Slogurk, the Overslime spoke to me the moment I pulled the showcase copy from my First Midnight Hunt Set Booster box opening. Slogurk checks all the right boxes;
- This is a budget Commander
- Simic colors identity
- Low casting cost
- Natural Trample evasion
- Passive ability that ramps
- Passive ability which can avoid Commander Tax and boardwipes.
**Bonus: Cool showcase artwork!
It was clear that this deck had to be made. So, how do we build Slogurk? Consulting with EDH Rec and other sites, there are several strategies discussed:
- Voltron Slogurk quickly and swing for the win.
- Create an engine to play multiple lands per turn and blink Slogurk for value. The REPEATABLE land destruction strategy falls under this umbrella.
- +1/+1 Counter Synergy with Hardened Scales and Oozolith.
- Create a Tribal Ooze deck, with all the tools to make massive Oozes.
To be honest, all of the above plans are viable options. However, a YouTuber pointed out that Slogurk gains +1/+1 counters whenever lands are out into the grave - FROM ANYWHERE - with no hard cap on how big this boy can get. This means you can Mill lands into grave, play lands that can sacrifice themselves to the grave, discard lands in hand down to hand size at your end step, and play ramp spells that let you sacrifice and search for lands. Once Slogurk has 3x +1/+1 Counters on Him, you can pull those in response to removal and bring Him back to your hand which means you get to cast Slogurk without Commander tax AND you get 3x lands out of the grave as well.
A self mill strategy can be employed for massive Slogurk and swing to victory. I have not explored Self Mill in EDH, so Slogurk was born with this goal in mind. We use flashback cards to not have a lack of options. We also have constructed a mana base heavily filled with lands that can end up in the graveyard through sacrifice.
:: Self Mill Package ::
Any deck that mills is a natural ally of Slogurk. We do not mind "Wheel effects" at all and many of our spells have flashback to cast from the yard. That being said, self-mill IS NOT a win condition in this deck, as we are not running Laboratory Maniac or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. We run Echo of Aons to keep us alive in a pinch so we do not mill ourself out. Aons is nice because it can be cast from hand or grave and recycles lands from the grave.
Most of our lands have some way to sacrifice themselves or end up in the grave. This is sort of a Mill because it triggers Slogurk. However, the below list are specific Mill cards.
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Ipnu Rivulet - functions as a land until mill is needed and grows Slogurk by sacrificing itself. When Slogurk dies, you simply bring back Ipnu and do it over again. This is an engine in the deck.
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Stream of Thought - Mill 4 and has ability to repeat with replicate cost paid as much as you have mana for.
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Tome Scour - simple 1 mana, mill 5 cards
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Merfolk Secretkeeper - mill 4 cards for 1 mana, and functions as a body/blocker off of Adventure.
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Dream Twist - mill 3 and flashback 3 more! Flashback is useful to cast it from the yard.
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Satyr Wayfinder - you have to reveal 4 cards and you MAY put a land in your hand, though you do not need to. The flexibility is perfect.
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Otherworldly Gaze - functions exactly like Dream Twist in the deck with option to control your top deck.
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Increasing Confusion - an amazing way to mill a lot of cards and the flashback makes it incredible because every "X" is doubled!
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Tracker's Instincts - helps fill hand with needed creatures and is capable from the grave.
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Traumatize - a one card win condition for Slogurk, it will usually put 20 counters in Slogurk b/c you can Traumatize yourself!
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Blossoming Tortoise - mills for three and can repeat on attack trigger.
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Aftermath Analyst - mills 3 and then is a SplendidReclaimation on a body.
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Life from the Loam - the Dredg 3 ability and recursion matter.
:: Land Destruction Package ::
We are now a dedicated land destruction deck. This is why Slogurk is a Jerk, because people hate having lands nuked. The most powerful spells here allow us to keep on recycling lands for fun and profit. We can pivot in this direction to keep other players in check or threaten land destruction as a deterrence from attack as a political move.
- Reap and Sow - entwine and do both!
- Terastodon - can target 3 basic lands and nuke them on the ETB.
- Acidic Slime - is usually a removal spell, but the ETB can hit a land.
- Beast Within - targets lands of necessary.
- Dust Bowl
- Field of Ruin
- Ghost Quarter
- Encroaching Wastes
- Boseiju, Who Endures
- Strip Mine
- Desecration Plague
- Rain of Thorns
- Winter's Grasp
- Wasteland
- Demolition Field
- Woodfall Primus - similar to Acidic Slime, ETB can target a land. However, the Persist ability usually means it can be used twice.
- Echoing Deeps - copies a card in the grave.
- Volatile Fault - destroys but gives out a basic.
:: +1/+1 Counter Package ::
+1/+1 Counters power up Slogurk, so there are important cards to do this in the deck.
- Cave of Temptation
- Scale the Heights
- Hadana's Climb
- The Ozolith - is a hell of a Counter Insurance Policy. It banks all your +1/+1 counters and builds a bigger, badder Slogurk.
:: Ways to Play Additional Lands Per Turn ::
Since Slogurk puts lands from Graveyard to hand, you just need cards which allow you to play additional lands from hand per turn. Here are some cards that pair with Slogurk to get this job done.
- Explore - replaces itself whilst ramping.
