Standard: Gruul Prowess - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

With the first Standard results with Bloomburrow emerging on Magic Online and Magic Arena, the format is starting to solidify its main archetypes, which shape the competitive Metagame and decide which strategies are viable with a good distribution of Aggro, Midrange, Control and Ramp at the beginning of the season.

Among the Aggro, Gruul Prowess has stood out since last season, and gained important additions with the new set such as Emberheart Challenger and Heartfire Hero, becoming the current best deck in its category. In this article, we explain everything about it and present a Sideboard guide for the current Standard Metagame!

This is the list I've been using in Magic Arena ranked matches this week, and there aren't many surprises when compared to the pattern found in the latest Challenges.

The card distribution follows the classic Sligh pattern of red decks and what we usually see in Prowess lists in all formats: despite the larger number of creatures, Questing Druid also counts as a spell and, therefore, we can add it to the permanents count.

Notable exclusions include the absence of Koth, Fire of Resistance in the Sideboard. While I understand the use of this card, I feel that Gruul does not take advantage of it in the way that a Mono Red list would, in addition to the fact that four mana in a list with 20 lands can cause some problems and the Planeswalker does not actively interact with our initial game plan.

Jaya, Fiery Negotiator is a potential replacement for Koth, as it interacts better with the game plan and creates tokens with Prowess, but I still prefer to keep my mana curve low, so I'm betting on a set of Urabrask's Forge for longer games.

Maindeck

Our one-drops.

Monastery Swiftspear is a modern classic for red Aggro and will remain in Standard for another year, taking advantage of our cheap spells to pressure the opponent from the first turn.

Heartfire Hero is a new card that joins it as a one-drop that interacts with our targeted spells, gradually punishing our opponent for each turn they don't kill it early.

Our two-drops.

Slickshot Show-Off is basically a two-turn clock with the right hand and almost always becomes the main threat on the board and the main way to win games when it is not destroyed.

One of the advantages of Gruul Prowess today is the high number of cards that offer more reach in addition to their effects, with Questing Druid being a “draw 2” and a body that grows with our red spells while Emberheart Challenger benefits from our pumps to give us more resources.

Fugitive Codebreaker joins the other cards as another aggressive two-drop that, in longer games, we can use it for its Disguise ability to draw cards.

Our pumps. They all aim to grant evasion to our creatures.

Audacity is the Rancor we have at home and brings an efficient increase in power and permanent evasion to the creature and complements Monstrous Rage as the main means of accelerating our clock.

Might of the Meek is a conditional pump that requires a mouse in play to work, but the extra draw it offers helps to sequence several spells in a single turn.

Royal Treatment is our main protection and helps to increase the power of a creature and give it a permanent ward. The card can be complemented by Snakeskin Veil, being a possibility if the Metagame becomes even more focused on targeted removals.

Shock is our main board interaction and another way to trigger Prowess and pressure our opponent. It's the best one-mana burn in Standard today, and therefore a necessary evil.

We need all the untapped lands we can get, and this season has given us an exemplary land selection in this regard, with Thran Portal complementing Karplusan Forest and Copperline Gorge to ensure our color consistency without giving up speed.

Sideboard

Witchstalker Frenzy is our best option against big creatures in the format today, especially cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Beza, the Bounding Spring and Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal. Using it before the blockers step is the ideal play, and we can include it against the mirror as well.

Obliterating Bolt deals with recurring threats like the aforementioned Aclazotz, and It also responds to Planeswalkers that the opponent may have. Its role is to complement Witchstalker Frenzy.

Tectonic Hazard is our best answer against Boros Convoke, and despite the deck being relatively down after Challenges, it is still an extremely popular archetype that deserves slots in the Sideboard.

Pick Your Poison is the best answer we have against Atraxa, Grand Unifier and also deals with Temporary Lockdown and Leyline Binding for one mana. It can also have utility against other decks, but it is important to consider whether its inclusion directly speaks to our game plan for that matchup.

Urabrask’s Forge is our main attrition card, offering a token each turn and snowballing if left unanswered or if the match goes on too long, as the next token will always be bigger than the previous and they always have trample.

Golgari Midrange

IN

OUT

Orzhov Midrange

IN

OUT

Atraxa Ramp

IN

OUT

Boros/Jeskai Convoke

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Gruul Prowess

IN

OUT

That’s all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!