Phyrexian Dreadnought is as good or better than Death's Shadow if you add a Life from the Loam and the other 2 cycling lands Slippery Karst +Polluted Mire you have a nice "dredge/draw" engine then add a Strip Mine to the mix and you have a "dredge/draw/land destruction" engine second to nun (for this deck anyway)

Thanks a ton for the feedback!Phyrexian Dreadnought is unfortunately well outside my price range...Life from the Loam would also be double my next most expensive card. Id stayed away due to expense earlierdefinitely keeping a very close eye on it though, it'd be a perfect fit. If either it (or my willpower) drop a bit, I'll be inEdit adding to deck :)

Good call on the others. I've added Slippery Karst. I am debating Polluted Mire, just because I only have 3 Swamps - Tainted Wood, Filth & the basic land fetching (Wilds, Expanse, Explosive, Kodama) rely on having a Swamp. I might switch the Mire in for a Forest though...Ill give that a try & see how it goes.Thanks again!

Golgari Thug , Lord of Extinction , Nyx Weaver are a few things to consider.

Lord of Extinction is on my wish list, but up there with the Dreadnaught outside the price range (at least for now)... the other two (especially Nyx Weaver) are really tempting - any recommendations though for what to drop for the Weaver?

I can say one would be Kjeldoran Dead . I really don't think they're great lol.

This is a really neat budget deck. I'm designing one similar and have gotten a lot of ideas from this list, so thanks!

I'm wondering why you choose Nemesis of Mortals over Ghoultree . Best case Ghoultree costs GGG less for a 10/10. Worst case it costs 2 more for a 10/10 over a 5/5.

Sakura-Tribe Elder could be good for more ramp and putting himself in the yard. Maybe in place of Explosive Vegetation ? In my mind, if you can get an effect with a creature instead of a instant/sorcery, its a plus.

Good call!, I was thinking about replacing Explosive Vegetation...do you think Sakura, or Fertilid ? I am thinking maybe Fertilid ...

Good call on Ghoultree vs Nemesis of Mortals ...not sure I can defend that one. Not making the switch just yet, but will sleep on it. Thanks for the tip!!

Protean Hydra doesn't necessarily fit the deck as well...so much as I like the card, it is on the chopping block...haven't pulled the trigger yet though. Maybe switch him for Ghoultree & keep Nemesis too...debating. Also might add other removal creatures (Shriekmaw, Nekrataal, etc)

Deck is vulnerable of course to grave hate...Witchbane Orb is an option; Torpor Orb helps with Angel of Finality in playgroup, but also more expensive than I like for the deck

I'm partial to Sakura-Tribe Elder over Fertilid . The former is 1 land for 1G, and the latter is 1 land for 3GG or 2 for 4GGG (albeit over multiple turns probably). Sakura-Tribe Elder sacrifices for free, which makes him the better chump as well. Granted you can do some late-game shenanigans with Fertilid (Scavenge, then get all the lands), but you probably have better things to do at that point. In all, the number of situations where I'd rather have Fertilid is minimal I think.

Just noticed that you're not playing Krosan Tusker . I think it's an incredible fit for the deck. 2G: Draw a card, make your next land drop, and put a creature in the graveyard is pretty strong I think. I might replace Bloodline Shaman . Tusker does the same job (get a creature to the yard) better (get a card and a land too), at the cost of repeatability.

If you're going to rely on one of the Orbs for dealing with graveyard hate, I'd suggest Buried Ruin as a way to get them from your yard, as there's a high probability you'll dredge them there at some point. In all, I'm sort of resigned to the idea that this deck will roll over to hardcore graveyard hate. Most of the decent answers are in other colors.

Have you thought about Moldgraf Monstrosity ? I also would like to see the new Garruk, Apex Predator in here. +1, I may actually go buy this deck, I have most of it already and BG is my favorite to play.