- Broken Bond
- Open the Way - so good with 5 Mana to guarantee 3x lands and Ramp.
- Druid Class - lvl 2 play an additional land per turn.
- Oracle of Mul Daya
- Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
- Titania's Command - always going to want the ANY two lands option.
- Azusa, Lost but Seeking
- Burgeoning
- Coiling Oracle
- Expand the Sphere
- Exploration - the OG one drop to get us off and to the races.
- Splendid Reclamation - can be a game ender! Go and get all the lands you want out of the yard and put them back!
- Wrenn and Seven - has an amazing +0 ability to play as many lands as we want. So imagine this line of play...play land for turn, go to combat with Slogurk. If Slogurk dies, play Wrenn and Seven and then drop 3 lands from the yard back into play. Yes please!
- Dryad of the Ilysian Grove - used to be an expensive card, but is available cheaply due to Commander Masters. Excellent static ability AND Mana fixer.
- Wayward Swordtooth - excellent toolbox creature and 5/5 threat.
- Cultivator Colossus - has the ETB ability to drop multiple lands from hand onto battlefield tapped and keep drawing through your deck. Cast after Slogurk is removed and you get at least 3 lands from hand to battlefield off Cultivator.
*Ramunap Excavator opens us up to playing lands out of the graveyard, so is a great inclusion.
Update - (5/25/23) - I took out Scaled Herbalist and Walking Atlas. They are weak creatures and cannot immediately help when they hit the board. In addition Summer Bloom is a one trick pony. If you draw it, yay, if not, it wastes space. I replaced with more removal. Finally, Aid from the Cowl is cool, but a 5 Mana enchantment that does nothing right away is not super helpful. Growth Spiral was just functionally weaker than Mystic Remora.
:: Win Conditions ::
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Slogurk, the Overslime Commander Damage - many people hate the Commander damage rule, but Slogurk gets huge quickly. With 44 lands in the deck, they should be entering the grave frequently and growing Slogurk. With trample, you can swing through for the W with a huge commander. Hadana's Climb
pairs nicely to help us get damage through.
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Ram Through - a simple spell allows you to slam Slogurk through and deal lethal damage to an opponent without an attack. This spell is especially devastating if there is only a 1/1 or mana dork since maximum damage will Trample through. The downside is you must have a creature to target that you do not control for this to work.
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Land Destruction Lockout - keeping players in check with land destruction is a legit line of play in this deck. If you can shut down the power player and keep them from casting spells, you can just Win Out. People get salty and quit when lands are targeted, so keep that in mind. I mostly use Land Destruction as a deterrent, getting political as needed. Although, it is a hell of a "revenge strategy" when you play Game 2 and target someone who screwed you over previously.
Notes
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I previously had Simic Ascendancy as a win condition and many +1/+1 counter cards in the deck. However, we found that in playtesting, Slogurk was being pulled in too many directions. Self Mill will be all that is needed for the Counters. You can even bump up to 50 Lands if necessary.
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Tolaria West can transmute for ANY land. You can find Boseiju and Channel it for an answer when no removal is handy. You can search for a Strip Mine or Vesuva to start the land destruction chain. The flexibility here is huge and since Simic does not normally have access to tutors, the effect is unexpected.
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Let's talk about Bear tokens. There are 3 cards that make 2/2 Bears, but they synergize with Slogurk's plan to get lands into the grave, self mill and destroy lands. Ayula's Influence let's us pitch lands to the grave, growing Slogurk and creating bodies. Titania's Command has a major option to find ANY two lands and put onto the battlefield, AND also can give us two 2/2 Bears. Bearscape cleans up the graveyard by allowing us to to exile cards we do not intend to cast again and make Bear bodies.
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I actually removed Lightning Greaves because Shroud does not allow +1/+1 Counters to target Slogurk. This is one Commander you will happily let be removed.
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No MANA ROCKS are in the deck, not even a Sol Ring. Why? Because the deck has so many lands, that these are not necessary. You will have no trouble finding the Mana to get the job done.
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4/15/23 - The deck needs more removal. We just finished a night of playing nothing but Slogurk. We got our teeth kicked in by decks that were able to go wide. We need removal, because cards like Harsh Mentor, Zozu the punisher and the new Elesh Norn are damn near unstoppable. On 4/22/23 - we have added removal spells! Into the deck go: Exchange of Words (a clean answer to Elesh Norn), Evacuation, Reality Shift, Imprisoned in the Moon, Perplexing Test and Underdark Rift. Out go: Tiller Engine, Rishkar's Expertise, Nissan, Steward of Elements, Mystic Remora, Argothian Elder and Krosan Restorer.
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7/23/23 - I am experimenting with taking both Harrow and Roiling Regrowth out of the deck. They function as ramp spells and only get us basic lands. We don't necessarily need more basics out, because we want our technical lands. We will add Forgotten Ancient for the +1/+1 counters and Consuming Tide as a board wipe until we get cheap copies of Cyclonic Rift.
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The Overall power level of this deck is 6.0/10.0. I argue that this is stronger than the average PreCon deck with a robust mana base, but we have a lack of quality removal options/board wipes and we have no infinite combos. We are vulnerable to graveyard hate and to opponents countering/killing our Commander. Without Slogurk, the deck barely works, so play around these vulnerabilities and slime your opponents!
