Please help upgrading my Golgari Explore Deck
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on March 22, 2020, 1:41 p.m. by GerryAvalanche
I brewed this Modern Golgari Explore with surprisingly decent success at my LGS. Now I'm thinking about upgrading it a little bit, but apart from the mana base I'm really unsure where to go from there. I would love some guidelines!
GerryAvalanche says... #3
wallisface Thank you for your detailed help! I think I wanted to focus too hard on the +1/+1 part of the Explore mechanic. Many of the cards only work in conjunction with each other. I'll see if I find something that works within the theme but gets up to speed faster and contains threats that can stand on their own.
March 22, 2020 6:22 p.m.
Don't play cards, when something that is very close to "strictly better" is available. Winding Constrictor is leagues better than Corpsejack Menace.
The likely comes down the turn after you explored, thus not doing much, while the former comes before, and as such gains you value when you play your explore creatures.
In general i would urge you to make the deck "do more" than "only" being a +1/+1 counter deck, as the hardened scales will likely be a better +1/+1 counter deck.
Or if you wanna stick to it, while being midrange-ish, then play some good payoff like Give / Take
In general i would advise staying away from mana dorks, or building around them in general - unless you have some game winning thing on turn 3.
In GB you will be far better of by playing 6-10 targetd discard spells in your deck, so that you have a t1 discard followed up by explore to either ramp, or "scry".
And since you are "ramping" with the explore mechanic anyways, i would advise you to get some sort of good mana sink that either creates a large card advantage, is extremely resilient, or wins on resolution (preferrably all 3).
And as far as creatures featuring the mechanic go i would strongly advise playing at least 2x Deadeye Tracker as the "dumbed down Deathrite Shaman" is still pretty decent.
Stealing cards out from under snapcaster mage is very relevant, so is graveyard hate, and scrying/drawing for 2 mana is great - especially on a permanent that costs as muc or less than the removal that is needed unmake it.
March 23, 2020 6:35 a.m.
GerryAvalanche says... #5
Xica Thanks for the advise, that was really helpful!
I was already thinking about getting rid of Corpsejack Menace, since it is far to slow to actually have an impact. Winding Constrictor takes advantage of Explore when it really matters, since t4 and beyond the +1/+1 part of explore seems to fall behind.
You are very right, I should not rely on Explore entirely but use it as quasi-ramp plus quasi-scry (which is a cool concept imo).
I'm gonna add Deadeye Tracker and remove the Elves. I thought of mana sinks in form of big creatures (Kalonian Hydra as it synergizes with counters or Carnage Tyrant, since it seems pretty resilient in my experience).
Not sure about the hydra though, it synergizes but that's it. I don't know if I just would be better of with a couple Goyfs or something similar, despite all synergy...
Do you have any advise on that?
March 23, 2020 7:04 a.m.
Well i would pass on hydra.
Its "just" a big dumb beatstick, and a very overpriced one at that.
There are more resilient hydras if you want to stick to the theme. However i would probably advise something like shriekmaw, a creature that does something on ETB for that price.
(Stonecoil Serpent is terrible in modern, it dies to push, path, often to bolt, all of which cost 1 mana, while you likely spent far more mana on it. Not to mention that monocolored creatures are a very rare minority, and not really a thing your snake will interact with during the combat step)
March 23, 2020 1:46 p.m.
GerryAvalanche says... #7
Xica Yes, Stonecoil sucks. I wanted to try it for the flexibility, but it has no actual impact on the board or game whatsoever. Guess I needed to find it out the hard way lol.
That's probably a dumb question, but would you go for two Shriekmaws (instead of Hydra and Serpent)? My intention with the hydra was to have something to put my opponent on the clock. Though this may be "too easy" of a strat. Shriekmaw is obviously way more versatile. I gotta check out if the deck contains enough power for the killing blow.
Also what would be your opinion on something like Obstinate Baloth or a Verdurous Gearhulk? Gearhulk feels a bit insignificant but synergizes well with the rest of the deck. Baloth's lifegain is nice to have, but the discard effect might give it the edge it needs...
March 24, 2020 4:49 a.m.
GerryAvalanche says... #8
Probably a face wrecker like Phyrexian Obliterator?
March 24, 2020 5:29 a.m.
wallisface says... #10
Obstinate Baloth is a sideboard card against discard decks. Gearhulk I would avoid. Obliterator is strong but requires a deck to be heavily built around him so i’d avoid.
My suggestion would be to worry less about the heavy hitters and go more for those value-gains. If you’re going down the Winding Constrictor and/or Hardened Scales route (which seems strong), then you probably just want lots of lower-costing creatures that can become monsters in their own right.
Scavenging Ooze nets you a big creature, life, and grave disruption
Tireless Tracker gives you cards while he gets swole (you’ll want loads of fetches though)
Rishkar, Peema Renegade gives you counters, and enough flexible mana to abuse stuff like Collected Company, if you wanted.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar might be useful as a 2-of, giving you a lot of power when followed up by Avatar of the Resolute (though i think the above-mentioned options are better than this one)
As Xica has already mentioned, your point-of-difference over hardened scales decks is your colouration in black - where you want to be running hand disruption and killspells. Outside of that, you should be looking for fast, efficient killers that can thrive in such a resource-deprived boardstate. Don’t try investing in high-cmc cards to do this if you can avoid it.
