Added descriptions for all new maybeboard cards and deck substitutions / subtractions. This should be three times as fast and much more competitive with the few unique more fun cards I had added to the deck moved into a new maybeboard section for speedier choices and larger ramp opportunities.
New Sections: “Surveil” section added into both main deck description and maybeboard. “Stax Response” section added to main description. “More Fun, Less Win” section added to maybeboard. “What to Remove” section added to maybeboard. All section’s reordered for their cards to be listed in alphabetical order to satiate my borderline OCD.
Thanks so far for the comments and suggestions. Please keep them coming and throw your Goyf an upvote. Doom Whisperer for Sheoldred *ser*, Coiling Rebirth for Badlands Revival and seeing if Lively Dirge performs as well as I hope it does are the big new ones I am eager to report back on, now that I can stop working on this for awhile and play a few games with the new update. Goyf Bless!
Want to Win?
Most Effective Disa Pyrogoyf Win Build
Tribal Tarmogoyf's? Tarmogoyf tokens?!? Yes, we're all excited. If you want to win with this deck, forget the Maskwood Nexus and Conspiracy, we are just going to throw cards in our graveyard, get our Pyrogoyf, and hit everyone's creatures / selves for direct lethal damage. I have played over 400 games on Xmage with different variations of this Disa deck and this current list is the latest, most effective, well honed machine TO WIN. I will explain our main Pyrogoyf wincon and themes, the few unique cards, as well as a significant maybeboard for everyone to play with and the reasonings for why I have chosen to remove them. As many know, it's much harder to go from 101 cards to 99, then it is from 115 to 99. This deck is pitched as BEST WIN and so it is. I have included a section on "Less Win, More Fun" cards which are all still very strong options, but not as competitive. Slot these in if you're interested in a more unique gameplay experience.
Our Mantra: Pyrogoyf and Damage Doublers
Yes, believe me, the first version of this deck I ran had Maskwood Nexus and Conspiracy, everything's a Lhurgoyf it wants to be so good, but unless you want to run wasteful tutors to always find them, these cards are just not needed for maximum efficiency, we just want to get our Pyrogoyf, throw other true Lhurgoyfs into our graveyard for direct damage to the opponent and create as many Tarmogoyf tokens per turn for even more, often lethal Pyrogoyf damage to our opponents. Throw in some clever, mana effective cards to copy our Pyrogoyf and double our damage and the games can end quick, or we can come in late game out of nowhere when we have a slow ramp.
Here Boy!
So, we need some treats to get our Pyrogoyf to come. Early game our priority is getting cards in our or our opponent's graveyards to strengthen our Lhurgoyf tribe, while ramping / getting the 5 mana we need to cast Disa the Restless, our fearless Commander, in order to get her out as soon as possible and enable our many graveyard tutors. This deck relies on direct graveyard tutoring spells, which from Disa's first ability, causes our Pyrogoyf or any other Lhurgoyf to enter the battlefield instead. It also has a number of spells which blindly fill our graveyard, and unless you're very unlucky, it is incredible how often you hit Pyrogoyf with some of our mill spells.
Buried Alive
With Disa out, this single card can wreck absolute havoc. Grab Pyrogoyf, and your two largest other Lhurgoyf's. Some of my go to's are Barrowgoyf, Polygoyf and Mortivore be sure to put them on the stack properly so Pyrogoyf enter's the battlefield first (top of stack). Take into account your current situation, as all the Goyf's have different cards in graveyard requirements for their size and you want to grab whichever one's have the current highest P/T. If I'm holding this early game and there has not been enough graveyard filling for our Goyfs to fatten up yet, I will grab Anger and or Brawn with Pyrogoyf in order to get the trample and haste going early.
Barrowgoyf is often a 6/7 and it comes in clutch to have a large deathtouch / lifelink blocker. If you're able to swing and don't need the blocker, the mill and return creature card to your hand ability is excellent and can also land us more free Lhurgoyfs and Pyrogoyf triggers. Polygoyf, is just so good and if you have haste and can swing right off the bat, you're making some large tokens that are hitting for major direct combat and Pyrogoyf trigger damage. Also, Polygoyf is our only Lhurgoyf that comes with trample and combined with its myriad ability, we all but guarantee at least one Disa token trigger any turn we attack. Myriad is also a great way to hit opponents with Ghostly Prisons and the like, without having to pay the 2 cost. Mortivore is simply the other Lhurgoyf creature card we run that most often has the largest P/T, and thus the most damage from Pyrogoyf when it enters, due to its P/T being linked to all creature cards in all graveyards. Again, each individual game dependent.
Crop Rotation
Heavy one green mana heater for the deck. Use Crop Rotation to grab Gaea's Cradle immediately and shore up an insane amount of mana for the game if it's not removed. Also the versatility is great in case we have needs for things like our Buried Ruin to return an artifact from our graveyard to hand or Command Beacon if its a long one and Disa's been costing an arm and a leg to get back onto the battlefield. With Crucible of Worlds out we also get our sacrificed exchange land back to our hand. Crop Rotation also does great in our deck because with Crucible or Life from the Loam, we can "rescue" a Boseiju, Who Endures or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire we may have been forced to play in an early hand from the battlefield to our graveyard to be channeled again.
Demonic Tutor It's not a graveyard tutor no, it's just the most powerful tutor in the history of the game. This is best win so we're playing it and grabbing our Pyrogoyf EVERY TIME, unless we are in need of a dire, specific threat answer. Remember, many normally punishing enchantment stax effects we don't necessarily need to remove when our Pyrogoyf can target the opponent directly for damage with its ability. Buried Alive, Mesmeric Orb and Survival of the Fittest are our other go-to early game Demonic targets.
Entomb and Unmarked Grave
Classic, effective one and two mana drops, if Disa is out, we get Pyrogoyf EVERY time. Early game, if I draw this opening hand or soon thereafter and have no ramp to play, I will almost every time grab Anger instead and ensure instant haste. I do run Brawn as well, as our Goyf Boyz get HUGE often and we need to ensure we cause combat damage to get our token triggers, but I lean towards the Anger first, with Brawn sometimes being the better late game option when opponents have lots of blockers. Don't get overexcited like myself and forget you need a mountain on the field for Anger and a forest for Brawn in order to enable them, but this is almost never an issue. With just a little graveyard fill to everyone, our Tarmogoyf tokens are very often 6/7's and three combat damage triggers from us (one to each opponent) for a total of three new Tarmogoyf tokens and 18 direct damage on a turn is often all it takes.
Survival of the Fittest
Discard a Llhurgoyf with Disa on the field for a free Goyf trigger and put Pyrogoyf or anyone else we need straight from our library into our hand without having to wait for our yard to fill. Anytime we have the benefit of a hand full of creatures, Survival of the Fittest is our top Demonic Tutor target if Pyrogoyf is already out. Shoutout to -nothing- for asking me why the hell this wasn't in the deck already.
Tortured Existence
Almost as good as Survival of the Fittest and costs 1 less mana. One of our most important Disa trigger pieces that can also reliably return a dead Pyrogoyf or other needed removed creature from our graveyard to our hand.
Vile Entomber
Why is that non-indestructible Ulamog, the Defiler swinging at your opponent before you this turn with annihilator 17? Deathtouch, deathtouch, deathtouch, so underrated. Again, similar to Barrowgoyf, we gain a deathtouch blocker and with Disa out, Pyrogoyf into our hand. If we already have Disa and Pyrogoyf on the battlefield, as with all previous mentioned cards, we are grabbing our currently largest P/T Lhurgoyf for the direct damage trigger.
Mill Tutor
These are some of the best cards that serve dual purpose in our deck, they can either fill our graveyard in order to grow our Goyf's P/T or put our Lhurgoyf's out onto the field for free when our Queen Disa is on the battlefield.
Hermit Druid
One of the best cards in our deck, we are running only 6 basic lands, so this reusable, activated ability, with a little luck, can net us a large number of free Lhurgoyfs with Disa on the field. If you already have Pyrogoyf out, this gets dangerous fast. Also helps immensely to get cards in our yard and buff our Goyf's P/T (See a theme here...)
Old Stickfingers
Wow, this card is incredible in this deck and may just be the overall MVP behind our main man Pyro. Took me awhile to discover it and one of the more recent adds, but again, just wow, this has won so many games, especially later on when you can pour 5-6 mana into it. The fact we run about 70% Lhurgoyf creatures means with Pyrogoyf on the battlefield, when we cast ol' Sticky boy we are often getting a direct damage trigger for however many total X we were able to pay, not to mention Sticks himself is usually huge. Oh wait, did I also mention that the rest of the cards go back into our library, so later game when Stick Mick' Licks is most efficient we're not wasting other spells unnecessarily? Again, MVP forerunner.
Ripples of Undeath
Another MH3 newey and what a goody! This card does some work, early game fills our yard and although the cost of 3 life to return the cards takes its toll, an incredible draw tutor each and every turn, almost a black Sylvan Library. When Disa comes out, it gives us three chances for a free Lhurygof trigger on the mill as well as more chances to get Anger and Brawn in our graveyard early.
