[EDH] Nath of the Gilt-Leaf

[Kuma]

In my quest for an underplayed general who doesn't suck in multiplayer games, I came across Nath of the Gilt-Leaf. It wasn't so much his discard ability that drew me in, but his token generating ability. I started bulding the deck as a sort of Rock/Board control deck that would use Nath's token-making with strong board control elements based around gaining advantage from sacrificing/destroying tokens instead of permanents. Not only can the deck beat with an army of tokens, it can lock multiple players out of the game and it even has a combo finish that can kill all your opponents, making it a powerful choice in multiplayer and one-on-one EDH.

Full List:

Nath of the Gilt-Leaf

Lands: (37)

Gilt-Leaf Palace
Twilight Mire
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Terramorphic Expanse
Tainted Wood
Volrath's Stronghold
Forest
Overgrown Tomb
Golgari Rot Farm
Gaea's Cradle
Jund Panorama
Llanowar Wastes
3 Swamp
Bayou
Verdant Catacombs
Wooded Foothills
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Windswept Heath
Polluted Delta
Bloodstained Mire
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Strip Mine
Wasteland
4 Snow-Covered Forest
3 Snow-Covered Swamp
Cabal Coffers
Pendelhaven
Bojuka Bog
Dryad Arbor

Acceleration: (9)

Elvish Archdruid
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Priest of Titania
Joraga Treespeaker
Elves of Deep Shadow
Primeval Titan
Garruk Wildspeaker
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt

Token Generators: (6)

Creakwood Liege
Spawnwrithe
Verdant Force
Grave Titan
Bitterblossom
Squirrel Nest

Board Control/Removal: (10)

Braids, Cabal Minion
Grave Pact
Smokestack
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Nullmage Shepherd
Maelstrom Pulse
Beast Within
Gleeful Sabotage
Putrefy

Discard: (3)

Sadistic Hypnotist
Myojin of Night's Reach
Painful Quandary

Card Draw/Selection: (9)

Graveborn Muse
Skullclamp
Anvil of Bogardan
Sensei's Divining Top
Memory Jar
Phyrexian Arena
Necropotence
Geth's Grimoire
Scroll Rack

Tutors: (13)

Demonic Tutor
Diabolic Tutor
Liliana Vess
Vampiric Tutor
Grim Tutor
Diabolic Intent
Worldly Tutor
Crop Rotation
Sylvan Tutor
Defense of the Heart
Beseech the Queen
Green Sun's Zenith
Praetor's Grasp

Graveyard Recursion: (5)

Eternal Witness
Recollect
Regrowth
Yawgmoth's Will
Crucible of Worlds

Misc/Combo Pieces: (7)

Earthcraft
Eldrazi Monument
Exsanguinate
Leyline of the Void
Helm of Obedience
Bloodchief Ascension
Mindcrank

Key Combos:

Nath of the Gilt-Leaf + Sadistic Hypnotist = Your opponents discard their hands and you get lots of Elf Warrior tokens.

Earthcraft + Squirrel Nest = Infinite Squirrel tokens.

Nath of the Gilt-Leaf + Memory Jar = You get seven new cards to play with and seven Elf Warrior tokens for each opponent at the end of your turn.

Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension = Whenever an opponent puts a card in their graveyard or takes damage they lose their library.

Helm of Obedience + Leyline of the Void = , tap: Exile target player's library.

The basic strategy is to get out Nath of the Gilt Leaf and Sadistic Hypnotist as fast as you can. It's pretty hard to lose when your opponents have no cards in hand and you have ten or so elves. Alternatively you want to get a token generator and a lock piece and shut out your opponents. There are numerous combinations of cards that can accomplish this.

Take one of these...

Creakwood Liege
Grave Titan
Spawnwrithe
Verdant Force
Bitterblossom
Squirrel Nest
Garruk Wildspeaker
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf

...and add one of these

Braids, Cabal Minion
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Smokestack

What do I tutor for?

On the first few turns of the game, you usually want to tutor for acceleration. Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and Gaea's Cradle are the usual suspects. Once you have Nath of the Gilt Leaf, you're probably going to want Sadistic Hypnotist. Otherwise, it's pretty self explanatory; if you need mana get Gaea's Cradle or Priest of Titania, if you have half a combo, find the other half.

[Kuma]

Reserved.

Updated first post 11/5/09

[beastman]

I never thought I'd see a B/G highlander deck that doesn't play deed.

[Kuma]

I never thought I'd see a B/G highlander deck that doesn't play deed.

I'd run it, except that it's really bad when you're trying to make lots of tokens.

Then again, maybe you're right. It can't hurt to have a reset button for when things go terrible. I'll have to think about what to cut, unless you have a suggestion.

[beastman]

I'm not saying the deck needs it, it does seem pretty bad in the deck, I'm just saying that a B/G deck almost always seems to be all about board control.

