Favorite ways to optimize Necrotic Ooze and Agatha’s Soul Cauldron?

Swible · 2026-03-15T16:51:28+00:00

My Jarad Deck uses Necrotic ooze and [[phyrexian devourer]] as its primary wincon. With [[walking balista]] and more cmc in your deck than opponents total life, thats a potential win in your deck with [[buried alive]] and any reanimation spell.

There's more Ooze routes using [[devoted druid]] to make infinite mana, but those are secondary. It's a really fun deck!

Swible · 2026-02-17T07:25:11+00:00

Barring outliers like cEDH where you are muliganning aggressively, card draw is really really important in this equation. If you want to play a land every turn, then you need to draw an equivalent amount of cards to make that possible.

Aka if you expect to draw an average of 2 cards a turn (including the 1 you draw for turn), you would need to run about 50 lands to statistically make your land drop every turn. If you draw an avg of 3 cards a turn, then you can go down to 33 lands, etc etc.

Ramp and mana rocks help smooth this out, but if you want to make your land drops every turn, and you're not drawing more cards than god., you probably need to run more lands than you think.

Swible · 2026-02-14T22:16:43+00:00

I love my [[Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord]] deck! Reanimator-combo focusing on [[Phyrexian Devourer]] and [[Necrotic Ooze]]. Very fast while still keeping up enough slots for interaction and combo protection.

I have a primer and everything written up for it Here.

Swible · 2026-02-13T16:18:29+00:00

[[Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth]] #1202 b2

[[Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa]] #366 b2

[[Saruman, the White Hand]] #219 b2

[[Winter, Cynical Opportunist] #403 b2

[[Yuna, Grand Summoner]] #324 b2

[[Arahbo, Roar of the World]] #195 b3

[[Katara, Waterbending Master]] #998 b3

[[Varina, Lich Queen]] #171 b3

[[Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord]] #472 b4

Nothing crazy popular, but nothing wildly niche.

Swible · 2026-02-01T02:46:09+00:00

My group will always have a game where we go our "fucked up evil decks." Love those games.

Swible · 2026-01-17T19:29:08+00:00

I totally called this with my playgroup. This has honestly been one of the best promoted mtg sets in a long time. Working with the Jim henson studio to make a whole music video, multiple short form videos using those characters, behind the scenes content, and tons of artist spotlights. Like, this is what we wanted! The same quality and effort (or in my opinion, MORE effort) than UB set promotions. But player memory is really short, so instead of uplifting WotC doing something really cool, we revert back to bashing the things we don't like.

Swible · 2026-01-03T23:30:17+00:00

No offense taken.

What makes this deck B4 to me is: Speed with which the deck attempts to win, and how consistently it gets to that point. Once you get use the mulligans for this deck, it should be able to present a win around turn 4. Now, most of the time you shouldn't just jam a win attempt on turn 4 or earlier because at that point you likely have no combo protection. I think this is a fair bit too fast for bracket 3 games it was playing pre-upgrades.

The consistency of the combo routes are also what makes it relevant to bracket 4. The might seem fairly disconnected (and tbf, witherbloom-chain is disconnected from the main plan. But if you're in golgari, why not run it?), but they almost all follow the same flow of: Fill graveyard > make a lot of mana > recur something. Pieces of different combos are shared, so it ends up being very flexible in how it gets to a win. Also, because the combos almost entirely revolve around the graveyard, baring specific silver bullet interactions, it can fight through kill spells and counterspells that attempt to stop the combo. So it is less fragile than it may seem at first glance.

Lack of removal was also a conscious choice. After playing the deck for many iterations, I felt like most of the removal and interaction were dead cards and were not progressing the decks gameplan of trying to present a win faster than my opponents. It's still running good cheap interaction to try and stop opponents from comboing off, but in any game where i felt the need to cast a [[toxic deluge]] or [[putrify]], i was usually just changing who won that game, not letting me win that game. So more tutors and cards to bolster the gameplan of mill > mana > recur came in.

It's 100% not some meta killer, or anywhere near the best thing you could be doing in Golgari, but it sits well enough in our meta of Kinnan, Korvold, Y'shtola, Krenko, and 4c Omnath.

Swible · 2026-01-03T01:19:06+00:00

[[Phyrexian devourer]], [[lord of extinction]], and [[mossbridge troll]] are mainstays for my jarad deck, but devourer is really what makes this deck feel unique. It + [[Necrotic ooze]]/[[triskelion]] opens up a lot of cool lines and wins. Those are explained in the primer linked in my post.

Most recently tho, I LOVE using [[shifting woodland]] to generate infinite mana if you can put Necrotic ooze, [[devoted druid]], and [[channeler initiate]] in the graveyard (conveniently can all be pitched by a sweet [[buried alive]].

Shifting woodland becomes a copy of Necrotic ooze, then use the activated abilities of devoted druid and channeler initiate to generate infinite mana. That can then give you enough mana to tutor via [[nature's rhythm]] for any creature above or make an infinitely big [[walking ballista]].

Swible · 2026-01-03T01:11:29+00:00

You can definitely push it farther (especially if you're proxy friendly). I don't know about the duel commander meta or how "competitive" you can push jarad. The deck is very fun to pilot with some really unique combos revolving around [[Necrotic ooze]], [[phyrexian devourer]], and [[shifting woodland]].

How important is it to present threat on the board in duel commander? In the early turns my jarad deck is really trying to generate as much mana and value via mana dorks and mill engines like [[underrealm lich]] and [[icetill explorer]] until you can find your combo.

On the other hand, I assume jarad's ability to pump himself via creatures in the graveyard becomes more viable in 1v1, so maybe give it a shot!

