Personal Records and Tips on Gruul
After ending 2020 on a high note, I kept the momentum going on the ladder and in tournaments with Gruul Adventures. What can I say - the bartender is a gentleman and a scholar, The Great Henge is broken, and the deck just wins.
Friday the 2nd I played in SCG Satellite #3, putting forth a strong 5-1 effort. Notably, I won the Gruul mirror three times in a row that night, including some difficult match against stiff competition. I made a couple memorable misplays in one mirror match, including not paying attention to what my boardstate would be when a third Akroan War chapter would trigger. Fortunately though I wasn’t punished too badly and took that match 2-0.
Sunday’s 5K Qualifier didn’t go nearly as well for me, as I went 2-3, including my first round bye. No glaring mistakes this time around - poor draws mostly. I finished the day with two straight 0-2 losses, including a surprising 0-2 to Temur Adventures - a matchup I normally win.
Really, my results that day spoke to all that we can’t control in this game, no matter how much we prepare, or how well we played in the days prior. However, I know that the 2-3 finish wasn’t entirely due to variance, and it definitely motivated me to stay hungry on the ladder and keep on focusing on improvement. With this weekend’s SCG Satellites being Standard again, I stayed on Gruul through the week, reaching Mythic on Monday night.
Getting there this early in the season was definitely a personal record, and the ranking I reached was also a PR.
After breaking this record, I decided I’d celebrate by breaking a fitness record too. So on Tuesday the 6th I completed my first 7 mile run.
I’m a firm believer that there’s some serious power in working towards parallel goals across multiple areas of life. For me at least, the act of reaching a new milestone in one area of life is what sets the momentum - and inspiration - for growth in other areas of life. It comes down to aiming for congruence, and aiming to improve at everything that you do.
How can you work hard and achieve in one area of life, but not give a similar effort in other areas? And really, when you give that high level of focus and effort across multiple areas of life, you start to see equally improving results.
In other words, focus on improving at your job, in your studies, in your relationships, in your physical and mental fitness and in all other areas of life that matter to you, and you’ll be more likely to improve at Magic. And in this case, vice versa.
It’s been a blast playing in high Mythic for the first time, and I’ve really tried to embrace the challenge of continuing to push no matter how high or low my rank gets. My goal is to improve by playing the best possible Magic that I can against the highest ranked players on Arena, and I’m super grateful for this new opportunity.
Improving Means Mulliganing More
One of the biggest things I’ve learned from playing Gruul is the importance of mulliganing aggressively in order to win at a high level. Aggressive mulliganing is an absolute must with Gruul, and truthfully, the challenge that comes with having to mulligan so aggressively - and so often - is one of the most appealing reasons to play the deck. It’s a practice that has helped me improve a great deal in the past several weeks, and something I’ve really tried to focus on lately, since it’s a skill that separates the good players from the great players.
While cards such as The Great Henge and Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate give this deck some serious reach that you typically don’t get with Gruul decks, you still don’t have the long-game and card advantage resources you’d get with decks like Dimir Rogues, Esper Doom or Jeskai Clock. More often than not, functional, but durdly hands lead to losses with this deck. The better you have an understanding of what your wins look like in each matchup, the more effectively you’ll mulligan. Fpr example, imagine you draw this opening hand against Esper Doom:
1 Cragcrown Pathway, 2 Forest, 1 Shatterskull Smashing, 1 Questing Beast, 1 Vivien, 1 Kazandu Mammoth
Keep this hand, and I guarantee you lose. Send it back and aim for something like this instead:
1 Edgewall Innkeeper, 1 Brushfire Elemental, 1 Kazandu Mammoth, 1 Fabled Passage, 1 Forest, 1 Mountain. Ideally, you’ll draw more action and eventually hit a Vivien or Garruk, Unleashed to help you go the distance.
Notes on Other Matchups
In the Rogues matchup, you want a similarly low-to-the-ground hand, but also some quantity of Fire Prophecy and Bonecrusher Giant so that you can keep their battlefield clear. Try to avoid opening hands with Ox of Agonas, especially when light on lands.
Against Mono Green Food and Temur Adventures, proactive hands with Edgewall Innkeeper, Soul Sear and any adventure creatures are most ideal. You can’t afford a slow start against either of these decks.
Mono White Aggro is the latest rising archetype, and your goal here is to start fast and Cleave through them. Soul Sear doesn’t seem great on the surface, but while slightly inefficient, it gets around indestructible.
The Heart of the Gruul Mirror
I’m currently 17-6 in the Gruul mirror thus far in the January season, and one heuristic that has held true for me in winning most of them is prioritizing playing a t1 Heart’s Desire on the draw. It’s more of an unproven theory at this stage, but in the past two weeks I’ve lost once when being able to execute this opening line on the draw.
Gruul mirrors typically slow down quite a bit after sideboarding. Winning is about deploying the right removal and properly timing your Akroan Wars to stall your opponent’s progress or break their back. Playing a 1/1 human on t1 the draw may not seem like a big deal, but it’s actually quite obstructive to your opponent, and it enables you to incorporate some proactivity into your reactive gameplan. Turn two is typically when you’re holding up a Stomp or Fire Prophecy and playing the attrition game, so being able to play the turn 1 Heart’s Desire is like giving yourself a head start.
Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter for additional details and insights on these matchups and any others I may have missed.
Moving Forward
The last SCG Satellites for this season are this weekend, and I’m looking forward to making the most of the opportunity to play, improve and have fun in a competitive environment. As much as I’ve enjoyed playing and succeeding with Gruul, I’m definitely excited about getting back into Historic and preparing for next weekend’s Mythic Invitational Qualifier.
Thanks for reading!
