Hey everybody. I've had a deck I've been kicking around for a decade now. Right now I'm rebuilding from scratch, and I'm looking for an overhaul. We tend our army. We grow them. Then we throw them away. On with the list!!
These guys get together into a little army, then we genocide them. My favorite mass sacrifice outlet is Devouring Greed since it produces a major hit on the opponent. Here's a very possible play scale
Turn 5 Devouring Greed
Sac all 4 zuberas
They loose 8 life and we gain 8 life
Extra 4 damage from Ember-Fist
Extra 8 life from Silent-Chant
4x 1/1 Spirit tokens from Dripping-Tongue
Draw 4 cards from Floating-Dream
These bombs can easily recur. Let's say the cards drawn on Turn 4 get us an Immortal Servitude. Turn 5 we get all our Zuberas back for value blocks or to set up a turn 6 bomb. Remember, the tokens from Dripping-Tongue count for Devouring Greed
There are a few more bombs I think are worth mentioning: Last-Ditch Effort - It can get us 2 damage and 2 Zubera abilities on turn 3, helping capitalize on abilities best in the early game like Ashen-Skin and Floating Dream. Plunge into Darkness - It can gain a mess of life, trigger a ton of Zuberas, and help you dig deep for utility cards. Skullmulcher - If this replaces Devouring Greed in our example, we get a 7/7 creature, deal 4 damage, gain 8 life, get 4x 1/1 spirits, and draw EIGHT cards. Sounds great.
The deck may seem pretty all-in, but there is a thin utility skeleton through it. The Bant zuberas are useful as chump blockers since green replaces itself, white gains life, and blue draws a card. Hell, Ashen-Skin is included mostly for it's value as a blocker. Lingering Souls can provide a potent strike force or a good defense, can be used again, and the tokens feed our bombs. And good ol' Crop Rotation, to fetch our 5-color lands at a minimal cost.
There are two components I need the most: acceleration and a proper land base. I know that the deck is begging me for Æther Vial, but the monetary cost prohibits it for now. I have put in 2 Soul Foundry to remind me to one day invest in the Vials. In the meantime, the Foundry can improve consistency and will help to rebuild board presence after a bomb. As for the lands, I am running a janky base of the lands I already own. I've had ideas for investment into better lands like Gemstone Mine, Ancient Ziggurat, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Reflecting Pool, etc.
Some years back, I built a Golgari Zubera deck around Savra, Queen of the Golgari. It was fun but janky, and I eventually dismantled it. Good to see someone making better use of these little guys.
I'm finding it hard to suggest anything useful here. Mimic Vat isn't as good for your specific strategy as Soul Foundry. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is a worse sac engine than Skullmulcher. Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest doesn't have many targets to actually place its counters on if all your Zuberas are getting sacrificed. I suppose Dictate of Erebos could be useful... or better yet, Martyr's Bond, which would also turn your Crop Rotations into Ice Storms.
Maybe Bygone Bishop for more card draw? (Hey, Kraul with Investigate... I may have a new deck idea here. Thanks!)
... Oh, wait, you're asking about mana sources. Whoops.
You're only running three colors of noncreature spells, and can easily get that down to two, so Ancient Ziggurat is indeed a great choice. Cavern of Souls is, sadly, far too expensive. Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade are slower than lands like Mana Confluence, but they're also way cheaper in real money. And I guess you could run Tendo Ice Bridge and sac it to Crop Rotation after using the counter.
A card that would fit really well in your deck is Phyrexian Altar. It serves as a sac outlet and also fixes your colors. Imagine this variant of your inital scenario:
Turn 1: Land
Turn 2: Land, Dripping-Tongue Zubera
Turn 3: Land, Phyrexian Altar
Turn 4: Land, Silent-Chant Zubera, Floating-Dream Zubera. Sac all three Zuberas to get 3 mana, let their triggers resolve and you get 3 tokens, 6 life, and 3 cards. Sac 2 of the tokens to get another 2 mana for a total of 5 and cast Immortal Servitude for 2 to bring back your Zuberas. Sac then again to get 3 mana, let their triggers resolve (now for 6 of each!), sac one token for another mana and cast Devouring Greed saccing 6 tokens. During that turn (turn 4!) you've drained your opponent for 12 life, got an additioal 18 life, and drew an additional 9 cards.
If instead you wait until turn 5, you get to play even more Zuberas, and that single Devouring Greed can easily be lethal. Or if you had a second Dripping-Tongue Zubera.
Another fitting card, and one that complements Immortal Servitude well, is Cauldron Haze. With that your Zuberas can come back right away as 0/1s, ready to die and trigger again for only 2 mana.
