@Arjin why would you need to play tricks like this with 7 creatures on the battlefield? Scenarios like this are pure fantasy, it never happens in a Standard at a competitive level. Bishop will hit for 2/3 if you're lucky, for 5 mana to get a 3/3 that's a tough investment. Compare that to Glorybringer who will take down a x/4 creature AND hit for 4 the turn it comes into play, there's not even a comparison in terms of impact.
What looks like a fun deck at first, and actually works really well and can pose problem to most Tier 1 decks (Ramunap Red and Temur Energy, who are overwhelmed by this, if that even makes sense).
A bunch of small cards which synergize well together.
Shadowed Caravel is the main payoff, it gets big really quick. Winding Constrictor is there to accelerate the process, but perhaps not 100% needed, just to make the creatures out of reach for combat. 1x Rhonas is to grant Trample to a Caravel, but we could play without.
As for removal, I don't care for Fatal Push at all since we're not worried one bit about small creatures, who'll never get through. Even Ramunap Red cannot really attack into us, unless they're on the play and make a very quick start. So perhaps Fatal Push in the sideboard.
Vraska's Contempt it to get rid of Hazoret the Fervent and The Scarab God.
Tomb Raider is a very solid card here, we can keep explore triggers happening, and with Menace he eventually becomes a threat.
The deck as is is really simplistic, it's a one-purpose deck, where we keep exploring, sometimes multiple times a turn, thanks to Jadelight Ranger and Enter the Unknown which is good early, and not completely dead as a topdeck since it trigger a couple of Explores (for Wildgrowth Walker and Shadowed Caravel).
Golgari has received a shot in the arm with Journey to Eternity, a card that has the chance to be very strong when paired with the right pieces.
There are two ways you can go with this: self-sacrificing creature, which interact well, or strong ETB effects. Current Standard format creatures typically don't have both.
Here's a deck list to start with:
Benefaction of Rhonas is the best tutor I could find, but we still need to play 4x Journey to Eternity to have a chance to get it early. I experimented with other payoff cards like the new Akromasaur, but we can never cast it from our hand to it's too often a dead card.
After the rotation of Shadows Over Innistrad, in BG we don't have much to fill our graveyard. In red, we could use Cathartic Reunion, but since we need a creature in play to flip JtE, a straight up reanimator plan is going to fizzle.
So, here's the general idea: Arborback Stomper keeps you in the game against aggro. Ravenous Chupacabra kills creatures. Bontu is the best sac outlet I could find, and the scry really works well. Even when facing Scavenger Grounds, we can still have a strong game, so GY hate is not a problem for us.
Ghalta is often playable by T5 - I know there are ways to bring him quicker, but we're not a fast deck at all. Ghalta is still the #1 kill in this deck, sometimes Arborback stomper can do a little damage but he often gets blocked and killed.
Realistically, the deck does not do a whole lot before T5, we can only play one spell per turn until that point. I would rate it a slow midrange deck.
It's nowhere near a final list, but it works extremely well againt Temur Energy. Ramunap Red is a much tougher matchup since we have a really tough time against Hazoret. We might need to forgo the JtE plan entirely against that deck and go with BG Snake. Mana base is very vanilla, there are ways to improve it.
One note on Walking Ballista: Awesome sac outlet for Journey to Eternity, but a terrible reanimation target, therefore a very bad idea in this deck. I tried it of course, you're never happy to topdeck it. Thrashing Brontodon: besides the sac ability, a decent body for the cost. Probably 2 more in the sideboard against GpG. Merfolk Branchwalker: Explores, so it can help filter cards, and exploring again when we reanimate isn't bad. We need a 2-drop to not get blown out straight up against Ramunap.
Other options: Deathgorge Scavenger: probably a good choice against GpG or other gy strats. The life gain isn't bad either, but Arborback Stomper is way more consistent in that department.
What looks like a fun deck at first, and actually works really well and can pose problem to most Tier 1 decks (Ramunap Red and Temur Energy, who are overwhelmed by this, if that even makes sense).
