Wizards have finally previewed the guild mechanic for Gruul and they named it, Riot. The ability on creatures lets you choose to have a +1/+1 counter placed on it as it enters the battlefield or to have it gain Haste until end of turn. One card, in particular, that was featured was Gruul Spellbreaker.

See the video below.

This card reminded me of Fanatic of Xenagos from Born of the Gods though, on this version, you get to choose the mode. The 4/4 Trampler for three mana is already overly solid but the bonus of Hexproof on your turn makes it on a superb rating. This creature can basically stop Settle the Wreckage for good as long as it remains on the battlefield.

This also puts Gruul aggro to be a potential Tier 1 deck in Ravnica Allegiance Standard. Given that we have Llanowar Elves to Ramp the spellbreaker early which can also protect the Green powerhouse Carnage Tyrant from the settle shenanigans. The guild can also utilize the Explore creature cards from the current Golgari decks.

The other deck option would be a Jund Aggro deck as I saw the archetype in Return to Ravnica Standard. With the two shocklands reprinted in Ravnica Allegiance, it will just be easy to curve out the creatures into this efficient three-drop.

I won’t show some decklist just yet as we needed more card spoilers from the upcoming set but one thing I am sure is that this will be metagame relevant for the upcoming months.