GruulLegendary Creature — Dwarf WarriorGimli, Mournful Avenger
Mana value3Rank#14,113
The Commander
Gimli has indestructible as long as two or more creatures died under your control this turn.
Whenever another creature you control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Gimli. When this ability resolves for the third time this turn, Gimli fights up to one target creature you don't control.
Guide
Gameplan
Deploy expendable creatures and sacrifice them to grow Gimli with +1/+1 counters while triggering his fight ability to clear blockers and pick off opposing threats. He's a sacrifice-fueled beater: each creature death pumps him, three deaths a turn turns him into a removal engine, and two deaths a turn make him indestructible so he survives combat and board wipes. Win by swinging with a fattened, indestructible, trample-enabled Gimli or by chaining sacrifices into repeated fights.
Strengths
- Snowballs fast in token/aristocrat shells where multiple creatures die each turn
- Built-in repeatable removal via the fight trigger that punishes go-wide and big-creature decks
- Cheap three-mana commander that's resilient thanks to conditional indestructibility
- Rewards sacrifice synergies you'd already run in Jund-style aristocrats
- Color identity (GR) gives access to ramp, fight tutors, and fight payoffs
Weaknesses
- Needs a steady supply of creatures dying; runs out of gas without sac fodder or token generators
- Fight can backfire against indestructible or deathtouch blockers, and removes Gimli's own toughness damage
- Vulnerable to exile-based removal and -X/-X effects that ignore indestructibility
- No evasion natively, so a single big blocker can wall him without trample support
- Indestructibility requires two deaths that turn, so he's fragile on slow turns
Key Cards
- Bloodthrone Vampire — Free sacrifice outlet that converts fodder into Gimli triggers at no mana cost.
- Viscera Seer — Cheap, repeatable sac outlet to chain deaths and reach the third trigger for the fight.
- Goblin Bombardment — Sacrifice outlet that also throws damage, letting you machine-gun creatures to pump and fight.
- Pitiless Plunderer — Generates treasure on each death, fueling more tokens and more sacrifices in a loop.
- Dragon Fodder — Cheap multi-token maker that provides instant sac fodder for multiple death triggers.
- Shadows of the Past — Death-trigger card advantage to refill your hand while you sacrifice creatures.
- Rancor — Recurring trample aura that turns the buffed Gimli into a genuine commander-damage threat.
- Skullclamp — Premier engine that draws two cards each time a small creature dies, fueling both triggers and your hand.
Upgrade Path
Add the best free sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Goblin Bombardment) and token engines (Ophiomancer, Bitterblossom, Mycoloth) so you reliably hit multiple deaths per turn. Layer in aristocrat drains (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Mayhem Devil) and recursion (Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Reassembling Skeleton) to make every sacrifice generate value. Finally, ensure evasion and protection for the Voltron plan with Rancor, Loxodon Warhammer, and Heroic Intervention to close games fast.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Swing for lethal commander damage with a heavily counter-buffed, indestructible Gimli wielding trample
- ▸Grind opponents out by repeatedly fighting away their creatures while drawing off death triggers
- ▸Drain the table with aristocrat payoffs like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat alongside mass sacrifice
- ▸Loop persist creatures with a sac outlet to fight every blocker off the board, then attack freely
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — His counters and fight trigger reward sacrificing creatures, making sac outlets and death payoffs the core of the deck.
- Tokens — Wide boards of expendable tokens give endless fodder to grow Gimli and hit three deaths a turn.
- Voltron — Stacked +1/+1 counters plus conditional indestructibility make Gimli a hard-to-kill commander-damage threat.
- Sacrifice Combo — Persist/undying or token loops can repeatedly kill creatures to chain fights as removal.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GR), by popularity.
