This is similar to what I’ve recently been running. Mine seems to have a bit more in terms of win condition/removal, but I think we have essentially the same skeleton.

x4 Blisterpod
x2 Bone Splinters
x3 Perilous Myr
x3 Carrier Thrall
x3 Rot Shambler
x3 Elvish Visionary
x3 Altar's Reap
x1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
x3 Fleshbag Marauder
x2 Nantuko Husk
x2 Smothering Abomination
x2 From Beyond
x2 Priest of the Blood Rite
x2 Brood Butcher
x1 Oblivion Sower
x1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
x1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
x8 Swamp
x8 Forest
x2 Woodland Cemetery
x2 Mortuary Mire
x2 Golgari Guildgate

It has pretty consistent card draw, which is why I'm comfortable with 22 lands. The Husks used to be Languish, and I'm not quite sure which I prefer at the moment.

22 Lands, no ramp and Ulamog is a bad combo: scion alone aren't enough to warrant running this when it's going to be a dead draw a lot of the time.

4 Splinters is also the way to go: Splinters value went way up with all the fatties running around in the ramp decks and with more creatures than ever to sac it is perfect.

If you're gonna run Husk you run all 4.

I'd also run Cruel Revival in the 5 drop slot over Butcher, but that is more of personal choice.

No Nissa?

And where is Evolutionary Leap? You know, the engine these decks run off?

With card draw and Scion generation, 24 lands is unnecessary. An opening hand with Ulamog is suboptimal; regardless, he typically comes out by using the Tutor effect of From Beyond, though the deck usually wins without needing him. I've actually debated removing him for Nissa, who I had in previously but removed.

There has to be a balance between the number of sacrificial creatures and the number of cards that require them as fodder. Your cards are competing for the same finite resources. There are 14 mechanisms using sacrifice as it is, balanced between card draw (Reap, Abomination), removal (Splinters, Butcher, Marauder), and threat (Husk). Adding 2 Husk and 2 Splinters skews that and causes dead hands full of spells you can’t cast without sacrificing the very cards you’re attempting to leverage (i.e. Husk on the board, Splinters and Reap in hand). Same for Evolutionary Leap. The strength of the deck is that it’s versatile in terms of threat and removal, and digs through the library quickly.

Brood Butcher is severely underrated. I’m not sure why Cruel Revival would be preferable—sincere, not sarcastic there. Butcher’s a win condition that comes with repeatable cheap removal.

Hi there,

after reading for quite some time in this forum, I finally decided to become active myself. Hope I will do everything right with the card linking etc.

Here I wish to present you two decks. The first one is the one I have been playing for like ages now, it's my Zendikar adaption of Lockhammer's tremendous Golgari Control deck:

4x Perilous Myr
3x Gatecreeper Vine
2x Evolutionary Leap
3x Reave Soul
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3x Fleshbag Marauder
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2x Reclamation Sage
2x Retreat to Kazandu
3x Gravedigger
1x Alinged Hedron Network
2x Languish
2x Bitter Revelation
3x Cruel Revival
1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
1x Oblivion Sower
2x Gaea's Revenge
12x Swamp
6x Forest
2x Woodland Cemetery
4x Golgari Guildgate


As convincing as this deck is, it starts boring me to death since I was overusing it. I then built a 5 color landfall-converge deck which I will also post in the right forum. For some reasons, it does not work out too well, so I rebuilt a Golgari black green version of it:

3x Jaddi Offshoot
2x Animist's Awakening
2x Gatecreeper Vine
2x Evolutionary Leap
2x Reave Soul
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2x Fleshbag Marauder
3x Retreat to Kazandu
3x Nissa's Pilgrimage
2x Bloodbond Vampire
2x Languish
2x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
2x Guul Draz Overseer
2x Oran-Rief Hydra
1x Oblivion Sower
2x Defiant Bloodlord
1x Gaea's Revenge
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
7x Swamp
11x Forest
2x Woodland Cemetery
4x Golgari Guildgate

As I said, I am not too content with it so far. I don't know if I really should play with Evolutionary Leap. What about Retreat to Hagra and Ob Nixilis? I am curious to hear your opinions.

