager turn every land into damage to each opponent; Sporemound / Elfsworn Giant / Summon: Fat Chocobo turn every land into a body.
  • Late: Each turn you naturally drop a land plus an extra-land spell (Explore, Scale the Heights, Journey of Discovery mode 2, Harrow, Beanstalk’s Plant Beans adventure). That’s 2-3 landfall triggers — Gladiolus makes one attacker enormous and trampling, the pingers chip 3-6 to each opponent, and the wide board closes.

Key synergy lines

  • Double/triple landfall in a turn. Harrow (sac 1 land, fetch 2) = +2 landfall triggers at instant speed; Springbloom Druid (sac 1, fetch 2) = 2 triggers on ETB; Journey of Discovery (entwine/mode 2 = play 2 extra lands); Explore/Scale the Heights (extra land + cantrip). Each trigger is a +2/+2 trample and a Spitfire Lagac ping and a Sporemound Saproling. The triggers multiply across the whole board.
  • Ramp does double duty. Cultivate/Kodama’s Reach/Rampant Growth put a land onto the battlefield — that’s a landfall trigger the turn you cast them, not just mana for next turn.
  • Gladiolus + a single evasive payoff = a kill. Point the +2/+2 trample at Territorial Scythecat (already trample, grows with counters) or any flyer-adjacent beater; two land drops and it’s swinging for 9+ trample.
  • Pinger inevitability. Spitfire Lagac + Sabotender + Cosi’s Ravager each deal damage to each opponent on every land you play. With extra-land effects that’s reliable 4-9 reach damage per turn that ignores blockers — the deck’s non-combat clock.

Win condition

Go wide + go tall via landfall, close with trample beatdown backed by repeatable pinger reach damage. Gladiolus makes one attacker a trampling threat every land drop; Sporemound/Elfsworn Giant/Fat Chocobo flood the board; Spitfire Lagac/Sabotender/Cosi’s Ravager provide non-combat inevitability that pings each opponent on every land. Crash Through / Burn Bright / Trumpeting Herd finish the wide boards through blockers.

Role breakdown (with counts)

  • Lands — 36: 13 nonbasic RG fixers/utility (Gruul Guildgate, Rugged Highlands, Timber Gorge, Wooded Ridgeline, Highland Forest, Bleeding Woods, Slagwoods Bridge, Bristling Backwoods, Racers’ Ring, Savage Mansion, plus cyclers Forgotten Cave / Tranquil Thicket / Slippery Karst) + 13 Forest + 10 Mountain.
  • Ramp — 10: Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Rampant Growth, Nature’s Lore, Three Visits, Springbloom Druid, Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach.
  • Card advantage — 10: Roots of Wisdom, Adventurous Impulse, Commune with Nature, Llanowar Visionary, Sarulf’s Packmate, Wildsize, Charge Through, Ancestral Anger, Confront the Unknown, Crash Through.
  • Spot removal/interaction — 11: Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, Galvanic Blast, Magma Spray, Flame-Blessed Bolt, Bombard, Demon Bolt, Pinpoint Avalanche (burn); Prizefight, Pounce, Ram Through (fight/bite).
  • Pseudo-wipes — 3: Boiling Earth, Scouring Sands, Cosmotronic Wave (one-sided — hit only opponents’ creatures, leave my wide board intact; Cosmotronic also turns off their blocks for an alpha strike).
  • Extra-land enablers — 5: Explore, Scale the Heights, Journey of Discovery, Harrow, Beanstalk Wurm // Plant Beans. (These are the trigger-multipliers — counted as engine, not ramp.)
  • Landfall payoffs — ~13: Sporemound, Elfsworn Giant, Summon: Fat Chocobo, Territorial Scythecat, Grazing Gladehart, Spitfire Lagac, Sabotender, Cosi’s Ravager, Valakut Predator, Canopy Baloth, Territorial Baloth, Snapping Gnarlid, Plated Geopede, Akoum Hellhound, Makindi Sliderunner, Icecave Crasher, Belligerent Whiptail, Adventuring Gear, Groundswell, Stone-Seeder Hierophant.
  • Finishers/team buffs — 4: Trumpeting Herd (rebound = 2 Elephants), Burn Bright, Bonesplitter, Greater Tanuki (channel = ramp + landfall, hardcast trample beater).

Pilot notes

  • Always sequence ramp before your land for the turn when you have a payoff online — you want the maximum number of landfall triggers each turn, and instant-speed fetches (Harrow, Sakura sac) let you trigger during combat for surprise +2/+2 trample.
  • Gladiolus’s landfall buff targets another creature — you can’t pump itself. Keep a second threat on board before relying on it.
  • Hold Harrow / Sakura-Tribe Elder for combat: a land entering mid-combat = a Gladiolus pump + a pinger shot at instant speed, which doubles as removal-baiting blowouts.
  • The cyclers (Forgotten Cave, Tranquil Thicket, Slippery Karst) are flood insurance — cycle them when you’ve hit land drops.
  • Against go-wide opponents, lead with the one-sided sweepers (Boiling Earth / Scouring Sands / Cosmotronic Wave); they never touch your own board.

Weaknesses

  • No true board wipe. Gruul commons can’t reset the board symmetrically; the three one-sided sweepers only hit X/1s. A bigger battlefield stall from a control deck can outsize the pseudo-wipes.
  • Buff is temporary. Unlike a counters deck, removal on the pumped attacker doesn’t lose them a permanent investment, but it does blank that turn’s land-drop value. Spread threats.
  • Reliant on hitting land drops. A mana screw or heavy land destruction shuts the engine off. The 10 ramp pieces + cantrips mitigate but don’t eliminate this.
  • Flyers. Mostly ground creatures; reach is limited to Elfsworn Giant / Sabotender / a few others. The pinger plan and trample help race rather than block.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

Graph View

Backlinks