Into the Arena: Golgari Aggro in Historic

Since last week I have continued to enjoy Historic, and have experimented with a few different decks. It turns out that Historic is in a good place right now, and that all of the changes from last fall have resulted in a healthy format. After the Heliod Company Infinite Squirrel deck I played last week, I ended up finding Golgari Aggro to be my new favourite deck in the format. Funnily enough, the main strategy in Golgari Aggro is making extremely large squirrels, instead of making a lot of squirrels.

Golgari Aggro, also known as Golgari Food or Sacrifice, belongs to the same archetype as classic Historic Sacrifice decks. However, it goes much lower to the ground than typical Sacrifice decks and gets to use Lurrus of the Dream-Den as a companion. Golgari eschews Mayhem Devil and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King and instead focuses on Ravenous Squirrel and Cauldron Familiar as its main win conditions. As well, since it doesn’t use Jegantha, the Wellspring as a companion, Golgari gains access to The Meathook Massacre. The Massacre is absolutely deadly against opposing aggro decks, and also makes the Cauldron Familiar and Witch’s Oven combo hurt opponents twice as fast.

The main advantage that straight Green-Black decks gain by being so low to the ground is that they are much less vulnerable to removal. Mayhem Devil and Korvold are both very powerful but they are also vulnerable to spells like Fateful Absence, Bone Shards, and Unholy Heat. When your main threat is a one-drop, these removal spells are much less troublesome. The flip side of this is that the deck is more reliant on its graveyard and has a less impactful lategame. However, the food-based engines of Witch’s Oven and Trail of Crumbs are so powerful that I haven’t found this to be much of an issue. As well, Ravenous Squirrel and Trail of Crumbs have won me many games where my graveyard was completely shut off by opposing Rest in Peaces and Leyline of the Voids. It turns out that the cheap sacrifice cards are all that is needed to win games.

Here is the stock decklist that I started out with:

Most of the tuning I have done for the deck was focused on changing it to suit the metagame, so if you play the deck make sure to keep that in mind when deciding exactly what to run. Most of my play with the deck has been on the Ranked Ladder in the medium tiers, so adjust according to the metagame you face. I have mostly been playing against control and against graveyard focused decks like Rakdos Arcanist and Izzet Phoenix, and so none of the removal has been too impressive. I decided to remove some of the Meathook Massacres because I wasn’t facing very many decks where it was able to kill my opponent’s creatures.

The other main change I made was adding a couple of Shambling Ghasts and an extra Valentin, Dean of the Vein. I felt that the deck could use some more actual creatures to ensure that the sacrifice cards would have fuel. The Ghasts fit nicely into the gameplan by providing lots of fuel for Deadly Dispute and sometimes being able to remove a pesky Dragon’s Rage Channeler or Esper Sentinel. Valentin, Dean of the Vein has been a nice fit for the deck as well because aside from being a reasonable one-drop it also provides a four-drop when necessary, getting around the restriction of Lurrus of the Dream-Den. Lisette, Dean of the Root can easily take over games against removal-light opponents, because she is surrounded by the life-gain from Cauldron Familiars and Food tokens.

I also decided to add a Khalni Garden and cut a Phyrexian Tower because the former has been very impressive while the latter has been surprisingly ineffective. As well, having two copies of a legendary land in a deck always scares me. Khalni Garden has surprised me with how helpful it is. A land that always comes in tapped is a high cost, but getting a free creature on the board has almost always been worth it.

Here is my up-to-date list that I have been playing:

My favourite part about playing this deck is the amount of choices and actions you can take every turn. Because all of the spells cost one or two mana and there are also many actions that don’t take any mana at all, it doesn’t take long for the deck to put the pieces together and start going off. I wish I could provide more strategic advice for playing with this deck, but in reality it feels like every game is different and the plays you make need to be based on what your hand looks like and who you are playing against. Every game is like a puzzle with this deck, and its up to you to put together the pieces in a way that defeats the opponent. Unlike Heliod Company where it is the same three pieces each game, this deck requires you to use a variety of methods.

Sideboarding with this deck is mostly straightforward. Against graveyard-based aggro decks bring in the Soul-Guide Lanterns and extra removal. Against control bring in the Thoughtseizes and enchantment/artifact removal. Against Collected Company decks bring in the removal, the extra copy of Meathook Massacre, and Chevill, Bane of Monsters. I usually take out some of the removal that doesn’t match up well, and sometimes trim a copy of Trail of Crumbs or Shambling Ghast, depending on the matchup.

This deck is currently right at the top of the metagame, and given the resilience that Sacrifice decks have shown in Historic its probably not going anywhere. Golgari is quick, explosive, and dominating, which is everything you want in Historic right now. The complexity of the deck means it might not be the best entry point to the format, but if you have a little bit of Historic experience then it should be perfect for you. Hopefully Historic continues to provide the great play experience it offers right now!