Straight Up Mill
Have I mentioned we need our and our opponent's graveyards to be full? It's crucial to our deck we make our Lhurgoyf's P/T as high as possible for our Pyrogoyf triggers and also we are going to be using a significant amount of graveyard return in this deck to take advantage of the necessary mill.
Altar of the Brood and Mesmeric Orb
Ah, there is nothing like the classics. Altar may seem slow, but especially when we are popping off 2-3 or more tokens per turn, it's a definite keeper. I will admit, Altar of the Brood is one of the first cards I am always eyeing when looking for what I can slot out, but another game just the other day reminded me how crucial it can be to filling our yards and buffing our Goyf's P/T in empty graveyard games. One most other Disa players don't play that I strongly suggest you keep in. In terms of our beautiful Orbiez, still one of my favorite cards ever in the history of Magic (yes, I'm a mill man) the work it puts in here is unparalleled. Fill our opponent's graveyards full of tasty reanimation targets or with Disa on the battlefield, net us free Lhurgoyf after Lhurgoyf.
IT LIVES!!! Graveyard Shenanigans
Mill, mill, mill. What does that mean? There should be a lot of cards in all yards if all is going according to our crazed Lhurgoyf plans. We need to take HEAVY advantage of this.
Animate Dead and Reanimate
Your opponent's should have some great stuff in there, always fun to take your pick of the litter. Also can importantly return our Pyrogoyf to the battlefield if he is removed from play. With how often we mill ourselves, our own Sheoldred *ser*is an excellent, tasty target that can often be transformed immediately with all the graveyard filling going on.
Coiling Rebirth
A new killer from Bloomburrow. What. A. Banger. Bring our Pyrogoyf or Terror of the Peaks back from the yard straight to the battlefield for a damage trigger and by nobly gifting our weakest opponent a card we can make a 1/1 copy of him and start shooting off double Pyro (or Peaks) triggers as soon as we can. We love all of our token making spells with Doubling Season *f-etch* and Parallel Lives. Early on in gameplay testing, but taking out Badlands Revival for this has been paying off so far.
Coram, the Undertaker
I did not play Coram in this deck until about a week ago, for the only reason being that he had not been added as a new card to the Xmage server I play on until the latest update. As this deck was so successful without him, this would be one of the first I would consider trading out, but the fact he synergies so well with the mill and Disa on the battlefield, they probably made him the alternate commander of the precon for a reason. Update: The three games Coram has come out for me since this initial draft, he has blown up into a 16+/5 swinger and was doing so much work on the mill, I even chose him as my first reanimation target when he got removed. Keeping Coram for the foreseeable future.
Lively Dirge, Noxious Revival, Road of Return and Victimize
All instant or sorceries that return our Pyrogoyf or any other baddies we need to our hand or the battlefield.
Lively Dirge Wow, is this a good new one for us from Junction. Could also be listed under one of our direct graveyard tutors for its +1 spree effect. In a low mana scenario we can punch it out for 3 mana with Disa on the battlefield for an instant Pyro trigger or grab Anger or Brawn. For 5 mana we still get our superb graveyard tutor and return up to two creature cards with total mana value 4 or less TO THE BATTLEFIELD, Pyrogoyf triggers anyone? Many of our go to's we end up milling such as Coram, the Undertaker, Hermit Druid and Solphim, Mayhem Dominus are 4 mana or lower casting cost, not to mention every single one of our Lhurgoyfs with the exception of Necrogoyf. Essentially a slighty higher cost, Buried Alive one of the all-stars of our deck, we'll take it.
Noxious Revival and Victimize I have found to be the absolute best return cards for this deck. Noxious Revival cause it gets us any permanent and is "free" (only our precious life to pay) and Victimize is excellent due to us having plenty of Goyf tokens to sacrifice and not giving a damn for our triggers if our Pyro Prince comes in tapped. Road of Return, again made the cut instead of Eternal Witness and others as the added entwine ability to put Disa back in our hand is a major benefit. Constant Disa removal is our biggest enemy in this deck and any help lowering her repeated casting costs we can fit with other abilities are more than welcome. Also, as this just happened to me in a recent game, Road of Return is a great way to bypass a Drannith Magistrate you haven't been able to remove, by using the entwine to put Disa in your hand from the Command Zone.
Dredge
We like graveyards, we like mill, we like dredge. With Disa out, we dredge instead of draw for free Goyf triggers, or we dredge early game to fill our yard when our hands are stable. My initial versions of this deck ran Golgari Thug and Golgari Grave-Troll, but when cutting down and honing over time, I found the following two dredge cards to be the most effective.
Life from the Loam and Stinkweed Imp
We put a lot of lands in our graveyard when we get our holy Mesmeric Orb out or blindly mill ourselves in other fashions. Life from the Loam gives us reliable ramp from this mill. Can also get in some great late game cycles with this card and Disa on the battlefield where you are hitting free Goyf triggers from the dredge and filling our hand with lands at the same time. Is there a record on skip here? Does anyone reading this know what a record is?!? Stinkweed Imp is a FLYING, DEATHTOUCH blocker AND IT DREDGES 5. Wait a minute it's not even real deathtouch its "this creature destroys any creature that it deals combat damage to" triggered ability, so we don't even have to worry about the rare Archetype of Finality cramping our style. Nuff' said.
Damage Doublers and Pyrogoyf Imposters
What's better than nailing our opponents with 13 direct damage from a fat Mortivore we just cast for free to the face? Doubling or tripling that 13 damage by copying our Pyrogoyf and / or his noncombat damage trigger.
Doubling Season *f-etch* and Parallel Lives
Season has gone in and out of this deck multiple times, as it usually is a full turn build commitment and there can be better uses for a 5 mana drop early on (like casting Disa), but if you have the time or a moment after a cleared board wipe to get it out, at the end of the day with our main focus of the deck being enabling as many Pyrogoyf triggers as possible, there's no way it's wise to not include one of our only two token doubler enablers in Jund. Now, with Disa on the field, each successful combat damage swing with ANY of our creatures (not just Goyfs) creates us twice the Tarmogoyfs, which can be lethal with Doubling Season or Parallel Lives out. Also, enter Polygoyf...
Mirage Mirror and Mirror of the Forebears
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, become another Pyrogoyf and burn em' all. Two excellent fits in this deck I feel quite proud of. Mirror of the Forebears comes in more than handy copying Pyro or any of our other ability strong Lhurgoyfs, while Mirage Mirror is just so versatile in its uses, copying Mana Crypts, Ghostly Prisons, Cabal Coffers etc. that it lives up to all expectations even when Pyrogoyf is not on the field to copy.
Panharmonicon
Colorless 4 drop artifact not susceptible to creature removal that doubles every one of our Pyrogoyf ETB damage effects? Auto-include. This takes the edge for us over Roaming Throne, Strionic Resonator and other more powerful, but mana heavy damage triplers such as City on Fire and Fiery Emancipation.
Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
This Praetor wannabe doubles our Pyrogoyf trigger damage on a strong 5/4 body and in a perfect situation can gain our friendly Phyrexian horror overlord indestructible by discarding two Lhurgoyf cards from hand and putting them onto the battlefield instead with Disa's ability. Cue more doubled Pyrogoyf damage triggers. Great reanimation target from our yard if destroyed or milled.
Terror of the Peaks
It's Pyrogoyf with wings and ward, except now we don't need our creatures entering to solely be Lhurgoyfs. Great answer if we run into the very unfortunate circumstances of a Pyrogoyf exile and in these scenarios Terror comes straight off the bench into the QB1 slot no problem.
Goyf Boyz
After numerous games with different choices of primary Lhurgoyf creature cards (there are a total of 11 options in Jund colors) and changelings, I have settled on nine true Lhurgoyfs listed in the decklist above. Notable Goyf I ran for many games, but removed in favor of Magnivore is Detritivore. The suspend and destroying non-basic lands is brutal (and a lot of fun) but it would rarely fit into my hand plays to suspend it and was the Lhurgoyf whose P/T was often the hardest to grow, as it relies on non-basic land cards being in the graveyard. Magnivore has been a much more reliable tribesman as player's fill their graveyards with sorceries much quicker even on a slow mill game. Shoutout to Nethergoyf for being able to escape from our packed graveyard time after time and Necrogoyf for enabling our free Goyf Disa triggers while it slows down and fills our opponents graveyards as they discard. On the matter of changelings, holler to my boy Taurean Mauler, none of the options in Jund are that spectacular and I found the true Lhurgoyf creature cards to be much more effective.
Removal and Protection
This deck runs very little removal and protection. Almost a scary little amount, but hey, what's life without a little thrill? We don't love board wipes as we want our Goyfs alive and well and also, whenever we choose, our Pyrogoyf triggers do just as well smiting our opponents creatures with direct damage whenever there is something extra threatening on the battlefield or we just get tired of killing everyone each game so darn fast. Yes, some games I will choose to not win with the direct damage and just continually use it to wipe everyone's commanders and other creatures. It's all about the experience.
