Gruul Werewolves are Back with Frenzy and Fury!

Introduction

This is a Gruul werewolves deck updated to Wilds of Eldraine and revised in April 2024. It's got Witchstalker Frenzy to deal with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and other high toughness threats. The deck goes nuts during the night, turning all werewolves to their powerful backsides. Since control decks often cause night by not playing anything during their turns, this deck can be pretty dangerous against control.

Witchstalker Frenzy is also thematically correct in a werewolf deck, since Witchstalker is a wolf.

Format

• The deck is for the Standard format, with Wilds of Eldraine being the last legal set, revised when Murders at Karlov Manor was the last legal set.
• The deck is probably Tier 1.5 or Tier 2 caliber.
• The deck can be played in both Bo1 and Bo3.
• The deck is pretty fast, and thus it's suitable for quickly grinding a large number of wins in the Arena ladder.

Source

This is my own brew. I used to play lots of werewolves, when I started playing Magic: The Gathering on MTG Arena.

Strategy

Ascendant Packleader and Thundering Raiju

Ascendant Packleader and Thundering Raiju are a combo, because Raiju is a 4 mana creature that boosts up Ascendant Packleader. I chose Raiju as my preferred 4 drop, because it's fast and dangerous and it's not legendary. It comboes well with Ascendant Packleader, since you can boost the Packleader to 4/3 if you place a counter on it when the Raiju attacks. Also, Ascendant Packleaders get +1/+1 counters, which increase the direct damage of a Raiju.

Tovolar, Dire Overlord

Tovolar naturally comboes well with all wolves and werewolves. He's also the preferred way in the deck to cause night. You need two other wolves and werewolves to be on the battlefield that he turns day into night. Tovolar is also quite dangerous as he can boost other wolves and werewolves and give them trample, as well as give a lot of cards. He does not have haste, but Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slashers can help with that.

Causing Night on Turn 2

There are 4 werewolves in the deck that can be played on turn 2. You usually want to play a werewolf on turn 2 to start the day/night cycle. If the opponent does not play anything on their next turn, all your werewolves become really dangerous. For example, Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher is practically a 5/4 trample/haste creature for 3 mana. If you manage to create night after your turn 2, it's not uncommon that werewolves can deal 30 points of damage by the end of turn 4.

Other Ways to Cause Night

or

To cause night yourself, you need to play no spells during your turn after the day-night cycle has started. You naturally want use your mana somehow, so here are some options:

• Use your mana to play your instant spells during the opponent's turn.
• Use your mana to channel Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance or Boseiju, Who Endures.
• Use your mana to activate Mishra's Foundry.

Sometimes, if you have only low-impact spells in your hand, it's best to skip playing any spells during your turn and cause night that way. Night can be much more impactful than playing a single low-impact spell.

Kessig Naturalist and Witchstalker Frenzy

Kessig Naturalist and Witchstalker Frenzy are a nice combo. The problem with extra mana provided by Kessig Naturalist is that it comes at an awkward time and is mostly suitable to be used with instants. Witchstalker Frenzy helps with this a lot. First of all, it is an instant card and, secondly, its mana cost decreases by the number attacking creatures. Thus, if you attack with Kessig Naturalist, the Frenzy costs just 3 mana to cast and you can also spend the extra red mana produced by Kessig Naturalist to cast it, wherefore, in the end, you need to tap just two lands.

Ascendant Packleader and Witchstalker Frenzy

Interestingly, Witchstalker Frenzy counts as a 4 mana value spell, even if you cast it for less mana. This means that Witchstalker Frenzy boosts Ascendant Packleaders up. That is, you've got now 8 spells in the deck, which boost up Ascendant Packleader, and 4 of them you can easily cheat out for just 1 or 2 mana.

Keeping Night Up

Once you've got night, it's usually important to keep it going. This means that you can play only 1 spell on your turn. If you need to play 2 spells, please make sure that the second card matters more than losing night. Also, losing night may be worth it, if you suspect that your opponent plays two spells in their turn anyways. Please also note that using abilities do not count as playing spells, which means that you can use your mana to boosting creatures with Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge or to channel Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance or Boseiju, Who Endures. You are also free to cast any number of spells during the opponent's turn, which means that you can use your instants on their turn and keep the night going that way.

Change Log

6th April 2024

Main Deck

• +2 Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge
• -2 Outland Liberator // Frenzied Trapbreaker

Sideboard

• +1 Outland Liberator // Frenzied Trapbreaker
• -1 Lithomantic Barrage