Golgari Elves (Gladiator) (Gladiator MTG Deck)

Golgari Elves (Gladiator)

Gladiator BG (Golgari) Counters Elves Ramp

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Creature (49)

Land (33)

Instant (4)

Enchantment (5)

Sorcery (5)

Planeswalker (4)

Artifact (1)

1x Icon of Ancestry

Maybeboard

Creature (3)

Planeswalker (1)

1x Garruk, Unleashed

Instant (1)

1x Inspiring Call

"There are many kinds of duty, and mine is to see our world grow and endure." -- Paradise Druid

As of standard sets a few years back, Golgari is where Elves tends to end up. We had to wait a while on Arena for that to be the case, but now the black/Golgari cards offer some real bite to go along with standard 'elf shenanigans'.

A few years ago strong Jumpstart decks further boosted Elves closer to where it is in other formats. Successive (mostly) Historic only additions have led to this Golgari list being very close in power level to other formats.

Go wide and win through attrition or stall the board and in classic Elves fashion hoof them out! GB elves has a lot of play too it, these days, so there are other routes to go for victory!

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Updates Add

MH3+ updates — June 15, 2024

Edit

As always a new Historic only set release means a good amount of updates! (and some to catch up on from recent sets) At this point more or less every card has proved its worth many times over and the competition for slots is intense, such that honestly alterations are more a case of 'try it and see' than being obviously optimal. However, there are a few of those too.

OUT Marwyn, the Nurturer
IN Priest of Titania

Marwyn never quite popped off in this deck as she can do in some Commander builds. Priest of Titania provides more mana simply because obviously it counts every elf that has entered previous to it as opposed to Marwyn, and mana was the main reason for including Marwyn, not for her ability to get big (since this deck as with many Elves decks is a go-wide rather than go-tall deck). She rarely actually became embiggened and she hardly ever made attacks on her lonesome, perhaps due to misplays on my part or just play pattern preference. Anyway, farewell Marwyn.

OUT Kianne, Dean of Substance ^Flip
IN Eladamri, Korvecdal

Not sure why Kianna is still in this list since I haven't been running her for a long time. Oops. (Double blue pip meant she never flipped in this deck). The obvious cut for Eladamri is Realmwalker since duplicating the effect is not great when you draw both of them, (let alone hitting Realmwalker with Eladamri..) but I'm going to try running them both to see if more access to this effect helps do fun things. Mostly at a certain point in the match having stalled the board there's often a potential to more or less play the entire deck from the top of the library (and draw cards with Beast Whisperer et al?). Also Eladamri seems like a house on paper and the deck loves more creatures with 3+ toughness (above curve and 3 power too?!).

OUT Migratory Greathorn
IN Furgul, Quag Nurturer

Fond farewell to Greathorn, one of the few remaining honorary elves. Always performed great, solidified the board and ramped a little. However, this deck wants to go wide and often making a target out of probably a mana dork (ideally a token) ended up down two creatures, even if the mana was even. Furgal probably provides two solid bodies, is on-flavour for Golgari and honestly just seems like a fun weirdo card to try out. Late in the game potential to eat Pelakalakka and gain another seven life? After attacks/blocks? We can dream!!

OUT Forest
IN Disciple of Freyalise ^Flip

Hey its one of those rare easy includes. I expect that almost every deck that is running 8+ basics is going to swap one or more of them for the probably quite busted MDFC lands in MH3. Great at all stages of the game with a high ceiling what more can you ask for..

OUT Swamp
IN Fell the Profane ^Flip

Less easy include since the deck only has 6 swamps remaining but doesn't generally hurt for life total so 3 life is a measly cost to pay for a free removal spell.

Finally... the deck is also looking for a cut for Evolution Witness (not to be confused with the original Eternity Witness|E-Wit...) but I couldn't find it. I am also not playing T-Wit, but can't remember if that was by choice or not - I think perhaps CMC4 for only a 2/1 is not something this deck can afford.

End of year updates — Dec. 20, 2022

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Ongoing updates - 2022 — Sept. 30, 2022

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Ongoing updates - 2021 — July 27, 2021

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Deck update — March 12, 2021

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Deck update — Feb. 9, 2021

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93% Casual

Competitive

Revision 13 See all

(7 months ago)

+1	Eladamri, Korvecdal	main
+1	Evolution Witness	maybe
+1	Fell the Profane ^Flip	main
-1	Forest	main
+1	Furgul, Quag Nurturer	main
-1	Joraga Visionary	maybe
-1	Kazandu Mammoth ^Flip	main
-1	Kianne, Dean of Substance ^Flip	main
-1	Marwyn, the Nurturer	main
-1	Migratory Greathorn	main
+1	Priest of Titania	main
+1	Strength of the Harvest ^Flip	main
-1	Swamp	main

Date added	4 years
Last updated	7 months
Exclude colors	WUR
Legality	This deck is Gladiator legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	101
Avg. CMC	3.29
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Elf Knight 2/2 GW, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 GW, Emblem Tyvar Kell, Emblem Vraska, Golgari Queen, Goblin 1/1 R, Human 2/2 G, Insect 1/1 BG, Saproling 1/1 G, Skeleton 1/1 B, The Atropal, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	B_Gladiator
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