This will be the last of my posts looking at this years crop of Challenger decks (I don’t have the Arcane Tempo one, I may get it at some point, but currently finances don’t allow, along with the lack of desire to play the deck archetype).

Readers who follow these MtG posts hopefully will remember that I was curious about this deck and it’s approach to Golgari, and as a cheap source of the check/shock lands.

I was going to link to my final deck list for my Golgari Stompy deck, but couldn’t find it on the blog, and then realised I don’t think I’ve shared it with the world! Oops. I’m not going to make this post longer than it needs to be. So I’ll put the deck list in another post if there is enough interest.

So let’s look at the deck list for Deadly Discovery.

Deadly Discovery is the deck I think out of the new crop that come rotation will be gutted the most. If my understanding of the current standard rotation rules is correct in the Autumn when the next set/block starts we lose all the Ixalan cards, Dominaria and Core 2019.

I think I did mention in a previous post that before even playing this deck that I did in fact upgrade it. The upgrade I did was replace the 4 Guildgates with my copies of the shock and check lands that I already owned. I do think that is the most obvious upgrade to make. It speeds the deck up, you are not having to wait a turn before using that mana.

In the official WotC article they mention possibly going all in on one of these 3 Planeswalkers.

Which is fine. But they ain’t cheap, especially Vivien (I think Vraska Golgari Queen is the cheaper of the 3). I added a second Relic Seeker which I had. At the time of writing slightly more expensive than Golgari Queen but lots cheaper than the other two. It’s also probably the cheapest option because you only need 1 copy, not 2.

I think what needs to be remembered when upgrading the decks is that as I’ve pointed out these decks have a limited life. Not only that we are playing in a FNM or Standard Showdown. The prizes on the line here are participation packs, promos and Standard Showdown packs. If we take out of the equation cards pulled as we can never account for that value until the pack is opened. If you win 3 packs that’s a tenner. There is not mega prize money on the line here. It’s pretty nominal really. So spending say £100 for a playset of Vivien Reid just to win a tenner prize isn’t justified.

If you have the cards already fine use them. Or if like me you can use the cards later in another format then maybe get them. But sometimes it’s better to wait for them to drop out of Standard and get them then when they are cheaper for the other format.

Back to upgrading this deck if you have them Carnage Tyrant is a good addition, but once again it is not cheap card. Neither is Nullhide Ferox, but I think I’d lean towards this at the moment over Carnage if I was buying due to the longer lifetime it could have in the deck.

The theme is the upgrades aren’t cheap. Walk the Plank is a cheap removal but also no good against merfolk. But on a budget worth looking at. However my preference is these two. Which have the advantage of being able to take out these pesky Planeswalkers we will be facing a lot of at the mo.

I do like the look of these two new cards from War of the Spark. They also can be part of a ramp tactic as well.

I also like the look of these cards as possible upgrades as well. The new Vivien allowing you to have flash on your creatures is cool.

But the ramp, big creatures or undergrowth deck suggestions by WotC are basically the tactics John and myself have already tried. I’d explore those options if you wanted to try a different tactic. They are tactics that will last longer than the explore mechanic this current deck relies on.

Myself I’m planning to play this deck using the explore mechanic until the Autumn and then look at changing it into the one of the other tactics, or whatever one of the new mechanics inspires at the time.

I hope this has been of use, and given some ideas.