Gornog, the Red Reaper is one of the many legendary creatures introduced in Magic: the Gathering’s Foundations Jumpstart set. This mono red commander is the perfect choice if you want to play a deck primarily consisting of Warrior creatures (called either Kindred or Typal).
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A Gornog, the Red Reaper deck is one heavily built around combat. If you’re newer to the game or want to play a deck with a more straightforward strategy, this is the perfect commander choice for you. For those who like to turn cards sideways and swing, you’ll want Gornog leading that charge.
Decklist
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Commander: Gornog, the Red Reaper |
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Adaptive Automaton |
Archetype of Aggression |
Arni Brokenbrow |
Arni Metalbrow |
Bloodmark Mentor |
Boldwyr Intimidator |
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Brighthearth Banneret |
Combat Celebrant |
Flamerush Rider |
Frenzied Saddlebrute |
Goblin Wardriver |
Karagan Intimidator |
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Karlach, Fury of Avernus |
Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs |
Laelia, the Blade Reforged |
Lovisa Coldeyes |
Markov Blademaster |
Moraug, Fury of Akoum |
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Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion |
Neheb, the Eternal |
Ogre Battledriver |
Paragon of Fierce Defiance |
Professional Face-Breaker |
Radha’s Firebrand |
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Roaming Throne |
Taurean Mauler |
Tiamat’s Fanatics |
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell |
Warchief Giant |
Blasphemous Act |
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Coward // Killer |
Disrupt Decorum |
Fury of the Horde |
Overpowering Attack |
Relentless Assault |
Seismic Stomp |
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Sundering Eruption // Volcanic Fissure |
World at War |
Chaos Warp |
Great Train Heist |
Return the Favor |
Savage Beating |
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Arcane Signet |
Banner of Kinship |
Coat of Arms |
Dolmen Gate |
Door of Destinies |
Fellwar Stone |
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Hazoret’s Monument |
Helm of the Host |
Herald’s Host |
Patchwork Banner |
Ruby Medallion |
Sol Ring |
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Vanquisher’s Banner |
Wayfarer’s Bauble |
Aggravated Assault |
Berserkers’ Onslaught |
City on Fire |
Descent into Avernus |
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Goblin War Drums |
Gratuitous Violence |
Molten Echoes |
Rage Reflection |
Shared Animosity |
Castle Embereth |
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x31 Mountain |
Rogue’s Passage |
War Room |
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The decklist consists of 29 creatures, nine sorceries, four instants, 14 artifacts, nine enchantments, and 34 lands. Most of the creatures are Warriors, and the rest of the cards either support the creature type, or provide extra combat steps to have extra combat triggers.
Key Cards
Gornog, The Red Reaper
The commander of the deck, Gornog, the Red Reaper is one of the main ways you’ll turn off your opponents’ ability to block. Every attack of a Warrior turns a creature into a Coward. This is a permanent effect, meaning once a creature becomes a Coward, it will remain one until it leaves the battlefield.
While this is permanent, being a Coward has no actual effect by itself. You need a card that applies a consequent effect, such as Gornog preventing any Coward card from blocking Warriors while it’s on the battlefield.
You want your opponents to have as many Cowards as possible, as each one will give attacking Warriors a stat boost. It does not matter how many Cowards the defending player controls, and the stat boost applies to all Cowards on the battlefield.
Neheb, The Eternal
Neheb, the Eternal is one of the ways to ramp in a Gornog deck. Outside of ritual cards, mono red decks can struggle to generate a lot of mana. This is where Neheb comes in. It turns all damage opponents lost that turn into red mana you can use.
Neheb’s afflict ability helps to guarantee you’ll get at least three mana out of it. However, when combined with turning creatures into Cowards that can’t block, you can get in for even more damage and thus, more mana.
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Molten Echoes
For Gornog’s ability, Gornog itself doesn’t need to attack, you just need any Warrior to turn a creature into a Coward. Molten Echoes is a way to guarantee Gornog triggers without putting one of your permanent creatures in danger.
The token is exiled at the end step, so if it dies in combat it doesn’t matter since it was going to be removed from the game anyway. The token copies of Warriors also count for other permanents that care about the number of certain creature types on the battlefield to make them even more impactful.
Coat Of Arms
The majority of the creatures in the deck are Warriors. This makes Coat of Arms massively boost their stats, as each Warrior will give the others +1/+1. This effect stacks, so if you have three Warriors on the battlefield they will all give a +2/+2 stat boost to each other.
Coat of Arms is a must-answer permanent. If your opponents don’t get rid of it, you will almost always win whatever combat your creatures enter. Coat of Arms combined with unblockable creatures make for a devastating combo that deals giant outbursts of damage.
Aggravated Assault
A Gornog deck is heavily combat-focused, so Aggravated Assault is especially good as a way to get multiple combats in one turn. So long as you have five mana to spend, you can keep taking extra combat steps that untap all your creatures.
You can go infinite with Aggravated Assault and Neheb, the Eternal. Deal at least five damage in combat so Neheb adds that as mana, and then activate Aggravated Assault. After the extra combat, you’ll go into another postcombat main phase and Neheb will trigger his effect again to add mana. Keep looping this to have an infinite number of combat phases.
Unlike other extra combat cards, Aggravated Assault is an enchantment, which lets you re-use it constantly rather than casting it once and being done with it. With how important combat is to the deck, Aggravated Assault is one of the cards you want on the battlefield as quickly as possible.
How To Play The Deck
A Gornog, the Read Reaper Commander deck is all about combat. You want to be swinging your creatures at your opponents constantly, all while turning your opponents’ strongest creatures into Cowards so they can’t block your Warriors.
The only cards that can turn creatures into Cowards in mono red are Gornog, the Red Reaper, Coward // Killer, Boldwyr Intimidator, and Kargan Intimidator. However, Gornog is the only one that permanently makes a creature into a Coward (the rest are only until the end of the turn).
Permanents that give stat boosts are especially strong to make sure you don’t have to worry about your creatures dying in combat. Coat of Arms, Banner of Kinship, Patchwork Banner, and Adaptive Automaton all help to give your Warrior big stats boosts, and all can stack on each other.
Taking extra combat steps is important as well. World at War, Aggravated Assault, Relentless Assault, and Great Train Heist all help to gain extra combats and push your advantage.
The primary win condition of the deck is winning through combat. You want to flood the battlefield with creatures, and constantly swing them at your opponents. This win condition is helped by stat-boosting permanents and making creatures in Cowards to make it easier to deal damage.
The biggest flaw of the deck is mono red’s natural slowness in setting up. The color struggles to ramp on its own, so a higher-than-average number of mana rocks is used to generate mana quicker. It takes a while to get going, which leaves you defenseless in the early game.
Also, Mono red doesn’t have ways to gain life back, so the damage taken is damage you’ll have to live with.
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