Melissa Li's Grenzo Deck (by way of Shawn Main E097) (EDH / Commander)

Throughout his years as Paliano's Dungeon Warden, the hunchbacked goblin Grenzo has quietly amassed an army of affiliates through various methods of intimidation, cajoling, and bargaining. Though the entirety of the dungeons are his domain, here he finds himself most comfortable amongst colleagues of a specific attack power: 3.Bring out Grenzo nice and early for 1 colorless, a black, and a red to start scouring the cells for value--formidable allies with initial power of 3 or less--and see what kind of motley crew a silver-tongued goblin riot leader can assemble.

Play Style: The deck is built around creatures with power 3 or less with hard CMC costs of 3 or more. Since they don't have high power, their value comes from their abilities or ETB effects. So it's all about getting some mana rocks out then rushing to 1BR Grenzo early to start building up your board. Grenzo is really the fuel that keeps this deck going, so try your best to get some equipment on him if you can to protect him, otherwise it's a slog. Since there's very few counter effects in this color, be wary of board wipes. If one does hit, there are some graveyard digging effects in the deck for you to recover fallen allies, and Grenzo himself has a low original casting cost and thus can withstand a few re-summonings.

Play Style Recommendations:I like to refer to Grenzo's ability as "searching the Dungeon" or "recruiting". Also, the randomness of the finds helps to divest yourself of sinister plotting and just embrace the chaos.

Searching aids:However, if chaos isn't really your bag, feel free to check out the bottom of your library with Crystal Ball or Reito Lantern.

MVP allies: Krenko, Mob Boss (C'mon, the flavor! I'd love to see this team-up!)Werewolves and Transform cards (Zealous Conscripts, Afflicted Deserter) are especially fun since they will keep flipping back and forth when you can use Grenzo's ability instead of casting spells from your hand.Crypt Ghast. Grenzo loooooves mana, and Crypt Ghast gives you lots of fuel to keep searching.

Commander Staples:Archetype of Aggression, Archetype of Finality. Since your army is all generally power 3 or less, these cards help to prevent big beater R/G decks from closing on you early.

Just for Fun:Raving Dead is sort of silly but I find the randomness more fun than irritating.Jaya Ballard isn't the strongest card per se, but if you're using Grenzo's ability instead of playing cards from your hand, discarding isn't too tough and gives you a lot of good choices. Also, she's just the OG sass-master.Purphoros, God of the Forge is a total bummer to find with Grenzo (his power is 6, so you'll have to chuck him into the graveyard), but he's SO good if you get him in your hand and then get to ping every time Grenzo hits a creature.Fortune Thief has gotten me into some hilarious situations in the past, so this is more for silly stories though it's got some legs in gameplay now and then.