Gruul Clans

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Gruul Clans
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Gruul Logo.png}}|150px]]
Alternative Names
The Lost Guild / The Clans
Lore Information
Parun Cisarzim†
Guild Leader Borborygmos (informal, bef. 10,012-c. 10,077 ZC)
Domri Rade† (informal, c. 10,077)
Borborygmos (informal, c. 10,077-Present)
Guild Champion Ulasht
Ruric Thar
Nikya
Guild Hall Skarrg
Game Information
Colors {R}{G}
Mechanics Bloodthirst
(Guildpact)
Bloodrush
(Gatecrash)
Riot
(Ravnica Allegiance)
Featured Sets
Guildpact
Gatecrash
Ravnica Allegiance
Signet Flavor Text
"Gruul territorial markings need not be legible. The blood, snot, and muck used to smear them are unmistakably Gruul." — Gruul Signet
Scryfall Search
watermark:"Gruul"

The Gruul Clans form the red/green guild from the plane and city of Ravnica. Because of their loose structure, they are sometimes called "the guild which is not one."[1] Introduced in Guildpact, the guild is also featured in Gatecrash and Ravnica Allegiance.

Gruul basic lands from Ravnica Allegiance

Background

The Gruul before the Guildpact.

Before and for a short time after the signing of the Guildpact, the Gruul Clans were a wild and noble guild charged with maintaining the wild places on Ravnica.[2] They were supposed to keep civilization in check. They were a powerful guild with a huge lodge-style guildhall, but its location has been lost to time.[1] Civilization and the other nine guilds, however, overran every wild place on the plane. This changed the Gruul.[3]

As the wilds were torn down, so too were the Gruul's responsibilities taken from them. The Simic claimed jurisdiction over nature's future. The Selesnya preached about nature to bring it into its conclave. With their responsibilities taken over by others, they were seen as outside of the Guildpact and the Azorius began to write them out of the law. Outside the law, the Boros were not required to protect them and the Orzhov were free to enslave them.

The Gruul decentralized, lacking any sort of real leadership. The guild became nothing but a loose affiliation of clans. Exploited and ignored, they started to take any reason to cause chaos, any reason to destroy a symbol of civilization. Most Gruul hold contempt for those outside the Clans, referring to them as "cobble roaches".

It is common for Gruul clans to raid an area, destroy it just like the Rakdos, and live there until the resources gleaned from the destructive raid are used up. Once that happens, they move on to a new area, leaving smoldering ruins in their wake. They observe few consistent traditions but love to celebrate Rauck-Chauv, an irregular festival characterized by several days of rioting, feasting, looting, and destruction.

For a long time, Borborygmos was the largest and angriest of many large and angry clan leaders. He wasn't the official guildleader of the Gruul, as there is little official about the guild, but when he gave orders, the Gruul listened. As his orders were in line with the rage of the abused guild, they were happy to do so. With Bolas urging, the planeswalker Domri Rade challenged and defeated the aging Borborygmos by setting waves of beasts on the cyclops. Borborygmos wasn't killed, but he lost the Gruuls' respect. Currently, he is living as a Trog in the Rubblebelt.[4]

There is also Ulasht, the Hate Seed. Though it isn't a part of any clan, it is revered by many Gruul as a natural embodiment of pure destruction and mindless rage.

Rite of passage

The rites of becoming Gruul, whether you have come from outside the guild or are marking your entrance into adulthood, centers around being buried alive.[5] When one enters the shallow grave, the person they were before is dead. Their past wrongs and errors are forgotten, but so are their past accomplishments. No matter how well you proved yourself in battle before, when you rise from the earth you are untested. The clan leaders recognize you only when you earn glory in battle as a Gruul.

Clans

There are seven Clans that currently make up the Gruul. New clans occasionally form under ambitious Gruul warlords, and meanwhile, other clans are occasionally challenged, defeated, and wiped out.

  • The Burning Tree Clan is the most influential in the guild, and is also the clan of Borborygmos. It is the fiercest clan, as well as the largest and most diverse. They make sure that everyone in the Clans remembers who has held them down and destroyed their guild and then let that rage loose on civilization. They are often tattooed with the Burning Tree symbol. The Ravnican population considers this as the crest for the entire Gruul guild.[5]
  • The Scab Clan is the most violent of the Gruul Clans. This is because every member of it has been tortured, mutilated, or crippled by the organizations of civilization. They display their scars and body modifications as expressions of their terrible rage. The members of this clan make up for physical deficiency by cooperating.[6] Their leader is a corpulent Giant, known as Narbulg Nine Fingers.
    Scab Clan Mauler by Liam Sharp
  • Of all the clans, the Ghor Clan executes the most frequent and savage assaults on Ravnican citizenry. The clan typically creates encampments close to heavily populated Ravnican districts. Their leader is Ruric Thar.
  • The Bolrac Clan (named after an ancient Ravnican word for heavy hammers) is mainly composed of Ogres, Cyclopes, Trolls, and Giants, who share a love for bringing down massive structures using mauls and battering rams. Their leadership changes frequently, sometimes even daily.
  • The Slizt Clan, in contrast, are more skulker, and trust stealth attacks, and use the high ground to their advantage. They mainly consist of Viashino and humans. The other clans call them cowards but are cautious to avoid Slizt territory.
  • The Zhur-Taa Clan (also called the skull bleachers) is the most religious of the Clans, claiming to practice pre-guild rites known as the "Old Ways". They worship the Utmungr, "gods of the deep earth," and await the awakening of Ilharg, the Raze Boar, an ancient boar god who will mount a fiery rampage and raze the over-civilized world once and for all. Their leader is a centaur, known as Nikya. Zhur-Taa druids are adept at summoning and training beasts as war companions and mounts.
  • The Gravel Hide Clan, a relatively new group, believes that resilience is the truest measure of strength. They have a reputation for shrugging off devastating attacks. Their leader is a hot-tempered goblin, Skorik Boulder Tooth.[5]

