Life following death. InMagic: The Gathering, Golgari’s combination of green and black mana provides this potent pairing with command over both life and death. In Golgari Commander decks, cards in your graveyard might as well be in your library with how easily you can retrieve them while opposing creatures are as good as dead already.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – The Best Commanders For A Treefolk Deck
Green and black are perhaps Commander’s most versatile and potent combinations, with access to tons of removal, reanimation, ramp, and card draw. you may never go wrong with these Golgari Commander staples.
Ramp
With green in the mix, Golgari Commander decks get access to everything that makes green the queen of ramp.Llanowar,Fyndhorn, andMystic Elvescome alongsideRampant Growth,Cultivate,Kodama’s Reach, and over a dozen other green spells that find lands and play them faster than your opponents.
Green is also the reigning monarch of color fixing, withElves of Deep Shadow,Birds of Paradise,Skull Prophet, andDelighted Halflingall able to produce black mana.
Because Golgari loves to reanimate its creatures, special mention goes toWood Elvesfor being able to bring a forest out of your library every time it comes into play. Combine with a permanent form of reanimation, like the flip side ofJourney to Eternity, and you’ve got an easy way to suck every forest out of your deck.
Card Draw
Golgari’s preferred way of drawing cards is usually by harnessing death.Moldervine ReclamationandDeathreap Ritualare perfect examples, allowing you to draw a card every time a creature dies. Other cards likeVraska, Golgari Queenallow you to sacrifice permanents to draw a card, whileDeadbridge Chanteither reanimates a creature or draws a card, depending on the random card you pull from your graveyard.
Golgari also loves to mess around with lands in your graveyard too. The likelihood of aGrisly Salvageor aSatyr Wayfinderresulting in some lands being put into your graveyard makesLife from the Loaman attractive option. Combine that with something likeThe Gitrog Monsterand you’ve got a potent card draw engine.
Keep in mind that Golgari’s access to black mana still provides you with everything that a black mage would get for card draw, likeNight’s Whisper,Phyrexian Arena, andRead the Bones, and also all the variousTutorsthat let you get any card you want from your library.
Removal
Black likes to kill creatures. Green likes to kill enchantments and artifacts. Put ‘em together, and you’ve got most of Magic’s permanents covered.
Putrefy is the gold standard of Golgari removal, but don’t forget aboutBeast Within’s ability to negate any permanent regardless of its type. Ditto toAbrupt DecayandAssassin’s Trophy.Mortality SpearandWingrace’s Judgmentare still technically targeted removal, although they can potentially blow away so many permanents that they might as well be mass removal.
And because Golgari is both green and black, you still have access to cards likeNature’s Claim,Krosan Grip, andWiltto deal with enchantments and artifacts, as well asTerror,Murder, andHero’s Downfall.
Board Clear
Gaze of GraniteandPernicious Deedare perhaps two of the best board clears you’ll ever find in Commander and should be included in pretty much any deck of Golgari colors. Besides these two,Golgari Charm,Culling Ritual, andFind/Finalityprovide both utlity and slightly more situational mass removal.
Massacre Wurmgets a special nod for combining well with Golgari’s penchant for reanimation, and access to black means there’s no excuse not to runDamnation.
Related:Magic: The Gathering Arena – Everything In The Tales Of Middle-earth Mastery Pass
Reanimation
Turning the dead back into an army of monsters is Golgari’s specialty, and it has so many ways to do it. There are of course the usual black spells likeAnimate Dead,Diabolic Servitude, andLiving Death, but there are more Golgari-flavored spells as well.
Rushed Rebirth,Journey to Eternity,Life/Death,Diregraf Rebirth, andVigor Mortisare all great ways to just get dead critters kicking again. Rise of the Witch-King also doubles as removal as it requires opponents to sacrifice creatures while you get to return a permanent to play. Combine these spells with cards likeEntombandBuried Aliveto cheat a high-cost creature into play.
Enchantments
A lot of Golgari enchantments either help reanimate creatures, draw cards, or both, but there area few other enchantmentsthat Golgari mages should be aware of.
NecrogenesisandGolgari Germinationcan both provide you with an army of saprolings, but onlyNecrogenesiscan shut down problematic graveyard strategies (of the kind Golgari loves to employ).Cemetery Tamperingmight be black, but it fits well with Golgari’s strategy of filling its graveyard to empower its reanimation plans.
Phyrexian Reclamationisn’t quite card draw, and neither is it truly reanimation, but it does provide a ready engine for returning cards from your graveyard to your hand for a very low cost.
Lands
As a two-color deck, you’ll obviously want tostock up on lands that can provide both black and green mana. There are plenty of those out there, so we’re just going to remind you that some of your other spells require basic lands to work, so don’t forget plain swamps and forests.
There are a few other lands that fit well with Golgari themese.Svogthos, the Restless TombandCrypt of Agadeemboth exploit Golgari’s tendency to throw as many creatures in its own graveyard as it can, whileWitch’s Cottagehelps fill that graveyard all on its own.
Memorial to Follycan bring a dead creature back to your hand, whileBarren Moorecan help withLife from the Loamto just draw more cards.
Utility Critters
Before we get to the big critters, we should first highlight some of Golgari’s incredibly useful small fries.Deathrite ShamanandGolgari Guildmageboth provide exceptional ongoing effects for very little mana, whileFiend Artisan,Dina, Soul Steeper, andJarad, Golgari Lich Lordprovide sacrifice outlets in addition to their beneficial effects.
Gloomshriekerand Eternal Witness are both great ways of getting the cards you want from your graveyard back into your hand, andCreakwood Liegeprovides a boost to all those saprolings being made throughNecrogenesis.Valentin, Dean of the Veinis a preferred first-turn play, butLisette, Dean of the Rootis there for Golgari mages that prefer to gain life.
Big Creatures
In keeping with a color combination that loves death and rebirth, Golgari’s biggest monsters love to bring back other big monsters when they die.Moldgraf MonstrosityandSheoldred, Whispering Onemight not share colors, but they’re both perfect for Golgari Commander decks.
Lord of Extinctioncan be absolutely massive with how much Golgari can fill its graveyard, whileVulturous Zombiepairs well with Golgari’s ability to destroy creatures on a whim.Yargle and Multanimight not have any noteworthy effects, but 18 power for six mana is hard to argue with, especially with how easily you can bring them back from the graveyard when they die.
