MTG Top 10: WORST Golgari | Magic: the Gathering | Episode 423

[@Konarcoffee]

"This card isn't interesting, but it is bad" Good line lol

[@bradcallahan3546]

Could also describe my sex life

[@Crow-tf2dv]

The art on wormwood dryad is so cool it makes me wish it was a better card

[@pauljimerson8218]

Sadly the art on turrible cards is often good

[@DimT670]

The art is good period therefore sometimes its on bad cards

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

What the hell could’ve possibly happened in testing that scared wotc into making Wormwood dryad a 3/1 for 3 when it’s still based on a bad card.

[@ildathet]

simple : it's supposed to be unblockable (sorta) so it just need to have damage, plus as a frail dryad in a dying world (golgari) it's weak. Design wise it's a great card. Game design wise yeah it's bad, but not that bad

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

I think we should be kinder to Wormwood Treefolk, as when it was printed in 1994 its base stats/CMC (a 4/4 for 5) were the same as what it used to be the best creature in the game at the time. The activated abilities are not great, but they were not as terrible at the time as they are in today's era of absurd power creep, especially when it comes to green creature that have nothing but upsides stacked on the top of one another.

[@DimT670]

There is no power creep in magic. In fact overall magic is weaker now than it was in the first 7 years of its life Theres a power balancing between spells and creatures, because creatures were absurdly weak compared to spells If you think magic has power creep you haven't seen power creep

[@superbaas8822]

@@DimT670 you say that, then they print a 1 red mana 1/1 with 4 good abilities and 2 powerful relevant tribes.

[@TehSeksyManz]

@@DimT670 idk dude plenty of new cards are being used in vintage and legacy Edit: I don't know if you're thinking of powercreep in the right way. It is absolutely a thing.

[@monkeygaming2859]

Wormwood tree folk isn’t nearly that bad especially for when it came out, 5 mana 4/4 wasn’t bad and two abilities that were upside, albeit very conditional upside is pretty good for the time it came out

[@totalwartimelapses6359]

Isn't that what he said in the video?

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

@@totalwartimelapses6359 It sure is

[@Janshevik]

yeah, in shandalar is a decent creature that does not die to lightning bolt

[@BobardeZanzibar]

You are drastically underestimating the downside of paying 2 mana to shock yourself any time you activate your narrow ability. If your opponent has instant speed removal, it's very easy to have essentially paid 7 mana to discard an opponent's instant spell and tap three of their lands. That's really bad. Not to mention that it gets blocked easily by the time you play it and activating it's ability reliably requires this to be your top end or for you to stop yourself from casting your top end on curve.

[@Krunschy]

Hard disargree with the number 1 spot. Yeah, it's bad, but if you help his statline with i.e. auras the 0 mana regeneration might just become worth it. Like at least this guy has some potential and when rating bad card you need every bit of potential to think up a reason why they might be playable. Compare this to Stonefare Crocodile: Even if you were to design a deck just to have the card be good in it, it would still be outclassed by dozens of cards there. The fact that I can't think up any way I would ever want to put this in a constructed deck is what makes it truly terrible to me.

[@bradcallahan3546]

WOW ITS ALMOST LIKE ITS HIS OPINION.

[@chrismarlow9585]

Yes because in an aura deck you definitely want a 4 mana 2/2 that requires self mill built into the deck to gain protection from certain types of removal... not any of the hexproof or other creatures with more efficient stat lines, lower on the curve (aura decks are typically more like aggro) and better protection. I get what you're saying, its ability can be utilised, but realistically it's nowhere near as good as alternatives for what you're talking about. When something is outclassed too much you have to basically negate that as a use for the card. What you're left with is a card that doesn't excel in anything.

[@BobardeZanzibar]

Most decks that play auras have very few creatures with the idea that you only need one to go the distance. If you're playing a 4 mana card that requires you exile a creature from a graveyard to not die instantly to removal, trading unfavorably on mana to begin with, you go in with the assumption that you've lost a few creatures already and this card is not going to get you back in the game since it costs way too much for eternal formats and there is way too much interaction in commander.

[@Krunschy]

@@BobardeZanzibar Oh, I'm absolutely aware that this card is terrible. My point is just that some other cards on here are even worse.

[@CriticoMaldispostoGames]

So... Golgari doesn t haver bad cards. All seem ok for limited ou commander (Doran, for example)

[@Maximxj750]

I have actually played the wormwood treefolk in black green 9394 decks before. I think its alright.

[@MJYMedia]

Really glad you've been adding the Card Kingdom prices to these. It's fascinating sometimes to see the price alongside the card.

[@dylanmann8253]

Top ten cards that give something to your opponent. You know, for the holidays :)

[@Fresh_Pants]

Thats a good idea 👌 not sure if there would be enough cards with that effect to make a list, but would be fun to see.

