Although this deck is similar to other GB decks in the format, where it differs is its ability to abuse the Whip of Erebos much better. Giant Adephage and Abhorrent Overlord both leave tokens after they leave, and they swing for a ton. The deck has a nice control suite which lets it remove almost anything.
Main Deck Choices:
Whip of Erebos, Giant Adephage, Abhorrent Overlord-The Reanimator and its primary targets. I'm also considering
Ashen Rider
.
Deathrite Shaman: Although he isn't nearly as good here as he was in Modern, he still provides constant damage, semi-consistent acceleration and can let me gain life. I can take advantage of my self-mill or remove opponents reanimate targets as well. A solid one drop.
Lotleth Troll: Another valuable card, he lets me pitch my fatties to the graveyard as a combat trick, and he's very hard to get rid of if I want to protect him.
Dreg Mangler
: He can put the pressure on early with haste and he's got the body to wreck some aggro attackers if I keep him back. Plus, he isn't useless in the graveyard.
Rot Farm Skeleton
: I overlooked this card when it came out, but after playtesting this thing has proven itself very useful. He can give me some card advantage, since your opponent will nearly always use a card to get rid of him. He can also render a Desecration Demon useless, especially when your opponent wants to use his/her own Whip of Erebos. I just wish I could bring him back as an instant...
Vraska the Unseen: I'm on the fence with Vraska. However, she does an awesome job at killing things (even other walkers). Also, assassin wins are pretty awesome. I remember a situation where I cast Gaze of Granite X=4, then ulted her onto an empty board... Fun times.
Golgari Charm: This card is awesome, its not the best charm, but its definitely close. It has the power to single-handedly wreck Master of Waves and Young Pyromancer decks. It also kills enchantments and saves my dudes from Anger of the Gods, Supreme Verdict, etc. 2 mainboarded with 2 in the side for these matchups.
Removal Suite: Abrupt Decay, Hero's Downfall, Doom Blade, Putrefy. I like the idea of having many different removal options instead of something like 4x Decay 4x Downfall. I think it is more flexible. Other removal: Vraska the Unseen and Golgari Charm. This deck can do some serious control. Also, this suite can change drastically post-sideboard.
Self-Mill:
Grisly Salvage
and Commune with the Gods. These two drops fill up my graveyard and they let me dig for cards that I need, like Whip of Erebos and Lotleth Troll.
Rot Farm Skeleton
does some work towards this too.
Sideboard options
I just re-did my sideboard, so it will likely change after testing. Basically, I like being mean to the person sitting across from me, and I use my sideboard to do this as effectively as possible. Aggro falls to Drown in Sorrow (I hope, this is a new addition). Golgari Charms come in when I am scared of a board wipe or am seeing lots of 1 toughness guys. Thoughtseize kills threats like Blood Baron of Vizkopa before I see him hit the board. Reaper of the Wilds stops aggro in its tracks and is a resilient threat against control.
Dark Betrayal
hoses any deck that relies on Desecration Demon or one of its smaller cousins that has hit standard in Theros. The other removal spells will let me tweak my removal in between matches to make it more efficient.
