Commander Spotlight: Gornog, the Red Reaper

(Gornog, the Red Reaper || art by Ishikawa Kenta)

Cowards Can't Block Warriors!

Hello, my friends, and welcome to another Commander Spotlight! This regular column will feature one legendary creature, usually from the most recent Commander precons or Jumpstart products, and provide you with a deep dive into ideas that should help get you started brewing your own Commander deck around it.

One of Magic's early icons was Hurloon Minotaur, based on the incredibly cool artwork by Anson Mattocks. It certainly wasn't because of the actual card, first printed in Alpha, which was an incredibly disappointing 2/3 vanilla creature for three mana.

As someone who came to Magic as a Dungeons & Dragons fan, and a reader of Greek myths, it's always bothered me that there aren't many Minotaurs in Magic that make your eyes pop and "wow!" to jump from your lips.

I had a little bit of hope when the Minotaur crew member of the Weatherlight showed up on a card called Tahngarth, Talruum Hero, but when they put Flametongue Kavu in the same set that so easily killed Tahngarth, my disappointment continued on.

Enter Gornog, the Red Reaper!

Like the venerable Hurloon Minotaur, Gornog is a 2/3 for three mana and features spiffy art, but Gornog is certainly no vanilla creature! The text box is stuffed with action, and I love that it brings the whole "Cowards can't block Warriors" theme that we've seen sprinkled on Magic cards over the years and puts it on an aggressive card you can run in the command zone.

Gornog has the static abilities of haste and "Cowards can't block Warriors," along with triggered abilities that get better the more Warriors you have attacking different players each turn, so your Gornog deck is strongest as a Warrior kindred deck that wants to attack early and often. Since Gornog has haste, your ideal start is to cast a one-mana Warrior on Turn 1, a two-mana Warrior on Turn 2, and then Gornog on Turn 3.

That same turn, you can ideally attack each of your three opponents, neutralizing a blocker for each opponent and giving your attacking Warriors +3/+0 until the end of the turn. Layer in extra attacks or more ways to neutralize blockers, and you're cooking with aggro gas! Let's dig in.

Zero- or One-Mana Warriors

If you don't have Turn 1 Sol Ring, it would be awesome to play a Warrior on Turn 1 you can attack with once you cast Gornog.

Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh costs zero mana to cast and is chock full of abilities, but its zero power means it needs help to actually deal damage; luckily, Gornog can help with that! Rosnakht, Heir of Rohgahh's battle cry ability helps with the plan of attacking early and often. Bloodlust Inciter and Goblin Motivator can attack early on, and later when you're casting larger Warriors they can give those brawlers haste.

Zurgo Bellstriker and Falkenrath Pit Fighter are two-power Warriors for just one mana, which is perfect for an aggressive strategy. Fireblade Charger picking up power buffs from Gornog or other kindred boosts makes blocking tough.

Two-Mana Warriors

Hopefully you've deployed a Warrior on Turn 1 so you'll want another one on Turn 2. Foundations Jumpstart brings another Warrior for the deck with Ivora, Insatiable Heir, and her trample ability means she really appreciates Gornog's power boost. Sardian Avenger has both trample and first strike, so it also appreciates the boost from Gornog, and if your opponents are playing a bunch of artifacts it can punch really, really hard. Bloodmark Mentor gives all your red creatures first strike.

Goblin Wardriver brings some more battle cry to the mix, Goblin Cratermaker provides some utility, and Searslicer Goblin can make extra Goblins. In fact, there are so many Goblin Warriors in Magic we might consider layering in some Goblin synergies!

Radha's Firebrand and Earthshaker Khenra are Warriors that help make blocking more difficult, and Brighthearth Banneret discounts your future Warrior spells.

Other Warriors

There are tons of other Warriors you can pick for a mono-red deck, and here are some of the ones that caught my eye:

Archetype of Aggression gives all your creatures trample while turning that off for your opponents' creatures.
Combat Celebrant can let you get an additional attack in a turn, which will let you get more triggers from Gornog.
Goblin Chainwhirler is an excellent Warrior for clearing out a bunch of 1/1 tokens that might be slowing down your attacks, and its first strike ability loves receiving Gornog's power boost.
Iraxxa, Empress of Mars is a Warrior with battle cry, and if you get the Paradox ability you can make Alien Warrior tokens.
Then there's Neheb, the Eternal, which turns all the life loss your opponents suffer into extra red mana at the beginning of each of your postcombat main phases. What are you doing with that extra mana? Maybe it's casting spells that let you get another attack step... or if you have Aggravated Assault you can activate it and keep the party going!

