Ghave, Guru of Conspiracy

[Pygyzy]

Decklist

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[COMMANDER]

1 Ghave, Guru of Spores

[PLANESWALKERS]

1 Grist, the Hunger Tide

1 Kaya, Geist Hunter

1 Nissa of Shadowed Boughs

1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World

[CREATURES]

1 Adarkar Valkyrie

1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit

1 Antler Skulkin

1 Ashaya, Soul of the Wild

1 Barrenton Medic

1 Changeling Hero

1 Changeling Titan

1 Chatterfang, Squirrel General

1 Coffin Queen

1 Crashing Drawbridge

1 Devoted Druid

1 Elenda, the Dusk Rose

1 Farmstead Gleaner

1 Hyrax Tower Scout

1 Karmic Guide

1 Kitchen Finks

1 Korozda Gorgon

1 Magus of the Candelabra

1 Midnight Guard

1 Necrotic Ooze

1 Nyxbloom Ancient

1 Obelisk Spider

1 Order of Whiteclay

1 Pili-Pala

1 Priest of Fell Rites

1 Quillspike

1 Saffi Eriksdotter

1 Slimefoot, the Stowaway

1 Sparring Mummy

1 Sporesower Thallid

1 Sporoloth Ancient

1 Thallid Germinator

1 Thelon of Havenwood

1 Twilight Shepherd

1 Utopia Mycon

1 Village Bell-Ringer

1 Vitaspore Thallid

1 Vizier of Remedies

1 Whisper, Blood Liturgist

[ARTIFACTS]

1 Akroma's Memorial

1 Ashes of the Fallen

1 Maskwood Nexus

1 Minion Reflector

[INSTANTS]

1 Cauldron Haze

1 Harness Infinity

1 Second Harvest

1 White Sun's Zenith

[SORCERIES]

1 Beacon of Creation

1 Demonic Collusion

1 Ever After

1 Saproling Symbiosis

[ENCHANTMENTS]

1 Conspiracy

1 Cryptolith Rite

1 Life and Limb

1 Mana Reflection

[LANDS]

1 Arctic Treeline

1 Ash Barrens

1 Blossoming Sands

1 Castle Ardenvale

1 Castle Locthwain

1 Flagstones of Trokair

8 Forest

1 Gavony Township

1 Gingerbread Cabin

1 Godless Shrine

1 Idyllic Grange

1 Indatha Triome

1 Krosan Verge

1 Leechridden Swamp

1 Mistveil Plains

1 Mortuary Mire

1 Overgrown Tomb

4 Plains

1 Sapseep Forest

1 Scattered Groves

1 Snowfield Sinkhole

4 Swamp

1 Temple Garden

1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

1 Witch's Cottage

1 Woodland Chasm

1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Approximate Total Cost:

I tend to play casual commander but I wanted to try my hand at something a little more powered up that still suits my style. Pretty much any deck I play revolves around recursion in some way. I had heard that Ghave, Guru of Spores was pretty strong and as soon as I saw it I can see why. This card is meant to be broken.

Counter and tokens is fun but what I was really interested in was the Saproling part. One of the players in my group has a Saproling deck and it's complete nonsense. He typically has creatures in the thousands. But it's monogreen and will lose instantly if dealt with.

I wanted to expand on the idea but give it more versatility and durability. The intent is to create a lot of value and apply pressure until you win either win by combo or by attrition. Most of the cards will function well independently but synergize with various cards throughout the deck, So that a good card could become a great card, or win on the spot, depending what combinations you draw.

I started with my favorite Saprolings planning to make a Saproling deck. But then I realized, what if all creatures were Saprolings? Well then I could have some real fun. Removing counters? Where have I heard that before. Of course, undying combos. Hmm. What's more fun than making a million saprolings and killing them all for your own amusement? Cackling diabolically. Muahhahaaha!

