Jarad Grave Intentions

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Combo Mill

kadd

Card Draw/Advantage (10)

• 1x Deathreap Ritual
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Morbid Opportunist
• 1x Ohran Viper
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x The Gitrog Monster
• 1x Underrealm Lich
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

Mill (3)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Mindcrank

Mill-Self (4)

• 1x Deadbridge Chant
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Nyx Weaver
• 1x World Shaper

Ramp (12)

• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Splendid Reclamation
• 1x Talisman of Resilience
• 1x Tempt with Discovery

Recursion (6)

• 1x Acolyte of Affliction
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Golgari Thug
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Removal (8)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Plaguecrafter

Removal - Wipe (3)

• 1x Fraying Omnipotence
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Mutilate

Tutor (4)

• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Undergrowth (4)

• 1x Lhurgoyf
• 1x Lord of Extinction
• 1x Mortivore
• 1x Nighthowler

Utility (5)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Dying Wish
• 1x Savra, Queen of the Golgari
• 1x Stinkweed Imp

Win Con (4)

• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Phyrexian Devourer
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Wall of Blood

Z-Land (36)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 7x Forest
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 9x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Commander (1)

---

Maybeboard

Maybe (7)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Harness Infinity
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Timeless Witness

---

I really enjoy Golgari and what it has to offer in terms of taking advantage of life and death. And this deck packs in a lot of it, with consistent sacrifice effects, mill effects, removal and of course recursion/reanimation.

I've built this deck for a casual kitchen table 5 player meta that usually goes up to 15+ turns. Tappedout rates it as a "74%" and I would say it falls into a 7/10 power level. The deck is decently focused, it has clear win conditions, reliable ramp, it can interact with most board states and survive, but it is not as consistent as an 8/9/10 out of 10. This deck’s sweet spot is usually on turns 9 to 14 depending on your draws and interaction with the rest of the board.

The goal of this deck is to fill all graveyards with creatures to fuel undergrowth and take advantage of recursion abilities. The purpose of the commander, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is to sacrifice large creatures with his ability to deal damage to everyone.

Early Game

• In the early game, focus on building up a mana base, ramp as much as possible. Burnished Hart, Dawntreader Elk and Sakura-Tribe Elder are great for this deck because they give us ramp and an early body in the graveyard. Don’t be afraid to use recursion on these early game, such as Dread Return, Phyrexian Reclamation or Journey to Eternity  .

• When fetching lands, after you have one or two Forest, start to pile on the Swamp. Even just having four Swamps can bring a lot of value from Cabal Stronghold or Mutilate in the mid game.

• Self-mill with Hermit Druid, Nyx Weaver, Underrealm Lich and World Shaper to pack creatures into your graveyard. Mill with Altar of the Brood, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Grindclock and Mindcrank to pack creatures into your opponent’s graveyards.

• Once you have the mana, start to play your Card Draw/Advantage. There are a few different types of card draw in the deck but most of it is persistent, which means you’ll get more value out of it the longer it’s up. Graveborn Muse will get you a card each upkeep, whereas Deathreap Ritual, Harvester of Souls, Grim Haruspex and Midnight Reaper can get you more or fewer cards depending on the board state.

Mid Game

• In the mid game, you will likely have little board presence because everything is already in your graveyard. You will need to lean heavily on your removal to keep you in the game. Play and sacrifice Plaguecrafter, Fleshbag Marauder or Merciless Executioner. Works well with Savra, Queen of the Golgari to get double the effect.

• Don’t be afraid to drop board wipes if anyone is going to wide with creatures. Fraying Omnipotence and Killing Wave can combo well with Savra, Queen of the Golgari if you sacrifice black creatures.

• At this point, you might want to think about bringing the king himself, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord onto the battlefield. If you wait too long to bring him out, you might telegraph a win. So, to get around that, get him out in the mid game. If he dies, let him go to the graveyard, he won’t be there for long.

• Start bringing out Jarad’s best buds from the Undergrowth suite: Bonehoard, Lhurgoyf, Mortivore, Nighthowler and Lord of Extinction. These guys can start to get beefy fast, especially if they followed a board wipe. If they’re plus sized and beautiful but they’re being targeted by removal, now is the time to start to explode them with Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord.

Late Game & Win Conditions

• By the late game, you should have consistently played a land for turn and have ramped up your mana base. What we are looking for now, is to assemble our win condition. The easiest way to pull this off is with Jarad's Orders or Final Parting. Grab Necrotic Ooze and put Phyrexian Devourer, Wall of Blood or Tree of Perdition into the graveyard.

• If you still have Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord on board, you can play Phyrexian Devourer or Wall of Blood and pump them up before exploding them. Note that you can continue to pump Phyrexian Devourer in response to his own sacrifice trigger, and then in response to that, explode him with Jarad. Exploding Wall of Blood will only work if you have the most life points, you might need to sacrifice an Undergrowth creature first to pull it off.

• If Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord has been chilling in your graveyard, you have a couple of options depending on what you have in hand. You can bring him back to your hand by sacrificing a (hopefully tapped!) Forest and Swamp. Or, if you can play Necrotic Ooze, and he can be your new Jarad.

• If Necrotic Ooze uses Tree of Perdition’s activated ability from the graveyard, it will drop your target to 3 hp instead of 13 hp. However, Tree of Perdition dropping someone to 13 hp will usually put them within killing range of any Undergrowth creature exploding. You can also use Tree of Perdition politically to save someone if they are dangerously low on hp.

• Use recursion as your protection, let things die and when the time is right, bring them back.

Notes & Other Combos

• A lot of the recursion value comes from the flipped Journey to Eternity  , so I'd recommend tutoring with Sidisi, Undead Vizier for it (You can repeat Sidisi's effect if you exploit herself and then bring her back with the flipped Journey). Attaching Journey to something you can sacrifice the same turn will dodge a lot of removals and net a 2nd activation.

• If you mill yourself too hard, you can dredge back Golgari Thug. You can also use its ability to get back Eternal Witness to grab a non-creature that you need; sac and repeat as needed.

• Maelstrom Pulse is a great removal for tokens, Rat Colony/Relentless Rats/Persistent Petitioners, or mass Sol Ring destruction. Similarly, to Assassin's Trophy, it's also spot removal.

• I've included The Gitrog Monster in the 99 because I found I often had an excess of land in hand late game. In addition, we're already milling lands to the Graveyard through various methods, including Jarad himself. If we don't want to sac a land, you can sac him to Jarad in response or just let him go to the graveyard and build up the body count.

• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth will make the fetchlands, Verdant Catacombs and Fabled Passage into Swamps. No need to crack them in this case unless you need a Forest or land trigger for something else.

• Emergence Zone can sneak in things like a Necrotic Ooze/Tree of Perdition combo on the end step before your turn. Or, flash in a surprise blocker/removal at any point.

• Rogue's Passage works well with both Lord of Extinction or Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Jarad only needs to do 21 because of commander damage).

Top Ranked	Achieved #44 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.06
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Favorites, interessanti, Edh ideas