March 24, 2020 6:05 a.m.
Obliterator is great when Path to Exile usage is low to non-existent and counterspells are few and far between.
Thus the card is far from its greatest in today's meta.
(However - contrary to the common misconception - getting to BBBB is easy if you manage to have 4 lands by turn 4, twhen you play a 2 colored eck)
I recommended Shriekmaw as it does something early game, and its absolutely broken with all the "return creature from graveyard to hand" spells in your deck, cards like Liliana, the Last Hope.
Sure, its far less flashy than something than Verdurous Gearhulk, and wins slower - however it keeps the field clear, and gives you time to win.
While you can VERY easily die with a gearhulk in hand before you could ever use it.
Obstinate Baloth is a great hate card against discard decks, for any deck that plays combo, and a "passable" card in the burn matchup.
Sadly hardcasting it is asking a lot.
In the sense that it does too little for its cost, UNLESS you want to simply stall a little to win with something like a lethal scapeshift.
In the era where Gurmag Angler, Thing in the Ice
Flip & Bedlam Reveler are running around the card is surprisingly squishy, to win the game.
And does too little at helping you achieve that goal, beside being a body.
Unless you run something like elves, i owuld stay away from God-Eternal Rhonas. Its a great improvement there as a recurrable pump effect in face of all the counterspells and discard.
However in this deck, its only good when you are already winning anyways, and does little to nothing in any other case.
March 24, 2020 6:18 a.m.
GerryAvalanche says... #12
wallisface Ah I see, focusing on lower-cost creatures that scale on their own benefits the overall gameplan way better than putting some flashy body that lacks the versatility and impact for the cost.
I like Scavenging Ooze for this one, straight forward but it can get violent pretty efficiently.
I really have to remember the strengths of the deck and the color combination in that regard, I think that's where my inexperience shows most lol.
March 24, 2020 6:41 a.m.
GerryAvalanche says... #13
Xica These are really good points! I think I'm going to choose between Scavenging Ooze and Shriekmaw. I too thought that Shriekmaw is going to be awesome with the graveyard-returns, but I was worried if I sacrifice killing-power for another removal I probably don't need(?) Scavenging Ooze seems to be a bigger threat, but on the other hand a reusable removal seems pretty strong as well. Plus I maybe could afford cutting a Push or Decay to make room for something more aggrassive. Does that make sense? Or should I just take the Shriekmaw, since I then have all that removal and Shriekmaw may attack with virtually nothing to stop it?
March 24, 2020 6:54 a.m.
Scavenging Ooze is better if expect to face burn, while Shriekmaw is better in meta that lacks burn in favour of RDW decks (like prowess) and other creature based aggro.
Pluse, Deadeye Tracker already does a minor Scavenging Ooze impersonation on graveyard front.
And if you are able control the board, there is no need to have extreme large creatures to win.
Trying to use Scavenging Ooze as tarmogoyf is a terrible idea. It can sometimes accidentally end up as a big creature in ceratin non-interactive matchups, or in extreme late games. However basing your deck on growing it big is asking for trouble as it simply needs too much mana.
You would be better off with Hexdrinker as it at least protects itself once its big, as opposed to Scavenging Ooze.
In regards to cutting removal, i wouldnt touch push as "bolt the bird" is always relevant, not to mention killing manlands.
And would leave some number of assassin's trophy, as a catch all.
In general as long as you have 12-16 creatures & spells you are golden.
March 24, 2020 7:54 a.m.
GerryAvalanche says... #15
Xica Yeah you're right, I think I'll stick with Shriekmaw for now. Its versatility fits the deck better, plus I get to use it even more often due to the graveyard spells and it opens the gate for Winding Constrictor and Wildgrowth Walker to swing in for the kill while being kind of hard to block itself.
wallisface says... #2
So, looking at your non-budget deck, i’m concerned. There are loads of really high cmc cards and you don’t really have much ramp at all to let you get those cards out significantly quicker.
Against typical modern matchups things look bad:
Aggro decks will out-race you before you can get your board state together. Specifically, burn will be able to deal you 20 without really breaking a sweat here.
Combo decks will probably also have a great time. You do have a few answers for Devoted Druid decks, but probably not enough considering your decks slow speed. Storm just auto-wins
Midrange (which is what your deck is) will just out value you. You have a lot of cards that do nothing on their own, while your opponent will be getting massive gains from every card, be it a Lili, Uro, Bloodbraid, etc.
Because you have a lot of cards doing nothing on their own, control decks will probably also make your life hard.
I think you should focus on lowering your mana curve significantly, and look to include only those cards that provide immediate impact to the board, and ensure your sideboard better-hates against your weaknesses.
March 22, 2020 5:56 p.m.