By the way, I also made a similar Green-White Deck which I will post in the respective section.

Best regards

Golgari has been feeling weak since the update. Branched to Azban myself:

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=10311&start=180#p395747

Also, thanks for the mention. I am glad other people enjoyed the deck as much as myself.

Hi everyone,

I am a quiet reader for months. Now I decided to register.

And here it is, my a little different control deck. I never saw an equal one here before. But I am pretty happy with this choice of cards. I win about 70%. I only use 1 (!!!) Zendikar card (except 2 land cards) because I won´t buy a new pool of cards I did before with the 1st card pool.

Hope you enjoy.


CMC 2:
3 x Gatecreeper Vine
3 x Reave Soul

CMC 3:
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
2 x Graveblade Marauder
1 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 x Nissa's Pilgrimage
3 x Elemental Bond
1 x Reclamation Sage

CMC 4:
2 x Languish

CMC 5:
3 x Cruel Revival
2 x Gilt-Leaf Winnower
3 x Necromantic Summons
1 x Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 x Outland Colossus
2 x Priest of the Blood Rite

CMC 6:
1 x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
1 x Woodland Bellower

23 Lands:
3 x Swamp
7 x Forest
3 x Golgari Guildgate
2 x Woodland Cemetery
2 x Mortuary Mire
2 x Rogue's Passage
4 x Evolving Wilds


23 black cards
14 green cards

19 creatures
18 others

CMC 2: 6
CMC 3: 14
CMC 4: 2
CMC 5: 13
CMC 6: 2


Advices are welcome.

Greetz from Germany.

I see more and more Golgari ramp. Don't know why people go with black, to splash in reanimation and Liliana perhaps.

Black is definitely a decent color to pair with green; primarily because Black has a lot of sacrifice outlets for Eldrazi scions, Blisterpods, Elvish Visionaries and Gatecreeper Vines. Smothering Abomination, Bone Splinters, Vampiric Rites and Brood Butcher to name just a few. Obviously Liliana is just very good in this strategy as well.

Been lurking for a while, thought I'd contribute for a change.
Thought I'd try my hand at BG Aristocrats. The deck isn't as reliable as the current Standard versions because we don't have Zulaport Cutthroat, but so far it has proven itself to be pretty resilient to some of the more dominant strategies in the current Steam meta. I'll post the Decklist, followed by card choices.

Creatures - 27
Jaddi Offshoot x3
Blisterpod x4
Despoiler of Souls x1
Rot Shambler x3
Elvish Visionary x3
Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer x1
Fleshbag Marauder x2
Nantuko Husk x4
Nissa, Vastwood Seer / Nissa, Sage Animist x1
Smothering Abomination x1
Brood Butcher x2
Greenwarden of Murasa x1

Other Spells - 10
Vampiric Rites x1
Shadows of the Past x2
Evolutionary Leap x2
From Beyond x2
Languish x2
Ob Nixilis Reignited x1

Lands - 23
Evolving Wilds x4
Rogue's Passage x3
Foundry of the Consuls x2
Mortuary Mire x3
Woodland Cemetery x2
Swamp x3
Forest x4


