Round 2 Golgari Results

Deck Challenges

Dallie

2 July 2013

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Hello TappedOut, this is Dallie!

First and foremost let me apologize for the article coming out so late; it doesn't feel like it, but I actually played more matches in this round than I did in the first one! (ed. - also I took forever to put it up! - KrazyCaley )

I have randomly assigned a bye, so congratulations to MTG_Player for getting that one! For those of you wondering how I did that; I doodled your name on a piece of paper, and drew lots, as I'm not good with non-repeating random number generators.

I hope you're all enjoying the challenge so far, I certainly am!

So grab your snacks, sodas, siblings, Slitherheads, and silly string, and let's get on to the...

Best of Three matches!

KnightLife (2) (Golgari's Dark Ritual ) v GureiSeion (0) (UGC: Golgari Hunting)

Game 1: Both players were denied Green by their respective decks early on, however it was KnightLife who pulled out a forest of a Grisly Salvage first, and paced ahead. GureiSeion managed to get down a Hunted Horror who, thanks to an Ilness in the Ranks came with a slightly smaller downside, but the Overgrown Tomb that would open Green for him, didn't show up until T7. By that time KnightLife had a Corpsejack Menace, scavenged with two Slitherheads, and a pair of Dreg Mangler's (one scavenged) onto the other. Without being able to trade, there was nothing GureiSeion could do against the two opposing powerhouses. Game 2: GureiSeion kept a decent hand, but drew nothing but land, save a single Illness in the Rank for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile KnightLife kept spewing creatures, and with a Corpsejack Menace on the battlefield, he scavenged two Slitherhead's onto a Lotleth Troll. GureiSeion's Blood Scrivener took the edge of the first hit from it, and an animated Svogthos, the Restless Tomb with the Scrivener and a Birds of Paradise in the graveyard helped him through another attack. Drawing a Golgari Guildgate the next turn, didn't help, and his lifepoints hit 0 when KnightLife swung on his turn.

DukeNicky (2) The Rot Farm v APPLE01DOJ (1) (golgari-build-vere-budget)

Game 1: DukeNicky set up a defensive line with a Lotleth Troll and a Trestle Troll, with mana to regenerate each. Meanwhile APPLE01DOJ built up a small army of 1-drops, with an Elves of Deep Shadow, a Wasteland Viper and a Deathrite Shaman. APPLE01DOJ's Deathrite Shaman started clearing out graveyards, nibling at DukeNicky's life, but DukeNicky drew a Crime / Punishment and cast it for 1, whilst regenerating his Slitherhead (that had 2 counters from a scavenged Varolz, the Scar-Striped on it) with a Golgari Charm.

He then charged an open board with it, whilst APPLE01DOJ drew land upon land. At T8 However, APPLE01DOJ dropped a Sisters of Stone Death, and on the following turn, with mana open to do each of her abilities in a row, he attacked naming Trestle Troll as blocker.

DukeNicky responded with his last card, an Abrupt Decay on his own Troll, and pumped Slitherhead with a Sluiceway Scorpion. On the following turn, he topdecked a Toil / Trouble, and just barely squuezed through enough damage to end the game in his favour.

Game 2: APPLE01DOJ started out with a Wasteland Viper and a Deathrite Shaman, however by T3, DukeNicky was able to throw down a Crime / Punishment for 1, wiping the board. DukeNicky then tried to re-establish some board control with two Slitherheads and a Sluiceway Scorpion, however APPLE01DOJ dropped a Crypt Ghast and was winning the mana race. The next turn, he dropped a Vulturous Zombie, which was fed by a Grisly Spectacle on the Scorpion, and with only Abrupt Decay's in hand for removal, and drawing a Golgari Rot Farm as his 5th Land drop, DukeNicky couldn't stop the flier in time.

Game 3: APPLE01DOJ ramped with an Elves of Deep Shadow to a Crypt Ghast and did not need mana from then on. In the meantime DukeNicky attemped to stabilize with Trestle Trolls and Slitherheads even including a couple of Lotleth Trolls. During the course of this game APPLE01DOJ drew all four copies of Grisly Spectacle from his deck who each found ample targets. A Lotleth Troll that DukeNicky had fed [[Slitherhead]s met a Putrefy and just as the stream of removal was halting, [[Apple01DOJ] drew a Wasteland Viper which he used to clear of a [[Trestle Troll].

