Sacrifice Golgari Commanders
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on May 18, 2019, 2:15 a.m. by Zetalpa
Hello everyone, recently I made my new Savra commander deck, won a few times, but I can't get it to win anymore as my opponents keep killing my commander, and soon the tax piles up and I can't recast her. Game over for me! Does anybody know how to fix this problem? or should I switch commanders to something with bigger toughness (or can get bigger!), like a Mazirek, or should I just work around the problem? Any help appreciated;)!
multimedia says... #3
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest is a much better Commander than Savra.
If you have Mazirek I would make the switch. Five mana for Mazirek shouldn't be a problem since you're playing green which has many ramp options including many creature ramp options who are good to after ramping then sac to Mazirek. You can play Savra in a deck with Mazirek as Commander since Mazirek also cares about sacing creatures, but not just creatures any permanents which can bring a whole other fun strategy. Mazirek has flying and she can grow herself along with the rest of your creatures when you or your opponents sac a permanent this makes her a threat with Commander damage. Savra doesn't have evasion and can't grow; she will not attack unless it's completely safe which is a drawback.
You can always let your Commander go to your graveyard and not back into the Command Zone when it dies. This is a huge help for Golgari since playing black you can play recursion (to hand) or reanimation (to battlefield) spells. These effects get around Commander tax. When your Commander dies you can choose to put it into your graveyard.
When your Commander is in your graveyard and an opponent exiles your graveyard your Commander isn't exiled it goes back to the Command Zone. As long as your Commander is in your graveyard you have free reign to interact with it using cards that interact with your graveyard. However don't put your Commander into your graveyard unless you have cards that can get it back :)
May 18, 2019 6:12 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #4
Many moons ago I had the same problem. The solution I found for that deck was to make it so I have a strong, fully functioning deck in just the 99 and ignore the commander while I am upgrading the strategy I had. After that, I added the commander back in and instead of treating it as the lynchpin of my deck, it is just a strong card that I always have access to.
The reanimation effects mentioned in above comments actually pull double duty since they both make your deck stronger and allow for ways to mitigate commander cost. I would also like to mention Reanimate and Death as ones to use since they are so good and low mana cost that even cEDH decks use them.
If you have any cards that strictly only interact with your commander, they had better be a combo finish or a way to lock your opponents out of the game. Sure the commander is the namesake of the format, but it is a mistake to make it the only thing your deck really does.
K1ngMars says... #2
I'd say that golgari sacrifice decks are pretty much similar in some way. I run a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck which is a bit more about reanimation and automill, but still pretty similar to what you would run in yours. I guess you could try and swap out commanders if you have them in your deck (you should). Otherwise, tackling the problem could be done in many ways.
I'd say some good old reanimation effects to bring your commander back from the graveyard would go a long way: Animate Dead , Necromancy , Dance of the Dead , Ever After , Beacon of Unrest .
Another good strategy would be to ramp lands like crazy, even if a little less efficient: recur and sac many times Viridian Emissary , Solemn Simulacrum , Dawntreader Elk and similar.
One last way would be to protect Savra from removal: Blessing of Leeches , Lightning Greaves and such.
May 18, 2019 4:04 a.m.