[@emperornapoleon6204]

I played with many of the these cards as a child, especially in my Crocodile deck🤣 what fun times! For the record, I’ve upgraded from Stonefare Crocodile to Tarmogoyf for my Rock decks😂👍🏻

[@vario6492]

Number one is if Plants Vs Zombies had crossover with Romeo and Juliet and that was their child

[@lodeguillen5052]

Maybe it's cool to make a top 10 list including all the cards that where planned to go in a worst list, but couldn't make it because they where to widely played.

[@SirZapdos]

No Drain the Well? I mean, sure the small life gain is nice, but spending 4 mana to destroy a land is rarely worth it. Also, for anyone wondering why Dark Heart of the Wood isn't on the list, it was in the sideboard of a PT top 8 deck in 2006. Although it looks like the finals were RGD draft, so it getting a sideboard slot was basically down to luck.

[@xChikyx]

Kheru dreadmaw is a.key card in my rats commander deck... Being able to eat a rat and gain 15 life for example is really good

[@cobarkai9659]

I would love 'honorable mentions' of cards that would have made it in but are actually played a lot in edh.

[@badnewsproduction01]

I'm sure many people have told you this before but your rating system works perfectly. A true standard for rating cards

[@LadyBernkastel92]

I've got dozens of golgari decks and I've been heavily into the color pair since Ravnica came out, and the entire time I've wanted to make woodwraith Strangler work before inevitably cutting it for an actually good card. The art, the flavor text, and the fact that my favorite mtg character is quoted in the flavor text all feel so iconicly Golgari and work together to make me WANT to play the card even though I know in my heart it's not good. For me it's not worse than the rest of the list, but it's far more disappointing than the rest of the list.

[@OmneAurumNon]

"cutting" the tree is good flavor though :p

[@SirGrimLockSmithVIII]

This idea is a little complicated, but what if you made a list of bad cards but you had to avoid cards that were clearly designed as common draft chaff? Like, I think Rites of Reaping and Creakwood Ghoul are arguably worse than the number 2 and 1 slots on this list because they're uncommon and thus have a certain expectation placed upon them to be a bit more premium than their common pack brethren.

[@VivaTorf]

Well, this top 10 cards are of course bad, but most of them are no that terrible.

[@latsblaster]

These cards weren't that bad. Maybe Golgari is a descent combination with a higher lowest rate. I don't think the dryad is that bad, unblockable 3 power is quite nice (with urborg t.o.y.).

[@Eibarwoman]

The bad cards are often just not quite good enough rather than terrible.

[@latsblaster]

@@Eibarwoman izzet got the Goblin test pilot. I think boros had some weak cards.

[@pauljimerson8218]

I heart call this the dies to Spikefield hazard list

[@davidsewnauth140]

Hey Nizzahon, I really enjoy your content. Especially top 10s. Keep up the great work!

[@theinscrutablebaldness2597]

Is it just me or are these cards kinda alright compared to most of the worst colour pairs list? Okay, they're pretty bad, but they're not terrible. Even the number 1 I could imagine having utility in limited.

[@toastghost9145]

I love the sign-offs of "worst top 10" lists; so savage.

[@AbelFerralla]

You see, in Historic I play zombies with green for CoCo, so Strenght of night does not sound THAT bad lol

[@Xxchj]

Literally just my top ten favorite cards

[@davebignell773]

Strangely enough I was running my Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord at a 1v1 Commander event for FNM this evening. I do run Trestle Troll in it - but none of the rest of this list. Although I do own 6 of these...

[@a_fuckin_spacemarine7514]

Some of these are 10+ years old, they weren't bad back then, just average. Crazy how much power creep has warped things.

[@Eibarwoman]

Just that with 25000+ cards printed, many of these cards are just too mediocre even for EDH. It's not that they've even been power crept, but rather even a cheaper mediocre card has squeezed them out. As in a card that would have been mediocre 10-15 years ago and is still mediocre or worse today has squeezed them out.

[@apjapki]

Golgari Zombies is a very good recommendation for a deck in EDH.

[@mrnekomaneki01]

I recently built michone in commander and strength of the night seemed like a really good fit even if the deck leans more black then green.

[@Waffletigercat]

Interesting that you said Golgari was the worst color pair in Guilds of Ravnica limited. I picked it for one of the prereleases just for the sweet black and green dice, and got first place. Admittedly, I did splash white for a couple cards and therefore was actually playing Abzan though.

[@NizzahonMagic]

You're basing your opinion of an entire format on how your sealed deck went during a pre-release. I'm basing my opinion on 50+ drafts.

[@Waffletigercat]

@@NizzahonMagic Fair. lol

[@Lovuschka]

Just use that 0/1 elf with the big strawberry instead of Mortipede. "Taunting Elf" or something like that. Same effect but for only G as casting cost and no activation cost.