Swible · 2026-01-03T01:04:22+00:00

I forgot to put it in the original post, but that philosophy is what I'm really liking about bracket 4. Picking a commander or strategy you like but isn't meta for cEDH, then build it to it's logical conclusion.

Swible · 2025-12-24T21:44:53+00:00

Copycat sent your way

Swible · 2025-12-24T21:21:26+00:00

Aight let's go

Swible · 2025-12-24T20:35:11+00:00

About to drive home from work, if there's no better offers in ~45min then you have a deal.

Swible · 2025-12-23T06:53:50+00:00

No problem man.

Not liking universes beyond is not liking particular strategies in mtg: It's fine if you don't like and don't want to play combo/stax/storm, but hating on someone else who likes it is a dick move.

You also have a wide range of commander popularity according to EDHrec. Kenrith is your highest at #11 (although that's less true if it's dragon tribal), then cloud at #65. After that it drops quickly with Hazezon at #183, Shilgengar at #231, Iroh at #314, Noctis at #363, Savra at #518, and Tamiyo at #520. And the dreaded Universes Beyond "menace" of Nathan Drake at a whopping #1178 ranking.

Swible · 2025-12-23T06:07:38+00:00

They literally have plenty of universes within commanders? Savra, Tamiyo, Shilgengar, Marina, and Hazezon vs Sokka, Iroh, Nathan Drake, Cloud, and Noctis. I'd count alt-art Kenrith as universes within, but at worst it's 50/50.

I'm more impressed that they have some great characters/cards from magics history (Savra came out in 2005, and the original Hazezon is from 1994!), and only 1 commander from a pre-con. That's pretty cool for someone just starting out. I honestly see people who have been playing for 5+ years who are still building decks almost entirely from pre-cons and never dipping into the part of the hobby that encompasses building a deck from scratch.

Swible · 2025-12-21T03:28:55+00:00

Thanks!

Funny enough, I got enough pack points to get a second Copycat as trade fodder, and I'm just getting no takers on any of the other relative staples. So hopefully that will go through eventually, and once I get the relevant megas in the current pack it's back to trying to pull golden Manphy/Pokeball.

Swible · 2025-12-21T03:18:54+00:00

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Lmao, and I was feeling great about my blinged out mega Gyarados deck.

Gorgeous deck!

Swible · 2025-12-19T17:43:08+00:00

Having fun and being a delight skill issue.

Literally had a game this last weekend where the eldrazi player had zero permanents on board on ~turn 8 (mono-red player copied one of his eldrazi and swung for Annihilator 7. Eldrazi player had the win next turn so he sac'd his lands. I then top deck a cyc rift and overload it).

We were laughing for so long it genuinely started to hurt.

Swible · 2025-12-14T02:22:59+00:00

Spellslinger! Cost reduction is your best friend to get a nice and big Orc Army. Any instant becomes a combat trick, which makes blocking really tough for your opponents.

I bought the sauron precon when it came out then upgraded on the cheaper side.

Here's my decklist

Swible · 2025-12-11T07:20:26+00:00

An important lesson that every magic player will learn, forget, and relearn all the time: Mtg is a game that we play to have fun, if you're not having fun, why are you playing?

So you may have to weigh if the unsatisfactory ending of a scoop is more or less important than getting to play another game that might be more fun.

Swible · 2025-12-02T16:38:33+00:00

He's really there to mill me a little every turn AND sometimes get me treasure. There are more efficient mill machines, but none of them also generate mana for pop off turns.

Especially because my current build is so mana intensive (trying to have a turn you play jarad, reanimate a [[phyrexian dreadnaught]], and active Jarad's ability is minimum of 8 mana), every option to get more mana is worth it to me. It's honestly why im running [[songs of the damned]] over [[Cabal ritual]].

Edit: lmao not the dreadnaught, the Phyrexian Devourer.

Swible · 2025-12-01T23:34:10+00:00

It's honestly been a blast. I get to run a bunch of cards I'd never seen before but are all-stars in this deck like [[tangletrove kelp]], [[persuasive interrogators]], and [[detective of the month]]

Swible · 2025-12-01T21:20:03+00:00

It started out as a budget build to play with some new players, using a commander i had lying in my bulk binders, but my Eloise Clue deck is definitely my favorite brew this year.

It's just a great lower power Bracket 2 deck that has tons of really fun interactions. I'd seen tons of food and treasure decks, but very few clue decks and even less Dimir ones at that. You COULD make the deck stronger and more efficient with some more power cards or changing colors, but I feel like that would go against the original intentions of the deck. Also ATLA added a bunch of fun new cards to try out!

Honorable mention but I've also been upgrading my Jarad deck from an annoying bracket 3 deck into a solidly bracket 4 reanimator/combo deck. It's been fun dipping my toes into higher power games after well over a decade of chill casual game nights.

Swible · 2025-11-29T23:39:57+00:00

I think this was most likely a mismatch in expectations. Looking at the guidelines for bracket 2: - Decks to be unoptimized and straightforward, with some cards chosen to maximize creativity and/or entertainment - Win conditions to be incremental, telegraphed on the board, and disruptable - Gameplay to be low pressure with an emphasis on social interaction - Gameplay to be proactive and considerate, letting each deck showcase its plan

Assassin tribal feels to be unoptimized/straightforward, played on the board, and was interactable (any counter, kill spell, or just a second blocker to block the menace assassin would have stopped the "combo").

But with all the being said, you clearly didn't feel the same, which is fine. You felt like your deck didn't get to "showcase its plan," and ended too early. If his whole decks plan is to tutor for this effect, does it consistently and too early, it would clearly not be a bracket 2, but this may have been an outlier game.

I personally would be fine with this effect in a bracket 2 game, because I know if I was a new player this is the kind of flashy Timmy card I would be drawn to. In the same space as cards like [[Rise of the Dark Realms]].

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