This is my first stab at a deck in Esper colors, and my second attempt to build around zombies. I fell in love with Necromancer's Covenant, and was sad as I noticed that most legendary zombies were in UBR.
Then I happened across Ertai, the Corrupted, who would allow me to run Necromancer's Covenant and I was overjoyed! Ertai as my general allows for a good amount of control, given the various untap effects and token producers in this deck, and this is balanced out by the eventual win condition of shambling through combat via the dark consequence of emptying every cemetery in the tri-state area.
Questions, comments, and suggestions for improvement are all welcome! I intend to go into more depth (re: analysis of card choices, synergies, strategy, etc) at a later date when I'm 1) less tired and 2) have had a few games under my belt with this deck.
Immediately I'm not sure about Undead Alchemist. For a mill strategy, it's beyond amazing. In this deck, I'm not sure it will do much, because it removes the damage it would deal. :\
Mikaeus the Unhallowed should be fantastic in this deck, especially with your general. It'd definitely increase your sac ability.
Sacred Mesa may be another card worthwhile to consider. I know they're not exactly zombies, but think about how cool it would be to kill someone with ponies.
Immediately I'm not sure about Undead Alchemist. For a mill strategy, it's beyond amazing. In this deck, I'm not sure it will do much, because it removes the damage it would deal. :\
Mikaeus the Unhallowed should be fantastic in this deck, especially with your general. It'd definitely increase your sac ability.
Sacred Mesa may be another card worthwhile to consider. I know they're not exactly zombies, but think about how cool it would be to kill someone with ponies.
At work right now, but these are the basic things I noticed. Maybe throw in Magister Sphinx for the hurt.
I talked to at least one person about how awesome Minamo is with Ertai, then ended up forgetting to include it. Herp derp indeed.
Zombie Mike would be really nice. However, he costs 3BBB, which might be a tad prohibitive, and I'd have to cut a card for him. That being said, I'm more than amenable to add him in if you could help me cut something for him; his effect is rather incredible.
Sacred Mesa is interesting, but early game it's a dead card because you have to hold onto it until you have enough mana to actually make moar pegasi. I've played around with it in other decks, and I don't really like it too much. I looked at Mobilization as well; both have costs that are too high for what they do.
I like Undead Alchemist. It's a bit of a pet card, and it can generate an enormous amount of tokens, at which point I sac him and win the game. I understand that he is counter to the strategy of winning by combat damage, but he's one of the strongest zombie token generators in existence.
The Magister Sphinx is definitely a good card, but it's not exactly on the theme of counterspells and/or zombies. Were I not devoted to this theme, I could build a much more powerful deck, but I'm currently very happy with the flavor of this deck.
What's your opinion on Vela the Night-Clad? She may not be a zombie, but she's a wizard with very nifty abilities: evasion and acting as a rattlesnake vs removal sounds nice. I'm not sure about her creature types (non-zombie, at least without Conspiracy out) and her cost (cmc 6, albeit less color-heavy than Zombie Mike).
Thanks for commenting! I hope I don't come off as ungrateful or dismissive of your suggestions or anything like that!
Vela's pretty sweet, especially if you have a dedicated sac outlet. You'll be relying on your general a lot though unless you put in more sac outlets. Maybe Cemetary Puca or Aphetto Alchemist. Mike is totally worth it, though. I'll look up some more cards later on.
Lullmage Mentor seems really out of place here. I get that he counters stuff, but only after you counter a bunch of stuff. Which I suppose is the point, but the buildup still seems too lengthy. Maybe lose the Mentor for Mikaeus the Unhallowed.
Hell's Caretaker seems really solid, especially with zombie mike. Not sure what I'd cut for him, probably Kira, as she works against untapping and reusing Ertai (which I'm assuming the idea is.)
I would personally cut Filth for Vela the Night-Clad, as intimidate is usually better than swampwalk, even if you take no effort for swamp walk.
