(If you missed the primer for Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, catch up with the full dech tech here.)

I was recently able to trade for a few cards with which to upgrade my Grenzo EDH list. Here’s the thought process behind these particular improvements.

Chrome Mox and Springleaf Drum are intended to push the fast mana a bit more. They’re currently taking the place of a land, to provide slightly more speed getting out of the gate. Chrome Mox also lets me turn card-draw intensive lines (such as with Grim Haruspex) into mana to continue playing. Time will hopefully show whether the incremental improvements they add are worth the card disadvantage.

The first three fetches to be acquired for Grenzo. I’m hoping to pick up more as I go. Beyond the simple duties of mana fixing and consistency, the fetches do a fair amount in Grenzo in particular. While they could be played in any deck to ever-so-slightly decrease the number of lands remaining in the library, with Grenzo up and running, this is twice as effective, as you are pulling cards off of both the top and the bottom. There is also incremental synergy with the Hideaway lands, but that’s less concerning than the main two benefits.

I think I’m actually at a point where my manabase can reliably support Necropotence. This card is so incredibly potent, but it does require some care to use. The exile trigger upon discard can be bothersome, but with a bit of technical play we can get around it when it counts.

And finally, Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon. Blood Moon was a trade from the latest Modern Masters set, and I’m interested to see how it works. I have essentially no experience playing with this card, but I am hoping my relatively high Swamp count will make the downsides negligible. Magus of the Moon is just a better version, since it is a viable Grenzo hit.

To briefly list the cuts:

Two Mountains and a Swamp were removed for the fetches. The fetches are essentially strict improvements, and I’m removing more Mountains because of the Moon package.

Cabal Coffers and Flamekin Village were removed for the mana artifacts. While this isn’t exactly an impressively fast list as far as combo decks go, Coffers was a type of hedging that essentially required that I be losing the game in order to use it. It’s possible Command Beacon could fill the same roll better, but for now I’m just cutting it. As for Flamekin Village… I’m not sure I ever actually activated it.

Crypt Rats and Gonti, Lord of Luxury were fairly marginal, rarely being actually useful. In this update, I’m going down by one creature, but ideally the thinning provided by the fetches will make up for the slight difference.

Rakdos Charm was removed for Necropotence. While I feel Rakdos Charm is still a surpassingly versatile spell, it can’t compare to the raw power of Necro. If I find my interaction is too low, I may find another place for it elsewhere in the list.

Well, that’s about it for the updates. It feels good to finally be comfortable with my list to the point where I can start focusing on pricier additions. For the future, I’m looking at more fetches, Contamination as a third Moon effect, and hopefully someday working up to Dark Confidant, Mana Crypt, and Badlands.