For those unfamiliar with the deck, the primary goal is to land a Nantuko Husk (or a Rot Shambler, but Husk is the first priority), sacrifice a bunch of creatures to make our Husk huge (and, if possible, unblockable via Rogue's Passage) and hit your opponent in the face.
Jaddi Offshoot is included as tech against the fast aggro decks of the format (Gruul Landfall, Boros Little Kid, and RDW). It gives us something productive to do with turns 1-2 and lets us extend a bit to the mid-game where this deck really develops.
Vampiric Rites and Evolutionary Leap are included both as non-creature sack outlets and as methods for us to dig for necessary pieces of our deck.
Shadows of the Past is included here as well for value. I cannot stress how valuable this card can be in the mid-game. The ability to chump or trade and use that trigger to dig up an appropriate replacement (or just dig past a land clump) can be absolutely back-breaking if utilized correctly.
Elvish Visionary, Nissa, Ob Nixilis, and Smothering Abomination all serve as Card Advantage engines. Let me emphasize that Nissa is NOT here for ramping purposes. When she flips, she either draws threats or helps the deck ramp into threats while also providing a hell of a clock. I don't think I've ever played her -2 ability in this deck. Ob Nix. also gives the deck a shot in the arm from a removal standpoint when needed.
Our only real dedicated removal comes in the form of Fleshbag Marauder and Languish. In playtesting, the only decks that gave me consistent fits were decks that try to flood the board a la Thopters, Elves, and so forth. Sure, most of the creatures in this deck die to it, but the principal threats can pump their way past it in a pinch.
From Beyond, Brood Butcher, and Blisterpod are here to give the deck some fuel. Strictly speaking, Carrier Thrall is probably better but A) it clogs up the 2-spot and B) I haven't packed any yet. From Beyond can search up a Brood Butcher in a pinch, but isn't a particularly common play from this deck (though it can be a fun surprise for the opponent!)
Lastly, Liliana, Greenwarden of Murasa, and Mortuary Mire serve principally as methods for getting useful creatures back out of the graveyard for a return visit. Fleshbag Marauderis the most common target, but I will occasionally dig up a Blisterpod or an Elvish Visionary for cheap gas. Heaven help the poor sod who gets caught on the other end of a Liliana Emblem with this deck as well.

With all of the interactions going on in this deck, it does take a fair amount of practice to play well. Aggressive mulligans are an absolute MUST - just because a hand includes stuff to play and the land to play it doesn't mean it is a keepable hand. It is also worth noting that while hitting a Husk is super critical, hitting multiple Husks is usually a dead draw. Being able to sack out to multiple things is great - being able to sack out to copies of the same thing is terrible.
Once the deck hits mid-game, if played correctly (and, as always, with a dash of luck), the interactions in this deck begin to really pick up steam. For example: Turn 4 or so with a Blisterpod, Shadows of the Past and Rot Shambler in play - Cast Fleshbag Marauder -> Marauder hits the field, let trigger target Blisterpod, dump the token to give the Rot Shambler a couple of counters and scry 2. The board position improves from 2 1/1s to a 3/3 and a 3/1 plus library digging.

The deck is somewhat weak against all-in Ramp decks, particularly if those decks pack abnormally large amounts of removal. This deck can survive quite a lot of targeted removal, but when an opponent combines that removal with jumbo-size creatures things get tricky. Control or Tap-out style decks can also create problems - UW, for example, can grind out the development phase more efficiently than this deck and prep counterspells for Languish while simultaneously running a bunch of evasive creatures. That said, I haven't seen a ton of UW yet on Steam.

Apologies for the super-long post. The deck needs a bit of fine-tuning for the sake of consistency but I believe it is on the right track.

This looks interesting and solid deck. Once i have all cards required i will try this out my self!

21 lands

I like where this is going. Giving me ideas I'm gonna try running for a Golgari Control rebuild. Thanks for the post!

D'oh! Should be 7 forests, not 4. Thanks for catching that.

Return Of The Evolpea

1 x Rot Shambles
4 x Gatecreeper Vine
4 x Elvish Visionary
1 x Shadows Of The Past
2 x Evolutionary Leap
3 x Reave Soul
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
1 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 x Reclamation Sage
1 x Erebo's Titan
1 x Gravedigger
2 x From Beyond
2 x Languish
1 x Glint-Leaf Winnower
2 x Cruel Revival
2 x Nercomantic Summons
1 x Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 x Greenwarden Of Murasa
1 x Gaea's Revenge
1 x Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
6 x Swamp
7 x Forest
2 x Woodland Cemetery
4 x Golgari Guildgate
4 x Evolving Wilds

This is an update on my Lockedown Build. My numbers on Rot Shambler, Elvish Visionary, and Gatecreeper Vine are constantly changing. They belong in the deck, just trying to get the right balance.

