Ultimate Golgari Guild Challenge Round 6 - AKA the Finals

Deck Challenges

Dallie

10 August 2013

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Welcome to the grand finals of the Ultimate Golgari Guild Challenge!

This article has been underway for quite a while, due to me being

a) Slow

b) Doing other stuff.

Last time I left you off with just the final round of the challenge remaining, and today I'm wrapping it up!

I have had a blast playing this challenge, seeing how different, though similar decks handle each other. Thanks to everyone who has submitted decks, for the challenge; I hope you enjoyed the read and are ready for the next challenges!

The Contestants:

psychoza

submitted his take on a Golgari aggro deck, and tuned it to near perfection. With copies of Hunted Horror to juice up his Lotleth Trolls through Varolz, the Scar-Striped. He also incorporated elements such as Golgari Brownscale to keep him in the race against faster decks, and Skylasher's for added protection further in the challenge. His deck Grave Danger Ahead has certainly been interesting, and I'm glad to see it as one of the finalists.

Supersun

's deck, A typical Golgari Deck, has a deceiving title. He played a ramp deck, that sported four copies of cards as Utopia Sprawl, Birds of Paradise and Golgari Signet. With an endgame consisting of Gleancrawler and Protean Hulk he has ramped, trampled, and lastly recurred his way into the finals. If that wasn't enough, he also ran 4 copies of Rogue's Passage, to get damage through, even against clogged boards. Ursapine has proved to be a valueable creature, serving as an on-board combat trick, which could push through more damage, or make blocks unfavourable. His deck is probably the most atypical Golgari deck in the challenge, and it been very interesting to play this slowpaced bombdropper of a deck all through to the finals.

The contestants are ready, and since I'm sure you're dying to find out who will be the Golgari Guild Representative in the Battle of Ten, I shall move onto the

Best of Three matches

Supersun will in the type-ups be "S" and psychoza will be "P".

psychoza (Grave Danger Ahead) versus Supersun (A typical Golgari Deck)

Supersun wins the roll, and keeps a hand of Ursapine, Ursapine, Rogue's Passage, Golgari Signet, Deadbridge Goliath, Birds of Paradise, Forest

psychoza Keeps a hand of Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Grisly Salvage, Slitherhead, Vraska the Unseen, Putrefy, Overgrown Tomb, Swamp.

T1

S plays Forest, taps for Birds of Paradise. Pass.

P draws Golgari Brownscale, plays Overgrown Tomb untapped (S20, P18), taps for Slitherhead. Pass.

T2

S draws Utopia Sprawl, plays Rogue's Passage, taps birds to play Utopia Sprawl enchanted on the forest, naming Black. Tap forest for GB, and plays Golgari Signet, pass turn.

P draws Swamp, plays Swamp. He swings with Slitherhead - No blocks (S19, P18). Pass turn.

T3

*S draws Gleancrawler, taps out for Ursapine. Pass turn. End step, P plays Grisly Salvage revealing Forest, Forest, Golgari Guildgate, Putrefy and Bloodbond March. He puts the Guildgate into his hand.

**P draws Hunted Horror, plays swamp, and taps out for Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Passes turn.

T4

S draws Desecration Demon, attacks with Ursapine. P blocks it with Slitherhead. S plays Desecration Demon, and passes.

P draws Abrupt Decay, plays Golgari Guildgate. He then scavenges Slitherhead onto Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Pass turn.

T5

S draws Forest, plays Forest. He attacks with Desecration Demon, and Ursapine. P declares no blockers. S pumps Ursapine once. In response P plays Putrefy on Desecration Demon. Everything resolves, and Ursapine (now a 4/4) hits. (S19, P14). S plays Deadbridge Goliath and passes turn.

P draws Forest, plays Forest. He plays Vraska the Unseen, and activates her -3, destroying Ursapine. Passes turn.

T6

S draws Forest, plays Forest. He attacks with Deadbridge Goliath on Vraska the Unseen. P chump blocks it with Varolz, the Scar-Striped. Post-combat main phase, S plays Ursapine.

P draws Golgari Rot Farm. He casts Golgari Brownscale using Forest, swamp, swamp. He then plays Golgari Rot Farm returning the tapped Swamp to his hand. He activates Vraska the Unseen's +1 and passes.

