Golgari Aggro (Standard) [Revision 4]

THE DECK

The Concept of the deck is to be very aggressive and to use the graveyard as a ressource, because of the missing graveyard hate in current decks sideboards.

CARDCHOICES

//CREATURES//

/1DROPS/

4 Deathbonnet Sprout

One of the main synergistic parts of the deck. It is often Turn 3 flipped and continues to grow but be careful to eat to many of the cards in your graveyard because we also have Egon and Stickyfingers, who want a part of the cake

4 Swarm Shambler

Actually a flex spot, at first I played Jaspera Sentinel instead, but i liked a more removal proof creature, who also has the chance to grow, a lot and we dont need that much mana, but play what you like more.

/2DROPS/

3 Old Stickfingers

It has the Potential to get very big but its main purpose is to get more creatures into the graveyard to further fuel our Beaters. You dont always have to pay something for x, sometimes its ok to just run it out as a simple beater

4 Prosperous Innkeeper

He ramps, he can chumpblock (and fuel the grave) and also is quite nice against the aggro decks because of his second ability. Sure it wont get you much, but it is a nice upside.

/3DROPS/

4 Briarbridge Tracker

Good body, can net us a card, and is also a very good blocker against chariot. A typical example of a very versatile card, who can be both the aggressor and the controler.

4 Egon, God of Death // Throne of Death

Your bread and butter, the best card in the deck, its all about this handsome "young" man.
At first he is very big (6/6) which allows him to most likely block every other relevant creature in the format (except for Treefolk tokens, but you have your removal spells for that) without dying in process which is huge against every other Aggro/Midrange Deck. Sure, you have to exile two cards every turn from your graveyard, but that should be most of the time nothing of matter. Play the artifact only when: 1. You have more then one Egon in your Hand 2. If you have a very full graveyard and want to grind in lategame, in which case u can exile the creatures, to draw cards.
Egon, despite being the core element of the deck, has the lowest priority of the Three Drops, because of him being a bit clunky (you want atleast four cards in the graveyard before playing him or one active selfmill spell)

3 Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager

Just a very efficient creature, which almost always will trade 2 for 1 and has a small bit of synergy with the Swarm Sambler. He is the first Three Drop you want to run out at turn 3. Remember that you can play him, when you already have a copy on the battlefield to get a 4/4 Grakmaw and a 3/3 Token.

//Spells//

4 Ranger Class

If you dont know this spell in standard, you most likely live under a rock, because this card is a powerhouse.
When you play it, you create a 2/2 which is solid but the more interesting part is the second ability which allows you to bring creatures out of burn range or break stalls in aggro mirrors. The last ability should only be activated, if you dont have anything else to do on your turn.

4 Witherbloom Command

A very cheap versatile card, which never comes dead at hand.
A short guide to the single modes: 1. Use it to find a needed Land Drop or to further fuel Egon and the Sprout

2. Destroy Classes and laugh at their despair
3. Can be used as a removal most likely against mono White or as a Combat
   "Announcement" to push your opponent into certain blocks or scare him of
   blocking at all
4. The "filler mode", if you dont have a target against anything, you can always
   use this and the 1 one. Can also do the last needed damage against control.

3 Feed the Swarm

Can hit enchantments aswell as creatures, while the life lose does not matter the much, because the fact of you being an aggro deck. But you can fit any other 2 mana black removal spell in there if you prefer something else.

//MANABASE//

Not anything special, noticeable are the 4 Manlands, to get more reach in lategame and the 1off Field of Ruin to keep other manlands in check. Always play Snarls before Basics and Basics before Pathways.

SIDEBOARD AND MATCHUPS

I will only go shortly over the matchups because i didnt had much time to test them yet but i have about 20 matches against each deck if you want to take that into account.

//EPIPHANY.dec//

preboard - neutral
postboard - slightly favoured

IN: 4 Duress, 3 Skyclave Shade
OUT: 4 Prosperous Innkeeper, 3 Feed the Swarm

You want to be the aggressor here, dont give them a good opportunity to resolve Epiphany. You rarely need interaction with their board, so we play more threats and discard to maybe get a lucky Turn 1 Snatch.
Be careful about frostbite as it clears a big part of the threats in your deck, while they are "unevolved"

//MONO GREEN AGGRO//

preboard - kinda positive
postboard - kinda negative

IN: 3 Soul Shatter, 3 Sarulf, Realm Eater
OUT: 4 Prosperous Innkeeper, 2 Swarm Shambler

You most likely gonna loose the lategame, cause of their superior creatures and the wrenn x chariot enginge, so try to rush them down as quickly as possible. Must handles are Ranger Class, Troll, Chariot and Wrenn. Try to get Sarulf to 3 +1/+1 Counters, as he hits the biggest part of the Green Deck with his ability.

//MONO WHITE AGGRO//

preboard - slightly favoured
postboard- very favoured

IN: 2 Culling Ritual, 3 Sarulf, Realm Eater
OUT: 4 Prosperous Innkeeper, 1 Briarbridge Tracker

You have the egde in this matchup, as you can grind better in lategame and youre creatures are bigger than theirs. Still watch out for an Cathar or an Apparition to dont get run over. After the Boarding we have sweepers to further weaken them. Witherbloom Command is the real MVP here, because it most likely trades 2 for 1 in every case, as Mono W plays a lot of x/1 creatures.

//CONTROL DECKS//

preboard - neutral
postboard - neutral

IN: 4 Duress, 3 Skyclave Shade
OUT: 4 Prosperous Innkeeper, 3 Feed the Swarm

It all comes down to the question: "can they handle everything?" If you can answer the question with Yes, then youre doomed. Control Decks without Black are more favored, because black usually has removal, which kill regardless of the size of your creatures. Try to be aggresive and try to look at their hand with duress to see if the coast is clear.
Always keep atleast two creatures in hand, to quickly refill youre board after a wrath.

//IZZET DRAGONS//

preboard - neutral
postboard- slightly favoured

IN: 3 Skyclave Shade, 3 Soul Shatter
OUT: 3 Old Stickfingers, 3 Prosperous Innkeeper

You to fast in game one, if you keep a good hand and you can rush over the egg quickly. Game 2 you should try to handle their threats first, before deploying your own. Gold Span and Egg are must handles, to not get buried in card advantage.

That was a short guide about Golgari Aggro. The Deck may be not that know, but i surely think, that it has its place and time to shine.