A Grothama, All-Devouring Primer (EDH / Commander)

Introduction
When Battlebond came out, I actually didn't pay much attention to Grothama. Over the last couple years I'd been having a crisis of identity in commander. None of the decks I had were satisfying me. I'd gone through half a dozen different generals, from Ghave to Bruna, and they all fell short, either under-performing, or winning in ways I found boring. So eventually I happened upon Jumbo Commander's Grothama video. When I saw the interactions Grothama had with Mossbridge Troll and Stuffy Doll, two of my favorite cards that I had purchased for a Varolz deck and a Queen Marchesa deck, respectively, over the last couple years, I knew I had to try Grothama.

I've always had a bit of a hipster streak - I like being different from everyone else at the table, and this deck fulfills that desire. It's pretty rare that I sit down with a new group and people don't comment on her. "Are you playing Voltron or Group Hug?" was one of my favorites. I guess its a little bit of a vanity thing, but it makes me feel good.

Is this deck the best deck in the world? ...Well, yes, but not because it's the most competitive. It's quirky and different, and might not be for everyone, but I love it, and I really hope you will too.

Oh, and don't mistake quirky for weak. This deck packs a punch, and can very quickly get out of control.

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The Appeal of the Giant Eel

Grothama is an interesting beast. She's gigantic, but she doesn't have any combat abilities. Without help, she's not much better than a Gigantosaurus in a straight fight. Thing is, this deck doesn't fight straight.

Prothamas

-Do you like drawing cards? I'm not talking incremental advantage, here, we're talking "Where the hell is my Reliquary Tower?" levels of cards.

-If you enjoy a deck that takes a little bit of skill to pilot well, you've come to the right place.

-If you have an affinity for aristocrats-type strategies, you'll also find something to like here.

-Here there be monsters. If you prefer the quality of creatures over quantity, you'll feel quite at home here.

-"You've probably never heard of her, she's pretty obscure." Scratch that hipster itch!

Cons (I'll think of a pun for this later)

-If you like having a strong board presence, you probably won't have much fun here. This deck literally trades board presence for card advantage. It's not impossible to amass a strong board, but you'll have a much harder time than a conventional mono-green deck.

-You don't like flipping through a 20+ card hand. This isn't a sarcastic con, either, because it can get exhausting to have to evaluate that many possible lines of play, let alone to remember all the cards you're holding.

-You prefer a more straightforward approach to a game of Magic. The best lines of play often leave you in a worse board position than you had before you started, so it can feel like you're just shooting yourself in the foot if you're not familiar with how the deck plays.

Alternative Commanders: I don't know that any mono-Green commander is quite like Grothama, but if you prefer a different style of monster, there are a number of potential options.

Before I get into the specifics of card selection, I'd like to lay out a little bit of my methodology. I would prefer my cards to do something the turn they enter the battlefield, or to be cheap enough that I won't be upset when I'm inevitably blown out by a board wipe. I want to string my ramp spells together, so I tend towards spells that get lands to the board untapped. I'm starting to tip the deck more towards having lots of answers rather than a lot of ramp.

Creatures
Veteran Explorer - Best in decks that can kill it, our Veteran Explorer runs right into Grothama’s maw and fetches us a couple of land. It’s a bit pesky that your opponents get to do it too, but it can be an advantage. The non-green players will be pleased to get some early ramp, which you can sometimes use to keep yourself above water.

Broodhatch Nantuko - If you find yourself in a slower environment where you can have Grothama hang out for a turn or two, you can smash Broodhatch into her and get 10 little insects, then, next turn, have the insects swarm Grothama and draw 8 cards. Most of the time, Grothama won’t make it to the next turn, or you’ll eat a board wipe, so don’t try to pull this trick unless you think you can stick it.

Noose Constrictor - Sometimes, you really just need to discard some cards, and Noose Constrictor does this job slightly better than Wild Mongrel. A relevant keyword can occasionally be the difference between death by dragons and living to fight another day.

Scavenging Ooze - You need instant speed interactions with the graveyard, and this is one of the only options available in green. The fact that occasionally it can kill Grothama by itself is just gravy. Just remember, if you have to ram it into Grothama, so be it. You can get it back a couple of different ways, so don't be shy about using it to draw cards.

Viridian Emissary - I am struggling with whether I like this one or not. You do need a critical mass of creatures in this deck, and he hits the requirements, I'm just not sure how good he is overall.

