Festering Newt is a good one drop, and it buys you time to set up the field.

Savage Summoning is also good combined with Corpsejack Menace (for sideboard).

@jsansoldo - Great suggestions! I think the Slitherhead and the Deathrite Shaman should hold me off until I get enough mana to bring out a protected Lotleth Troll . However, the Savage Summoning is something I am certainly considering adding into this deck. Added to maybeboard! Thanks again!

I need to make mainboard room for Ranger's Guile !

It's been reprinted in M14 and it would protect me against anything except a board wipe. What do you think this deck could go without? I'm thinking about removing Corpsejack Menace ...

No Scavenging Ooze ? Great deck btw

Thanks man! Don't be scared to +1 :)

Scavenging Ooze is AMAZING - no question. He is a little too costly for me to buy and would also be very counterproductive to my overall deck mechanic. I need the creatures in the graveyard for Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord until I get a Varolz, the Scar-Striped in play - at which time I start scavenging to my Lotleth Troll .

Scavenging Ooze is a card that would actually give me a lot of trouble playing against. It'll eat my creatures before I can do anything with them, which is why I kill those puppies with mah Abrupt Decay or Putrefy ASAP! :)

If I where you, I'd take out the Wasteland Viper and replace it, maybe put Doom Blade in main as suppose to side. I like the deck though, I have one just like it. Check it outThe Dead Only Get Stronger

Vraska the Unseen for win con and removal, she also can protect herself

Definitely remove the Wasteland Viper s imo. The trample seems enough.Dunno what to replace it with. Should be a creature though imo.

The vipers have actually proven very useful. I went undefeated 4-0 in FNM. Was able to beat a very strong JUND deck, too. The viper killed a wall of swords when I bloodrushed him on to my troll. Im still playtesting though and anything can happen. Ive yet to play a strong control deck...

A this point, I think the only thing I'd even consider replacing my Wasteland Viper 's with, would be Garruk, Caller of Beasts . Again though, still testing.

throw a Rogue's Passage for unblockable

have you had much luck with your Desecration Demon s? I had him in my JUND and he just didnt do work. my area is also real blitz happy or control happy.

Looks good, here's my two cents. Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Varolz, the Scar-Striped are both great, but you can only play one of each at a time, so first of all, straight up would reduce Varolz, the Scar-Striped to three cards, because you'd likely draw two per game. Sure, you could argue you want to scavenge the leftover or discarded ones, but you want to find a way to squeeze Corpsejack Menace in so iffy excuses won't cut it lol.

I'd argue that Varolz, the Scar-Striped exiles creatures, and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord needs them in your graveyard, so running both would mean there'd be clashing. Reducing it to two of each feels more balanced to me. This frees a total of three slots, so throw in those Corpsejack Menace s in and I see the game having a more clear direction.

@chandlerwrx06 : I've only had a few reasons/chances to actually play Desecration Demon . The one that comes to mind that's happened a few times is when my opponent got his Slaughter Games out before I drew a Lotleth Troll and named my Lotleth Troll . At that point, my deck dynamic changes and I have a creature deck. I've found that Desecration Demon plays very well for me against non-token decks (obviously) but it's really just in this deck for its 6 power for 4CMC scavenge. Worth it's weight here for that alone.

Evolve:

It's random but I'd play Dryad Militant over Slitherhead , fights off flashback as well as scavenging for 2 vs 1 counter as a one drop and trades more favorly early game, it doesn't work well with Deathrite Shaman sure but it shouldn't stay around too long anyway (the whole purpose of Slitherhead was a blocker anyway and Dryad Militant is a better blocker). Only other issue is you may want to fit one more land in. All and all I like it, check out my deck Land Exchange.

@grandblizzard : You've made some great points! I know they're legendary, but they'll also really the only three creatures that get "play" in the whole deck. By removing them and adding such a late play creature like Corpsejack Menace (even though he is AWESOME), I'm diluting my core creature pool. You are right though, they are "counterproductive" - but they also don't really play their roles at the same time. Not to mention, if one dies, I still have some outs (more draws or another creature to invest into).

@ZToups : Great suggestion. I think I prefer the Slitherhead over the Dryad Militant . Primarily because of the Deathrite Shaman , but also because of the 2 +1/+1 counter on Lotleth Troll (discard + scavenge).

Deathrite Shaman has proven VERY useful against Scavenging Ooze when I'm not holding removal. It allows me to start the stack to exile the creature, opponent responds by eating it, then I respond by scavenging over and over again until someone runs out of mana. In this case, it will be the opponent, as the scavenge cost is 0 to me. I know that's only on my turn, but those damn Scavenging Ooze can be a pain in the arse. I don't discard creatures unless it's my turn or my opponent is out of mana... Thoughts?

You might consider reducing the number of Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Varolz, the Scar-Striped down to 2 of each and add Jarad's Orders

I find it really useful as you can call up what you need, for example calling up 2 Slitherhead with a lol troll on the field is 3 counters straight away, a play that has won me more than one game.

Otherwise I really like the deck, only thing I would consider is some Golgari Charm In place of Ranger's Guile its much more flexible.

Evolve:

Slitherhead is nice because of the free scavenge 1 early game sure but is a bad creature. Dryad Militant is a much better creature and later game with Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a better scavenge 2. It's your call but the idea of scavenging more then 1 for only one mana is amazing value, the only other 1 drops that give you this kind of powerful cheap scavenge are rotating and/or not in your colors (Vexing Devil , Slumbering Dragon , Gravecrawler , Diregraf Ghoul ) but in the end whatever you play is your call. Good luck

@Gajzla - I like Ranger's Guile over Golgari Charm because of cards like Rapid Hybridization or Putrefy (or any card that returns Lotleth Troll to my hand. Hexproof is the only thing saving me there. Regenerate has me covered on pretty much everything else. I actually did have Jarad's Orders in here at one point. I love the mechanic of the card, but went with Grisly Salvage instead because of the CMC and the fact that I could use it if I'm mana stuck as well. BOTH are GREAT suggestions though. Jarad's Orders is still being considered though!

@ZToups - You are right about that, no question. I could always try it out and see how it plays. I hope to have a kill by turn 8 though - otherwise this deck isn't doing its job.

Nice one! +1 from me. What about few Lifebane Zombie in sideboard? And Golgari Charm really need to be at least in a side, it's really powerful spell, maybe not against control, but against tokens/auras/mass removals.

scaveging ooze?

+4 Scavenging Ooze -2 Varolz, the Scar-Striped -1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord -1 Desecration Demon is where I'd squeeze in those Oozes, also, Skylasher has been REALLY good in the matches I want him in, that is, against anything playing SR. I am currently running Lifebane Zombie x4 in my board and haven't had to use him all that much yet. I think out of all of my games I have only had to use him 1 or 2 times. In fact, I haven't ran into one Voice of Resurgence in awhile it seems. Also, I would like to recommend +1 Grisly Salvage . This deck really gets a lot off of that card. Why no Golgari Charm ?

I mean Golgari Charm = counter Supreme Verdict , + -1/-1 = tricks, + Theros is an enchantment based set.