I took the best cards from persist combos, added some Saproling tribal, then some pet cards. There are multiple routes to victory, several very obvious combos that I don't need to explain, but this deck focuses around making everything either forests and/or Saprolings, then exploiting them to make tons of mana or creatures.

Life and limb or ashaya can make your creatures tap for mana, this is abused with the sacrifice outlets and cards that untap, to make more mana, to make more creatures to sacrifice. Although, there are infinite combos in the deck, the combos aren't necessary to be able to win as just making tons of tokens is often sufficient.. So, even though they're there, the deck is not intended to rely on them, except as an oops I win.

Many cards are pet cards of mine so they may not be the best inclusions, so that's why I'm asking for any feedback. This is kinda a throw everything at the wall and see what sticks kinda deck, so I try not to rely too heavily on any one particular card, although there are several that enable all the shenanigans. If you have any questions in regards to certain inclusions, I am willing to explain. Each card has a particular role, so removing one could impact another and so forth.

[Hawk]

This deck idea is cool - Ghave tends towards "good stuff" and infinites so this is a nice, fresh take.

That being said, it seems a bit unfocused.

- Is it a Saproling tribal deck? That seems to be the intention with Conspiracy and Maskwood Nexus but its missing a lot of what I'd consider essentials for that gimmick: Psychotrope Thallid, Deathspore Thallid, Fungal Plots, Sporecrown Thallid, Tendershoot Dryad, Verdeloth the Ancient. Those are just the saproling-specifc cards too; a deck with Slimefoot, the Stowaway definitely should be open to cards like Blood Artist, Cruel Celebrant, and Skullclamp for some aristocrat tricks. I'd understand eschewing those to avoid being a generic Ghave deck, but the saproling specific synergy cards feels critical.

- Is this a -1/-1 counters matter deck? That's pretty classic Ghave-y stuff, but you're missing some of the best support cards for it namely Cauldron of Souls, Cathars' Crusade, and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.

- In that realm you have like half of the combo pieces for Necrotic Ooze infinites and Vizier of Remedies infinites, but it seems to me you should either go all-in there with some tutors and the other halves of those combos (Channeler Initiate, Cinderhaze Wretch, Triskelion, Phyrexian Devourer, Elvish Aberration, and The Altars to go with the Devoted Druid and Pili-Pala and Q cards plus the aforementioned) or pare back on that. As it stands, Devoted Druid + Vizier and some of your other cards is strong but a lot of the rest of those cards feel pretty low-impact.

- You also have a ton of graveyard recursion cards, but very few bombs or useful EtBs to loop.

- More broadly, this deck is all meat no potatoes right now. You've got several ways to get explosive late-game mana, but a lot of those cards require significant set-up or investment. Meanwhile you have very little reliable early ramp or draw, and almost no way to interact with your opponents gameplan.

I'd consider leaning into one of the two angles more heavily over the other. But I get that may not matter as much - sometimes it is just fun to have a deck that's a little inefficient and clunky but has a lot of fun angles. Those last two points are ones I think could really help to improve your deck. I'd recommend cutting the following to make it happen:

- A few lands, prioritizing dropping low-impact stuff like Gingerbread Cabin and Idyllic Grange
- Hyrax Tower Scout, Village Bell-Ringer, Sparring Mummy. Magus of the Candelabra: Hyrax and Mummy don't seem to do much of anything in this deck. Bell-Ringer is spicy if you've landed Ashaya, Life and Limb, or Crypolith Rite, but is going to be a dead card too often for my tastes. Magus is a dead card without specifically Mana Reflection or Nyxbloom Ancient.
- Changeling Hero, Changeling Titan: These fill me with nostalgia too, but they're pretty mediocre. I still occasionally run them to fill out a really niche tribe like Dogs or Snakes or Horses, but with your commitment to a Conspiracy they feel needlessly weak here.
- Farmstead Gleaner, Barrenton Medic, Korozda Gorgon: As a Ghave deck, you have the best mana sink in the game at your fingertips. Even if you wanted these for combos, you could do better. I think they're all very replaceable.