Having five abilities makes Garruk into a real skill-tester. Let's check out at his abilities. The first ability, the fight ability, works well in giving green a valuable way of dealing with 3 or less toughness creatures. If the creature has less than 3 power, you will more likely profit from his flip (arguably his more powerful) side. The second ability is what I think is his greatest utility, being able to consistently put out 2/2 wolves. This ability is comparable to Elspeth, Knight-Errant's soldier tokens. Similarly, his flip version's +1 ability of throwing down 1/1 wolves with deathtouch offers the versatility of taking down grounded fatties (while the 2/2 wolves offer more damage if you hit the red zone). The -1 ability is where I'd argue is his worse ability. Tutors are very useful, but a minus ability that involves sacrificing a creature doesn't seem worth the risk. If anything, I would focus on achieving his ultimate. This -3 ability of providing a graveyard based overrun seems very powerful, but stronger in a deck that specializes in having creatures in the graveyard. Regardless, I would probably say that, due to his splashability, he probably ranks higher than Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (since he's easier to place in the deck, but still selective), but slightly below Gideon Jura or his predecessor, Garruk Wildspeaker.
Off the back, he seems to be a niche planeswalker and one that operates best in either a standard dredge, mass token, or werewolf tribal deck. Innistrad seems to be pushing a standard dredge deck since green has a lot of creatures like Splinterfright, that benefits from creatures in the graveyard. Blue, with self-milling cards (like Mirror-Mad Phantasm or perhaps Jace, Memory Adept) and Black with strong discard (like Liliana of the Veil), I wouldn't be surprised to see a B/G or B/U/G dredge deck. Also, the synergy between Necrotic Ooze and Grimgrim, Corpse Born/Bloodline Keeper seems promising. A W/G token deck also looks like it can use Garruk and his consistent ability to pump out wolf tokens. Seems very good against Wrath-like effects, Doomed Traveler, Mentor of the Meek, Intangible Virtue, Essence of the Wild and Parallel Lives. As far as werewolves are concerned, Mayor of Avabruck, Instigator Gang, and Kruin Outlaw seem to work. None of these decks seem fantastic now, but we'll see what the rest of Innistrad has to improve on the planeswalker's playability.
-Michael Hood-Julien
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I've been running Two Garruks in a tribal were deck, and I can say very quickly that he's an excellent tool to have. I usually use his 3 damage ability to trigger his transformation immediately, and focus on those little killer wolves.
ReplyDeleteThey make wonderful blockers for the obvious, but they also provide convenient fodder for that tutor ability. The game is usually done before I even bother trying to do his big ability.
I lose few weres during combat, so I don't focus on that last ability anyhow. Those little guys give a nasty buffer to allow your Weres to transform if needed, which freaks people out, they play anything they can to avoid it, especially when I can ground pound on turn two with a 3point hit with a waif, and put something to defend like an ironsmith.