A bunch of small cards which synergize well together.
# 24 Lands
4 Blooming Marsh
10 Swamp
10 Forest
# 29 Creatures/Vehicles
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Seekers' Squire
4 Wildgrowth Walker
4 Tomb Robber
4 Shadowed Caravel
4 Winding Constrictor
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
# 7 Spells
4 Enter the Unknown
3 Vraska's Contempt
Shadowed Caravel is the main payoff, it gets big really quick. Winding Constrictor is there to accelerate the process, but perhaps not 100% needed, just to make the creatures out of reach for combat. 1x Rhonas is to grant Trample to a Caravel, but we could play without.
As for removal, I don't care for Fatal Push at all since we're not worried one bit about small creatures, who'll never get through. Even Ramunap Red cannot really attack into us, unless they're on the play and make a very quick start. So perhaps Fatal Push in the sideboard.
Vraska's Contempt it to get rid of Hazoret the Fervent and The Scarab God.
Tomb Raider is a very solid card here, we can keep explore triggers happening, and with Menace he eventually becomes a threat.
The deck as is is really simplistic, it's a one-purpose deck, where we keep exploring, sometimes multiple times a turn, thanks to Jadelight Ranger and Enter the Unknown which is good early, and not completely dead as a topdeck since it trigger a couple of Explores (for Wildgrowth Walker and Shadowed Caravel).
Golgari has received a shot in the arm with Journey to Eternity, a card that has the chance to be very strong when paired with the right pieces.
There are two ways you can go with this: self-sacrificing creature, which interact well, or strong ETB effects. Current Standard format creatures typically don't have both.
Here's a deck list to start with:
# 24 lands
4 Blooming Marsh
10 Swamp
10 Forest
# 22 Creatures
2 Thrashing Brontodon
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Bontu the Glorified
4 Ravenous Chupacabra
4 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
4 Arborback Stomper
# 10 Spells
4 Benefaction of Rhonas
4 Fatal Push
2 Vraska's Contempt
# 4 Others
4 Journey to Eternity
Benefaction of Rhonas is the best tutor I could find, but we still need to play 4x Journey to Eternity to have a chance to get it early. I experimented with other payoff cards like the new Akromasaur, but we can never cast it from our hand to it's too often a dead card.
After the rotation of Shadows Over Innistrad, in BG we don't have much to fill our graveyard. In red, we could use Cathartic Reunion, but since we need a creature in play to flip JtE, a straight up reanimator plan is going to fizzle.
So, here's the general idea: Arborback Stomper keeps you in the game against aggro. Ravenous Chupacabra kills creatures. Bontu is the best sac outlet I could find, and the scry really works well. Even when facing Scavenger Grounds, we can still have a strong game, so GY hate is not a problem for us.
Ghalta is often playable by T5 - I know there are ways to bring him quicker, but we're not a fast deck at all. Ghalta is still the #1 kill in this deck, sometimes Arborback stomper can do a little damage but he often gets blocked and killed.
Realistically, the deck does not do a whole lot before T5, we can only play one spell per turn until that point. I would rate it a slow midrange deck.
It's nowhere near a final list, but it works extremely well againt Temur Energy. Ramunap Red is a much tougher matchup since we have a really tough time against Hazoret. We might need to forgo the JtE plan entirely against that deck and go with BG Snake. Mana base is very vanilla, there are ways to improve it.
One note on Walking Ballista: Awesome sac outlet for Journey to Eternity, but a terrible reanimation target, therefore a very bad idea in this deck. I tried it of course, you're never happy to topdeck it.
Thrashing Brontodon: besides the sac ability, a decent body for the cost. Probably 2 more in the sideboard against GpG.
Merfolk Branchwalker: Explores, so it can help filter cards, and exploring again when we reanimate isn't bad. We need a 2-drop to not get blown out straight up against Ramunap.
Other options:
Deathgorge Scavenger: probably a good choice against GpG or other gy strats. The life gain isn't bad either, but Arborback Stomper is way more consistent in that department.