Standard Golgari graveyard based deck. This deck does consistently well at FNM, and I'm looking to continue to use it post rotation. I'm only losing a few pieces, albeit the
Gnaw to the Bone
s are pretty key pieces.
Your help is requested, any comments will be appreciated. Should you like the deck, please feel free to up-vote.
CREATURES:
Lotleth Troll: Lawl Trolls are one of the backbones of this deck. You discard your excess creatures to it in order to beef him up, and increase the size of your graveyard. His regeneration makes him a beast, if your opponent wants rid of him they need to do it in a way other than "destroy" effects (Putrefy being an obvious exception) You want to see him frequently and prominently on the board, he'll lead your charge.
Deathrite Shaman: The Deathrites are amazingly versatile as they eat your lands that you send to your graveyard in order to ramp you faster. Late game, they stay relevant by gaining you life by hosing re animator decks, or by eating one of their flashback spells to make them lose 2 life. Two toughness also means they don't trade with Elvish Mystics or any other dorks, so they prevent some early game attacks.
Dreg Mangler
: Manglers are your early game threat. A turn 3 hasty mangler is one of the last things your opponents want to see. They are efficient, brutal, and (should they be blocked and killed as you're pushing your offensive) Scavangable. They were made to swing, and they turn sideways all day long.
Blood Scrivener
: New Bob. Well, nowhere really near a new Bob. But in this deck, it's almost as good as. With a Scrivener on board, feel free to toss a few more creatures at your Lotleth Troll. If you can get hellbent, the scrivener offers the amazing deal of card advantage for just 1 life! What's not to like? That troll is looking hungry anyway. Early game, drop him and start swinging. His 2/1 body is aggro friendly.
Slitherhead
: The butter to Lotleth Troll's bread. Feed him to the troll for a +1/+1 counter then Scavenge him for another one! Or toss him down to chump block, and then scavenge him later! Send him directly to the graveyard from the library with your self mill, he doesn't care! He even turns sideways for 1, albeit rarely...
Varolz, the Scar-Striped: A newer addition to the deck, allows me to make use of creatures that hit my graveyard without having Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord out.
Wasteland Viper
: The viper here is a lingering reminder of when this deck tried to bloodrush. Needless to say, that wasn't very effective long term. However, the viper deserves a spot still. As an early drop, he'll stop people from swinging into you. And he holds an interesting spot as a finisher.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "How can a 1/2 deathtouch viper be a finisher?" Well, that works around the trample/deathtouch interactions. Should I manage to swing at my opponent with my 9/8 Lotleth Troll while my opponent is at 9 life, and that opponent should block my troll with a Hover Barrier. I would then activate my
Wasteland Viper
's bloodrush giving my Lotleth troll +1/+2 and deathtouch. Trample has my troll deal damage to my opponent over "Lethal" damage to the blocking creature. Deathtouch makes the first point of damage lethal. Therefore, the troll would get through for 9. This is more relevant than you'd think, I've won more first games on the back of this trick than I'd like to admit. Rancor also enables this trick quite well.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: The true finisher of the deck, should a later game finisher be required. He gets large and dangerous fast, and "Flings" your other creatures quite well. His self recursion is also very relevant. Against the right decks, sacrificing a swamp and a forest (after you floated their mana) turn 4 to get him back to your hand and cast him is an amazing play. Bait the board wipe, and get him back larger than ever next turn. Don't fear saccing the lands as the deck has a low average cmc, but be careful about doing that and having him run into a counterspell.
SPELLS:
Gnaw to the Bone
: The lifeblood of the deck. This allows you to outlast other decks. Milling one into the graveyard or drawing into one is one of the best feelings in this deck. It isn't uncommon to have 9+ creatures in your graveyard, so the life gain gets out of hand quite quickly.
Rancor: A solid green card. Any deck that can run it, pretty much should. It turns that massive Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord from chump blockable to unstoppable.
Grisly Salvage: Our main self mill. Should you need that last mana to drop Jarad, or maybe you're fishing for that Lawl Troll. It's versatile and gets the job done. Also lets you get lands in your graveyards for your Deathrite Shaman to work with.
Golgari Charm: The Golgari charm is a wonderful piece of this deck. As you might suspect, this deck doesn't really like Rest in Peace, and this is a mainboard answer to that. As well as being an anti-board wipe. In a pinch, it can kill an awful lot of mana dorks.
Putrefy: Force your opponent to pop that Tormod's crypt early, or take out a creature. Stopping any regeneration is just icing on the cake.
SIDEBOARD CHOICES:
Drown in Filth: Extra creature removal that also mills cards into my graveyard. Early in the game it'll take out 1/2 toughness creatures. Later on, it's as good as a Putrefy.
Elixir of Immortality: The counter to Tormod's Crypt, the creatures won't be in my graveyard anymore but at least I'll still have them in my library. Also useful against a mill deck?
Gnaw to the Bone
: Another Gnaw to the bone lives in the sideboard, waiting for a deck to be so out of control that I need to bring it in.
Putrefy: This is the non-conditional removal that can be brought in. If the opponent's creatures are getting so big so fast that Drown in Filth just won't get the job done, Putrefy is the better choice to bring in.
Pithing Needle
: Pithing needle is for those pesky planeswalkers, or if you can get it in your opening hand, those pesky Tormod's crypts.
Skylasher: Skylasher is actually one of my favorite cards from Dragon's Maze. Because it's a bear, for bear cost. But it's got the reach, can't be countered, AND prot blue (Power creep anyone?). This guy blocks geist of St Traft all day long. And runs all over blue decks for fun.
Tormod's Crypt: My own crypts for mirror matches, or reanimator decks that are still floating around in my meta. Sometimes they have answers to the Deathrite Shaman so I need to pull these in as well.
Treasured Find
: This deck loves to throw things in the graveyard indiscriminately. If it's not a creature or a land Grisly Salvage just thinks it's junk. Treasured find allows me to pull anything I want from my graveyard to my hand. These make finding cards you sideboarded in simpler If you mill them, grab them back.
That all being explained, I personally love running this deck and hope it all makes sense to you. If it does not for some reason, and I didn't explain something, ask. I'm open to suggestions of all sorts to keep it viable/make it better.
Also will be acquiring some Abrupt Decays soon, those will more than likely replace the Drown in Filths.
