[SCD] Griselbrand

[TheG]

Hi everyone, besides the new Timewalk this new expansion brings to us another old-fashonated engine-card:



Griselbrand 4BBB

Legendary Creature - Demon
Flying, lifelink
Pay 7 life: Draw seven cards.

i really like this card 'cose it could be an excellent replacement to Jin for reanimator or (better imho) a strange draw-engine for a storm deck.

What's your opinion about it?

i wrote down a list for the storm combo "on the fly" when i see it:
-Engine
2 GriselBrand
4 Entomb
4 Shallow Grave
2 Goryo's Vengeance
-Cantrips
4 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
-Protection
4 Duress
4 Force of Will
-Closer
2 Tendrills of Agony
-Mana
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
2 Chrome Mox
+16 lands

very stright: Swamp>Ritual[1]>Entomb[2]>ShallowGrave(or Goryo's)[3]> -Reanimate Hasty GriselBrand- > -Swing for 7- > -Draw 21- > FINISH HIM

[(nameless one)]

If you're going to win right away and don't care about life, it can also be paired with Necrotic Ooze.

[rufus]

Does it really make sense to try to storm out with him? Once he hits the table, you get a grip of cards that you can use protect him with and go off again. You could play something like:

4 Griselbrand

4 Jin-Gitaxias
4 Shallow Grave
4 Goryo's Vengeance

4 Careful Study
4 Entomb

4 Duress
4 Force of Will

4 Brainstorm
4 Preordain

4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
...


For chuckles, you can reanimated Jin on the opponent's EOT.

[Admiral_Arzar]

At worst, this thing makes an awesome EDH general, or just engine in B/x EDH combo.

[Oiolosse]

At worst, this thing makes an awesome EDH general, or just engine in B/x EDH combo.

Yes, at the least I'll shove him into most black EDH decks i have. I like the art too.

[Aggro_zombies]

Does it really make sense to try to storm out with him? Once he hits the table, you get a grip of cards that you can use protect him with and go off again.

I agree with this. Ad Nauseam is basically Griselly except with fewer vulnerabilities and the potential to draw more cards for the same amount of life.

[wcm8]

I was thinking that you could possibly use Soul Spike to chain multiple draws.

[Piceli89]

Griselbrand is also Stifle-able. This may end up being relevant once in a while, as double-drawing 7 can be a liability against some Stifle-Lightning Bolt seen lately (obviously, if the player is that bad to do it twice immediately or is forced to do so.)

[Kuma]

Griselbrand is not strictly better than Jin-Gitaxias, as he does not make your opponent discard. It also costs 15 life as opposed to 10 life to draw seven cards if you use Reanimate to get him out. That said, there are certainly situations where he's better than Jin-Gitaxias. I'd probably cut one Jin-Gitaxias for him in Reanimator. Griselbrand is worth it as an Entomb option.

[rufus]

I agree with this. Ad Nauseam is basically Griselly except with fewer vulnerabilities and the potential to draw more cards for the same amount of life.

OTOH: Grizzly Adams is easier to cheat into play, and is better with high cc cards.

[Aggro_zombies]

OTOH: Grizzly Adams is easier to cheat into play, and is better with high cc cards.

If I'm a storm deck, I don't want my draw engine to counterable via Stifle and StP.

I'm not sure what you mean about cheating him into play. Once you get him into play, subsequent Grisellies and reanimation cards become dead draws. If you cast him, it's infinitely more difficult to ramp to him than to 3BB.

I think it's Dredge, Reanimator, or bust for this guy.

[Vacrix]

I think I'm going to try him in a list that plays Culling the Weak and some Tallmen like Shield Sphere and Phyrexian Walker to stall Goblin Guides and the like. Then you have access to Cabal Therapy for protection and Diabolinc Intent for a set up piece. Belcher as an alternative kill.

Also, another pseudo Culling the Weak is Burnt Offering when playing in conjunction with Skyshroud Cutter. With 8 rituals that add BBBB, you can be sure that you'll be ramping to something dirty by turn 2 pretty consistently with the additional explosiveness of turn 1 kills from the sheer amount of acceleration.

But I'll be testing it as a casual, for fun deck. A serious application of Griselbrand probably involves Show and Tell and/or Sneak Attack.

[rufus]

...
I'm not sure what you mean about cheating him into play.
...
I think it's Dredge, Reanimator, or bust for this guy.

'Cheating' him into play - as in not paying the casting cost - so that stuff plus Sneak Attack, [card]Show and Tell[/cards], Dream Halls and maybe Kaalia of the Vast.

Hmm... come to think of it he could work pretty well with Food Chain too, though there may be better options.

[Whippoorwill]

He seems best in Dredge. Dread Return him to play and proceed to win.

[Vacrix]

Yeah but you need to run FKZ to win that turn.

[Aggro_zombies]

Yeah but you need to run FKZ to win that turn.

If you mill out your entire deck, it's pretty easy to Dread Return an FKZ. You will probably have at least one Narcomoeba, which you use to Therapy someone, and then you feed the resulting Zombies (or some of the zombies and any non-Zombie, non-Griselly guys you have left) into the second D Return. Et voila, giant army.

[Dark Ritual]

Either FKZ or lab maniac work in dredge for this guy to instantly win. The only advantage of maniac over FKZ is that he doesn't use the attack step, however he's vulnerable to removal, which is pretty bad while FKZ usually just face stomps the opponent.

In storm combo, I'd rather be running ad nauseam. The only thing going for this guy is the show and tell into play, but even that seems weak as drawing only 14 cards isn't a guaranteed kill and ad nauseam can draw more cards assuming you don't flip other high CMC cards.

I do like this guy in sneak and show though, this idea has potential in legacy I think. I'd love to sneak attack this guy in, swing, gain 7, then proceed to draw 7 or 14 cards.

[Aggro_zombies]

Either FKZ or lab maniac work in dredge for this guy to instantly win. The only advantage of maniac over FKZ is that he doesn't use the attack step, however he's vulnerable to removal, which is pretty bad while FKZ usually just face stomps the opponent.

In storm combo, I'd rather be running ad nauseam. The only thing going for this guy is the show and tell into play, but even that seems weak as drawing only 14 cards isn't a guaranteed kill and ad nauseam can draw more cards assuming you don't flip other high CMC cards.

I do like this guy in sneak and show though, this idea has potential in legacy I think. I'd love to sneak attack this guy in, swing, gain 7, then proceed to draw 7 or 14 cards.

He's still your worst Sneak Attack guy, though. Emrakul basically wins when you attack, and while Progenitus doesn't, he's also immune to removal. Griselly does none of these things, although I guess you can pay seven in response to an StP in hopes of finding a counter.

[Vacrix]

He's still your worst Sneak Attack guy, though. Emrakul basically wins when you attack, and while Progenitus doesn't, he's also immune to removal. Griselly does none of these things, although I guess you can pay seven in response to an StP in hopes of finding a counter.

Actually that depends. If you've dropped Sneak Attack the turn before you go off then when you drop Griselband for R and draw 14, you can then drop Emrakul anyway and swing with both for GG. And if not, you get to draw 7 more cards with Griselband due to life link or just draw 7 to play around Fireblast or some shit and then draw 7 more after the life link. I'd say he's actually the preferable drop because he pretty much ensures that you draw Emrakul anyway as well as protection spells for whatever the opponent might try to pull out of their ass.

[majikal]

I think the more serious question is: Do we call him Grizzly Adams or Russel Brand?