Magic: The Gathering's Migloz, Maze Crusher brings Gruul decks the piece it was missing

Spoilers for Magic: The Gathering’s Phyrexia: All Will Be One expansion continue to roll out, with the latest arrival being exciting news for Gruul fans. If there’s anything that the Red/Green deck is known for, it’s aggressive plays and large creatures. Unfortunately, the deck archetype has fallen off and isn’t as competitively viable as before. However, all of this could potentially change with the newest card that was revealed, Migloz, Maze Crusher.

It brings a valuable 3-drop to the deck, which has several useful abilities built around oil counters, a new feature in this Magic: The Gathering expansion. While Migloz, Maze Crusher isn’t the strongest creature from Phyrexia: All Will Be One, it's certainly interesting and has some real potential to be a card that makes Gruul decks strong again.

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Could Gruul decks become viable again in Magic: The Gathering?

One strength of Gruul decks in Magic: The Gathering is the turn-2 sweep. The ideal turn 2 and 3 for this deck features powerful cards that you ramp or curve into. Typically 3/3 or 4/4 creatures, they often have a useful ability or simply do far more damage than any other creature of the same mana value.

Since it’s a legendary, you can’t drop these back-to-back unless one dies. But what does Migloz, Maze Crusher do in Magic: The Gathering?

Migloz, Maze Crusher in Magic: The Gathering (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Migloz, Maze Crusher

• Mana Value: 1RG
• Type: Legendary Creature - Phyrexian Beast
• Rarity: Rare
• Stats: 4 power, 4 toughness
• Passive Ability: MIgloz, Maze Crusher enters the battlefield with five oil counters on it.
• First Ability: 1, Remove an oil counter from Migloz: It gains vigilance and menace until end of turn.
• Second Ability: Remove two oil counters from Migloz: It gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
• Third Ability: Remove three oil counters from Migloz: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

Almost immediately, a weakness can be spotted, but it’s one that can be course corrected while you’re playing. This card only comes into play with 5 oil counters, and using them requires colorless mana. The mana portion is easy enough to fix, considering that you’re playing Red and Green. Since there are so many useful creatures and cards that generate mana, this won't be a major issue.

If you play this on turn 3, you might have a creature or two that's already in play to make that happen. Clearly, the potential of hitting for 6 damage on turn 3 is nothing to scoff at. This becomes even better if you can give it Vigilance and Menace (cannot be blocked except by two or more creatures).

For oil counters, you can also run out. Gruul decks tend to win or lose very quickly, but the situation can occasionally become protracted. You can run Cacophony Scamp as a 1-drop in your deck. It can be sacrificed when it deals damage to any player to Proliferate. This also triggers an ability that deals damage based on its power to any target.

There will be other potential Proliferate cards for this Magic: The Gathering deck, such as Expand the Sphere, if you want to pull less lands and put them into play. Green also has Unnatural Restoration to Proliferate, and you can also use Red’s Volt Charge as an Instant. Clearly, there are options if you want to give it more oil counters for longer games.

In general, this is a fairly interesting card. Can it push Gruul decks back to the top of the heap? Although it’s currently unclear, it’s certainly a trend towards the deck type gaining strength once again. Even if you have to pay mana to use its abilities, this deck type will have plenty of options for players.

Migloz, Maze Crusher will arrive with Phyrexia: All Will Be One when the expansion officially releases on February 10, 2023.