Definately make room for Buried Alive. I've tested a similar deck to this with it, and it's such an amazing utility spell. Even moreso with added Caretaker. Gets Reassembling Skeleton, Gravecrawler, and Wonder all in the grave, puts you in a good spot. I personally run it over Entomb, but your mileage may vary.
I don't have a Vindicate, so I run Necrotic Sliver instead. You can recur it with caretaker, or rites it, so it gets a little more mileage for a little more mana. Being able to vindicate at instant speed is a plus.
If you're looking for extra sac outlets, then the man you want to see is Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. Nasty brute on his own, eats enemy dudes, generally draws removal away from other things. Always a good time with smiley.
Those are just my thoughts, I really like this deck!
Thanks for the reply! I was just about to give up hope of more feedback!
Flavor-wise, I wanted to represent two themes with this deck: 1) mastery of that small dark corner of magic that involves laughing in the face of any sanctity or sacral quality that life and the Blessed Sleep afterwards may or may not have, and 2) using both that dark magic and the freedom granted by a lack of ethics to achieve mastery over magic itself
tl;dr: zombies & counterspells.
Re: Lullmage Mentor: the point is not to accumulate merfolk; the point is to *always* have counter fodder for Ertai as long as both are present and functioning. Sac a creature, counter the spell, and Lullmage Mentor generates a token.
Filth & Vela
I may cut Filth for Vela; she's really solid, and matches Diregraf Captain's ability in a pleasantly harmonious fashion. Also, removing Filth makes this deck that much less grave dependent, always a plus.
Entomb & Buried Alive
I really don't recall why I put in Entomb in instead of Buried Alive. I will switch those out posthaste.
Re: Vindicate & Necrotic Sliver
I play mostly on Cockatrice; many of my friends are at other colleges, so it makes playing together possible, and eliminates budget/collection as a concern for deckbuilding.
That being said, I don't like Necrotic Sliver quite as much; my issue is that, yes, it's recurrable, but it's 3 minimum to recur it and explode a permanent with it, more if said recursion only returned it to hand somehow. I don't know how fond I am of the extra cost, but I'll definitely give it thought; after all, part of the spirit of EDH, at least for me, is eschewing most efficiently costed one-shot effects for what are oftentimes not-so-efficiently costed repeatable ones.
Re: Cathars' Crusade
You're right, I totally missed the fact that Crusade's pump prevents undying from triggering, then immediately afterwards, truly realized that Hell's Caretaker truly is amazing with zombie Mike out. Wow.
Sac outlets:
I'm not really looking for all that many sac outlets. I want to be able to use Ertai to good effect as far as protecting my assets goes, and it's very easy to end up with too many sac outlets or reanimation cards and no creatures in the grave to reanimate. I did add in an Altar of Dementia in recently (I promise I'll be better about updating the list!) for its synergy with Undead Alchemist, my favorite card in the deck due to the sheer amount of tokens it can spit out.
Grimgrin (who I keep wanting to call Grimnir, even though he only has one or two things in common with Lord Oðin) is quite a strong creature, and he synergizes nicely with both the undying mechanic as well as the various untap effects.
I did take out Kira earlier today, because I realized that that would make untapping my dudes unnecessarily difficult.
I didn't consider that interaction with lullmage, that's not too bad actually.
The main upside to the Necrotic sliver is that it's something you can do at instant speed, and it plays well with zombie mike. You'd be surprised how often that's relevant.
I like the Undead alchemist, and he works well with a pet card of my own, Dimir Doppelganger. You can mill them, put the alchemist trigger on the stack, then doppelganger it, and still get a zombie! ("Oh what's this? Oh hi there mister Ulamog! You work for me now!")
Also, no Zombie Apocalypse? Unfortunately it does kill Ertai, but it's can be a game ender, especially with Intruder Alarm, and/or Conspiracy.
