Perhaps this is a familiar story to you- You are playing a one on one EDH game, your opponent is a Glissa the Traitor combo deck. Turn two drop for Glissa- executioner's pod. Oi vey, that card is free recursion for Glissa as long as I have creatures, and as I play mono-green I have a lot of those. Turn five Glissa pops a demonic tutor. Turn six, Mindslaver. We kept playing because the round of our draft hadn't started but I had lost as soon as the 'slaver hit the table, and presumably even when he cast the tutor. The coup de grace- I had Kamahl in hand when Mindslaver resolved, providing my opponent with as many Mindslaver recursions as I had LANDS.
This was not the first time I was locked down by a Glissa Slaver combo, but it was the first time Kamahl was complicit in ruining my chances of breaking the chain by having no creatures left for Glissa to take advantage of. It made me sick to my stomach, especially since Kamahl is my favorite win condition. Obviously, graveyard hate is important and now I was certain of it.
What to cut to make room for graveyard hate? Mono-green has few colored answers, namely night soil, which only affects creatures in the yard so really doesn't do much for a Mindslaver lock. Artifact hate such as Tormod's Crypt or the Relic of Progenitus are good, but I have no reliable way to get them when I need them.
Enter Commander and the spread of new cards introduced, one of which is SCAVENGING OOZE!
Scavenging Ooze- 1G. Creature- Ooze 2/2. G: Exile target card in a graveyard. If this is a creature, put a +1/+1 counter on Scavenging Ooze and gain one life.
This sexy glob of goo is a green players dream, easy to tutor and cast, super reusable and ultra potent. He is a great mana sink and can even be a rattlesnake protector for Omnath, who will surely convert all that spoiling green mana into bad news if someone he is in danger. What's more, you can throw it in the Birthing Pod and get yourself a shiny new Yavimaya Elder. Kind of a fun visual.
He is a rare, though the rarity is of dubious value, perhaps only relevant in pauper games. He comes only in the GWB "Counterpunch" deck. Gotta be honest, i wasn't planning on getting the GWB deck until I saw this bad boy. SOLD! Plus I guess Teneb is pretty cool and big foil one is even better.
What do you guys think? Anyways to abuse this guy?
