Welp, so apparently Grismold once starred in a Don Bluth animated movie, went by Stanley and was handing out Plant tokens in Central Park. Presumably failure of said movie at the box office led to his current situation.
I can't help but feel that this is an intended homage; some designer at Wizards must have loved A Troll in Central Park as a child.
“Deep in the forests of an unnamed plane, the troll Grismold has formed a symbiotic relationship with the strange, carnivorous plants that live among the primordial trees. They feast on the corpses he brings back for them, and he feasts on their nectar — an unusually rich, invigorating source of nutrients.”
I’m a little late drafting this up this week, but today we’re going to take a look at one of this year’s new 99 legends from Kadena’s morph deck. Having played a game with the precon, I developed a respect for this guy’s power after he won me the match, however now we’re putting him into the command zone. As always, budget means no cards above $5 and no more than three above $2. I also won’t include obvious inclusions such as token doublers and Grave Pact effects.
For this deck, we’re looking at a no-tokens strategy; this may seem odd at first, you’ll catch on quickly what we’re up to. On this list we won’t look too much at token producers, since in green and black can do that in abundance. Our focus will be primarily on how to get the most out of nobody having tokens.
#1: Illness in the Ranks / Virulent Plague
In our no-tokens Grismold, nothing kills the board you give each player better than these. Unless you’re up against anthems, either of these will immediately put a bunch of counters on your general, enabling a next turn swing for big damage.
#2: Winding Constrictor
This is probably an obvious inclusion, but I love the card too much not to mention it. Essentially, tokens die and Grismold gets big twice as fast as before.
#3: Fecundity / Moldervine Reclamation
While these two are functionally the same for you in the deck, Fecundity does give your opponents the option to draw on your end step, but at a lower price it may be worthwhile. In either case, extra draws in a turn are always welcome.
#4: Retribution of the Ancients
With the number of counters your general is going to get, Retribution can turn into a powerful removal spell that dodges indestructible, pro-creatures, and even Emrakul’s pro-instants. Essentially, one to cast and one to activate can take down the biggest threat and still leave the enchantment up for repetition.
#5: Revel in Riches
Revel is one of my favorite cards of all time, and it has a perfect home in Grismold. In a four-player game it can easily put your opponents on a four-or-less turn clock.
#6: Poison-Tip Archer
This may be another obvious inclusion, but having the ability to begin pressuring life totals as early as turn three or four is incredibly powerful. Once again, an already effective card becomes a best damage card in Grismold.
#7: Korozda Guildmage
While its abilities may never be used in a game or two in particular, between giving your general Intimidate and sacrificing him to fuel your Poison-Tip, the Guildmage offers enough flexibility to quickly remove opponents who survive the first few turns of Grismold’s growth.
#8: Sangromancer
I like running Sangromancer in nearly every deck, but here it offers immediate value. On each of your end steps (and whenever your opponents get tokens), you gain anywhere from three to a dozen life. At worst, it lives until the next turn and gains you nine life.
#9: Status / Statue
The newest Ravnica block had a number of good cards for all our Golgari decks, as they tend to do, and while Assassin’s Trophy is an obviously better removal card Statue is available on a much cheaper budget while still hitting most of the same targets you’d want anyway. As a split card, even Status can be used on occasion to dodge hexproof blockers.
Unfortunately, everything else I could put on this list is obvious, but don’t let that stop you from putting together a mean murdercrats deck. If it’s in your budget, look into a couple of cheap tutors to ensure you get your Illness/Plague cards early so Grismold can start swinging for 7+ as soon as turn four. Additionally, look for ways to benefit further from all the tokens dying around you. Until next week, see you on the battlefield.