If you want to go for a token deck, I'd suggest finding a general with red as well to allow for goblin assault, SGC, and the extremely underrated torrent of souls. Seriously, that card wins games on its own.

[Kuma]

Eh, I could have made this a Kresh deck, which would have given me access to Survival of the Fittest and a few other cards, but I'd lose the ability to always have Nath.

There are plenty of good token generators in green --- I don't need red for tokens.

Tokens are really more of a means to an end, the end being cards like Contamination, Braids, and Smokestack. Of course there's the random Sadistic Hypnotist + Nath + Coat of Arms = I win.

[MattH]

CTRL-F sees a disturbing lack of Geth's Grimoire.

[Kuma]

CTRL-F sees a disturbing lack of Geth's Grimoire.

The more I think about it, the more I realize Geth's Grimoire is better than Skullmulcher.

- Skullmulcher
+ Geth's Grimoire

Edited opening post.

[rufus]

What about Nezumi Bonereader, the Pox/SmallPox/Deathcloud or even Mind Twist/Mind Warp... Syphon Mind if you play multiplayer.

[Kuma]

What about Nezumi Bonereader, the Pox/SmallPox/Deathcloud or even Mind Twist/Mind Warp... Syphon Mind if you play multiplayer.

I'm on the fence about Nezumi Bonereader. He's kind of limited as a discard engine, and his reanimation, while repeatable and not limited to my graveyard, is expensive. It doesn't help his case that I cut Chainer, Dementia Master from my list as well.

The problem with Pox/Smallpox/Death Cloud, is that I'm probably hurting myself the most with Pox and Death Cloud. I usually have way more creatures than most EDH decks, and I really hate to lose my lands. Also, with all the other discard, I'd likely lose more cards than my opponents.

Smallpox is the only one I'd consider running, and it's really just an expensive Innocent Blood most of the time with the added downsides of hurting my mana and pissing everyone off.

I don't run Mind Twist or Mind Warp because I mostly use this deck for multiplayer, and there are much more efficient ways to make my opponents discard in multiplayer.

Syphon Mind is another card I'm on the fence about. If I played in more 5-6 man multiplayer games, I'd definitely run it, but most of the games I've played recently have had 2-4 players. I can't justify it as an expensive "draw two."

[Shabbaman]

I'd say you'd want to add Words of Waste and Sylvan library.

[Kuma]

I'd say you'd want to add Words of Waste and Sylvan library.

I had Words of Waste, and it was almost always a dead card. There are better ways to make your opponents discard, ways that don't involve skipping draws.

Sylvan Library is an interesting suggestion. I'll take it under consideration.

Changes to list:

- Mycoloth
- Kodama's Reach
- Coat of Arms
+ Crucible of Worlds
+ Strip Mine
+ Wasteland

Mycoloth was too risky, even if it paid huge dividends. I never found myself searching for it when I needed a token generator. Crucible of Worlds really needed to be in here, because it's broken, and it helps with Smokestack/Braids. Strip Mine and Wasteland should help with Academy decks, and be randomly nuts with Crucible. I want to add Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul Daya, and/or Rites of Flourishing, but I'm not sure if they're worth it.

[Shabbaman]

It's not skipping draws that makes Words of Waste interesting. It's the replacement effect that you can use to do funny things. It's a nice way to abuse Sylvan Library.

[Malchar]

You could try using Mindslicer. I've found it to have a very fun tension in multiplayer games. It's a great deterrant.

[Damnosus]

An Oran-Rief, the Vastwood would probably be a nice addition.

[Kuma]

It's not skipping draws that makes Words of Waste interesting. It's the replacement effect that you can use to do funny things. It's a nice way to abuse Sylvan Library.

I know how it works. That's a solid two-card combo, but there are many better two card combos in the deck, and Words of Waste isn't that great on its own.

You could try using Mindslicer. I've found it to have a very fun tension in multiplayer games. It's a great deterrant.

That's a fantastic idea. I can't believe I missed that. I'll try to work it in.

An Oran-Rief, the Vastwood would probably be a nice addition.

Eh, it comes into play tapped and it seems like it's win more. If I have enough tokens to make this nuts, I'm probably winning anyway.

EDIT: - Necromancy, + Mindslicer

[Kuma]

- Forest
- Animate Dead
- Necrogen Mists

+ Acidic Slime
+ Stomp and Howl
+ Gleeful Sabatoge

Changes to the deck made it more black heavy than before, and 37 lands was a little high. I was also having problems dealing with artifacts and enchantments, so I added three more solutions.

[Kuma]

Massive, long overdue update to the opening post.

[Jeff Kruchkow]

I assume Contamination isn't here because your playgroup/you hates it?

[Kuma]

I assume Contamination isn't here because your playgroup/you hates it?

I cut it because it's difficult to set up and there's enough artifact mana/mana producing creatures/black decks in my meta that it's not even a guaranteed lock. It also shuts off my Gaea's Cradle.

It's been a while though, so I'll reconsider it. There is certainly huge upside.