Maarika, Brutal Gladiator by HoleyCrusader

Format: Commander

Commander: Maarika, Brutal Gladiator

Bracket: 2

Deck overview

This deck is a synergistic Jund (Black/Red/Green) midrange and control strategy helmed by Maarika, Brutal Gladiator. The primary game plan revolves around ramping early to deploy Maarika, then leveraging a dense suite of fight and bite spells to trigger her excess damage ability. Because Maarika is indestructible during your turn, you can aggressively use spells like Pit Fight and Savage Smash to clear opposing creatures while forcing opponents to sacrifice their critical noncreature, nonland permanents. The deck eschews infinite combos in favor of a grinding, resource-denial strategy, winning through commander damage, massive combat swings, and incremental drain from cards like Zoyowa Lava-Tongue and Rankle and Torbran. With a heavy emphasis on creature death triggers and graveyard recursion, the deck plays like a relentless gladiator pit, slowly stripping opponents of their resources until they succumb to overwhelming combat pressure.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Akawalli, the Seething Tower
• 1 Apocalypse Runner
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Armed // Dangerous
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Assert Perfection
• 1 Azra Oddsmaker
• 1 Bandit's Haul
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Barroom Brawl
• 1 Bhaal, Lord of Murder
• 1 Binding the Old Gods
• 1 Boomer Scrapper
• 1 Broodheart Engine
• 1 Bushwhack
• 1 Casualties of War
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Cycle of Renewal
• 1 Down // Dirty
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Explore
• 5 Forest
• 1 Garna, Bloodfist of Keld
• 1 Gaze of Granite
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Gruul War Chant
• 1 Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard
• 1 Interceptor Mechan
• 1 Invigorating Hot Spring
• 1 Junktown
• 1 Kagha, Shadow Archdruid
• 1 Lantern of Revealing
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Lumbering Worldwagon
• 1 Maarika, Brutal Gladiator
• 1 Mahadi, Emporium Master
• 1 Mask of Memory
• 1 Memorial to Folly
• 1 Moldervine Reclamation
• 5 Mountain
• 1 Muerra, Trash Tactician
• 1 Necroblossom Snarl
• 1 Perforating Artist
• 1 Pillar Launch
• 1 Pit Fight
• 1 Prey Upon
• 1 Pyretic Rebirth
• 1 Rankle and Torbran
• 1 Raucous Audience
• 1 Ravenous Amulet
• 1 Rhino's Rampage
• 1 Riveteers Overlook
• 1 Ruby, Daring Tracker
• 1 Savage Mansion
• 1 Savage Smash
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Seismic Sense
• 1 Shire Terrace
• 1 Sigil of Valor
• 1 Skeletal Swarming
• 1 Snakeskin Veil
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Solstice Revelations
• 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
• 1 Spider Manifestation
• 1 Stormclaw Rager
• 1 Stump Stomp // Burnwillow Clearing
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Tannuk, Memorial Ensign
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 The Earth King
• 1 Thriving Bluff
• 1 Thriving Grove
• 1 Thriving Moor
• 1 Toil // Trouble
• 1 Trailblazer's Torch
• 1 Twilight Mire
• 1 Vibrant Cityscape
• 1 Viridescent Bog
• 1 Wardens of the Cycle
• 1 Windgrace's Judgment
• 1 Young Deathclaws
• 1 Zhur-Taa Druid
• 1 Zoyowa Lava-Tongue