Would you please be so kind as to explain the Doppelganger Alchemist interaction? I'm afraid I don't quite see how you could do both, because the Alchemist's ability doesn't end up exiling the creature; the Doppelganger's ability does.
I forgot that Necrotic Sliver does get undying off of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, so the sliver would get reanimated for free, at least the first, third, etc sacrifices.
No Zombie Apocalypse as of now. It's definitely up for consideration, but it does kill Ertai, and he is most of my board protection.
Why no bloodghast? Definitely the best of the 4 imho.
Because Bloodghast comes back with landfall, which isn't as dependable, controllable, or as responsive as paying B for Nether Traitor's ability, or getting free undying from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.
I'm also having difficulty cutting any more zombies for non-zombies, for reasons of both flavor and functionality.
Would you please be so kind as to explain the Doppelganger Alchemist interaction? I'm afraid I don't quite see how you could do both, because the Alchemist's ability doesn't end up exiling the creature; the Doppelganger's ability does.
Simple! The Alchemist's ability triggers when the creature is put into the graveyard, and isn't dependent on removing the creature (it's just part of the effect.) So, you put the alchemist trigger on the stack, use the Doppelganger to remove your desired creature, then the alchemist resolves, puts the zombie into play, and tries (and fails) to remove the creature.
The interaction is the same as if you had multiple alchemists. Since there's no "if" clause in the ability, once the trigger goes on the stack, it doesn't matter what happens to the creature. End result is more zombies for you, less eldrazi titans for them.
9/22/2011: Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from his or her library, the triggered ability of each Undead Alchemist you control will trigger. The first such ability to resolve will exile that creature card and create a Zombie token. Subsequent abilities won't exile the creature card, but each will create another Zombie token.
The Doppelganger's ability is excellent, but I'm worried that it costs [mana1UB[/mana] to activate; I don't want to have to keep that much mana up on a regular basis while the Doppelganger's out and about. Also, I have yet to see anyone but me running Eldrazi titans in my meta. I'm using the Undead Alchemist because he's the best generator of zombie tokens in all of MtG, not because I want to mill out my opponent.
I think my list has Altar of Dementia for a free sac outlet and some synergy with the Alchemist, but that's about as far as I'd like to go with milling. I'm even iffy on the very idea of the Altar just because of how many amazing suggestions for super-useful cards I've gotten from the many knowledgeable and clever posters in this thread.
Well you don't have to keep it up all the time, and it doesn't have to be milled creatures. Think of it as a second body double that can change form at will.
True, that's fair. Also, with all the sacrificing you'll be doing, Grave Pact is probably worth a spot on the list. Seems like it doesn't draw a lot of cards either, and can run out of steam. Not quite sure what I'd do to solve that. I like Slate of Ancestry though. Mind's Eye could also work. (I prefer more reusable draw engines.
*sniffle*
so proud to have inspired another to seek dominion over all things!
I got through a few games tonight with my list (to which I made a few minor changes after both games: Lightning Greaves->Urza's Incubator, Foil->Fact or Fiction).
The deck, even with a Phyrexian Arena out, wants for draw power. I eventually had a Cryptic Gateway and Intruder Alarm out, which enabled me to dump a few creatures from my hand onto the field, and there was no way I could replenish my hand quickly enough. Maybe Null Profusion deserves a slot?
I had trouble with my number of blue mana sources; I wanted to make zombie wizards with Lich Lord of Unx (cost UB) to fend off my friend's Grave Pact and Bloodghast, but I also wanted to hold mana open to counter stuff with Ertai. Another thing I had trouble with was making zombie tokens. This was probably due to the Grave Pact, but I felt it nonetheless. I considered Zombie Infestation, but the deck already lacks in draw power and I don't want it to be too dependent on the graveyard. I ended up winning the game very narrowly, only because I had Vela out, and cast a topdecked kicked Rite of Replication on her. Given the amount of tutors I'm running, this method could serve as a handy backup wincon.