Shadows Of The Past and Evolutionary Leap are perfect ways to sort the deck and get to some of our bigger threats.

Reave Soul and Cruel Revival are musts as they are still solid removal. Yes, they do not exile, but it does give you stuff to play from their graveyard as well as yours with Necromantic Summons.

You can't have Liliana, Heretical Healer without Fleshbag Marauder. It handles those indestructible creatures and gives you a chance. Gravedigger is in there to work the Zombie love that is happening with Cruel Revival. Nantuko Husk and Voracious Null are other cards I'm eyeing, but not 100% sold on yet.

Nissa, Vastwood Seer is there honestly to draw cards and Ultimate. That's it. She works great on increasing your card draw with Ob Nixilis Reignited. Paying 1 life and drawing 3 cards a turn is worth it. And the fact Obie likes to destroy stuff helps.

Reclamation Sage is in as there are alot of enchantments going on right now. It's silly not to run at least 1 form of enchantment hate.

Lots of people are playing in Graveyards too. Enter Erebo's Titan. Discard one card to play him again? Yes please. 5/5 I can keep playing and doing stuff with? Winner. Say what you will about 1BBB, I did it before Zendikar, I'm still doing it now.

From Beyond is a sac engine. You get out Evolutionary Leap and sac til your hearts content. It's fun building Rot Shambler up over and over whenever he is killed. Fetching Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger is just a plus.

Languish is a sweeper. Gotta play sweepers.

I know a lot of people see Glint-Leaf Winnower as an outdated card. I think she does better with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy when he flips, but she does kill a non-elf with different power/toughness. So she kills something as she comes onto the field and has Menace to evade single blockers. At the very least, she is trading each time she enters the battlefield.

Necromantic Summons is there because come on, turn 5 Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger from the Graveyard is scary. And it plays well with Erebo's Titan and pumps up once you get a few spells in the graveyard. A win in my book.

Greenwarden Of Murasa has been a card I hated before I realized I don't have to exile him from the Graveyard. We have gotten along ever since. Best buddies ever now.

Gaea's Revenge is there because a 8/5 with haste is still scary. I don't care who you are, that's instant board effect.

Then of course, Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger. You play him because hey, it's GG and keep on keeping on.

While I have a close to split mana, and I want a Turn 4 Erebo's Titan, getting the Forest out is my first priority. And it plays well at having more for Evolutionary Leap.

Thoughts, questions, concerns? Let me know.

I disagree with Erebos' Titan, Gilt-Leaf Winnower and Gaea's Revenge in this deck as-built. Erebos' Titan is, practically speaking, not much better than a vanilla creature. As much creature-heavy as the meta is right now, there isn't much in the way of opportunity for the thing to be indestructible, and there are a million and five different ways to deal with a vanilla 5/5 with no immediate board presence other than his size in the current meta. As for Gilt-Leaf Winnower, if you're not playing Elves or something like that, you want actual removal instead of a meat shield. As high as this deck curves, she stands out as something to cut. Gaea's Revenge is still super-relevant, but again this deck curves out really high. I have a hard time cutting Ulamog anywhere at the moment if he's being played, so no arguments there. If you are dedicating yourself to GB Reanimator, commit to that - go something like -1 Ob Nix, -1 Titan, -1 Gaea, -4 Visionary and run +2 Rot Shambler, +1 Cruel Revival, +2 Blisterpod (not Carrier Thrall, your 2-slot is clogged up enough as-is) or something like that. #my2cents

I gotta disagree as I have used all three cards to my advantage. Calling Erebo's Titan straight vanilla is selling him short. You have a 5/5 on turn 4 that can be indestructible as long as you keep killing what you opponent plays. If you trade, you can fetch him back out with Lilly for 4 mana or discard a card (feeding graveyard with say, Ulamog) to bring him back to hand to play again. He recycles in dredge, which is very important.

If you honestly look at how many creatures have off set power/toughness in the meta, and how many enchantments can cause a creature to be so, then Glint-Leaf makes sense. It could be just an Eldrazi Skyspawner, she is killing it. You can fetch her up with Evolpea and recycle her via Summons and Lilly. And she has evasion via Menace. You don't have to be playing elves to make good use of her.

