Maarika, Brutal Gladiator by user8299452

Format: Commander

Commander: Maarika, Brutal Gladiator

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 28

Deck overview

This deck is a Jund Combat Midrange build helmed by Maarika, Brutal Gladiator. The strategy leverages Maarika's 7/4 stat line, turn-bound indestructible, and forced-block ability to establish commanding board presence and pressure opponents through combat attrition. Early ramp sets up a Turn 4 commander deployment, followed by immediate Turn 5 aggression using fight spells like Ancient Animus and Ram Through alongside power doublers such as Two-Handed Axe and Neyith of the Dire Hunt. Whenever Maarika deals excess damage to blocking or fighting creatures, opponents are forced to sacrifice noncreature, nonland permanents, systematically stripping artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers from the board. Without relying on infinite combos or fast-mana acceleration, the deck controls creature combat through Glissa Sunslayer, Kardur, Doomscourge, and broad removal before eliminating opponents via sequential lethal commander strikes over multiple turn rotations.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ancient Animus
  • 1 Arasta of the Endless Web
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Back for More
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Bloodsoaked Insight // Sanguine Morass
  • 1 Bounty Board
  • 1 Brawn
  • 1 Bushwhack
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Chef's Kiss
  • 1 Cinder Glade
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Cosmic Hunger
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Cursed Mirror
  • 1 Deathsprout
  • 1 Diresight
  • 1 Domri Rade
  • 1 Enchanter's Bane
  • 1 Eternal Witness
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Explore the Underdark
  • 1 Explosive Vegetation
  • 1 Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Feldon of the Third Path
  • 1 Fiendlash
  • 1 Flesh // Blood
  • 9 Forest
  • 1 General Marhault Elsdragon
  • 1 Glissa Sunslayer
  • 1 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
  • 1 Grasping Shadows // Shadows' Lair
  • 1 Grim Backwoods
  • 1 Halana, Kessig Ranger
  • 1 Hull Breach
  • 1 Hunted Horror
  • 1 Hunter's Insight
  • 1 Inscription of Abundance
  • 1 Kardur, Doomscourge
  • 1 Kraven the Hunter
  • 1 Leyline Prowler
  • 1 Loxodon Warhammer
  • 1 Maarika, Brutal Gladiator
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 1 Mosswood Dreadknight // Dread Whispers
  • 9 Mountain
  • 1 Neyith of the Dire Hunt
  • 1 Night's Whisper
  • 1 Pain for All
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Putrefy
  • 1 Ram Through
  • 1 Rancor
  • 1 Read the Bones
  • 1 Riveteers Overlook
  • 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
  • 1 Savage Lands
  • 1 Shelob, Child of Ungoliant
  • 1 Shessra, Death's Whisper
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Solemn Simulacrum
  • 1 Stormfist Crusader
  • 1 Studious First-Year // Rampant Growth
  • 9 Swamp
  • 1 Tavern Brawler
  • 1 Tenacious Underdog
  • 1 Training Regimen
  • 1 Twisted Landscape
  • 1 Two-Handed Axe // Sweeping Cleave
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Waltz of Rage
  • 1 Wand of Wonder
  • 1 Yavimaya Elder