Edit: saw some posts that I didn't notice at first. Grave Pact should probably go in somewhere. I don't run Cabal Coffers because our playgroup agreed that such large amounts of mana have an undesirable effect on our meta. Feel free to run it; I don't because of my playgroup's social contract. As for draw engines, I like the Slate, but it's too expensive to activate. The discard isn't as bad as it would be in most decks, but it costs 4 to activate. I think I'd rather run Mind's Eye.
Then I happened across Ertai, the Corrupted, who would allow me to run Necromancer's Covenant and I was overjoyed! Ertai as my general allows for a good amount of control, given the various untap effects and token producers in this deck, and this is balanced out by the eventual win condition of shambling through combat via the dark consequence of emptying every cemetery in the tri-state area.
Decklist by Card Type:
1x Ertai, the Corrupted
Creature (25)
1x Aphetto Alchemist
1x Body Double
1x Cemetery Puca
1x Cemetery Reaper
1x Corpse Harvester
1x Death Baron
1x Diregraf Captain
1x Fatestitcher
1x Filth
1x Grave Titan
1x Gravecrawler
1x Gravespawn Sovereign
1x Guile
1x Havengul Lich
1x Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1x Lich Lord of Unx
1x Lord of the Undead
1x Lullmage Mentor
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Necrotic Sliver
1x Nether Traitor
1x Noxious Ghoul
1x Reassembling Skeleton
1x Undead Alchemist
1x Undead Warchief
1x Vela the Night-Clad
1x Wonder
1x Zombie Master
1x Flooded Strand
1x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
5x Island
1x Marsh Flats
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
5x Plains
1x Polluted Delta
1x Volrath's Stronghold
1x Unholy Grotto
1x Scrubland
11x Swamp
1x Terrain Generator
1x Thawing Glaciers
1x Tundra
1x Underground Sea
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Watery Grave
Sorcery (9)
1x Army of the Damned
1x Austere Command
1x Beseech the Queen
1x Buried Alive
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Diabolic Intent
1x Grim Tutor
1x Rite of Replication
1x Unburial Rites
Enchantment (13)
1x Animate Dead
1x Cessation
1x Conspiracy
1x Intangible Virtue
1x Intruder Alarm
1x Land Tax
1x Leyline of Anticipation
1x Martyr's Bond
1x Necromancer's Covenant
1x Oversold Cemetery
1x Pemmin's Aura
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Rooftop Storm
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Cryptic Gateway
1x Darksteel Plate
1x Expedition Map
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Magewright's Stone
1x Swiftfoot Boots
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
Instant (7)
1x Abolish
1x Unmake
1x Foil
1x Mortify
1x Return to Dust
1x Vampiric Tutor
Decklist by Function and CMC:
5 Ertai, the Corrupted
Resetting my Exploitative Dominance
0 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 Aphetto Alchemist
2 Magewright's Stone
3 Thousand-Year Elixir
3 Intruder Alarm
3 Pemmin's Aura
4 Fatestitcher
Mastering Corrupt Countermagic
2 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Nether Traitor
3 Cessation
3 Lullmage Mentor
4 Foil
6 Guile
Amassing the Undead
3 Cemetery Reaper
3 Lich Lord of Unx
4 Undead Alchemist
5 Cryptic Gateway
6 Grave Titan
6 Necromancer's Covenant
8 Army of the Damned
Unholy Strength
2 Intangible Virtue
3 Cemetery Reaper
3 Death Baron
3 Diregraf Captain
3 Lord of the Undead
3 Zombie Master
4 Undead Warchief
6 Necromancer's Covenant
6 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Gravecrawler
2 Nether Traitor
2 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Animate Dead
2 Oversold Cemetery
3 Cemetery Puca
5 Body Double
5 Havengul Lich
5 Unburial Rites
6 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
6 Gravespawn Sovereign
Synergistic/Evasive Burial Rites
1 Buried Alive
4 Wonder
5 Corpse Harvester
Protective Gear
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Darksteel Plate
Mana Bond Enhancement
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Terrain Generator
0 Thawing Glaciers
1 Land Tax
1 Expedition Map
3 Chromatic Lantern
5 Gilded Lotus
3 Unmake
3 Abolish
3 Mortify
3 Necrotic Sliver
4 Return to Dust
Ravaging the Field of War
5 Noxious Ghoul
6 Martyr's Bond
6 Austere Command
Tutors
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Diabolic Intent
3 Grim Tutor
3 Beseech the Queen
Other Utility
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Leyline of Anticipation
5 Conspiracy
9 Rite of Replication
Questions, comments, and suggestions for improvement are all welcome! I intend to go into more depth (re: analysis of card choices, synergies, strategy, etc) at a later date when I'm 1) less tired and 2) have had a few games under my belt with this deck.