EDIT:
If you substitute Immortal Servitude with Cauldron Haze in my above scenario, you can get to two Zuberas on turn 4, give them both persist, sac them stacking the triggers so that both persist back first, then sac them again still in response to their triggers. Each trigger will thus count 4 dead Zuberas for the turn, two of which were Dripping-Tongue Zuberas, so you'll have 8 tokens (plus whatever the other Zubera provides x4) and the 4 mana for Devouring Greed, which can drain the opponent for 16 life! If both Zuberas were the green version, you could drain for up to 32 life. That's game.
EDIT2:
You want to use your first turn productively, which in this case means mana fixing. Some cards that may be useful here are Springleaf Drum, Search for Tomorrow, and Utopia Sprawl, all of which could get you to 4 mana on turn 3.
You could also just play a 1 mana spirit as extra fodder for Devouring Greed. Things like Plagued Rusalka, Hana Kami, or Disowned Ancestor are useful in their own right. Imagine my first scenario with a Mausoleum Wanderer played on turn 1. Even though you only drained for 12 life with Devouring Greed, you get to swing with a 15/15 flyer afterwards! In my Cauldron Haze scenario it's still a 12/12 flyer, also on turn 4.
The white Zubera is the least useful, its main purpose is to be another Zubera to be counted for having died. You can more easily achive that by adding a changeling (which is a Zubera and a spirit). There are quite a few cheap ones. You could use Mothdust Changeling as your 1-drop, for example, and use it to increase the value of your later Zubera deaths, resulting in a lethal Devouring Greed in both of my scenarios. Phantasmal Image can also serve as a cheap Zubera.
EDIT3:
It may be a good idea to cut down on your colors. I think, three colors would suffice and seeing as blue, black and green are the most important, I'd cut white and red entirely (even though losing the red Zubera does hurt quite a bit, but maybe keep a few copies). This allows you to fix your colors with a single triland (Opulent Palace) on your first turn.
Play full sets of the blue, black, and green Zubera, complement them with cheap changelings in those colors, add Phyrexian Altar and Cauldron Haze plus a few Immortal Servitudes, with Devouring Greed as the big gun, and you may very well go through your entire deck thanks to the blue Zubera before you drain multiple opponents to death on turn 4.
EDIT4:
I just remembered an old white card, that could totally justify playing white: Remembrance! With that, you get another copy of any Zubera you kill from your deck, easily assembling complete sets, further fueling the Zubera genocide.
2 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
3 Ember-Fist Zubera
4 Floating-Dream Zubera
4 Silent-Chant Zubera
2 Skullmulcher
4 Crop Rotation
2 Plunge Into Darkness
Sorcery (10)
4 Devouring Greed
3 Immortal Servitude
3 Lingering Souls
2 Soul Foundry
23 Lands
The concept centers around these fun lil' buddies, ranked based on their utility:
Floating-Dream Zubera - Card Draw!
Dripping-Tongue Zubera - The Tokens!
Silent-Chant Zubera - Life Gain!
Ember-Fist Zubera - Direct Damage!
Ashen-Skin Zubera - The Discard!
These guys get together into a little army, then we genocide them. My favorite mass sacrifice outlet is Devouring Greed since it produces a major hit on the opponent. Here's a very possible play scale
Turn 1
Land
Turn 2
Land
Dripping-Tongue Zubera
Turn 3
Land
Ember-Fist Zubera, Crop Rotation (fixing colors)
Turn 4
Land
Silent-Chant Zubera
Floating-Dream Zubera
Turn 5
Devouring Greed
Sac all 4 zuberas
They loose 8 life and we gain 8 life
Extra 4 damage from Ember-Fist
Extra 8 life from Silent-Chant
4x 1/1 Spirit tokens from Dripping-Tongue
Draw 4 cards from Floating-Dream
These bombs can easily recur. Let's say the cards drawn on Turn 4 get us an Immortal Servitude. Turn 5 we get all our Zuberas back for value blocks or to set up a turn 6 bomb. Remember, the tokens from Dripping-Tongue count for Devouring Greed
There are a few more bombs I think are worth mentioning:
Last-Ditch Effort - It can get us 2 damage and 2 Zubera abilities on turn 3, helping capitalize on abilities best in the early game like Ashen-Skin and Floating Dream.
Plunge into Darkness - It can gain a mess of life, trigger a ton of Zuberas, and help you dig deep for utility cards.
Skullmulcher - If this replaces Devouring Greed in our example, we get a 7/7 creature, deal 4 damage, gain 8 life, get 4x 1/1 spirits, and draw EIGHT cards. Sounds great.
The deck may seem pretty all-in, but there is a thin utility skeleton through it. The Bant zuberas are useful as chump blockers since green replaces itself, white gains life, and blue draws a card. Hell, Ashen-Skin is included mostly for it's value as a blocker. Lingering Souls can provide a potent strike force or a good defense, can be used again, and the tokens feed our bombs. And good ol' Crop Rotation, to fetch our 5-color lands at a minimal cost.
