Hey everyone, I'm looking for comments and feedback about this Golgari +1/+1 counter deck I'm building. It's the first deck I've attempted to build on my own, and any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! :)
This deck is the Golgari version of what Simic likes to do, that being throw lots of +1/+1 counters around!
When I saw Scavenging Ooze for the first time, I knew immediately it was a card worth acquiring. It's such a good card. A 2 CMC 2/2 with a nifty little effect that gives you counters AND life if you exile a monster with it? Not to mention bye bye flashback? Yes, please.
My favorite part about this deck is that it's set in standard for the next year to year and a half, at least. I'm convinced it can be competitive at worst, if not really, really good with some tweaking.
Let's run through the deck real quick:
2x Slitherhead set the stage early on. Dropping one of those on turn 1 almost guarantees an early poke or two. They're just meat shields for their sneaky scavenge effect, later. There's also two Deathrite Shaman in there because I'm a jerk.
Lotleth Troll
and Scavenging Ooze are the primary hammers of the deck. Both great creatures in their own way, the sync with Corpsejack Menace is what makes these creatures especially dangerous. They can go from looking relatively harmless to large in just a turn or two. I run 2x
Deadly Recluse
to deal with flyers.
Dreg Mangler
swing in at 3 CMC. These cards are great because they're a 3/3 3-drop with Haste. They also scavenge for 5, which is acceptable. More sync with Corpsejack Menace. I also have 2x Varolz, the Scar-Striped for scavenging things out of the graveyard.
Of course the Corpsejacks reside in the 4 slot, but one card I actually like in this deck is Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. I run 2x
Grisly Salvage
and will willingly dump creatures to the graveyard because I can make Jarad stronger, exile them for Ooze, or bring them back later with
Treasured Find
. Jarad's activated ability is very sneaky, as well. If I find myself a bit mana-heavy late game, I'll gladly sacrifice the two lands to bring Jarad back. Deathrite Shaman makes that choice a little easier, as well.
In the 5-spot right now is, of course, Kalonian Hydra. I just recently got my hands on a second hydra, and I feel like having two is going to make this deck really take off.
I'm also running 2x
Garruk, Caller of Beasts
. He's expensive, yes, but his +1 synchronizes with this deck so much I feel like I'd be doing the deck a huge disservice by at least not trying him out in it. I alleviate the mana issue a tiny bit by having 2x Golgari Keyrune, which are nice for the deathtouch. I also have a random Gyre Sage that I always seem to draw. That's a huge help for mana and something I may consider running more of as well.
I have your standard G/B removal in this deck. I only have one Abrupt Decay for the moment, so I have Naturalize lined up in the sideboard for those pesky Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere. I'm running 3x Putrefy. I'd like to run a fourth, but I don't know where I can fit this stuff in.
That's the problem with this deck. There's so much I want to put in it, but no room to put the stuff in, unless I make the deck a bit larger :(
I run a couple of tricks with Giant Growth and
Enlarge
. I also run 1x Fireshrieker, which terrorizes opponents given how quickly creatures can become huge in this deck. I'd like to run another of those as well.
I just learned recently of the combo of
Bioshift
and Corpsejack Menace. If I read right, Corpsejack doubles the shifted counters, which is insane. But man, that's a combo that will instagib people without them realizing it. I feel like that's a massive amount of untapped power sitting idly outside of my deck, but what would I take out? The Giant Growth? Errrgh....
Savage Summoning
is another card that syncs so well with this deck, but where do I put it in? Is that my Giant Growth fodder? I'm not good at making these kinds of decisions with MtG yet!
The next step in this deck is to figure out how to make it better, naturally. Should I run Elvish Mystic? Should I find some way to ramp more, be it through mana ramp or draw power? These are questions that I haven't answered yet.
I really, really want to exploit the
Bioshift
combo with Corpsejack Menace. I actually discovered it when I played a Two-Headed Giant game with me playing two decks: This one and a Simic deck. In one turn, I went from having 4 +1/+1 counters on a
Lotleth Troll
to having 80 on a Corpsejack Menace. Of course it wasn't that straightforward, but it wasn't too difficult to pull off.
Then the final trick is figuring out how to stop things my opponents will do to counter me. Slaughter Games will ruin my day. Thankfully, there's several win conditions already in the deck, but I've thought of putting two more Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord in the sideboard for mind games. In any case, I would side out the Corpsejack Menace to laugh hysterically at their failed Slaughter Games.
It's a work in progress, which could take a whole 180 when Theros comes out. I've actually thought about splashing white for Archangel of Thune and Scavenging Ooze combos. If I splashed white I'd have to side in Loxodon Smiter (Too good!) The third color, if I even add it, will wait until Theros.
I also haven't finished a sideboard yet. I've been running another deck at FNM and am getting ready to head back to school so I just haven't sat down and really looked at what I need yet.
Any suggestions, comments, or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks again!