thanks for reading!
malboro_urchin
Edit: Changelog
11/27-28
Cut:
Added:
11/28
Cut:
Added:
Mikaeus the Unhallowed should be fantastic in this deck, especially with your general. It'd definitely increase your sac ability.
Sacred Mesa may be another card worthwhile to consider. I know they're not exactly zombies, but think about how cool it would be to kill someone with ponies.
Where's your Minamo, School at Water's Edge? Totally fantastic land for your general.
At work right now, but these are the basic things I noticed. Maybe throw in Magister Sphinx for the hurt.
I talked to at least one person about how awesome Minamo is with Ertai, then ended up forgetting to include it. Herp derp indeed.
Zombie Mike would be really nice. However, he costs 3BBB, which might be a tad prohibitive, and I'd have to cut a card for him. That being said, I'm more than amenable to add him in if you could help me cut something for him; his effect is rather incredible.
Sacred Mesa is interesting, but early game it's a dead card because you have to hold onto it until you have enough mana to actually make moar pegasi. I've played around with it in other decks, and I don't really like it too much. I looked at Mobilization as well; both have costs that are too high for what they do.
I like Undead Alchemist. It's a bit of a pet card, and it can generate an enormous amount of tokens, at which point I sac him and win the game. I understand that he is counter to the strategy of winning by combat damage, but he's one of the strongest zombie token generators in existence.
The Magister Sphinx is definitely a good card, but it's not exactly on the theme of counterspells and/or zombies. Were I not devoted to this theme, I could build a much more powerful deck, but I'm currently very happy with the flavor of this deck.
What's your opinion on Vela the Night-Clad? She may not be a zombie, but she's a wizard with very nifty abilities: evasion and acting as a rattlesnake vs removal sounds nice. I'm not sure about her creature types (non-zombie, at least without Conspiracy out) and her cost (cmc 6, albeit less color-heavy than Zombie Mike).
Thanks for commenting! I hope I don't come off as ungrateful or dismissive of your suggestions or anything like that!
Hell's Caretaker seems really solid, especially with zombie mike. Not sure what I'd cut for him, probably Kira, as she works against untapping and reusing Ertai (which I'm assuming the idea is.)
I would personally cut Filth for Vela the Night-Clad, as intimidate is usually better than swampwalk, even if you take no effort for swamp walk.
Definately make room for Buried Alive. I've tested a similar deck to this with it, and it's such an amazing utility spell. Even moreso with added Caretaker. Gets Reassembling Skeleton, Gravecrawler, and Wonder all in the grave, puts you in a good spot. I personally run it over Entomb, but your mileage may vary.
I don't have a Vindicate, so I run Necrotic Sliver instead. You can recur it with caretaker, or rites it, so it gets a little more mileage for a little more mana. Being able to vindicate at instant speed is a plus.
I'd lose the Cathars' Crusade if you're running Mike, they don't play well together. Instead, maybe Cover of Darkness?