Trogs

Besides the clans, there exist the solitary wandering Trogs, fierce independent warriors who traverse the rubblebelts as apex predators.[5]

The End-Raze

The druids of the Old Ways believe that civilization will never be eradicated by scattered raids and petty skirmishes.[5] They cling to the idea of a coming apocalypse, the End-Raze when Ilharg's hooves will trample every brick and stone of Ravnica's soaring skylines to rubble. The world will return to a state of nature in which the lawless code of muscle and savagery will reign once again. With the growing unrest between the guilds of Ravnica and the ascension of Domri Rade as guildleader, it was thought that the time of the End-Raze had come.

War of the Spark

After the fight against the Dreadhorde in the War of the Spark, and the death of Domri Rade, Borborygmos became acting guildmaster again.[7]

The Phyrexian invasion and its aftermath

The Gruul Clans fought just as hard as anyone else in Ravnica's defense during the Phyrexian invasion. Borborygmos' ferocious fighting earned him even more respect and loyalty. The only real potential challenge to his power is the Zhur-Taa Clan, thanks to their leader, Nikya, who was instrumental in bottlenecking the Golgari Swarm from the surface of Ravnica with her constricting vine magic.[8]

The Clans lost no time in occupying or claiming as much of the ruins left in the wake of the invasion as possible, emboldened in further pushing the boundaries of their territory.[8] This territorial expansion occurred almost simultaneously across multiple zones of the Rubblebelt, leading many to suspect that the various Gruul clans were coordinating their efforts to take advantage of the weakened states of the Azorius and Boros. In reality, the clans were each acting independently; it was merely coincidence that they all chose to do so at roughly the same time. Efforts to rebuild Ravnica are constantly and actively disrupted by the Gruul. Because of this abrupt increase in territory, the Gruul now find themselves with more territory than the clans can comfortably defend. Violent clashes break out as the Gruul struggle to maintain their control, typically against Boros incursions.

Creatures, races and classes

The Gruul as featured in Ravnica Allegiance

Creatures and races associated with the Gruul include the following:

Classes and professions associated with the Gruul include the following:

Notable Gruul

In the game

Guildpact: Bloodthirst

Main article: Bloodthirst

The Gruul's special ability in Guildpact was Bloodthirst:[11][12] when a creature with bloodthirst comes into play, if an opponent was dealt damage that turn, the creature comes into play with a fixed number of +1/+1 counters (exception: Petrified Wood-kin has Bloodthirst X, meaning that it comes into play with counters equal to the total damage dealt to all opponents that turn).

Gatecrash: Bloodrush

Main article: Bloodrush

Bloodrush from Gatecrash allows players to discard creature cards to give an attacking creature a temporary power/toughness boost equal to the power and toughness of the discarded creature card.

Ravnica Allegiance: Riot

Main article: Riot

A creature with Riot enters the battlefield with its controller's choice of either a +1/+1 counter or haste.

Preconstructed theme Gruul Decks

60 cards deck:

see also

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ a b (2006). Guildpact Player's Guide. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. ↑ Rei Nakazawa (January 9, 2006). "Signing Onto the Guildpact". Magicthegathering.com.
  3. ↑ Magic Arcana (February 01, 2006). "Guildpact style guide: Gruul". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  4. ↑ James Wyatt (January 2019). "The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Ravnica'". Wizards of the Coast
  5. ↑ a b c d e James Wyatt and Jeremy Crawford (November 2018). "D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica", Wizards of the Coast.
  6. ↑ Magic Arcana (January 31, 2006). "Sketches: Scab-Clan Mauler". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. ↑ Greg Weisman (April 2019). "War of the Spark: Ravnica". Del Rey.
  8. ↑ a b Emily Teng (February 1, 2024). "Planeswalker's Guide to Murders at Karlov Manor". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. ↑ Cory J. Herndon (2005). Ravnica Cycle, Book I: Ravnica, Wizards of the Coast
  10. ↑ Magic Arcana (February 02, 2006). "The Gruul Troll". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  11. ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 04, 2013). "Designing for Gruul". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  12. ↑ Aaron Forsythe (February 03, 2006). "Gruuling Workout". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.

Sources

Monocolored
Multicolored ({M})
See also
Ravnica block
Return to Ravnica block
Later sets
Related games
Ravnica storyline
Publications
Locations
Characters
Affiliations
Other
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