Grub, Storied Matriarch Commander Deck Tech

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy" href="#" target="_blank">Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> <i>| </i>Art by <a href="https://xabigaztelua.com/">Xabi Gaztelua</a></em></p>
<p>My favorite thing about Commander is that every player I know has their own thing. The vast array of strategies available in the format inevitably results in players latching on to a handful of archetypes that are distinctly them. Everyone I play with can easily identify cards or decks that I'd play. This leaves room for me to subvert their expectations by showing up with something that's wildly abnormal for me. Mono-red aggro is totally outside of my normal range, but Spider-Gwen isn't! In this deck tech, I'm going to build a sweet mono-red deck with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy" href="#" target="_blank">Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy"></div></div>
<h2>What Does Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy Do?</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy" href="#" target="_blank">Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a five-mana 4/4 with menace. Whenever she attacks, she deals X damage to the defending player, where X is the number of attacking creatures. A deck helmed by Ghost-Spider has a clear incentive to go really, really wide.</p>
<p>I spent a while thinking about how I could put a lot of creatures into play, and it came to me almost instantly: Goblins!</p>
<p>From a flavor standpoint, I think Gwen Stacy and Goblins are a bit of an unusual pairing, but I don't think that'll bother me much as I'm attacking with a massive band of Goblins and dealing 30 damage with Gwen's attack trigger, though.</p>
<h2>Key Cards For Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy</h2>
<p>The first step in this deck's plan is making a lot of tokens. Thankfully, I know a certain Goblin who specializes in just that.</p>
<h3>Gwen Stacy's... Goblin Army?</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krenko, Mob Boss"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krenko&#039;s Command"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Krenko, Mob Boss" href="#" target="_blank">Krenko, Mob Boss</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is the best creature in the deck, hands down. Once he hits the board and starts exponentially growing the horde of Goblins, this deck becomes nearly unstoppable. It only takes one or two Krenko activations to run away with a game. He is to be protected at all costs.</p>
<p>There are a lot of two- or three-mana sorceries that just generate a few tokens, and these cards are often the best early game plays available to a deck like this. I'd take a turn-two <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Krenko&#039;s Command" href="#" target="_blank">Krenko&#039;s Command</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> over <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Arcane Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Arcane Signet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> any day of the week. This deck doesn't even play Arcane Signet for that reason!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Pashalik Mons"></div></div>
<p>The only thing that really scares me when I think about what a game with this deck looks like is opposing board wipes. I don't think Gwen, Krenko, or their army of Goblins will take very kindly to a card like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrath of God" href="#" target="_blank">Wrath of God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pashalik Mons" href="#" target="_blank">Pashalik Mons</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> dissuades opponents from wiping away all of this deck's creatures with a very simple threat: every Goblin they kill is going to cause them to take damage. If it's just a few Goblins, that's fine. If it's 30, opponents might just decide to spend their mana doing something else.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goblin Warchief"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goblin King"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goblin Chieftain"></div></div>
<p>One aspect of these Goblins strategies that I love is that it is very much quantity over quality. Most of the time, I don't actually care what the Goblin I'm casting does. It just needs to sit there and be a Goblin; if it can do something else for me, that's awesome! I've included a bunch of lords, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Goblin King" href="#" target="_blank">Goblin King</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, to do just that.</p>
<h3>Burn</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Purphoros, God of the Forge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hellrider"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goblin Bombardment"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy" href="#" target="_blank">Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> isn't the only way to deal damage directly to opponents. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Purphoros, God of the Forge" href="#" target="_blank">Purphoros, God of the Forge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> burns each opponent for two damage each time a creature enters the battlefield. With a token-generator like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Krenko, Mob Boss" href="#" target="_blank">Krenko, Mob Boss</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in play, Purphoros is capable of killing the table all by himself.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hellrider" href="#" target="_blank">Hellrider</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> effectively adds an extra point of damage to each attacking creature. The floor for this card is making 1-power creatures deal two damage, and the ceiling is having a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Torbran, Thane of Red Fell" href="#" target="_blank">Torbran, Thane of Red Fell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="City on Fire" href="#" target="_blank">City on Fire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in play and making those 1/1s do a lot more damage.</p>