APPLE01DOJ cast a Vulturous Zombie and on the following turn a Vraska the Unseen and used her -3 ability on the remaining Trestle Troll, hitting for 5 in the air.

All the creature killing however, had some benefits, for DukeNicky, because he played a Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, which was a 8/8 thanks to loads upon loads of dead creatures in his graveyard.

With Vraska needing another turn to recover, and APPLE01DOJ not drawing any removal, he took the hit, and DukeNicky played another Sluiceway Scorpion and sacrificed it off Jarad, for the last two points of damage to win.

JHermy (2) (guild-deck-challenge-golgari-by-jhermy) v TheLameSauce (0) (Chant of the Necrosage)

Game 1: TheLameSauce got a Vulturous Zombie and followed it up with a Balustrade Spy to get the bird to 6/6. However on the opposing end, JHermy got down a Desecration Demon and a Deadbridge Goliath. When TheLameSauce popped a Deadbridge Chant, with naught but creatures in the Graveyard, thanks to a Loaming Shaman, things were looking very well for him.

However JHermy had during the game drawn into two of his Crypt Incursions and scoured 8 creatures out of the graveyard, gaining a massive 24 life. The only remaining card in TheLameSauce's graveyard was another Deadbridge Chant which was returned to his hand at the beginning of his upkeep. JHermy dropped another Crypt Incursion after Putrefying a Lotleth Troll, gaining another 12 life.

Before JHermy could swing for lethal with a Desecration Demon and a Deadbridge Goliath, [TheLameSauce]] Putrefyed the Demon and gained back 9 life from his own copy of Crypt Incursion, but when he didn't draw into anything (and his dual copies of Deadbridge Chant bringing nothing but land), he died to the Goliath, swinging for 5 each turn.

Game 2: TheLameSauce got of to a steady start with a good amount of recurring creatures in two copies of Necroplasm, and drew into a third. However, JHermy had 2 Abrupt Decays and a Devour Flesh in his opening hand, and when TheLameSauce hit the wall on mana (at 5) he couldn't keep up with losing a Creature each turn, whilst JHermy kept piling on creatures.

A Desecration Demon from JHermy got killed instantly to Putrefy, but a Deadbridge Goliath took it's place, alongside with two Birds of Paradise. The Birds enabled JHermy to drop a Varolz, the Scar-Striped and scavenge the dead Demon onto a bird in the next turn, and when a Dreg Mangler was scavenged onto the other bird, on the following turn, the aerial beats soon brought TheLameSauce down to one life.

In an attempt to buy time, TheLameSauce used Crypt Incursion on himself, gaining 21 life, but seeing no land, and now dealing with 9 damage per turn in the air, meant that even with a recurring chump blocker, the game soon came to an end in JHermy's favor.

paulmorphy44 (1) (Corpsejack's budget deck) v Supersun (2) (A typical Golgari Deck)

Game 1: After Supersun had Putrefy'ed most of paulmorphy44's early aggression, it looked like he would be able to get his combo going, after drawing and casting a Gleancrawler to stare down a Dreg Mangler. But seeing nothing but land in two turns, whilst paulmorphy44 drew a Corpsejack Menace and cast it. On his turn, Supersun cast a Vraska the Unseen, but another topdecked Corpsejack Menace meant that even with the Gleancrawler, paulmorphy44 had the kill on the board. Finding no help, and drawing a Rogue's Passage on his turn, sealed his fate, as paulmorphy44 did him in, after Supersun had passed the turn.

Game 2: paulmorphy44 kept a 2 land hand with a Slitherhead, a Korozda Guildmage, a Varolz, the Scar-Striped, a Dreg Mangler, and a Corpsejack Menace, which looked to be a very decent hand, except that he never found the third land. Meanwhile Supersun had a T1 Utopia Sprawl naming black onto an Overgrown Tomb, and followed up on T2, with a Golgari Signet into another Golgari Signet. On T3 he hard cast a Gleancrawler, and the following turn came Deadbridge Goliath. Ursapine joined in on the fun, and it didn't take long for paulmorphy44 to lose his chump blockers and eventually hit 0.

Game 3: Supersun had an almost as mana ramping start as in game 2, however, he drew slightly less removal, and more ramp, which allowed paulmorphy to bash in for a lot of pressure, bringing Supersun to 2 life.

