While you could argue that it already happened a few weeks ago, Edge of Eternities will be moving out of the Magic: The Gathering spotlight for good come next week. Once Spider Man hits shelves, Magic’s first foray into sci-fi will be old news. Before that day comes, however, there’s still time for the set’s cards to shine. In today’s MTG Online Pauper League, for example, Abisd94 went 5-0 with a Golgari Food deck running a spicy new Edge of Eternities card.
That card is Nutrient Block, and it adds the consistency a Food-based strategy needs to thrive in Pauper. With that as a booster, Abisd94 has constructed a unique take on Control here, unlike anything we’ve seen in the format for a while. Whether it’s enough to make a mark in the top tiers remains to be seen, but it’s hard to argue with this deck’s raw panache.
Golgari Food In MTG Pauper
The aim for this Golgari Food deck is to grind your opponent out over time, slowly stripping them of resources while you recycle your own. To that end, Cauldron Familiar is the deck’s preferred win condition.
This is the main reason for the Food theme here in the first place. Being able to trade in your Food in play for an instant-speed body on board, and some life drain, is fantastic. You can use Familiar to chump block against the bigger threats of the format, or even take trades against Aggro. The drain here adds up over time, too, especially when you start looping your graveyard later.
Familiar is more than enough reason for the deck’s Food package, which includes full playsets of both Nutrient Block and Lembas. Both are highly affordable Foods on board, and both also draw you cards, either on the way in or out. Card advantage is king in Control, and these cards let you maintain it while furthering your win condition.
Both of these Foods are also cheap artifacts, which plays into another key theme in the deck: artifact sacrifice. Between Candy Grapple, Eviscerator’s Insight, and Fanatical Offering, Abisd94 has plenty of ways to cash these cards in for value. Pauper artifact mainstays Ichor Wellspring and Nihil Spellbomb also feature for similar reasons. They’re not Food, but your cards can eat them all the same.
All three of these cards can also make use of the token generated by Khalni Garden, one of the surprise standouts in the deck. Honestly, this is likely the main reason it’s Golgari at all, and not just Mono-Black. Getting a free 0/1 that you can trade in for cards is well worth playing a tapped land, and you can even recycle it with Golgari Rot Farm for more value later.
Controlling The Heat
That’s the basic idea of Anisd94’s Golgari Food deck for MTG Pauper. What makes it really special, however, is just how sustainable it is. With a few choice inclusions, the deck gains the ability to grind out games far longer than most in the format.
Pestilence is a big one here. This is essentially a repeatable board wipe, with the caveat that there needs to be at least one creature in play to sustain it. In this list, it pairs perfectly with Cauldron Familiar. As long as you have a Food in play and Familiar in the ‘yard, you can commit to clearing the board with Pestilence. You can then ‘Flash’ in Familiar before end of turn to keep it around. With Pestilence also whittling down your opponent’s life, this is a fantastic secondary win condition.
Of course, you’ll eventually have to sacrifice your Pestilence, and you’ll eventually run out of Food, too. This is where Campfire comes in. This is not only a cheap way to pad your life total every turn, but it also lets you recycle your whole graveyard and keep on going. Doing this once should be enough in most games, but there are two copies here just in case.
This continuous grinding is what Golgari Food is all about. None of its plays are particularly devastating, but they add up over time. It’s a real ‘death by a thousand cuts’ situation. You play your cheap artifacts early, trade them in for value, strip your opponent’s hand and board with Raven’s Crime and Pestilence, then just keep doing that until they run out of cards or life. It may not be particularly exciting, but it certainly is effective.
Good Digestion?
As potent as Anisd94’s Golgari Food list is, it still has fierce competition in the current MTG Pauper metagame. The top decks right now all present serious challenges for a deck like this.
Madness Burn may be the toughest matchup of the bunch. While it’s possible to stabilize against them with a combination of Campfire and Familiar, they can still apply enough damage to kill you early in a lot of games. Pestilence is also pretty rough to use against them, since it pings you, too. Throw in the fact that Raven’s Crime can help by letting them discard Fiery Temper or Sneaky Snacker, and this is an unpleasant matchup all around.
Jund Wildfire is a bit better. This is another grindy strategy, but one without as much sustainability as Food. If you can weather their Writhing Chrysalises and Nyxborn Hydras, they lack any real way to replenish those resources. If they get a fast start with Wildfire, then you can get run over in some games. For the most part, however, you have a fighting chance here.
Mono-Blue Terror is a similar matchup. Familiar is a reliable way to hold off Tolarian Terror and Cryptic Serpent until you can dig into a Candy Grapple to get rid of them. Pestilence also deals with Delver of Secrets handily, which is always nice. You can definitely lose to a well-placed Counterspell in this matchup, mind you, so keep an eye on your opponent’s open mana at all times.
Overall, Golgari Food is in a solid spot right now. If you don’t mind your games going long, it’s worth a try in the current metagame.
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