Of all the colour combinations I think I enjoy Golgari () the most. Mostly because it can create tokens, and use sacrifice effects so I can set up some kind of ecosystem and grind out value. So, when I got a promo Slimefoot at the prerelease I was quite pleased. It does everything: Make tokens, and offer a way to win the game by sacrificing these tokens. It’s a cheap commander at and it finally pushed me to make a Saproling commander deck, something that Thelon almost, but not quite, succeded doing. (But Thelon will be likely part of the 99.) Given the nature of the deck, it’s also (mostly) budget friendly, with only Doubling Season being an expensive card, but even that one has some options for budget replacement. Even the commander itself is a mere uncommon!
While the deck is good at creating an army of Saprolings and sending them sideways, Slimefoot also lends himself well to various combos. Even an opposing Wrath effect usually results in some positive gain, but left alone it can prepare for some big turn, killing everyone at once.
The beauty is that many combo components will fill multiple roles within the different combo options. Most of them involve ways to make mana, turn these into Saprolings and sacrifice the Saprolings for more mana for more Saprolings, al the while Slimefoot gains you life and drains everyone else. These are some basic setups:
The first combo is easy: Having a token doubler like Doubling Season (Parallel Lives or Primal Vigor will do as well.) For you create 2 Saprolings, and you can sack them to the Altar for , setting up an infinite loop. While this is effective, it’s not the coolest option. But there is more:
Again, being able to sacrifice Saprolings for mana fuels a loop, where Fecundity draws you cards, and the draws can be turned into Saprolings, this time using Saproling Cluster. Again, we’re not looking to create a large army, but just a way to steal away life with Slimefoot. Even when going “infinite” or at least large, the lifegain component of these combos is not entirely irrelevant.
Cadaverous Bloom is part of an early combodeck, the infamous Pros Bloom deck. Bloom has fallen out of favour in the years, being too slow for the legacy and vintage formats, but Commander is a good place to give the card another go. Turning cards into mana allows for explosive turns. And using Lich’s Mastery probably requires an explosive turn, because of the danger involved in using it. Exiling one card with Cadaverous Bloom is already half a Saproling with Slimefoot, and Slimefoot’s build-in life gain already gives an extra card with Lich’s Mastery. With a token doubler out, that’s enough to go large, but other options are extra life gain with Blood Artist or a sacrifice outlet and Fecundity to close the loop. Just to show how reduntant some of the components are. Then there are some strong synergies to be found:
Again, Bloom can generate lots of mana, and Verdeloth likes to use lots of mana. Extra cards (and maybe sacrificing a few creatures to Ashnod’s Altar) can go a long way into creating a large for Verdeloth, leaving a lot of 2/2’s behind. A natural fit here is Song of Freyalise, to provide additional mana and eventually making the Saprolings even larger.
Another combo card of old is Saproling Burst. This was part of the Fires of Yavimaya deck, capable of suddenly bringing 12 power to the table out of nowhere. Sadly, we don’t have access to so neither Fires of Yavimaya nor Pandemonium are options, but at least we can emulate the haste granting of Fires by using Vitaspore Thallid. Burst also is 7 Slimefoot triggers right there and is simply ridiculous with Doubling Season.
All in all there are some pretty cool things to do with a simple, uncommon fungus commander.
Edit:
I forgot to mention Smothering Abomination and Fungal Plots as important potential combo pieces, as well as being means to dig for your combos. Even together they turn 2 Saprolings into 3 cards. Mazirek can be another payoff for eating Saprolings en masse, and thus potentially interesting, even though it’s not directly part of an engine. At least it offers an alternative to the drain kill.