King of Dirt

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Dredge Ramp Reanimator

Steaditup

Creature (32)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Creakwood Liege
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Doomgape
• 1x Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Genesis
• 1x Golgari Grave-Troll
• 1x Grim Flayer
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Lhurgoyf
• 1x Lord of Extinction
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Mindwrack Demon
• 1x Mortivore
• 1x Nighthowler
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Sewer Nemesis
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Soul Swallower
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
• 1x Vulturous Zombie
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Woodfall Primus

Land (35)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 5x Forest
• 1x Golgari Guildgate
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Grim Backwoods
• 1x Hissing Quagmire
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Jungle Hollow
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 4x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Deadbridge Chant
• 1x Evolutionary Leap
• 1x Grave Pact

Artifact (5)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Bonehoard
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Instant (6)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Grisly Salvage
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Tragic Slip

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Behold the Beyond
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Commune with the Gods
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Life / Death
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Traverse the Ulvenwald
• 1x Treasured Find
• 1x Vigor Mortis

Commander (1)

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Hello and welcome to my rendition of Graveyards and How to Use Them! Let's start with the basics

What does the commander do?

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is an interesting fellow. He's fairly atypical as commanders go. A turn-4 cast is typically suboptimal.

Looking at his first ability, one could assume that Jarad can get pretty large. This is true. He should be a menacing commander damage threat, right? Not right. Without any evasion, Jarad is really good at killing soldier tokens and Solemn Simulacra (sorry, sad robot). That's about it.

Jarad's size-boosting DOES mean, however, that he is a meaningful blocker when trying to buy space to set yourself up for a kill. Attacking the dredge player looks a lot less appealing when it means losing your biggest guy.

Jarad's second ability may as well be the only text printed on the card. It's what gives this deck its reach, its ability to steal games if you're left alone. Sacrifice any number of goyf-types (graveyard-based creatures, such as the iconic Lhurgoyf ) and the game ends.

Due to his status as king of the dog pile, Jarad's final ability matters little. It can circumvent his tax if he bites it one too many times and you have to send him to the yard, but mostly you'll be casting Jarad the turn you win the game.

How does the deck work?

Like many decks, this deck is one of phases. Your first job as the dredge player at the table is to establish a graveyard. We have many delectable tools for the job, such as creatures like Satyr Wayfinder , Mindwrack Demon and Grim Flayer as well as dredge staples like Stinkweed Imp , Golgari Grave-Troll and the fabulous Life from the Loam . Deadbridge Chant can put a whole mess of nonsense in the bin at once! It even has other helpful words.

Once you have a graveyard, you must use it. Jarad is bigger when you have a big graveyard, but Jarad's size isn't super helpful here. The (arguably) best and most well-known approach to graveyard use is reanimation! We can do that. Sheoldred, Whispering One is typically our best reanimation target since she keeps churning out value every turn, but she's also obvious. Our opponents will see her coming a mile away. What Sheoldred does is either stick and win us the game through attrition, or bait out our opponents' exile removal. We'll have bigger stuff later anyway. Other strong must-removes are Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and Emrakul, the Promised End.

The clever and the experienced will know other ways that having graveyards can help. Delirium, one of Magic's newest mechanics at the time of writing, LOVES dredge. It's almost like they were meant for each other. Traverse the Ulvenwald goes from embarrassing to amazing once we're a bit mad, and our Mindwrack Demon stops punching us in the face, too!

As traditionally powerful as reanimating is, and as exciting as Delirium is, this deck's favorite way to use a graveyard is to simply... have one. Our Goyf squad can get HUGE really easily, and with Jarad's sacrifice ability, this is all we need to win. Classic Lhurgoyf , versatile Bonehoard , tricky Nighthowler and the granddaddy of them all, Lord of Extinction all represent potential game-wins. After all the Path to Exiles and Swords to Plowshares are baited by our obvious threats, we'll sacrifice a big dumb monster who likes graveyard size and the game is ours.

Granted, the deck folds to Tormod's Crypt so good luck!

Date added	10 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.86
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Worm 1/1 BG
Folders	EDH, Decks To Remember, Download Decks, Inspiring Decks, Commander