Blasphemous Act and Toxic Deluge
You just can't beat reduced mana board wipes and yes, sometimes you do get the green stompy dino Pantlaza, Sun-Favored explore deck jerk whose rocking 14/14's and up, but 95% of the time our Blasphemous Act is going to clear the board for us and cost just a single red mana when we need Act most. Toxic Deluge reminds us why the classics are the classics. Versatile as you can pay any amount of life you have into it, along with the added bonus of killing indestructible creatures. This spells low 3 drop mana cost seals Deluge as our second and only other true board wipe. Our Goyf Boyz get BIG also, so Deluge does great at wiping out tons of our opponent's puny creatures, while our big boy Goyfs live to trample on another day when appropriate. Draw Toxic Deluge on an opening hand with three to four lands and we are in great shape. Keep drawing and gathering graveyard tutors, Lhurgoyfs and ramp while your opponents flood the board with creatures. Wait until your satisfied with your hand, clear the board with Deluge and then slam down Disa and enough mana to go off with Pyrogoyf triggers same turn.
No Mercy
Again, don't mess with the classics, drop this early and no-one messes with you until it's way too late. A must include deterrence and our only true protection piece worth hanging onto.
Riftsweeper
Let me be honest with everyone, 98, probably more like 99.5% of all games, this card has sat in my hand and been worthless. However, let me tell you just how incredible it felt the three games ever where my Pyrogoyf was decimating the field, killed once or twice, but returned to the battlefield by my sneaky graveyard pranks, but then, then when the hour was most dire for my foes, finally exiled by a treacherous opponent. Applause and admirations quickly spread around the table "Nice one man!" "Woot, just before it was too late, you saved us!" Next turn, enter Riftsweeper with Disa out, another one black mana for Entomb and our heroic flame shooting monster has RETURNED FROM EXILE for lethal game ending damage on the turn. I don't know about you folks, but that right there is why I play Magic. Matter of fact, that IS Magic. Play Riftsweeper it’s all worth it for that one time.
Card Draw
Another crucial aspect of the deck we run a scary little amount of. The main reason being we are relying on our mill and dredge and graveyard return to act as our card draw normally would. We need the classics and heavy hitters for this to be most efficient with the three slots we are giving draw.
Eldritch Pact
Another one of my newest additions, 7 mana is a big commitment in a deck aiming for speed and my girlfriend's also been waiting on a ring for over ten years, so I do understand the hesitation. That being said, I've found its always great to have at least one "hail mary" card in your deck to draw an obscene amount of cards in an absolute emergency, but that is not the reason the card has made the cut and become one of my favorites. The reason Eldritch Pact is so good, is to USE IT ON OUR OPPONENTS. Any game we manage to keep Mesmeric Orb out for a few turns or really get our mill going, Pact is a one shot kill. Our opponent has 36 cards in their graveyard? 24? 17? That's a direct damage of whichever amount to their FRIGGIN FACE. Add in a few of our main squeeze Pyro triggers if needed, but this is often an out of nowhere one shot kill on an opponent that can also be returned to our hand later for more brutality. Thank you to the random Muldrotha, the Gravetide *f-etch* player who used this on me when I was playing Disa and had 63 cards in my graveyard for showing me the way and ruining my evening at the exact same time.
Faithless Looting
No brainer in this deck, you get the added bonus of free Lhurgoyf triggers with Goyfs in hand and Disa on the battlefield and can cast from your graveyard with the flashback ability. We like cards that we can mill without thinking about and utilize later. Added bonus you can play that absolutely hideous practical joke of an art from the Strixhaven Mystical Archives and yes, I do, in all its glorious foil.
Reforge the Soul and Wheel of Fortune
Wheels are excellent in our deck as not only do we get the draw and have a ton of graveyard recursion for our discarded cards, with Disa out and a hand full of Goyf Bros, we can net a bunch of cards and slam a bunch of free Lhurgoyfs / Pyrogoyf triggers onto the battlefield at the same time. Reforge the Soul is great for the miracle cost and no-one does it better than the OG Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Misfortune does not make the cut, as I still after reading it over probably 30 times have no idea how it works and how much I need to pay to usually ensure I am the one that wheels. 3? 7? My head hurts just thinking about it. If you're a mathematician however, God speed with that one friendos.
Special Abilities
What's an EDH deck without a few, super mean, fun, SPECIAL cards that all add their own unique attributes to our rowdy Forest tramplin' Lhurgoyf tribe? Not fun, that's what and remember, ITS FUN TO WIN. So we will play these cards...
Breach the Multiverse
I may have been using the term MVP lightly simply because I forgot I hadn't already gushed about Breach the Multiverse. Forget Disa, ANY AND EVERY BLACK DECK you ever build, YOU SHOULD BE PLAYING BREACH THE MULTIVERSE, it is really that good. 7 mana, blah blah, this thing could and probably should be 10 mana and I would still play it. I don't care if you playing mono Rats, some Dimir faeries or Orzhov angels, does your commander have black in their color identity? PLAY BREACH THE MULTIVERSE. Focusing back to our fearless leader Disa, this card is even better than usual. With her on the battlefield we're going to nail at least one, if not more Goyf triggers on the mill and even if we don't, there is gonna be another true baddie of ours to return to the battlefield instead. Oh, we're stealing a creature from every opponent 90% of the time on their mill and filling their graveyards buffing our Goyf P/T dramatically while gaining tasty reanimation targets at the same, damn time?!? Utter Goyf Madness.
Gnaw to the Bone
A hidden gem find I found pouring over the 2,014 cards that fit Disa's color identity and have the text "graveyard" in them on Scryfall. Another one I had a love / hate relationship with. Is it really that good, a whole card slot just for some conditional life gain...Yes, in the end I have realized, it is that good and has saved me in numerous games. That first turn Ancient Tomb and Mana Crypt combo that had you so excited and throwing Disa out turn 3 has paid its toll late game, Liesa, Shroud of Dusk or Kambal, Consul of Allocation draining you down? No problem. Toss em' this bone to gnaw on and many times we're netting 14-20 life easy. Then, cast it again for its flashback cost next turn and do it all again. Have I noted that flashback is great in our deck? Most times I do end up milling this by chance and even with the one flashback cast it can be that card that keeps you alive at the last moment and gets you to one more turn and your next lethal Pyrogoyf trigger.
Kessig Cagebreakers
I was skeptical of this card when I first added it, another that sits around or in hand too long often. However, a wincon is a wincon and it's great to have a strong finisher batting cleanup. This one is especially fun because it comes out of nowhere. Since adding in Cagebreakers, it has singlehandedly won 7 out of 65 games. Again, I'm a planeswalking Lhurygoyf zoologist, not a mathematician so you can figure out the percentage, but that's high enough to make these wolves a sleeper MVP of the deck and its just so incredibly satisfying and exhilarating when it goes off late game for the win by releasing a pack of 16+ rabid wolves on our enemies. Add in our friendly Terror of the Peaks to the equation and we taking home the W.
Morality Shift
Another one that brings joy to the soul. Self explanatory really, if it's early game and you had good ramp and have a damage doubler or tripler out, it's an instant win with Disa on the battlefield. Be careful of players with held up mana (not so much counterspells but white or black for removal or exile) as if they off our Disa with Shift on the stack early game, its tough to come back from. However, when it lands, it LANDS and with risks, there are rewards. Reminder to always, always make sure you have Pyrogoyf enter the stack last (resolve first) so you get all of your damage triggers from the other Goyfs when they enter the battlefield. Make sure to double check your graveyard before casting to ensure you have not milled or had too many Goyfs die already to have the spell be worthwhile. Also, has anyone ever heard of Terror of the Peaks?!? A little birdie told me it's great with this one too. Be mindful, this card also works as our ONE AND ONLY way to save ourselves from self-lethal mill. I have only ever had 10 games where I have gotten down to 10 or less cards in my library, and all of those but 2, I was able to win before I milled myself the rest of the way. It is always good to have an out though when needed and we just don't pull enough mana with our lower ramp to make Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or Kozilek, Butcher of Truth worthwhile. And lets be honest, F#$% the Eldrazi, alien scum we're a Lhurgoyf deck. GOYF GANG REPRESENT. Out of the Tombs just came on my radar today and this will 99% go into the deck to help hedge up our self-mill vulnerability.
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Another no brainer, not much explanation needed auto-include card. Anytime we / our opponents mill, creatures die, etc. they taking some damage. Remember, our main wincon is direct damage to our opponents so a good constant life drain on a 5/4 body like Konrad is more than dandy. Don't forget that with Disa and Konrad out, if you are low on cards in hand, you can pay two mana and use his mill one ability to try and land free Goyf Disa triggers and fill your opponent's yard. Have had this pay off for me more than a few times, but it is easy to forget about in the moment.