Wild Mongrel - Full disclosure: there are not a ton of ways to win in this deck, so having a dude what can discard your massive hand and get big is great. Do be careful not to accidentally kill your own Psychosis Crawler while doing this. Bonus points if you discard Ulamog to reshuffle and then smack Grothama for 80.

Eternal Witness - Well, she’s played in 49% of decks with green in them, so she’s got to be good, right? That 49% is well deserved, especially since you can take advantage of her ETB with Temur Sabertooth and a handful of mana.

Reclamation Sage - A beautiful little removal spell that hits Grothama for a non-zero amount, and can be Podded into Temur Sabertooth.

Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - This is your ticket to infinite Mana with Temur Sabertooth, a haste enabler, and anything with more than 6 power. Even if you don't get infinite, this can produce indecent amounts of fuel. At least the second best card in the deck.

Wood Elves - Huh, wonder if this is good? Another Pod for Sabertooth guy attached to a sorcery speed ramp card.

Polukranos, World Eater - This is being added in response to a need for board wipes. Important note: you cannot hit Grothama with his monstrosity trigger. You can, however, fight Grothama once it's resolved.

Solemn Simulacrum - We couldn't go through this deck without listing the most universal ETB/Death Trigger in EDH. Cheap, does two things we want. Also deals 2 to Grothama.

Temur Sabertooth - This is either the best or second best card in the deck. Temur Sabertooth provides a unique bounce effect in green, and combos with Selvala, a haste enabler, and any high power guy to make infinite Mana, but even without Selvala, Sabertooth is powerful. It allows us to reuse ETB effects, and serves as a non-fighting way to get Grothama out of play. He's got decent stats himself, and making himself indestructible is relevant more often than you might think.

Yeva, Nature's Herald - Everything is better at instant speed, and this lets you cast a quarter of your deck at instant speed.

Acidic Slime - For a wide range of permanent types, this is your removal spell.

Psychosis Crawler - Most of the non-combat wincons go through this guy. Consequently, he will immediately draw fire from the table. Either drop him and go for the kill immediately, or sacrifice him to Greater Good.

Seedguide Ash - You may be noticing a theme here - death triggers are good. In this case, you can ramp pretty hard, and Seedguide Ash does half the required damage to kill Grothama.

Stuffy Doll - Along with Mossbridge Troll, this is the card that made me want to build Grothama. Fighting Grothama with Stuffy Doll domes a player for 10, potentially doubling her damage. Swinging in with this and a Berserking Grothama is 40 damage. In fringe situations this can dissuade your worst enemy, Blasphemous Act, from resolving.

Greenwarden of Murasa - Eternal Witness #2. Will I pay double to get the effect twice? Yes, yes I will. This is also 5 damage on Grothama.

Vigor - This guy is a fun way to close out a game. Remember that fight with Grothama? Now your guy gets +10/+10! Everybody's fighting Grothama? Stupidly large Commander! This is stylish, flashy, and unlikely to go unanswered.

Mossbridge Troll - Holy mother, that's an activated ability! With Troll on board, cast Grothama, tap Grothama, swing and fight Grothama, draw a quarter of your deck! Most astute players will see this coming a mile away, so the fact that he's protected from a whole class of removal really helps. In a pinch, give him trample and punch.

Stonehoof Chieftain - This is the sort of 8 drop we want in this deck. Being a big resilient beater is almost enough, but this kills Grothama by itself, and can survive going Berserk. Draw 16, stick around? Solid staying power.

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - A bonkers expensive piece of spot removal, this is actually here to prevent decking, which is a frequent and real concern. And yeah, he punches like an Eldrazi titan should - really freaking hard.

Ghalta, Primal Hunger - I like that this lovely lady comes out on the same turn as Grothama for only 2 Mana. Swinging her into Grothama draws you twelve cards - that's all the endorsement I think I need. She can also close out the game in a pinch. Normally I'm against big guys that don't have anything else going for them, but 12 for 2 is an unbelievable rate.

Planeswalkers
Garruk, Primal Hunter - A strictly worse Rishkar’s Expertise still draws you ten cards off Grothama. It's pretty unlikely that you'll use him for anything else.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - This is a board wipe with additional utility. Wipe out colored permanents up to 7 CMC for 8 Mana. Ugin protects himself with this ability, so its more likely that he'll live to Lightning Bolt (Ghostfire, really) something... Like Grothama!

