MTG: Top Five EDH – Golgari (BG) Commanders
Death isn’t the end; it’s simply the next step on the endless cycle. No on understands that better than the Golgari.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander. For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering, where you use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is a great source for Commander info and can give you ideas to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
Sacrifice is one of the greatest things a person can do. Whether it’s wealth, time, or some other valuable commodity, sacrifice is how things get accomplished. Magic is no different, and usually, the strongest things require just a little bit of extra payment. For the Golgari, however, those sacrifices need not be permanent. For them, the graveyard is just a library they can look through. The fungal powers of rot and regrowth power their magic, and death is as much a force as life.
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Starting off strong, we have one of the deadliest elves on the market. Lathril is a 2/3 with decent evasion thanks to menace, and whenever she deals damage to a player, you get that many Elf Warrior tokens. Elves already multiply like cockroaches in Magic, so having another way to pump them out is pretty great. However, the best part of Lathril is her second ability, which lets you tap her and ten other Elves to drain each of your opponents for 10 life while gaining 10 yourself. With so many ways to make, and also untap, Elves, you’ll be able to take out all your opponents in just a few taps.
Chatterfang, Squirrel General
While Green doesn’t have the stranglehold on tokens that White does, the tokens it does make usually show up in droves. Chatterfang unleashes a horde of Squirrels, no matter what tokens you’re making, and can pull off some…interesting spot removal or turn a friendly creature into a glass railgun. Combine him with any sort of tribal buff, like Obelisk of Urd or Coat of Arms, and you’ll have an army unlike any other.
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Golgari is the clan of death, rebirth, redeath, and re-rebirth, and Meren is the best of the best. She is from the only “experience counter” line of commanders, and honestly, she’s pretty close to the best (I’m partial to Ezuri but Meren is a close second). Whenever a creature dies under your control, which will happen often in these colors, you get an experience counter. Then, at the beginning of your end step, you can either pull a creature back to your hand from the yard or, if you have enough counters, straight back to the battlefield. The best part is experience counters don’t go away, so even when she dies, all her hard work sticks around.
Dina, Soul Steeper
Dina is a lot of fun, and perfect for a food-themed deck. Whenever you gain life, she dings your opponents for 1, but not with damage so it’s harder to prevent. She’s steeping souls though, so that means she needs bodies. To get those, you just need to sacrifice a creature, which empowers Dina into a deadly puncher. She won’t win many games on her own, but by eating your other big creatures, she can go a long way.
The Gitrog Monster
Ah yes, the glorious Git-Frog! Land shenanigans are always fun, and if you let this Frog shenan once, well… he’ll shenan again. He also provides card advantage AND a way to dig lands out of your graveyard. He loves sac lands like Marsh Flats, which not only lets you thin out your deck but also dig up some special surprises for your opponent.