There are two components I need the most: acceleration and a proper land base. I know that the deck is begging me for Æther Vial, but the monetary cost prohibits it for now. I have put in 2 Soul Foundry to remind me to one day invest in the Vials. In the meantime, the Foundry can improve consistency and will help to rebuild board presence after a bomb. As for the lands, I am running a janky base of the lands I already own. I've had ideas for investment into better lands like Gemstone Mine, Ancient Ziggurat, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Reflecting Pool, etc.
So, any suggestions?
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I'm finding it hard to suggest anything useful here. Mimic Vat isn't as good for your specific strategy as Soul Foundry. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is a worse sac engine than Skullmulcher. Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest doesn't have many targets to actually place its counters on if all your Zuberas are getting sacrificed. I suppose Dictate of Erebos could be useful... or better yet, Martyr's Bond, which would also turn your Crop Rotations into Ice Storms.
Maybe Bygone Bishop for more card draw? (Hey, Kraul with Investigate... I may have a new deck idea here. Thanks!)
... Oh, wait, you're asking about mana sources. Whoops.
You're only running three colors of noncreature spells, and can easily get that down to two, so Ancient Ziggurat is indeed a great choice. Cavern of Souls is, sadly, far too expensive. Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade are slower than lands like Mana Confluence, but they're also way cheaper in real money. And I guess you could run Tendo Ice Bridge and sac it to Crop Rotation after using the counter.
If you're leaning on green, you can also run Abundant Growth, or maybe Joiner Adept. You could also try artifact fixers like Chromatic Lantern or Chromatic Star.
Turn 1: Land
Turn 2: Land, Dripping-Tongue Zubera
Turn 3: Land, Phyrexian Altar
Turn 4: Land, Silent-Chant Zubera, Floating-Dream Zubera. Sac all three Zuberas to get 3 mana, let their triggers resolve and you get 3 tokens, 6 life, and 3 cards. Sac 2 of the tokens to get another 2 mana for a total of 5 and cast Immortal Servitude for 2 to bring back your Zuberas. Sac then again to get 3 mana, let their triggers resolve (now for 6 of each!), sac one token for another mana and cast Devouring Greed saccing 6 tokens. During that turn (turn 4!) you've drained your opponent for 12 life, got an additioal 18 life, and drew an additional 9 cards.
If instead you wait until turn 5, you get to play even more Zuberas, and that single Devouring Greed can easily be lethal. Or if you had a second Dripping-Tongue Zubera.
Another fitting card, and one that complements Immortal Servitude well, is Cauldron Haze. With that your Zuberas can come back right away as 0/1s, ready to die and trigger again for only 2 mana.
EDIT:
If you substitute Immortal Servitude with Cauldron Haze in my above scenario, you can get to two Zuberas on turn 4, give them both persist, sac them stacking the triggers so that both persist back first, then sac them again still in response to their triggers. Each trigger will thus count 4 dead Zuberas for the turn, two of which were Dripping-Tongue Zuberas, so you'll have 8 tokens (plus whatever the other Zubera provides x4) and the 4 mana for Devouring Greed, which can drain the opponent for 16 life! If both Zuberas were the green version, you could drain for up to 32 life. That's game.
EDIT2:
You want to use your first turn productively, which in this case means mana fixing. Some cards that may be useful here are Springleaf Drum, Search for Tomorrow, and Utopia Sprawl, all of which could get you to 4 mana on turn 3.
You could also just play a 1 mana spirit as extra fodder for Devouring Greed. Things like Plagued Rusalka, Hana Kami, or Disowned Ancestor are useful in their own right. Imagine my first scenario with a Mausoleum Wanderer played on turn 1. Even though you only drained for 12 life with Devouring Greed, you get to swing with a 15/15 flyer afterwards! In my Cauldron Haze scenario it's still a 12/12 flyer, also on turn 4.
The white Zubera is the least useful, its main purpose is to be another Zubera to be counted for having died. You can more easily achive that by adding a changeling (which is a Zubera and a spirit). There are quite a few cheap ones. You could use Mothdust Changeling as your 1-drop, for example, and use it to increase the value of your later Zubera deaths, resulting in a lethal Devouring Greed in both of my scenarios. Phantasmal Image can also serve as a cheap Zubera.
EDIT3:
It may be a good idea to cut down on your colors. I think, three colors would suffice and seeing as blue, black and green are the most important, I'd cut white and red entirely (even though losing the red Zubera does hurt quite a bit, but maybe keep a few copies). This allows you to fix your colors with a single triland (Opulent Palace) on your first turn.
Play full sets of the blue, black, and green Zubera, complement them with cheap changelings in those colors, add Phyrexian Altar and Cauldron Haze plus a few Immortal Servitudes, with Devouring Greed as the big gun, and you may very well go through your entire deck thanks to the blue Zubera before you drain multiple opponents to death on turn 4.
EDIT4:
I just remembered an old white card, that could totally justify playing white: Remembrance! With that, you get another copy of any Zubera you kill from your deck, easily assembling complete sets, further fueling the Zubera genocide.
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