MTG Salvation

I built this deck with on purpose, flavor. I wanted to build a deck that fit the Golgari theme of death and rebirth. I am on a budget, and thus limited my costs per card to no more than $4, with some given exceptions.Those exceptions are the cards that came in the Izzet vs. Golgari Duel Deck.

The whole theme of the deck is swarming. Whether something dies, gets dredged away, or discarded, there is a way to bring it back. The deck produces tokens that utilize Coat of Arms to increase their strength, making them more viable to launch with Jarad.

For testing purposes, I have considered the deck a Token deck. I know, there are better token generators out there, but I do not have access to them at this time, but in the near future, they will become available.

So, with that in mind, I would appreciate help with the deck.

Few side notes:
1. Plague Boiler is in the deck to help with other swarm decks, as well as various troublesome cards.
2. The main themes of the deck are Tokens, Sacrifice, Reanimation, and Recursion.

Thanks for reading, and also for any help that is offered. Please use TCGPlayer for pricing, and keep each card below $5. I know, its very limiting, but that is what I have to work with.

Staff of Nin seems strictly better than Urza's Blueprints.

Oversold Cemetery is a perfect fit and, luckily enough, costs $4.87.

Pawn of Ulamog is another fairly efficient token maker.

Butcher of Malakir is Grave Pact on a 5/4 flier.

Problem with Staff of Nin is that it isn't a may ability. It is nice not to be perceived as a threat on T6.

Oversold is out of stock at my lgs, but I put an order in for one. Pawn doesn't exactly fit, and I only need 1 grave pact in the deck. I like the suggestions though, and will test them to see how they all fair.

Quote from Beloved

Please use TCGPlayer for pricing, and keep each card below $5. I know, its very limiting, but that is what I have to work with.

What? If cards under $5 were a big limitation, none of my EDH decks would exist.

Quote from Beloved

Problem with Staff of Nin is that it isn't a may ability. It is nice not to be perceived as a threat on T6.

It isn't nice to pay 6 for a divination effect, either. If you don't like Staff you could at least play Phyrexian Gargantua.
Also, if you're worried about being perceived at a threat on T6, you shouldn't be playing Prime Time.
Speaking on T6 threats, you might want to try Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. He buffs tokens and makes everything else much more annoying. Worm Harvest works very well in dredge strategies, specially combined with Dakmor Salvage or LftL.

Ashnod's Altar - Sac outlet for your guys and mana. Flavor-wise killing something for the power to make something new fits the life cycle.

Khalni Garden - Free token off a land to sacrifice.

I forgot about Ashnod's Tomb. And Khalni Gardens would work in place of Rupture Spire.

Titan normally doesn't show up on T6. I use the first few turns to establish a defensive position, and then slowly build my army. However, given all the draw already in the deck, I do not think Phyrexian Gargantua would make a big difference.

Mikaeus is going to be in the deck, my lgs was just out of him, and no one wants to trade him thanks to some of the gems that Golgari has set out. And I did not know that Worm Harvest existed. Any suggestions as to what to replace?

Altar of Dementia is definitely a good card, and I can afford to pay a little bit more for a sac engine like that. Thanks for that suggestion.

Update:

-Spider Spawning
-Ghoultree
+Marrow Chomper
+Golgari Guildmage

Ghoultree was rather lackluster, and Spider Spawning often missed to net me more than 4 tokens. Marrow Chomper allows me to gain life while getting a creature big enough to fling, and Golgari Guildmage gives me a way to either pump or recur creatures quickly.

Sad Robot and Lord of Extinction will be in the deck eventually. What I added was just a temporary solution. Nether Traitor is a great recursion card, and I am shocked I overlooked him. All in all, most of your suggestions will be added into the deck when I get the chance.

I suggest looking at RFW_Less's thread here for more suggestions. (I would make some myself, but it appears that magiccards.info is down so I can't quickly check prices)

I am aware that a lot of the cards in that deck are not within your budget, but many are, and would be good additions. It also has a slightly different theme than your deck.

Have you considered Necrogenesis or Night Soil as more token outlets. They will often be good at hosing other player's graveyards, but failing that you can always hit your own if you need a tokens.

Also, your list looks like it has only 34 lands, have you run into issues casting your 6+ mana spells? From what I can tell that seems equivalent to running 22 or less lands in a 60 card deck. I know multilayer (and EDH) is slower and more forgiving, but with as many 6+ spells as you have I would not want to be missing to many early land drops. I would shoot for 37-38 lands.

Quote from Centarion

I suggest looking at RFW_Less's thread here for more suggestions. (I would make some myself, but it appears that magiccards.info is down so I can't quickly check prices)

I am aware that a lot of the cards in that deck are not within your budget, but many are, and would be good additions. It also has a slightly different theme than your deck.

Have you considered Necrogenesis or Night Soil as more token outlets. They will often be good at hosing other player's graveyards, but failing that you can always hit your own if you need a tokens.

Also, your list looks like it has only 34 lands, have you run into issues casting your 6+ mana spells? From what I can tell that seems equivalent to running 22 or less lands in a 60 card deck. I know multilayer (and EDH) is slower and more forgiving, but with as many 6+ spells as you have I would not want to be missing to many early land drops. I would shoot for 37-38 lands.

I actually run too few 6+ drops. Most of my cards a 2-3 drops, and given the sufficient ramp I currently have, I rarely find myself needing more land.

Mesmeric Orb after a few turns will screw with opponents and make Jarad huge at the same time, assuming your big fatties get milled. The orb is definitely my go-to card for self-milling strategy Generals.

Ok, sorry for not posting for a while, life got hectic. Now I have some down time, and can post my changes since RTR.

I have made a shift away from self-mill for +1/+1 counters. First, the list:

- Gatekeeper of Malakir
- Deadly Recluse
- Ambush Viper
- Golgari Guildmage
- Splinterfright
- Entomber Exarch
- Sadistic Hypnotist
- Golgari Germination
- Life//Death
- Murder
- Nightmare Void
- Cultivate
- Jar of Eyeballs

+ Lotleth Troll
+ Deathrite Shaman
+ Dreg Mangler
+ Corpsejack Menace
+ Desecration Demon
+ Sluiceway Scorpion
+ Terrus Wurm
+ Gobbling Ooze
+ Death's Presence
+ Golgari Charm
+ Grisly Salvage
+ Jarad's Orders
+ Treasured Find
+ Golgari Keystone

The problem I was always having with the first variant of the deck is that most of my creatures did nothing when they were put into the graveyard. Sure, others ran off of them, or got boosted from them dying, but in the end, once they were gone, they were no longer of use. So, I got rid of some of the less helpful creatures, like Ambush Viper and Deadly Recluse, for things that are a bit more useful with my main plans, like Lotleth and Corpsejack.

Even though I am still on a budget, I have friends who are helping my deck become better. So, as always, any help is appreciated.

If you are going +1/+1 counters route, I'd suggest Spike Weaver as an efficient, recurring Fog. Any Spike card is actually helpful in this route, like Spike Feeder.

Simic from Ravnica has Graft so look for that. Llanowar Reborn is a good one that's a land. Oran-Rief, the Vastwood is another, repeatable +1/+1 counter generator.

Also Doubling Season (if you happen to have it) works well, though if you don't have it, it's WAY out of budget, so it's just a bonus if you had it in your stash somewhere.

Increasing Savagery works well with flashback.

Oran-Rief would have been nice, but it only affects green creatures, and while I have a lot of green, I need something that hits everything on my field.

Doubling Season is out of my budget range, which makes me a sad panda.

The Spikes, Increasing Savagery, and Llanowar Reborn would fit in nicely though.