MTG Salvation

I don't feel like my Sidisi, Brood Tyrant deck cares about my Graveyard. All she wants to do is mill and there have been times when I got pinched by not having a Graveyard. I love Green and Black and yearn for a deck that's actually about my Graveyard. So, I built this.

I'm not too sure where I want to place this on the pantheon; whether it is the uber casual Progenitus or Edgar Markov - both of which whose Casual status could be challenged. Or my solid decks.

Made a flurry of changes and I didn't quite know which direction I wanted to take the deck but I think I have an idea now. I added a lot of mill here. I wanted to try a low land count deck with the idea that I have so much mill-based selection that I would hit my land drops. Dryad is pretty hard to hit double green, so I switched it out for the Granger. The Sylvan Ranger and Farseek are more in-line with my low landcount strategy. With such a demanding, greedy landbase I cut Black Sun's Zenith. Otherwise, just mana improvement. Lifeblood Hydra was just awkward; pay too little into it and it was just crap but I also didn't want to pay too much because I wanted Jarad's Sacrifice ability available. When I cut Deathrender from my Marchesa I wanted to try it out here.

I don't believe I'll ever have a mass army or tons of mana to actually benefit from either Exsanguinate or Zulaport, I do like the P/T of the Wurm since I know it can get quite high. Shriekmaw is spot removal that can come down cheap.

Two cards that I think are better than Boneyard Wurm is first off.. Sewer Nemesis.. It it as big as the TOTAL number of cards in your graveyard, assuming you choose yourself. It also makes the chosen player mill a card when they cast a spell.

The second card is Nighthowler because the bestow is cheap and essentially gives you two giant things for Jarad to throw at his opponents.

Neither of these should cost too much.

Good suggestions. I've added them to my Wants.

Made a quick update: Brawn is awesome, I'll stop getting chumped. I cut Strands for it because I found I didn't have time to use Strands which is a shame because I really like the card.

Forest got the axe for the Sanitarium, giving me more draw power.

I needed another Wrath and Gaze provides. I also wanted another way to draw a lot, mostly so I could control what I discard to setup my next turns. Both of my additions hit both of those requirements to a tee. Gaze provides me with a way to hit Planeswalkers but also be modular in case I have an expensive card I want left alone (such as Zendikar Resurgent). Rishkar also lets me put a good card into play and I have many powerful cards at 5 or less that I could use.

With cuts, I think the innate card advantage of a Wrath is worth overlooking Grim Haruspex. I rarely have other Creatures on board, at most 2 or 3, including Jarad. She didn't really provide me with a draw engine and so she gets the axe. Harvester had more potential but I rather have Rishkar's Expertise due to average CMC. I don't want to add a 6 drop and cut a lower CMC unless I already have a good average. The deck does well but I think it's average CMC is going to trend upwards, trying to staunch that with this swap.

Pernicious Deed is not an expensive card and I consider it much much better than gaze. Gaze can kill planeswalkers but the fact that deed acts as an enchantment also serves to slow down your opponents. I also find the card to be immensely phenomenal in metagames that play a lot of fast mana. In a pinch it can be used to nuke down big things too. Gaze I think is unsuited for the role.

You raise a very good point. It also gives the deck a bit more interactivity.

A few more changes: I felt like Fleshbag never hit Creatures that I wanted to, with a large Trampler those troublesome Creatures are going to have to chump block eventually. Managorger Hydra grows quickly, which also suits the deck's strategy of sacrificing large Creatures to chunk the table.

Buried Alive was on sale at my LGS so I picked up a copy. I like that it gives Jarad 3 power and throws Brawn in the yard with some Dredge Creatures. I feel like Crawling Sensation doesn't pull its weight as part of the mill package, I don't really care about lands hitting my 'yard and I don't care about the 1/1s it produces.

Dakmor Salvage is there for my Dredge goodness. The other cards are literally there to lower my basic count to make my Hermit Druid better. I might want to cut a bunch of these, but the Cycle lands at least let me Dredge as a combat trick and they all trigger The Gitrog Monster.

