"Golgari Machine Gun"
by:
Virgilio F. De leon Jr.
I once went up against a Mono-black Machine Gun deck in standard. This deck won the game because it was mowing down any creature that landed on the battlefield. When it was sure that you had no more creatures to play , it would then drop a lone Skithryx to finish you off. Yes it was not able to combat decks that had effective recursion (Like Undying) or those who normally don't play creatures all that much because the over all strategy does not work on them like the infamous Super friends deck which boasted a whole slew of Planeswalkers linking hands for the win.
Now the machine gun concept does work and my first foray into the Pauper format gave me a 4-0 standing because of the Infect/ Machine Gun deck that I decided to run.
I wanted to see if it was possible to run a Golgari Machine Gun deck and lo and behold it was indeed possible. Looking at this vast arsenal it had the chance to mow down anything.
(Of course I do have bad experiences going against Angel of Glory's rise or Angel of Serenity. Both Angels keeping something much nastier and returning again and again in the standard setting.)
The tools are a bit limited as it does not outright kill everything but if you want to play Golgari colors then this is the way to go so I will look at the positive and negatives of each removal.
Drown in Filth
Positive: Low mana cost at 2 Golgari color mana. It puts -1/-1 counters on creatures killing indestructible creatures in the process. Also adds to Junk Reanimator self Mill tactic.
Negative: Dependent on the lands in your graveyard.
Abrupt decay
Positive: 2 Golgari color mana cost at Instant speed. It cannot be countered. Destroys Non-land Permanents Costing mana 3 or lower.
Negative: Only destroys Non-land Permanents Costing mana 3 or lower.Big Mana Cost permanents are immune. It does hamper any mana enabler to cast them though and can still the 3 to 1 mana cost efficient creatures like the Boros Reckoner.
Putrefy (4th Version)
Positive: Instant speed.Not Only kills critters but manages to give an option to destroy Artifacts as well.
Negative: The small possibility that you only have green or black mana on your 3rd land drop. (Not really a negative but I do have to put something here.)
Gaze of granite
Positive: Mass Removal! The ability to control which creatures die from the Gorgons gaze. It becomes important when you have a lot of higher mana cost creatures while you can eliminate any
creature with lower mana cost.
Negative: Its benefit is also its weakness as it is not a solid mass removal because it depends on mana for its X.
Golgari Charm
Positive:Instant speed. Deals with those pesky +1/+1 Tokens before they grow more fangs.It also destroys a pesky enchantment or allows your creatures to survive a mass removal.
Negative: Not the removal you want to draw when you are being overrun by Thragtusks.
Rites of Reaping
Positive: Rites of Reaping might be a closer. It deals with any 3/3 creature your opponent has while making a giant of any of your creatures. (A giant in magic starts at 4/4)
Negative: 6 mana cost at sorcery speed. A bit of a drag and requires a creature to maximize the ability.
Flesh and blood
Positive: This is a very specific removal for decks that abuse the graveyard. You remove a possible threat plus add a lot more power to a creature you control.
Negative: Graveyard hate specific and screams sideboard all over it.
Illness in the ranks
Positive: Another specific removal. This one just kills tokens. Have two of them in play and you cripple early Selesynan Shenanigans.
Negative:Sideboard material when facing the White/Green Selesnyan Cult.
And since they are still available these cards are also worth the inclusion.:
Tragic slip
Positive:An instant -1/-1 for 1 black mana? Great. When a creature dies , An instant -13/-13 for 1 black mana? Even better.
Negative: Something needs to die...
Murder
Positive: Instant Solid Spot Removal.
Negative: 3 Mana Cost. Indestructible Tajic laughs at it. Hexproof Geist of St. Traft shrugs it off.
Devour flesh:
Positive: 2 mana cost instant. Player Sacrifices a creature.
Negative: Selesnya and all their tokens break into laughter and start singing hymns for the token who must be sacrificed. Assuming he is alone Indestructible Tajic dies from it.Hexproof Geist of St. Traft dies from it before he attacks.
Its going to be months before I could actually assemble and test the effectivity of this Golgari Machine Gun deck.Who knows it might be able to stand up in standard during those times.
Lucky are those who can brew and happy are those who could play. Keep on brewing.
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