Instants
Berserk - This is a magical instant. One Green! One! With a slight nudge, single hit a player with Grothama. Draw 20 cards off Greater Good. The destroy downside can actually be an upside, and sometimes we can get around it with indestructible. This is a wonderful target to recycle with Eternal Witness in a Sabertooth/Selvala loop that will win you the game.

Crop Rotation - When the deck was initially conceived, this card was meant to search out Nykthos. In practice, more often this finds your Reliquary Tower after a Grothama trigger.

Nature's Claim - I think that this deck needs cheap removal pieces, and it doesn't get much cheaper than one mana. In Commander I'm not even a little concerned about bumping an opponent's life up by 4.

Noxious Revival - Freely return a thing to the very accessible top deck. This deck runs off a few specific cards, and the additional revival will be quite useful.

Back to Nature - As far as enchantment boardwipes go, this is about as cheap as it gets. It's instant speed, too. This gets rid of the toughest permanents to remove.

Constant Mists - Fog is not a good EDH card. Make it more expensive and give it Buyback: Sacrifice a land, and suddenly this becomes a wall that some decks literally cannot beat. Because Fog isn’t the greatest effect, most people won’t see this coming. Now, once you’ve played it once, countermagic will most likely be imminent, but wouldn’t you rather they waste it on a Fog than a real card?

Deglamer - Tucking an artifact or enchantment at instant speed is good. Better than Gleeful Sabotage, which previously occupied this slot.

Heroic Intervention - Occasionally, it is important to protect yourself, particularly if Grothama winds up hanging around after your turn. I don't think just dropping this against a board wipe is always the right decision, because you want to surprise your opponent's into wiping their own boards.

Return to Nature - This lets you address the major permanent types in EDH while also having a little added utility as some targeted graveyard hate. This is a provisional piece of removal that may or may not stay in.

Beast Within - Speaking of removing permanents, this hits anything. Lands, creatures, enchantments. Sure, they get a 3/3, but so what? Premium removal.

Harrow - This is sort of like paying 1 to get 1.

Enchantments
Druid's Call - This is a neat trick. Ever gotten 10 1/1s for 2 Mana? That's an average casting of that card. This might be too cute, but it feels like a lot of value.

Lignify - Turn your opponent's Commander into a tree! I like catching opponents off guard with this one. Yes, it dies to enchantment removal, but sometimes that's good, because the opponent has to use a real card to get rid of it instead of just recasting their Commander.

Druids' Repository - Now, this card has proved its worth in spades. Your creatures will be attacking, that's how we draw cards with Grothama, so adding the charge counters that can be converted into mana is beautiful for the low price of 3 mana. Sometimes you'll just need that extra little push to take the game, and Druids' Repository fills this slot nicely.

Bear Umbra - The way that this deck operates is by swinging in, and untapping all your lands on a swing is incredibly relevant, as shown in Druids' Repository. This is also a safeguard for a creature you'd like to keep after it slams into Grothama.

Greater Good - The epitome of green draw power, Greater Good enables some of the more explosive Psychosis Crawler wins and speeds up your draws from Grothama.

Artifacts
Mana Crypt - Okay, let's get this out of the way right now: Cutting this card will half the cost of this deck. DO NOT BUY THIS CARD SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS DECK. If you happen to have one lying around, this is a good place for it. It will drastically improve your early game, because a free Sol Ring is still good even if you lose the flip every turn for 5 turns. However, if you don't already have one, just put in another mana rock, a cheap green ramp spell, or a Wayfarer's Bauble. The increased explosiveness is absolutely not worth $200.

Basilisk Collar - This is a good way to kill Grothama with a smaller creature. Grothama also wears it well, if you need to gain some life - it isn't too hard to gain 20 in a turn.

Sol Ring - In the days before time was counted the great entity forged an unbreakable circlet of fire and metal. This arcane device tapped for two Colorless Mana.

Emerald Medallion - Quite a lot of these cards are green, shockingly.

Lightning Greaves - While the Greaves themselves need no introduction, it is worth noting that the draw engine in this deck triggers during combat, so being able to speed up your draw by a turn is invaluable. It's also a critical piece of the Sabertooth/Selvala loop.

Swiftfoot Boots - This deck likes Lightning Greaves so much it plays its slightly different cousin. Hexproof provides a slight improvement when performing Berserk shenanigans, but it does add 1 Mana to the Temur Sabertooth/Selvala loop.