Surveil
One of the first comments I got on this deck was that it needs more surveil. We are only running one surveil card (a new addition) besides our two Manor surveil lands. It's not that surveil isn't good in our deck, it's just another synergy that's not quite powerful enough to justify the amount of cards we would need to put into it to make it worthwhile. Most surveil cards are only surveil 1-2 and even when it's a repeatable effect most of them are conditional. Cards of ours such as Hermit Druid and Old Stickfingers and all of our dredge cards just do a much better, faster job. See my maybeboard for a list of the top surveil prospects if you just can't bare the shame of playing a graveyard deck without it.
Doom Whisperer
The one surveil card suggestion from the comments that I just have to give a try. The pain in my heart from the sting of taking Sheoldred *ser* out for Doom is still fresh as I write this, but this cards ability to end games and bale us out on a last ditch effort the few times we find our backs up against the wall is too good to not give a shot. With Disa on the battlefield and a bit of life, we can dump an obscene amount of cards into our graveyard for free Pyro and other Goyf triggers. Being a 6/6 trampling flyer never hurts either. Another I will soon report back on. As of ten games last night, I got the Whispers of Doom out three times, twice did not do much for me, but once was able to go off paying 18 life for the win on Pyrogoyf triggers, so happy so far. That being said, with the small amount of true removal in our deck, it has been missing Sheoldred *ser*. I had two games I could have tutored for Sheoldred to save the day and destroy the stax effect creatures I was up again, but remembered I had taken her out. Working on what to slot out so can try her and Doom both in.
Ramp / Notable Lands
The most challenging aspect of this deck is the low amount of lands and ramp we run. However, this is of course intentional. Most of our deck relies on our free casts from Disa, so we get by with devoting more ramp spots to our main Pyrogoyf damage trigger ability instead. I have gone between 33-37 total lands and settled with time into 34. For ramp / card advantage I started with 14 cards dedicated to this and have slimmed down to just 10. From experience, this has seemed to be the perfect balance. It's just enough to usually draw us at least one turn 1-3 ramp card and even when we don't and get off to a slow, one land per turn hand, we are often not paid much attention to by the table until we have gotten Disa out and hit them with a first major Pyrogoyf or other Goyf trigger, which is often too late for them. Friendly note, always do it anyhow, but playing a turn 1 or turn 2 Mesmeric Orb will always get you noticed and the secret power of our almighty Disa scout warrior Princess is slowly, but surely getting out these days, especially if they've happened to have been traumatized by me already.
Crucible of Worlds
It took me awhile to add Crucible of Worlds, but then I got my act together. We mill, and mill and mill. We want our Crucible to always get us lands and it's the main reason we run all the Fetches we can. This is one of the first cards I return to my hand from the graveyard if it's in there and I don't need to save my Pyrogoyf from a shallow grave. It is also great to just channel our Boseiju, Who Endures or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire turn after turn to our opponent's dismay. Do not underestimate how important this card can be for a victory.
Dockside Extortionist
I preach against conditional cards, but what a condition. I don’t need to explain what everyone already knows, this can make us an incredible amount of mana through treasures. We’re also running Doubling Season *f-etch* and Parallel Lives as well. Of course we want the massive hit, but don’t be shy to use Dockside Extortionist early game when needed to get Disa out early if our opponents are dropping lots of early game low cost artifact ramp. A must include in our lower ramp / land deck.
The Great Henge *f-etch*
Ramps us, gains us life, and draws us an insane amount of cards with our Disa Lhurgoyf triggers going off. Even before we get our Goyf Toyz on the battlefield, just with Disa out we have a 5 mana cost reduction on the spell. What's not to love.
Nature's Lore and Three Visits
Our green go-to's. Yes, we all love Skyshroud Claim it's fantastic, but no, we want these to be only 2 mana drops. We just don't have the other ramp or time to be stuck with a 3 or 4 mana ramp card in an opening hand. All of the above do just splendid and let us get our Duals as they grab any Forest instead of basic lands. My apologies Farseek (we don’t want our forest tapped), Kodama's Reach, Explosive Vegetation and even the mighty new Entish Restoration, we think of you fondly.
Boseiju, Who Endures and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
Our two channel ability lands. ALWAYS try and save these for their channel abilities. If you are forced to play them in a low land opening hand, keep these in mind for a great Crop Rotation target to put them into the graveyard for re-use from Crucible of Worlds or Life from the Loam. Can get into some great each turn channel cycles this way. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is the one which will most often get played as a land, (we count on Boseiju's artifact / enchantment removal much more) but don't sleep on it and underestimate it's chance at free Disa Goyf mill triggers and (with Crucibles or Loam) a repeatable creature from yard to hand return ability.
Buried Ruin
Don't be foolish like me and take this out for the preference of a color mana producing land. We mill and mill and mill, the price of some left over mana on a turn and a land is usually more than a square deal for a milled or destroyed Mana Crypt or Sol Ring back to our hand. Crucible of Worlds is our other go to return target from Ruin whenever it ends up in our graveyard. Then use our Crucible to bring back our Ruins next turn and grab that Mirage Mirror or Mirror of the Forebears next.
Cavern of Souls
I loathe blue players, and I swear I don't play any counterspells in any of my Dimir decks...wink wink. So, Souls stays in the deck, just for that rare game where it's all blue nasties around you. I 99% of the time choose "Human" and not "Lhurgoyf" as it's more important to ensure we can continue to cast Disa when neccesary and get the colored mana we need for her. This is also because we rely more on casting Disa, as our Goyf's usually enter for free on our Disa discard trigger. I mean, what is a wild Lhurgoyf with no Queen? Not to mention some of our higher mana creatures in the deck Coram, the Undertaker, Kessig Cagebreakers and Syr Konrad, the Grim are all humans as well. Still, without question the first land I would substitute for a different one as I think it has paid off in maybe 2-5 games ever. Bonders' Enclave for an extra card draw in a pinch or Mines of Moria are top replacement contenders. Assess your playgroup and make the call.
Command Beacon
We need Disa on the battlefield and she gets pricey fast in a low ramp deck, no brainer include.
Gaea's Cradle or the new poor man's cradle Three Tree City
Forget Growing Rites of Itlimocand having to make sure you can transform it. Cradle is a Cradle and one of my favorite arts in the history of the game, if not just my favorite card. I own three of them, so I have no qualms about people complaining when I play it online. With all the creatures we play and tokens we create it gives us an incredible single card answer to our low lands and ramp. Three Tree City, newbie from Bloomburrow (if you haven't heard the buzz already) can be just as powerful for anyone who can't afford a Cradle. It has the downside of paying 2 to activate, but the upside of saving you 800$ and lots of whining from your table.
Scavenger Grounds
Another I took out at times to my regret in lieu of a color producing land. End of the day, we are a graveyard deck and even though 90% of games we dominate that aspect of the game, you do hit that Meren of Clan Nel TothObscuring Haze and Spore Frog player eventually and we want to have an answer for the rare times we are losing the graveyard battle and need an out. Gone between this and Bojuka Bog in order to not have to exile our own graveyard, but the utility of Grounds entering untapped and its ability to remove multiple threats at once takes the edge.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
I still have mixed feelings about our necessity for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. My qualms being as we don't run Cabal Coffers (it ain't worth it) that it can end up assisting our opponents who are running black (and Cabal Coffers or Crypt Ghast themselves). With that in consideration, I still lean towards it being more worth it to us to ensure we have the black mana we need for our spells (highest percentage of our spells are black) and it comes in untapped. Used to also run Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, but Gaea's Cradle was a clear superior choice when I decided to stop caring about my friend group.
Other Lands
We round out our deck with the following land groups.
Bonds
Don't let anyone tell you these are "Crowd" lands, damn kids these days...Basic EDH multicolored staples. Cheat Code You have more than two or more opponents every real EDH game. Luxury Suite, Spire Garden and Undergrowth Stadium *f-etch*.
Duals
Don't be a cheap@$$, I said we're here to win folks. Grab all three, Badlands, Bayou and Taiga I'm still crying that our two surveil lands come in tapped...These are the first lands you are grabbing every game after Ziatora's Proving Ground is on the field, or if you need the mana that turn.
Fetches
We ARE going to make Fetch happen for you Gretchen. Fetches are fetches, you want them and please recall we have Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam in our deck to take maximum advantage of them. Run Arid Mesa, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs and Windswept Heath. After MH3 it's really happened, most basic fetches are 10$ or under now, celebrate this as you get some of the worst art ones and cry over how you spent your rent money for the month on your three scratched up Revised duals.
Shocks
Pro noob tip, if in your opening hand you have a shock land, and you don't have any one mana spells to cast, always play these lands first and tapped to avoid paying the 2 life. It "shocks me" (see what I did there) how many players hold these cards over other lands first turn and non-chalantly pay a 2 life needlessly. Don't follow in their foolish footsteps, believe me, when our Pyrogoyf gets the embers warmed up, they are gonna want every single life point they have. Blood Crypt, Overgrown Tomb and Stomping Ground.
Surveils
Commercial District and Raucous Theater
I personally despise lands that come into play tapped, that being said these two are worth it for the surveil synergy with our deck. With Disa out, it's a longshot at an easy free Goyf trigger and early game it's great card advantage. Did I mention there are certain cards we like to put into our graveyard like Anger and Brawn just to name two? Underground Mortuary gets the cut.