Supersun Managed to get sneak an Ursapine through the defenses of paulmorphy44 once, but traded it for a Dreg Mangler a few turns later.

paulmorphy44 played a Lotleth Troll, which Supersun tried to Golgari Charm, but a Korozda Guildmage was discarded in response.

On the following turn, paulmorphy44 played a Corpsejack Menace, discarding a Slitherhead and scavenging it onto the troll. Supersun had a Desecration Demon (and a Birds of Paradise) on the battlefield, and they stared each other down, until paulmorphy44 drew a Dreg Mangler, played it, and sacrificed it to tap down the Desecration Demon. However this was what Supersun had been waiting patiently for. He cast Putrefy on the lotleth troll, and swung for 7 in the air on the following turn.

paulmorphy44 needed to draw any of his creatures, or a removal tool, if he were to live through to his next turn. He drew his card for the turn, a Golgari Charm, and conceded. He never hit the 5th land drop needed to start scavenging the Dreg Mangler's.

Riceeman (2) (Golgari-mation) v TheGreatBooster (0) (ravnica-revisited-the-swarm)

Game 1: Both players got out an early Dreg Mangler, but it was Riceeman who had the edge with a Deathrite Shaman on the board, and since both decks were rather graveyard dependent, he took the lead on damage. Lotleth Troll came out on one turn, and a turn later, a Grisly Salvage set up a Vigor Mortis for a Sisters of Stone Death. TheGreatBooster had the Putrefy for the Sisters, and a defense of his own Lotleth Troll and Dreg Mangler

When Riceeman discarded two Deadbridge Goliath's and Scavenged one onto his Lotleth Troll before attacking, there wasn't a lot TheGreatBooster could do. Exiling the Putrefy used to kill Sisters of Stone Death, Deathrite Shaman pinged for the win.

Game 2: Riceeman played Deathrite Shaman on T1, and on T2 another Shaman and a Lotleth Troll. Meanwhile, TheGreatBooster played a Plagued Rusalka, and on T2 Grisly Salvageed to set up his graveyard, which now contained, among other cards, a Life from the Loam and three Stinkweed Imps. However come Turn 3, Riceeman successfully reanimated a Lord of the Void, discarded to the troll, and on the following turn, Abrupt Decay'ed a newly played Stinkweed Imp on TheGreatBooster's field. He swung for 10 damage, exiling ten cards and playing a Corpsejack Menace from TheGreatBooster's library.

Struggling to keep up, TheGreatBooster played another Stinkweed Imp and a Slitherhead in hopes of stopping the bleeding, but when Riceeman drew and discarded a Deadbridge Goliath, and scavenged it onto the Lotleth Troll (giving it a cool +12/+12 counters), there wasn't anything TheGreatBooster could do.

Darkness1835 (0) (Golgari Guild Challenge) v CaveShinobi (2) (Golgari Kounterfest)

Game 1: CaveShinobi hit all the right drops, and comfortably on 2 Putrefys and 2 Vigor Mortis (Mortii?) and with two Corpsejack Menaces, a Slitherhead, and a[Dreg Mangler]]s in his graveyard, he was in good shape. On field CaveShinobi's Lotleth Troll sat along a single Slitherhead, opposing a recurring Stinkweed Imp, a Dreg Mangler and a Shambling Shell, that kept pumping.

However as CaveShinobi had pushed through some damage, with one of his Dreg Manglers, he had used up his kill spells, and suddenly creatures amassed on Darkness1835's side of the board, who never missed a creature drop (thanks to dredge) and had a Svogthos, the Restless Tomb, that could be animated if needed. Suddenly the aggro changed towards CaveShinobi and damage slipped through here and there. A Dreg Mangler was blocked by a a 3/2 Lotleth Troll, and Shambling Shell was blocked by Slitherhead, though the sacrifice came, and pumped the dreg, making both survive.

He was at 6 life, when he dropped Vigor Mortis on a Corpsejack Menace, and cast another Slitherhead, which held off the offense for a turn. The next turn he topdecked a Sisters of Stone Death, discarded it, and re-animated it through Vigor Mortis.

Not having lethal on the board, and not being able to trade well with either of CaveShinobi's creatures, Darkness1835, rushed a Dreg Mangler into certain death, as to not lose it to Sisters of Stone Death on the following turn.

However drawing no removal, and with Sisters manipulating damage through each turn, there was no salvation for Darkness1835.