Thaumatic Compass - The first line of text on this card is not very exciting, we're not usually concerned about hitting land drops here, but it is sometimes important. The truly relevant part of this card is the bit where it flips into a Maze of Ith. For a mono-green deck, we are actually quite vulnerable to getting smacked in the face by opposing fatties, so in order to play defensively, we have to have access to those defensive options. Also, Maze of Ith is really expensive.

Thought Vessel - There are exactly three ways to get unlimited hand size in this deck. This is the most vulnerable of the three, but we're still going to play it because we really want this effect.

Loxodon Warhammer - There's a lot of value packed in this little hammer. If you plan on fighting Grothama with multiple creatures, it's not hard to gain upwards of 30 life in a combat step. Trample is obviously relevant if you decide to go the less preferred Grothama two-hit kill route.

Rhonas's Monument - This card, however, is perfect for this deck. If you get a chance to loop a creature with Sabertooth, you can get one or more stupidly large creatures to smash with, or smash into Grothama. It also pairs very well with Grothama herself.

Birthing Pod - Definitely in the top ten cards. Upgrade your Reclamation Sage to a Temur Sabertooth, or Grothama to a Greenwarden of Murasa. The fact that this can only be activated at sorcery speed is a definite drawback, so you've got to use it on your turn when you can, or it's just going to sit there until someone blows it up. Look at this as a 4 mana sorcery tutor, because your opponents probably won't let you do this twice.

Sorceries
Nature's Lore - I skewed the ramp towards things that come in untapped.

Nostalgic Dreams - Often one will find, playing this deck, that you have a lot of cards in your hand, many of which are largely superfluous to your primary objective. This card lets you trade in ANY NUMBER of those for cards you may have previously lost. Do be aware that you discard before the spell resolves, so opponents can exile your graveyard or any number of the targets you've designated.

Primal Growth - Again, skewing towards untapped sources. This also gets rid of Grothama outside of combat.

Skyshroud Claim - Better Explosive Vegetation.

Traverse the Outlands - Okay, this card is dumb and a great cast off Rishkar's Expertise. 5 mana, get 10 lands? 12 lands? The most I've gotten is 20.

Rishkar's Expertise - Our general has ten power, and many of our other creatures aren't pushovers either. I like the draw and play aspect of this. Top ten card, probably.

Tooth and Nail - I probably don't have to expound on this card. It lets you hit Selvala/Sabertooth in one fell swoop. Occasionally, when you have a 64 card hand, you'll cast it to drop a couple huge creatures at a discount.

Praetor's Counsel - This is the best unlimited hand size card, because it's just there forever. Picking up your whole graveyard is good, too.

Lands
Ghost Quarter - In a deck that can't really take advantage of Gaea's Cradle or Itlimoc, we should definitely have more than one way to kill one. Ghost Quarter addresses that need. In a pinch, you can Crop Rotation for it to drop it at instant speed and kill it during an inconvenient phase, like the upkeep.

High Market - This is a great way to get rid of Grothama if you can't quite kill her in combat. The life gain is largely irrelevant, but it's an almost free sac outlet.

Mosswort Bridge - It's nice that this is easy to turn on. Worst case, it's a bad forest. Best case, 2 Mana for Rishkar's Expertise is fantastic. Note that the wording of this card removes timing restrictions, so you can use it to play the hidden card at instant speed unless it's another land.

Mystifying Maze - This deck has a tendency to be light on defense, particularly against fliers. Sometimes you just need to keep that Commander off your back for a turn or two. I do not like how expensive this is, but at this time I haven't got a Maze of Ith, which I would swap for this in a heartbeat.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - In my experience, this is okay. Unfortunately, we are almost always light on board, because we trade creatures for cards, so usually this nets you between one and three Mana. If budget is a concern, maybe just run Temple of the False God.

Opal Palace - I think, overall, this mostly functions as a Colorless land. It is worth noting that +1/+1 counters on Grothama can put her into one-hit Berserk range. I'm not 100% convinced that this is worthwhile.

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - The opportunity cost on this is low, and sometimes you’ll make your ten insects 2/2s. Overall, I think this is okay.

Reliquary Tower - This is probably the most important land we run. Unlimited hand size means more activities and less discarding. Absolute must. 90% of the time you will be getting this with Crop Rotation after a big Grothama draw.