T7

S draws Birds of Paradise, attacks with Deadbridge Goliath and Ursapine on psychoza. Golgari Brownscale chump blocks Deadbridge Goliath. Ursapine hits (S19, P11). S plays Gleancrawler and passes turn.

P dredges 2 for Golgari Brownscale (S19, P13). The cards are Hunted Horror and Swamp. P plays Swamp and Golgari Brownscale. He activates Vraska's -3 and destroys Gleancrawler. Pass turn.

T8

S draws Birds of Paradise, and attacks with Ursapine and Deadbridge Goliath. Golgari Brownscale chumps Goliath. Ursapine pumps itself by 3, and hits for 6 (S19, P7). S plays both Birds of Paradises in his hand, and passes turn. End step, psychoza casts Abrupt Decay on a Birds of Paradise.

P draws Vraska the Unseen, plays it and activates it's -3 targeting Ursapine. Pass turn.

T9

S draws Swamp, attacks Vraska with Deadbridge Goliath, which connects, Vraska goes to the graveyard. Pass turn.

P draws Skylasher. Passes turn.

T10

S draws Utopia Sprawl, attacks with Deadbridge Goliath. P flashes down Skylasher, blocking the Goliath. S passes turn.

P dredges 2 for Golgari Brownscale (S19, P9). The cards are Hunted Horror and Swamp. He plays Golgari Brownscale and passes.

T11

S draws Protean Hulk, plays Swamp and activates Rogue's Passage targeting Deadbridge Goliath, then swings. (S19, P4). He plays Utopia Sprawl naming green and passes turn.

P draws Desecration Demon and concedes.

Game Two!

psychoza plays first and mulligans a no-land hand. Then keeps a hand of Slitherhead, Bloodbond March, 2 Golgari Brownscale's and 2 Forests.

Supersun keeps a hand of Birds of Paradise, Putrefy, Gleancrawler, Desecration Demon, Rogue's Passage, Overgrown Tomb and Forest.

T1

P plays Forest for Slitherhead and passes.

S draws Forest, plays Forest for Birds of Paradise and passes.

T2

P draws Overgrown Tomb, plays it tapped]] and attacks with Slitherhead, no blocks are declared (P20, S19). Passes turn.

S draws Swamp, plays it and passes.

T3

P draws Slitherhead, plays Forest, and attacks with Slitherhead. No blocks (P20, S18). He plays a Golgari Brownscale and passes the turn.

S draws Ursapine, plays Forest and Desecration Demon. Then passes the turn.

T4

P draws Abrupt Decay, plays another Golgari Brownscale and passes the turn.

S draws Overgrown Tomb, and moves to combat. P sac's a Golgari Brownscale to tap down the demon. S plays Overgrown Tomb untapped (S16, P20) and plays Ursapine, then passes the turn.*

T5

P draws Golgari Rot Farm, taps Forest for Slitherhead, then plays Golgari Rot Farm, returning Forest to hand. Passes turn.

S draws Golgari Charm, plays Rogue's Passage, and moves to combat. P sacs a Slitherhead to the demon. S taps out for Gleancrawler and passes turn.

T6

P draws Swamp, plays Swamp casts Bloodbond March. Passes turn.

S draws Gleancrawler, and moves to combat. P sacs Golgari Brownscale to the Demon to tap it down. S swings with Ursapine and Gleancrawler. P chumps Ursapine with Slitherhead. S activates Ursapine 4 times targeting Gleancrawler, which hits (S16, P10). Passes turn

T7

P dredges 2 for Golgari Brownscale (S16, P12). The cards are Golgari Rot Farm and Swamp. He plays Forest, then Golgari Brownscale, returning his dead Brownscale to the battlefield. He scavenges 2 Slitherheads onto one of the Brownscale's, making it a 4/5. He then Abrupt Decay's S's Birds of Paradise. Pass turn

S draws Golgari Charm, plays Overgrown Tomb untapped (S14, P12) and Putrefy's the 4/5 Golgari Brownscale. P concedes.

RESULTS!

Supersun EMERGES VICTORIOUS! His ramp strategy proved too much for psychoza's deck, which struggled to find it's aggro pieces, and we can finally name the Golgari Representative of Guilds.

Congratulations to Supersun for creating an effective, exciting, and different deck, which had what it took to beat out the 33 other contestants!

That's it for this time! I will be returning shortly (subject to interpretation) with an article in the second Guild Challenge: Boros!

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see YOUR deck in one of the next challenges.

//Dallie