Staples
Yes, we are playing Sol Ring, yes, we are playing Command Tower. Let's finish off with Ziatora's Proving Ground agggggghhhhh the tapped entrance hurts my soul, but we get all three of our Jund banner colors and ideally fetch for this turns 1-3 or first anytime we don't need the one extra mana that turn to cast any spells.
Basic Lands
Back to the basics, literally. We run basics for all those evil cards our green or white foes play like Collective Voyage or Path to Exile. Nothing feels worse than getting exiled AND no land or missing out on a major ramp chance that your opponents all benefit from. Blood Moon is also real life, so I like to have some basic options always available in a pinch.
Biggest Challenges
Like many EDH decks, the worst thing we can run into with this deck is our commander Disa the Restless being constantly removed. Even when Pyrogoyf gets exiled, we have a true backup in Terror of the Peaks or can often rely on good ol' traditional combat damage from our huge Lhurgoyfs swinging, especially with Anger and / or Brawn in our yard. If you find yourself running into constant Disa removal problems, take out one of our more fun special ability creatures and throw back in Lightning Greaves, Kaya's Ghostform or Geode Golem. Netherborn Altar is another good one I ran in here for a long period of time, but in the end I opted to take out all protection (yes even, Heroic Intervention *f-etch*) An ideal game, we are casting our Goyf Goddess Disa turn 4 or 5, slamming in Pyrogoyf or Terror of the Peaks next and taking the win with a combination of Goyf combat damage + Pyro direct damage triggers turn 7-8 from our powerhouses like Buried Alive and Old Stickfingers. I have found over time the loss of protection is well worth the extra card slots dedicated to mill, graveyard tutors and damage increasers. Speed is our friend here.
Our other main threat that can shut us down is, you guessed it, graveyard exile. Yes, we have our Riftsweeper to bring us back our Pyrogoyf or Terror of the Peaks in an emergency, but running into serious graveyard hate playing decks running the likes of Ground Seal, Bojuka Bog, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace, Scavenging Ooze, etc. are a real problem for us. Luckily though, I have found so few players these days are willing to dedicate a significant portion of their deck to graveyard hate and we are usually able to hang in there against the occasional single graveyard exile they may have in their deck. Our main weakness here is not only losing our reanimation and return to hand card targets, but most importantly when graveyards are empty, our normally powerful, high P/T Lhurgoyfs become the small alien versions of the Monstars in Space Jam. Even with the likes of City on Fire on the battlefield our Goyf Gang entering as 0/2's sure don't help much at all. Ditto in terms of the weakness of our usually strong Tarmogoyf tokens if we are able to get our Disa combat triggers in, but yards are empty. In these tough situations, we just need to grit our teeth, ramp as best we can and try not to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. A single draw of a Morality Shift, Breach the Multiverse, Reforge the Soul or Wheel of Fortune can get us right back into things out of the blue. You will get used to winning quicker games, but don't forget about or underestimate all of our mighty late game power when it comes to it.
Stax Response
One major benefit we have in this deck with our Pyrogoyf direct damage triggers is that we can largely ignore many frequently played EDH stax staples such as Crawlspace, Ensnaring Bridge, Ghostly Prison, Meekstone, No Mercy, Sphere of Resistance and the like. Yes, they can delay or deny our reliable token production with Disa and Goyf combat damage, but we run more than enough mill / tutor options for our Pyro triggers to get around these 9 times out of 10. The cards we really need to watch out for are any spells that shut down our Pyrogoyf's ETB ability effect such as Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, Hushbringer and Torpor Orb or cards that stop Disa from entering as Drannith Magistrate. These cards can completely SHUT US DOWN. If these hit the battlefield, immediately shift our focus to removing them or buckle up for a rough ride.
Honorable Mentions / Maybeboard
I have played a LOT of games with Disa now and almost everyone of these cards listed on the maybeboard have been in the deck for at least 25-50 games. Here are the main theme categories and why my personal game experiences have caused me to choose to remove them.
Less Win, More Fun
This section's title is a bit of a misnomer, these are all still powerful cards that are not to be trifled with in this deck. Mostly higher mana drops and unique effects that can create havoc all across the board.
Combat Celebrant
Celebrant can hands down win games. With Disa and Pyrogoyf out and another Lhurgoyf or Tarmogoyf token or two, especially with lazy or non-existent blockers, a single hasty Combat Celebrant exert trigger can be all you need to win. I'm honestly not sure why this is now out of the deck and into the fun category. Have I started drinking again?
Dread Summons
This is one similar to Old Stickfingers that can go off late game for a win. It fills every graveyard, while making us a bunch of 2/2 zombies (Terror of the Peaks?!?) and hopefully lands us a few free Disa Lhurgoyf triggers on the mill. I ended up taking it out and adding it to the fun list in favor of Eldritch Pact and Kessig Cagebreakers as our two late game ending spells.
Gimli's Reckless Might
Worth a mention because it's just such a great new LOTR card I've been slotting in all my red decks. We love haste on our Goyfs and as they are large creatures you get this fight trigger almost every swing. We just don't need the fight action though when we can hit our opponents creatures for direct Pyrogoyf damage. We'll save the 4 mana for elsewhere unless you want to hone in on a more combat damage based version of the deck.
Grave Strength
This is one of those rarely seen ones I found scrolling through the abysses of Scryfall's graveyard pool that I fought with myself to keep in. We get three chances at a Disa trigger with her on the field and late game when our yard is full or after a Morality Shift this can put game ending P/T combat damage onto a hasty, trampling Lhurgoyf creature of ours. It's just not good enough to stay in the competitive version of our deck, but sure is a lot of fun to win with in the rare scenarios it pays off when you give it a chance.
Liliana of the Veil
Lovely, lucious, Liliana. Be still my heart. We can't have our Queen be getting jealous though and believe me Lily knows what she's doing with that cleavage. Again, one to throw back in if you're looking for more of a rambunctious time. We can +1 in a perfect situation to discard a Lhurgoyf from hand with Disa out for a free trigger or for a -2 nail that previously indominatble aura stacked Uril, the Miststalker voltron player with a sacrificial offering of their soul. As with all planeswalkers, ignore her ultimate, although with the amount of huge blockers we have, who knows...
Lumra, Bellow of the Woods
I wanted a lot of Bloomburrow cards to work, their new, their shiny, still 4.99$ a pack for maybe another week, you get my drift. After playing with some of the new squirrel dominated graveyard return, in the end, I landed on this bad mama jama, Lumra. This card is absolute money for our deck, despite the high mana cost. With our propensity to mill, Lumra can come swinging in huge as a 12/12+++ (did I mention we have a Terror of the Peaks in the deck?) and give us enough lands to freely cast out most, if not all of our hand each turn for the rest of the game. I am very pleased with this addition after a 25 game run. Definitely a difference maker in any longer engagements, but it goes into our less competitive, fun category in favor of lower cost tutor staples.
Plague Reaver
Have you ever seen anyone play this card? Like, ever? I sure haven't. However, one day as I flipped over the most coveted, prized last card slot of my 55$ Commander Legends collector booster pack that could contain an EXTENDED ART FOIL OG Jeweled Lotus and sighed and stared at this grotesque, poorly drawn, extended art 1.12$ Plague Reaver instead, a lightbulb went off. "That might be really cool in Disa...hmmmm...oh wait and its a discard ability we can get free Goyf triggers off of with Disa...and a brutal discard effect for our enemies...and creates just janky fun chaos wrecking instability among our opponents all across the many Planes of the Multiverse..." So I put the Reaver in and boy is it game after game of entertainment when the Plague gets rolling. We are never very concerned about an opponent who ends up keeping it (as our Goyf Gang is regularly larger than 6/5's) and discard heavy games where the opponent doesn't have the two cards tax to pay you not only wipe their board, but sac wipe their board (how's that indestructible doing now pal). This card brings smiles to my face again and again.
Sheoldred *ser*
Seems almost every game our lovely Praetor Lady ends up in the graveyard for me and I'll hit her with a Reanimate or the like. Even from hand, your foes sacrificing a non-token creature or planeswalker is a plain winner. Add the fact the required eight or more cards in our opponent's graveyards to transform her is often satisfied from our build, she is great to get in for a sacrifice trigger and then a destroy target creature trigger immediately on your next turn or even same turn if we have the mana held. The second step of the saga mills which we love, and if you get to the third (only happened to me once in 400+ games) oh the fun and madnesss that should ensue. That being said, great if you get there, but the utility of this card for us is the sacrifice and first destroy creature on transform ability, anything else should be considered a rare luxury. Sheoldred *ser* has been in my deck since its first incarnations and just came out with my latest update to give the other 5 drop black mana Doom Whisperer a try. Will report back.
Triumph of the Hordes
Who doesn't love the benevolent oil-slicked Phyrexians? Who doesn't absolutely cherish infect? Who doesn't love wincons in a deck called "Best Win"? It just makes sense people. We make lots of huge Lhurgoyfs that usually have trample. This ends games. If you can live with the diseased riddled corpses of your enemies and their children, toss this one right back in.