<p>I like to think of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Goblin Bombardment" href="#" target="_blank">Goblin Bombardment</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> as an insurance policy. If an opponent points a removal spell at a creature, I'm at least going to get one more point of damage in on that creature's way out. It can also serve as a way to dissuade opponents from casting removal spells, as it puts them on the hook for additional damage.</p>
<h2>How Does This Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy Deck Win?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="City on Fire"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Torbran, Thane of Red Fell"></div></div>
<p>The easiest way to get a game over with is to slam a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="City on Fire" href="#" target="_blank">City on Fire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, go to combat, and start turning creatures sideways. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="City on Fire" href="#" target="_blank">City on Fire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> triples the amount of damage that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy" href="#" target="_blank">Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s attack trigger deals. In the later stages of the game, that can be more than enough damage to kill a player on its own. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Torbran, Thane of Red Fell" href="#" target="_blank">Torbran, Thane of Red Fell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is very much the same, although adding two damage is significantly less impressive than multiplying it by three.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Full Throttle"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Overpowering Attack"></div></div>
<p>For a deck that is constructed around taking advantage of an attack trigger, additional combat steps are best friend material. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Full Throttle" href="#" target="_blank">Full Throttle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Overpowering Attack" href="#" target="_blank">Overpowering Attack</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Combat Celebrant" href="#" target="_blank">Combat Celebrant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> should each be able to quickly steal games out from under an opponent, no matter how commanding of a lead they have. There are even some neat tricks to be had with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fable of the Mirror-Breaker" href="#" target="_blank">Fable of the Mirror-Breaker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> being used to copy <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Combat Celebrant" href="#" target="_blank">Combat Celebrant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and causing mayhem.</p>
<h2>Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy Commander Decklist</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Gwen&#039;s Goblins" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy
[/Commander]
[Creatures]
*1 Battle Cry Goblin
*1 Beetleback Chief
*1 Bloodmark Mentor
*1 Combat Celebrant
*1 Defiler of Instinct
*1 Fury
*1 General Kreat, the Boltbringer
*1 Goblin Chieftain
*1 Goblin Instigator
*1 Goblin King
*1 Goblin Matron
*1 Goblin Recruiter
*1 Goblin Warchief
*1 Hellrider
*1 Krenko, Mob Boss
*1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
*1 Legion Loyalist
*1 Loyal Apprentice
*1 Mogg War Marshal
*1 Muxus, Goblin Grandee
*1 Oliphaunt
*1 Pashalik Mons
*1 Pinnacle Monk
*1 Professional Face-Breaker
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
*1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
*1 Searslicer Goblin
*1 Siege-Gang Commander
*1 Siege-Gang Lieutenant
*1 Simian Spirit Guide
*1 Spider-Punk
*1 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
[/Creatures]
[Enchantments]
*1 Cavalcade of Calamity
*1 City on Fire
*1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
*1 Goblin Bombardment
*1 Impact Tremors
*1 Painter&#039;s Studio
*1 Raid Bombardmend
[/Enchantments]
[Artifacts]
*1 Lavaspur Boots
*1 Patchwork Banner
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 The Fire Crystal
[/Artifacts]
[Sorceries]
*1 Calamity of Cinders
*1 Dragon Fodder
*1 Full Throttle
*1 Gamble
*1 Goblin Negotiation
*1 Goblin War Party
*1 Jeska&#039;s Will
*1 Krenko&#039;s Command
*1 Overpowering Attack
*1 Rally at the Hornburg
*1 Sundering Eruption
*1 Vandalblast
[/Sorceries]
[Instants]
*1 Battle Hymn
*1 Bolt Bend
*1 Goblin Surprise
*1 Spikefield Hazard
*1 Stoke the Flames
*1 Tibalt&#039;s Trickery
*1 Untimely Malfunction
*1 Valakut Awakening
*1 You See a Pair of Goblins
[/Instants]
[Lands]
*1 Ancient Tomb
*1 Arena of Glory
*1 Arid Mesa
*1 Bloodstained Mire
*1 Castle Embereth
*1 Cavern of Souls
*1 Dwarven Mine
*20 Mountain
*1 Scalding Tarn
*1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
*1 Strip Mine
*1 Three Tree City
*1 Urza&#039;s Saga
*1 War Room
*1 Wooded Foothills
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>Despite it falling outside the sort of decks I would usually be drawn to, I love this deck. I'm so happy I was able to take Ghost-Spider, Gwen Stacy, a fairly underwhelming starter deck commander, and find a good, if a little bizarre, strategy for it.</p>
<p>This deck, much like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Krenko, Mob Boss" href="#" target="_blank">Krenko, Mob Boss</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, is perfect to hand less experienced players. The overwhelming majority of the time, the player piloting this deck can just spend every turn casting all of the cards they have the mana for and attacking with everything and do pretty well for themselves. They might even learn a thing or two about proper sequencing along the way.</p>


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