I suspect your next cuts will be the following. I believe them all to be low-impact cards
Sylvan Ranger
Mulch
Wild Wanderer
Rot Farm Skeleton (I played this card in a 60 card casual deck with the same theme and it did not make the cut)

Recommendations
Yavimaya Dryad
Sidisi, Undead Vizier? (very unsure on this as you don't have too many ways to abuse this)
Phyrexian Reclamation
Caustic Caterpillar (You want these kind of cards to fight yard hate, and this one disposes of itself! Instant speed is also very important)

I can't cut Mulch and Sylvan Ranger because its part of my land package. I only run 35 Lands in this deck and I am able to do so because I have so many one or two drop cards that find me lands. Many of these effects make my graveyard grow, which means when Jarad finally comes down he isn't some 2/2 chump but at least a 6/6 or more. I am hoping for the second Ixalan set to have some sort of play on Explore. It looks like a nify mechanic but I don't think it is good enough outside of Standard/Limited.

I've been having a lot of fun with Rot Farm. I am also leaning towards keeping him. Maybe I'll cut him when I have more Dredge Creatures but for now, it's pretty satisfying putting him into play, Sacing him and repeating the process so Jarad gets big enough to punch through my opponents' defenses. All the while growing my graveyard.

You're probably right about Phyrexian Reclamation which is a shame. It's just so good I guess it just goes in everything. Caustic Caterpillar is another good choice.

Made these changes today: Based on your recommendation plushpenguin, I put the Dryad back in. I am concerned that the double green will screw me early but I've added a lot more dual colors lands since I last had her in the deck. Including cutting a Forest for Temple of Malady. I hate Mortuary Mire enough to axe it for a basic.

Wall is a one shot draw, but Key to the City is a draw engine that lets me throw things in my yard. It's exactly what I want and then it gives Jarad unblockable. Perfect fit, truly. The dream would be pitching something like Stinkweed Imp and then Dredging it next turn off of the Key's draw trigger. This leaves my draw step unmolested. One of the challenges with Jarad and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant is deciding between growing your graveyard or board. Many Dredge effects mean you'll forgo a land drop while filling your yard. It's a tough decision when you only have a single draw, Key means I won't need to make that choice which is nice.

Avenging Druid was been useless too many times. Sewer Nemesis is a big critter for Jarad to sac that also doesn't immediately die as a state-based effect from a Living Death. It also grows my yard.

With the amount of shuffles up I've had with my decks, including dissolving Shattergang Brothers, I realized I had a few cards that were orphans and Jarad was ready to snap up these free agents. I hate Burnished Hart, I've been systemically eliminating it from my decks because paying 6 to get two lands is just too much. With the focus of trying to ramp with such a low land count, I put in Into the North with a few Snow Lands so I even more ramp.

This was a difficult cut, I really like Read the Bones but there is a reason why Phyrexian Reclamation seems to go in everything. With how big my Graveyard gets, it offers a lot of draw for very specific cards that I want.

With my 2 drops being dedicated to finding lands, I realized Commune is great at mill but not getting me the lands I need. It's a solid card advantage engine, but Birthing Pod is slightly more if I'm willing to pay Phyrexian Mana and is so much better.

I like Regal Behemoth, it's pretty cute but doesn't hold a candle in comparison to the raw power and utility of Mikaeus. Most of my Creatures will become Undying with him and Jarad loves Sacrificing; I'm sure it'll work out just great for me.

Sword is so good it's going in a lot of my decks: I cut Victimize because I was looking for something similar in CMC but had an application in any stage of the game. Early game, Victimize is dead. Sword is great at any point of the game, so the switch was relatively easy.

More mana fixing: With my deck's reliance on hitting 2 mana to ramp, fetch or dig for a land, I felt like a 2 drop would fit the bill more than the 4 cost instant in sudden reclamation. Silverglade also helps because it can keep ramping me if I have access to lands, but it also sets up my yard with Creatures for Jarad to become immense.

I decided I wanted a budget-ish deck, something that I don't feel like I can beat my opponents because I've spent more money than them. Jarad, with this particular strategy, fit the bill. My Genesis got freed up, so I put that in the deck but I still cut Mikaeus for money.

It surprised me how much Eternal Witness costed, so I axed her too. I like how big and scary my Creatures get, so adding Flying the mix is probably good. That and seeing how often Apocalypse Demon got suggested when Revenant existed reminded me of how much fun he was back in the day.

Unholy Grotto is surprisingly expensive, so it gets the axe. This brings my deck to less than $100 USD in particular places so I consider that a success in making it budget, even with the addition of Genesis.

Leechridden has screwed me too many times with being ETBT and I've been screwed too many times with my one Snow Swamp, so I added another Snow Swamp.