Giving Opponents Cowards

It's notable that Gornog's third ability overwrites the target's existing creature types. Once the ability resolves, that creature will be a Coward and won't have its previous creature types. It retains any other types and supertypes it has as well as any subtypes that aren't creature types. Not only does this make more and more potential blockers unable to block you over time, but it can dismantle other kindred decks, too!

There are other cards that can add to the Cowards can't block Warriors fun! Boldwyr Intimidator is the original "Cowards can't block Warriors" card, so of course we're running it here! It's expensive to get out there, but once you do you can pump a red mana into it to make more and more potential blockers into Cowards.

Kargan Intimidator is a smaller version of big brother Boldwyr, and I kind of like the idea of running Blades of Velis Vel to make two of my opponents' creatures into all creature types -- including Cowards -- until the end of the turn, but if that mode isn't needed you can just pump two of your attackers by two power.

Warrior Support

Searching for other cards that care about Warriors strengthens the synergies with your commander. Goma Fada Vanguard is another Warrior, it cares about Warriors, and it helps turn off a blocker each time it attacks. Obsidian Battle-Axe and Relic Axe are Equipment that boosts equipped Warrior.

Lovisa Coldeyes isn't a Warrior, but she does provide a solid boost to your other Warriors and may be worth a slot.

Kindred Support

Magic has made a lot of great support cards for kindred strategies over the years, and we definitely want to tap into them here to help boost the size of your attacking Warriors. Banner of Kinship is a shiny new kindred card from Foundations that can make your Warriors considerably bigger instantly. Shared Animosity gives a big boost when you attack, which is what we're looking to do, after all. Kindred Charge can double your Warrior army for the turn.

Adaptive Automaton, Patchwork Banner, and Vanquisher's Banner all give a boost to the creature type you select, while Roaming Throne will double the triggered abilities, and Gornog's already awesome triggered abilities are even better twice!

Can't Block

While Gornog and your attacking Warriors can turn off some blockers for a turn, there will be battlefield states where there are just too many creatures, in which case you'll want to run some ways to break through. Thankfully, this is right in red's color pie wheelhouse!

Untimely Malfunction is an awesome modal spell that does other things if you need it rather than making one or two creatures unable to block. Seismic Stomp and Cosmotronic Wave will make a lot more creatures unable to block this turn.

Combat Damage to Players

This deck is going to be quite good at slipping attackers past potential blockers, and while chip damage to opponents' life totals is a worthy prize in itself, why not play cards that take advantage of dealing damage to your opponents? Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion and Gimli of the Glittering Caves are Warriors with awesome combat damage triggers, and there's a bunch of Equipment cards with combat damage triggers, such as Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Hearth and Home, Sword of Fire and Ice, and The Reaver Cleaver.

Komainu Battle Armor is an Equipment Dog that can be reconfigured on one of your unblockable Warriors to goad each of those Cowards into attacking your other opponents, while Strixhaven Stadium can potentially knock opponents out of the game if you can accumulate enough point counters.

Surge to Victory can be amazing here, especially if you exile an extra combat spell with it: boost your attacking Warriors, and when they deal combat damage you can cast copies of that exiled card, and if its extra attacks you can keep the party rolling.

Damage-Boosters

Since we want to play early Warriors to curve into our commander, many of those low-mana Warriors will get outclassed quickly in a typical Commander game, so we may want to add in some ways to make them hit harder. The first part of Insult // Injury and Isengard Unleashed are particularly nice since they turn off damage prevention efforts, like Fog, that opponents may use to blunt your assaults. Berserkers' Onslaught and Fiery Emancipation are awesome enchantments that stick around and beef up your attackers.

Extra Attacks

Since Gornog's Coward-making ability triggers from attacking, we probably want to pepper in some ways to take multiple attacks in a single turn. Overpowering Attack and Relentless Assault spring to mind, but I also like Great Train Heist since it has some other modes you can choose too. Moraug, Fury of Akoum is a Warrior with a very nice Landfall ability.

The awesomely -- and appropriately -- named Savage Beating gives you an additional combat phase, or gives your creatures double strike, or both if you can pay the entwine cost; talk about savage! Grim Reaper's Sprint is a nifty extra attack effect attached to an Aura that boosts enchanted creature +2/+2, and if one of your small squishy Warriors (or a blocker) dies in the first attack, the morbid ability gives a sweet mana discount.

What sort of cards are you going to play in your Gornog, the Red Reaper deck? What new legends from Foundations Jump Start are you most excited to build decks around?

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