At a glance
- Format: Standard
- Colors: Red / Green (RG)
- Archetype: Gruul earthbend ramp-aggro
- Power tier: mid
- Standard: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Gruul beatdown that builds a board of power-4 creatures and turns them into extra lands and extra damage. Turn 1 Fanatical Firebrand starts the clock; turn 2 Raucous Audience accelerates you into a four-drop on turn 3, and once you control anything with power 4 it taps for {G}{G} instead. The Earth King is the hub: its 4/4 Bear token arrives the moment it lands, which immediately switches on Nessian Hornbeetle’s counters, Ruby’s +2/+2, The Boulder’s earthbend, and Audience’s double-green mode — and whenever your 4-power creatures attack it searches basics straight onto the battlefield, which is both the deck’s ramp and landfall fuel for Mossborn Hydra and Rampaging Baloths. Eager Trufflesnout and Shopkeeper’s Bane give cheap 4/2 trample bodies that meet the power-4 threshold on turn 3 for {2}{G}. Earth Rumble doubles as a land-creature and fight-based removal, while Lightning Strike, Abrade and Firebrand clear blockers so the clock never stops. Rampaging Baloths is the top end that beats a stabilised board. Goal: a 4-power threat on turn 3, a wide trampling board by turn 5, and the game over by turn 6.
Upgrade path
Rebuilt 2026-08-10 after Badgermole Cub was banned in Standard. ZERO wildcards of any rarity — every rare is owned at the count played (The Earth King own4, Stomping Ground own4, Ba Sing Se own3, Mossborn Hydra own2, Rampaging Baloths own2). The previous note was stale: it claimed Stomping Ground was unowned and billed 2 rare wildcards. Badgermole Cub x4 → Raucous Audience x4 (common, own4), which unlike the Cub is itself a green source (13 raw → ~15 effective at Karsten’s dork weight). Ouroboroid was cut as the one card the ban genuinely orphans — a {2}{G}{G} 1/3 wanting 16 green sources against 13 — along with the Quilled Greatwurm six-drop and Solemn Simulacrum’s tapped-basic ramp, replaced by cheap 4/2 tramplers that meet the deck’s power-4 threshold on turn 3. The Earth King to 4 (a duplicate still resolves its Bear ETB before the legend rule). Lands 22 → 23 via Mightform Harmonizer → Mountain, which also takes red from 13 to the 14 Karsten wants for a turn-1 Fanatical Firebrand.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Deck
4 Fanatical Firebrand
2 Ruby, Daring Tracker
3 Nessian Hornbeetle
2 Mossborn Hydra
3 The Boulder, Ready to Rumble
4 The Earth King
2 Earth Rumble
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Lightning Strike
4 Abrade
4 Stomping Ground
1 Ba Sing Se
10 Mountain
8 Forest
4 Raucous Audience
2 Eager Trufflesnout
1 Shopkeeper's Bane
Sideboard
A 15-card sideboard for best-of-three (Traditional) play — swap these in game 2/3 against the matchups below.
Gruul is the beatdown in most matchups, so the board is built from flexible modal cards that answer enchantments, fliers, and graveyards without being dead when the opponent doesn’t present that axis. Unforgiving Aim (enchantment / flying / makes a 2/2) is the workhorse; Scorching Dragonfire and Torch the Tower give exile removal for Screaming Nemesis and Heartfire Hero.
vs Mono-Red / Gruul / Boros Aggro: +2 Scorching Dragonfire, +1 Torch the Tower, +2 Primordial Pachyderm / -2 Raucous Audience, -2 Rampaging Baloths, -1 Shopkeeper’s Bane. Exile removal neutralizes Screaming Nemesis; the Pachyderms are reach walls that gain life and blank their fliers/ground while you stabilize and take over with your bigger threats.
vs Dimir Midrange: +3 Unforgiving Aim, +1 Pawpatch Formation / -2 Earth Rumble, -1 Fanatical Firebrand, -1 Abrade. Kills Enduring Curiosity on sight and doubles as clean answers to their evasive fliers; keep the resilient earthbend threats that dodge single-target removal.
vs Golgari Midrange: +2 Guerrilla Gorilla, +2 Unforgiving Aim / -2 Earth Rumble, -1 Fanatical Firebrand, -1 Rampaging Baloths. Gorilla is a reach body that pops Unholy Annex / Glissa on demand; Aim covers Annex and their fliers while you go over the top.
vs Azorius Oculus: +2 Rooftop Percher, +2 Glorious Decay / -2 Rampaging Baloths, -1 Eager Trufflesnout, -1 Earth Rumble. Percher exiles up to two graveyard cards (hitting Abhorrent Oculus fuel) on a flying lifegain body; Glorious Decay adds incidental graveyard exile plus a cantrip and kills their fliers.
vs Zur Domain / Mono-White engines: +3 Unforgiving Aim, +1 Pawpatch Formation, +2 Guerrilla Gorilla / -2 Earth Rumble, -2 Rampaging Baloths, -1 Fanatical Firebrand, -1 Eager Trufflesnout. Load up on enchantment removal for Overlords / Caretaker’s Talent / Enduring Innocence and race with your faster, more resilient board.
Full deck with sideboard (paste into Arena for Bo3):
Deck
4 Fanatical Firebrand
2 Ruby, Daring Tracker
3 Nessian Hornbeetle
2 Mossborn Hydra
3 The Boulder, Ready to Rumble
4 The Earth King
2 Earth Rumble
2 Rampaging Baloths
4 Lightning Strike
4 Abrade
4 Stomping Ground
1 Ba Sing Se
10 Mountain
8 Forest
4 Raucous Audience
2 Eager Trufflesnout
1 Shopkeeper's Bane
Sideboard
3 Unforgiving Aim
2 Guerrilla Gorilla
1 Pawpatch Formation
2 Scorching Dragonfire
1 Torch the Tower
2 Glorious Decay
2 Rooftop Percher
2 Primordial Pachyderm
Card images & data via Scryfall.