Overview:

This Gruul Werewolves/Wolves deck leverages Tovolar, Dire Overlord as a card draw engine and night/day enabler to swarm the board with aggressive creatures. The primary strategy involves deploying low-to-mid-cost Werewolves/Wolves, maintaining night for transformed bonuses, and finishing with explosive overrun effects like Craterhoof Behemoth, Triumph of the Hordes, or Decimator of the Provinces. Tovolar is essential for sustaining card advantage and enabling night, but the deck can function without him through redundant tribal synergies.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Ramp & Setup (Turns 1-4): Prioritize mana dorks (Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic), land ramp (Three Visits, Farseek), and low-cost Werewolves (Kessig Naturalist, Reckless Stormseeker). Cast Tovolar ASAP to enable card draw and night transitions.
2. Board Development & Card Advantage (Turns 3-6): Deploy key lords like Immerwolf (prevents detransforming) and Nightpack Ambusher (token generation). Use Tovolar's combat damage triggers and engines like Guardian Project/Beast Whisperer to refill. Maintain night via spell discipline or cards like Moonmist.
3. Finishing Moves (Turns 6-8): Overwhelm with:
   • Combat Overruns: Craterhoof Behemoth, Triumph of the Hordes (infect), Decimator of the Provinces, or Ulvenwald Oddity (transformed).
   • Commander Synergy: Pump creatures with Tovolar's nightbound ability (+X/+0 trample) or Kessig Wolf Run.
   • Tutors: Finale of Devastation fetches finishers or combo pieces.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands (prioritize green sources), 1-2 ramp pieces, and an early creature.
• Essential: Tovolar enablers (e.g., 1-2 cheap Wolves/Werewolves) or card draw engines.
• Avoid slow hands lacking ramp or low creature density.

Key Tips:

• Night Control: Cast sparingly post-Tovolar to lock night. Use Immerwolf to prevent detransforming. Moonmist forces transformations mid-combat.
• Protection: Deploy Heroic Intervention, Tamiyo's Safekeeping, or Tyvar's Stand before critical overruns.
• Recovery: Recur key pieces with Eternal Witness after board wipes.
• Combat Tricks: Rogue's Passage ensures unblocked damage triggers for Tovolar draws.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Board Wipes: Heavy reliance on creatures makes Blasphemous Act/Damnation devastating. Limited mass recursion.
• Graveyard Hate: Shuts down Eternal Witness, Finale of Devastation recursion, and Decimator of the Provinces emerge.
• Anti-Token/ETB Effects: Torpor Orb nullifies Craterhoof Behemoth, Nightpack Ambusher, and draw engines.

Moderate

• Spot Removal on Key Engines: Losing Tovolar, Dire Overlord or The Great Henge slows card advantage significantly.
• Stack Interaction: Minimal counterspells; relies on Veil of Summer for protection against blue/black.
• Artifact/Enchantment Lockdown: Collector Ouphe disrupts mana rocks and The Great Henge.

Minor

• Flying Threats: Limited reach; relies on Nightpack Ambusher or combat tricks for blocking.
• Mana Consistency: Color-intensive spells (e.g., Triumph of the Hordes) strain fixing under pressure.

Most Important Cards:

• Tovolar, Dire Overlord (Card draw engine, night enabler)
• Craterhoof Behemoth (Primary combat finisher)
• Finale of Devastation (Tutor, finisher, recursion)
• Immerwolf (Night stabilizer, lord effect)
• Nightpack Ambusher (Token generation, lord effect)
• The Great Henge (Ramp, card draw, counters)
• Triumph of the Hordes (Alternate infect finisher)
• Guardian Project (Card advantage engine)
• Heroic Intervention (Mass protection)
• Decimator of the Provinces (Secondary overrun effect)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten wins via overrun effects or infect as early as turn 6-7 with optimal ramp and board development, but typically closes around turns 7-9.

Resilience: 5/10

• Moderate protection and recursion exist, but heavy board dependency makes recovery from wipes slow. Card draw engines mitigate setbacks if unanswered.

Consistency: 7/10

• Strong ramp package, multiple card draw engines, and tribal synergy ensure reliable access to threats. Limited tutors beyond Finale of Devastation.

Interaction: 5/10

• Efficient targeted removal (Beast Within, Chaos Warp, Krosan Grip) and combat tricks, but lacks countermagic and struggles against non-creature permanents.

Rating Justification:

The deck's speed aligns with T6-8 wins through efficient ramp and explosive finishers, placing it in the Focused tier. However, vulnerability to board wipes and reliance on combat prevent higher resilience scores, capping its ceiling at Optimized Casual.

Power level: 6.0 - 6.5