In the last 8 games, I have not once missed a land drop. Turn 7, GR has the chance to race out. And no amount of blue counter spells or kill spells will touch him. You have to trade or wipe the board. And there is enough ways to bring him back that he is something that has to be dealt with.

I selected these cards same as did from the previous set. Evolpea needs creatures to sac, and you get creatures for it. Getting ones that play well in the graveyard or have EtB abilities that mimic spells you are using is key in making the deck work. I am on average 6-7 cards ahead of my opponent in my deck for draw spells such has Visionary, Nissa, and Obie, and mana pull with Gatecreeper, Nissa, and Wilds. That increases the amount of spells I want drawn, and fetching answers by sacing a creature that was already going to die blocking the turn before is smart business.

Thank you though and if things aren't panning out, I will try some of those changes.

After some testing and trial and error, here is where I'm at:

Return Of The Evolpea

4 x Perilous Myr
3 x Gatecreeper Vine
4 x Elvish Visionary
1 x Shadows Of The Past
2 x Evolutionary Leap
3 x Reave Soul
1 x Pilgrim's Eye
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
1 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 x Reclamation Sage
1 x Erebo's Titan
1 x Gravedigger
2 x Languish
1 x Glint-Leaf Winnower
2 x Cruel Revival
2 x Necromantic Summons
1 x Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 x Greenwarden Of Murasa
1 x Gaea's Revenge
1 x Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
5 x Swamp
6 x Forest
2 x Woodland Cemetery
2 x Foundry Of The Consuls
2 x Mortuary Mire
3 x Golgari Guildgate
3 x Evolving Wilds

So to the major changes. I have gone back and forth testing with and without Glint-Leaf Winnower. I miss it very much when it's gone. It's a must keep. I had been trying to keep From Beyond or Eyeless Watcher in the deck, but Winnower won over that spot.

I wanted to add Perilous Myr back to the deck. It helps with early creatures and helps slow down RDW. And sacing it is as good as a Shock, only I get another creature as well. So that left me with something to cut. Ultimately, I decided to cut both From Beyond, a single Reclamation Sage, and the Rot Shambles. Rot was fun, but it belongs in a 'Crats deck, not Golgari Control 2.0.

Traded two Gatecreeper Vine for two Pilgrim's Eye. Seems like right call so far.

Last set of changes is the mana base. Went down to 5 B and 5 G. Cut one Guildgate and one Evolving Wilds also. Added 2 Mortuary Mire and 2 Foundry Of The Consuls. Both seems the right call so far, but still testing.

Well, let me know what y'all think.

Edit: Small change. +1 Gatecreeper Vine, -1 Pilgrim's Eye. Edit made in the list. Also, shorted a Forest. Suppose to be 6, not 5.

I have been playing this BG sacrifice deck for last three days and it has been amazing for me. Last night i went 20-2 record and played against many other rank 40 players. Here is video of this deck in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwDzLZJG9oE

My current deck list has two changes to this that i posted. I took out Altar's Reaps and added one more Brood Butcher and one Shadows of the Past. I feel that this deck is very solid and save. Most problems i have had against mill decks. I haven't lost to them yet but it has been close few times. Acid-Moss has been surprisingly good and really win some easy games where opponent just didn't have lands to play.

4x Blisterpod
3x Vampiric Rites
4x Bone Splinter
3x Carrier Thrall
4x Gatecreeper Vine
4x Elvish Visionary
2x Altar's Reap

1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3x Fleshbad Marauder
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2x From Beyond
4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss

1x Brood Butcher
1x Obnixilis Reignited
1x Oblivion Sower
1z Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

7x Swamp
8x Forest
2x Woodland Cemetery
4x Golgari Guildgate

I was 20-1 with a Golgari sac deck, but I didn't get to play lvl 3's like the Xbox crowd seems to do. Mostly vs 35-40.

Aren't you just a special snowflake.