If you're looking for extra sac outlets, then the man you want to see is Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. Nasty brute on his own, eats enemy dudes, generally draws removal away from other things. Always a good time with smiley.
Those are just my thoughts, I really like this deck!
Edit: Conspiracy plus Rooftop Storm equals fun times? Just a thought.
Thanks for the reply! I was just about to give up hope of more feedback!
Flavor-wise, I wanted to represent two themes with this deck: 1) mastery of that small dark corner of magic that involves laughing in the face of any sanctity or sacral quality that life and the Blessed Sleep afterwards may or may not have, and 2) using both that dark magic and the freedom granted by a lack of ethics to achieve mastery over magic itself
tl;dr: zombies & counterspells.
Re: Lullmage Mentor: the point is not to accumulate merfolk; the point is to *always* have counter fodder for Ertai as long as both are present and functioning. Sac a creature, counter the spell, and Lullmage Mentor generates a token.
Filth & Vela
I may cut Filth for Vela; she's really solid, and matches Diregraf Captain's ability in a pleasantly harmonious fashion. Also, removing Filth makes this deck that much less grave dependent, always a plus.
Entomb & Buried Alive
I really don't recall why I put in Entomb in instead of Buried Alive. I will switch those out posthaste.
Re: Vindicate & Necrotic Sliver
I play mostly on Cockatrice; many of my friends are at other colleges, so it makes playing together possible, and eliminates budget/collection as a concern for deckbuilding.
That being said, I don't like Necrotic Sliver quite as much; my issue is that, yes, it's recurrable, but it's 3 minimum to recur it and explode a permanent with it, more if said recursion only returned it to hand somehow. I don't know how fond I am of the extra cost, but I'll definitely give it thought; after all, part of the spirit of EDH, at least for me, is eschewing most efficiently costed one-shot effects for what are oftentimes not-so-efficiently costed repeatable ones.
Re: Cathars' Crusade
You're right, I totally missed the fact that Crusade's pump prevents undying from triggering, then immediately afterwards, truly realized that Hell's Caretaker truly is amazing with zombie Mike out. Wow.
Sac outlets:
I'm not really looking for all that many sac outlets. I want to be able to use Ertai to good effect as far as protecting my assets goes, and it's very easy to end up with too many sac outlets or reanimation cards and no creatures in the grave to reanimate. I did add in an Altar of Dementia in recently (I promise I'll be better about updating the list!) for its synergy with Undead Alchemist, my favorite card in the deck due to the sheer amount of tokens it can spit out.
Grimgrin (who I keep wanting to call Grimnir, even though he only has one or two things in common with Lord Oðin) is quite a strong creature, and he synergizes nicely with both the undying mechanic as well as the various untap effects.
I did take out Kira earlier today, because I realized that that would make untapping my dudes unnecessarily difficult.
The main upside to the Necrotic sliver is that it's something you can do at instant speed, and it plays well with zombie mike. You'd be surprised how often that's relevant.
I like the Undead alchemist, and he works well with a pet card of my own, Dimir Doppelganger. You can mill them, put the alchemist trigger on the stack, then doppelganger it, and still get a zombie! ("Oh what's this? Oh hi there mister Ulamog! You work for me now!")
Also, no Zombie Apocalypse? Unfortunately it does kill Ertai, but it's can be a game ender, especially with Intruder Alarm, and/or Conspiracy.
I forgot that Necrotic Sliver does get undying off of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, so the sliver would get reanimated for free, at least the first, third, etc sacrifices.
No Zombie Apocalypse as of now. It's definitely up for consideration, but it does kill Ertai, and he is most of my board protection.
Because Bloodghast comes back with landfall, which isn't as dependable, controllable, or as responsive as paying B for Nether Traitor's ability, or getting free undying from Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.
I'm also having difficulty cutting any more zombies for non-zombies, for reasons of both flavor and functionality.
Also, which 4 are you talking about?
