Maarika is a Menace by user9243611

Format: Commander

Commander: Maarika, Brutal Gladiator

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 35

Deck overview

This deck is a high-synergy Jund aggro build led by Maarika, Brutal Gladiator. The strategy revolves around ramping out Maarika ahead of curve, granting her haste or trample, and utilizing her forced-blocking requirement to trigger brutal excess-damage sacrifice effects on opposing noncreature permanents. Power multipliers like Xenagos, God of Revels, Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder, and Berserk elevate Maarika into a one-shot commander damage threat, while Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar and Chandra's Ignition spread single-target damage across the entire table. The deck includes efficient Jund removal, fight and bite spells that trigger Maarika outside of combat, and secondary haymakers like Archon of Cruelty and Etali, Primal Storm. While resilient to damage-based board wipes due to Maarika's turn-phase indestructible ability, the deck relies on combat connectivity and natural draw consistency to close games.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archon of Cruelty
  • 1 Basilisk Collar
  • 1 Beast Whisperer
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Berserk
  • 1 Birds of Paradise
  • 1 Bite Down
  • 1 Blasphemous Act
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodstained Mire
  • 1 Bloom Tender
  • 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 1 Brash Taunter
  • 1 Bugenhagen, Wise Elder
  • 1 Buster Sword
  • 1 Chandra's Ignition
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Cinder Glade
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Cosmic Cube
  • 1 Defense of the Heart
  • 1 Deflecting Swat
  • 1 Delighted Halfling
  • 1 Elvish Mystic
  • 1 Etali, Primal Storm
  • 1 Eternal Witness
  • 1 Fiendlash
  • 5 Forest
  • 1 General Marhault Elsdragon
  • 1 Gimli's Reckless Might
  • 1 Glissa Sunslayer
  • 1 Goblin Anarchomancer
  • 1 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
  • 1 Heroic Intervention
  • 1 Homeward Path
  • 1 Hurl Through Hell
  • 1 Ignoble Hierarch
  • 1 Infiltration Lens
  • 1 Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar
  • 1 Kenrith's Transformation
  • 1 Kessig Wolf Run
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Lizard Blades
  • 1 Llanowar Elves
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Maarika, Brutal Gladiator
  • 1 Maelstrom Pulse
  • 1 Mage Slayer
  • 1 Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
  • 5 Mountain
  • 1 Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder
  • 1 Nature's Lore
  • 1 Overgrown Tomb
  • 1 Prizefight
  • 1 Ram Through
  • 1 Reflecting Pool
  • 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
  • 1 Rhonas the Indomitable
  • 1 Rhythm of the Wild
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Rulik Mons, Warren Chief
  • 1 Savage Lands
  • 1 Shadowspear
  • 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
  • 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
  • 1 Silverback Elder
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Stomping Ground
  • 5 Swamp
  • 1 Tail Swipe
  • 1 Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern
  • 1 The Reaver Cleaver
  • 1 Three Visits
  • 1 Toralf, God of Fury // Toralf's Hammer
  • 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
  • 1 Ulvenwald Tracker
  • 1 Undergrowth Stadium
  • 1 Urabrask the Hidden
  • 1 Verdant Catacombs
  • 1 Wooded Foothills
  • 1 Woodland Cemetery
  • 1 Xenagos, God of Revels
  • 1 Yavimaya Hollow
  • 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
  • 1 Ziatora's Proving Ground