Game 2: A very straightforward game. Board states were very similar, with CaveShinobi having a Slitherhead, a [[Lotleth Troll and a Dreg Mangler. Darkness1835 had the exact same, except no Slitherhead. But while CaveShinobi drew removal and more creatures, Darkness1835 drew into a couple of lands, and a Crypt Incursion, which pushed the life totals in favor of CaveShinobi. When Darkness1835 finally drew into a creature, he was at 3 life, and it was a Hunted Troll.

dcarpntr (0) (dcarpntrs-ultimate-golgari) v psychoza (2) (Grave Danger Ahead)

Game 1: psychoza brought on his aggro game, and hit hard and fast. A Varolz, the Scar-Striped chumped for a turn, and then dcarpntr played a Desecration Demon on one turn. However psychoza, despite being stuck on 3 mana for the main part of the game, had drawn, no less than 8 creatures, compared to dcarpntr's 3, and psychoza played a creature, sacrificed it and bashed in. When dcarpntr killed two creatures with a Putrefy and an Abrupt Decay, and on his turn played a Corpsejack Menace it seemed like he would stabilize, but creatures in abundance, and a huge flood for dcarpntr mean that he could sacrifice a creature to tap down the demon, and attack with 2 creatures for the win.

Game 2: When you're stuck on 3 mana, it's not fun being against a deck that has a significantly lower curve. Drawing next to no creatures with 4 CMC or less, dcarpntr soon fell way behind on life.

A Bloodbond March came down for psychoza and thanks to some early Grisly Salvage's, he had 2 Dreg Manglers in his graveyard. dcarpntr was on a clock, and even though he got to 4 mana for Ivy Lane Denizen, it wasn't enough to stop the opposing trio, as they don't trade. Being behind on creatures, he got down a topdecked Desecration Demon, but it got Putrefyed, before psychoza swung for lethal.

8bitJesus (1) (ultimate-guild-challenge-golgari-1) v Blakkhand (2) (Blakk's Golgari Challenge)

Game 1: 8bitJesus got off to a slow start, but managed set down two Slitherhead and a Drainpipe Vermin rather early. However, Blakkhand had way too much aggro, in two Deathrite Shamans, two [[Experiment One]s, two Skarrgan Pit-Skulk, and a Dreg Mangler. 8bitJesus drew into a bit of removal and cleared of the Dreg Mangler by Abrupt Decay and a 3/3 Experiment One with a Putrefy, however when none of your creatures can trade with the opposition, 8bitJesus could do nothing but chump block, whilst his deck kept giving him mana.

An Abrupt Decay from Blakkhand on 8bitJesus' only remaining creature, sealed the deal.

Game 2: After some early aggression from both sides, where 8bitJesus got down a pair of Lotleth Trolls and Blakkhand got a Dreg Mangler, an Experiment One and a [Vinelasher Kudzu]]. Whilst Blakkhand was spewing creatures, at about the same rate as the last game, 8bitJesus managed to stabilize with a Pack Rat and a copy of Doubling Season. The last turn before Blakkhand could deal lethal, 8bitJesus Putrefyed a Skarrgan Pit-Skulk, which had been unblockable due to Varolz, the Scar-Striped being able to scavenge his dead creatures onto it.

The turn after that, 8bitJesus discarded a card, got two rats, and now had seven 7/7 rats, which all attacked. Being on 7 life, Blakkhand couldn't afford to let a single creature through, and blocked everything except an unbuffed Lotleth Troll. Drawing a land on his turn, meant that he could do nothing in time to stop 8bitJesus from taking the win.

Game 3: 8bitJesus got stuck on 3 land, despite having 3 in his opener, all the while, standard Golgari aggro in the form of Experiment Ones, Dreg Manglers and a Varolz, the Scar-Striped came down for Blakkhand who quickly emptied his... Black hand.

With a Blood Scrivener also on the board, 8bitJesus could stand idle by, play whatever CMC 3 creature or lower he came upon, and slowly watch himself get outraced.

MTG_Player (1) (Golgari Infestation) v BYE!

That's it for this time!

Tomorrow I'm headed to Roskilde Festival in Denmark, and will be unable to finish this round before I leave. I will be back the 8th of July (my birthday), and promise to play the last rounds within the week!

I had planned to have the entire Golgari Challenge finished before going on to the next challenge, but as I am a considerate, handsome, smart, and humble guy, I've decided to reveal the next challenge already! Check out the next article if you're interested!

See you in a week!