I Like the deck very much. Isn't Zombie Apocalypse a little bit better than Patriarch's Bidding?
I think a pair of Lashwrithes would give you more beat power, turns every Gravecrawler into a champ. And the germ token is good Carrion fodder. Maybe instead of a butcher ghoul and a carrion feeder. And i suggest one or two Spawning Pool in case you get wrathed. A resilent defender, can be an armed response with Lashwrithe after a wrath and will also trigger undying and return with a +1/+1 counter if Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is at the battlefield.
It's not a little better, it's a lot better. The problem is that the deck only has 23 lands and it already has three 6 drops. If this were a ~26 land deck then it wouldn't even be close in my mind. I would like to see a few lands in this list in general, it feels on the low side, at which point I completely agree that the Apocalypse is almost always strictly better.
I think a pair of Lashwrithes would give you more beat power, turns every Gravecrawler into a champ.
Crawler, Butcher Ghoul, Messenger, Gray Merchant, none of them are especially good at beating down. Even Korlash doesn't seem especially threatening in a 16 Swamp deck with 0 recursion (i.e. you can't Grandeur him very frequently). A couple pieces of equipment such as Lashwrithe or Bonehoard would probably go a long way to keeping these marginal threats relevant in the later stages of the game.
That being said, finding good cuts in this deck isn't easy. It's amazing how fast a 60 card list fills out. It's probably something along the lines of "shave a 1 drop, a 4 drop, a 5 drop" and then whatever else that you could still sleep at night without.
Especially given the large volume of 1 and 2 CMC spells. It's extremely easy to run these out early on when you're legitimately spewing your hand on the table. They do make Korlash a lot worse though, to the point when he'd have to be cut for Vengeful Dead or whatever. Some good 4 drop that doesn't rely on your Swamp count.
So... let me get this straight...
... you're playing Zombies...
... you're loading everything up with +1/+1 counters...
... you're planning on killing things with those counters...
... and Grave Betrayal is not in the list anywhere?
I know it's seven mana, and probably a bit win-more here... but oh the fun you could have...
I really like Retribution of the Ancients and am currently building a Golgari deck with it as the main creature removal source.
My concern with this deck so far is the lack of ways to produce enough +1/+1 counters. Everything seems to be hinging on Carrion Feeder. Without one of them in play you'll only be able to produce a couple of counters to use with Retribution of the Ancients. Even with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed in play, without a Carrion Feeder, you'd still be missing a sac outlet and would have to rely on regular combat or opponents removal to trigger undying.
4 Gravecrawler
4 Butcher Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
4 Syphon Mind
3 Patriarch's Bidding
16 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Unholy Grotto
I Like the deck very much. Isn't Zombie Apocalypse a little bit better than Patriarch's Bidding?
I think a pair of Lashwrithes would give you more beat power, turns every Gravecrawler into a champ. And the germ token is good Carrion fodder. Maybe instead of a butcher ghoul and a carrion feeder. And i suggest one or two Spawning Pool in case you get wrathed. A resilent defender, can be an armed response with Lashwrithe after a wrath and will also trigger undying and return with a +1/+1 counter if Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is at the battlefield.
It's not a little better, it's a lot better. The problem is that the deck only has 23 lands and it already has three 6 drops. If this were a ~26 land deck then it wouldn't even be close in my mind. I would like to see a few lands in this list in general, it feels on the low side, at which point I completely agree that the Apocalypse is almost always strictly better.
Crawler, Butcher Ghoul, Messenger, Gray Merchant, none of them are especially good at beating down. Even Korlash doesn't seem especially threatening in a 16 Swamp deck with 0 recursion (i.e. you can't Grandeur him very frequently). A couple pieces of equipment such as Lashwrithe or Bonehoard would probably go a long way to keeping these marginal threats relevant in the later stages of the game.
That being said, finding good cuts in this deck isn't easy. It's amazing how fast a 60 card list fills out. It's probably something along the lines of "shave a 1 drop, a 4 drop, a 5 drop" and then whatever else that you could still sleep at night without.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Especially given the large volume of 1 and 2 CMC spells. It's extremely easy to run these out early on when you're legitimately spewing your hand on the table. They do make Korlash a lot worse though, to the point when he'd have to be cut for Vengeful Dead or whatever. Some good 4 drop that doesn't rely on your Swamp count.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
4 Gravecrawler
4 Butcher Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
2 Vengeful Dead
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
4 Syphon Mind
3 Zombie Apocalypse
18 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
3 Unholy Grotto
... you're playing Zombies...
... you're loading everything up with +1/+1 counters...
... you're planning on killing things with those counters...
... and Grave Betrayal is not in the list anywhere?
I know it's seven mana, and probably a bit win-more here... but oh the fun you could have...
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
My concern with this deck so far is the lack of ways to produce enough +1/+1 counters. Everything seems to be hinging on Carrion Feeder. Without one of them in play you'll only be able to produce a couple of counters to use with Retribution of the Ancients. Even with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed in play, without a Carrion Feeder, you'd still be missing a sac outlet and would have to rely on regular combat or opponents removal to trigger undying.
Some additional free sac outlets seem to be needed such as Spawning Pit, or Phyrexian Ghoul/Nantuko Husk.
4 Gravecrawler
4 Butcher Ghoul
4 Geralf's Messenger
2 Vengeful Dead
3 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
4 Phyrexian Arena
3 Zombie Apocalypse
2 Grave Betrayal
2 Helm of Possession
3 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Unholy Grotto
4 Gravecrawler
4 Butcher Ghoul
4 Taurean Mauler
3 Flayer of the Hatebound
3 Retribution of the Ancients
3 Phyrexian Arena
2 Deadapult
2 Ion Storm
1 Helm of Possession
2 Grave Betrayal
2 Zombie Apocalypse
2 Ion Storm
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Blood Crypt
9 Swamp
2 Cabal Coffers
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawmoth
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 High Market
Added some red to the deck - every other deck I make seems to use Ion Storm, figured I might as well pair them up