I haven't played Jarad in a while because I had run out of room for transport, but with my dissolution of Wort, the Raidmother had me put him back in my travel case. So I took a look over the list and noticed a possible change: Night's Whisper isn't a Creature which is important for this deck. Unfortunately, Zealot should probably be an Elvish Visionary but I didn't have one of those lying around.

It feels great when I add a relatively expensive card but still accomplish my budgetization of this deck: Journey is cool, especially since I can sacrifice my targets easily. I'm cutting Greater Good because it is expensive and I want this deck to be as budget as possible.

With Ash Barrens' price skyrocketing, I cut it for another mana fixing land that is way less pricey. I decided on the Guildgate over a basic for Hermit Druid. I did think of using Evolving Wilds et al. but decided that I rather have something that comes into play relatively strings free.

I think this cuts 60 cents out of the deck: Budget gonna Budget, but more importantly I am improving my Creature count so that all of my guys who feed off of the size of my 'yard grow bigger.

Nighthowler is instantly big, but also Enchants so that I can toss it twice with Jarad. The Managorger Hydra took too long to whir up; I rather have an instantly sizeable body even if the potential is capped.

Zendikar Resurgent draws me less cards than Harvester, I believe. We'll find out. I know I run bodies and sac them, so at least I can draw from that. With my Creatures being large, people are going to have to block and that's another way to draw. The deck liked the double mana but didn't quite take advantage of that.

How has Journey to Eternity been?

I haven't fired with Journey to Eternity in Jarad, but it has gone off in my other decks and it is very powerful. The ability to put my best Creature into play at Instant Speed is worth the 6 mana you pay to activate Journey's flip side. I don't have that many 6+ drops, so I don't quite get a discount; however, it is still worthwhile to mess with your opponents' combat math. With Jarad, because of how big my Creatures can get, it is still worthwhile to cheat them into play.

Again, that's the theory but I've been pleased with Journey in all my other decks.

So its flipping is pretty consistent and the journey side is also good? Its pretty much the only card in Rivals Ive been interested in, but no real time to test.

Yeah, it's solid.

I looked over my list and thought about which cards that could be replaced. I decided to cut cards that were $2+ USD. I could've added Temple of Malady to this list but I rather not screw with my mana. With the others, some cards cannot find a replacement like Living Death or Birthing Pod. Here are the budget oriented changes: Wild Wanderer comes with 3 power versus the 2/4 of Ondu Giant. Solemn is surprisingly expensive considering how many I have. I guess I always buy low and become astonished when it hits high prices.

I really like Graveborn Muse, I am very annoyed with this cut. The only silver lining is the Demon flies and that could be a problem for some decks.

Deathreap has actually been lacklustre and I do really like Ulvenwald Mysteries.

Huge update I've been sitting on. I got tired of building up a Graveyard and have one Bog-like effect reset me back to zero. Jarad would be so small in the mid-late game and many of my Creatures also followed suit. I decided to make this deck about fatties instead, because I like large Creatures but also because many of these don't care about the Graveyard. That way I have more of a combined arms approach and don't instantly lose to a single bog. I also decided to go further into the budget, cutting many of the more expensive cards so that I would have a deck that could tangle with newbies and the like. Gleancrawler has been lacklustre. It was a fine idea: sac things on my turn so they return, swing in with huge Trampler. Didn't work out that way. I've had some explosive games by recurring See the Unwritten, I figure Selvala's Stampede will be very much the same.

Some cards whiff too much to be forgiven: Lurking Predators will probably be great value for this deck; it'll be a card I want to windmill slam onto the board as soon as I get to six mana. Nissa's Revelation got cut because it has whiffed too many times, where biggest Creature was a 1/1 and when I sent all five cards to the bottom I got nothing. Even if I stayed on the 1/1, it is not worth 7 mana to cast that. I love Lurking Predators and learned of its relatively inexpensive nature, so I put it in the deck.

Arch is another nonbasic to help fuel my Hermit Druid but also great if I have some spare mana.

After facing against Multani once, I saw how absurd it was and had to get in on that: Multani's Reach means that he still defends the skies, which was part of the reason of Demon of Dark Schemes. With the Green preference the deck has, it was troublesome to get triple black and then perhaps have another black available to resurrect a Creature on demand. Multani has Trample and combined with his size, he effectively has the same damage potential as a Demon of Dark Schemes and his size makes him a much more desirable choice for Jarad to chuck. And then, on top of that, he Raises himself? Get your Multani's while they're cheap because this guy is bonkers.