Rogue's Passage - In a deck with giant beaters, sneaking past opponent’s blockers can be invaluable. Most of the big guys here have trample, but Grothama does not.

Sanctum of Eternity - This card replaced Endless Sands, which I never activated once in the entire time I've had this deck. The idea is to pull Grothama from the field before an opponent's turn, preferably after dealing some damage to her. This also has some fringe utility for avoiding random instant-speed damage effects. We'll see how this works, but it must work better than a land I never activated, right? After playing for a couple of weeks since putting this in, I can confirm that it is much better than Endless Sands. This card is what you want to see when you're in a suboptimal situation where you can't quite kill Grothama with your on-board creatures. You'll usually end up drawing 6 cards with this, and you'll get to recast Grothama at no extra charge.

Scavenger Grounds - In mono-green, solid, quality utility is rather scarce, and this deck has almost no way to fight a reanimation strategy. Luckily, as a land, you can get this at instant speed with Crop Rotation and activate it the same turn you fetch it, expanding the Crop Rotation utility package that this deck is increasingly relying on.

Tectonic Edge - The less good Ghost Quarter is still an admittedly bad Wasteland. The condition should not be hard to meet in EDH, but if you can get your hands on Wasteland or Dust Bowl, run those instead.

Thespian's Stage - I think I'd rather this be Vesuva, but I haven't got one. On the flip side, you can change this if you don't have a good target when it enters and another presents itself. Unlike a lot of cards, a land is kind of innocuous, so you may be able to play it early, let someone forget you have it, and drop their Cabal Coffers.

Treetop Village - Deals 3 to Grothama. Is land. Good? Good.

How to Play

In this section I'd like to tackle some of the specifics of piloting this deck that might not be readily apparent just from reading the list. The first, and absolutely most important aspect of piloting this list: DO NOT, UNLESS YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T, LEAVE GROTHAMA ON THE BATTLEFIELD AFTER YOUR TURN. Your opponents will fight her, kill her, and draw cards. Do not pay for your opponents’ card draw. It will not feel good. Disclaimer: Yes, there are situations where you will leave Grothama in play, and it can be a powerful political tool, but make sure you evaluate them very carefully. The downside of Grothama can be very bad if you just let her idle between turns. I prefer to treat her like a sorcery speed draw spell. Play your other creatures first, and if you stick them, then drop Grothama. If you do find yourself leaving Grothama in the open, equip her with Basilisk Collar or Loxodon Warhammer.

The above paragraph is from my original draft of this primer. I've left it untouched, because it has some very important information in it. With that being said, I've found throughout my playing that people are very hesitant to fight Grothama, especially if you have mana untapped. They'll be expecting Withstand Death, Heroic Intervention, or any number of other tricks that will deny them their card draw. More often, they'll just drop a board wipe on you, because that's safe and sets you back. You should be especially wary of mono-red players, who would love to drop a Blasphemous Act on Grothama and draw 13, which will probably win them the game. The warning stands: Be very cautious about leaving Grothama unprotected.

If your opponents get wise to how Grothama works, they can make life very difficult for you. They can time their removal spells to kill your creatures with fighting on the stack, which robs you of the chance to draw your cards for that turn. Pay attention to your opponents' untapped mana and cards in hand. Most people won't immediately try to hamstring you like this, but if they play against the deck enough, things could get much harder for you. When this happens is when you're likely to get the most out of indestructibility tricks.

It is almost always right to wait for the last possible second to play your lands. In this deck you tend to draw a lot of cards, so Reliquary Tower is an extremely important card, and you don't want to be stuck with one in your 40 card hand and have to discard down to 7. Try to leave up a couple mana too, so you can drop a Thought Vessel or a Crop Rotation if you draw one. Don't worry about keeping mana up for Praetor's Counsel, or you'll never get anything done.

Your primary win condition is Psychosis Crawler. Whether you're Sabertooth looping Selvala for infinite damage or just saccing Grothama to Greater Good after you've cast Berserk on her, your card draw is weaponized by the B'omarr Brain Walker. If you don't have Psychosis Crawler, your win gets tougher but not impossible. You're probably going to have to win via combat. Berserk, Rhonas Monument, or Loxodon Warhammer are your primary Trample enablers, and your winning creatures are Wild Mongrel, Mossbridge Troll, and Stonehoof Chieftain.