The Golgari Growth
Ignoring even the slightest blight is regretful.
Slitherhead illustrated by Greg Staples
Congrats to PbMcree’s 3-0 victory with their rather explosive Golgari Counters deck. We’ll take a look at what sets it apart from the previous Golgari victor, then dive into the deck’s beatdown strategies and synergies.
+1/+1 Counters
Most creatures apply +1/+1 counters to take advantage of the buffs while remaining threat dense.
This Golgari Counters deck focuses much more on +1/+1 counter synergies than its other iteration. All of its creatures either enter with counters, give counters to other creatures or amplify the amount of counters put onto creatures. This keeps the deck focused on its beatdown plan, playing 26 creatures that could all become massive threats instead of diluting the deck with supplemental card types.
Slitherhead is a great example of trying to fit as many creatures into the deck as possible while being flexible. It starts the aggression on turn 1 and gives the opponent a tough choice. Should you take one damage, or block/kill the Slitherhead at the cost of giving Golgari Counters a free scavenge? Killing the 1/1 opens up the possibility of a turn 2 Winding Constrictor as a 4/5 that dominates the board extremely early, or extra shots from a Walking Ballista and more trample damage from an regenerating Lotleth Troll for the final points of damage. However, keeping even the weakest creature alive becomes problematic as Golgari Counters buffs it up with Elven Rite or Riskar, Peema Renegade, which then strengthens the power of Maulfist Revolutionary’s enters/leaves trigger. With Winding Constrictor in the mix, cards like Elven Rite get their most value when there are multiple creatures on the field, making the cheap Slitherhead desirable because of how easy it is to implement into Golgari Counter’s ideal curve.
Reach Beaters
These creatures utilize +1/+1 counters well, preventing board stalls to keep up the aggression.
Two of the typical problems with +1/+1 counters is the susceptibility to removal and the ease of being chump-blocked. While Golgari Counters can turn all of its creatures into sizable threats, it prioritizes its consolidation of +1/+1 counters onto a few specific creatures that can push damage through relatively safely.
Lotleth Troll has the built-in protection of regeneration, making it difficult to get rid of for good. Removal spells can remove the troll from combat for a turn, but that lets the deck stick other synergistic threats to the board. The Lotleth Troll’s discard ability represents the potential for a lot of damage out of nowhere, especially when discarding Slitherheads with a Winding Constrictor on the field. If the opponent needs to block, they can’t chump due to trample and they can’t trade because of the regenerate ability. Maulfist Revolutionary also has trample to push damage through chumps, but it doesn’t have built-in regeneration. It makes up for that with its higher toughness, requiring less initial investment to survive while attacking, and its higher mana cost, allowing it to naturally dodge Fatal Push.
Walking Ballista is the best creature to pile counters onto in the end game. When combined with Corpsejack Menace to double counters, Walking Ballista will burn out an opponent quickly through direct firepower. On a clogged board, the Walking Ballista will grow stronger and volley its damage through. Removal will prevent it from getting too out of hand, but it will still send all of its counters at the opponent’s face as a swift response.
Sideboard
Sideboard options look to keep as many creatures in as possible, not diluting the +1/+1 synergies.
Because Golgari Counters already does such a great job of dominating the board early with large creatures and removal, its sideboard largely ignores aggressive decks in favor of overcoming midrange and control matchups.
Tranquil Grove repeatedly cleans up removal and lock pieces from controlling decks, and its instant-speed activation allows this to happen on the opponent’s turn to maintain momentum against Circle of Protection and Detention Sphere. By selecting mass enchantment removal that is repeatable, the deck can side less of it in and maximize the number of creatures that it’s running. The cheap cost makes it easier to slip past counterspells, which is necessary when a protected Light of Day is so disastrous for Golgari Counters. Dreg Mangler also fights against control strategies and on two fronts. First, the haste ability adds burst damage that evades slow removal. Second, the scavenge ability helps the deck from petering out by strengthening its weak creatures, keeping the pressure on and forcing control strategies to act.
Greed is an effective way to overwhelm other midrange strategies that try to go one-for-one. While paying two life per card won’t out-grind an Underworld Connections, the burst card draw finds removal for the opponent’s engines sooner and will also find more threats to keep the pressure on against an opponent’s removal. It also dodges Abrupt Decay when Underwold Connections does not. Against control, Golgari Counters can typically pay as much life as it wants to and keep its hand full. It can more often flood the board and force the opponent’s hand, and the card draw means that it will be more likely to have Heroic Intervention to safeguard against a boardwipe.
Key Card
While often overlooked, what happens on turn 1 impacts the game going forward. Whether it’s getting a tapped land out of the way, ramping with a Birds of Paradise, or starting the aggression early, having an early play with follow up will punish slow draws from the opponent. Slitherhead is both a source of +1/+1 counters and an early receiver of +1/+1 buffs, quickly growing Golgari Counters’ creatures out of hand.
