Guilds of Ravnica EDH Set Review: Golgari

Ah, the Golgari - my favorite guild. In terms of flavor/characters/aesthetics, I still hold Orzhov in the highest regard. But when it comes to building and playing decks, nothing beats the Golgari. Meren... Savra... Gitrog... Hapatra.

I have high hopes for this one. Let's hope they pan out.

Golgari

I don't love it, but it does what some Golgari decks want to be doing, and it's Skullclamp fodder when you're done. Seems fine.

Well, okay then, this is more like it.

If you are on more of a Savra/Grave Pact flavor of Golgari then this might not be too exciting, but for Meren, Gitrog and anything Dredge-y, this card's stock shoots way up.

In short, if you wanna fill your graveyard quickly but a few Surveil cards here and there aren't equal to the task, this here's your guy.

Ewww! I do NOT like exiling my own things out of my own graveyard. Please do not ask me to do so. And if you are going to anyway, definitely don't offer me a generic, midsize attacker as my only reward for doing so. I have a hard enough time delving for a Treasure Cruise and you know how much I love to draw cards. Well, I like attacking with big Trample guys, too, but not THAT much.

Decent at first glance, but there's another card coming up... you know what it is already... also, in C18 we got Windgrace's Judgment, and before that, well, B/G just has a vertiable cornucopia of good-ass removal already.

Cute. Seems good for Virtus/Gorm decks, if anyone is playing those partners.

Whoomp, there it is! THE card of the set. The one everyone is talking about because it's playable in basically every format in which it is legal. And even in EDH it is fantastic removal.

Unfortunately this is going to carry a hefty price tag for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, as I previously mentioned, Golgari decks already have a plethora of great removal options to pick from anyway, so this is in no way essential.

In short, if you have these, you WILL run them. But at the same time, there is no real need to go out of your way to get them. It's just removal, folks. GOOD removal, yeah, but not that big a deal.

 Bleh. Possibly the worst of the new guildmages. I don't like the art much, either.

This is not bad, though Finality is a tad overcosted. Definitely good in lower-powered groups, but gets pretty marginal as the power and skill level of the group scales up. 

Nope. Still not enough to dethrone Eternal Witness as the best card in it's class. Being bigger actually hurts a utility creature like this, as often times you just want to get their ETBF effect, then Skullclamp them for even more value.

Eh, but he is an Elf and a Shaman, so tribal considerations may change the valuation slightly. Also if you really need non-spell versions, for like a Genesis Wave deck or something, I guess it works as E-Wit number two.

Playable, but far from the best version of this effect.









Well mixed bag it is then. Golgari get the #1 most-hyped card in the set, but it's just a boring removal spell, which is something Golgari players didn't exactly need in our format. We'll happily take it, but it isn't really adding anything new to the game. The uncommons were pretty unspectacular across the board as well. Oh, but that mythic is pretty damn good. And even the more mediocre cards seem like they could have niche uses here and there.

Overall, I'm let down, but the few good cards are REALLLLLY good, and since the Dimir didn't suck this time, I'll forgive a somewhat weak batch of Golgari stuff. I mean, it's already the best two-color combination in the format so it didn't exactly need a lot of help.