Simple! The Alchemist's ability triggers when the creature is put into the graveyard, and isn't dependent on removing the creature (it's just part of the effect.) So, you put the alchemist trigger on the stack, use the Doppelganger to remove your desired creature, then the alchemist resolves, puts the zombie into play, and tries (and fails) to remove the creature.
The interaction is the same as if you had multiple alchemists. Since there's no "if" clause in the ability, once the trigger goes on the stack, it doesn't matter what happens to the creature. End result is more zombies for you, less eldrazi titans for them.
From Undead Alchemist oracle rulings:
I think my list has Altar of Dementia for a free sac outlet and some synergy with the Alchemist, but that's about as far as I'd like to go with milling. I'm even iffy on the very idea of the Altar just because of how many amazing suggestions for super-useful cards I've gotten from the many knowledgeable and clever posters in this thread.
Also, your list has Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth" target="blank">Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, but not his bestest buddy in the whole multiverse, Cabal Coffers?
1 Ertai, the Corrupted
Creatures (27)
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Vela the Night-Clad
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Aphetto Alchemist
1 Body Double
1 Cemetery Puca
1 Cemetery Reaper
1 Corpse Harvester
1 Death Baron
1 Diregraf Captain
1 Fatestitcher
1 Grave Titan
1 Gravecrawler
1 Gravespawn Sovereign
1 Havengul Lich
1 Lich Lord of Unx
1 Lord of the Undead
1 Nether Traitor
1 Noxious Ghoul
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Undead Alchemist
1 Undead Warchief
1 Wonder
1 Zombie Master
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
16 Swamp
1 Terrain Generator
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Plains
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Meteor Crater
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Tainted Isle
1 Crypt of Agadeem
Sorceries (6)
1 Austere Command
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Unburial Rites
1 Buried Alive
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Animate Dead
1 Cessation
1 Conspiracy
1 Intangible Virtue
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Necromancer's Covenant
1 Oversold Cemetery
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Polluted Bonds
1 Attrition
1 Grave Pact
Artifacts (12)
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Cryptic Gateway
1 Expedition Map
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Magewright's Stone
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Journeyer's Kite
1 Mind's Eye
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Mimic Vat
1 Traveler's Amulet
Instants (4)
1 Foil
1 Return to Dust
1 Forbid
1 Spell Crumple
I'll let you know how it goes.
so proud to have inspired another to seek dominion over all things!
I got through a few games tonight with my list (to which I made a few minor changes after both games: Lightning Greaves->Urza's Incubator, Foil->Fact or Fiction).
The deck, even with a Phyrexian Arena out, wants for draw power. I eventually had a Cryptic Gateway and Intruder Alarm out, which enabled me to dump a few creatures from my hand onto the field, and there was no way I could replenish my hand quickly enough. Maybe Null Profusion deserves a slot?
I had trouble with my number of blue mana sources; I wanted to make zombie wizards with Lich Lord of Unx (cost UB) to fend off my friend's Grave Pact and Bloodghast, but I also wanted to hold mana open to counter stuff with Ertai. Another thing I had trouble with was making zombie tokens. This was probably due to the Grave Pact, but I felt it nonetheless. I considered Zombie Infestation, but the deck already lacks in draw power and I don't want it to be too dependent on the graveyard. I ended up winning the game very narrowly, only because I had Vela out, and cast a topdecked kicked Rite of Replication on her. Given the amount of tutors I'm running, this method could serve as a handy backup wincon.
Edit: saw some posts that I didn't notice at first. Grave Pact should probably go in somewhere. I don't run Cabal Coffers because our playgroup agreed that such large amounts of mana have an undesirable effect on our meta. Feel free to run it; I don't because of my playgroup's social contract. As for draw engines, I like the Slate, but it's too expensive to activate. The discard isn't as bad as it would be in most decks, but it costs 4 to activate. I think I'd rather run Mind's Eye.