Uurg, Spawn of Turg
Another great new suggestion for the deck from comments. A repeatable surveil on upkeep is nice, but the real appeal of Frogger for me was a way to sacrifice our Boseiju, Who Endures or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire if we needed to play them as lands early and this is why I placed Uurg into the “More Fun” and not surveil category. Since making the switch to Crop Rotation this is no longer as much of a boon for us.
Creatures
We are playing 9 out of the possible 11 available Jund anthem color Lhurgoyfs in this deck. The two we are not running are Detritivore and Terravore. Wave off in the distance to Cantivore, Cognivore, and Urborg Lhurgoyf and continue to fuel the race war. Noted above, although it is a lot of fun to use Detritivores unique nonbasic land destruction ability, the timings and mana ramp in our deck rarely work out for it. In terms of Terravore, I do like that its only a 3 drop compared to the 4 drop Magnivore I have slotted in, but the sorceries seem to stack up quicker than lands in the yards for the P/T boost anytime our mill is not going off. End of the day, if you love that Terravore looks like an adorable snapping turtle, slot him in instead. Also will mention Altar of the Goyf here, although not a true creature, it is a Lhurgoyf and we can use a free Disa trigger on it. It wants to fit, I mean it's OUR tribal altar, but it's just not worth the 5 mana. Brawn just synergies so well with our deck that it's all we need to ensure our Goyf legions have trample in this deck.
Draw
We have very little true draw. I explained in main description why. The Great Henge *f-etch* is what we rely on most for direct card draw triggers, but the one that probably should go back in the deck I have removed is the staple Garruk's Uprising. You just can't argue with the staples and with us popping off with Tarmogoyf token after Tarmogoyf token, this pays off when it's out. Extra trample opportunities for our behemoths never hurt either. I made the tough choice to take this out and instead put this extra draw slot towards graveyard tutors that synergize with our build more reliably. There was only room for one green draw card and The Great Henge *f-etch* takes the edge with its life gain and mana abilities. Last March of the Ents and its 8 mana to often draw 10-20 cards from our beastly Lhurgoyfs high P/T should not be taken lightly. However, we already have Eldritch Pact and although we run a few 6-7 drop spells, we're trying to steer away from higher cost mana spells whenever they aren't Breach the Multiverse
Dredge
It is important to take a moment to reiterate how great dredge is in our deck with Disa on the battlefield. For the longest time, I ran four dredge cards, our current Life from the Loam and Stinkweed Imp along with the now removed Golgari Grave-Troll and Golgari Thug. Some of the combos you can run into where you dredge, into a dredge, into a dredge can end the game with Disa out and your library still packed with Goyfs. However, as I continued to hone this deck to exploit direct Pyro triggers, two of these had to bite the dust to make room. Golgari Thug loses out because we have so many other cards to return creatures from our graveyard already, and as fun as Golgari Grave-Troll can be when he comes onto the battlefield massive, its utility is actually in repeatedly NOT casting it for the dredge 6 turn after turn. Life from the Loam is just too important to our lower ramp deck to lose and Stinkweed Imp is a FLYING, DESTROY ANY CREATURE BLOCKER. Feel free to lose your blocker and slot in Troll, but an answer to a hateful flyer has saved me too many games for me to cast Imp aside.
Discard / Mill / Wheels
We love to discard Lhurgoyfs from hand for free Disa triggers, especially because we can take advantage of usually punishing effects like on Plague Reaver for our own benefit.
Anvil of Bogardan and Scion of Halaster *f-etch*
Both of these are great cards in our deck. I ran Anvil until only a few weeks ago and Scion is one of those new hidden gems I found that you don't see often, which I always love to play. Unfortunately, Scion seemed to just never end up in my early hands and we have more effective spells with similar effects to cast like Ripples of Undeath in the deck already. Anvil of Bogardan is another that can easily go back in, but I made the hard choice to remove it in favor of giving Coram, the Undertaker a shot. Will report back how Coram has been holding up.
Commune with the Gods, Crawling Infestation, Grisly Salvage, Kruphix's Insight, Stitcher's Supplier and Vessel of Nascency All of these are utilized as blind mill cards in order to trigger free Goyfs from Disa, with the bonus of returning us something we may need to our hands. A version of this deck in the past ran every single one of these and it could be very speedy, but always chaotic and unreliable. Play around with any of these, I especially like the Vessel of Nascency as we can grab a land and toss it out on any turn we have a single mana left over for later use. Again, cut for more focus oriented cards.
Dark Deal, Magus of the Wheel and Wheel of Misfortune
We want more wheels, I once had them all. Dark Deal was the first to go because 9/10 times we are wheeling its not the perfect situation we dreamed of where we are discarding a full hand of 7 Goyfs with Disa out for the free triggers and drawing six cards. A scenario like this can rarely occur of course, but most likely we are using our wheels with only a few cards in hand in order to draw a new full hand and fill up our opponents graveyards creating reanimation targets and fueling our Goyfs P/T. If a beat up Revised Wheel of Fortune is just way too out of budget for you, who the hell knows how much a 30th anniversary one is? Wheel of FortuneMagus of the Wheel is a great substitute as we can often use his ability right away with the frequency we have Anger in our yard. I've said too much already on my feelings about Wheel of Misfortune, but if you work for NASA and want to use it, fine by me.
Mindcrank
I've had it many ways now and I am about to make the switch to possibly cutting the current Altar of the Brood in favor of Mindcrank, when I used to run both with Mesmeric Orb. We need our graveyards full and the second people start swinging or draining each other, the mill gets crankin' quick when Mindcrank is in play, even if we’re not the ones doing the swinging. However, the reason I have opted to stick with Altar of the Brood currently is the absolute hate and ire that Mindcrank draws from our opponents. Yes, we are running Mesmeric Orb which can do the same, but because the Crank is in so many more 2 card infinite combo wins (which we are not interested in running) it doesn't seem to be worth the negative attention and focus of the table. Remember, although the whispers of our Queen Disa's power is spreading across the Planes, we want to remain quiet and unassuming until Disa has arrived on the battlefield and we're ready to start dropping off our Lhurgoyf friends.
Out of the Tombs
Noted in the main deck description, just discovered this one is reason it isn't in. Although in my latest update I still did not find anything I’m quite ready to take out for it yet. Not only will it keep milling us each turn as the eon counters stack up, enabling our favorite free Disa Goyf triggers, but it gives us a great answer to self-milling on an early Morality Shift that just doesn't quite get the job done. Add in its powerful reanimation effect and I am excited for this one's potential once I find a suitable slot-out. Watch out for that Bojuka Bog though...
Land
Not going to spend a lot of time here, I've settled where I have on the combo of bonds, fetches, shocks, surveils, and basics over time to slighty favor red mana as the once or twice I have found myself completely mana screwed and unable to cast Disa, it was always a single red I ended up being short on. Feel free to remove or add any members of these land tribes in favor of the ones we don't currently run Marsh Flats, Misty Rainforest, Polluted Delta, Scalding Tarn, Wooded Foothills and Underground Mortuary if you find they suite your needs better. We should probably drop the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in favor of another fetch and our Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam synergies, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it they say and I have been quite pleased as of late with how the lands have been rolling out for me with their current configuration.
Bojuka Bog
Can be a great answer to a single, stubborn, like-minded graveyard loving opponent. We’ve given the nod to Scavenger Grounds as it can hit multiple graveyard threats at once in an emergency and comes in untapped for mana when we don’t need its ability. However, it is devasting to us and our Goyf’s P/T we depend on to empty all yards and with the new addition of Crop Rotation this stimy Bog becomes much more appealing. (Insert Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam) May make this switch soon, but the last game I was forced to use Scavenger Grounds versus a vicious Araumi of the Dead Tide player and cringed at my now puny Lhurgoyfs, two turns later my Goyfs were back to an average of 5/6 thanks to our graveyard fill and mill effects.
Mines of Moria
Man some of these new LOTR cards are money. This is a top contender to slot in for whichever nonbasic in the deck you feel might be underperforming. We can get put it out untapped with a Legendary creature on the field and our graveyard being packed makes the ability easy to activate. I haven’t put it in yet because its still conditional, but it’s going to get a try soon due to us having Doubling Season *f-etch* and Parallel Lives available.
We need our Queen on the battlefield for our hive mind Lhurgoyfs to function properly. Hopefully, you've all seen Starship Troopers, maybe read Ender's Game? Anyhow, our current situation utilizes Command Beacon and Road of Return for our only two commander cast cost reduction features. Netherborn Altar really pays off some games, as well as Geode Golem considering our Anger per usual, but at the end of the day, four cost reduction spells was a few too many as our deck aims with its low protection to simply not give our opponents enough time to catch on and remove Disa or board wipe before its too late for them. Command Beacon gets the nod for being a colorless mana producing land and Road of Return comes in most clutch with the addition of a return permanent entwine trigger we can use to grab a dead Pyrogoyf or other treat from our full yard.