[@rareroe305]

It would have been interesting to see how many decks Cankerous Thirst was in on EDHRec.

[@Interesting_Failure]

How many creatures are there with a repeatable no-cost ability that exiles a single card from your graveyard like Strangler does, actually? It immediately triggers any "whenever a {creature} card leaves your graveyard" effects a number of times equal to the creatures you have down there; Syr Konrad, the Grim and Tormod, the Desecrator are the two notables that come to mind right away, and things that exile your whole yard won't work because the exiles need to happen at different times. I'm just not sure if anything else has a better ability for this.

[@alaraplatt8104]

wow, 2 plant zombies on the same list. this must be an mtg top 10 first

[@DimT670]

Huh? Erstwhile trooper? That card is pretty good! Ive literally won drafts with it

[@TheEvilDuck666]

Ofcourse this is the one list where I own 8 of the cards lol

[@OrcDragon65]

Thanks, but I use all the useless extra cards in booster packs as kindling. The dozens of tokens I will never use, the arena ads, I only need a couple Day/Night cards,

[@alexMendoza-wl5oj]

Those eyes are popin. Underground best ground.

[@shikabaneconga]

well maybe we like bad cards, i love my foil storm crow for the memes, so having "the number 1 worst golgari card" doesnt sound that bad

[@pauljimerson8218]

Flying OP

[@faerie7dragon]

Mortipede I could see in a Grist, the hunger tide EDH deck, there is not many golgari insects to choose from.

[@noehonegger4624]

There are but most are bad

[@dargatan6301]

"Graveyardiest" is a word now

[@solidraven6986]

For the longest time I thought u said "needs a home" lol

[@CustodialDaniel]

Best colour pair

[@Janshevik]

Erstwhile trooper is not that horrible, there is a card Vampire hounds which is basically the same, but instead of green mana it requires colorless and it is played in Dead dog deck in pauper. The deck is green black, so even that mana cost would not make it much worse, but yes, it is strictly worse card.

[@NizzahonMagic]

You are missing one huge difference: Vampire hounds isn't limited to once each turn.

[@mattblom3990]

Golgari has always been top 3 in my dual colour card lists. Before seeing this I remembered their cards at worst "average" but nope, some are truly bad #Bias

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

The Golagari are definitely not one of my favourite guilds, but that's probably because of the black section, it's just not a colour that resonates with me. That, and I never got too big into Ravnica. What I did do however, was an interview with Vraska where she, among other things, voiced her approval for "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)"!

[@Ekair42]

On my part, B and white are my favourite colours, and is the green that makes me not as excited about this Guild. I find it interesting

[@keiclera6596]

Woodwraith Strangler could be okay with a good equipment on it at the very least. But yeah nah it's chaff

[@pauljimerson8218]

Basically top ten signpost draft chaff

[@TheOkoon]

#6 shuld be a ricknmorty meme

[@MakeArtHurt]

Graveyardiest :-)

[@jdgrass6134]

Kindling for my fire, haha.

[@calebsmith9048]

Is the first a legend card wasn't on the list

[@Tirvops]

What do you mean, all Golgari cards are good and first picks in draft and wrap the metagame around them and they destroy the other puny guilds (and then reanimate them)

[@joshelderkin9592]

Im so sick of all the once per turn clauses on effects that cost resources this isnt yugioh we dont need to put once per turn on every single effect

[@blacklancejeo6625]

The top 10 Golgari cards are so bad, I know tons of materials that are cheaper and more effective for kindling fire this winter than those cards.

[@PokeBattlerJaze]

Is it a Legends card?

[@movezig5]

I really think you're undervaluing regeneration, especially when there's no mana cost attached. I think Woodwraith Strangler could at least do some work in limited, and Golgari has no shortage of ways to fill its graveyard. I haven't actually used the card myself, mind you, but I'm pretty sure _you_ haven't either. I think you have a bit too much of a hate boner for this card.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I have, in fact, played with the card. Also, even if you haven't, you should know a card that does nothing but block forever is generally awful in Limited, and this doesn't even do a good job of it.

[@celebrim1]

Good list but I feel Stonefare Crocodile is much less worse than some of the cards on the list you rated less bad than it.

[@eloidasarmi6815]

We played guilds of Ravnica draft one month ago and trooper was not that bad xd

[@schylerreis5227]

I wonder if you ever thought you'd be a t-shirt model?

[@noahr4951]

Cool shirt

[@andrewsegers7942]

Every Time.

[@jeffreylooter535]

The one thing I’ve learned from this video is that when we go ravnica golgari is the worst

[@glitchygear9453]

Top ten cards whatsoever?

[@royplatt455]

Wow. Early for once.

[@MrDeadHead69]

the number 8 is really ok for a common ...for when needed a card to be discarded!!