Heroic Intervention *f-etch*, Kaya's Ghostform, Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots
All the protection staples, I really can't believe it myself that I've taken them all out either. Lightning Greaves was the last to go and we should probably put it back in as crucial as Disa is to our gameplay. This is the most recent change to this deck I have made, but since I've invested these protection slots into more Pyrogoyf damage doublers like Mirage Mirror and Mirror of the Forebears I've gone 18-25. I'll take it.
The One Ring
"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." No-one can deny the power of the One Ring, we can always use some more true draw and the savior of protection from everything until your next turn cannot be beat. Top pick to work its way back in, but we've cast this into the fires of Mount Doom from whence it came for now with the rest of our dedicated protection for our damage doubling and tutor staples.
Ramp
Birds of Paradise
Why is Birds so great? Just cause it's been around since Alpha? Is its age the reason for its timeless admiration? All but a simple question of weight ratios? No, it's because besides getting it out turn 1 for turn 2 ramp, IT HAS FLYING, and our Goyfs don't reach good, so many games our brilliantly plumed friend can delay a troublesome hasty Balefire Dragon or a nasty flying alternate. This was the last ramp card I took out and could go back in instead of one of our two drop green land spells. Nature's Lore or Three Visits If you got a Monty Python Secret Lair one, I am jealous.
Chromatic Lantern
This should go back in. When the Lantern starts to glow, we feel all warm and fuzzy inside and never have to worry about mana woes. Especially because we have artifact and regular graveyard return cards aplenty. That being said, I have less than ten games ever been mana color screwed, so this has eventually hit the bricks. That is ten games too many though...Take out the Gruul Signet and slot this back in if you have any color problems.
Gruul Signet and Rakdos Signet
Similar to our interchangeable fetches and other lands, substitute these with our current Golgari Signet to your pleasure. I used to run all three, as slow ramp can be a reality for us, but they took the cut in favor of the large injection of colorless from Thran Dynamo
Jeweled Lotus
We have an expensive commander. We rely on our Queen Disa for all of our graveyard tutors and deck to be successful. Lotus helps us cast her with three beautiful zero cost mana. As this deck aims for speed, this is top choice to go back into the deck. Substitute with your least favorite ramp card and enjoy those turn 2 Disa casts.
Ramunap Excavator
It’s Crucible of Worlds on a creature and we're calling graveyard land return to hand ramp, deal with it. There are two routes in this deck, getting all your abilities/ effects from creatures i.e Roaming Throne or noncreatures i.e Panharmonicon. I have gone the noncreature route most of the way to make them less susceptible to removal. This may still seem counterproductive to the untrained eye in a reanimation deck, but we have better reanimation targets than the abilities these creatures produce or need to prioritize our reanimation spells for when Pyrogoyf is slain.
Removal
Assassin's Trophy, Deadly Rollick *f-etch*, Deflecting Swat and Feed the Swarm Staples we have had to wave goodbye to. Rollick, Swat and Feed are usual auto includes of mine, but we have to give up these removal spots for our other synergies and get rid of all our usual single target removal. Yes, even when its Deadly Rollick *f-etch*. We love Assassin's Trophy because it can deal with pesky lands as well, but again we just don't have room and we have Strip Mine and Wasteland for that. It also truly pains me that we only have one true artifact / enchantment removal card in our deck with Boseiju, Who Endures, but when milled we have an easier time returning Boseiju to our hand then Swarm (as its a permanent) and it jives with our Crucible of Worlds and Life from the Loam. Always try and save Boseiju, Who Endures for its channel ability unless you absolutely need it in an opening hand. Crop Rotation is our out in this situation if needed.
The Meathook Massacre
Here we are again saying farewell to another usual auto-include anytime I have black in my commander color identity. Forget the excellent, indestructible bypassing board wipe part of this card, everyone seems to forget its not a sorcery, but a legendary enchantment that stays on the battlefield and continues to ping your opponents and gain you life time after time. Although its a late game thriller, it also does major work for a lower X cost of 1-2 early game sweeping pesky Esper Sentinels, Goblin Sharpshooters and tons of green mana creature ramp while Disa and our Goyfs live on. So why is it out, we just don't have room for removal when we have Pyrogoyfs damage triggers for specific creature threats and the mana efficiency of Blasphemous Act and Toxic Deluge take the edge.
Return / Tutors
Badlands Revival
The 5 mana cost is a bit steep, but I had much better success running this higher cost card over lower, less powerful single return effect ones. If Pyrogoyf is removed we can slam him straight back onto the battlefield while also gaining back ANY permanent card of our choice from our yard to hand. I have only just taken this out of the deck with my latest update in favor of giving Coiling Rebirth and its Pyrogoyf (or other creature) copying ability a try instead.
Bygone Marvels and Eternal Witness
Witness went first in favor of Road of Returns entwine bonus. I sat, staring at Bygone Marvels and Road of Return for over an hour trying to decide which to take out, as Bygone synergies so well with us and is a great new one, but I begrudgingly settled on Road thinking of Disa. Throwing Bygone back into the mix will do you just fine.
Corpse Churn
Only a 2 mana drop, a chance at three free return discard triggers for Disa and a fallen Pyrogoyf back to our hand. As our aim is speed, this is great for only paying two. Another latest update remove to get Tortured Existence back in, which should have never came out.
Gamble
Not a lot of downside to Gamble in our deck. Its single red mana cost is appealing and we never mind too much when we discard, especially with Disa on the battefield. Although different effects, I chose to keep Faithless Looting for its flashback ability in the deck instead. I just don't like that the discard with Gamble is random and we run more effective library tutors like Demonic Tutor, Survival of the Fittest, and Tortured Existence already.
Imperial Seal *f-etch* and Vampiric Tutor etc.
Our most powerful EDH tutor staples. Another grouping where for a time I ran these both with Demonic Tutor, I mean all the help we can get to find Pyrogoyf we should take, right? I mean, it's not a clear no by any means. These are all expensive cards for a reason, even after all the reprints. Really for these, it's take em' or leave em'. I just don't enjoy traditional tutors much and it's why we don't run any infinite combos in here either. If you want to add in all the black tutors and the likes of Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond you will up your win rate, it's just not my style. Be careful taking out too much from one specific group of any of our main synergies. Remember, sometimes even when winning, it's the journey, not the destination that matters. We don’t run Sylvan Tutor or Worldly Tutor because we run so many mill effects and don’t want to wait a turn for the creature, even when it’s Pyrogoyf.
Persist
Any 1 mana drop that can return our Pyrogoyf or other Llhurgoyf threat to our hand is welcome. None of our Llhurgoyfs are legendary. Removed in favor of the 2 mana cost Unmarked Grave in favor of tutoring Pyro directly from our library. We have enough other return graveyard creature cards in the deck that we can afford to leave this one out.
Stitch Together
It's one of the top sorcery return cards we consider for its low mana cost and fact we fulfill the threshold requirement most games with ease by the time we need it. Took out for the far superior Crop Rotation effect once the deck made the switch to running Gaea's Cradle.
Sword of Light and Shadow
Brisking by this one, we love the reoccur ability, the life gain, the graveyard return and the added protection (especially from both black and white) is a nice touch, but it just never seems to get going when we need it to. Has sat in my hand way too many games to keep it in lieu of some of our staples and other graveyard return cards.
Yawgmoth's Will
Another fitting the bill of its a 160$ card for a reason. Reserved list be damned. Are we really not going to play arguably the most POWERFUL graveyard card in the HISTORY of Magic that is still legal in Commander? No, we are not. We just don't need it. In over 100 games, I think I got it out maybe three times to beneficial effect. Due to the sacrifice we have made of a slower ramp deck (for our ultimate benefit), it's not often practical to have enough mana held up after already paying Will's 3 casting cost for it to be worth it to us. Save your money folks.
Special Abilities
Bellowing Tanglewurm and Cover of Darkness
We need our creatures to do combat damage with Disa out to make our Tarmogoyf tokens and get our Pyro triggers. Anger and Brawn as heavily mentioned are our go to's for this. I do enjoy both Bellowing and Cover immensely, but they lose their luster when you match up against three Golgari opponents. It's not easy to ignore how often they could enable us to simply swing with our large Goyf Gang for lethal combat damage, but ultimately these were a lone synergy we just don't need enough to include.
City on Fire and Fiery Emancipation
Of these two, we give the slight nod to City on Fire as best Pyrogoyf trigger tripler due to its convoke ability and the smattering of Tarmogoyf tokens we create. Honorable mention to other classic damage doublers such as Dictate of the Twin Gods and Furnace of Rath. These two are not the worst choices for us either as it doesn't save us from noncombat damage, but we usually have plenty of large blockers on the battlefield to help negate the fact they are both universal effects our opponents can turn back against us. Angrath's Marauders or Fiendish Duo are two other great ones for the fact they only double our damage, but they’re just too expensive to justify for us. Although I have just taken out City on Fire in my latest update to slot back in Panharmonicon’s less expensive ETB effect, it was a tough subtraction because it is an instant win with City out and multiple Pyrogoyf triggers hitting the stack. I have wanted to make a version of the deck that includes ALL or at least more of the direct damage red multiplier spells, but whenever I try it ends up weakening another main synergy of the deck too much to be effective. The low mana cost Mirage Mirror and Mirror of the Forebears do just as good work by copying our Pyrogoyf and save us a lot of lands.
Deadbridge Chant
We all love powerhouses. The ten card mill is fantastic for us with Disa and Pyrogoyf already on the battlefield, there's a lot to admire here. If the creature return from the graveyard wasn't random it would probably stay in. We drop Deadbridge Chant though due to its 6 drop mana cost in favor of other high mana cost spells that can completely change or end the game such as Morality Shift or Eldritch Pact.
Roaming Throne and Strionic Resonator
How else can we make more tokens from Disa's combat damage trigger? Or just from Pyrogoyfs or Terrors ETB effects? Battlemage's Bracers? Rings of Brighthearth? No, damn those are "activated abilities", minor details. We have some options though besides Panharmonicon. Roaming Throne is a true dawg, but it doesn't make the cut for me due to it being susceptible to artifact and creature removal. Strionic Resonator leaves us also due to its cost of 2 to activate which we often can't afford to spare. If you want to keep in Roaming Throne and remove Panharmonicon for an extra reanimation target, go right ahead.
Tarmogoyf Nest
Just for the sake of theme, we want to keep it so bad. It seems too good synergy wise in our deck to be true. That's because it is. Yes, for two mana we can usually guarantee a 6/7 Tarmogoyf token and hopefully a Pyrogoyf trigger and it synergies great with our Doubling Season *f-etch* and Parallel Lives. It's a tough subtraction, but a necessary one. We don't have any room to run any untap shenanigans to fully utilize its ability and it never truly went off or made a significant difference in any game for me. Don't forget you're also losing whichever land you've enchanted as mana for the turn in addition to its two mana activation cost. I kept this in for way too long and have not missed it.
Unnatural Growth
Don't underestimate gigantic hasty, trampling Lhurgoyfs swinging for lethal combat on your cowering enemies. I steered away from this in favor of focusing on the Pyrogoyf direct damage triggers, but throw it right back in if you want to focus more on combat damage instead.
Surveil
I discussed in the main description why I have moved away from surveil in this deck. If you have an affinity for the effect, all of the below are solid options.
Dragon's Rage Channeler
The best of this following bunch. Low mana cost, can gain flying to help ensure Disa combat token triggers and we get a repeatable effect each noncreature cast. Still conditional though so we’ll stick with our other sure thing 1-2 drop instant and sorceries to get cards into our graveyard instead.
Grim Flayer *f-etch*
A higher surveil of 3 is a bonus to Flayer’s name, again though both his +2/+2 ability and the surveil are conditional effects. Leave him at home.
Unshakable Tail
Cool new one shown to me by KongMing. Clues are great to have in an emergency situation and we love to have our last minute outs. It has a built in return from yard to hand ability and it surveils not only when it enters, but on every upkeep. I’ve left it out still as unless we get our Gaea's Cradle most games we need our mana devoted to our staple spells and rarely have two mana to spare even for a draw card ability. Definitely still keeping my eye on this one, but I think slotting in Out of the Tombs instead is a better option.
The Elephant in the Room
"Hey man, dig the deck, but really? I get ditching Conspiracy, but no, Maskwood Nexus?!?" "Thought this guy might know what he was talking about then no Nexus?!? FFF" "Hey, great deck have you ever heard of the card from Kaldheim Maskwood Nexus?" I am not for one second saying Nexus cannot be and is not an incredibly strong card option for this deck. You get it out early or get lucky on a mill and yard return and forget our valiant Pyrogoyf just like that for Terror of the Peaks Now grab Solphim, Mayhem Dominus next and they enter for an instant 10 direct damage trigger or more. Not to mention in a pinch you can successfully utilize its token producing ability to remove pesky smaller creatures with Pyrgoyf or Terror on the field, especially if we happen to have Doubling Season *f-etch* or Parallel Lives out. It's fantastic. Hear me out though, Conspiracy had to go due to not enough deck tutors to justify the high mana cost and draw unreliability, as much as I love the new Assassin's Creed and OG art Conspiracy. I kept Maskwood Nexus in this deck for sooooooooo long because I know it seems like insanity to take it out, but it just never came out reliably and rarely ever made a significant impact on the game. May have just been bad luck on my part, but after 300+ games when I decided to refocus this deck on the Pyrgoyf damage triggers, it had to leave us. Putting this back in will most likely not increase your chances to lose. Along this theme, Ashes of the Fallen is the real best of these three different options. Only a 2 drop and now every creature that touches our yard are now Lhurgoyfs and free Disa triggers. Again, adding back Ashes of the Fallen should not increase your chance to lose, but we're running enough Llhurgofys to save this slot for more Pyro trigger doublers.
What to Remove?
How dare you?!!!? The absolute nerve. The time I have spent painstakingly crafting this true masterpiece of a Magic Commander deck and you’re not going to run it EXACTLY as is. Shame, shame, shame. That entire alternate deck of a maybeboard above is there to admire my thoroughness only, not to question it. Alright…I just can’t stay mad at you. I’m a softy at heart and I’ll forgive you. Creativity, we should encourage, for the children’s sake at least. It truly is nigh impossible for me to take anything out or make any other substitutions to the deck at this point and time (hence why Out of the Tombs still isn’t in after the latest 8/21 update). I just stare and stare and stare. Each card we’re running is so vital now and a stunning display of synergy all around.
DO NOT take out another land or ANY of our ramp. Ok, even as I say that Golgari Signet can be a removal candidate if you HAVE to go there, but I’m telling you I’ve tried it and I always ended up missing the possible turn 2-4 ramp opportunity. You also can opt to lose the Thran Dynamo in favor of slotting back in another similar mana cost, high pay off creature like Sheoldred or one of your own terrible concoctions, but again, it just doesn’t seem worth it to lose our one three mana injection spell for (albeit it colorless). I’ll say it one more time, even with Dockside Extortionist and Gaea's Cradle running into low ramp with a hand we’re not drawing what we need or getting our tutors out early can be our downfall. In terms of lands, almost all my commander decks I run 33. Here, we have 34. Don’t do it. With our low mana curve for our most important deck staples, although still challenging with just 34, an opening hand of 4 lands can be perfect for us.
Altar of the Brood is another I’ve stressed the importance of and think you will be pleased with once you catch a few games with it in an opening hand. If you do remove it, slot in Out of the Tombs or another discard /mill /surveil ability of your choice to not have taken out too much universal graveyard fill ability.
Coram, the Undertaker
He has been performing stellar so far in the deck, but as we have so many mill conditions in the deck already that are not conditional, he is a prime target to slot out to add your own fun twists.
Coiling Rebirth
A possible candidate mainly due to it being personally untested yet and its high cost. This is another 5 drop and opportunity for you to put in your own nasty graveyard return spell or other goody. Hazel's Nocturne is another one from Bloomburrow I have eyed.
Doom Whisperer
Same as above, high cost and newest add, so personally untested. Same as above, slot out for your own evil higher mana cost ambitions if so desired.
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Our Knight in shining dark armor is one of the best cards in the deck, as he WINS games. With that taken into consideration, he ends up being more of a later / mid game play and our aim is supposed to be speed with our Pyro triggers. As strong as his graveyard direct damage trigger is, you want to be casting Disa before him when you first reach 5 mana and once she’s arrived to the field, you often have better, multiple lower mana cost spells to cast. I haven’t had the heart to remove him, but we’ll still put him up as another possible bench move.
Victimize
And we thought the Persist special guests art was cool…Moving forward, like every card in this section, Victimize is excellent in our deck, but listed here because there are just so many return graveyard spells to choose from.
Vile Entomber
You really don't wan't to listen to me about how underrated deathtouch blockers are. Take out this powerful graveyard tutor if you so wish, only because it's a 4 mana commitment.
The number one thing to keep in mind if you decide to change things up is to not remove too much directly from any specific synergy / theme we are running. I.E if you’re substituting two cards don’t take both Golgari Signet and Thran Dynamo out and lose two ramp cards or Coiling Rebirth and Mirror of the Forebears out and lose two Pyrogoyf creature doubling abilities. This deck has had a lot of playtesting so far and all of our synergies are balanced quite intricately, and delicately. As always, remove at your own risk :).
Farewell, Faithful Goyf Warriors
Well, then. We'll end our maybeboard at 81 cards and basically three to four completely different Disa decks to build for now, if you so fancy. I did call this a Primer right? Thanks to everyone for the read. This is my first real entry deck to Tapped Out after being a big fan for many years and thanks for bearing with me through any typos as it's my first time figuring out all the html command scripts. I hope to soon learn how to do the images and backgrounds and make this look extra cool. Love to hear some feedback and all of your thoughts. Hang in there Goyf Gang and please throw a Planeswalker an upvote if you enjoyed the ride!
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